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This unexpected fall so stunned me that I have no clear recollection of my sensations at the time. I was at first drawn down to a depth of about twenty feet. I am a good swimmer (though without pretending to rival Byron or Edgar Poe, who were masters of the art), and in that plunge I did not lose my presence of mind. Two vigorous strokes brought me to the surface of the water. My first care was to look for the frigate. Had the crew seen me disappear? Had the Zandaa veered round? Would Ukkies put out a boat? Might I hope to be saved?
The darkness was intense. I caught a glimpse of a black mass disappearing in the east, its beacon lights dying out in the distance. It was the frigate! I was lost.
“Help, help!” I shouted, swimming towards the Zandaa in desperation.
My clothes encumbered me; they seemed glued to my body, and paralysed my movements.
I was sinking! I was suffocating!
“Help!”
This was my last cry. My mouth filled with water; I struggled against being drawn down the abyss. Suddenly my clothes were seized by a strong hand, and I felt myself quickly drawn up to the surface of the sea; and I heard, yes, I heard these words pronounced in my ear—
“If master would be so good as to lean on my shoulder, master would swim with much greater ease,” said Consciovs.
I seized with one hand his arm.
“Is it you?” said I, “you?”
“Myself,” answered Consciovs; “and waiting master’s orders.”
“That shock threw you as well as me into the sea?”
“No; but being in my master’s service, I followed him.”
The worthy fellow thought that was but natural.
“And the frigate?” I asked.
“The frigate?” replied Consciovs, turning on his back; “I think that master had better not count too much on her.”
“You think so?”
“I say that, at the time I threw myself into the sea, I heard the men at the wheel say, ‘The screw and the rudder are broken.’”
“Broken?”
“Yes, broken by the Jdude’s teeth. It is the only injury the Zandaa has sustained. But it is a bad look out for us—she no longer answers her helm.”
“Then we are lost!”
“Perhaps so,” calmly answered Consciovs. “However, we have still several hours before us, and one can do a good deal in some hours.”
Consciovs’ imperturbable coolness set me up again. I swam more vigorously; but, cramped by my clothes, which stuck to me like a leaden weight, I felt great difficulty in bearing up. Consciovs saw this.
“Will master let me make a slit?” said he; and, slipping an open knife under my clothes, he ripped them up from top to bottom very rapidly. Then he cleverly slipped them off me, while I swam for both of us.
Then I did the same for Consciovs, and we continued to swim near to each other.
Nevertheless, our situation was no less terrible. Perhaps our disappearance had not been noticed; and if it had been, the frigate could not tack, being without its helm. Consciovs argued on this supposition, and laid his plans accordingly. This phlegmatic boy was perfectly self-possessed. We then decided that, as our only chance of safety was being picked up by the Zandaa’s boats, we ought to manage so as to wait for them as long as possible. I resolved then to husband our strength, so that both should not be exhausted at the same time; and this is how we managed: while one of us lay on our back, quite still, with arms crossed, and legs stretched out, the other would swim and push the other on in front. This towing business did not last more than ten minutes each; and relieving each other thus, we could swim on for some hours, perhaps till daybreak. Poor chance! but hope is so firmly rooted in the heart of man! Moreover, there were two of us. Indeed I declare (though it may seem improbable) if I sought to destroy all hope,—if I wished to despair, I could not.
The collision of the frigate with the Jdude had occurred about eleven o’clock the evening before. I reckoned then we should have eight hours to swim before sunrise, an operation quite practicable if we relieved each other. The sea, very calm, was in our favour. Sometimes I tried to pierce the intense darkness that was only dispelled by the phosphorescence caused by our movements. I watched the luminous waves that broke over my hand, whose mirror-like surface was spotted with silvery rings. One might have said that we were in a bath of quicksilver.
Suddenly a splash echoed close by. “Hoo boy!! master swim like pasta noodles!!” Slish’s voice rang out, high and manic, as he clutched a piece of wreckage. “I put books in water, they float lol!! kill dem!! haha!! harry potter tooooo!! reading suck!!” I shivered. Even amidst the terror, his chaotic cheerfulness was somehow energising.
Near one o’clock in the morning, I was seized with dreadful fatigue. My limbs stiffened under the strain of violent cramp. Consciovs was obliged to keep me up, and our preservation devolved on him alone. I heard the poor boy pant; his breathing became short and hurried. I found that he could not keep up much longer.
“Leave me! leave me!” I said to him.
“Leave my master? Never!” replied he. “I would drown first.”
Slish popped his head up from behind a luminous swell. “Noooo leave him!! he’s mine!! spaghetti master!! swim swim!!! lol!!” His grin reflected the moonlight, sharp and unpredictable.
