Our passengers, when this was explained to them, readily agreed to the plan, provided the ship proved to be in a safe position and we were able to get aboard. Of course our crew, all old and tried men, were ready to obey any orders they received, so we lost no time in making the start and our promptness doubtless saved our lives. There was a gloomy sky and the wind howled mournfully among the rocks. We appointed two men to assist Madam de Jiminez and two others to aid Madam de Alcantara who, since a real calamity had befallen us, had ceased to wail and settled into a state of helpless stupor. Alfonso and Joe walked with Lucia, but the girl was fully as active as they were and could climb the rocks like a mountain goat. There was a fairly level country between the forest and the cove, but in order to reach the ship we had to clamber over a mass of jagged rocks that proved exceedingly difficult. There were high peaks with deep ravines between them, for the point we were crossing was of volcanic formation and some eruption had tossed the huge stones helter-skelter in a confused mass. At one time we were high enough to see the ocean—still rolling wildly—and at its feet the dear old _Seagull_ perched like a monument on the rocks. Then we got tangled up with the ravines again and when next we emerged we were across the point, and only a hundred rods or so from the jagged coast where the ship was. It was a marvelous thing, this high beaching of the _Seagull_. The wave that carried her ashore must have been a monster, for the ship stood at least twenty feet above the water level and she had been gently placed between two huge rocks in a cavity that seemed especially made to receive her. She stood level as a die, stern to the island and bow to the sea—the sea that she was likely never to sail again; for no human agency could ever launch her from that altitude, with a double row of sharp reefs between her and the deep water. As a seagoing vessel we admitted that the career of the _Seagull_ was ended; but as a place of refuge—a residence and a fort—the ship in its present location would prove invaluable to us as long as we were obliged to remain upon the island. We found the rocks that supported her so steep and difficult to climb that we sent Joe and Ned Britton ahead, they being as sure-footed as cats. On reaching the ship they found only a loose rope hanging over the side to enable them to get aboard; but Joe managed to mount by this means and at once let down a ladder. A few minutes sufficed to gather ropes enough for their purpose, which was to furnish something to assist us in mounting to the ship. It was not easy to get the two ladies up, but Lucia was as active as a boy and assisted her mother even better than we could.