Seite:Marsh Hallig 1856.djvu/274

274THE HALLIG.

  At the same instant, a portion of Godber's house fell ;
and it was plain enough to foresee that the wretched
condition of the wharf, which had now become so evi-
dent, would soon cause the complete destruction of the
house and the speedy death of its inmate. But Godber,
although many a wave rolled near his feet, and drenched
him with its spray, appeared quite insensible to the
danger. There he stood in the bright moonlight, his
very features almost distinguishable, in the same spot
where Maria had first observed him. His look, how-
ever, was no longer turned toward the house of the
pastor, but directed to the side, where lay the church-
yard, the top of the wall which surrounded it being
now only occasionally visible. That one side of his
house had given way, did not seem to move him.
Maria cried out to him from her agonized heart. He
did not hear her. There! did she slide accidentally
from the side of the wharf, now made slippery by the
lashing of the waves ? or was it an intentional effort to
reach Godber ? Maria sank into the sea, and rose the
next moment on the foaming crest of a billow, twenty
paces from the mound, and then drifted away on the
dark ridge of a succeeding wave.
 The shriek of terror from Hold and his wife, roused
Godber from his stupor. His eye flew rapidly over the
water, in the direction from which the piercing cry had
come ; and at the same instant, a huge wave lifted
Maria again aloft ; and through its cloud of foam were
seen the raised head and extended arms of the poor
girl. Godber plunged into the stormy sea, measuring
with great presence of mind, the progressive motion of
the water, which, fortunately, was almost exactly in the