ff with the old whaler and the chief boatman and some of the
women. The rest of the coastguards were by orders of their chief rigging
up a whip which they thought might be necessary to hoist the men up from
the water, if they could ever get close enough. One of the young men who
had ridden with the rocket-cart kept tight hold of Hector's bridle; he
knew it would be wanted if the horse ever had a chance of landing.

* * * * *

When Harold turned away from the dazzling blue lights on the pier, and
saw the far white line of the cliffs beyond the bay, his heart sank
within him. Even his great strength and hardihood, won by work and
privation in the far North-West, had been already taxed in the many days
of the battling with the gale when all on board who could lend a hand
were taken into service. Again by the frantic struggle of the last hour
or two, when the ship ran shoreward at the utmost of her speed in the
last hope of beaching in time to save life. Finally in that grim
struggle to draw the life-line shoreward. The cold and then the great
heat, and on top of it the chill of the long swim, seemed to have struck
at him. Alone on the dark sea, for soon the current and his own
exertions were taking him away from the rocks, the light of the burning
ship was ceasing to be effective. It was just enough to hinder his
vision; looking from the patch of light which bathed the light and him he
could just see far off the white water which marked the cliff fronts, and
on the edge of his horizon the grim moving white wall where the waves
broke on the headland.

On and on he toiled. His limbs were becoming more cramped with the cold
and the terrible strain of swimming in such waves. But still the brave
heart bore him up; and resolutely, sternly he forced himself afresh to
the effort before him. He reasoned that where there was such a headland
standing out so stark into the sea there ought to be some shelter in its
lee. If he could pass it he might find calmer water and even a landing-
place beyond.

Here at least was hope. He would try to round the point at any rate. Now
he drew so close that the great rocks seemed to tower vast above him. He
was not yet close enough to feel as though lapped in their shadow; but
even the overcast sky seemed full of light above the line of the cliff.
There was a strange roaring, rushing sound around him. He thought that
it was not merely the waves dashing on the rocks, but that partl