Page:Ruth Fielding at Lighthouse Point.djvu/82



again the line fell short.

"They'll never be able to make it," Tom Cameron said to the shivering girls.

"Oh, I really wish we hadn't come down here," murmured his sister.

"Oh, pshaw, Nell! don't be a baby," he growled.

But he was either winking back the tears himself, or the salt spray had gotten into his eyes. How could anybody stand there on the beach and feel unmoved when nine human beings, in view now and then when the billows fell, were within an ace of awful death?

Again and again the gun was shotted and the captain pulled the lanyard. He tried to catch the moment when there was a lull in the gale; but each time the shot fell short. It seemed to be merely a waste of human effort and gunpowder.

"I've 'phoned to the Minot Cove station," the captain said, during one of the intervals while