and she payed off on the opposite tack to that on which she had before
been sailing. As soon as the jib filled, Tom gave two vigorous blows
with his hatchet on the hawser, and, as he lifted his hand for a third,
it parted. Then came the sharp rattle of the chains as they ran round
the hawser-holes. The try-sail was hoisted and sheeted home, and the
_Seabird_ was under way again. Tom, as before, conned the ship from the
bow. Several times she was in close proximity to the rocks, but each
time she avoided them. A shout of gladness rose from all on deck as she
passed the last patch of white water. Then she tacked and bore away for
Jersey.

Tom had now time to go down below and look after his passengers. They
consisted of the captain and two sailors--the sole survivors of those
who had been on deck when the vessel struck--three male passengers, and
six engineers and stokers.

"I have not had time to shake you by the hand before, Tom," Grantham
said, as Tom Virtue entered; "and I thought you would not want me on
deck at present. God bless you, old fellow! we all owe you our lives."

"How did it happen, captain?" Tom asked, as the captain also came up to
him.

"It was the currents, I suppose," the captain said; "it was so thick we
could not see a quarter of a mile any way. The weather was so wild I
would not put into Guernsey, and passed the island without seeing it. I
steered my usual course, but the gale must have altered the currents,
for I thought I was three miles away from the reef, when we saw it on
our beam, not a hundred yards away. It was too late to avoid it then,
and in another minute we ran upon it, and the waves were sweeping over
us. Every one behaved well. I got all, except those who had been swept
overboard or crushed by the funnel, up into the bow of the ship, and
there we waited. There was nothing to be done. No boat would live for a
moment in the sea on that reef, and all I could advise was, that when
she went to pieces every one should try to get hold of a floating
fragment; but I doubt whether a man would have been alive a quarter of
an hour after she went to pieces."

"Perhaps, captain, you will come on deck with me and give me the benefit
of your advice. My skipper and I know the islands pretty well, but no
doubt you know them a good deal better, and I don't want another
mishap."

But the _Seabird_ avoided all further dangers, and as it became dark,
the lights of St. Helier's were in sight, and