He had thrown off his coat and hat when he began to row, and, without announcing his intention, he threw himself upon the fast which held the boat, and began to climb up as the two seamen had done. He had not made six feet before he was submerged by the loosing of the rope. The mate saw his peril, and the three men pulled with all their might till the young millionaire rose from the water and renewed his effort. “Come back, Mr. Belgrave! For Heaven’s sake come back!” yelled Mr. Boulong in an agony of suspense; for he knew that the young man was not a sailor, and he fully expected to see him drop exhausted into the sea. The mate and his two men made their oars bend with their earnestness to keep the cutter at her distance. Louis did not heed the call of Mr. Boulong, but struggled on his way to the deck of the wreck. His mother was in peril there, in deadly peril, as her son understood it, after the whole bow of the vessel had been carried away. He would have believed that he was a coward if he had retreated from the holiest duty on earth. There were moments when the tempest lulled a little, and one of these brief intervals, as well as the tremendous efforts of the mate and his men in the boat, favored him, and he succeeded in reaching the bulwarks of the stranded craft, where Bangs hauled him in, very nearly exhausted by his tremendous exertions. The purchase and slings were all ready for use, and Bangs rushed to the waist, where Mrs. Belgrave and Felix were awaiting their fate or their salvation, which ever it might be. The strong arm of the seaman encircled her, and conducted her in safety to the mainmast. By this time Louis had partially recovered his breath, and he seized his mother in his arms as the seamen released her to attend to the slings. She was blinded with spray, but she was calmer than any of the crew of the Maud. Her prayers had strengthened her, and prepared her for a grave beneath the wild waves. “Mother!” exclaimed Louis, as he pressed her to his bosom with a sort of wild rapture. “Not a word, mother! You shall be saved!” Nothing more was said, for the business of saving her was paramount in his mind. Bangs rigged the sling, and seated her in it, very much as she had sat in a swing when she was a child. Then with some lanyards he tied her to the ropes, so that she could not have fallen out if she had taken no care for her safety. “Here, you blackguard!” shouted Williams, as he seized one of the seamen of the Maud who was in the act of getting on the rope to make his way to the cutter. “If another mother’s son of you attempts to get into that boat, I will fling him overboard! We save the ladies first!” “Don’t be frightened, mother,” said Louis, as the two sailors began to heave on the purchase-rope. “You will be put into the boat without any danger.”