d happened to the boat--no man in Bernay-sur-Mer
would have been so mad as to have ventured out!

Far to the south the heavens opened in a burst of flame, and,
travelling far and fast, a zigzag tongue of lightning, like the
venomous thrust of a serpent's fang, leaped across the skies. It
lighted up the beach, and, further out over the waters, a quarter of a
mile away, played upon the smother of spray that like a shroud flung
itself over the Perigeau Reef--and the cry that came from Jean Laparde
was wild, hoarse-throated now. What was that he had seen!

It was dark again out there. He swung his lantern, signalling
frantically--then, holding it high and rigid, waited for the next flash.

It came.

"Marie-Louise," he whispered through white lips.

Far out on the extremity of the reef, a figure stood silhouetted
against the spray for an instant--and blackness fell again.

-- II --

THE KEEPERS OF THE LIGHT

For a moment's space Jean stood there measuring, as it were, the sweep
of waters, as one might measure the strength of some antagonist thrust
suddenly upon him--and then, turning, he ran back to the boats, and
began to drag one down the beach.

No man in all Bernay-sur-Mer would dare to venture out. He had said
that himself--but there was no thought of that now. Marie-Louise was
on the Perigeau Reef. He was strong, strong as a young bull, and he
tugged now at the heavy boat with the added nervous strength of a man
near mad with desperation, heaving it swiftly across the sand. At high
tide even in calm weather the Perigeau was awash--in storm, far better
to plunge into the water than to be pounded to death upon those
_diable_ rocks, lifted up and pounded upon the rocks, and lifted up and
pounded again, when the water should be high. At ten o'clock it would
be full tide. Thanks to the _bon Dieu_ it was not eight o'clock when
the water would be at its height, or else--

"_Sacre nom d'un nom, d'un nom_"--Jean was grinding words from between
his teeth. They came utterly without volition, utterly meaningless,
utterly spontaneous from the brain afire.

It was the lee of the headland, and it was the mercy of the _Sainte
Vierge_ that it was so; otherwise, _bapteme de bapteme_! no boat could
live where a fish would drown. But it was the smoother water of a
mill-race--in with the tide, out with the tide--between the headland
and the Perigeau it was like that.

With a wrench, Jean swung the boat aroun