ugh the driving rain,
but almost at once the vessel struck on a sand-bank. In an instant the
sails were blown to bits, and flapped with such uproar that no one
could hear the Captain's orders. Waves poured over the decks, and the
vessel bumped on the sand so terribly that the masts broke off near
the deck, and fell over the side into the sea.

With great difficulty the only boat left on the ship was put in the
water, and everybody got into her. They rowed for the shore, hoping to
get perhaps into some bay, or to the mouth of a river, where the sea
would be quiet.

But before they could reach the land, a huge gray wave, big like the
side of a house, came foaming and thundering up behind them, and
before any one could even cry out, it upset the boat, and they were
all left struggling in the water.

Robinson was a very good swimmer, but no man could swim in such a sea,
and it was only good fortune that brought him at last safely to land.
Big wave after big wave washed him further and further up the beach,
rolling him over and over, once leaving him helpless, and more than
half drowned, beside a rock.

But before the next wave could come up, perhaps to drag him back with
it into the sea, he was able to jump up and run for his life.

And so he got safely out of the reach of the water, and lay down upon
the grass. But of all on board the ship, Robinson was the only one who
was not drowned.

II

ROBINSON WORKS HARD AT MAKING HIMSELF A HOME

When he had rested a little, Robinson got up and began to walk about
very sadly, for darkness was coming on; he was wet, and cold, and
hungry, and he did not know where to sleep, because he was afraid of
wild beasts coming out of the woods and killing him during the night.

But he found that he still had his knife in his pocket, so he cut a
big stick to protect himself with. Then he climbed into a tree which
had very thick leaves, and there he fixed himself among the branches
as well as he could, and fell sound asleep.

In the morning when he awoke, the storm was past, and the sea quieter.
To his surprise, he saw that the ship had been carried in the night,
by the great seas, much nearer to the shore than she had been when the
boat left her, and was now lying not far from the rock where Robinson
had first been washed up.

By midday the sea was quite calm, and the tide had gone so far out
that he could walk very near to the ship. So he took off his clothes
and swam the