at-grandmother so
recklessly."

"Stay at home!" cried Peterkin. "My dear fellow, you would certainly
lose your way, or get upset, if I were not there to take care of you."

"Ah, true!" said Jack gravely; "that did not occur to me. No doubt you
must go. Our boat does require a good deal of ballast; and all that you
say, Peterkin, carries so much weight with it that we won't need stones
if you go."

Now, while my companions were talking, a notable event occurred, which,
as it is not generally known, I shall be particular in recording here.

While we were talking, as I have said, we noticed a dark line, like a
low cloud or fog-bank, on the seaward horizon. The day was a fine one,
though cloudy, and a gentle breeze was blowing; but the sea was not
rougher, or the breaker on the reef higher, than usual. At first we
thought that this looked like a thundercloud, and as we had had a good
deal of broken weather of late, accompanied by occasional peals of
thunder, we supposed that a storm must be approaching. Gradually,
however, this line seemed to draw nearer without spreading up over the
sky, as would certainly have been the case if it had been a storm-cloud.
Still nearer it came, and soon we saw that it was moving swiftly
towards the island; but there was no sound till it reached the islands
out at sea. As it passed these islands we observed, with no little
anxiety, that a cloud of white foam encircled them, and burst in spray
into the air; it was accompanied by a loud roar. This led us to
conjecture that the approaching object was an enormous wave of the sea;
but we had no idea how large it was till it came near to ourselves.
When it approached the outer reef, however, we were awestruck with its
unusual magnitude; and we sprang to our feet, and clambered hastily up
to the highest point of the precipice, under an indefinable feeling of
fear.

I have said before that the reef opposite Spouting Cliff was very near
to the shore, while just in front of the bower it was at a considerable
distance out to sea. Owing to this formation, the wave reached the reef
at the latter point before it struck at the foot of Spouting Cliff. The
instant it touched the reef we became aware, for the first time, of its
awful magnitude. It burst completely over the reef at all points with a
roar that seemed louder to me than thunder, and this roar continued for
some seconds while the wave rolled gradually along towards the cliff on
whi