Something cold and damp touched his hand, and he found Wallace by his side; and the gentle touch gave him both comfort and hope. But just at that moment Antony made a strange discovery, which he put into words, though these were not spoken aloud, but to his heart, as it were. 'I love that child,' he told himself with the frankness of youth, 'more than is good for my peace of mind, more than is good for my future happiness or probably hers; for if she is spared this sad night to get safely on shore, soon now the parting must come, and I go away on my road in life and Lotty on hers. Heaven help the child and me!' Just as he was communing with himself, the dark o' the neap was riven once more by a rocket's gleam that swayed and rose and burst as before. It will be better to go back a little and follow the gipsy lass's movements as she went sweeping down the river that night and headed straight for that boiling sea. Surely she had more than the strength and skill of any two man-o'-war's men, and more than the daring of a Grace Darling to venture forth on such a forlorn hope. But she had reasoned thus with herself: 'Even if I fail to reach the ship, I can, I think, sweep my light skiff quickly round and go rushing back to the river on the scud of the furious sea, and if I miss that the surf will rush me right up upon the beach, and I will not lose either my life nor Antony's _Jenny Wren_.' Both wind and waves tossed the little boat about, but bravely did Lotty keep her head to the mountain seas. So high and wild were some of the breakers that they lifted the bows high in air and almost sank the skiff stern first. The first quarter of an hour's pull was the worst. After this, though the waves were higher, they did not break so much. Ah! but Lotty soon saw that they were sweeping high and horrible right over the stranded vessel, and for quite a long time she hovered near, hesitating how and when to approach. At last she said to herself, 'It must be now or never.' So high on a wavetop was she as the boat went dashing on from windward that the brave girl could see right down on to the wave-washed deck. Perhaps it was well for Lotty that the bark was so firmly, so steadfastly fixed on the rocks; bad for the ship, it is true, for from this position never could she move except in staves and broken timbers. The sailors had seen the coming skiff, and three of them, at imminent peril, rushed to the side and seized it in time; and next moment Lotty, safe for the time being, was on the slippery upper deck of the bark, and even the _Jenny Wren_ was hauled on board. Right aft in the skiff was a little locker, and it was in this Lotty had stowed the rockets.