Accidents > Dangers of the deep, or, Narratives of shipwreck and adventure at sea

156 ADVENTURES IN THE BOATS,
but two of our men, being incommoded for
want of room, went a little way from us, into
a small nook, over which a great cliff hung,
and served them for a canopy. In the middle
of the night we were awakened with a terrible
rumbling, which we apprehended to be no¬
thing less than the shock of an earthquake,
which we had before experienced in these
parts; and this conjecture we had reason to
think not ill founded, upon hearing hollow
groans and cries as of men half swallowed up.
We immediately got up, and ran to the
place from whence the cries came, and then we
were put out of all doubt as to the opinion we
had formed of this accident; for here we found
the two men almost buried under loose stones
and earth: but upon a little farther enquiry
we were undeceived as to the cause we had im¬
puted this noise to, which we found to be oc¬
casioned by the sudden giving way of the im¬
pending cliff, which fell a little beyond our
people, carrying trees and rocks with it, and
loose earth ; the latter of which fell in part on
our men, whom we with some pains rescued
from their uneasy situation, from which they
escaped with some bruises. The next morn¬
ing we got out early, and the wind being wes-