Page:Bound to be an Electrician.djvu/223

Rh like a cork on the angry waves, and the water swept the deck with almost every lunge of the craft. He felt his way along step by step, not daring to let go of one object before he had hold of the next.

At length he met Ben Stanhope returning, broad-ax in hand. He caught hold of the sailor.

"What shall I do, Ben?" he asked, "How can I help the most?"

"Better go below and save yourself from going overboard," returned Ben Stanhope. "You can't do any good up here."

"But the captain ordered me to stand by and help clear away the wreck."

"Well suit yourself. I can't see what you can do, unless you want to go up to the foretop, and help chop away the splintered stick."

"I don't think I can manage it up there!" returned Franklin, with a look up into the darkness overhead.

"But you'll go up just the same," put in the voice of Captain Cosgrove. "I won't have an idler aboard. Up you go with Stanhope and help him with the ropes while he chops."

"But I never climbed a mast in my life," said Franklin, shrinking back, and not without cause, for the trial on the young electrician's part would have been highly dangerous.

"Never mind, cap'n; I can do the work alone,"