By OSMOND PATTISON HANDFORD ROBB (14), Royal High School, Edinburgh.

Imagine that You have been Shipwrecked, and Rescued by a Life-boat. Describe Your Experiences.

THE sea was turbulent; a thick fog hung over the tossing waves, adding to the terrors of that awful night, and I knew instinctively that the battered little tramp on which I stood would never outlive the wild storm it rode so bravely. I was right, for at that moment a dreadful grinding told us the worst; our Mary Ann had struck the rocks, and water poured in through her sprung plates. " All hands to the pumps ! " was the cry ; and I, a mere supercargo, felt humbled and of little use.

The signal rockets flared up through the mist-screen ; there was hope, for we were near a life-boat station and might save our lives, although the Mary Ann was doomed.

. . . We waited with bated breath ; was it possible that any vessel could brave the re- lentless sea ? At last our answer came; fitful red flashes in the murk. We had been seen ! A few minutes only elapsed, but it seemed years before we saw the yellow eye of a searchlight boring through the fog, and heard the purr of powerful engines. The heroic fishermen volunteers had manned a boat and come to our rescue 1 At length the sleek fifty-foot bulk of our deliverer came to our view ; we saw the oil-spray smoothing the waters before it, and breathed a prayer of thanksgiving. Then—a sudden concussion, muffled but audible, and from the line- throwing gun mounted in the sturdy vessel's bows whipped a snaking rope which our seamen caught and immediately made fast.

One by one we abandoned our battered craft—swinging hand-over-hand down the taut line, drenched with spume and spray, and but a few feet above the angry ocean.

My next memory is of a warm, brightly lit cabin ; I was plied with restoratives, and already my shivering vigil was a memory—a nightmare, seemingly remote. Not a hand was lost ; and we were in comfortable sanc- tuary. Perhaps for the first time I marvelled at this splendid volunteer service, to which hitherto I had only paid lip-service. To these sturdy fellows in gleaming oilskins this was a common routine—undertaken from unselfish motives. . •. . It is an experience that will live in my mind, revealing both the ferocity of the elements, and the essential kindliness of Man..