Paula arrived next, and then Cécile, both badly spent from strain and exposure, Cécile semi-unconscious from her ducking _en route_, so that, after she had been got clear of her lashings, two of the men had to carry her below. Hermione came next, her blue eyes blazing like sapphires from her colourless face and her high spirit undaunted. "They tied me in this thing by force!" she cried to Applebo. "I wanted to stay with Uncle Chris. He is conscious now and refuses to be moved." When only Bell, Olesen, and Heldstrom were left aboard the hulk, Applebo swung himself into the bowline and signalled to Olesen to haul in. The hawser led over the cat-heads, which were a-wash as the sea welled up under them. Applebo swung himself aboard. Heldstrom was lying on a grating rigged up so that it was clear of the swash across the deck. As Applebo looked over him he opened his eyes. They were bright and intent as ever, but it needed but a glance at the waxy face to see that the end was very near. "My son..." he said, and closed his eyes again. Bell, who thought that his mind was wandering, looked at Applebo. "How are we to move him?" he asked. "Every bone in his body must be broken!" Heldstrom's eyes opened again. "You moost not move me," he said. "I vill go down wit' der schooner. It does not matter. Efery bone in my body iss broken, but I do not care, because my hear'rt vas broken long ago. Now leave me, for der wessel iss wery deep." The three men stared at each other, perplexed. To lash a man in Heldstrom's condition into a life-preserver, sling him into the bowline, and drag him through the sea to the yawl seemed a useless cruelty. Yet, how could they leave him? "Are you floating or sinking?" asked Applebo. "We've been like this since daylight. Olesen says she's still settling a little...." For several minutes they stood there, irresolute, unable to decide what they should do. As long as Heldstrom lived there was no thought of leaving him. To try to move him, on the contrary, would be merely to kill him outright. No doubt it occurred to all three that the wreck might suddenly refuse to rise from one of her slow, heavy plunges and that in that case there would be no time for them to gain the yawl! Applebo had thought of this when he went aboard her, and had instructed the Finn to stand by to slip the hawser if he saw the hulk about to sink. "You two go aboard the yawl!" said Applebo. "I will stay until the end ... or till she sinks." Bell turned to Olesen. "Get in the bowline...!" said he. Olesen hesitated. "Obey orders, my man!" snapped Bell. Olesen, trained to discipline, climbed sulkily into the apparatus and, scorning the life-preserver, was hauled aboard the _Daffodil_. Once aboard, Applebo hauled back the sling. "You go, sir," said he. "Go yourself!" snapped Bell. "Think I'm goin' to leave an old friend like that? Go yourself." "He is my father," said Applebo.