could do him
no serious harm, and it would take a quarter of an hour at least for
the tide to sweep into the pool. Ruby therefore swam quietly to
_Trinity Ledge_, where he landed, and, stepping over it, sat down to
rest, with a thankful heart, on _Smith's Ledge_, the old familiar
spot where he and Jamie Dove had wrought so often and so hard at the
forge in former days.

He was now under the shadow of the Bell Rock Lighthouse, which
towered high above his head; and the impression of immovable solidity
which its cold, grey, stately column conveyed to his mind, contrasted
powerfully with the howling wind and the raging sea around. It seemed
to him, as he sat there within three yards of its granite base, like
the impersonation of repose in the midst of turmoil; of peace
surrounded by war; of calm and solid self-possession in the midst of
fretful and raging instability.

No one was there to welcome Ruby. The lightkeepers, high up in the
apartments in their wild home, knew nothing and heard nothing of all
that had passed so near them. The darkness of the night and the
roaring of the storm was all they saw or heard of the world without,
as they sat in their watch tower reading or trimming their lamps.

But Ruby was not sorry for this; he felt glad to be alone with God,
to thank Him for his recent deliverance.

Exhausting though the struggle had been, its duration was short, so
that he soon recovered his wonted strength. Then, rising, he got upon
the iron railway, or "rails", as the men used to call it, and a few
steps brought him to the foot of the metal ladder conducting to the
entrance door.

Climbing up, he stood at last in a place of safety, and disappeared
within the doorway of the lighthouse.

CHAPTER XXIX

THE WRECK

Meantime the French privateer sped onward to her doom.

The force with which the French commander fell when Ruby cast him
off, had stunned him so severely that it was a considerable time
before he recovered. The rest of the crew were therefore in absolute
ignorance of how to steer.

In this dilemma they lay-to for a short time, after getting away to a
sufficient distance from the dangerous rock, and consulted what was
to be done. Some advised one course, and some another, but it was
finally suggested that one of the English prisoners should be brought
up and commanded to steer out to sea.

This advice was acted on, and the sailor who was brought up chanced
to be one who had a partial k