t once.

"Where are the forget-me-nots?" said Mrs Gilmour incautiously, for
instance, to Nellie, while arranging the wild-flowers in vases shortly
before going to bed. "I can't see them at all anywhere. Can you,
Sarah?"

There was no answer from her, however.

Sarah was off like a shot!

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

"BROKEN UP!"

Early next morning, after their usual matutinal swim, Bob and Dick
accompanied the Captain for a stroll along the beach to the coastguard-
station on the eastern side of the Castle, near to which the ill-fated
_Bembridge Belle_ had been run ashore.

Of course, Rover formed one of the party; carrying, equally as a matter
of course, his young master's towels in his mouth and wagging his fine
bushy tail with even more energy than he generally evinced when
performing that function, in order to express his proud exultation at
the trust reposed in him.

At the coastguard-station they found Hellyer standing by the flagstaff,
with his telescope under his left arm and evidently on duty.

"Not much damage done to her hull yet, sir," said he, touching his hat,
as he thus anticipated the Captain's inquiry. "She were all awash,
though, sir, at high-water this morning!"

"Indeed!" cried Captain Dresser. "Then, that forward bulkhead must have
started when the fore compartment got full."

"No doubt o' that, sir," agreed Hellyer. "Why, the tide covered her
after-deck at Six Bells; and the cushions of the settees and a lot o'
dunnage were floating about in the saloon below and washing through the
ports astern."

"Her fo'c's'le, however, keeps high and dry."

"Aye, now it do, sir," replied Hellyer. "But, not for long!"

"You're right, my man," said the Captain, after having a good squint at
the object of their commiseration. "She has been working already on the
shingle, and her frame has been a good deal knocked about since last
night."

The coastguardsman gave a shrug to his shoulders.

"I expect a tide or two'll settle her hash, sir," he observed, after
thus relieving his pent-up feelings. "With the water making a clean
sweep through her fore and aft every time it rises, the poor thing can't
last long, sir!"

"Aye," said the Captain. "She's bound to go to pieces, now, fast
enough."

"So I've reported to the commander, sir, this very morning," continued
Hellyer; "and, he's sent down word as I'm to keep men stationed along
the shore so as to pick up any wreckage that mebbe washed out on