填空。
The night was dark, though sometimes the moving clouds allowed a star or two to be seen in the sky. The poor men held on to any bit of wood they could find. They called to the Marie for
help, but she was far beyond the reach of the human voice. At one o'clock in the morning, the water was
getting colder, and a strong wind had begun to blow. Suddenly lights were seen in the distance; another
ship! The shouts of the swimmers were heard on board, and willing hands pulled them out of the water.
The name of the ship that had so fortunately arrived on the scene in time to save their lives was Ellen. What
had brought her to the exact spot through the darkness and the pathless sea? Her captain had known nothing
about the wreck and had indeed attempted to sail away from it. But let him speak for himself.
"I was forced by the wind," he said long afterwards, "to continue my course . Just as I did it,
a small bird flew across the ship once or twice and then flew at my face. I took no notice of this until
exactly the same thing happened at a second time, which caused me to think it rather unusual , while I was
thus conaidering it, the same bird for the third time, made its appearance and flew about in the same way as
before. I was then persuaded to change my course back to the original one. I had not gone far
when I heard strange noises; and when I tried to search for where they came from, I found I was in the
middle of people who had been shipwrecked. I immediately did my best to save them.