"What will be the
end?"
"The Tacoma is sinking!" was the cry from out of the darkness.
"Are we really sinking?" gasped Nellie as she clutched Tom.
"Yes, we are," came from Sam. "Can't you feel the deck settling?"
They could, only too plainly, and in a minute more the water seemed
to be running all around them. The cries continued, but it was so
black they could see next to nothing.
What happened in the next few minutes the Rover boys could scarcely
tell, afterward. An effort was made to get out a life-boat, and it
disappeared almost as soon as it left the side, carrying some sailors
with it. Then some red-fire blazed up, lighting up the tragic scene,
and revealing a schooner standing close by the steamer. The sailing
vessel had her bowsprit broken and part of her forward rail torn away.
"If we must die, let us die together!" said Dick, and they kept together
as well as they could. Old Jerry was with them, and said he would do
all he could for them. He had already passed around life-preservers,
and these they put on with all possible speed.
Then followed a sudden plunge of the steamer and all found themselves
in the waves of the ocean. They went down together, each holding the
hand of somebody else. When they came up, Tom was close to a life-line
thrown from the sailing vessel and this he clutched madly.
"Haul us in!" he yelled. "Haul us in!" And the line was pulled in
with care, and after ten minutes of extreme peril the boys and the
girls and Captain Jerry found themselves on board of the sailing
vessel, which proved to be a large three-masted schooner.
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