then
was lamentably imperfect.

The great storm came and went, having swept thousands of souls into
eternity, and hundreds of thousands of pounds into nonentity.
Lifeboats had not been invented. Harbours of refuge were almost
unknown, and although our coasts bristled with dangerous reefs and
headlands, lighthouses were few and far between. The consequence was,
that wrecks were numerous; and so also were wreckers,--a class of
men, who, in the absence of an efficient coastguard, subsisted to a
large extent on what they picked up from the wrecks that were cast in
their way, and who did not scruple, sometimes, to _cause_ wrecks, by
showing false lights in order to decoy vessels to destruction.

We do not say that all wreckers were guilty of such crimes, but many
of them were so, and their style of life, at the best, had naturally
a demoralizing influence upon all of them.

The famous Bell Rock, lying twelve miles off the coast of
Forfarshire, was a prolific source of destruction to shipping. Not
only did numbers of vessels get upon it, but many others ran upon the
neighbouring coasts in attempting to avoid it.

Ruby's father knew the navigation well, but, in the confusion and
darkness of the furious storm, he miscalculated his position and ran
upon the rock, where, as we have seen, his body was afterwards found
by the two fishermen. It was conveyed by them to the cottage of Mrs.
Brand, and when Ruby entered he found his mother on her knees by the
bedside, pressing the cold hand of his father to her breast, and
gazing with wild, tearless eyes into the dead face.

We will not dwell upon the sad scenes that followed.

Ruby was now under the necessity of leaving home, because his mother
being deprived of her husband's support naturally turned in distress
to her son. But Ruby had no employment, and work could not be easily
obtained at that time in the town, so there was no other resource
left him but to go to sea. This he did in a small coasting sloop
belonging to an old friend, who gave him part of his wages in advance
to enable him to leave his mother a small provision, at least for a
short time.

This, however, was not all that the widow had to depend on. Minnie
Gray was expert with her needle, and for some years past had
contributed not a little to the comforts of the household into which
she had been adopted. She now set herself to work with redoubled zeal
and energy. Besides this, Mrs. Brand had a brother, a reti