-guns. With these came mingled that yet more inexplicable humming
which one hears at intervals in such times, like strains of music caught
and tangled in the currents of stormy air,--strains which were perhaps
the filmy thread on which tales of sirens and mermaids were first
strung, and in which, at this time, they would fain recognize the voice
of Emilia.

XXII. OUT OF THE DEPTHS.

AS the night closed in, the wind rose steadily, still blowing from the
southwest. In Brenton's kitchen they found a group round a great fire of
driftwood; some of these were fishermen who had with difficulty made a
landing on the beach, and who confirmed the accounts already given.
The boat had been seen sailing for the Narragansett shore, and when the
squall came, the boatman had lowered and reefed the sail, and stood for
the light-ship. They must be on board of her, if anywhere.

"There are safe there?" asked Philip, eagerly.

"Only place where they would be safe, then," said the spokesman.

"Unless the light-ship parts," said an old fellow.

"Parts!" said the other. "Sixty fathom of two-inch chain, and old Joe
talks about parting."

"Foolish, of course," said Philip; "but it's a dangerous shore."

"That's so," was the answer. "Never saw so many lines of reef show
outside, neither."

"There's an old saying on this shore," said Joe:--

"When Price's Neck goes to Brenton's Reef,
Body and soul will come to grief.
But when Brenton's Reef comes to Price's Neck,
Soul and body are both a wreck."

"What does it mean?" asked Harry.

"It only means," said somebody, "that when you see it white all the way
out from the Neck to the Reef, you can't take the inside passage."

"But what does the last half mean?" persisted Harry.

"Don't know as I know," said the veteran, and relapsed into silence, in
which all joined him, while the wind howled and whistled outside, and
the barred windows shook.

Weary and restless with vain waiting, they looked from the doorway at
the weather. The door went back with a slam, and the gust swooped down
on them with that special blast that always seems to linger just outside
on such nights, ready for the first head that shows itself. They closed
the door upon the flickering fire and the uncouth shadows within, and
went forth into the night. At first the solid blackness seemed to lay a
weight on their foreheads. There was absolutely nothing to be seen
but the two li