For a time, which seemed to me an eternity, I was under water, but when
I rose to the surface I could see the ship at some distance from me,
fighting her way through the storm. I was almost suffocated by the
spray which continually blew over me, and the heavy sea boots which I
wore, filling with water, threatened to drag me down. I had given
myself up for lost, when I noticed a spar floating near, which must
have been washed overboard with me, and, making an effort, I succeeded
in laying hold of it, so that I managed to keep afloat. Thus holding to
the spar and swimming, sometimes with one hand and sometimes with the
other, I kept my head above water until my feet touched ground, when I
waded upon the shore of an island, where I fell down exhausted, and for
the time lost consciousness.
When I came to myself it was almost dark. I had fortunately been
carried by a current upon the leeside of the island, so that I was
protected from the wind and sea, but my limbs felt numb and cold, while
the blood coursed feebly in my veins. I felt too weary to move, and
presently I fell asleep, from which I awoke, as I judged, about
midnight, much refreshed.
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