."

"Goodness knows--I don't. Something's gone wrong with the compass. We
were on the right course, and the compass was true until we grounded;
then it swerved most unaccountably nearly four points to the westward,
and there it remains."

"That's a curious freak, cap. You'll be interviewed by all the
scientific folk in the kingdom, and I shouldn't wonder if you are not
summoned to appear, and give evidence, before a select committee of the
Royal Society. Four points out! Why, man, you're immortalised. I call it
a most lucky deflection."

"Do you? I don't," growled the captain. "Others are welcome to the
immortality. I prefer to do without, and steer by a compass that's true.
And it _has_ been true up to now."

"That's where it comes in," exclaimed John. "That's what makes it
remarkable. If the compass _hadn't_ been true, you would have gained
nothing by this little adventure; but, as you say, it _has_ been true,
therefore---- Oh! dear, it takes a lot to satisfy some people. And you
cannot account for it? Do you think the telegraph station has had
anything to do with it--electricity, you know? Electricity is a queer
thing, and plays pranks sometimes. No! Well, perhaps the hills are
magnetic."

"Come, John, you're losing your head; and I have these people to see
to," remarked the captain somewhat tartly.

"I believe I am," said John. "It's a habit I have, but I generally find
it again. Well, cap., if you require any assistance in the unloading of
the cargo, say the word, and here I am, your cousin to command"; and the
captain was obliged to smile, notwithstanding the disaster--an effect
which John had been trying for all the while.

"Your suggestion about the telegraph station has put a practical idea
into my brain, and I am thankful for that, John. I'll sound the syren,
and bring the fellows down. They'll be willing to help in a mess like
this, anyhow; and, if there are not enough conveyances to run the people
down to Penzance, they can wire for a few to fetch them"; and, pulling
the cord, he sent the shriek of the syren through the mist in resounding
and ear-splitting tones.

By this time, the passengers had all pressed forward into the bows, with
the easily transferable part of their luggage about them. The water had
receded, and left the bows clear; but it was too long a drop into the
wet sand for any one to venture down without assistance. The ladies
especially were looking wistfully over the bulwarks. We t