r to rescue them, and eagerly waited their chance. The three
men had no control whatever over the spar; it was as much as they could
do to preserve their hold. Washed about backwards and forwards, their
peril seemed imminent; but at last a fortuitous wave carried them on to
the rocks amid the rejoicings of their compatriots. Captain Wright and
five others drifted towards Point Danger, where they encountered
serious obstacles to their landing in the immense growths of seaweed,
and the wall of surf that spanned the beach. In order to lighten the
weight depending on the fragment of wreck that had sustained them until
now, Wright separated from it, trusting to his own prowess to reach the
shore. Several others followed his example, and all were successful in
their endeavours; and after walking a little way up the country, they
fell in with Captain Wright and his company. During the day they
lighted on a fisherman's hut, but nothing was available there, so Mr.
Wright trudged off to a farm-house, about a couple of leagues distant,
where he procured and forwarded articles of food to those he had left
half-famished in the hut. The following day, waifs from the wreck
being continually helped ashore by those already landed, the number
amounted to sixty-eight men, including eighteen sailors, and these all
found temporary refuge at Captain Small's farm.

But coming back to the scene of the disaster, it will be remembered
that the women and children were packed carefully in the cutter, under
the superintendence of Mr. Richards, and ordered to keep within a
restricted limit of the wreck. As it disappeared, the boat was rowed
up to take in as many as possible, but then numbers more were left
straining with wistful eyes after the heavily-freighted craft, as she
slowly receded. It was with bitter pangs that Mr. Richards was obliged
to refuse the help he could not give to the poor drowning wretches, for
the boat was near swamping with the burden she already bore. Here,
again, the breakers threatened to prevent a landing. Vast flakes of
foam were hurled over the boat, as she fought her way against the tide.
Seeing, therefore, that the waves formed an invincible barrier at the
point they were striving to reach, Mr. Richards drew back into the
open, and signalling to the other boats to keep clear also, he rowed
for several miles along the coast in hopes of finding a smoother sea,
but to no purpose.

Break of day showed them, in