-lands; through the second flowed all the water of
Suisun Bay and the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. And where such
immense bodies of water, flowing swiftly, clashed together, a terrible
tide-rip was produced. To make it worse, the wind howled up San Pablo
Bay for fifteen miles and drove in a tremendous sea upon the tide-rip.

Conflicting currents tore about in all directions, colliding, forming
whirlpools, sucks, and boils, and shooting up spitefully into hollow
waves which fell aboard as often from leeward as from windward. And
through it all, confused, driven into a madness of motion, thundered
the great smoking seas from San Pablo Bay.

I was as wildly excited as the water. The boat was behaving
splendidly, leaping and lurching through the welter like a race-horse.
I could hardly contain myself with the joy of it. The huge sail, the
howling wind, the driving seas, the plunging boat--I, a pygmy, a mere
speck in the midst of it, was mastering the elemental strife, flying
through it and over it, triumphant and victorious.

And just then, as I roared along like a conquering hero, the boat
received a frightful smash and came instantly to a dead stop. I was
flung forward and into the bottom. As I sprang up I caught a fleeting
glimpse of a greenish, barnacle-covered object, and knew it at once
for what it was, that terror of navigation, a sunken pile. No man may
guard against such a thing. Water-logged and floating just beneath the
surface, it was impossible to sight it in the troubled water in time
to escape.

The whole bow of the boat must have been crushed in, for in a few
seconds the boat was half full. Then a couple of seas filled it, and
it sank straight down, dragged to bottom by the heavy ballast. So
quickly did it all happen that I was entangled in the sail and drawn
under. When I fought my way to the surface, suffocating, my lungs
almost bursting, I could see nothing of the oars. They must have been
swept away by the chaotic currents. I saw Demetrios Contos looking
back from his boat, and heard the vindictive and mocking tones of his
voice as he shouted exultantly. He held steadily on his course,
leaving me to perish.

There was nothing to do but to swim for it, which, in that wild
confusion, was at the best a matter of but a few moments. Holding my
breath and working with my hands, I managed to get off my heavy
sea-boots and my jacket. Yet there was very little breath I could
catch to hold, and I swift