Brown was going alongside; anyhow, he was going near enough for the men to jump, but the thing was horribly risky.
If the rolling hulk struck the tug planks and iron plates would be beaten in; moreover the men must jump from the slanted rail, and if they jumped short, their long boots and oilskins would drag them down.
It looked as if Cartwright knew how to choose men for an awkward job, for as the tug got nearer Lister saw the men meant to go.

She swung up on the top of a white sea; the hulk, swept by spray, rolled down, with her deck close below the steamer's rail.

One felt they must shock, but they did not.

The dark figures leaped, there was a faint shout, a line whirled out from _Terrier's_ bridge and the hulk drove astern.

Then the blue light vanished and Lister plunged into the engine-room.