om Cameron.

None of the visitors to Lighthouse Point realized the seriousness of the
happening as yet. They were yet to see for the first time a good ship
battering her life out against the cruel rocks.

Nor did the girls see the wreck at first, for a pall of darkness lay upon
the sea. There were lights in the station and a huge fire of driftwood
burned on the beach. Around this they saw figures moving, and Heavy
said, as she alighted:

"We'll go right down there. There are some women and children
already--see? Sam will put the horses under the shed here."

The five girls locked arms and ran around the station. When they came to
the front of the building, a great door was wheeled back at one side and
men in oilskins were seen moving about a boat in the shed. The lifeboat
was on a truck and they were just getting ready to haul her down to the
beach.

"And the wreck must have struck nearly an hour ago!" cried Madge. "How
slow they are."

"No," said Heavy thoughtfully. "It is July now, and Uncle Sam doesn't
believe there will be any wrecks along this coast until September. In
the summer Cap'n Abinadab keeps the station alone. It took some time
to-night to find a crew--and possibly some of these men are volunteers."

But now that the life-savers had got on the ground, they went to work
with a briskness and skill that impressed the onlookers. They tailed
onto the drag rope and hauled the long, glistening white boat down to
the very edge of the sea. The wind was directly onshore, and it was a
fight to stand against it, let alone to haul such a heavy truck through
the wet sand.

Suddenly there was a glow at sea and the gun boomed out again. Then a
pale signal light burned on the deck of the foundered vessel. As the
light grew those ashore could see her lower rigging and the broken masts
and spars. She lay over toward the shore and her deck seemed a snarl of
lumber. Between the reef and the beach, too, the water was a-foul with
wreckage and planks of all sizes.

"Lumber-laden, boys--and her deck load's broke loose!" shouted one man.

The surf roared in upon the sands, and then sucked out again with a whine
which made Ruth shudder. The sea seemed like some huge, ravening beast
eager for its prey.

"How can they ever launch the boat into those waves?" Ruth asked of
Heavy.

"Oh, they know how," returned the stout girl.

But the life-savers were in conference about their captain. He was a
short, sturdy old man wit