ats?"

"Certainly. We understand the noble work which these wrecking-crews
have done.--By the way, how do they choose their captain, Jacob--the
man in the stern, as you call him? The most brave, heroic fellow, I
suppose?"

"I dunno about that," with a perplexed air. "We don't calcoolate much
on heroism and sech: we choose the man that's got the best judgment of
the sea--a keerful, firm man. These six men hes got to obey him--hes
got to put their lives altogether in his hand, you see. They
don't want a headlong fellow: they want a man that knows the
water--thorough."

"Besides," added the captain, "it is as with any other business--the
best crew is surest of employment and pay. Each owner of a
wracking-boat chooses his men for their muscle and skill: and the
wracking-master chooses the best boat and crew. There's competition,
competition. On the contrary, the life-saving service, like all
other government work, for a good many years fell into the hands of
politicians: the superintendent was chosen because he had given some
help to his party, and he appointed his own friends as lifeboat-men,
often tavern loafers like himself. A harness-maker from Bricksburg
held the place of master of the station below here for years--a man
who probably never was in a boat, and certainly would not go in one in
a heavy sea."

"One would hardly expect to find fishermen in this solitary corner
of the world struggling for political preferment on the seats of a
lifeboat," laughed one of the party.

But the captain could see no joke in it: "Well, sir, it's a fact that
it was done. And the consequence was, the people's money was thrown
away, and hundreds of human beings was left to perish within sight of
land. If the administration--"

But while the captain and his companions labor over the well-trodden
road thus opened, we will look into the work done in the house on
the beach with the help of authorities more accurate than himself and
Jacob.

Oddly enough, the first effort anywhere to stop the enormous loss
of human life by shipwreck was made by that most selfish of rulers,
George IV., and the first lifeboat was built by a London coachmaker,
Lukin, who, it is said, had never seen the sea. After that other
models of lifeboats were produced in England, none of which proved
satisfactory until in 1850 the duke of Northumberland offered one
hundred guineas as a prize for the best model, which was gained by
James Beeching. A modification