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The Searchlight
Some of the scenes from the storm were magnificent and extremely interesting. The waves were as high as mountains. They threw great masses of white foam up at the sky. Here and there a fishing boat, with a tiny amount of sail, ran madly to find safety from the storm. On top of the East Cliff the new searchlight was ready to be used, but no-one had tried it yet.
The officers in charge got the searchlight working. Then they swept it over the sea. Once or twice the searchlight was very useful. A fishing boat, which was almost under water, hurried into the harbour. Guided by the searchlight, it could see the piers and did not crash into them. As each boat came safely into the port, there was a shout of joy from the crowd of people watching on the shore. For a moment, each shout seemed to be louder then the wind, and then that wind carried away the sound.
After a short time the searchlight found a schooner. It was some distance away. It seemed to be the same ship which had been noticed earlier in the evening. The wind was now blowing to the east. This made the people watching on the cliff shudder. They realized that the schooner was in terrible danger.