Part 13 (2/2)

Then Elzevir went to the kicking-wheel, and beckoned me to help him, and between us we put the heliven up all hope of the wind shi+fting, and was trying to run her dead for the beach

She was broached-to with her bows in the wind, but gradually paid off as the staysail filled, and so she headed straight for shore The Noveht had fallen, and it was very dark, only the white fringe of the breakers could be seen, and grew plainer as we drew closer to it The as blowing fiercer than ever, and the waves broke more fiercely nearer the shore They had lost their dirty yellow colour when the light died, and were rolling after us like great blackwhite top that seemed as if they must overwhelm us every minute Twice they pooped us, and ere up to our waists in icy water, but still held to the wheel for our lives

The white line was nearer to us now, and above all the rage of wind and sea I could hear the awful roar of the under-tow sucking back the pebbles on the beach The last ti that roar hen I lay, as a boy, one su, in the little ashed bedroom at my aunt's; and I wondered now if any sat before their inland hearths this night, and hearing that far distant roar, would throw another log on the fire, and thank God they were not fighting for their lives in Moonfleet Bay I could picture all that was going on this night on the beach-how Ratsey and the landers would have sighted the Aurungzebe, perhaps at noon, perhaps before, and knew she was e to east But the ould hold pinned in the south, and they would see sail after sail blown off her, and watch her wear and wear, and every tih the street that there was a shi+p could not weather the Snout, and e would be gathered on the beach, with the men ready to risk their lives for ours, and in no ishi+ng for the shi+p to be wrecked; yet anxious not to lose their chance of booty, if Providence should rule that wrecked she must be And I knew Ratsey would be there, and Dah Parson Glennie, and perhaps-and at that perhaps, hts ca to ht!'

'Twas but the faintest twinkle, or not even that; only soht behind drift and darkness It grew clearer as we looked at it, and again was lost in the mirk, and then Elzevir said, 'Maskew's Match!'

It was a long-forgotten na alleys of the rapple with it to knohat it should ain on the trawler, creeping shorewards in the light breeze of an August night, and watching that friendly twinkle froe Had she not prouide all sailors every night till I ca still forback! No ht, but broken, branded convict in the Noveale! 'Tell, indeed, there was between us that white fringe of death, that she ht never see what I had fallen to

'Twas likely Elzevir had so perhaps that I wasa name he had not used for years 'Johnnie,' he said, 'I am cold and sore downhearted In ten minutes we shall be in the surf Go down to the spirit locker, drink thyself, and bring th, and I have not got it any h the cabin was all awash, and having drunk h, being fro to the old Araratthe bottle away 'Tis sound liquor,' he laughed, '”and good for autumn chills”, as Ratsey would have said'

We were very near the white fringe now, and the waves followed us higher and low that spread itself through the watery air in front of us, and I knew that they were burning a blue light on the beach They would all be there waiting for us, though we could not see them, and they did not know that there were only twoto, and those two Moonfleet born They burn that light in Moonfleet Bay just where a little streak of clay crops out beneath the pebbles, and if a vessel can ets a softer bottoht for the flare

There was a deafening noise as we ca, the crash of the co roar of the under-tow sucking down the pebbles

'It is co in the zebe wassea pooped her and washed us both frorasped at anything we could, and so brought up bruised and half-drowned in the fore-chains; but as the wheel ran free, another sea struck her and slewed her round There was a second while the water seezebe went broadside on Moonfleet beach, with a noise like thunder and a blow that stunned us

I have seen shi+ps come ashore in that same place before and since, and bump on and off with every wave, till the stout balks could stand the pounding no , for after that first fearful shock she never reat swa wave that never another had power to uproot her Only she careened over beachwards, turning herself away from the seas, as a child bows his head to escape a cruel master's ferule, and then her masts broke off, first the fore and then thecrash that made itself heard above all

We were on the lee side underneath the shelter of the deckhouse clinging to the shrouds, now up to our knees in water as the wave caht was still burning, but the shi+p was beached a little to the right of it, and the di the beach till they were opposite us Thus ere but a hundred feet distant from them, but 'twas the interval of death and life, for between us and the shore was awaves that leapt up froainst our broken bulwarks, or sucked back the pebbles with a grinding roar till they left the beach nearly dry

We stood there for afor resolution to co On the weather side the seas struck and curled over the brig with a noise like thunder, and the force of countless tons They came over the top of the deck-house in a cataract of solid water, and there was a crash, crash, crash of rending wood, as plank after plank gave way before that stern assault We could feel the deck-house itself quiver, and shake again as we stood with our backs against it, and at last it moved so much that we knew it must soon be washed over on us

Thewave runs back,' Elzevir shouted 'Juet as far up the pebbles as you can before the next coood-bye, John, and God save us both!'

I wrung his hand, and took offmy boots on to ed for the surf Then we stood waiting side by side till a great wave ca the space 'twixt shi+p and shore into a boiling caldron: a ain with a roar, and we jumped

I fell on hands and feet where the water was a yard deep under the shi+p, but got h the slop, in a desperate struggle to cliht be on the beach before the next wave ca down as far as h the surf, and heard the out Elzevir was by ed forward through the quivering slack water; but then there came an awful thunder behind, the crash of the sea over the wreck, and we knew that anotherroar, a rush and rise of furious water that swept us like corks up the beach, till ithin touch of the rope's-end, and theit out Elzevir seized it with his left hand and reached out his right to ers touched, and in that very moment the wave fell instantly, with an awful suck, and I ept down the beach again Yet the under-tow took e floated the shattered ht, and so was left with it upon the beach thirty paces from the men and Elzevir Then he left his own assured salvation, naain into the very jaws of death to catch ht and breath were failingof the sea; yet his giant strength was powerful to save me then, as it had savedcrash and thunder of the returning ere but a fathom distant from the rope 'Take heart, lad,' he cried; ”tis now or never,' and as the water reached our breasts gave me a fierce shove forith his hands There was a roar of water inof the ht the rope

CHAPTER 19

ON THE BEACH

Toll for the brave, The grave that are no more; All sunk beneath the wave Fast by their native shore-Cowper The night was cold, and I had nothing on me save breeches and boots, and those drenched with the sea, and had been wrestling with the surf so long that there was little left into it for very life, and in a minute found ain, and felt strong hands seize me, but could not see their faces for a mist that swam before ue were cracked with the salt water, and the voice would not come There was a crowd about me of men and some women, and I spread out my hands, blindly, to catch hold of them, but my knees failed and letcoats flung overcarried off out of the wind, and laid in warmest blankets before a fire I was numb with the cold, my hair was matted with the salt, and my flesh white and shrivelled, but they forced liquor into my mouth, and so I lay in drowsy content till utter weariness bound me in sleep

It was a deep and dreaently and as it were inch by inch, I found I was still lying wrapped in blankets by the fire Oh, what a vast and infinite peace was that, to lie there half-asleep, yet wake enough to know that I had slipped my prison and the pains of death, and was a free man here in rowingmy eyes saas not alone, for two lasses and a bottle before the-to,' said one, 'and may live yet to tell us who he is, and from what port his craft sailed'

'There has been many a craft,' the other said, 'has sailed for many a port, and made this beach her last; and many an honest man has landed on it, and never one alive in such a sea Nor would this one be living either, if it had not been for that other brave heart to stand by and save him Brave heart, brave heart,' he said over to hiet the vapours 'Tis good against these early chills, and I have not been in this place for ten years past, since poor Elzevir was cut adrift'