Rosario! That's the
beacon on the Church! Square off the Cabanal! And just the time to make
a landing! But would the folks at home be on hand?

The Rector headed inshore, but then his astonishing good humor gave way
to a thoughtful mood. He knew what that coast was like. If he tried to
lie to in that blow, it would be all over in two hours. They would smash
up, either on the Breakwater or on the bars in front of Nazaret. To run
offshore was out of the question. The _Garbosa_ was getting loggier and
loggier every moment. The water was already way up in the hold. She
would break to pieces in the sea before morning. There was no other way
out of it. Ashore she must go, and trust to luck! Driving as much before
the breakers as before the gale, the vessel held straight on toward the
beach still shrouded in gloom. Suddenly another light! And it flashed
three times, and went out. Then, three times again! Tonet joined the
Rector in a cry of joy. _Tio_ Mariano was on watch ashore. It was the
signal agreed upon. He had scratched three matches under cover of a
shawl, which kept the light from being seen except from the sea.

It looked like madness, but the Rector had the reef cut out of the sail.
The _Garbosa_ spurted like a race-horse, showing her keel, as she lunged
through the waves, now forward and now astern. The boom of the surf
ahead could now be heard above the howl of the gale. Finally, from the
top of a comber, the beach came into view, the black profiles of the
houses standing out against the sky. Then a sharp, snapping, crunching
crash! The boat stopped short, grinding and groaning as though her
timbers were being torn asunder. The wind caught the sail and the mast
went overboard. A huge breaker burst over the stern, washing the men off
their feet, and loosening the bales from their fastenings. The _Garbosa_
had struck bottom, but only a few yards from dry land. Out through the
surf a swarm of dark figures streamed, splashing into the water and
rushing at the boat. Men climbed up on board, and without saying a word
to the Rector and his crew, who stood there still speechless from the
shock, they began to pick up the bundles and pass them on from hand to
hand.

"_Tio, tio!_" the Rector called, finally recovering his wits, and
leaping into the water, which hardly passed his belt.

"Here I am," came the answer from the dark. "But shut up, for God's
sake, and get to work!"

And it was a strange weird spectacle, indee