ot able more or
less to take care of himself; but the joy consequent on seeing his
daughter saved infused new vigour into his frame. He and the others
were finally got off--Bax being the last to quit the wreck--and then the
lifeboat pulled away from the dangerous shoals and made for the land.

Finding it impossible to reach Broadstairs, owing to the direction of
the gale, they pulled in an oblique direction, and, after narrowly
escaping an upset more than once, gained Deal beach not far from Sandown
Castle, where the boat was run ashore.

Here there was a large concourse of boatmen and others awaiting them.
The men in the lugger,--seeing the lifeboat come up and feeling that the
storm was almost too much for them, and that their services were not now
required,--had returned to the shore and spread the news.

The instant the lifeboat touched the shingle, a huge block and tackle
were hooked on to her, the capstan connected with these was already
manned, and the boat was run up high and dry with the crew in her.

The cheers and congratulations that followed were checked however, when
the discovery was made that Guy Foster was lying in a state of
insensibility!

When the boat sheered towards him and Lucy, as already described, he had
seen the danger and warded it away from the girl by turning his own
person towards it. No one knew that he had been hurt. Indeed, he
himself had scarcely felt the blow, but a deep cut had been made in his
head, which bled so copiously that he had lain down and gradually became
insensible.

His head was bandaged by Bluenose in a rough and ready fashion; a couple
of oars with a sail rolled round them were quickly procured, and on this
he was borne off the beach, followed by his friends and a crowd of
sympathisers.

"Where to?" inquired one of the men who supported the litter.

"To Sandhill Cottage," said Bax; "it's his mother's house, and about as
near as any other place. Step out, lads!"

Before they were off the beach the dull report of a cannon-shot was
heard. It came from the light-ship, and immediately after a rocket flew
up, indicating by the direction in which it sloped that another vessel
was in distress on the shoals.

All thought of those who had just been rescued was forgotten by the crew
of the lifeboat. Those of them who had not been too much exhausted by
previous toil and exposure leaped into their seats. The places of those
who were unable to go off again were in