waters alongside, but they quickly disappeared.

"They are all gone," cried Jack; "not one that I can see has escaped."

"Perhaps some were below," observed Bill. "If they were, it won't much
matter, for in a few minutes she will go to pieces."

He was mistaken as to the latter point, for another sea rolling in,
lifted the vessel, and driving over the ledge on which she had first
struck, carried her between some dark rocks, till she stuck fast on the
sandy shore. Had the people been able to cling to her till now, some
might possibly have been saved, but they had apparently all been on deck
when the vessel struck, and been swept away by the first sea which
rolled over her. The seas still continued to sweep along her deck, but
their force was partly broken by the rocks, and being evidently a stout
vessel, she hung together.

It was at the time nearly high-water, and the lads longed for the tide
to go down, that they might examine her nearer.

"Even if anybody is alive on board, we cannot help them," observed Jack;
"so I vote that we take our fish to the camp, and have some dinner. I
am very sharp set, seeing that we had no breakfast to speak of."

Bill, who had no objection to offer, agreed to this; so carrying up
their newly-obtained provisions, they soon had a fire lighted, and some
of the fish broiling away before it.

The fate of the unfortunate vessel formed the subject of their
conversation.

"I have an idea," cried Bill. "It's an ill wind that brings no one good
luck. If we can manage to get on board that craft which has come on
shore, we might build a boat out of her planking, or at all events a
raft; and should the wind come from the southward, we might manage to
get across the Channel, or be picked up by some vessel or other. We are
pretty sure to find provisions on board. Perhaps one of her boats may
have escaped being knocked to pieces, and we could repair her. At all
events, it will be our own fault if that wreck doesn't give us the
opportunity of escaping."

Jack listened to all Bill was saying.

"I cannot agree with you as to the chance of getting off," he observed.
"As soon as the wreck is seen, the Frenchmen are sure to be down on the
shore, and we shall be caught and carried back to prison instead of
getting away. The boats are pretty certain to have been knocked into
shreds before this, and as to building a boat, that is what neither you
nor I can do, even if we had the tools, and