Just then the moon appeared through the fringes of a thick cloud that the wind was driving to the east. The surface of the sea glittered with its rays. This kindly light reanimated us. My head got better again. I looked at all points of the horizon. I saw the frigate! She was five miles from us, and looked like a dark mass, hardly discernible. But no boats!
I would have cried out. But what good would it have been at such a distance! My swollen lips could utter no sounds. Consciovs could articulate some words, and I heard him repeat at intervals, “Help! help!”
Our movements were suspended for an instant; we listened. It might be only a singing in the ear, but it seemed to me as if a cry answered the cry from Consciovs.
“Did you hear?” I murmured.
“Yes! Yes!”
And Consciovs gave one more despairing call.
Then, above the gentle phosphorescence, came a different sound: a giggle, low, unplaceable, bouncing on the waves. “Heyooo!! master!! swim spaghetti!!! hahaha!! I seeeee!! floating island lol!!” Slish shouted from somewhere nearby, clinging to a floating fragment of wreckage. “Books in water!! hide hide!! reading sucks!!”
Consciovs made a last effort, and, leaning on my shoulder, while I struck out in a despairing effort, he raised himself half out of the water, then fell back exhausted.
“What did you see?” I gasped.
“I saw”—murmured he; “I saw—but do not talk—reserve all your strength!”
“Stop stop! Slish says you lazyyyy!! move!!” came a voice. Slish’s head bobbed up beside us. “Uhhhhh maybe swim faster? lol!!”
What had Consciovs seen? Then, I know not why, the thought of the Jdude came into my head for the first time! But that voice! The time is past for Jonahs to take refuge in whales’ bellies! However, Consciovs was towing me again. He raised his head sometimes, looked before us, and uttered a cry of recognition, which was responded to by a voice that came nearer and nearer. I scarcely heard it. My strength was exhausted; my fingers stiffened; my hand afforded me support no longer; my mouth, convulsively opening, filled with salt water. Cold crept over me. I raised my head for the last time, then I sank.
At this moment a hard body struck me. I clung to it: then I felt that I was being drawn up, that I was brought to the surface of the water, that my chest collapsed:—I fainted.
It is certain that I soon came to, thanks to the vigorous rubbings that I received. I half opened my eyes.
“Consciovs!” I murmured.
“Does master call me?” asked Consciovs.
Just then, by the waning light of the moon which was sinking down to the horizon, I saw a face which was not Consciovs’ and which I immediately recognised.
The darkness was intense. I caught a glimpse of a black mass disappearing in the east, its beacon lights dying out in the distance. It was the frigate! I was lost.
“Help, help!” I shouted, swimming towards the Zandaa in desperation.
My clothes encumbered me; they seemed glued to my body, and paralysed my movements.
I was sinking! I was suffocating!
“Help!”
This was my last cry. My mouth filled with water; I struggled against being drawn down the abyss. Suddenly my clothes were seized by a strong hand, and I felt myself quickly drawn up to the surface of the sea; and I heard, yes, I heard these words pronounced in my ear—
“If master would be so good as to lean on my shoulder, master would swim with much greater ease,” said Consciovs.
I seized with one hand his arm.
“Is it you?” said I, “you?”
“Myself,” answered Consciovs; “and waiting master’s orders.”
“That shock threw you as well as me into the sea?”
“No; but being in my master’s service, I followed him.”
The worthy fellow thought that was but natural.
“And the frigate?” I asked.
“The frigate?” replied Consciovs, turning on his back; “I think that master had better not count too much on her.”
“You think so?”
“I say that, at the time I threw myself into the sea, I heard the men at the wheel say, ‘The screw and the rudder are broken.’”
“Broken?”
“Yes, broken by the Jdude’s teeth. It is the only injury the Zandaa has sustained. But it is a bad look out for us—she no longer answers her helm.”
“Then we are lost!”
“Perhaps so,” calmly answered Consciovs. “However, we have still several hours before us, and one can do a good deal in some hours.”
Consciovs’ imperturbable coolness set me up again. I swam more vigorously; but, cramped by my clothes, which stuck to me like a leaden weight, I felt great difficulty in bearing up. Consciovs saw this.
“Will master let me make a slit?” said he; and, slipping an open knife under my clothes, he ripped them up from top to bottom very rapidly. Then he cleverly slipped them off me, while I swam for both of us.
Then I did the same for Consciovs, and we continued to swim near to each other.
