Presently as I went I
heard him say with an oath:
'He has gone, and for good this time, but my foreboding went near to
coming true after all. Bah! how the sight of that man frightens me.'
Now I knew in my heart that I was doing a mad thing, for though if no
shark took me, I might float for six or eight hours in this warm water
yet I must sink at last, and what would my struggle have profited me?
Still I swam on slowly, and after the filth and stench of the slave
hold, the touch of the clean water and the breath of the pure air were
like food and wine to me, and I felt strength enter into me as I went.
By this time I was a hundred yards or more from the ship, and though
those on board could scarcely have seen me, I could still hear the
splash of the bodies, as the slaves were flung from her, and the
drowning cries of such among them as still lived.
I lifted my head and looked round the waste of water, and seeing
something floating on it at a distance, I swam towards it, expecting
that every moment would be my last, because of the sharks which abound
in these seas. Soon I was near it, and to my joy I perceived that it was
a large barrel, which had been thrown from the ship, and was floating
upright in the water. I reached it, and pushing at it from below,
contrived to tilt it so that I caught its upper edge with my hand.
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