w had been found on a flat rock and the fishermen
had at first thought all their perils in vain, for it was impossible
to bring the boats up, on account of the rocks, which ran out in a long
reef. Sir Guy, who knew the place, steered to the sheltered spot where
he had been used to make fast his own little boat, and undertook to
make his way from thence to the rock where the crew had taken refuge,
carrying a rope to serve as a kind of hand-rail, when fastened from one
rock to the other. Ben insisted on sharing his peril, and they had
crept along the slippery, broken reefs, lashed by the surge, for such
a distance, that the fishermen shuddered as they spoke of the danger of
being torn off by the force of the waves, and dashed against the rocks.
Nothing else could have saved the crew. They had hardly accomplished the
passage through the rising tide, even with the aid of the rope and the
guidance of Sir Guy and Ben, and, before the boats had gone half a mile
on their return, the surge was tumbling furiously over the stones where
they had been found.

The sailors were safely disposed of, in bed, or by the fireside, the
fishers vying in services to them. Mr. Ashford went to the cottage of
Charity Ledbury, Jem's mother, to inquire for the boy with the broken
arm. As he entered the empty kitchen, the opposite door of the stairs
was opened, and Guy appeared, stepping softly, and speaking low.

'Poor little fellow!' he said; 'he is just going to sleep. He bore it
famously!'

'The setting his arm?'

'Yes. He was quite sensible, and very patient, and that old Charity
Ledbury is a capital old woman. She and Jem are delighted to have him,
and will nurse him excellently. How are all the others? Has that poor
man come to his senses?'

'Yes. I saw him safe in bed at old Robinson's. The captain is at the
Browns'.'

'I wonder what time of day it is?'

'Past eight. Ah! there is the bell beginning. I was thinking of going
to tell Master Ray we are not too much excited to remember church-going
this morning; but I am glad he has found it out only ten minutes too
late. I must make haste. Good-bye!'

'May not I come, too, or am I too strange a figure?' said Guy, looking
at his dress, thrown on in haste, and saturated with sea-water.

'May you?' said Mr. Ashford, smiling. 'Is it wise, with all your wet
things?'

'I am not given to colds,' answered Guy, and they walked on quickly
for some minutes; after which he said, in a low voice