For half a minute Breeze was lost to the view of those who from the deck of the schooner watched anxiously to see him emerge from his brave plunge. They gave a shout as he reappeared. He had only time to draw in a single breath of air before he was again buried beneath a huge curling wave that, before it broke, towered many feet above his head. His comrades were just about to haul him back by means of the line they were paying out, and the other end of which was knotted about his waist, when his head was once more seen above the surface. This time they were astonished to note what a distance he had gained, for being many feet under water had not prevented his swimming sturdily towards the object of his efforts. Now how gallantly he dashed forward! with what splendid overhand strokes he took advantage of the few moments of surface-swimming granted him before he was again swallowed up! He had won many a swimming-match in both smooth and storm-tossed waters about Gloucester. He had taken many a header through green walls of inrushing breakers, but never before had he swam as now; never before had he struggled for the prize of a human life. When for the third time he emerged from the suffocating waters, he saw the yellow-clad form, to gain which he had fought so bravely, within a few feet of him. With one more desperate effort, for the line about his waist was now dragging him back almost irresistibly, he reached it, and grasped the stern becket of the overturned dory. Out-stretched upon its flat bottom, with both arms and legs twined about the life-line,[E] lay the senseless form of a young man, apparently but little older than the brave swimmer who now tried to rouse him. It was impossible to do so, and Breeze feared that he was dead. Without casting loose the line from about his body, he gathered a bight in it, and made this fast to the becket of the dory. Then he waved his hand as a signal to those on board the schooner to pull in. ----- Footnote E: A fishing dory has a wooden plug in its bottom near the after end that can be drawn so as to allow water to run out. To the lower end of this, extending forward along the boat’s bottom to an iron ring, is often fastened a life-line for use in case of a capsize. ----- The strain upon the light line was terrible, and in any other hands but those of expert fishermen it would have parted a dozen times before its precious burden was drawn as close as was safe under the stern of the schooner. Then a second line was thrown to Breeze, who, nearly exhausted as he was, still found strength to secure it about the body of the senseless lad beside him. He could not, however, undo the clutch of the rigid fingers from the life-line, and for a moment began to despair, even within reach of rescue, of saving him for whom he had risked so much. But help was at hand, and it came as he least expected it.