LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 569, 15 April 1876, Page 3

LITERATURE.

THE LIGHTHOUSE OF THE GANNETS. IN FOUR CHAPTERS. Chapter lII.—A Sail. (Continued) 'The ladies will be miserably ill off, I fear, in this chilly place, should we have to remain here throughout the night,' said Mr Darner, as he and Mawle sped back to the lighthouse to bring away such rugs and waterproofs as could be hastily laid hands on, so as to afford Mrs Lee and her daughter some protection. 'Ay, ay, poor things,' answered the old boatman, ' 'taint likely they'll last it out so long as the likes of we. But come, squire, you must be quick, or Hold baok, sir, for your life ! There it goes !' And indeed, before the words were well uttered, the lighthouse toppled over from its perch on the rocky bank, and fell prone into the sea, sending aloft a mass of white water, that splashed and spouted far into the air, and flooded for the moment even the highest escarpments of the stoney islet. Then the wild waves, as though exulting at the overthrow of a vanquished enemj, leaped up to tear and tatter the wreck of the building, rending it plank from plank, until it was converted into a mere floating heap of disjointed timbers. When Mr Darner and Mawle the boatman con 1 rived to crawl back to their companions in misfortune, they had but little that was comforting to impart or to receive. The general dejection seemed the deeper since the destruction of the lighthouse, for man never feels hi 3 own weakness so fully face to face with the untamed might of Nature, as when he witnesses the annihilation of the strongest of his vaunted works by terrible forces. ' To-morrow, perhaps—not a chance of it earlier,' was old Mawle's reply to the reiterated questions of the gentlemen of the party as to the probability that relief'would reach them. ' But the ladies ?' To this nothing could be answered. A good-natured sailor had laid a rough watchcoat —the only wrap of any kind that had been brought from the lighthouse—over Miss Lee and her half-fainting mother, but there seemed little prospect that the weaker members of the party would survive many hours of such exposure to the fury of that weather in that bleak and desolate spot, as to all appearance awaited them. 'No, no,' said Willis, the lighthouse keeper, in answer to another inquiry ; ' the tide won't harm us here. It makes very

little perceptible difference so far out to sea. It's the sailor's tide we feel here, not the landsman's, and only at full spring flood does the water creep up to the Gannet's Back. There's an awful sea on, though.' And as he spoke, Rosa could not repress a shriek, for a giant wave, bursting oyer the rocky barrier, almost reached the shivering forms of those who were clinging to the ridge of rock, and sent a cloud of foam clean over the Gannet's Back. At that moment the sailor who had announced himself as Jack Judkins set up the welcome cry : ' A sail ! a bail!' and hope sprang up again in every heart. ' You can make the strange sail out better than I,' said Mr Darner, resigning his pocket field-glass to the more practised boatman at his side. ' A schooner—a yacht, by her fine lines and trim spars, and beating up bravely towards us,' cried the late owner of the Delight. ' Why, she's the Titania, out of Ravenscombe harbour. I'm afraid, though, such a gingerbread thing as a yacht, with a Jemmy Jessamy young gentleman like Mr Lawless to command her, won't come within grappling distanco of the Ganuets on such a day as this.' ' There's a shift in the wind, just a point, but it helps her,' muttered Judkins, breathlessly watching every manoeuvre of the yacht; she's behaving beautifully, answers to her helm as if she Avere alive'

