Boom-m-m-m!
The boys started, and Jack, tossing aside his blankets, jumped to his feet.
“What is it?” shouted Bee anxiously.
“A ship ashore,” answered Jack, buttoning his jacket and pulling his cap down on his head. “Come on!”
CHAPTER XXII
In The Teeth of The Gale
He seized the lantern and in a moment they were out of the tent, staggering along in the wake of the flickering light, the wind beating and buffeting them at every step. The world was a wild confusion of darkness and turmoil. Jack led the way around the side of the hill and presently the full force of the gale found them and they reeled under the shock of it. After that it was only by bending forward and digging their feet into the ground that they could get ahead. The air was wet with salt spume from the waves below. They fought onward a step at a time, their eyes half-closed, gasping for breath. And suddenly ahead of them in the blackness a trail of light flared skyward and a rocket burst into flying sparks.
Jack pulled the others down beside him on the ground. “She’s on The Tombstones,” he shouted. He hid the lantern under his jacket and peered for a minute through the darkness. “Two-masted schooner,” he announced. “Fisherman, I guess. I can just see her.” But the others, strain their eyes as they might, could make out nothing.
“What can we do?” cried Bee.