ried back
by the return waves, we might be able to reach the smooth water inside
the reef, when it would be easy to swim ashore.

But to most of us, the attempt seemed too desperate to be thought of,
except as a last resort; and we preferred to toil at the oars as long as
our strength should last in the hope of discovering an inlet. Arthur,
on whose skill and judgment we all relied, steered still farther out,
and for a while we seemed to make head against the swell and the
current.

For full half an hour longer, we kept up this severe struggle, that
admitted not of an instant's pause or respite. But then our progress
became almost imperceptible, and every stroke was made more feebly and
laboriously than the last. I could hardly hold the oar in my stiffened
fingers. Still no break was to be seen in the long line of surf which
seemed to hem in the island, extending like a white wall, of uniform
height, far as the eye could reach, on either hand. I had read of
islands, like that of Eimeo, completely encircled by coral reefs, with
but a single gateway by which they were accessible. What if this were
such an one, and the only entrance, miles from the spot where we were
toiling for our lives! The conviction that we must risk the chance of
success in an attempt to land upon some ledge of the reef, was forcing
itself upon all our minds, when Max, trembling with eagerness, pointed
to what appeared to be an opening through the surf, nearly opposite us;
there was a narrow space where the long waves, as they rolled towards
the shore, did not seem to encounter the obstacle over which they broke
with such violence on both sides of it, and the swell of the ocean met
the placid waters of the lagoon, without any intervening barrier.
Through this gap, the shore of the island could be seen, down to the
water's edge.

Arthur hastily made a bundle of the mast and gaff, and placing it within
Johnny's reach, told him to cling to it, in case of accident. Then,
calling upon us to pull steadily, he steered directly for the inlet. As
we neared it the noise of the surf became almost deafening: the huge
rollers, as they thundered against the perpendicular wall of coral,
rising abruptly from the depths of the sea, sent up a column of foam and
spray, twelve or fifteen feet into the air. When just within the
entrance, the spectacle was grand and appalling. But the danger, real
or apparent, was soon over: with a firm hand, and steady eye,