Sentence:  Mark did actually feel that he was being suffocated, and the silence of the waiting congregation roared in his ears like a flood of waters. [...] His heart beat with such violence that, when he fought his way up and out of the great whirlpool and beheld again the pale, upturned features of his listeners flickering in the homely gaslight, he was astonished that their hands were not stretched out to <WSD>succour</WSD> him. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To give aid, assistance, or help.