158 THE HOME OF A NATURALIST. 



As if the powers thus invoked were ready to prove 

 their immediate willingness to answer the cry of the 

 oppressed, the wind veered more to the west, and 

 carried the disabled ship against the holm of Widwick, 

 a small islet which lies off the creek, and wards from 

 it the full force of the North Atlantic. If the Urne 

 had stranded on the holm, some of her crew might have 

 effected a landing there ; but that was not the end of 

 the viking's barque ; she reeled back from the holm 

 with a gash in her side that was a death- wound indeed, 

 and drifted onwards once more. Now, would she gain 

 the creek ? No : In a few moments the Fi-ne was 

 carried past the little harbour, where lay the sole chance 

 of deliverance, and then crashed among the rocks of 

 Fliibersgerdie. 



" Praise to the powers that are above all ! " cried the 

 men of Unst, and even gentle-hearted women rejoiced 

 as the Denschman, barque and crew, disappeared among 

 the breakers. 



The people returned to their homes, happy in the 

 thought that the rocks of Fatherland had proved able 

 protectors, and that Unst was for ever rid of its most 

 dreaded foe. 



Two days and two nights passed. No trace of the 

 storm was left. A boat put off from Widwick with 

 the intention of saving such portions of the Urne as 

 would certainly be drifting among the skerries near 

 Fliibersgerdie. The men could tell by the state of the 

 tides and the wind exactly where the wreckage was to 



