Part 12 (2/2)

There was now a glow of red light above the forecastle The fire was about to break through It was not hard to surmise that the collapse of the bulkhead was iety cook repeated ”It can't be long, now”

It see Minute after th, while the _First Venture_ staggered forward, wildly pitching through the seas At last, the flames broke out of the forecastle and illu, now!” the cook whimpered ”It _can't_ be!”

Nor was it The _First Venture_ struck She was upon the rocks before the skipper ell aware that breakers lay ahead Her bow fell, struck, was lifted, fell again, and fastened itself The next wave flung the schooner broadside The third co into the wind Her stern, where the crew stood waiting for the end, rose and fell on the verge of a great breaker

Beyond was a broken cliff, rising to unwashed heights, which the snow had begun to whiten The boas lifted clear of the waves; the stern ash A space of white water lay between the schooner and the shore

Bill o' Burnt Bay let go his grip on the wheel There was but one thing to do Many a skipper had done it before; but never before had there been such desperate need of haste The fire still burned lustily; and the forecastle was high out of the water

”If I can't do it,” the skipper shouted, ”it's the first hand's turn next”

He had fastened the end of a coil of rope about his waist Now he stood swaying on the taffrail By the light of the fire--uncertain and dull--he must act He leaped a moment after the next wave had slipped under the stern--when, in the current, he should reach the rocks just after the wave had broken The creaited a long tilance was cast forward; it seemed to thes of powder n caht

They paid out the rope--and waited The rope was for a long time loose in their hands

”He's landed!” cried Jimmie Grimm

The rope was hauled taut Upon the rocks, out of reach of the sea, the figure of the skipper could be seen

”One at a time!” Skipper Bill shouted

And one at a time they went--decently and in order, like true Newfoundland sailors, Tom Rook, the first hand, the last of all When they were all ashore, they scrambled like er when the _First Venture_ was blown to ato roar--and darkness; broken only by the spluttering splinters of the little craft

That night, fro in towards the Chunks To the report they sent iovernraph station at Heart's Harbour--they added, later, that she had blown up

But fro _Hurricane_ was dispatched into the stormy sea in search of the survivors; and on the second day following she picked up Skipper Bill o' Burnt Bay and his crew

Next day they were in St John's

”Wisht I'd took your advice about the insurance, sir,” broken-hearted Bill o' Burnt Bay said to Sir Archibald

Sir Archibald laughed ”I took it for you,” said he

”What?” Skipper Bill exploded

”I insured the _First Venture_ on my own responsibility,” Sir Archibald replied ”You shall build the _Second Venture_ at Ruddy Cove next winter”

Archie Ar and Bill o' Burnt Bay, with the lads and men of the lost _First Venture_, went back to Ruddy Cove by rail and the mail-boat

CHAPTER XII

_In Which Old David Grey, Once of the Hudson Bay Coins the Tale of How Donald McLeod, the Factor at Fort Refuge, Scorned a Coh His Arms Were Pinioned Behind Him and a Dozen Tomahawks Were Flourished About His Head_

Archie Ar was presently established in a white little rooe at Ruddy Cove His two trunks--t trunks, noere there established with him, of course; and they contained a new outfit of caps, shoes, boots, sweaters, coats, gloves, and what not, suited to every circuan for Archie, Jiutters, someti, indeed, who proposed the cruise to Birds' Nest Islands