Saved by the Lifeboat

On a dark November afternoon, not many years ago, Captain Boyns sat smoking his pipe in his own chimney-corner, gazing with a somewhat anxious expression at the fire. There was cause for anxiety, for there raged at the time one of the fiercest storms that ever blew on the shores of England. The wind was howling in the chimney with wild fury; slates and tiles were being swept off the roofs of the fishermen?s huts and whirled up into the air as if they had been chips of wood; and rain swept down and along the ground in great sheets of water, or whirled madly in the air and mingled with the salt spray that came direct from the English Channel; while, high and loud above all other sounds, rose the loud plunging roar of the mighty sea. ?I fear there will be a call before long, Nancy, for the services of the new lifeboat,? said Captain Boyns, rising and taking down an oilcloth coat and sou?-wester, which he began to put on leisurely; ?I?ll go down to the beach and see what?s doin? at the Cove.?