''THE TOILERS OF THE SEAr 15 



wretch was destined never to reach. The boat was seen by a 

 small coaster, and its occupants taken on board, and conveyed 

 to St. Peter Port. The rescued crew and passengers of the 

 " Durande " quickly spread the tidings of the disaster, which fell 

 with crushing effect on her owner, Lathierry; the whole blame 

 was laid on Tangrouille, the drunken steersman, who was im- 

 prisoned, and the magnanimity of Clubin was ever3rAvhere extolled. 

 The master of a cutter, which arrived a it^ hours after the 

 landing of the saved people, reported that, hearing the bellowing 

 of the oxen which were a portion of the little steamer's freight, 

 and the fog having dispersed, he had borne down to the wreck 

 and approached near enough to be certain that there was no one 

 on board ; and consequently an opinion was expressed that the 

 heroic captain had been taken off by some sloop or lugger 

 belonging to Granville or St. Malo, and his return was hourly 

 expected. The steamer had broken her back, said the cutter's 

 master, but the engine appeared not to be damaged. It was 

 suggested that it might be possible to preserve it ; but the seaman 

 shook his head, and gravely rephed that " The man did not exist 

 who could go there and remove it." Renewed hope roused 

 Lathierry from his stupor, and he exclaimed, with a solemn oath, 

 that he would give his daughter, Deruchette, in marriage to the 

 man who would perform the feat. Gilliatt had long secretly 

 loved the girl, and he determined if possible to achieve the task, 

 and thus to win her. He quietly stole away from the crowd, and 

 the same night, alone and unaided, got under weigh his fishing 

 craft, which he had won as a prize for seamanship in a regatta, 

 and proceeded to the wreck. After much toil and endurance of 

 hardship for more than two months, he succeeded in extricating 

 the engine and getting it on board his boat. His work completed, 

 he had only to wait for the tide to return in triumph with his 

 prize. But he was faint with hunger. He had long since 

 exhausted the stock of provisions he had brought with him, and 

 had subsisted on the molluscs and crustaceans he had been able 



