cles strained back of them.

Slowly but surely the boat gained against all the fury of the onrushing
tide, and foot by foot they began to leave the shore.

Paul was shouting, swinging his hat, as Darry could see while he tugged
at his task.

Once fully launched upon the swelling bosom of the sea, the progress of
the surfboat was more rapid, though every yard had to be won by the most
arduous of labor, the men straining like galley slaves under the lash;
but in this case it was a sense of duty rather than the whip of the
tyrant that urged them on.

No man but the helmsman saw anything of the steamer that was fast upon
the cruel jaws of the reef, for it was against orders for anyone to turn
his head.

Such an incautious movement might throw him out of balance in the swing
of the stroke and bring about disaster, or at least temporarily
disarrange their regular advance; they had to trust everything to the
wisdom and experience of the man who hung on to the long steering oar,
and blindly obey his shouted instructions.

Many times had he gone forth upon just such a hazard, and thus far his
sagacity had proven equal to the task.

They began to hear human voices shrieking through the storm.

That meant they were drawing close under the lee of the steamer, and
that those on board must have sighted them, and were consequently filled
with new hope.

Above all else came the awful pounding of the sea upon the side of the
doomed steamer.

Darry knew the sound well, for many a night had he gone calmly to sleep
while the chorus of the elements was beating close to his head.

He had pulled well, and held his own with the brawny men of the crew,
just as Mr. Frazer had known would be the case when he allowed him to
take the place of Tom in the boat.

Abner was next to him, and the surfman had watched the manly efforts of
his adopted boy with secret delight.

Few boys indeed of his size could have proven their worth to the crew of
the lifeboat in time of need as Darry had done.

He could indeed be reckoned one of the life savers from this hour on, if
so be they came back again to the shore that had witnessed their
departure.

Now, as they swung around temporarily the rowers were afforded their
first glimpse of the imperiled vessel.

It was undoubtedly a steamer, one of the coasters that pass up and down
the Atlantic seaboard, bound from New York to one of the various
southern ports, or _vice versa_, and usually keeping