The canoe rose on a huge wave which broke all round it. This nearly
filled it with water, and carried it towards the shore with such
velocity that it seemed as if they should be dashed in pieces; but they
fell back into the trough of the sea, and lay motionless like a heavy
log, and in a sinking condition.

"Now, lads, look out for the next wave, and give way with a will," cried
Massan. The worthy steersman acted rather too energetically on his own
advice, for he dipped his paddle with such force that it snapped in two.

"Be ready to jump out," cried Dick Prince, standing up in the bow in
order to give more power to his strokes.

As he spoke, Stanley turned to his wife, and said, "Jessie, hold on by
my collar; I'll take Eda in my arms." At that instant the canoe gave a
lurch, and before Stanley could grasp his child, they were all
struggling in the sea! At this awful moment, instead of endeavouring to
do as her husband directed, Mrs Stanley instinctively threw her arms
around Edith, and while the waves were boiling over her, she clasped the
child tightly to her bosom with her left arm, while with her right she
endeavoured to raise herself to the surface. Twice she succeeded, and
twice she sank, when a box of merchandise providentially struck her arm.
Seizing this, she raised herself above the water, and poor Edith gasped
convulsively once or twice for air. Then the box was wrenched from her
grasp by a wave, and with a wild shriek she sank again. Just then a
strong arm was thrown around her, her feet touched the ground, and in a
few seconds she was dragged violently from the roaring waves and fell
exhausted on the beach.

"Thanks be to God, we are saved!" murmured Mrs Stanley, as her husband
assisted her to rise and led her beyond the reach of the waves, while
Edith still clung with a deadly grasp to her mother's neck.

"Ay, Jessie, thank God indeed! But for His mercy we should have all
been lost. I was floundering about beside the canoe when your scream
showed me where you were, and enabled me to save you. But rest here, in
the lee of this bale.--I cannot stay by you. Frank is in danger still."

Without waiting for a reply, he sprang from her side and hurried down to
the beach. Here everything was in the utmost confusion. The two large
canoes had been saved and dragged out of the reach of the waves, and the
men were struggling in the boiling surf to rescue the baggage and
provisions, on which latter