CHAPTER XII
THE LAST VOYAGE OF JOHANN HAPPS
There was a story, one which Billy had often heard Captain Saulsby tell, of a ship that had driven on the rocks outside the harbour of Appledore during one of the terrible winter tempests. No boat could hope to reach her, so gigantic were the seas, and the crew had clung in her rigging all night, waiting for the wind to fall and help to come. The fisherfolk of the village had gathered on the shore, had built fires to signal to the desperate sailors that friends were watching and ready to give aid, and had tended their beacons all night long, so that some spark of hope might still live in the hearts of the drowning men. When morning broke and the wind went down, they were all rescued, “seventeen men and the ship’s cat.”
Appledore saw a similar scene tonight, with the long red line of signal fires blazing the length of the beach, and with every man and
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