hem too, for so it chanced that we were but half a mile away
when the ship fired her first gun, just as we had given you up and
determined to go back; so on we came straight here. Another ten minutes
and we should have been too late. We are making for Ramsgate now. We
could never beat back to Deal in this wind. I don't know as I ever saw
it blow much harder."

These sentences were not spoken consecutively, but were shouted out in
the intervals between gusts of wind. It took them two hours to beat back
to Ramsgate, a signal having been made as soon as they left the wreck to
inform the lifeboat there and at Broadstairs that they need not put out,
as the rescue had been already effected. The lads were soon put to bed
at the sailors' home, a man being at once despatched on horseback to
Deal, to inform those there of the arrival of the lifeboat, and of the
rescue of the four boys who had been blown to sea.

Early next morning Frank and Handcock returned to Deal, the other two
lads being so exhausted by their fatigue and exposure that the doctor
said they had better remain in bed for another twenty-four hours.

It is impossible to describe the thankfulness and relief which Mrs.
Hargate experienced, when, about two in the morning, Dr. Parker himself
brought her news of the safety of her boy. She had long given up all
hope, for when the evening came on and Frank had not returned, she had
gone down to the shore. She learned from the fishermen there that it was
deemed impossible that the boys could reach shore in face of the gale,
and that although the lifeboat had just put out in search of them, the
chances of their being found were, as she herself saw, faint indeed.
She had passed the hours which had intervened, in prayer, and was still
kneeling by her bedside, where little Lucy was unconsciously sleeping,
when Dr. Parker's knock was heard at the door. Fervent, indeed, was her
gratitude to God for the almost miraculous preservation of her son's
life, and then, overcome by the emotions she had experienced, she sought
her couch, and was still asleep when, by the earliest train in the
morning, Frank returned.

For some time the four boys were the heroes of the school. A
subscription was got up to pay for the lost boat, and close as were Mrs.
Hargate's means, she enabled Frank to subscribe his share towards the
fund. The incident raised Frank to a pinnacle of popularity among his
schoolfellows, for the three others were unanimou