ger of his being struck by a piece of
drift-wood from the wreck. I can assure you that it was a very grand
action, whatever your son may have told you about it."

The next morning the gale was still blowing fiercely, although with less
strength than on the previous day. Jack had heard from his mother of his
appointment to go to the "Ship" with much discontent, and had at first
positively refused to go.

"I hate going up to see strange people, mother, anyhow; and I am sure
that I do not want to be thanked. I am glad enough to have had a share
in saving all their lives, but of course it was all Uncle Ben and Tom's
handling the boat that did it; I had nothing to do with it whatever,
except that little swim with the rope tied safely round me. Why, it was
nothing to that affair that I had with Bill and Joe Corbett."

"But you must go, Jack; the ladies naturally wish to thank you for what
you did for them, and whether you like it or not you must go. It would
be very rude and uncivil not to do so. They would be sure to send round
here if you did not come, and what should I say except that you were so
unmannerly that you would not go."

Jack twisted himself on his chair uncomfortably.

"I don't see why they shouldn't thank Uncle Ben for the lot and have
done with it," he grumbled. "It is his boat and he was the skipper, and
he did it all; besides, I expect the _Bessy_ will have to be overhauled
before she goes out again. She came down with a tremendous crash on her
forefoot, and the water was just coming up through the boards in the
fo'castle when we came in. Of course it may have come in from above, but
I expect she sprang a leak somewhere forward. I thought she was very low
in the water when she came in, and I expect that she must have been half
full aft, for she was very much down by the stern.

"We had the pump going all the time, and it was always clear water. I
did not think of it at the time. We had had such a lot of water over us
it was likely it might have got in through the hatches; but I feel sure
now that it was a leak. Well, I suppose if I must go, I must, mother;
but I hate it for all that."

However, just before Jack was about to start there was a knock at the
door, and Mrs. Robson opening it saw two ladies and a girl. Immediately
on their arrival the evening before, Mrs. Godstone had telegraphed home
for a servant to come down in the morning by the first train, with
clothes for herself and daughter, and s