We do not say that all wreckers were guilty of such crimes, but many of them were so, and their style of life, at the best, had naturally a demoralizing influence upon all of them.

The famous Bell Rock, lying twelve miles off the coast of Forfarshire, was a prolific source of destruction to shipping.  Not only did numbers of vessels get upon it, but many others ran upon the neighbouring coasts in attempting to avoid it.

Ruby’s father knew the navigation well, but, in the confusion and darkness of the furious storm, he miscalculated his position and ran upon the rock, where, as we have seen, his body was afterwards found by the two fishermen.  It was conveyed by them to the cottage of Mrs. Brand, and when Ruby entered he found his mother on her knees by the bedside, pressing the cold hand of his father to her breast, and gazing with wild, tearless eyes into the dead face.

We will not dwell upon the sad scenes that followed.

Ruby was now under the necessity of leaving home, because his mother being deprived of her husband’s support naturally turned in distress to her son.  But Ruby had no employment, and work could not be easily obtained at that time in the town, so there was no other resource left him but to go to sea.  This he did in a small coasting sloop belonging to an old friend, who gave him part of his wages in advance to enable him to leave his mother a small provision, at least for a short time.

This, however, was not all that the widow had to depend on.  Minnie Gray was expert with her needle, and for some years past had contributed not a little to the comforts of the household into which she had been adopted.  She now set herself to work with redoubled zeal and energy.  Besides this, Mrs. Brand had a brother, a retired skipper, who obtained the complimentary title of Captain from his friends.  He was a poor man, it is true, as regarded money, having barely sufficient for his own subsistence, but he was rich in kindliness and sympathy, so that he managed to make his small income perform wonders.  On hearing of his brother-in-law’s death, Captain Ogilvy hastened to afford all the consolation in his power to his sorrowing sister.

The captain was an eccentric old man, of rugged aspect.  He thought that there was not a worse comforter on the face of the earth than himself, because, when he saw others in distress, his heart invariably got into his throat, and absolutely prevented him from saying a single word.  He tried to speak to his sister, but all he could do was to take her hand and weep.  This did the poor widow more good than any words could have done, no matter how eloquently or fitly spoken.  It unlocked the fountain of her own heart, and the two wept together.

When Captain Ogilvy accompanied Ruby on board the sloop to see him off, and shook hands as he was about to return to the shore, he said—­