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The violent efforts of the storm had broken its force . All mariners know that the last ordeal is severe , but short . The excessive violence of the thunderstorm is the herald of the end . The rain stopped suddenly . Then there was only a surly rumbling in the heavens . The storm ceased with the suddenness of a plank falling to the ground . The immense mass of clouds became disorganised . A strip of clear sky appeared between them . Gilliatt was astonished : it was broad daylight . The tempest had lasted nearly twenty hours . The wind which had brought the storm carried it away . A dark pile was diffused over the horizon , the broken clouds were flying in confusion across the sky . From one end to the other of the line there was a movement of retreat : a long muttering was heard , gradually decreasing , a few last drops of rain fell , and all those dark masses charged with thunder , departed like a terrible multitude of chariots . Suddenly the wide expanse of sky became blue . Gilliatt perceived that he was wearied . Sleep swoops down upon the exhausted frame like a bird upon its prey . He drooped and sank upon the deck of the bark without choosing his position , and there slept . Stretched at length and inert , he remained thus for some hours , scarcely distinguishable from the beams and joists among which he lay . BOOK IV PITFALLS IN THE WAY I HE WHO IS HUNGRY IS NOT ALONE When he awakened he was hungry . The sea was growing calmer . But there was still a heavy swell , which made his departure , for the present at least , impossible . The day , too , was far advanced . For the sloop with its burden to get to Guernsey before midnight , it was necessary to start in the morning . Although pressed by hunger , Gilliatt began by stripping himself , the only means of getting warmth . His clothing was saturated by the storm , but the rain had washed out the sea - water , which rendered it possible to dry them . He kept nothing on but his trousers , which he turned up nearly to the knees . His overcoat , jacket , overalls , and sheepskin he spread out and fixed with large round stones here and there . Then he thought of eating . He had recourse to his knife , which he was careful to sharpen , and to keep always in good condition ; and he detached from the rocks a few limpets , similar in kind to the clonisses of the Mediterranean . It is well known that these are eaten raw : but after so many labours , so various and so rude , the pittance was meagre . His biscuit was gone ; but of water he had now abundance . He took advantage of the receding tide to wander among the rocks in search of crayfish . There was extent enough of rock to hope for a successful search . But he had not reflected that he could do nothing with these without fire to cook them . If he had taken the trouble to go to his store - cavern , he would have found it inundated with the rain . His wood and coal were drowned , and of his store of tow , which served him for tinder , there was not a fibre which was not saturated . No means remained of lighting a fire .
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