ly before the wind, when
a long narrow craft would have been burying herself.

Presently he thought he heard his uncle shout, and getting up looked
aft. Tom Hoskins was now at the helm. Tripper was standing beside him,
and pointing at something broad away on the beam. Jack at once made his
way aft.

"What is it, uncle?"

"I saw the flash of a gun. Ah! there it is again. There is a ship ashore
on the Middle Sunk." Jack gazed in the direction in which his uncle was
pointing. In a minute there was another flash.

"It is all over with her," Ben Tripper said solemnly. "The strongest
ship that ever was built could not hold together long on that sand with
such a sea on as there will be there now."

"Cannot we do something?"

Tripper was silent for half a minute. "What do you think, Tom? We might
get there through the swashway. There is plenty of water for us, and we
could lay our course there. It is a risky business, you know, and we may
not be able to get near her when we get there; but that we cannot tell
till we see how she is fixed. Still, if we could get there before she
goes to pieces we might perhaps save some of them."

"I don't mind, Ben, if you don't," the other said. "I have neither wife
nor child, and if you like to take the risk, I am ready."

Ben Tripper looked at Jack. "I would not mind if it wasn't for the boy,"
he said.

"Don't mind me, uncle," Jack burst out. "I would not have you hang back
because of me, not for anything in the world. Do try it, uncle. It would
be awful to think of afterwards, when we hear of her being lost with all
hands, that we might have saved some of them perhaps if we had tried."

Ben still hesitated, when another bright flash was seen. It was an
appeal for aid he could not resist. "Put down the helm, Tom," he said.
"Now, Jack, help me to rouse in the sheet. That will do. Now then for a
pull on the jib-sheet. Now we will put the last reef in the foresail and
hoist it, slack the brail and haul down the main-tack a bit. We must
keep good way on her crossing the tide." Now that they were nearly
close-hauled instead of running before the wind, Jack recognized much
more strongly than before how heavy was the sea and how great the force
of the wind. Lively as the boat was, great masses of water poured over
her bow and swept aft as each wave struck her. Her lee bulwarks were
completely buried.

"Give me the helm, Tom," Tripper said; "and get those hatchways up and
cover the well