depriving him of even the intimate companionship of his own grandson.
With this came an increased love for the boy; he again felt the warm
pressure of his hand and caught the look in his eyes the morning Archie
congratulated him so heartily on Bart's expected return, he had always
loved him; he would love him now a thousand times more when he could
put his hand on the boy's shoulder and tell him everything.

With the changing of the patrol, Tod and Polhemus taking the places of
Archie and Parks, he fell into a doze, waking with a sudden start some
hours later, springing from his bed, and as quickly turning up the lamp.

Still in his stocking feet and trousers--on nights like this the men
lie down in half their clothes--he walked to the window and peered out.
It was nearing daylight; the sky still black. The storm was at its
height; the roar of the surf incessant and the howl of the wind
deafening. Stepping into the sitting-room he glanced at the
aneroid--the needle had not advanced a point; then turning into the
hall, he mounted the steps to the lookout in the cupola, walked softly
past the door of the men's room so as not to waken the sleepers,
particularly Parks and Archie, whose cots were nearest the door--both
had had four hours of the gale and would have hours more if it
continued--and reaching the landing, pressed his face against the cool
pane and peered out.

Below him stretched a dull waste of sand hardly distinguishable in the
gloom until his eyes became accustomed to it, and beyond this the white
line of the surf, whiter than either sky or sand. This writhed and
twisted like a cobra in pain. To the north burned Barnegat Light, only
the star of its lamp visible. To the south stretched alternate bands of
sand, sky, and surf, their dividing lines lost in the night. Along this
beach, now stopping to get their breath, now slanting the brim of their
sou'westers to escape the slash of the sand and spray, strode Tod and
Polhemus, their eyes on and beyond the tumbling surf, their ears open
to every unusual sound, their Costons buttoned tight under their coats
to keep them from the wet.

Suddenly, while his eyes were searching the horizon line, now hardly
discernible in the gloom, a black mass rose from behind a cresting of
foam, see-sawed for an instant, clutched wildly at the sky, and dropped
out of sight behind a black wall of water. The next instant there
flashed on the beach below him, and to the left of the s