yander, when you were twissin' the handkercher
at him! Aw, thinks I, he's the spittin picsher of the big widda man
Orry--Stephen Orry--brimstone and vinegar, and gunpowder atop of a
slow fire."

And it was just at that moment, as old Davy was laughing through his
yellow eyes and broken teeth at young Jason, and the other men were
laughing at Jason's adversary, and the dim forecastle under its
spluttering slush-lamp echoed and rang with the uproar, that a wild
voice came down from the deck--"Below there! All hands up! Breakers
ahead!"

Now the moment when the watch had been changed had been the very
moment when Stephen Orry had run down the lamp, so that neither by
the Manxman who gave up the helm nor by the Irishman who took it had
the light been missed when it fell into the sea. And the moment when
Stephen Orry shouted to the schooner to warn it had been the moment
when the muffled peals of laughter at the bird's strange song had
come up from the watch below in the forecastle. The wind had whistled
among the sheets, and the flying spray had smitten the men's faces,
but though the mist had lifted, the sky had still hung low and dark,
showing neither moon nor stars, nor any hint of the land that lay
ahead. But straight for the land the vessel had been driving in the
darkness, under the power of wind and tide. After a time the helmsman
had sighted a solitary light close in on the lee bow. "Point of
Ayre," he thought, and luffed off a little, intending to beat down
the middle of the bay. It had been the light on the jetty at Ramsey;
and the little town behind it, with its back to the sea, lay dark and
asleep, for the night was then well worn towards midnight. After that
the helmsman had sighted two stronger lights beyond. "Ramsey," he
thought, and put his helm aport. But suddenly the man on the lookout
had shouted, "Breakers ahead," and the cry had been sent down the
forecastle.

In an instant all hands were on deck, amid the distraction and
uproar, the shouting and blind groping of the cruel darkness. Against
the dark sky the yet darker land could now be plainly seen, and a
strong tide was driving the vessel on to it. The helm was put hard to
starboard, and the schooner's head began to pay off towards the wind.
Then all at once it was seen that right under the vessel's bow some
black thing lay just above the level of the sea, with a fringe of
white foam around it.

"Davy, what do you make of it?" shouted the skipper