With the awful words ringing in his ears Captain
Holt made a spring from the dune and came running
toward Parks, who was now knotting the shot-line
about his waist.
"What do you say she is?" he shouted, as he
flung himself to the edge of the roaring surf and
strained his eyes toward the wreck.
"The Polly--the Polly Walters!"
"My God! How do ye know? She ain't left
Amboy, I tell ye!"
"She has! That's her--see them kerds! They
come off that stuff behind ye. Tod got one and
I got t'other!" he held the bits of cardboard under
the rim of the captain's sou'wester.
Captain Holt snatched the cards from Parks's
hand, read them at a glance, and a dazed, horror-
stricken expression crossed his face. Then his eye
fell upon Parks knotting the shot-line about his
waist.
"Take that off! Parks, stay where ye are; don't
ye move, I tell ye."
As the words dropped from the captain's lips a
horrified shout went up from the bystanders. The
wreck, with a crunching sound, was being lifted from
the sand. She rose steadily, staggered for an instant
and dropped out of sight. She had broken amidships.
With the recoil two ragged bunches showed above the
white wash of the water.
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