y during that infinitesimal period. My
reflections were not selfish, and it did not occur to me that Mr.
Whippleton was escaping from me and from the wrath to come--only that
my fair cousin would be at the mercy of my conqueror.
This was the pungent regret of the moment; and it seemed to me that I
ought not to stay conquered. I had left my coat on board of the yacht
in order to be able to swim if occasion should require; and I voted
unanimously that the occasion did require that I should take a muddy
bath in the service of the young lady. My first care was to get up. In
doing so, I felt the painter of the boat under me. It seemed to have
been left there when the tender was pushed into the water to suggest my
next step. It did suggest it, and I hastened to profit by the
advantage.
As I began to get up, Mr. Ben Waterford began to push off the boat; and
I had just time to seize the rope before it was dragged into the water.
I picked it up, and promptly checked the operations of the angry
skipper. I checked them rather suddenly. Mr. Waterford was at the stern
of the boat; and as he raised his oar to give it another push, I
gathered up all my strength, and made a desperate twitch at the rope.
As every one knows who has had anything to do with them, boats are
wretchedly unsteady to a person in a standing position. Even an old
sailor may find it impossible to maintain his perpendicularity when the
boat is unexpectedly moved. Philosophically, the inertia of the man
should be gradually overcome, and suddenly overcoming the inertia of
the boat, as practice and the formula have both demonstrated, does not
overcome that of the man. If he be not prepared for the change from
rest to motion, he is in very great danger of being thrown down, and if
near the water, of being thrown into it.
[Illustration: THE TABLES TURNED--PHIL THE VICTOR. Page 221.]
The body of Mr. Ben Waterford was not proof against the law of nature.
It followed the rule deduced by practical men from the phenomena of
every-day experience, and the formula laid down by those learned in
physics. When I twitched the rope, I suddenly and violently overcame
the inertia of the tender. Though without any malice on my part, the
inertia of Mr. Ben Waterford was not overcome at the same time. His
tendency was to remain at rest, and the consequence was, that I pulled
the boat out from under him. Furthermore, as there was water where the
boat had been when I pulled, beca
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