to be resisted--sleep: since for fifty hours they had been
without any; since to have fallen asleep on the spar would have been to
subject themselves to the danger, almost the certainty, of dropping off,
and getting drowned; and, notwithstanding their need of sleep, increased
by fatigue, and the necessity of keeping constantly on the alert--up to
that moment not one of them had obtained any. The thrill of pleasure
that passed through their frames as they felt their feet upon _terra
firma_ for a moment aroused them. But the excitement could not be
sustained. The drowsy god would no longer be deprived of his rights;
and one after another, though without much interval between, sank down
upon the soft sand, and yielded to his balmy embrace.

CHAPTER FOUR.

'WARE THE TIDE!

Through that freak, or law, of nature by which peninsulas are shaped,
the point of the sandspit was elevated several feet above the level of
the sea; while its neck, nearer the land, scarce rose above the surface
of the water.

It was this highest point, where the sand was thrown up in a "wreath"
like snow in a storm, that the castaways had chosen for their couch.
But little pains had been taken in selecting the spot. It was the most
conspicuous, as well as the driest; and, on stepping out of the water,
they had tottered towards it, and half mechanically chosen it for their
place of repose.

Simple as was the couch, they were not allowed to occupy it for long.
They had been scarce two hours asleep, when one and all of them were
awakened by a sensation that chilled, and, at the same time, terrified
them. Their terror arose from a sense of suffocation: as if salt water
was being poured down their throats, which was causing it. In short,
they experienced the sensation of drowning; and fancied they were
struggling amid the waves from which they had so lately escaped.

All four sprang to their feet, if not simultaneously, at least in quick
succession, and all appeared equally the victims of astonishment,
closely approximating to terror. Instead of the couch of soft, dry
sand, on which they had stretched their tired frames, they now stood up
to their ankles in water, which was soughing and surging around them.
It was this change in their situation that caused their astonishment;
though the terror quick following sprang from quite another cause.

The former was short-lived: for it met with a ready explanation. In the
confusion of their ideas