to spread itself
upon the tumultuous sea.

The wreck could be seen almost as vividly as when the signal lights were
burned. The torn clouds were driven across the heavens as rapidly as
the huge waves raced shoreward. And behind both cloud and wave was the
seething gale. There seemed no prospect of the wind's falling.

Ruth turned to see the crew which had failed to get the lifeboat to the
wreck, trundling a heavy, odd-looking, two-wheeled wagon down upon the
beach. They worked as though their fight with the sea had been but the
first round of the battle. Their calmness and skillful handling of the
breeches buoy gear inspired the onlookers with renewed hope.

"Oh, Cap'n Abinadab and the boys will get 'em this time," declared
Heavy. "You just watch."

And Ruth Fielding and the others were not likely to miss any motion of
the crew of the life saving station. The latter laid out the gear with
quick, sure action. The cannon was placed in position and loaded. The
iron bar to which the line was attached was slipped into the muzzle of
the gun. The men stood back and the captain pulled the lanyard.

Bang!

The sharp bark of the line-gun echoed distressingly in their ears. It
jumped back a pace, for the captain had charged it to the full limit
allowed by the regulations. A heavier charge might burst the gun.

The line-iron hurtled out over the sea in a long, graceful curve, the
line whizzing after it. The line unwound so rapidly from the frame on
which it was coiled that Ruth's gaze could not follow it.

The sea was light enough for them to follow the course of the iron,
however, and a groan broke from the lips of the onlookers when they
saw that the missile fell far short of the wreck. To shoot the line into
the very teeth of this gale, as Cap'n Abinadab had said, was futile.
Yet he would not give up the attempt. This was the only way that was
now left for them to aid the unfortunate crew of the lumber schooner.
If they could not get the breeches buoy to her the sea would be the
grave of the castaways.

For already the waves, smashing down upon the grounded wreck, were
tearing it apart. She would soon break in two, and then the remaining
rigging and spars would go by the board and with them the crew and
passengers.

Yet Captain Abinadab Cope refused to give over his attempts to reach the
wreck.

"Haul in!" he commanded gruffly, when the line fell short. Ruth
marveled at the skill of the man who rewound the wet lin