elessly, and deepening the water around me with its
regular beating throb, minute by minute. Thoughts of the past and
present seemed to surge through my brain, so that I grew bewildered, and
had any chance of escape presented itself I could not have seized it,
though I could not but tell myself that escape was impossible. A few
minutes--ten, twenty, thirty perhaps, and the black darkness seemed to
be growing blacker.

"I must be free," I muttered; and dragging Hodson's handkerchief from
his neck, I bound it to my own, and then making them fast beneath his
arms, felt among the woodwork till I could find a place where I could
pass them through, so that I could secure him from slipping down, or
being swept away by the ebbing and flowing of the water.

I was not long in finding a place; but then the handkerchiefs were not
long enough, and I had to add one from my pocket; then I left the poor
fellow quite insensible and half-hanging from one of the timbers. And
now I waded about, searching for the mouth of the air-pipe, in the hope
of shouting up it for succour, since I felt convinced that the tide
would effectually fill the tunnel, while the very thought of the gates
being opened half-maddened me; and heedless now of who might hear me, so
that they brought succour, I hunted aimlessly about, yelling and
shrieking for aid.

It was a fearful struggle between reason and dread; and for ever dread
kept getting the upper hand: now it was a floating keg again and again
making me dash away now one of the packages hurried in by the tide;
while the strange drippings and hollow whisperings were magnified into
an infinity of horrors. Every monster with which imagination has
peopled the sea seemed to be there to attack me--strange serpent or
lizard like beasts, slimy and scaled, thronging along the ceiling or up
the sides, swimming around me, or burrowing through the sand. More than
once I actually touched some swimming object, but the contact was
momentary, and the stranger darted off. Then reason would gain
supremacy for a while; and trying to cool my throbbing brow with the
water, I thought of my position, whispered a few prayers, and
endeavoured to compose myself. There was even now a doubt: the tide
might not rise high enough to cover me; certainly it was now at my
breast, and I was standing with difficulty in the shallowest place I
could pick. The next moment, as the waves receded, it would fall to my
waist; but again it