he yellow hammocks, at whose base the breakers were
discharging their fury in a terrible bombardment of the land. The road
wound through the hummocks, and then the party stood upon the beach. It
was a cold, ugly atmosphere, pierced by the missiles of the storm, while
the surf crashed on the sand in one long, fierce, unearthly roar. People
from the town were now gathering on the beach, some of them carrying
lanterns that twinkled like stars knocked out of their places by the
storm, fallen now to the level of the beach.

But where was the wreck? No sign of it anywhere; only rain, surf, storm,
blackness--a wild medley.

"This is a sell!" said a man.

"Wish I was in bed agin," exclaimed another.

"Let's catch the feller that rang that church bell," exclaimed a third,
"and duck him in the surf."

A fourth made a sensible suggestion: "Let's go down to the life-saving
station, and they can probably tell us there."

A quarter of a mile up the beach was a life-saving station, and a light
could be seen winking from one of its windows. Several, including Will and
the boys, walked up the beach, past the crashing waves, and reaching the
station, pushed open its door on the land-side of the building, and
entered. Charlie looked about him with eager curiosity, for it was the
first time he had ever been in such a place. The building was of two
stories. The larger part of the lower story was taken up by a "boat-room"
for various kinds of apparatus for reaching wrecks. Charlie also saw the
inside of a kitchen, and Will told him there was a room up stairs for the
beds of the men at the station. Charlie and Tony warmed themselves at the
brisk fire in the store. The man on duty there did not seem to know any
thing about the disaster reported in town, but he talked with Will and
Charlie about shipwrecks and storms and efforts at rescuing the wrecked.
After a while, Charlie said to Will, "Let's go out and take a run along
the beach, and see what's going on."

"Yes," added Tony, "let's do it."

"A run up and down the beach to see what is going on, this stormy night?
You are enterprising boys. Well, we will go. Button up your coats snug,
though. Fold my cape about you, Charlie. There, you look like a small monk
off on a tare. You fixed, Tony? Come, boys," said Will.

Bang! How the wind slammed the door after them! And how the sea thundered
and roared; then roared and thundered again! It seemed as if every throw
of surf was heavier tha