down towards the island when she grounded. I was hungry
enough, I can tell you, that day, but I kept my last half-biscuit until
the morning, so as to give me strength to swim. I dosed off for a bit,
but about eight bells, as near as I can guess, I heard a deep grating
sort of noise. Then I felt myself rising up. I went higher and higher,
till I began to wonder whether there was any chance of the berg turning
over. There was a noise like thunder as the pieces of ice broke off and
went crashing down the other side. Then slowly I began to sink down
again, and I should say for an hour the berg rolled up and down. Then I
went off to sleep.

"As you may guess, I was on the top of the berg at daybreak, and saw we
had drifted into a big bay, and had grounded about midway. The cliffs in
most places rose sheer up out of the water, but here and there there
were breaks, and I could see that the land beyond was rough and
desolate-looking. I ate my last half-biscuit, and then made my way down
to the water's edge. The shore seemed to me about half a mile away--a
longish swim in cold water; but I was a good swimmer, and the sea
between the berg and the land was as smooth as a pond. I took off my
clothes, put them in the middle of my oil-skin and wrapped it round
them, tying one of my stockings round the neck of the bag to keep it all
together. I had bought the oil-skin just before I started on that
voyage, and knew that it would keep out the water tidy. I could not get
down nearer than twenty feet of the sea, so I dropped the bag in and
then jumped.

"As I had hoped, the thing floated light. I pushed it before me as I
swam, and found that by putting my hands on it it would keep me up well
when I wanted to rest. However, I did not want much of that. The water
was too cold to be idle in, and I never stopped swimming until I got to
shore at the point I had marked out as easiest to land on. I wasn't long
opening the bag and getting into my things, which were perfectly dry. My
first thought was of food. While I had been swimming I thought I heard a
sort of barking noise, and I wasn't long in seeing that there were a lot
of seals on the rocks. I picked up a goodish chunk of stone, and then
lay down and set to crawling towards them. I had heard from sailors who
had been whaling that the way to kill a seal was to hit him on the nose,
and I kept this in my mind as I crawled up. They did not seem to notice
me, and I got close among them withou