THE PITILESS GOODWINS 303 



get to the lifeboat, the only refuge. Warning shouts 

 arose that the lifeboat would carry only a score of persons, 

 and that to crowd her in such a sea would be disastrous. 

 She must make trip after trip, and meanwhile the Good- 

 wins were engulfing the ship. 



One merciful feature of salvation there was, and that 

 was the presence of the Aid, which had towed the life- 

 boat out, and was now lying to leeward, so that the little 

 craft could run down to her. Terrified women were 

 helped, pushed, dragged, or dropped into the boat ; 

 there was a fierce run to the Aid, a furious fight in 

 transferring the saved, and a dangerous trip back to the 

 wreck. So the ruthless war went on, steam-tug and 

 lifeboat battling with the gale, and oil-skinned warriors 

 once more showing that even the Goodwins cannot 

 always conquer. Three hours and more the lifeboat 

 continued fighting ; then the emigrants had been taken 

 from the Fusilier to the Aid, and that gallant little 

 steamer, packed with drenched and starving creatures, 

 struggled back to Ramsgate Harbour. 



In that tale of danger and escape from death one 

 incident stands clearly out from all the rest. When the 

 women in the Fusilier were being helped and forced 

 away, blankets were rolled up and thrown into the life- 

 boat to give protection, if not warmth. Few words 

 could be heard in the clamour of the gale ; but a wild 

 cry rose as a despairing husband thrust a bundle into the 

 hands of a seaman. 



" Look out, there ! " roared the sailor, as he hurled the 

 woollen mass into the lifeboat. " Catch this ! It's a 

 blanket for the man's missis ! " 



When the tug was reached an exhausted woman, who 



