ed,
Morris took his hat and coat, and, unlocking the Abbot's door, lit a
lantern, and descended the cement steps to the beach. Here he found
himself in the midst of ten or twelve men, most of them tall and
bearded, who were gathered about a ship's boat which they had dragged up
high and dry. One of these men, who from his uniform he judged to be
the captain, approached and addressed him in a language that he did not
understand, but imagined must be Danish or Norwegian.

Morris shook his head to convey the blankness of his ignorance,
whereupon other men addressed him, also in northern tongues. Then, as he
still shook his head, a lad of about nineteen came forward and spoke in
broken and barbarous French.

"Naufrage la bas," he said; "bateau a vapeur, naufrage sur les
rochers--brouillard. Nouse echappe."

"Tous?" asked Morris.

The young man shrugged his shoulders as though he were doubtful on the
point, then added, pointing to the boat:

"Homme beaucoup blesse, pasteur anglais."

Morris went to the cutter, and, holding up the lantern, looked down, to
find an oldish man with sharp features, dark eyes, and grizzled beard,
lying under a tarpaulin in the bottom of the boat. He was clothed
only in a dressing gown and a blood-stained nightshirt, groaning and
semi-unconscious.

"Jambe casse, beaucoup mal casse," explained the French scholar.

"Apportez-le vite apres moi," said Morris. This order having been
translated by the youth, several stalwart sailors lifted up the injured
man, and, placing the tarpaulin beneath him, took hold of it by the
sides and corners. Then, following Morris, they bore him as gently as
they could up the steps into the Abbey to a large bedroom upon the first
floor, where they laid him upon the bed.

Meanwhile, by the industrious ringing of bells as they went, Morris had
succeeded in rousing a groom, a page-boy, and the cook. The first of
these he sent off post haste for Dr. Charters. Next, having directed
the cook to give the foreign sailormen some food and beer, he told
the page-boy to conduct them to the Sailors' Home, a place of refuge
provided, as is common upon this stormy coast, for the accommodation
of distressed and shipwrecked mariners. As he could extract nothing
further, it seemed useless to detain them at the Abbey. Then, pending
the arrival of the doctor, with the assistance of the old housekeeper,
he set to work to examine the patient. This did not take long, for his
injuries