con-fire, straining their eyes in a vain endeavour to pierce the
gloom which hung over the ocean. They could hear the sea's savage roar
as it lashed the rocks at their feet and sent the spray flying over
them; but they could only see the white crests of the waves as they rose
and fell, and every instant it seemed to their loving hearts that these
fierce waves came in with greater force than heretofore.

Could the "Rescue," stout and well-formed as she was, live amid that
fierce tumult of waters? Might not those who had bravely gone forth to
save their fellow-creatures, too probably perish with them?

Still, notwithstanding their fears, they listened hoping to hear the cry
which those in the boat would raise as they drew near the shore, should
success have attended their efforts. Again and again they asked each
other, if the boat would not now be returning? Oh! how long the time
seemed since they went away! A short half-hour had often sufficed to go
to the Gull Rock and back. An hour or more had elapsed since the
"Rescue" left the harbour, and no sign of her could be discerned.

"We must take into account the heavy seas she will have to meet; they
will keep her busy for a goodish time with her bows towards them,"
observed an old fisherman. "Uncle Reuben knows what he is about, and if
there is a man can steer the `Rescue' on a night like this he can. A
worse sea, in which a boat might live, I never saw. There is little
likelihood of its getting better either, by the look of the sky."

The last remark was not encouraging; still, while a possibility remained
of the return of the boat, none among the anxious group would, in spite
of the rain and spray and fierce wind, leave the point.

At length a sharp-eyed youngster darted forward to the extreme end of
the rock, at the risk of being washed off by the next breaker which
dashed against it.

"I see her! I see her!" he shouted.

There was a rush forward. Dame Lanreath held her granddaughter back.

"You cannot bring them in sooner, Nelly," she said, "and, my child,
prepare your heart for what God may have ordered. Seek for strength,
Nelly, to be able to say, `Thy will be done!'"

"I am trying," groaned Nelly; "but O granny, why do you say that?"

"It is better to be prepared for bad tidings before they come," answered
the dame; "but it maybe that God has willed that Michael should be
saved, and so let us be ready with a grateful heart to welcome him; but
w