his name--turned a deaf ear. October wore away, and any termination of
my captivity seemed as distant as ever. I was obliged to put an end to
it on my own initiative. One evening--the fourth or fifth of November
it would be--we were outside Port Arthur. At dusk the gunboat
anchored, and a boat was despatched on some errand of reconnaissance.
A point of the coast was less than a mile distant, and as I leant over
the bulwark in the fore-part of the vessel, it struck me that I might
easily swim off to it, if I could get into the water unobserved. Under
Webster's tuition I had become an excellent swimmer. I looked round; I
was apparently not under notice, and there was no light near where I
was. My mind was made up at once. I stole as far forward as I could,
and watching my opportunity, and steadying myself by the cathead, I
made a leap for the cable, intending to climb down it to the water. A
leap in the dark is proverbially a dangerous thing; the vessel
perversely veered away as I sprang, and instead of catching the cable
I soused into the water with a loud splash. The sentry on the gangway
heard it, ran forward, and emptied the magazine of his rifle at me as
I swam away, but by diving and swimming under water out of the direct
line of advance, I managed to evade the bullets. A boat was soon down
and in hot pursuit, but I had had a good start, and they were at a
loss for my true direction at first. I struck out vigorously and made
good headway, but had the disadvantage of swimming in my clothes;
moreover, the water was frightfully cold, and began to chill me to the
bone. I could tell, however, that the tide was strongly in my favour,
and I believe I should have escaped the boat's notice, but that the
people on shore, hearing, I suppose, the rifle-shots, turned on an
electric search-light to see what was going forward. I was still a
good quarter of a mile from the shore, and the boat was nearly as
close in--almost parallel with me, though several hundred yards away.
There was no fort near, but I could see the dark mass of one on a