down
the coast. They walked for half a mile and then stopped. The sea here
had made a clean breach over the land, and extended as far as the eye
could reach. Retracing their steps they were again stopped by a similar
obstacle. Then they went inland, passed round the grove of fallen trees,
and looked landward.

As far as they could see stretched a broad sheet of water, broken only
by the branches of fallen trees. It was evident that a vast tract of
country had been submerged by the storm, and that what was now an island
upon which they stood had only been saved from a similar fate by being a
few feet higher than the surrounding country. Every tree upon it had
been felled, and the very surface of the soil seemed to have been torn
off by the fury of the gale.

Scarcely a word had been spoken from the time they first reached the
shore. The fate of their shipmates had depressed them profoundly, and as
yet they could scarcely feel grateful for their own escape. Jack was the
first to rouse himself from this state of despondency.

"Well, Arthur," he said, "things don't look very bright, but we must
hope for the best. At any rate let us thank God for having rescued us in
such a marvellous manner. It seems almost a miracle."

Both the boys were bareheaded, their caps having been blown away at the
commencement of the gale, and they now stood with bended heads for some
minutes silently thanking God for their preservation.

"Now, Arthur," Jack said cheerfully, "let us go down to the water and
see how fast it is sinking. It was running like a sluice into the sea at
both ends of this island, and I do not suppose that it will be many
hours before it is gone. As soon as it is we must set out and make our
way across to the land beyond it. We are sure to find some villages
there and to get some sort of food after we've been down to the water. I
vote we go back to the wood and lie down in the shade there. The sun
will soon be unpleasantly hot, and as there is no chance of our getting
a drink the sooner we are out of it the better."

The day passed slowly; the boys talked but little, and when they did so
their conversation turned entirely upon their lost shipmates, for that
subject occupied their thoughts far more than their present situation.
Before night the water had so far sunk that only some glistening pools
appeared where a broad sheet of water had before spread. Arthur was
suffering much from thirst and would have started at o