.

"We were talking about 'em, sir, 'fore you woke up," said Jecks sadly;
and I now saw that he had received a blow on the head, while he spoke
slowly, and looked strange.

"And what--"

"I'm afraid they're--"

"Allee dlowned; velly much 'flaid."

I groaned.

"I don't know how we managed to get ashore, sir," said Jecks faintly.
"I think it was because there was so little undertow to the waves. When
the boat struck, it felt to me as if I was being blown through the
shallow water, and I shouldn't have been here if I hadn't come up
against Mr Ching, who was pulling you along."

"Then you saved me, Ching?" I cried.

"Ching takee hold, and pullee here. Velly pull wolk. Him get hold of
tow-chang, and pullee him both together."

"That's right, sir. I snatched at anything, and got hold of his tail,
and held on. But you don't mind, Mr Ching?"

"No; mustn't cut tow-chang off."

"Let's try if we can find the others," I said; and, taking the lead, I
walked round the mass of rock which had sheltered us, to gaze out at the
heaving sea, which was rising and falling restlessly; but there was no
white water, all was of a delicious blue, darker than the sky, and not a
sail in sight.

To right and left extended a low cliff, at whose feet lay huge masses
which had fallen from time to time; then an irregular stretch of sand
extended to where the waves came curling over, the swell being very
heavy, and the only trace of the storm to be seen was the way in which
the sand had been driven up against the cliff, so as to form quite a
glacis.

We could see about half a mile in either direction, but there was no
sign of our companions, and my heart sank again. There were, however,
here and there, ridges of rock, running down like breakwaters into the
sea, and about which it fretted and tossed tremendously; and, in the
hope that one of these ridges might hide our friends from our view, I
climbed to the top of the highest piece of rock I could reach, and took
a long and careful survey.

"See anything, sir?" said Tom Jecks.

"No," I replied, "nothing. Yes; about a quarter of a mile on there's a
spar sticking up; it may be the boat's mast."

I came hurriedly down, and my announcement was enough to set my
companions off, Jecks limping painfully through the loose sand, climbing
rocks, and finding it no easy task to get over that so-called quarter of
a mile, which, like all such spaces on the sea-shore, proved to be about
do