' That's no dandy landsmen that's handling her now,' exclaimed the lighthouse keeper, shading his eyes with his hand as he looked eagerly at the approaching vessel; ' a thorough sailor he must be that's in command, and a gallant one too, to risk life and limb so nobly to save strangers.' It was indeed a sight well worth the seeing, that which was pr°sonted by the struggling schooner as she 'ought her way, inch by inch, yard by yard, against the raging waves that boiled around her, as though they knew her mission was to rescue the human victims of their relentless anger, and strove to involve the Titania in her common doom. Keeling along, her deck swept by the surge, her bows hidden ever and anon by a cataract of glistening spray, the holiday vessel, under shortened sail, did brave battle with the tempest. Now and again the schooner heeled over so fearfully that her bright copper glanced through the driving scud, and often it seemed as though the strain was greater than masts and rigging could endure ; but, handled with consummate skill and daring, she gained at each successive tack, and slowly neared the Gannets. ' If the sticks don't get fairly blown out of her,' growled Willis, as he surveyed the yacht through the glass, she'll range up to the leeside yet, but the sea saa ings her and buffets her as if she were a cork. Round she goes again, true as steel. A good boat; and a brave seaman he must be that's giving orders aboard.' Chapter IV. All's Well that Ends Well. ' Too near ! too near ! she'll go against the rock. No ; she has rounded it; but it was touch-and-go work of it, for the lives of all on board the schooner. Grand steering, though !' Such was old Mawle's professional comment, as the Titania, by what seemed a marvellous combination of skill and good fortune, avoided a pointed, halfsunken rock that jutted out into the sea, as though to defend the approach to the Great Gannet, and lay to in the comparatively untroubled water to the leeward. Much time has undoubtedly been saved by this apparently hazardous exploit, and now the yacht was so near that a ringing cheer from her crew was answered by a feebler shout from the sailors on the rocky islet. Though much had been done, much still remained to do. The yacht was rolling about in the rough sea, perilously near the rugged shore, while around her floated beams, joists, and lighter fragments of woodwork, part of the wreck of the lighthouse, and whirling about with a violence that would of itself have threatened a boat with destruction, even if it had been prudent to lower a boat into a surf such as that which broke upon the black rocks. The first attempt to establish a communication with the shore resulted in failure. Repeated casts with a grapnel were made, but in all instances the barbed iron fell short of the mark, nor could the schooner, without a rashness akin to suicidal folly, be brought closer in, A kedge had been hastily let go, and there she rode, amid the tumbling water, but it seemed scarcely possible that even the hardiest swimmer could make his way through the breakers. Whiz! Off flashed a rocket from the yacht's deck, and, adroitly aimed, it hissed and cracked its curved path above the Gannet's Back, some yards of the light line attached to it dropping within reach of the belated group. With a cheer they hauled in the line, and the small hawser that was made fast to it, and almost instantly an active form was seen to spring over the Titania's side, and boldly dash into the surf, holding by the tough rope, and struggling manfully onwards until, breathless and dripping, he swung himself ashore. Another volunteer, and yet another, succeeded to this, the first adventurer, who made but one bound to the ledge whereon Rosa and her mother were crouching for shelter. Miss Lee's eyes met those of Lieutenant Gordon, and as he bent to raise her, the shock of this joyful surprise overcame her reserve, and with a low cry of ' Malcolm !' she fainted in his arms. He lifted her slender form as easily as though she had been a child, and directing the sailors who followed him to take charge of Mrs Lee, he again grasped the hawser, and set forth on the return trip to the yacht, tenderly clasping his precious burden to his breast. It was no trifling task, that of regaining the schooner under such circumstances, and more than once the young lieutenant felt as though he should be compelled to relinquish his grip of the saving rope, or as if Rosa would be torn from him by the rush of an angry wave 5 but he was strong and agile, and, with Miss Lee in his arms, at length found himself on tbo deck of the ya*;ht; while, by the exertions of the orew, in little more than half an hour every living soul had been hauled safely on board the Titania. Then the capstan was manned, the kedge was hauled in, and the yacht, under closereefed canvas, made for the open sea. As she emerged from the broken water, that seethed, as in a witches' caldron, in the narrow channel between the Great Gann«t and the congeries of rocks that bore locally the name of the Brood, a hearty hurrah from the sailors on board the vessel greeted the young naval officer, who stood beside the helmsman, directing the schooner's course. (To he continued.)