But either they did not understand her, or the chance of rescue seemed too small to induce them to abandon the temporary safety of the wreck.

They clung to it with the desperate instinct of life brought face to face with death.

Just at nightfall there was a slight break in the west; a red light glared across the thick air, as if for one instant the eye of the storm looked out upon the ruin it had wrought, and closed again under lids of cloud.

Taking advantage of this, the solitary watcher ashore made one more effort.
She waded out into the water, every drop of which, as it struck the beach, became a particle of ice, and stretching out and drawing in her arms, invited, by her gestures, the sailors to throw themselves into the waves, and strive to reach her.

Captain Hackett understood her.