THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON.
CHAPTER I.
When one has a good tale to tell, he should try to be brief, and not say more than he can help ere he makes a fair start; so I shall not say a word of what took place on board the ship till we had been six days in a storm. The bark had gone far out of her true course, and no one on board knew where we were. The masts lay in splints on the deck, the sails were torn, a leak in the side of the ship let more in than the crew could pump out, and each one felt that ere long he would find a grave in the deep sea, which rose and fell in great white waves of foam, and sent its spray from side to side of what was now but a mere hulk.
Most of those on board sought the best means that they could think of to save their own lives; but some knelt down to pray that God would quell the storm and still the waves, for they felt that none but He could help them now.
"Come, boys," said I to my four sons, who were with me, and were struck dumb with fear, "God can save us if it please Him so
