ould
not for a long time think, only lie and try to breathe without catching
each inspiration in a jerky, spasmodic way.

I suppose hours must have passed, during which I stared through the
darkness at the dull whitish phosphorescent glow which appeared through
the gloom, and died out, and appeared and died out again and again,
passing like clouds faintly illumined in a ghastly way, and all mingled
with the confusion caused by that awful roar. Then at last I began to
feel that the rush of wind and water was passing over me, and that I was
in some kind of shelter; and when I had once hit upon this, I had as it
were grasped a clue. I knew that I was lying on stones, and saw that
rising above me was a mass of rock, which I knew by the touch, and this
stone was sheltering me from the wind and spray.

"We must have reached the shore safely, then," I said to myself, for my
head was getting clearer; "and--yes--no--I was not hurt. We were all
saved, then."

At that point a terrible feeling of dread came over me. I was safe, but
my companions?

The shock of this thought threw me back for a bit, but I was soon
struggling with the confusion again, and I recalled the fact that I had
felt some one touch me as he sank down by my side.

Arrived at this point, I turned a little to look, but all was perfectly
black. I stretched out my hand and felt about.

I snatched it back with a cry of horror. Yes, a cry of horror; for,
though I could not hear it, I felt it escape from my lips. I had
touched something all wet and cold lying close beside me, and I felt
that it was one of my companions who had been cast up or dragged
ashore--dead.

Shivering violently, I shrank away, and stretched out my hand in the
other direction--my left hand now, with my arm numbed, and my shoulder
aching when I moved it, as if the joint had become stiffened and would
not work.

I touched somebody there--something cold and smooth and wet, and drew my
hand away again, when, as it glided over the sand, it touched something
else round and soft and long, and--yes--plaited. It was a long tail.

"Ching!" I ejaculated; and, gaining courage, I felt again in the
darkness, to find that it grew thinner. I tried again in the other
direction, and once more touched the round wet object, which did not
seem so cold, and then the next moment a hand caught mine and held it.

I was right; it was Ching. I knew him by his long nails.

Not alone! I had a compan