on the Yankees!" cried Mark.

"So will I," said the Swede. "Yankee baked beans and brown bread make
better muscle than fish, which is about all the fellows down this way
get to live on."

As seen from the deck of the schooner, the race had by this time become
very exciting; for, as their boat approached the wreck on one side,
another, manned by red-shirted wreckers, who were exhibiting a
wonderful amount of pluck and endurance for "Conchs," as Jan called
them, was rapidly coming up on the other. It was hard to tell which was
the nearer; and while Mark shouted in his excitement, Mrs. Elmer and
Ruth waved their handkerchiefs, though their friends were too far away
to be encouraged by either the shouts or wavings.

At last "Captain Li's" boat dashed up alongside the wreck, and almost
at the same instant the wrecker's boat disappeared from view on the
opposite side.

With their glasses, those on the schooner saw their captain go up the
side of the ship, hand over hand, along a rope that had been thrown
him, and disappear over the bulwarks. They afterwards learned that he
reached the deck of the ship, and thus made himself master of the
wreck, just as the head of his rival appeared above the opposite side.

The wreck proved to be the ship Goodspeed, Captain Gillis, of and for
Liverpool, with cotton from New Orleans. During the calm of the
preceding night she had been caught by one of the powerful coast
currents, and stealthily but surely drawn into the toils. Shortly
before daylight she had struck on Pickle Reef, but so lightly and so
unexpectedly that her crew could hardly believe the slight jar they
felt was anything more than the shock of striking some large fish. They
soon found, however, that they were hard and fast aground, and had
struck on the very top of the flood tide, so that, as it ebbed, the
ship became more and more firmly fixed in her position. As the ship
settled with the ebbing tide she began to leak badly, and Captain
Gillis was greatly relieved when daylight disclosed to him the presence
of the Nancy Bell, and he greeted her captain most cordially as the
latter gained the deck of his ship.

By the time the schooner had approached the wreck, as nearly as her own
safety permitted, and dropped anchor for the first time since leaving
Bangor, a dozen little wrecking craft, manned by crews of swarthy
spongers and fishermen, had also reached the spot, and active
preparations for lightening the stranded sh