strong, too immense of stature. Apparently unweakened by his wounds,
the giant negro, thoroughly aroused, exerted his mighty muscles, and,
despite my utmost effort at resistance, thrust me back against the
stern rail, where the weight of his body pinned me helplessly. With a
roar of rage he drove his huge fist into my face, but happily was too
close to give much force to the blow. My own hands, gripping the
neck-band of his coarse shirt, twisted it tight about the great
throat, until, in desperation, panting for breath, the huge brute
actually lifted me in his arms, and hurled me backward, headlong over
the rail. I struck something as I fell, yet rebounding from this,
splashed into the deep water, and went down so nearly unconscious as
to make not even the slightest struggle. I had no strength left in me,
no desire to save myself, and I sank like a stone. And yet I came up
once more to the surface, arising by sheer chance, directly beneath
the small dory--which my body must have struck as I fell--towing by a
painter astern of the sloop, and fortunately retained sense enough to
cling desperately to this first thing my hands touched, and thus
remained concealed.

This occurred through complete exhaustion, rather than the exercising
of any judgment, for, had it not been for this providential support, I
would surely have drowned without a struggle. Every breath I drew was
in pain; I felt as though my ribs had been crushed in, while I had
lost sufficient blood to leave me as weak as a babe. I simply clung
there desperately, hopelessly, yet the salt water soon served to
revive me physically, and even my brain began to arouse from its daze
to a faint realization of the conditions. The small dory to which I
clung, caught in some mysterious current, floated at the very
extremity of its slender towline, and in consequence the sloop
appeared little more than a mere smudge, when my eyes endeavored to