from the mainland by the dark and dangerous channel of the Sound.

Once more Midwinter looked at his watch. "We have gone far enough," he
said. "Stand by the sheet!"

"Stop!" cried Allan, from the bows of the boat. "Good God! here's a
wrecked ship right ahead of us!"

Midwinter let the boat fall off a little, and looked where the other
pointed.

There, stranded midway between the rocky boundaries on either side of
the Sound--there, never again to rise on the living waters from her
grave on the sunken rock; lost and lonely in the quiet night; high, and
dark, and ghostly in the yellow moonshine, lay the Wrecked Ship.

"I know the vessel," said Allan, in great excitement. "I heard my
workmen talking of her yesterday. She drifted in here, on a pitch-dark
night, when they couldn't see the lights; a poor old worn-out
merchantman, Midwinter, that the ship-brokers have bought to break up.
Let's run in and have a look at her."

Midwinter hesitated. All the old sympathies of his sea-life strongly
inclined him to follow Allan's suggestion; but the wind was falling
light, and he distrusted the broken water and the swirling currents of
the channel ahead. "This is an ugly place to take a boat into when you
know nothing about it," he said.

"Nonsense!" returned Allan. "It's as light as day, and we float in two
feet of water."

Before Midwinter could answer, the current caught the boat, and swept
them onward through the channel straight toward the wreck.

"Lower the sail," said Midwinter, quietly, "and ship the oars. We are
running down on her fast enough now, whether we like it or not."

Both well accustomed to the use of the oar, they brought the course of
the boat under sufficient control to keep her on the smoothest side of
the channel--the side which was nearest to the Islet of the Calf. As
they came swiftly up with the wreck, Midwinter resigned his oar to
Allan; and, watching his opportunity, caught a hold with the boat-hook
on the fore-chains of the vessel. The next moment they had the boat
safely in hand, under the lee of the wreck.

The ship's ladder used by the workmen hung over the fore-chains.
Mounting it, with the boat's rope in his teeth, Midwinter secured one
end, and lowered the other to Allan in the boat. "Make that fast," he
said, "and wait till I see if it's all safe on board." With those words,
he disappeared behind the bulwark.

"Wait?" repeated Allan, in the blankest astonishment at his friend's
exc