, solemnly drifting clouds, that the weather had a tolerably
settled appearance, that the wind had moderated to quite a gentle
breeze, and that the sea had gone down very considerably and was no
longer breaking. This certainly was a point in my favour, since I was
not any longer in momentary peril of being capsized or washed off my
frail ark; but the advantage was to a certain extent counterbalanced by
the fact that the run of the sea was not materially helping me.

Wearily yet desperately I continued to ply my clumsy paddle, first on
this side and then on the other, and with alarming rapidity my
sufferings seemed to grow in acuteness until I found myself moaning and
uttering short, sharp cries of distress with every movement of my body,
ay, and with every breath I drew; for now, to add to my discomfort, I
suddenly became aware that my lungs were in some way affected, and that
the mere act of breathing seemed to tear them asunder. Yet, though my
situation appeared to be so utterly hopeless, I doggedly persevered in
my efforts, telling myself over and over again, out loud, that if I
would but hold out long enough I must, in the natural order of things,
eventually reach the shore and succour. I think it was about this time
that I finally lost control of myself, for thenceforward I was conscious
that I was continually talking to myself--in a hoarse, guttural croak,
that even now I shudder to call to mind--now arguing, now encouraging,
now reproaching myself, until at length my ideas wandered away to all
sorts of incongruous subjects; and by turns I detected myself laughing,
singing, praying, apostrophising the sun, the clouds, the distant land,
and even the spirits of my drowned companions, whom I imagined to be
crowding round me and trying to drag me off the floating hatch. I was
aware, in a vague, impersonal fashion, of the gradual decline of the sun
toward the west, of his disappearance beneath the horizon, and of the
fact that just as the outlines of the land ahead were fading into the
gathering darkness a small spark of light sprang into view somewhere in
the direction that I was steering for, and then suddenly all grew black
about me, there was a singing in my ears--and oblivion.

When consciousness returned, and I opened my eyes, I found myself
stretched upon a bed in a large and lofty room, very barely furnished,
there being nothing in the apartment save the bed upon which I lay, a
large old-fashioned wardrobe,