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He felt a tug at his sleeve, and turning quickly round, faced his wife.

‘I could bear it no longer,’ she said; ‘you have been out over three hours. The suspense was terrible. I thought you were blown over the rocks. Come home, Wal, you are wet through.’

‘Three hours!’ he exclaimed, then, knowing how he had been compelled to struggle to reach the rocks, he took his wife in his arms, strained her to his breast, kissed her fondly, and said:

‘You are a brave little woman, and I’m a brute for causing you anxiety. We will go home at once. This is no fit place for you.’

‘Wal, Wal!’ she cried as she stared over his shoulder with wide, terror-stricken eyes; ‘look, there’s a light; two lights, three! It’s a ship! Lord have mercy on ’em!’

‘Good God, she’s seen it! Then my eyes have not deceived me. That’s what I’ve been watching this hour,’ he said.

They looked together out across the furious ocean, and saw the lights plainly now.

Mary Jessop hid her face on her husband’s shoulder and sobbed aloud. She knew not a single man, woman, or child on the ill-fated vessel could expect to live when the ship was shattered to pieces. As she stood there in the rocks with the wind roaring around her, safe in her husband’s strong arms, she offered up a prayer to the God who rules the seas to save the ship from destruction.