As he uttered the words, not only the crew but a number of other persons rushed down to the side of the boat.  I found myself among them.  In one instant the crew leapt on board, and, seized by a sudden impulse, I too sprang up the side, and slid down into the bottom of the boat.  The coxswain was standing up, watching the seas as they rolled in.  That moment was a favourable one for launching the boat, and, crying out to the men on the beach to haul away on the detaching lines, the boat, ere two seconds had passed, began to glide towards the raging billows.  The crew had seized their oars, and were already giving way.  Bravely the boat rolled over the first sea she encountered; and in less than a minute--before I was discovered--she was far from the beach, and pulling swiftly away out to sea.  Now, for the first time, the coxswain, casting his eyes down, beheld me.