Under no circumstances was distance so deceiving as at sea;
and although the black object in the water, which the practised eye of
Ingestrie had shown him, was a man, appeared to be only just without the
line of the surf, he (Ingestrie) knew that the distance was, in reality,
much greater, and that he would have a good swim through those troubled
waters before he could get within arm's-length of the shipwrecked
person. To be sure, as the body was drifting to the shore, he made
better progress, and the distance between him and it was diminished much
more rapidly than as if it had been stationary. Colonel Jeffrey distinctly saw Ingestrie reach the body, at length, and
the sailor who had hold of the rope, likewise saw him, and he sung out--

"Now, pull away; but easy, my lads--a steady pull, and no jerking, or
you will hinder him instead of helping. That's it--easy now, easy." "Ah!" said Ben, who had come down to the beach to see what was going on. "Easy does everything, as I always said. Pray, Colonel Jeffrey, what
unfortunate animal is that you are dragging out of the water?" "Don't you know, Ben?" "Not I. But I suppose it is some poor half-drowned fellow from the
ship." "It is that, as well, I hope; but the person who is with him, and who is
being hauled to the shore, is no other than our friend, Mr. Ingestrie." "What, Johanna's husband?" "The same." "Oh, lor! oh, lor! I'm afraid easy won't do it then, and that my little
girl will be a widow. Give me hold of the rope. If pulling will do it,
I'll soon have him on shore again all right. The idea, now, of a man,
with the nicest young creature of a wife in the world, going into the
sea at the end of a rope, and covering himself all over with froth and
sea-weed! Oh, dear! oh, dear! It's truly dreadful, it is; and easy
certainly don't do it." Ben would have lent his aid to pull the rope, but the colonel kept him
back, as it was not strength but skill and tact that in the process was
required, and the rope was in the hands of men who had both. It was clear that Ingestrie had got hold of the floating object,
whatever it was, and that, as he was pulled into shore, he brought it
with him. When he reached the edge of the surf again, a quick pull
brought him at once through it, and a couple of the sailors, dashing
into the waters, got a hold of him, and drew him right up on to the
beach between them. Half a dozen more brought to the shore the body of a man, tied to a
plank of wood. Poor Mark was nearly exhausted. He was just able only to smile faintly
in answer to the colonel's anxious inquiries. "He must be carried home," said the colonel. "Lend me some assistance,
my brave fellows, to do so." "No--no!" Ingestrie managed just to say faintly. "Take him--take him!" He pointed to the man whom he had rescued, and the colonel immediately
said,

"Make yourself easy about him, my dear friend. The sailors will carry
him to the house, and if the vital spark has not quite fled, you shall
have the pleasure of knowing that you have saved him. But it is yourself
that I wish to have got home." "Can you walk?" said Ben. "I--don't think--I will try." Poor Ingestrie did try, but he was really so completely exhausted by the
efforts he had made, that it was quite evident that he was unequal to
the task of walking along the shingle. "Give it up," said Ben. "You can't do it." "He must be carried," said the colonel. "To be sure he must," said Ben; "and this is the way to do it." With these words, Ben did not hesitate another moment, but taking Mark
Ingestrie in his arms as though he had been an infant, he walked over
the pebbly beach with him as easily as though he had been only a very
ordinary kind of bundle to carry. As he went on, it occurred to Ben that Johanna might see him carrying
her husband home, and might imagine that some fearful accident had
happened to him, so, by way of putting an end to that idea, he kept
crying out as he got near the house--

"Here we are! All alive and kicking! It's only a joke. All alive--alive
O! Here we are! it's only a joke! All alive! alive! and ready for
feeding time!" CHAPTER CLXXI. A RATHER IMPORTANT DISCOVERY IS MADE. The man, who appeared to be the only one at all--dead or alive--who was
preserved from the wreck of the ship off the coast of Sussex, was
carried to the house where all our friends were staying, and being taken
into the kitchen, was there placed in the care of a couple of medical
men, who were hastily sent for, and who quickly restored animation to
the seemingly drowned person. It was reported to Ingestrie that the
stranger was all right, and as he himself had by that time thoroughly
recovered, and had changed his saturated apparel for a dry suit, the
news gave him the liveliest satisfaction. "Well," he said, "it is something that I have not gone through that
tremendous surf in vain." "Yes, Mark," said Johanna, with the tears starting to her eyes, "but we
must, indeed, get away from the sea-coast, and then you cannot be
tempted to expose your life in such adventures. Only think of what might
be the consequences!" "Yes," said the colonel. "It is hardly fair, although, at the moment,
one cannot help admiring the heroism of the act." "I don't know how it can be avoided," said Ingestrie. "If you see a poor
fellow struggling for his life, and you feel that you may save him at a
little risk to yourself, it seems a strange thing not to do it." "It does," said old Mr. Oakley, "and I should be the last to say no to
the noble impulse; only if there are to be many storms off his coast, I
shall second the resolution of Johanna that you ought to live somewhere
else." "And so shall I," said Arabella. "And I," said Tobias. "He's better, they say," cried Ben, popping his head into the room. "The
doctors say he is better, and that, after he has had a sleep, he will be
all right." "The sailor belonging to the ship you mean?" said the colonel, "What
sort of a person is he, Ben?" "Haven't seen him yet, so can't tell; but they have made up a good fire
in the back kitchen, and he is lying on a sofa there, and going to
sleep, and the doctor says it will do him no good to disturb him, or
bother him by talking." "It certainly will not," said Ingestrie. "It matters very little to us
who he is, poor fellow. He is saved--that is the principal thing." "Yes," said Johanna, "that is everything; and, at all events, Mark,
there is one human being who through life, let his position and
prospects be what they may, must look upon you as his friend and
preserver." "Ah!" said poor Tobias, "We should all be very happy if Sweeney Todd
were but in the hands of justice. It is very strange why I tremble so
to-day at the thought of him; and I did not tremble yesterday." "You have no occasion to tremble to-day, nor yesterday either, Tobias,"
said Arabella.