I would not fear for her."

"Oh, my friend, my friend," exclaimed my uncle, "would that you had been
safe on shore!"

Scarcely had he spoken, when a flash of lightning, in a thick zig-zag
stream, darted from the clouds overhead, running along the ground close
to us, followed by the most deafening crash of thunder I ever heard.
For an instant our eyes were blinded. We could scarcely see each other,
much less observe any object out at sea. It was a minute or more before
we recovered our sight.

"She is driving--she is driving!" exclaimed Roger Trew. "They are
trying to make sail on her, but it is too late! The sea struck her bows
just as she was paying off, and now here she comes bodily in towards the
shore."

We were able, by shading our eyes, once more to look in the direction of
the brig. Too true were Roger's words, and we saw her helplessly
driving in towards the wild rocks near which we stood.

"Is the water deep, sir?" asked Roger. "If so, she may drive in close
enough to get the people on shore before she goes to pieces."

"I fear not," answered Mr Sedgwick. "Reefs run out in all directions,
and though, having no boat, I have been unable to sound round the
island, yet, from the way I have seen the water breaking, I fear that
there are reefs between us and her."

"If we had a boat we might go off and get aboard her before she
strikes," exclaimed Roger. "Have not you a boat, sir? You would go,
would you not? Mr Walter here, I know, would."

"Unhappily I have no boat," answered my uncle, in a tone almost of
despair. "The crew may, perchance, reach the shore; but my poor friend,
made weak from illness, will have but little chance of escaping with
life."

"We will do our best, sir--we will do our best," answered Roger. "I
will try and swim off to her when she strikes, and before the sea
scatters her timbers; but it will be a tough job. I will not hide that
from myself or you, sir."

"Here, Walter," said my uncle, "go and call Tanda, and tell him to bring
as much ratan as he and you can carry. He is a clever fellow, in some
respects, and his wits may help us."

I was running off, when my uncle cried out--

"Stop, by-the-by, you may frighten the ladies, and he will not know what
you mean. I will go myself, and you remain and see what you and our
sailor friend here can do in the meantime, should the brig strike."

My uncle hurried off to the house, and Roger and I, watching the brig,
proce