She swept the sea once more with her glass, then brought it together with a click, and jumped off the stool.
Her quick intelligence viewed the matter differently from all the others.
"Noow," cried she, smartly, "wha'll lend me his yawl ?" "Hets! dinna be sae interferin', lassie," said a fishwife.
"Hae nane o' ye ony spunk ?" said Christie, taking no notice of the woman.

"Speak, laddies!" "M' uncle's yawl is at the pier-head; ye'll get her, my woman," said a boy.
"A schell'n for wha's first on board," said Christie, holding up the coin.
"Come awa', Flucker, we'll hae her schell'n;" and these two worthies instantly effected a false start.
"It's no under your jackets," said Christie, as she dashed after them like the wind.
"Haw! haw! haw!" laughed Sandy.
"What's her business picking up a mon against his will ?" said a woman.
"She's an awfu' lassie," whined another.

The examination of the swimmer was then continued, and the crowd increased; some would have it he was rapidly approaching, others that he made little or no way.
"Wha est ?" said another.
"It's a lummy," said a girl.
"Na! it's no a lummy," said another.
Christie's boat was now seen standing out from the pier.

Sandy Liston, casting a contemptuous look on all the rest, lifted himself lazily into the herring-boat and looked seaward.

His manner changed in a moment.
"The Deevil!" cried he; "the tide's turned! You wi' your glass, could you no see yon man's drifting oot to sea ?" "Hech!" cried the women, "he'll be drooned--he'll be drooned!" "Yes; he'll be drooned!" cried Sandy, "if yon lassie does na come alongside him deevelich quick--he's sair spent, I doot." Two spectators were now added to the scene, Mrs.Gatty and Lord Ipsden.
Mrs.Gatty inquired what was the matter.
"It's a mon drooning," was the reply.
The poor fellow, whom Sandy, by aid of his glass, now discovered to be in a wornout condition, was about half a mile east of Newhaven pier-head, and unfortunately the wind was nearly due east.