It was impossible to render assistance; the sea rushed in
upon the vessel, making a clean breach over her. Those on shore
thought they heard cries for help from those on board, and could
plainly distinguish the busy but useless efforts made by the
stranded sailors. Now a wave came rolling onward. It fell with
enormous force on the bowsprit, tearing it from the vessel, and the
stern was lifted high above the water. Two people were seen to
embrace and plunge together into the sea, and the next moment one
of the largest waves that rolled towards the sand-hills threw a
body on the beach. It was a woman; the sailors said that she was
quite dead, but the women thought they saw signs of life in her, so
the stranger was carried across the sand-hills to the fisherman's
cottage. How beau
