Page:Cornelia Meigs--The island of Appledore.djvu/134

116 sank, came up, and struck out again. He was at first angry to find he had no hope of reaching the other shore; then his anger turned  quickly to a single thought—could he possibly  struggle back to land again? So weary was he with all he had recently been through, that  he found suddenly his strength was going. He realized that the current, firmly and surely, was bearing him down to the mouth of  the stream and carrying him out to sea, to be  lost in the tossing waves and the blanket of  heavy fog, yet he could make scarcely an effort to save himself.

He remembered suddenly that no one would have the faintest idea what had become of  him, that Sally would search for him everywhere, would call and call in vain, for he  would have apparently vanished from the face  of the earth. She would be left alone there with a helpless delirious man, and with  Heaven knew what lurking terrors in the dark  old mill. The thought gave him strength to put every last atom of energy into one final  endeavour and to struggle free of the current  just as it was sweeping him past the last point  of rocks. He felt the force of the tide abate a little, then he drifted into an eddy and came