d by the skipper.

"Here comes the _whip_," he cried, catching hold of the block when it
reached him. "Hold me up, lad, while I make it fast to them loops."

While Charlie obeyed he saw that by fixing the tail-lines of the block
quickly to the loops prepared for them, instead of winding them round
the mast,--a difficult process in such a sea--much time was saved.

"There, _our_ part o' the job is done now," said the skipper, pulling
off his sou'-wester as he spoke and holding it up as a signal to the men
on shore.

Meanwhile those to whom he signalled had been watching every movement
with intense eagerness, and with the expressions of men whose gaze has
to penetrate with difficulty through a haze of blinding spray.

"They've got the block now," cried one man.

"Does that young feller know about fixin' of it?" asked another.

"Clap a stopper on your mugs; they're a-fixin' of it now," said old
Grinder. "There's the signal! Haul away, lads!"

We must explain here that the "whip" above mentioned was a double or
endless line, passing through the block which had been hauled out to the
wreck by our hero.

By means of this whip one end of a stout cable was sent off to the
wreck, and on this cable a sling-lifebuoy was hung to a pulley and also
run out to the wreck. The working of the apparatus, though simple
enough to seamen, would entail a complicated, perhaps incomprehensible,
description to landsmen: we therefore pass it by with the remark that,
connection with the shore having been established, and the
sling-lifebuoy--or life-saving machine--run out, the crew received it
with what was meant for a hearty cheer, but which exhaustion modified to
a feeble shout.

"Now, lads," cried the skipper to his men, "look sharp! Let out the
passengers."

"Passengers?" exclaimed Charlie Brooke in surprise.

"Ay--my wife an' little gurl, two women and an old gentleman. You don't
suppose I'd keep 'em on deck to be washed overboard?"

As he spoke two of the men opened the doors of the companion-hatch, and
caught hold of a little girl of about five years of age, who was handed
up by a woman.

"Stay! keep her under cover till I get hold of her," cried the skipper.

As he was passing from the mast to the companion a heavy sea burst over
the bulwarks, and swept him into the scuppers. The same wave wrenched
the child from the grasp of the man who held it and carried it right
overboard. Like an eel, rather than a man, Charl