... we at last succeeded in doing. The captain, ever caring for his men, requested us to get in, but we both, in the same voice, told him to get in first. The moment he was over the bows of the boat Lieutenant Greene cried, Cut the painter! Cut the painter! I thought, Now or lost, and in less time than I can explain it, exerting my strength beyond imagination, I hauled in the boat, sprang, caught on the gun...