end, and part of the
overhanging cliffs, burst into intense light as the great rocket went
out to sea with a wild roar. It was like a horrid fiery serpent, and
carried a line tied to its tail! It plunged into the waves, and all was
dark again, but there was no cheer from the wreck. The aim had not been
good, and the rocket-line had missed its mark.

"Fetch another! look alive!" shouted our black-bearded friend, as he
seized, set up, and aimed a second rocket.

Again the light burst forth, and the rocket sprang out in the teeth of
the gale. It fell beyond the brig, and the line caught in the rigging!
The wrecked crew seemed to understand what was required of them, for
they immediately began to haul on the rocket-line. To the shore-end of
it was fastened, by the men on the rocks, a block or pulley with a
double or endless line, called a "whip," through it. When the men in
the brig had hauled this block on board they fastened it to the stump of
the main mast. Then the rescuers on shore tied a thick cable or hawser
to their double line and ran it out to the wreck, but when this thick
rope reached the crew, they did not seem to know what to do with it, for
it was not hauled upon, but continued to hang loose.

"They must be foreigners, and don't know what to do next," said one.

"P'rhaps they've got too cold to work it," said another. "I wish we had
a little more light to see what they're about."

"We can't afford to wait," cried our friend Blackbeard, quickly throwing
off his upper garments; "run me out, lads, on the whip. There won't be
much risk if you're quick."

"Risk!" exclaimed one of his comrades; "it will be certain death!"

But the daring Coastguardsman had already seized the thin line and
plunged into the boiling surf.

His anxious comrades knew that delay would only make death more certain,
so they hauled on the endless line as quickly as they could. Of course,
being rove through the block before mentioned, the other half of it went
out to the wreck with the gallant rescuer holding on. And what an awful
swim that was! The line pulled him out, indeed, but it could not buoy
him up. Neither could it save him from the jagged rocks that rose out
of the sea every now and then, like black teeth which were quickly
re-swallowed by each crashing wave. It was more like a dive than a
swim, for the seething foam burst over him continually; but every time
he rose above the surface to gasp for breath, he se