Yet there was a faint hope, and the flitting thought caused my courage to revive for an instant.
If the boat, perchance, escaped being swamped and should be borne far enough toward the beach to ground firmly and thus escape being carried back by the receding water, her passengers might be saved; but if not, her fate was certain, for she would be hurled back upon upon the reef and not a soul would escape.
I started to my feet and strained my eyes in the direction of the vessel as the huge wave thundered upon the beach, the water rolling far up toward my house.
Oh, the awful anguish of that moment! At first I could see no sign of the vessel, but as the succeeding wave subsided I caught a glimpse of the vessel and saw that her masts, spars and rigging were hanging about her in a tangled mass of wreck. The hull seemed to remain in about the same position, it only having careened shoreward. The boat was nowhere to be seen, though I carefully scanned every inch of the swirling water. Perhaps it had been dashed ashore unseen by me, obscured in the cloud of foam.
I dashed to the beach and ran eagerly along the shore, hoping to find the boat and to rescue her passengers who, if discovered, would be in a state of insensibility. But my search was fruitless, and I stood again a hopeless castaway, no nearer rescue than when, on that bright morning after the storm which sent the Ethelyn Hope to the bottom, I regained consciousness to find myself alone at this very spot.
I returned to my house and tried to reconcile myself to my disappointment, and to adjust my mind to the rapid succession of events in which were mingled joy and sorrow, hope and despair, all within little more than a half-hour.
Fortunately my house, thanks to the thoroughness with which the builder, assisted by nature, had done his work, had withstood the fury of the hurricane and had proved to be impervious to the rain, so I had no difficulty in making a fire, by which I prepared breakfast, drying my costume in the meantime.
The wind had by this time nearly all died away, though the incessant roar of the surf continued on the beach. Hoping still that some one from the ill-fated vessel might escape to keep me company, I went again to the beach, walking along toward the creek. Seeing neither a body nor a sign of the boat, I started to follow along the bank of the creek with the intention of crossing it and searching along the shore in front of the bluff; but I had taken a few steps only when I stopped in astonishment, for almost at my feet, her shoulders upon a tangle of reeds, lay the body of a young woman. I thought she must be dead, for she was very white and her eyes, while open, were fixed, turned upward toward the palm leaves. As gently as I could I lifted her and with some difficulty bore her to a mound at the foot of a palm tree, where I laid her carefully down, resting her drooping head in a natural position.
Poor girl--for she was but a girl--cast up by the sea, dead; and that was all I could ever know, about her. How tenderly I would lay her beneath the tropical flowers on the bluff, in a grave lined with soft grass!--alas, all I could do.
Sadly I gazed at the still form, and was about to turn away again toward the beach when, to my great surprise, I thought I noticed a faint tremor on her face and a movement of her hands. I must be mistaken; but no, again there was a movement--no mistaking it this time--then her eyes closed. I knelt beside her and held her wrist. It was cold, but I thought I could detect a tiny flicker of the pulse. Certain now that life remained, I lifted her as tenderly as possible. She was very slight and I could easily bear her weight; but her body was so limp that I found it difficult to carry her, supporting her head at the same time.