"Never mind," said Hall hurriedly, "it would have been no use; put her round, Charlie, quick--here, give me the tiller!" In a moment the boat swung round to the wind (not, however, before she had shipped another sea), and then we felt we were simply flying towards the fatal rocks. "Bale out, all of you!" shouted Hall; and we obeyed, including even Hutton, who seemed at last, in very desperation, to be awakening to a sense of his duty. The next few minutes seemed like an age. As we knelt in our half- flooded boat scooping up the water there in our hats, or whatever would serve for the purpose, we could hear ahead of us the angry roar of breakers, and knew every moment was bringing us nearer to our doom. By one impulse we abandoned our useless occupation. What was the use of baling out a boat that must inevitably in a few minutes be dashed to pieces on the rocks? Hutton crawled back into the bows, and Charlie and I sat where we were on the seat and waited. I could not fail, even in such a situation, to notice and admire Hall's self-possession and coolness. Desperate as our case was, he kept a steady hand on the helm, and strained his eyes into the mist ahead, never abating for a moment either his vigilance or his courage. But every now and then I could see his eyes turn for a moment to Charlie, and his face twitch as they did so, with a look of pain which I was at no loss to understand. "How far are we from the rocks?" asked Charlie. "I can't say; a quarter of an hour, perhaps." "Whereabouts are we?" I asked. "When the lights went out we were opposite Raven Cliff," replied Hall. We were silent for another minute; then Hall took out his watch. "Eight o'clock," said he. "They'll be at prayers at Parkhurst," said Charlie; and in the silence that followed, need I say that we too joined as we had never done before in the evening prayers of our schoolfellows? "Charlie, old boy," said Hall, presently, "come and sit beside me, will you?" Poor Hall! had it been only _his_ own life that was at stake, he would never have flinched a muscle; but as he put his arm round the boy whom he had led into danger he groaned pitiably. "I wonder if Neil's out looking for us," Hutton said from the bows. "Not much use," said Hall. "If only this mist would lift!" But it did not lift. For another five minutes we tore through the waves, which as we neared the shore became wilder and rougher. Our boat, half full of water, staggered at every shock, and more than once we believed her last plunge had been taken. On either side of us, for the little distance we could see through the mist, there was nothing but white foam and surging billows; behind us rushed the towering waves, overtaking us one by one, tossing us aloft and dashing us down, till every board of our boat creaked and groaned. Above us the rain poured in torrents, dashing on to our bare heads, and blinding us whenever we turned our faces back.