The tide was just on the turn when the
boat arrived, and so exhausted was he that he certainly would not
have been able to hold out for the half hour's buffeting to which
he would have been exposed before the water fell sufficiently to
leave him. After helping him into the boat the men gathered the
clothes jammed in fissures of the cliffs. These were, of course,
drenched with water, but had for the most part remained firm in
their places. They now pulled round to the spot where Frank and
Ruthven were awaiting them.
"Childers must have been pretty nearly done," Frank said. "He must
be lying in the bottom of the boat."
Childers gave a smile of pleasure as his schoolfellows jumped on
board. He had, glancing over his shoulder, seen them drift out of
sight round the point, and had felt certain that they had reached
shore. It was, however, a great pleasure to be assured of the fact.
"You have made quite a stir upon the beach, young gentlemen," the
coxswain of the boat said. "When they two came running up without
their shoes or coats and said there were three of you cut off in
the bay under the Foreland, there didn't seem much chance for you.
It didn't take us two minutes to launch the boat, for there were
a score of hands helping to run her down; and my mates bent to it
well, I can tell you, though we didn't think it would be of any use.
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