Page:Cornelia Meigs--The island of Appledore.djvu/211



was a story, one which Billy had often heard Captain Saulsby tell, of a ship  that had driven on the rocks outside the harbour of Appledore during one of the terrible  winter tempests. No boat could hope to reach her, so gigantic were the seas, and the crew  had clung in her rigging all night, waiting for  the wind to fall and help to come. The fisherfolk of the village had gathered on the shore, had built fires to signal to the desperate  sailors that friends were watching and ready  to give aid, and had tended their beacons all  night long, so that some spark of hope might  still live in the hearts of the drowning men. When morning broke and the wind went down, they were all rescued, “seventeen men  and the ship’s cat.”

Appledore saw a similar scene tonight, with the long red line of signal fires blazing the  length of the beach, and with every man and 191