The boy tar; or, A voyage in the dark . urrent against me — the tide ; and this itwas, as well as the breeze, that had been drifting theboat awaj. But I got back to the reef, and there wasnot a foot to spare. The stroke that brought me up tothe edge of the rocks, would have been my last, had norocks been there; for it would have been the last Icould give, so much was I exhausted. Fortunately, mystrength had proved equal to the effort; but that wasnow quite gone, and I lay for some minutes upon theedge of the reef, at the spot where I had crawled out,waiting to recover my breath. I did not main
The boy tar; or, A voyage in the dark . urrent against me — the tide ; and this itwas, as well as the breeze, that had been drifting theboat awaj. But I got back to the reef, and there wasnot a foot to spare. The stroke that brought me up tothe edge of the rocks, would have been my last, had norocks been there; for it would have been the last Icould give, so much was I exhausted. Fortunately, mystrength had proved equal to the effort; but that wasnow quite gone, and I lay for some minutes upon theedge of the reef, at the spot where I had crawled out,waiting to recover my breath. I did not maintain this inactive attitude longer thanwas necessary. This was not a situation in which totrifle with time, and knowing this, I got to my feetagain to see if anything could be done. Strange enough, I cast my eyes in the directionwhence I had just come from the boat. It was rathera mechanical glance, and I scarce know why I shouldhave looked in that particular direction. Perhaps Ihad some faint hope that the sunken craft might rise to. THE SIGNAL-STAFF. 53 the surface ; and I believe some such fancy actually didpresent itself. I was not permitted to indulge in it,for there was no boat to be seen, nor anything like saw the oars floating far out, but only the oars; andfor all the service they could do me, they might as wellhave gone to the bottom, along with the boat. I next turned my eyes toward the shore; but noth-ing was to be seen in that direction, but the low-lyingland upon which the village was situated. I could notsee any people on shore — in fact, I could hardly dis-tinguish the houses ; for, as if to add to the gloom andperil that surrounded me, the sky had become overcast,and along with the clouds a fresh breeze had sprung up. This was raising the water into waves of considera-ble height, and these interfered with my view of thebeach. Even in bright weather, the distance itselfwould have hindered me from distinguishing humanforms on the shore; for from the ree
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