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278 THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON |
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storing our provisions, and with the necessary household duties.
Five days passed away, and still Fritz had not returned, and his mother was so anxious and worried that I proposed to launch the pinnace and make a new excursion to the Bay of Pearls. This time we took her and Francis with us, and she received my proposition to that effect with pleasure, for she thought that Fritz would return in that direction, and that we should certainly meet him. We lost no time ; the pinnace was prepared, and early the next day we set out, and were in sight of the promontory of the bay, when suddenly the vessel ran against a black mass, and was nearly thrown over by the shock. My wife uttered a cry, but the boat soon righted, and I perceived that the obstacle was not a rock, as I had thought, but a whale. I instantly pointed the cannons of the pinnace, and a discharge of artillery prevented him from overturning us, which he certainly would have done if the blow had not stunned him. We saw with pleasure that the waves carried the enormous body to a sandbank a little distance from the shore, and there it lay like a stranded ship.
While we were talking about it, Ernest suddenly uttered a loud cry. |
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