It was a distance of only ten feet, but every inch of that space was fraught with danger. Not only was there a possibility of a huge wave dashing the young Scout against the rocks with resistless force, but there were risks of losing his hold on the slippery wall and of the cord that steadied him being unable to withstand the sudden strain. Without mishap Phillips came within reach of the object of his dangerous task. He grasped the life-buoy, and shouted to the Scouts on the ledge to haul away. To his consternation there was no attempt to raise him to safety, while on the other hand a tremendous wave was bearing down upon him. Phillips' first impulse was to let go the buoy and swarm up the rope hand over hand. On second thoughts he realised that it was his life against the lives of all the crew of the doomed ship, and to relinquish the means of communication at this juncture would be cowardly and selfish. Planting his heels firmly into a niche in the rocks and setting his shoulders against the natural wall, Phillips unhesitatingly cast off the cord round his waist and bent it on to the life-buoy. The wave was now barely thirty yards off, and to the inexperienced lad it looked mountainous. "Never say die," he muttered between his tightly clenched teeth; but all the same he realised that it was the tightest corner he had yet been into in the course of the sixteen years of his life. Then a strange thing happened. The huge breaker was preceded by another of considerable less height. Pounding against the rocks the first wave rebounded and met the dangerous one just as it was on the point of curling ere it broke. The collision was insufficient to stop the oncoming wave, but it considerably checked its impetus. It broke; the solid water swirled over the lad's legs till it reached above his knees, while for the next few seconds he was gasping for breath as he swallowed the salt-laden air. The work he had undertaken being accomplished, Phillips hesitated no longer. Hand over hand he dragged himself, encumbered though he was by his sodden clothing, towards the ledge, till to his unbounded relief he felt his wrists grasped by his companions. "Where's the buoy?" asked Atherton. "Haul away," gasped Phillips, "you'll find it," and too exhausted to say more he staggered to the base of the main cliff and sat down to recover his breath. Foot by foot the saturated rope came home till the "Otters" hauled ashore a large block, through which was rove a heavier rope. "It's a kind of life-saving line, lads," exclaimed Atherton. "Make fast the pulley as quickly as you can. Wedge these staves between these two rocks. See they don't slip: they'll stand the strain." As soon as this was done a message was signalled to the ship announcing that all was in readiness. Without delay those on board began to haul on the endless rope, and the Scouts saw a man, seated in a life-buoy, leave the stranded vessel.