Robinson Crusoe Told to the Children

When the weather had again become calm and settled, Robinson was greatly tempted to venture out in his boat to the wreck, in spite of the narrow escape he had had before at that place; but there might still, he thought, be some one alive on board, and he made up his mind to risk it. This time he put a compass in the boat, and great store of food and water, as much as she could well carry, and he pushed off, paddling along the shore till he came near to the end of the sand-bank where the current ran so strong. And there his heart failed him. If he once got into that current, how was he to get out of it again? And if he were swept out to sea, and a gale of wind sprang up, what chance was there that his small boat would live through it? He was so cast down by these thoughts that he ran the boat ashore and got out.

Going on to a high rock he sat for hours watching the water, trying to make up his mind whether to venture to the wreck or not, when he noticed that the current was now running in the direction contrary to that in which it had been flowing the first time he saw it. This, it occurred to him, must be caused by the tides, and it seemed likely that if he chose his time, the current going one way would carry him close to the wreck, and that caused by the next tide would help him back again.