made fast round a rock,
then, knowing the object of the line, they hauled away at it until they
saw a cradle coming along with a couple of boys in it. The moment they
were taken out the cradle was hauled back, and then a man appeared, and
thus, one after another, about sixty of the French crew were dragged on
shore.

Every time the cradle appeared, his shipmates hoped to see Ben in it;
but Rayner learned from one of the persons in it that he had remained on
the wreck, assisting those who were too benumbed or bewildered with fear
to secure themselves.

As the poor Frenchmen were landed, they were placed under charge of some
of the men appointed for the purpose, while two of the officers supplied
the most exhausted with such restoratives as they required.

Many, they said, had already been washed off the wreck and been lost,
while others were too much paralysed by fear even to make their way to
where Ben was standing, lashed to a stanchion, ready to help them into
the cradle.

Great fears were now entertained lest he should suffer by his noble
exertions to save others. The crashing and rending sounds increased in
frequency. Every instant some huge portion of the wreck was rent away,
and the whole intervening mass of seething waters was covered by dark
fragments of timber, tossing and rolling as they approached the beach,
or were floated out to sea, or cast against the rocks. Still the
Frenchmen kept arriving. Now one more daring than the others would
crawl along the cable in spite of the risk of being washed off by the
hungry breakers into which it was occasionally plunged.

Rayner, who stood on the rock with a party engaged in assisting the
people as they arrived in the cradle, inquired whether there were many
more to come.

"I think so, monsieur," was the answer; "we mustered nearly four hundred
souls, but of those, alas! numbers have already been washed away."

Again and again those fearful crashings, mingled with despairing
shrieks, were heard above the roar of wild breakers. Rayner felt
serious apprehensions about the safety of brave Ben.

At any moment the wreck might break up, and then it would be scarcely
possible for a human being to exist amidst the masses of timber which
would be hurled wildly about.

Again the cradle was to be hauled in. In came with greater difficulty
than before, as if it carried a heavier weight. It seemed as if the
cable would not bear the additional strain.

The Brit