There he goes! There, they are
hoisting them into the boat!"

"Have they got them all, sir?"

"That I can't see; but I expect they have, for you see they have lowered
the sail. Yes! they must have got them all, for none of them are
standing up looking about, as they would be if one was missing."

Five minutes later the sail was hoisted again. The officer watched for a
minute or two, and then closed his glass.

"They are going up the Ray," he said, "I expect they are going to tow
the boat in here; she is under the island. They would not trouble about
that unless those they have picked up were all right, but would be
making straight back again to see what could be done for them."

The little crowd, now feeling that nothing worse than a ducking had
happened to those on the sand, broke up and scattered to their houses.
No one had known at first what boat it was whose occupants had got into
trouble, and it was not till it was half-way back that it was made out
to be Corbett's.

"Why, I thought he was ill in bed?" one said.

"So he is, but I expect his boys went out with it. It was not likely
there was a man on board. No one but boys would be fools enough to get
caught like that, and I should have thought Bill Corbett had too much
sense."

"Why, Jack, what has happened?" Mrs. Robson asked as her son entered the
house.

"Nothing much, mother; but we have had a ducking. There was a steamer
aground on the Middle Ground, and watching her we forgot all about the
tide, and the boat drifted away and we got caught. Of course I could
swim, so there was no danger for me; but it would have gone hard with
the two Corbetts if the sailor at the coast-guard station had not made
us out, and their boat put off and picked us up."

"Well, go and change your clothes at once, Jack; it has taken all the
colour out of your face. I will get a cup of hot tea ready for you by
the time you come down."

It was not until some of her neighbours came in, and talked to her about
the narrow escape her son had had, that Mrs. Robson realized that Jack's
life had been in considerable danger, and it was well that she had him
before her enjoying his tea before she learnt the truth.

"It is no use getting into a fuss about it, mother," Jack said
cheerfully; "it is not going to happen again, you know. It has been a
good lesson to me to keep my eyes open; and when I go cockling again I
won't lose sight of the boat, not if there were twenty vessels ash