"Tell a fellow when it's all over, Joe Carstairs." "Help, help!" came hoarsely from the poor wretch; and my hands grew wet inside, and a horrible sensation seemed to be attacking my chest, as I watched the struggles of the drowning man with starting eyes.

For though he swam like a fish, the horror of his situation seemed to have unnerved him, and while he kept on swimming, it was with quick wearying effort, and he was sinking minute by minute lower in the water.
"For Heaven's sake, throw the poor wretch a rope, captain," said the doctor.
"What! to come aboard and knife some of us ?" growled the captain.
"Better let him drown.

Plenty of better ones than him to be had for a pound a month." "Oh, captain!" I cried indignantly, for my feelings were too much for me; and I seized a rope just as the Malay went down, after uttering a despairing shriek.
"Let that rope alone, boy," said the skipper with a grim smile.

"There, he's come up again.

Ketch hold!" he cried, and he threw his line so that the Malay could seize it, which he did, winding it round and round one arm, while the slowly-sailing schooner dragged him along through the sea.