putting off to her--for if the wind holds in this part, it is great odds
indeed, that she does not go upon the Needles."

The breeze was freshening every moment; indeed the situation of the
strange ship must soon become imminently dangerous. The crew seemed at
last to have awakened from their lethargy, and were apparently making
every effort to enable her to gain an offing and weather Torhead, before
the combined force of wind and flood should render that impracticable. It
was a moment of deep interest. I am not acquainted with any event,
notwithstanding the frequency of its recurrence, that appeals more
directly to our sympathies, than a shipwreck. The mighty power of the
ocean is thus brought before us in its most striking sense, and the
general scene of disaster it occasions is almost always varied with
instances of individual sympathy for some of the wrecked. We were now
joined by the resident officer of the coast-blockade, and a party of men
were dispatched to pull off to the ship in distress, while the rest of us
hurried towards the Torhead, accompanied in our rear, (for the news had
reached the village) by a turn-out of most of its inhabitants, influenced
both by the passion of curiosity and that of expected plunder. Many of the
older class looked upon wrecking as legitimate a trade as fishing for
herrings or pilchards; while perhaps nearly all from the force of habit
and long-practised example, regarded a wreck as a booty sent them by the
elements; the scattered contents of which it was no more crime to take
than it would be to pick up any other thing cast by accident on the beach.

The sea was breaking over the needles with frightful violence when we
reached Torhead--the spray dashing almost to the summit of the cliffs. We
were now almost opposite the vessel, which appeared to be French built;
but the increasing darkness prevented our distinguishing her minutely. The,
flash of a gun from her side, amidst the deepening gloom, redoubled my