CHAPTER VIII
THE LIFEBOAT IS LAUNCHED
The announcement quelled all the jollity of the party on the instant. Heavy even lost interest in the sweetmeats before her.
"Goodness me! what a terrible thing," cried Helen Cameron. "A ship on the rocks!"
"Let's go see it!" Busy Izzy cried.
"If we can," said Tom. "Is it possible, Miss Kate?"
Heavy's aunt looked at the butler for information. He was one of those well-trained servants who make it their business to know everything.
"I can have the ponies put into the long buckboard. The young ladies can drive to the station; the young gentlemen can walk. It is not raining very hard at present."
Mercy elected to remain in the house with Miss Kate. The other girls were just as anxious to go to the beach as the boys. There were no timid ones in the party.
But when they came down, dressed in rainy-weather garments, and saw the man standing at the ponies' heads, glistening in wet rubber, if one
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