se."

Just then a voice was heard at no great distance, shouting.

Hixon hailed in return, "Where are you?"

"On an island of some sort," was the answer. "Many more saved?"

Hixon replied that the captain and ten men had escaped.

Although the channel between the rock and the land might be deep, with
the help of a man on the latter, if a rope could be passed to him, they
might all cross in safety.

They waited anxiously till daylight. The wind had gone down by that
time, and the sea was much calmer. A rocky island of some height rose
before them, but as the sea rushed in and out in the intervening space,
even a good swimmer might have hesitated to cross.

The larger portion of their gallant ship had disappeared, but the
afterpart still remained entire.

Several lengths of rope were cut from the rigging of the mainmast, which
had been thrown back on the rock. They were eager to get across, for
they had no food and no water on the rock. Several attempts were made
to heave a rope to the man on the island, but in vain, the distance was
too great. At length a short piece of a spar was fastened to the end of
the signal halyards. How eagerly it was watched, as it floated now in
one direction, now in another; gradually it drew out the line; it was
hoped that it might be drifted by some surge towards the man, who was
eagerly on the watch to catch it.

"We must not despair," said Peter to Hixon, who had come to see how the
captain was getting on. "If we pray that God will send the spar to
shore He is certain to hear us, and He will do it if He thinks fit."

"What you say is true, I know," observed the old man; and together they
knelt and prayed that a way to serve them might be found.

The captain, who had returned to consciousness, looked at them with
astonishment, but said nothing. In a short time a shout came from the
men who held the line on the inner side of the rock that the spar had
reached the shore, and that Tom had hold of it. A stronger rope was
soon hauled across, and then one which could bear the weight of two or
three people at a time, if necessary. That was secured between the rock
and the mainland. First one man made his way along it, then another and
another, and all were going, with the exception of Emery and Bill, who,
with Peter and old Hixon, stayed by the captain. The latter, seeing
this, cried out, "Shame, lads; would you desert the captain when he is
unable to help himself?" The m