"It's lucky we went across to the mainland last week for a fresh supply o' provisions," remarked Larry Flynn at breakfast that morning. "I'm as hungry as a tinker's goat, and them lads can stow away enough fodder for a whole regiment of----"
His jocularity was interrupted by a laugh from the men, and then by a strange and sinister sound. Beneath the howl of the wind could be heard a dull booming, so foreign to anything the gale brought to their ears that even Captain Anderson sprang from his seat at table and ran to the window in alarm.
It was useless. The fog was so thick he could not see further than twenty feet. The gray light of day had dispelled the darkness, but the vapor rolling in from the ocean obscured even the crests of the surf. Culver and Ed Strong joined him at the window, and all three remained silent and motionless.
"Never dreamed she'd run aground this morning," Bowers muttered, rising from his chair. "Everybody thought she'd slip past the bar."
"There was only a slim chance, after all," said Downs.
"Has the ship struck?" asked Hugh, tense with excitement.
"Seems so," he replied gravely. "Get to work, boys!"
Then came that which they feared to hear: another dull report brought on the wings of the wind and fog. All doubt now vanished from the minds of the crew.
"Saints help 'em!" Larry exclaimed fervently, when they entered the boathouse. He began to pace the floor impatiently as he worked like a hound in leash.
"Help who, sir?" asked Chester, following him.
"The poor divils who are firin' that 'ere gun, knowin' there's some one near who can lind 'em a helpin' hand."
"Do you mean that there's a wreck?" Alec queried in a tone so low that none save Captain Anderson heard him.
"Ay, son," he answered. "The craft, whatever she may be, has run aground on the bar."
"How can you tell without seeing her, sir?" Billy inquired, wishing that he knew enough to lend a hand with the boat.
"In the first place, she must be there because the wind brings us the sound of her signal gun; she might be only half as far away on the other side, and we couldn't hear it so loud."
"It seems to me that any half-sober skipper would have been more careful!" declared Culver reproachfully, pulling on his oilskins. "He would have clawed off shore at sunset last night, if he knew his way."