Many went back to their homes, knowing that nothing could be known for some hours.

Others crouched on the landward side of an old coal-shed, peeping round the corner.
Miriam and Sep, and a few others, waited on the quay until River Andrew or another should return.

It was an understood thing that the helpers, such as could man a boat or carry a drowned man, should go first.

In a few minutes the squall was past, and by the light of the moon, now thinly covered by clouds, the black forms of the first to reach the other shore could be seen straggling across the marsh toward the great shingle-bank that lies between the river and the sea.

Two boats were moored at the far side, another was just making the jetty, while a fourth was returning toward the quay.