the
bow gazing fixedly ahead, shouted:

"There's Guernsey, sir, on her lee bow, about six miles away, I should
say."

"That's it, sure enough," Tom agreed, as he gazed in the direction in
which Watkins was pointing. "There's a gleam of sunshine on it, or we
shouldn't have seen it yet. Yes, I think you are about right as to the
distance. Now let us take its bearings, we may lose it again directly."

Having taken the bearings of the island they went below, and marked off
their position on the chart, and they shaped their course for Cape
Grosnez, the north-western point of Jersey. The gleam of sunshine was
transient--the clouds closed in again overhead, darker and grayer than
before. Soon the drops of rain came flying before the wind, the horizon
closed in, and they could not see half a mile away, but, though the sea
was heavy, the _Seabird_ was making capital weather of it, and the two
friends agreed that, after all, the excitement of a sail like this was
worth a month of pottering about in calms.

"We must keep a bright look-out presently," the skipper said; "there are
some nasty rocks off the coast of Jersey. We must give them a wide
berth. We had best make round to the south of the island, and lay to
there till we can pick up a pilot to take us into St. Helier. I don't
think it will be worth while trying to get into St. Aubyn's Bay by
ourselves."

"I think so, too, Watkins, but we will see what it is like before it
gets dark; if we can pick up a pilot all the better; if not, we will lie
to till morning, if the weather keeps thick; but if it clears so that we
can make out all the lights we ought to be able to get into the bay
anyhow."

An hour later the rain ceased and the sky appeared somewhat clearer.
Suddenly Watkins exclaimed, "There is a wreck, sir! There, three miles
away to leeward. She is on the Paternosters."

"Good heavens! she is a steamer," Tom exclaimed, as he caught sight of
her the next time the _Seabird_ lifted on a wave. "Can she be the
Southampton boat, do you think?"

"Like enough, sir, she may have had it thicker than we had, and may not
have calculated enough for the current."

"Up helm, Jack, and bear away towards her. Shall we shake out a reef,
Watkins?"

"I wouldn't, sir; she has got as much as she can carry on her now. We
must mind what we are doing, sir; the currents run like a millstream,
and if we get that reef under our lee, and the wind and current both
setting us on to it, i