The Boy Soldier; Or, Garibaldi's Young Captain — page 277: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

— THE BOY SOLDIER; OR, GARIBALDI’S YOUNG CAPTAIN. at,their oars, and gliding, on even keel, like an -arrow, the,boat'entered the roaring avalanche, its erest towering twenty-five feet above her, and over- hanging: . The piierr: who Was steering, and-the chief boat- man, who was pulling stroke oar, were hurled head- long over the boat’s stern by the falling sea. Had she not been of extraordinary strength, owing to her peculiar donble-sided construction, she must have been shivered like a bandbox. . Crushing her .bodily fathoms down, the sea bore her astern at lightning speed, tearing away her rudder-irons and steering- crutch. by,.the pressure. The steersman was caught head downwards as she passed, by some projecting hook or spur rowlock, and dragged thus for afew seconds; then found himself suddenly freed and rising rapidly. © , On reaching the surface he met his chief boatman already afloat, but looking very much confused. The latter afterwards described himself ‘as having been conscious of receiving some tremendous im- petus, which caused him, as he pmapecdi} ig turn a series of somersaults under water. Though cased in heavy water-proof, boots, thick pea-jackets, and oil-cloth overcoats, the’ life-belts supported them with perfect ease. The sea which had hurled them out of the boat had beaten the rest of the crew down as they bent over their oars in a stooping posture, each man on the thwart before him. The bowman alone was stunned, The remaining three retained ‘perfect conscious- ness. They had their eyes’ open, but all around was total darkness, They described their sensation as like that of being whirled in an express train. through arailway tunnel. But whether they were in the boat or in the sea they could not distinguish at the time. At length a faint dawn of light reached their eyes, increasing rapidly, and they were conscious of rising through the green water, and at last they emerged throu ch the broken foam, sitting each man in his place. The first object that met their, eyes, as ‘the boat rose to the surface was the buoy,of,the little harbour close alongside of them. This place is by measurement over 400 yards.from the place where the sea had struck their, boat. She had been shot. about.a-quarter of a mile under water, and had:risen:in’ the exact position in which she had ‘entered the sea, at right angles to.it A spare rowlock and a pair of. boots were lying loose in the bottom of the boat, giving clear evidence that she had not once turned over during her extraordinary submarine passage. - The-oars had all-been lost but one, and’ with this the men managed to keep her head ‘to the seas, though she ‘was drifting | fast upon the rocks astern. In the meantime, the crew of the other boat had watched the whole occurrence. But so appalled were these hardy fishermen by the appearance of the sea, and by the sight which they had witnessed, that they refused at first to pull out to the fescue in the face of what appeared to be certain death. The braye man who commanded her, however, the second detective, was determined to save his comrades or share their fate, By dint of entreaty and command he got them to pull out into the bay, 271 Skilfully watching his time, sometimes putiting his boat away before the breakers, sometimes driving her over them, shipping seas forward and on both sides, he succeeded in picking up the) officer and chief boatman, after they had been near | half an hour in the water. They then pulled away for the other boast, and reached her as she was fast drifting on the rocky shore, over which the sea was breaking furiously. A very few minutes Jater and boat and men would have been pounded to fragments on the sharp ledges that were rising black at: intervals through the foaming waters, They supplied the drifting boat with the oars which they had picked up,from the water, and both crews worked their way back into harbour without loss of life or even the slightest injury. The time during which the, boat, remained ae merged is difficult to arrive at. Under such circumstances seconds -seem: like minutes both to actors and spectators; but, as:far | as can be judged from pretty fair data, she must have been about two minutes under water, The; brave efforts of these two boats’ crews to reach the “‘Dolphin.”” were unavailing. Time and time again the two detectives, one in each boat, encouraged their men to! attempt to reach the wreck ; appalled at the’ danger’ they had already under- gone, and thought that it would: be useless and madness, In truth, the storm, instead of abating, increased furiously, and the rough mountainous seas washed over the decks of the doomed “ Dolphin,” each moment threatening to break it into pieces. but the brave coasters were | ‘‘ Oh, the young rascal is sure to be lost|”, said | the detective. “In less’ than an hour one plank will not remain of the gallant brig.” They. gave up all hope as lost. )°.. But while they stood on shore with telescopes in hand, little did they imagine .that Joel Flint had escaped in, the fishing-smack, and that the, only persons.on board were innocent men. At'the moment ‘when ‘this excitingand gallant effort had been*made''to ‘seize the young scoundrel, Mr, Joel Flint was safely landed on om several — miles from where they stood, Joel was safe, and his*treasure on shore nin. More than this, he was rattling away in a train towards London, whither we must follow him; “ OHAPTER COV, JONATHAN MISSES HIS OLD FRIEND: FLINT, THE arrest of Jonathan in the rooms of the Gros- venor Hotel was a matter of great rejoicing among the detectives, and particularly so to Sergeant Gale, who had long been on the look-out for him and the others. On the way to the police station Gale was very chatty to old Jonathan, who protested his innocence all the way in the most vehement manner, “Well,” said Gale, “‘if you hadn’t anything to do with old Ford’s murder, you know more about it than any one else; and it might serve you a great deal before a jury ‘of your countrymen if you were to divulge whatever might assist us officers in tracking and apprehending the right parties.” “Oh! no doubt of that,” said Jonathan, thought- comicbooks CO