been done,
the water was nearly up to the gunwales. In five seconds more the boat
would have gone down; but, so well had Tom's work been done, and so
promptly, that these five seconds were saved. Having done what he
wished, he let himself down into the water; and, holding on by the
stern of the boat, he allowed himself to float after it, kicking out at
the same time, so as to assist, rather than retard, its progress.

By this time the land was not more than twenty yards away. The boat
did not sink so rapidly now, but kept afloat much better; still the
water rose to a level with the gunwales, and Tom was too much rejoiced
to find that it kept afloat at all to find fault with this. The wind
still blew, and the sail was still up; so that the water-logged vessel
went on at a very respectable rate, until at length half the distance
which Tom had noticed on going overboard was traversed. The boat
seemed to float now, though full of water, and Tom saw that his
precious biscuit, at any rate, would not be very much harmed. Nearer
and nearer now he came until at last, letting himself down, his feet
touched bottom. A cry of delight escaped him; and now, bracing himself
firmly against the solid land below, he urged the boat on faster, until
at length her deep-sunk bows grated against the gravel of the beach.

He hurried up to the box of biscuit, and put this ashore in a safe
place; after which he secured the boat to a jagged rock on the bank.
He found now that he had come to a different part of the beach
altogether, for his boat was lying at the spot where the little brook
ran into the sea. Well was it for him, in that rash and hazardous
experiment, that he had floated off before the tide was high. It had
led to his drifting up the bay, instead of down, and by a weak current,
instead of a strong one. The wind had thus brought him back. Had it
been full tide, he would have drifted out from the shore, and then have
been carried down the bay by the falling water to swift and sure
destruction.

Tom now took off his wet shirt, and put on the dry clothes which he had
so prudently hung on the top of the mast. He perceived that he had not
a very pleasant lookout for the night, for the sail which he had
formerly used to envelop himself with was now completely saturated. It
was also too dark to go to the woods in search of ferns or mosses on
which to sleep. However, the night was a pleasant one, and the grass
around would n