earnest. Still the boat made her way manfully against the billows, and the rowers laboured with all their strength to get her on. They had been compelled to haul in her sail, owing to the violence of the wind, which blowing in rather a contrary direction, made their work doubly difficult.

But Gwenthlean scarcely thought whether she were herself in danger or not, she was so much occupied with the distant ship, which, the sailors said, was in great peril of striking on the sands. She appeared to have been injured by some previous gales, and to be returning in a bad condition, having lost her mainsail, and being, apparently, at the will of the elements. She was driven rapidly forward towards the quicksands, the exact position of which Gwenthlean knew well, and Watty, when he could spare a moment to reply to her hurried questions, said that he would not give much for the cargo.

The sky suddenly grew intensely dark;

and there was a peal of thunder which seemed to shake the earth from its foundations. It rolled through the sky like the wheels of ten thousand chariots; echoed from rock to rock with frightful vibration-and made the mountains call upon, and answer one another by means of its tremendous voice. Then the rain came down in torrents, mingling with the white surf that foamed up from the sea, and finally mixing with the boiling waves. Though the hour was still far from the first grey of twilight, "the dark was over all," and, but for the occasional vivid flashes of lightning that darted through the murky atmosphere, the surrounding objects, and particularly the advancing vessel, would have been invisible. Sometimes the living elemental fire, played around the ship, and displayed her to Gwenthlean's aching sight, labouring and tossing from side to side, close by the quicksands, which, she knew well, must be unknown to her crew. It was awful to

think that so many human beings might be within a hair's breadth of destruction, and be unconscious of the secret enemy that lay beneath the waters, ready to swallow them up, even within sight of land. It was awful to feel in comparative security upon the same ocean, and at so short a distance from creatures on the very brink of eternity.

Heavily, and with difficulty, yet successfully, the boat battled with the waves, and Gwenthlean was more than half way across the bay. She shuddered as she looked upon the black sky, the raging waste of waters, the forked lightning, and the embattled elements-and she raised a prayer to Heaven for the safety of the ship and her crew, whilst the spray of the waves dashed in upon her, and drenched her to the skin.

"What will become of them ?" she ejaculated, as a sudden gleam of light revealed the vessel, which appeared to be

VOL. III.

H

lounging on one side, and almost stationary.

"I fear it is all over with them, miss," replied Walter, "unless they get help-they must have struck, I fear ;" and the old man rested a moment on his oar, to gaze upon the now undiscoverable distance; forgetting, in his compassion for the distressed ship, the doubtful fate of his own little bark-but the two younger sailors pushed on, careless of all but their own safety.

There were a few minutes of painful silence, and then came the signal of distress the ship had too surely foundered. Oh! how that melancholy minute-gun thrilled to Gwenthlean's heart.

"Stop!" she cried, "stop one moment,' and the sailors paused, whilst another loud peal of thunder shook the boat, followed by several flashes of lightning, which plainly disclosed to the practised eye of the seamen, that the vessel was upon the quick

sands, and unless assistance could be promptly rendered, must sink, with her cargo and crew, to the bottom.

"Is there no help ?" said Gwenthlean, in an agony" can we not save them ?"

"There is no boat will put out such a day as this, miss," said Walter. "It would be pretty certain never to reach the ship. The sea is mountains high out yonder, and I question whether it would be possible for any number of sailors to get a boat through it."

"But they will not leave her to perish! There is another signal! Let us help her! Walter, Morgan, for heaven's sake. Lose no time-push off towards her directly."

"Miss Llewellen," said Walter in astonishment," what can you "what can you mean? Why I would not take a thousand pounds to venture. We should all go to the bottom together."

"Oh no! we shall save them. I know we shall save them! For God's sake let your human nature-your compassion to