driving helplessly towards the cliffs.

Such was the spectacle which presented itself when the _Tornado_ was
still at some distance off. As she drew near, it was seen that matters
were even worse than had been anticipated. "There are three vessels on
shore already," cried Higson, who had been looking through his glass;
"their masts are gone, but I can make out their hulls, with the sea
breaking over them and flying high up the cliffs--and there goes another
large craft, a screw from her appearance. Had she got up her steam in
time, she might have worked off the shore, but as it is, no power can
save her."

As he spoke, the vessel at which he pointed was seen, by those who had
their glasses at their eyes, to strike an outer reef; the next instant
her hull was scarcely visible from the mass of foaming breakers which
dashed furiously over her, and ere another minute had passed, she looked
as if utterly torn to pieces, her vast hull rapidly melting away, till
scarcely a single dark spot remained to show where her stout timbers had
lately been. "Can any of the poor fellows have escaped?" asked Tom.
"Not one," answered Green; "and from the size of the ship her crew must
have numbered upwards of a hundred. It is only to be hoped that her
passengers had landed; she was, I suspect, a large screw we saw pass
through the straits a few days ago with troops and stores. There must
be a fearful loss of life."

Jack was consulting with Higson as to the best means of rendering
assistance to the vessels most in peril. Several had signals of
distress flying; he was steering towards one of the nearest, over which
the sea was breaking with extreme violence; it would be impossible to
run alongside her, but ropes might be hove on board as the _Tornado_
passed within a comparatively safe distance. Jack stood on, intent on
his mission of mercy, but when his ship was scarcely three cables'
length from the hapless vessel, a heavy sea with a prodigious crest went
hissing towards her, just as a previous one of less height passing on
had lifted her stern. The mass of water rolled onwards; for an instant
her masts could be seen inclining forward, but her bows never again
rose, and the foaming waves leaped wildly over the spot where she had
been. Not a human being could be discovered to whom a rope or lifebuoy
might have been thrown; the latter, indeed, would have been useless; for
even had a struggling swimmer clung to it, he must ultimat