o clear away the
wreckage, and orders were given to fire the signal-gun. As we have
seen, our coastguardsman was swift to carry the alarm to his station,
and without delay the lifeboat was launched. At the same time orders
were given to get ready the coastguard boat, in case its services should
be required.

The regular crew of the lifeboat had, as usual, been on the alert, and
the bright blue boat of mercy was at once run down to the beach, until
her carriage reached the edge of the foaming sea.

"Now, lads, jump in!" shouted the coxswain.

It was found, however, when they had taken their places and seized the
oars, that two of the crew were missing. Volunteers were instantly
called for, and Jeff, with his friend David Bowers, answered to the
call. They put on the cork life-belts, took the vacant seats, and
grasped the oars. Then the transporting carriage, with the boat and
crew on it, was pushed by many willing hands as far into the sea as
possible, the men bending forward with the oars out, ready to pull at a
moment's notice.

The launching ropes were already manned. At another signal from the
coxswain, the boat plunged into the boiling surf, the oars were dipped,
ten strong backs were bent, and away they shot on their errand of
mercy--drenched and filled by the first great billow through which they
cut their way, but not swamped, for the water ran out through the
discharging tubes as fast as it came in.

An hour of hard toil brought them within sight of the wreck. Keeping
well to windward, the coxswain cast anchor, and the bowman, taking a
turn or two of the cable round the bollard, allowed the boat to drop
down to the wreck, stern foremost.

"Can't you get round to leeward of the wreck?" asked Jeff, who sat near
the stern of the boat, keeping a firm grasp of his oar, which the
rushing and breaking seas well-nigh forced out of his hands.

"No, not as the rocks lie," replied the coxswain curtly.

On drawing a few yards nearer, it became evident that no boat could live
in the seething caldron of rocks and foam that lay under the lee of the
wreck. Their only chance lay in approaching from the weather side,
which was not only a difficult and dangerous operation, but was rendered
doubly so by the violent swaying of the wreck from side to side.

The roaring of the gale and thunder of the seas, combined with the
darkness and the hurtling spray, rendered it impossible for the men in
the life-boat to disti