ld of
the rigging, rose up on deck.

"Hurrah!" shouted the chief.

And the band shouted in the storm,--

"Hurrah!"

Just as this clamour was dying away in the tempest, a loud solemn voice
rose from the other end of the vessel, saying,--

"Silence!"

All turned their heads. The darkness was thick, and the doctor was
leaning against the mast so that he seemed part of it, and they could
not see him.

The voice spoke again,--

"Listen!"

All were silent.

Then did they distinctly hear through the darkness the toll of a bell.

CHAPTER IX.

THE CHARGE CONFIDED TO A RAGING SEA.

The skipper, at the helm, burst out laughing,--

"A bell! that's good. We are on the larboard tack. What does the bell
prove? Why, that we have land to starboard."

The firm and measured voice of the doctor replied,--

"You have not land to starboard."

"But we have," shouted the skipper.

"No!"

"But that bell tolls from the land."

"That bell," said the doctor, "tolls from the sea."

A shudder passed over these daring men. The haggard faces of the two
women appeared above the companion like two hobgoblins conjured up. The
doctor took a step forward, separating his tall form from the mast. From
the depth of the night's darkness came the toll of the bell.

The doctor resumed,--

"There is in the midst of the sea, halfway between Portland and the
Channel Islands, a buoy, placed there as a caution; that buoy is moored
by chains to the shoal, and floats on the top of the water. On the buoy
is fixed an iron trestle, and across the trestle a bell is hung. In bad
weather heavy seas toss the buoy, and the bell rings. That is the bell
you hear."

The doctor paused to allow an extra violent gust of wind to pass over,
waited until the sound of the bell reasserted itself, and then went
on,--

"To hear that bell in a storm, when the nor'-wester is blowing, is to be
lost. Wherefore? For this reason: if you hear the bell, it is because
the wind brings it to you. But the wind is nor'-westerly, and the
breakers of Aurigny lie east. You hear the bell only because you are
between the buoy and the breakers. It is on those breakers the wind is
driving you. You are on the wrong side of the buoy. If you were on the
right side, you would be out at sea on a safe course, and you would not
hear the bell. The wind would not convey the sound to you. You would
pass close to the buoy without knowing it. We are out of our course.
That bel