134 Star anb Meatber (Boggip 



At the vessel's helm stood the brave skipper. Had 

 he so minded he could easily have distinguished the 

 separate details of the dark fringe of humanity on the 

 cliff top ; but he looked neither to the right nor to the 

 left ; what lay ahead was his sole concern. His crew 

 were clustered aft, all in glistening oilskins. One of the 

 courageous little group he appeared to be but a boy 

 waved his hand to us ashore and we sent back a 

 great heartening cheer. I could not truthfully say 

 that all of us in the crowd were dry-eyed just then. 



As the barque neared the reef she was forced abso- 

 lutely to the edge of the breakers a dreadful winding- 

 sheet of surf. But so superbly was she handled that 

 not a sail of her lifted. 



Everyone was nigh choking with emotion when she 

 plunged into the creamy cauldron on the reef, and 

 when her hull was buried from sight there arose from 

 the crowd a long-drawn, agonised " Oh ! " 



" She's lost, she's lost ! " cried a huddle of people 

 near me, and at this several women shrieked hysteri- 

 cally. Some, indeed, had to be removed from the 

 scene in a state of collapse. 



But the Franqais was not lost ; the storm was not 

 triumphant yet. She rose out of the hurly-burly with 

 that dignity befitting a truly gallant ship, and proudly, 

 disdainfully, indeed, shook herself free of the super- 

 incumbent water. And even as she did so, a moun- 

 tainous sea rushed at her and flung her bodily over the 

 reef into the wide mouth of Hartlepool Bay. Some 

 of the spectators wept silently for joy ; others gave 

 vent to wild hurrahs. But how the breakers seethed 

 and hissed, and how the wind shrieked with passion 

 at the escape of its prey ! 



