nerally began to
make towards their respective boats for their jackets and dry socks.
When it was discovered that one of the three boats was gone not a word
was uttered, but the men looked at each other in evident perplexity.
They seemed to realise their position at once.

In a few minutes some of that band must inevitably be left to perish,
for the absent boat and vessel were seen drifting farther and farther
away to leeward. Mr Stevenson knew that in such a case, where life and
death were in the balance, a desperate struggle among the men for
precedence would be certain. Indeed he afterwards learned that the
pickmen had resolved to stick by their boat against all hazards. While
they were thus gazing in silence at each other and at the distant
vessel, their enterprising leader had been casting about in his mind as
to the best method of at least attempting the deliverance of his men,
and he finally turned round to propose, as a forlorn hope, that all
hands should strip off their upper clothing, that every unnecessary
article should be removed from the boats, that a specified number should
get into each, and that the remainder should hang on by the gunwales,
and thus be dragged through the water while they were rowed cautiously
towards the "Smeaton"! But when he tried to speak his mouth was so
parched that his tongue refused utterance! and then he discovered, (as
he says himself), "that saliva is as necessary to speech as the tongue
itself!" Turning to a pool, he moistened his lips with sea-water, and
found immediate relief. He was again about to speak when some one
shouted "a boat! a boat!" and, sure enough, a large boat was seen
through the haze making towards the rock. This timely visitor was James
Spink, the Bell Rock pilot, who had come off express from Arbroath with
letters. His visit was altogether an unusual one, and his truly
providential appearance unquestionably prevented loss of life on that
critical occasion. This is one specimen--selected from innumerable
instances of danger and risk--which may give one some idea of what is
encountered by those who build such lighthouses as the Bell Rock.

Our rambles on the rock were necessarily of short duration. We used to
stand in the doorway watching the retreating waves, and, the moment the
rails were uncovered, we hurried down the ladder--all of us bent on
getting as much exercise as possible on land! We marched in single
file, up and down the narrow rail