inst the will of the
overpowering elements--a struggle that the girls never forgot. On, on,
fought the gallant men in the staunch little boats. On, on toward the
quivering giant that hung on the edge of destruction--her fate the fate
of all the lives on board.

The storm that had beaten her on to the treacherous shoal was now doing
its best to loosen her hold upon it. And that hold was the one slender
thread that kept alive the hope of the passengers on board.

If the pounding waves once succeeded in pushing her back into the deeper
water of the channel, nothing could save her. The great hole ripped in
her side by the impact with the shoal would fill with water, and in five
minutes there would be nothing left but the swirling water to mark the
spot where she had been.

And the passengers! At the thought Billie cried out aloud and clenched
her fists.

"Oh, oh, it can't be, it can't be! Those boats will never reach her in
time. Oh, isn't there something somebody can do?" She turned pleadingly
to Uncle Tom, but the look on his face startled her and she followed his
set gaze out to sea.

"No, there isn't anything anybody can do--now," he said.

The storm had had its way at last. The elements had won. With a rending
of mighty timbers the tortured ship slid backward off the shoal and into
the deep waters of the channel.

"There she goes!"

"That's the last of that vessel!"

"I wonder if any of the folks on board got off safely."

"I couldn't see--the spray almost blinds a fellow."

Such were some of the remarks passed around as the ship on the shoal
slipped slowly from view.

The girls clung to each other in an agony of suspense. Never had they
dreamed that they would witness such a dreadful catastrophe as was now
unfolding before them.

"Oh, Billie, this is dreadful!" groaned Laura, her face white with
terror.

"I can hardly bear to look at it," whimpered Vi. "Just think of those
poor people! I am sure every one of them will be drowned."

"Some of them must have gotten away in the small boats," answered Billie.

"I didn't see any of the boats," protested Connie. "But, of course, you
can't see much of anything in such a storm as this."

"All we can do is to hope for the best," said Billie soberly.

"It's the worst thing I ever heard of," sighed Vi. "Why must we have such
storms as this to tear such a big ship apart!"

A groan went up from the watchers, and many of them turned away. They
could not see