“Oh, sir,” said the Preventive man, “when a corpse has revived so far 'tis thought best that he should have a short rest; it kind o' way knits the body and soul together all the closer. The man is in no danger now, I firmly believe; but, as you say, there's no need for wasting any more time. Give us a heave under his other armpit, my lad. Heave handsomely; there's naught but a thin halfhour 'twixt him and eternity--mind that, and you won't jerk. Who's for his heels?” The elder of Garvice's sons--a big lad of twenty--obeyed the instructions of the revenue man, and Wesley and the old fisherman went to the feet. “'Vast hauling! Set me up on end,” said the man over whom they were bending. He spoke in a low voice and weak; he did not seem to have sufficient breath to make himself heard. “Hear that?” said the fisherman with a sagacious wink. “There's the lightsome and blithe quarter-deck voice o' your master-mariner when warping into dock and his missus a-waitin' for 'un rosy as silk on the pier-head.'Tis then that if so be that a man's genteel, it will out.” “'Vast jaw, my hearty!” murmured the man wearily. “That's the tone that fills the air wi' th' smell o' salt beef for me whene'er I hears 'un--ay, sirs, salt beef more lifelike and lively than this high ship-master who I trow hath ofttimes watched a ration toddle round the cuddy table like to a guileless infant.” “Heave all, with a will!” cried Wise, and the four men raised the other as tenderly as a bulk so considerable could be taken off the ground, and bore him with some staggering and heavy breathing, down to where the youngest of the Garvice family was keeping the dinghy afloat over the rapidly shallowing sand. An hour later, when the day was still young, Wesley was kneeling by his bedside giving thanks to Heaven for having allowed him to participate in the privilege of saving a fellow-creature from death. CHAPTER XXIV He slept for an hour or two, but awoke feeling strangely unrefreshed. But he joined Hartwell at breakfast and heard the news that the latter had acquired during his usual half-hour's stroll through the village. After shaking his guest warmly by the hand, Hartwell cried: “What, Mr. Wesley, was it that you did not believe you had adventure enough for one Summer's day, that you must needs fare forth in search of others before sunrise?” Wesley laughed. “I ventured nothing, my good friend,” he said. “I came upon the shipwrecked man by the blessing of God, in good time. I have been wondering since I rose if he had suffered shipwreck. Did you learn so much at the village--and pray hath he fully recovered himself?” “I dare not say fully, but he has recovered himself enough to be able to tell his story,” replied Hartwell. “And he was wrecked?”