I thought this was better than Arion and the dolphin, and I could really understand how it could be, though it is all gone now. I can only remember lying, crying, in the bottom of the boat. I was so happy and weak,--for I think we had nothing to eat after we left the ship,--and I would keep falling asleep and seeing some one stretching out his hand to me, and saying 'It is I; be not afraid;' then half waking up, and hearing some one say, in a solemn tone, 'But a plank between us and eternity,' and if it had not been for something, 'every soul on board'--and that is the last recollection I have of any thing, until we were coming into port in another ship; and every thing, as I said, was just as if nothing had happened, only I was very weak, for I had been quite ill; and the captain, when he saw me coming on deck, caught me in his arms and kissed me, which he had never done before, and the grave old sailor with the queer smile gave me _such_ a hug. The smile was all gone now, and when we left the ship I saw him shaking hands with the captain, with the most serious face I ever saw. I had overheard the old man telling some one the captain had shown he had the real grit in him, and if he had not had the misfortune to be born a gentleman he would have been as good a sailor as ever did something or other, I forget what; as if he had said he would have been as good a sailor as he had shown himself a brave man.” “Is that all?” said Effie. “I thought when you came to the shipwreck it would be something grand and dangerous.” “I suppose you would like to hear that the ship was struck by lightning, and went down in the middle of the ocean, with every soul on board but me, and that I drifted for days on a single oar, and at last came to a savage coast with a horde of wild Arabs ready to pounce upon me the moment I should be dashed upon the beach.” “That would be nice.” “Or to have had me swallowed by a shark, thousands of miles out of sight of land, and then you might have told the story for yourself.” “O, I did not mean to complain of your story; and I dare say if it had happened to one of us, it would have been the greatest event in our lives.” “Just like my night in the woods which Fanny's starlight night reminded me of. I have been thinking of it ever since she came to that part.” “There, Linda! I knew you were thinking of something else than my story, and I believe that is the reason it began to sound so flat towards the end.” “But I should not have thought of it, if it had not been for what you were telling; so that it shows I really was interested, as you would believe, if you knew how much it was like that night of my own.” “Do tell us about it, Linda; were you out all night alone?”