hrough.

Let us suppose, now, that a wreck is on the shore at a part where the
coast is rugged and steep, the beach very narrow, and the water so deep
that it has been driven on the rocks not more than a couple of hundred
yards from the cliffs. The beach is so rocky that no lifeboat would
dare to approach, or, if she did venture, she would be speedily dashed
to pieces--for a lifeboat is not _absolutely_ invulnerable! The
coastguardsmen are on the alert. They had followed the vessel with
anxious looks for hours that day as she struggled right gallantly to
weather the headland and make the harbour. When they saw her miss stays
on the last tack and drift shoreward, they knew her doom was fixed;
hurried off for the rocket-cart; ran it down to the narrow strip of
pebbly beach below the cliffs, and now they are fixing up the shore part
of the apparatus. The chief part of this consists of the rocket-stand
and the box in which the line is coiled, in a peculiar and scarcely
describable manner, that permits of its flying out with great freedom.

While thus engaged they hear the crashing of the vessel's timbers as the
great waves hurl or grind her against the hungry rocks. They also hear
the cries of agonised men and women rising even above the howling storm,
and hasten their operations.

At last all is ready. The rocket, a large one made of iron, is placed
in its stand, a _stick_ and the _line_ are attached to it, a careful aim
is taken, and fire applied. Amid a blaze and burst of smoke the rocket
leaps from its position, and rushes out to sea with a furious
persistency that even the storm-fiend himself is powerless to arrest.
But he can baffle it to some extent--sufficient allowance has not been
made for the force and direction of the wind. The rocket flies, indeed,
beyond the wreck, but drops into the sea, a little to the left of her.

"Another--look alive!" is the sharp order. Again the fiery messenger of
mercy leaps forth, and this time with success. The line drops over the
wreck and catches in the rigging. And at this point comes into play,
sometimes, that ignorance to which I have referred--culpable ignorance,
for surely every captain who sails upon the sea ought to have intimate
acquaintance with the details of the life-saving apparatus of every
nation. Yet, so it is, that some crews, after receiving the
rocket-line, have not known what to do with it, and have even perished
with the means of deliverance in