Page:Under Dewey at Manila.djvu/178

152 Larry descended he never knew, but it was to him a long distance. Instinctively he closed his mouth and held his breath as he felt the warm currents shift and swirl around him. Was he being drawn down under the Columbia? Fervently he prayed not.

When he did come up, to puff and blow like a porpoise, all was dark around him. He was on the top of a huge wave; a second later he went down into a great hollow, the waves before and behind him seeming like hills ready to tumble in and plunge him out of existence. Again he prayed a silent prayer—yet none the less heard—that his life might be spared to him.

A minute later came another flash of lightning, revealing two things apart from the waste of water around him. One was the Columbia fast receding in the distance; the second was a life-preserver some thoughtful friend had thrown overboard after him.

"Gone!" he murmured, with a sinking heart. "Will they come back? Oh, they must come back! They won't desert Striker and me like this!"

The life-preserver floated but a short distance