Austin Ambrose pushed his way into their midst, startling them not a little.
"Of whom are you talking?" he demanded, and his voice sounded harsh and stern.
The old man touched his forehead and puffed at his pipe.
"It's the poor young lady up at Mrs. Day's, your honor," he said; "she've been and got washed off the Long Rock——"
Austin Ambrose put his hand up with a strange gesture, as if to stop him, and his face grew livid.
"What?" he cried hoarsely. "You say—oh, impossible!"
The old man shook his head.
"It's the possiblest thing as can be," he said grimly. "Seed her there myself, and I thought she'd gone to look at the tide. I never thought as she'd stop there after the warning I give her. I told her about the lady and gentleman as was lost there two year agone," he added to the others.
Austin Ambrose rushed out to the rocks and stared before him like a man dazed. Then he sprung to his feet.
"I'll give any man twenty pounds who will launch a boat and search for her," he cried hoarsely.