"May we all go--Max and all?"
"Yes, you may all go.--Max, come with me."
Joe hastened back to the boys, shouting, "Come on! Mr. Bernard says we
may go over to see the wreck!"
"Good for him! Hurrah, boys! we are off for the wreck."
"What did you say about a wreck?" asked Jonas, as John and Jerry
delivered the milk at the cookhouse.
The boys enlightened him, and Jonas, turning to his man Friday, said,
"Come on, Freit--we'll let the dishes go;" and seizing his hat he
hurried after the boys, who were scampering off towards the lighthouse
with the teachers.
They attempted to go by the shorter route over the rocks on the shore,
in spite of John's warning, but after some of the party had been
drenched by the surf they retreated to the woods.
Joe kept close to Mr. Bernard's side, without speaking a word, and some
of the boys behind whispered, "They are afraid it is that vessel that
Ralph and Ben went in."
This sobered them all, and there was very little conversation as the
crowd hurried on. They could hear the "boom-boom" of the sea against
the cliff long before they reached it, and Joe's heart felt heavier than
ever.
Ralph had never been a favourite among his schoolmates, and Joe,
especially, had never been attracted toward him. Their acquaintance had
developed during the last weeks of the school, while the search was
being made for the offender; and in helping him then he came to pity
him, and feel an interest in him, quite sure that the boy had received a
lesson that would make him hesitate to speak an untruth again.
At length John ran through the bushes out on the top of one of the high
boulders, where he pointed to the dismantled vessel with the men working
at the pumps.
"What's the name on the stern?" asked Joe, straining his eyes as the
waves now and then left the end of the vessel.
No one could tell, but it was plain to all that the word was a long one.
"It can't be the _Una_, then!" cried Joe with a sigh of relief.
"No--thank God for that; but these poor fellows are having a hard time,"
said Mr. Bernard.
"Bad enough!" exclaimed the light-keeper, who had joined the party on
the rocks. "They think they can save the vessel; but unless she is off
before noon she's gone! She will break up fast in this sea."
"Is there no way for us to help them?" asked Mr. Andrews.
"No; it would be nonsense to try to get to them with my boat. The
landing here is bad at the best; and I never think of going out except
in fair weather."
"What kind of boats have you?"
"Nothing but a common sail-boat and a couple of skiffs, and they
wouldn't stand a sign of a chance in this sea."
"What will the men do if the vessel goes down?"
"They've got their boats all ready to launch, and their boats are much
better than mine."
"They are calling you, father!" cried Jerry, pulling his father's coat.
"Who?"
"The men over yonder."
"Yes,--hear them!" said the boys excitedly.
"Keep still, all o' ye!" said the light-keeper. Then, making a
speaking-trumpet of his hands, he shouted, "Ship ahoy! what's wanted?"
Converting his speaking-trumpet into an ear-trumpet, he listened
intently.
"She's filling fast! Is there anything there to fasten our rope over?"