DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70267#0061
ASTONISHING CASE OF A FOWLER.
45
fast by it, as a support, as well as a security against the
waves, and to wait the ebbing of the tide. A common,
tide, he had no reason to believe would not, in that place,
have reached above his middle; but as this was a spring-
tide, and brought forward with a strong westerly wind,
he durst hardly expect so favourable a conclusion ; in
the midst of this reasoning on the subject, the water
making a rapid advance, had now reached him. It
covered the ground on which he stood, it rippled over
his feet, it gained his knees, hi§ waist, button after button,
swallowed up, till at length it advanced over his very
shoulders; with a palpitating heart, he gave himself up
for lott* Still, however, he held fast by his anchor.
His eye was eagerly in search of some boat, which
might accidentally take its course that way ; but none
appeared. A solitary head, floating on the water, and
sometimes covered by a wave, was no object to be de-
scribed from the shore, at a distance of half aleague;
nor could he exert any sounds of distress, that could be
heard so far. While he was thus making up his mind,
as the exigence would allow, to the terrors of a certain
destruction, his attention was called to a new object.
He thought he saw the uppermost button of his coat be-
gin to appear. No mariner, floating on a wreck, could
behold a cape at sea, with greater transport, than he did
the uppermost button of his coat. But the fluctuation of
the water was such, and the turn of the tide so slow, that
it was yet some time before he durst venture to assure
himself, that the button was fairly above the level of the
flood. At length however a second button appearing at
intervals, his sensations may rather be conceived, than
described; and his joy gave him spirit and resolution, to
support his uneasy situation four or five hours longer, till
the waters fully retired,
No. II. h Circum-
45
fast by it, as a support, as well as a security against the
waves, and to wait the ebbing of the tide. A common,
tide, he had no reason to believe would not, in that place,
have reached above his middle; but as this was a spring-
tide, and brought forward with a strong westerly wind,
he durst hardly expect so favourable a conclusion ; in
the midst of this reasoning on the subject, the water
making a rapid advance, had now reached him. It
covered the ground on which he stood, it rippled over
his feet, it gained his knees, hi§ waist, button after button,
swallowed up, till at length it advanced over his very
shoulders; with a palpitating heart, he gave himself up
for lott* Still, however, he held fast by his anchor.
His eye was eagerly in search of some boat, which
might accidentally take its course that way ; but none
appeared. A solitary head, floating on the water, and
sometimes covered by a wave, was no object to be de-
scribed from the shore, at a distance of half aleague;
nor could he exert any sounds of distress, that could be
heard so far. While he was thus making up his mind,
as the exigence would allow, to the terrors of a certain
destruction, his attention was called to a new object.
He thought he saw the uppermost button of his coat be-
gin to appear. No mariner, floating on a wreck, could
behold a cape at sea, with greater transport, than he did
the uppermost button of his coat. But the fluctuation of
the water was such, and the turn of the tide so slow, that
it was yet some time before he durst venture to assure
himself, that the button was fairly above the level of the
flood. At length however a second button appearing at
intervals, his sensations may rather be conceived, than
described; and his joy gave him spirit and resolution, to
support his uneasy situation four or five hours longer, till
the waters fully retired,
No. II. h Circum-