noon
Another crash and another , the forecastle carried away , the decks opening , bales , chests , cordage , stores of all sorts tossed high up on the shore , more dead bodies -- chiefly of men , for they had some time before given up to the few women and children the now capsized and shattered boats . All along the shore , as far as eye could see , the beach was composed of a heterogeneous mass of enormous fragments of rock thrown together and piled up on each other , leaving here and there in their midst a separate pool of sea water ; in some of these pools was a dead body or two , but by far the greater number were lying in every imaginable , distorted position among the huge , irregular blocks of stone . Many , who had been washed in sufficiently far to escape drowning , were killed by the force with which they were dashed on shore : there , with broken bones and gnashed and blood-stained bodies , they slept in death , like men who had fallen in some great battle . It was noon , but not a ray of sunlight glinted across the ghastly scene . Every sound was lost in the terrific roar of the great , heaving hills of water , which rolled in continuously ; huge masses of wet gray cloud hung over all , obscuring or transforming every visible object . Far up among the shingle lay one human form which still bore signs of life . It was that of a young lady , attired in deep mourning , a stream of blood trickled down the pale face , and from time to time one hand moved convulsively toward a deep cut in her head as if to assuage the pain ; presently in half-consciousness she whispered `` Do not tell my mother I am hurt , it would grieve her .