Betsy Braves the Billows
The waves dashed and the lightning flashed and the thunder rolled and
the ship struck a rock. Betsy Bobbin was running across the deck and the
shock sent her flying through the air until she fell with a splash into
the dark blue water. The same shock caught Hank, a thin little, sad-faced
mule, and tumbled him also into the sea, far from the ship's side.
When Betsy came up, gasping for breath because the wet plunge had
surprised her, she reached out in the dark and grabbed a bunch of hair.
At first she thought it was the end of a rope, but presently she heard a
dismal "Hee-haw!" and knew she was holding fast to the end of Hank's tail.
Suddenly the sea was lighted up by a vivid glare. The ship, now in the
far distance, caught fire, blew up and sank beneath the waves.
Betsy shuddered at the sight, but just then her eye caught a mass of
wreckage floating near her and she let go the mule's tail and seized the
rude raft, pulling herself up so that she rode upon it in safety. Hank
also saw the raft and swam to it, but he was so clumsy he never would
have been able to climb upon it had not Betsy helped him to get aboard.
They had to crowd close together, for their support was only a
hatch-cover torn from the ship's deck; but it floated them fairly well
and both the girl and the mule knew it would keep them from drowning.
The storm was not over, by any means, when the ship went down. Blinding
bolts of lightning shot from cloud to cloud and the clamor of deep
thunderclaps echoed far over the sea. The waves tossed the little raft
here and there as a child tosses a rubber ball and Betsy had a solemn
feeling that for hundreds of watery miles in every direction there was no
living thing besides herself and the small donkey.
Perhaps Hank had the same thought, for he gently rubbed his nose against
the frightened girl and said "Hee-haw!" in his softest voice, as if to
comfort her.
"You'll protect me, Hank dear, won't you?" she cried helplessly, and the
mule said "Hee-haw!" again, in tones that meant a promise.
On board the ship, during the days that preceded the wreck, when the
sea was calm, Betsy and Hank had become good friends; so, while the
girl might have preferred a more powerful protector in this dreadful
emergency, she felt that the mule would do all in a mule's power to guard
her safety.
All night they floated, and when the storm had worn itself out and
passed away with a few distant growls, and the waves had grown smaller
and easier to ride, Betsy stretched herself out on the wet raft and fell
asleep.
Hank did not sleep a wink. Perhaps he felt it his duty to guard Betsy.
Anyhow, he crouched on the raft beside the tired sleeping girl and
watched patiently until the first light of dawn swept over the sea.
The light wakened Betsy Bobbin. She sat up, rubbed her eyes and stared
across the water.
"Oh, Hank; there's land ahead!" she exclaimed.
"Hee-haw!" answered Hank in his plaintive voice.
The raft was floating swiftly toward a very beautiful country and as
they drew near Betsy could see banks of lovely flowers showing brightly
between leafy trees. But no people were to be seen at all.
[Illustration]