No wonder that persons with kindly sympathies and gentle feelings
towards human nature, such as Colonel Jeffrey and Mark Ingestrie
undoubtedly had, should suffer acutely to see others so suffer. If there had been any likelihood of a boat reaching the ill-fated ship,
Ingestrie would have been the first to propose such a measure, and the
first, with hand and heart, to carry it out; but there was no such
likelihood. Our friend had seen too much of service afloat, and was by
far too good a sailor to suppose for an instant that any boat could live
for a cable's length from the shore in such a sea as that! "Is it quite impossible to aid them?" said the colonel. "Quite," said Ingestrie, "unless they strike close in shore. Then,
something may, perhaps, be done." "Ay, sir," said a weather-beaten boatman who stood close to Ingestrie,
"you are right there. If they only drift a little further in, and are
still afloat, when the keel touches ground they may get ashore some of
them." "No boat," said the colonel, "could reach her?" "Boat, sir! My little bit of a craft will do now and then things that
one ought not to expect, from anything in the shape of a boat; but that
surf would toss it up like a piece of cork, and it would only be making
bad worse to draw a few brave fellows from land here, because others are
going down at sea." "You are right," said Ingestrie. "Do you happen to know the craft out
yonder?" "No, sir. She is so swept clear, that it would be hard to know her if
she were one's own; but I don't think she belongs to this port at all." "The gale is going down a bit." "It is, sir. Don't you see it's coming in puffs like--It won't last much
longer." "Gone!" cried a hundred voices at once. "No--no!" cried Ingestrie. "Don't say that." A wild shriek came across the surface of the water, and the ship that
had been doing battle with the winds and the waves, disappeared. "Oh, this is, indeed, terrible," said Colonel Jeffrey. "It is too
horrible!" "It is, indeed!" cried Ingestrie. "There is but one chance now of doing
any good, and that is in case any poor fellow should get washed on shore
through the surf with a few sparks of life in him. Hilloa, my men! Get
out your tackle, and let us look out for the survivors. Some one may try
to fight for it yet." The sailors and boatmen upon the beach were charmed with the idea that
they might be able to do some good in this way; and as they soon found
that Ingestrie knew perfectly well what he was about, they listened to
his orders, in the course they should take, and obeyed them with
alacrity and skill. He had some of the long line connected with the fishing-nets, and to
which corks were attached, cast out into the sea by the aid of little
kedge anchors, so that the waves did not bring them back again, and as
the other ends of the lines were held firmly on the shore, any one might
be struggling for life amid the surf, would have had a good chance of
preservation by laying hold of one of those lines. "We may do some good," said Ingestrie, as he tied one end of one of the
ropes round his waist. "What are you about?" said the colonel. "Oh, nothing. Do not fancy I am going to throw myself into the waves. But if I should chance to see any poor soul struggling for life, it
would take something to prevent me from going after him." "But think of yourself." "Oh, I cannot come to any sort of harm, you know. They will easily be
able to haul me on shore, you perceive, by the other end of the rope,
and I have been rather used to fighting my way through the waves." "Heaven speed you, if the occasion for your doing so again should arise,
my gallant friend. Far be it from me to dissuade you against such an
attempt; and I am sure that even she who loves you best of all, would be
the first to encourage you." "Of course she would." "All lost, sir," said a sailor. "No, don't say that!" cried Ingestrie. "Where is that night glass that
some one had here a little while ago?" "Here, sir." Ingestrie placed the telescope to his eye, and looked fixedly in the
direction of the wreck. He then handed it to the sailor, and said--

"Who has a good hold of the end of this rope that is about me?" "All's right, sir. There will be no lack of hands with that. But you
don't mean to go through the surf, sir?" "I see a human being struggling with the foam, and from his actions he
is no swimmer. I cannot stand here and see him die, while there is a
chance of saving him. Hark you! Don't wait for me to sing out, but use
your own eyes, and begin to pull in the moment you see me close with
him. The dawn is coming rapidly, and you will see better each moment. Now, I'm off." "For the love of Heaven be careful!" cried the colonel. Ingestrie smiled, and then dashed into the roaring, bubbling surf of the
sea, with the rope round his waist. [Illustration: Mark Ingestrie Risks His Own Life To Save Todd.] A loud cheer burst from the throats of all present, as the heroic action
was witnessed. If anything had been wanting, which it was not, to urge
the gallant Mark Ingestrie on his brave and noble adventure, that cheer
would have done it; but amid the roar and din of the water about his
ears, it is doubtful if he could have heard it at all, or any noise of
ten times the intensity. The figure in the sea, that had attracted the attention of Ingestrie,
was now plainly perceived by the colonel, and by all who were upon the
beach. To the practised eyes of the sailors then present, it was evident
that the body must be lashed to some very buoyant substance, which
enabled it to keep afloat, not-withstanding the roll of the sea, and the
breaking of the waves over it. The person was evidently not swimming,
although, by the wash of the tide, and the set of the wind, he was being
driven into shore. Mark Ingestrie felt that his only chance of getting through the surf was
to dive under it, and that manoeuvre he executed with a skill that few
could have commanded and to the admiration and delight of all the
spectators of his heroic conduct, he appeared outside the roaring edge
of the sea, quite able to swim gallantly towards the shipwrecked man. As he had said, the dawn was coming fast now, so that there was no great
difficulty in seeing him, and in watching, with some degree of accuracy,
his movements. "He will do it!" said the colonel. "Do it?" said the sailor who had the first hold of the rope that was
round the body of Mark Ingestrie. "Do it? Of course he will. The man who
has the heart and hand to try these sort of things, always does them." "I believe you are right, my friend," said the colonel. "I know I am, sir. I have seen too much of this sort of thing, and if I
had not been a little out of sorts in my larboard leg, I should have
gone; but I'm not all right, you see, sir, so it won't do. Ah, there he
has him! It's all right enough--I told you so." The progress of Ingestrie was watched by many eyes with the most intense
interest.