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THE RETURN TO CLIFF HOUSE 291
forced him to separate himself from his daughter, who could not travel on a troop-ship. It was arranged, however, that she should sail the same day that he did, in another ship.
The voyage at first was prosperous and agreeable, but before many days a terrible storm arose. The ship was thrown off her course, and a furious wind drove her down upon our rocky coast; two boats were launched upon the angry waves. Emily found a place in the smallest—the captain was in the other. The storm continuing, the boats were soon separated, and the one that contained Emily was broken in pieces, and she alone, of all the crew, was fortunate enough to escape death. The waves carried her, half-fainting, to the foot of the rock where Fritz discovered her. She crawled under the shade of a rock, and, sinking on the sand, slept for four-and-twenty hours. There she passed several days with no nourishment but some birds' eggs, which she found on the rocks. At the end of that time, the sun reappearing and the sea growing calm, she thought of the crew in the other boat, and in the hope that they might see her, she established signals of distress.
In wandering about the rocks she came upon much wreckage, which convinced her the ship |
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