for ever. It seemed
strange that I should have cared for this one's life, and would have
saved it if I could, when I was daily trapping and shooting them in all
directions.

I think it was his plaintive look that did it, or the consciousness that
I was a superior being, and had his little life (to a certain extent) at
my command, just as our Father above has mine; but anyway, in his
wounded state I knew that death was his best friend. Looking round I at
once realized what death meant--death in a terrible form--not to a
rabbit, but _death to myself_--and for a moment I felt paralyzed; for
there was the sea creeping in upon me, not ten yards away. The roof of
the cavern through which I had to pass, did not appear far above the
water at the outer mouth. As I gazed along the tunnel-like aperture the
waves continually broke, sending spray to the roof, shutting out much of
the daylight seaward, though from the opening above me the sunlit sky
shed its light upon me.

Could I find a means of climbing up the perpendicular sides of my
prison, if only a few feet? No, I could not see a spot where even a
squirrel could ascend. What was to be done? The outlet was now filled to
the roof with the incoming tide, which here has a rise of from
twenty-five to thirty feet from low to high tide.

The sea reached my feet, and to my excited imagination felt like the
fingers of death trying to clutch me. But I am not one to give up
without a big struggle, and I made up my mind to attempt to swim round
and round the opening, _like a rat in a pail_, if it came to the worst;
but although I am a good swimmer, I doubted my ability to keep afloat
for three or four hours, with a heavy sea pouring into the circular
cavity, which would presently be filled with a whirlpool of seething,
foaming water. I should be knocked and buffeted from side to side
against the adamantine rocks till I was dead, then tossed and played
with till the tide ran out and carried my body into the vast ocean
beyond, as food for fishes. My friends would never hear of me again, and
my animals on the island would starve till--yes, why not try?

My soliloquy was cut short by noticing a crag project beyond the others
about ten or twelve feet from the ground. Why could I not throw my
doubled silk sash over it, and haul myself up? I would try.

The sea was now up to my knees, and was beginning to exert a rotary
motion, which, as the tide rose, would increase in velocity. So off ca