had put in cracked in a way which frightened him terribly. At
the same time there was a curious moaning, rumbling noise, that he
could not understand. He rushed out, and so afraid was he that the
roof was falling in, and that he should be buried, that he got over
the fence and began to run.

But he was even more frightened when he found that all the ground was
shaking. Then he knew that this was an earthquake.

Three times there came violent shocks; a huge rock about half a mile
away fell with a great noise like thunder, and the sea was churned up
as if by a whirlwind. Robinson was sick with the movement of the
ground, and trembling with the dread of being swallowed by the earth
as it cracked and gaped; and after the noise and shaking were over, he
was too frightened to go back to his tent, but sat where he was, all
the time expecting another shock.

Suddenly a furious wind began to blow, tearing up trees by the roots,
and lashing the water till nothing could be seen but foam and flying
spray. The air was full of branches and leaves torn off by the
hurricane, and birds in hundreds were swept helpless out to sea. In
about three hours, as suddenly as it had begun, the wind fell, and
there was a dead calm, followed by rain such as Robinson had never
before seen, which soaked him to the skin, and forced him to return to
the cave, where he sat in great fear.

For long after this he was very uneasy, and made up his mind to shift
his quarters as soon as he could find a better place for his tent. But
the earthquake had one good result, for what remained of the wreck was
again thrown up by the sea, and Robinson got more things out of it
which were useful to him, and for days he worked hard at that. One
day, too, when he was on his way to the remains of the ship, he came
on a large turtle, which he killed, and this gave him plenty of good
food, for besides the flesh, there were, inside the animal, many eggs,
which she had come to the shore to lay in the sand, as is the habit of
turtles, and which Robinson thought were even better than hen's eggs.

Now a few days after he had got so wet in the heavy rain, though the
weather was hot, Robinson felt very cold and shivery, and had pains
all over his body, and at night he dreamed terrible dreams. The
following day, and many days, he lay very ill with fever and ague, and
hardly knew what he was doing. So weak was he, that he believed he was
dying, and there was no one to give him w