noon
Twice they pooped us , and we were up to our waists in icy water , but still held to the wheel for our lives . The white line was nearer to us now , and above all the rage of wind and sea I could hear the awful roar of the under-tow sucking back the pebbles on the beach . The last time I could remember hearing that roar was when I lay , as a boy , one summer 's night ` twixt sleep and waking , in the little whitewashed bedroom at my aunt 's ; and I wondered now if any sat before their inland hearths this night , and hearing that far distant roar , would throw another log on the fire , and thank God they were not fighting for their lives in Moonfleet Bay . I could picture all that was going on this night on the beach -- how Ratsey and the landers would have sighted the _ Aurungzebe , _ perhaps at noon , perhaps before , and knew she was embayed , and nothing could save her but the wind drawing to east . But the wind would hold pinned in the south , and they would see sail after sail blown off her , and watch her wear and wear , and every time come nearer in ; and the talk would run through the street that there was a ship could not weather the Snout , and must come ashore by sundown . Then half the village would be gathered on the beach , with the men ready to risk their lives for ours , and in no wise wishing for the ship to be wrecked ; yet anxious not to lose their chance of booty , if Providence should rule that wrecked she must be . And I knew Ratsey would be there , and Damen , Tewkesbury , and Laver , and like enough Parson Glennie , and perhaps -- and at that perhaps , my thoughts came back to where we were , for I heard Elzevir speaking to me : ` Look , ' he said , ` there 's a light ! '