“Then, after several seconds, he spoke: 

“‘Mosieu, are you the owner of this ship?’

“‘I am.’

“‘May I go over it?’

“‘You may.’

“Then he uttered a long sentence in English, in which I only distinguished the word ‘gracious,’ repeated several times.

“As he was looking for a place to climb up I showed him the easiest way, and gave him a hand.  He climbed up.  Then we helped up the three girls, who had now quite recovered their composure.  They were charming, especially the oldest, a blonde of eighteen, fresh as a flower, and very dainty and pretty!  Ah, yes! the pretty Englishwomen have indeed the look of tender sea fruit.  One would have said of this one that she had just risen out of the sands and that her hair had kept their tint.  They all, with their exquisite freshness, make you think of the delicate colors of pink sea-shells and of shining pearls hidden in the unknown depths of the ocean.

“She spoke French a little better than her father and acted as interpreter.  I had to tell all about the shipwreck, and I romanced as though I had been present at the catastrophe.  Then the whole family descended into the interior of the wreck.  As soon as they had penetrated into this sombre, dimly lit cavity they uttered cries of astonishment and admiration.  Suddenly the father and his three daughters were holding sketch-books in their hands, which they had doubtless carried hidden somewhere in their heavy weather-proof clothes, and were all beginning at once to make pencil sketches of this melancholy and weird place.

“They had seated themselves side by side on a projecting beam, and the four sketch-books on the eight knees were being rapidly covered with little black lines which were intended to represent the half-opened hulk of the Marie Joseph.

“I continued to inspect the skeleton of the ship, and the oldest girl talked to me while she worked.

“They had none of the usual English arrogance; they were simple honest hearts of that class of continuous travellers with which England covers the globe.  The father was long and thin, with a red face framed in white whiskers, and looking like a living sandwich, a piece of ham carved like a face between two wads of hair.  The daughters, who had long legs like young storks, were also thin-except the oldest.  All three were pretty, especially the tallest.

“She had such a droll way of speaking, of laughing, of understanding and of not understanding, of raising her eyes to ask a question (eyes blue as the deep ocean), of stopping her drawing a moment to make a guess at what you meant, of returning once more to work, of saying ‘yes’ or ’no’—­that I could have listened and looked indefinitely.

“Suddenly she murmured: 

“‘I hear a little sound on this boat.’

“I listened and I immediately distinguished a low, steady, curious sound.  I rose and looked out of the crack and gave a scream.  The sea had come up to us; it would soon surround us!