"Oh yes, thank God; and they are coming very quickly. They will soon be here."
"Let us go down to the beach to meet them."
Grace went joyfully down; and as their boat came ashore, she received them with thanksgiving.
"All well, Grace?"
"Yes, father. Mother has been very anxious, lest you should not be able to get here before the storm came."
"It is coming, surely. It will be a very rough night, a night to be at home rather than on the sea. Let us get indoors as soon as possible."
They had not been long within the shelter of their home before the storm burst in all its fury, and it was a storm that even they did not often witness. The wind, which at first had sighed as if in sorrow, and wailed as if for woe, now roared in wild anger, rushing hither and thither in a mad endeavour to shake and destroy all that came in its way. Rain pelted down upon the lighthouse, and hail beat against the windows, while the waves, lashed to fury by the tempestuous winds, leaped so high that they beat with violence against the lighthouse itself. All were glad and thankful to be within doors at such a time, and talked compassionately of the poor fellows who were exposed to the pitiless rigour of the elements.
Grace sat at the window watching, when presently all were startled by an exclamation of alarm which she involuntarily uttered.
"What is it, Grace!" cried her father, rising hastily, and going to her side. "See, father!" said she in answer.
The sight that met Darling's eyes was sad enough. A little yacht, quite too small to brave such weather, was seen tossing about on the angry waters. One moment it seemed to rise on the top of a wave-mountain, the next it was engulphed in the watery abyss, but all the time the wind was driving it toward the rocks.