Why did n't I stay safe and comfortable in my own boat ? '' At the thought a sob rose , and poor Jill laid her head down on her lap to cry with all her heart , feeling very helpless , small , and forsaken alone there on the great sea . In the midst of her tears came the thought , `` When people are in danger , they ask God to save them ; '' and , slipping down upon her knees , she said her prayer as she had never said it before , for when human help seems gone we turn to Him as naturally as lost children cry to their father , and feel sure that he will hear and answer them . After that she felt better , and wiped away the drops that blinded her , to look out again like a shipwrecked mariner watching for a sail . And there it was ! Close by , coming swiftly on with a man behind it , a sturdy brown fisher , busy with his lobster-pots , and quite unconscious how like an angel he looked to the helpless little girl in the rudderless boat . `` Hi ! hi ! Oh , please do stop and get me ! I 'm lost , no oars , nobody to fix the sail ! Oh , oh ! please come ! '' screamed Jill , waving her hat frantically as the other boat skimmed by and the man stared at her as if she really was a mermaid with a fishy tail . `` Keep still ! I 'll come about and fetch you ! '' he called out ; and Jill obeyed , sitting like a little image of faith , till with a good deal of shifting and flapping of the sail , the other boat came alongside and took her in tow . A few words told the story , and in five minutes she was sitting snugly tucked up watching an unpleasant mass of lobsters flap about dangerously near her toes , while the boat bounded over the waves with a delightful motion , and every instant brought her nearer home . She did not say much , but felt a good deal ; and when they met two boats coming to meet her , manned by very anxious crews of men and boys , she was so pale and quiet that Jack was quite bowed down with remorse , and Frank nearly pitched the bicycle boy overboard because he gayly asked Jill how she left her friends in England . There was great rejoicing over her , for the people on the rocks had heard of her loss , and ran about like ants when their hill is disturbed . Of course half a dozen amiable souls posted off to the Willows to tell the family that the little girl was drowned , so that when the rescuers appeared quite a crowd was assembled on the beach to welcome her .
But Jill felt so used up with her own share of the excitement that she was glad to be carried to the house by Frank and XXXXX , and laid upon her bed , where Mrs. Hammond soon restored her with sugar-coated pills , and words even sweeter and more soothing .
England Frank Jack Jill flap left lobster-pots minutes oars rescuers