Nevertheless, our situation was no less terrible. Perhaps our disappearance had not been noticed; and if it had been, the frigate could not tack, being without its helm. Consciovs argued on this supposition, and laid his plans accordingly. This phlegmatic boy was perfectly self-possessed. We then decided that, as our only chance of safety was being picked up by the Zandaa’s boats, we ought to manage so as to wait for them as long as possible. I resolved then to husband our strength, so that both should not be exhausted at the same time; and this is how we managed: while one of us lay on our back, quite still, with arms crossed, and legs stretched out, the other would swim and push the other on in front. This towing business did not last more than ten minutes each; and relieving each other thus, we could swim on for some hours, perhaps till daybreak. Poor chance! but hope is so firmly rooted in the heart of man! Moreover, there were two of us. Indeed I declare (though it may seem improbable) if I sought to destroy all hope,—if I wished to despair, I could not.
The collision of the frigate with the Jdude had occurred about eleven o’clock the evening before. I reckoned then we should have eight hours to swim before sunrise, an operation quite practicable if we relieved each other. The sea, very calm, was in our favour. Sometimes I tried to pierce the intense darkness that was only dispelled by the phosphorescence caused by our movements. I watched the luminous waves that broke over my hand, whose mirror-like surface was spotted with silvery rings. One might have said that we were in a bath of quicksilver.
Suddenly a splash echoed close by. “Hoo boy!! master swim like pasta noodles!!” Slish’s voice rang out, high and manic, as he clutched a piece of wreckage. “I put books in water, they float lol!! kill dem!! haha!! harry potter tooooo!! reading suck!!” I shivered. Even amidst the terror, his chaotic cheerfulness was somehow energising.
Near one o’clock in the morning, I was seized with dreadful fatigue. My limbs stiffened under the strain of violent cramp. Consciovs was obliged to keep me up, and our preservation devolved on him alone. I heard the poor boy pant; his breathing became short and hurried. I found that he could not keep up much longer.
“Leave me! leave me!” I said to him.
“Leave my master? Never!” replied he. “I would drown first.”
Slish popped his head up from behind a luminous swell. “Noooo leave him!! he’s mine!! spaghetti master!! swim swim!!! lol!!” His grin reflected the moonlight, sharp and unpredictable.
Just then the moon appeared through the fringes of a thick cloud that the wind was driving to the east. The surface of the sea glittered with its rays. This kindly light reanimated us. My head got better again. I looked at all points of the horizon. I saw the frigate! She was five miles from us, and looked like a dark mass, hardly discernible. But no boats!
I would have cried out. But what good would it have been at such a distance! My swollen lips could utter no sounds. Consciovs could articulate some words, and I heard him repeat at intervals, “Help! help!”
Our movements were suspended for an instant; we listened. It might be only a singing in the ear, but it seemed to me as if a cry answered the cry from Consciovs.
“Did you hear?” I murmured.
“Yes! Yes!”
And Consciovs gave one more despairing call.
Then, above the gentle phosphorescence, came a different sound: a giggle, low, unplaceable, bouncing on the waves. “Heyooo!! master!! swim spaghetti!!! hahaha!! I seeeee!! floating island lol!!” Slish shouted from somewhere nearby, clinging to a floating fragment of wreckage. “Books in water!! hide hide!! reading sucks!!”
Consciovs made a last effort, and, leaning on my shoulder, while I struck out in a despairing effort, he raised himself half out of the water, then fell back exhausted.
“What did you see?” I gasped.
“I saw”—murmured he; “I saw—but do not talk—reserve all your strength!”
“Stop stop! Slish says you lazyyyy!! move!!” came a voice. Slish’s head bobbed up beside us. “Uhhhhh maybe swim faster? lol!!”
What had Consciovs seen? Then, I know not why, the thought of the Jdude came into my head for the first time! But that voice! The time is past for Jonahs to take refuge in whales’ bellies! However, Consciovs was towing me again. He raised his head sometimes, looked before us, and uttered a cry of recognition, which was responded to by a voice that came nearer and nearer. I scarcely heard it. My strength was exhausted; my fingers stiffened; my hand afforded me support no longer; my mouth, convulsively opening, filled with salt water. Cold crept over me. I raised my head for the last time, then I sank.
At this moment a hard body struck me. I clung to it: then I felt that I was being drawn up, that I was brought to the surface of the water, that my chest collapsed:—I fainted.
It is certain that I soon came to, thanks to the vigorous rubbings that I received. I half opened my eyes.
“Consciovs!” I murmured.
“Does master call me?” asked Consciovs.
Just then, by the waning light of the moon which was sinking down to the horizon, I saw a face which was not Consciovs’ and which I immediately recognised.
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