CHAPTER XXIV--FROM THE DEEPS.
Presently the Captain handed Mrs.Stonehouse a pair of binoculars.

For an instant she looked through them, then handed them back and continued gazing out to where the two heads appeared--when they did appear on the crest of the waves like pin-heads.

The Captain said half to himself and half to the father: 'Mother's eyes! Mother's eyes!' and the father understood.
As the ship swept back to the rescue, her funnels sending out huge volumes of smoke which the gale beat down on the sea to leeward, the excitement grew tenser and tenser.

Men dared hardly breathe; women wept and clasped their hands convulsively as they prayed.

In the emergency boat the men sat like statues, their oars upright, ready for instant use.
The officer stood with the falls in his hand ready to lower away.
When opposite the lifebuoy, and about a furlong from Harold and Pearl, the Captain gave the signal 'Stop,' and then a second later: 'Full speed astern.' 'Ready, men! Steady!' As the coming wave slipping under the ship began to rise up her side, the officer freed the falls and the boat sank softly into the lifting sea.
Instantly the oars struck the water, and as the men bent to them a cheer rang out.
* * * * * Harold and Pearl heard, and the man turning his head for a moment saw that the ship was close at hand, gradually drifting down to the weather side of them.