water extending
beyond it.

The bay was indeed a dangerous place to enter with so heavy a gale from
the south-west as was now blowing.

Lieutenant Pack and his young nephew Edward Garth were returning home
from an errand of mercy to an old fisherman who had been severely
injured by the upsetting of his boat, in a vain endeavour to go off to a
coaster in distress, which foundered in sight of land, when he was
washed on shore amid the fragments of his boat, narrowly escaping with
his life. Although the fisherman's cottage was upwards of two miles
off, the old lieutenant trudged daily over to see him, and on this
occasion had been accompanied by his nephew, carrying a basket
containing certain delicacies prepared by the kind hands of Miss Sarah
Pack, or sister Sally, as he was wont to call her. He and his nephew
had started later than usual, and the gloom of an autumn evening had
overtaken them when they were still some distance from home. He had
caught sight of the vessel, apparently a large brig, and had at once
perceived her dangerous position.

For some time he and his nephew stood watching the stranger from the
cliff.

"Here she comes again!" cried Ned.

"She made out the land sooner than I expected she would," observed the
lieutenant; "but she'll scarcely weather the point even now, unless the
wind shifts. She can't do it--she can't do it!" he cried, striking the
ground in his eagerness with his stick. "Run on, Ned, to the
coast-guard station. If you meet one of the men, tell him, in case he
hasn't seen her, that I think the vessel will be on shore before long.
But if you fall in with no one, go and let Lieutenant Hanson know what I
say, and he'll get his rockets ready, so as to be prepared to assist the
crew whenever the vessel may strike. Take care, Ned, though, not to
fall over the cliff--keep well away from it. On a dark night you cannot
see the path clearly, and in many spots, remember, it ends abruptly in
places where it wouldn't do to tumble down. I cannot spare you, my
boy."

While the lieutenant was shouting out these latter sentences, Edward,
eager to obey his uncle's directions, had got to a considerable
distance; he, however, very soon came back.

"I met one of the men, uncle," he said, "and he went on to the station
faster than I could in the dark, as he knows the short cuts."

"Come along then, we'll keep an eye on the brig as we walk homeward,"
said the lieutenant. "I pray that af