noon
When I woke up it was broad day ; the sky too was clear and the sea calm . But I saw from the top of the tree that in the night the ship had left the bank of sand , and lay but a mile from me ; while the boat was on the beach , two miles on my right . I went some way down by the shore , to get to the boat ; but an arm of the sea , half a mile broad , kept me from it . At noon , the tide went a long way out , so that I could get near the ship ; and here I found that if we had but made up our minds to stay on board , we should all have been safe . I shed tears at the thought , for I could not help it ; yet , as there was no use in that , it struck me that the best thing for me to do was to swim to the ship . I soon threw off my clothes , took to the sea , and swam up to the wreck . But how was I to get on deck ?