The moment the powerful blast
drove the vessel within the influence of the outward edge of the first
circle of the vortex. Wallace leaped from the deck on the rocks, and,
with the same rope in his hand with which he had saved the life of the
seaman, he called to the two men to follow him, who yet held similar
ropes, fastened like his own to the prow of the vessel; and being
obeyed, they strove by towing it along, to stem the suction of the
current.
It was at this instant that Lady Mar rushed forward upon deck.
"In for your life, Joanna!" exclaimed the earl. She answered him not,
but looked wildly around her. Nowhere could she see Wallace.
"Have I drowned him?" cried she, in a voice of frenzy, and striking the
women from her, who would have held her back. "Let me clasp him, even
in the deep waters!"
Happily, the earl lost the last sentence in the roaring of the storm.
"Wallace, Wallace!" cried she, wringing her hands, and still struggling
with her women. At that moment a huge wave, sinking before her,
discovered the object of her fears, straining along the surface of a
rock, and followed by the men in the same laborious task, tugging
forward the ropes to which the bark was attached.
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