pened quickly spread through the ship, and
every one felt anxious about their shipmates.

Four boats were immediately manned, Jack and Terence each taking command
of one, Higson going in a third, and Mr Scrofton having charge of the
fourth. The first ready having called alongside the _Tudor_ to give the
information, two of her boats were immediately despatched to aid in the
search. The weather in the meantime, as night advanced, grew worse and
worse. Down came a deluge of rain, while vivid lightning darted from
the sky; the wind, too, had been rising, and as they got outside the
harbour they found a considerable sea running.

Each officer was to take the direction he judged best. Before shoving
off the boatswain got the black, who brought the information, into his
boat, and pumping him learnt exactly whereabouts the pinnace had
capsized, while he also ascertained the direction in which the current
ran.

It might seem an easy thing to fall in with a boat which had capsized
scarcely a mile off; but some hours had elapsed since the accident had
occurred, and during all that time she must have drifted for a
considerable distance. The direction in which she had gone also could
be calculated only by those who knew exactly the set and rate of the
current. Jack and Terence went away fully believing that they should
before long fall in with the wreck; their only fear was that those left
on it might have been washed off, or, succumbing to fatigue, have
dropped into the water. The thunder rattled and the lightning flashed
over head. Between the intervals they often fancied they could hear the
voices of their shipmates hailing them; sometimes, too, through the
gloom they imagined that they could see the boat on her side, with a few
still clinging to her; but when they got up to the spot, she was not
there. Though Terence hoped to find all the party, he naturally felt
most anxious on account of Gerald Desmond.

"I ought to have thought of the risks he would have had to run," he said
to himself. "To be sure I got into a good many scrapes and tumbled out
of them, and I hope he may. I cannot bear the thoughts of having to
write to my poor sister, and to tell her that her boy is lost."

Still the boats continued searching in every direction; the wind blowing
fresh, and the foaming seas hissing round them. There was little hope,
indeed, that they should find those they were looking for, though the
boat herself might by c