the reach of the hungry seas, and the surfmen secured their end to the
deeply buried sand-anchor, an inverted V-shaped crotch placed under the
rope holding it above the water on the shore end. When this had been
done, as much of the slack was taken up as possible, and the wreck was
connected with the beach with a kind of suspension bridge.

All this occupied much time, for the hands of the sailors were numb with
cold, the ropes stiff with ice, while the wild and angry wind snatched
at the tackle and tore at the clinging figures.

In a trice the willing arms on shore hauled out the buoy by means of an
endless line reaching out to the wreck and back to shore. Then with a
joy that comes only to those who are saving a fellow-creature from
death, the life-savers saw a man climb into the stout canvas breeches of
the hanging buoy, and felt the tug on the whip-line that told them that
the rescue had begun. With a will they pulled on the line, and the buoy,
carrying its precious burden, rolled along the hawser, swinging in the
wind, and now and then dipping the half-frozen man in the crests of the
waves. It seemed a perilous journey, but as long as the wreck held
together and the mast remained firmly upright the passengers on this
improvised aerial railway were safe.

One after the other the crew were taken ashore in this way, the
life-savers hauling the breeches-buoy forward and back, working like
madmen to complete their work before the wreck should break up. None too
soon the last man was landed, for he had hardly been dragged ashore when
the sturdy mast, being able to stand the buffeting of the waves no
longer, toppled over and floated ashore.

The life-savers' work is not over when the crew of a vessel is saved,