would soon be much farther off.

It was plain, then, that if I intended to take this course, no time was
to be lost--not a moment.

What else could I do? If I did not succeed in reaching her, I might set
myself down for a troublesome adventure, perhaps perilous too; and this
belief nerved me to the attempt.

With all the speed I could make, I stripped off my clothes and flung
them upon the rocks. My shoes and stockings followed--even my shirt was
thrown aside, lest it might encumber me, and just as if I was going in
to have a bathe and a swim, I launched myself upon the water. I had no
wading to do. The water was beyond my depth from the very edge of the
reef, and I had to swim from the first plunge. Of course, I struck out
directly for the boat, and kept on without turning to one side or the
other.

I swam as swiftly as I could, but it was a long while before I could
perceive that I was coming any nearer to the dinghy. At times, I
thought I was not gaining upon her at all, and when the thought occurred
to me that she might be going as fast as I was, it filled me with
vexation and alarm. Should I not succeed in coming up with her, then it
would be a hopeless case indeed. I should have to turn round again and
swim back to the reef, or else go to the bottom; for, as already stated,
I could no more have reached the shore by swimming than I could have
swum across the Atlantic. Though I was now a very good swimmer, and
might have done a mile on a pinch, three were far beyond my power, and I
could not have made the distance to save my life. Moreover, the boat
was not drifting in the direction of the shore, but up the bay, where
there was at least ten miles of water before me.

I was getting discouraged in this pursuit, and thought of turning back
to the reef, before I might become too exhausted to reach it, when I
noticed that the dinghy veered slightly round, and then drifted in a
direction oblique to that she had already taken. This arose from a
sudden puff of wind which blew from a new quarter. It brought the boat
nearer me, and I resolved to make one more effort to reach her.

In this, I at length succeeded; and in a few minutes more, had the
satisfaction of laying my hands upon the gunwale of the boat, which
enabled me to obtain a little rest after my long swim.

As soon as I had recovered breath, I attempted to climb in over the
side; but to my chagrin, the crank little craft sunk under my weight,
a