Do you lads," he said, turning to three or four sailors who were standing by, "keep close to us, and lend a hand." At the point where they were standing, it was clearly impossible to get down, for the rock sloped straight from, their feet.

Farther to the left, however, it went down more gradually, and here the boys began to try to descend.
"There is a sort of hollow here," Jack shouted, "a sort of ravine.
This is our best place." Cautiously, step by step, holding on to such bushes as grew among the rocks pausing sometimes flattened against the rocks by the force of the gust, and drenched every moment by the sheets of spray, the boys made their way down, till they paused at a spot where the rock fell away sheer under their feet.

They could go no farther.

At the moment they heard a wild scream.

A vessel appeared through the darkness below, and crashed with a tremendous thud against the rocks.