I withdrew cautiously to that end of the gallery where the bulk of the ship did somewhat conceal me from the rowers in the boat, whose faces were towards the ship (yet not so far but that, crouching down, I might watch what came of this business), and thence I saw them set Lady Biddy on shore. At first I thought that this was but an indulgence of Rodrigues, that she might refresh herself while the men were getting water; but this notion was put out of my head the next minute by seeing the fellows shove off and return towards the ship, leaving her there alone. Had she told Rodrigues all, and was the boat returning to fetch me, I asked myself, or was there some wicked design to leave her there alone?
Being better minded to trust myself than Rodrigues, I made up my mind to swim to the shore, which was no great matter, the distance being half a mile at the outside, and the sea very fair and smooth; so climbing over the rail, I dropped from that gallery into the lower one which projected beyond it. And luckily for me I did so at that time, for scarcely had I come to my feet when I heard a mighty uproar on the deck, with the clatter of arms (which, doubtless, had been silently furnished for the men's use from the armory while Lady Biddy was being carried to the shore), and then much hallooing and shouting in that part of the coach I had so fortunately got out of. Nay, I did hear one rascal come to the gallery door above and cry, as he looked out, that I was not there.
"Now," thinks I, "is my time to get out of this hornets' nest"; and so clambering over this rail as I had over the other, and recommending myself to Providence (for as like as not in such waters as these might be sharks or water serpents), I dropped down plumb into the water, and coming up again, struck out vigorously for the shore, keeping as low under water as I well could.
"Happily," thinks I, "they are looking for me elsewhere, so may I chance to escape this bout scot free"; and with this thought, added to the bewildering delightful expectation of being ere long beside Lady Biddy and at a safe distance from the tiger who sought my destruction, I pushed on with great speed, feeling no fatigue whatever, but only a great joy.
Then suddenly I heard a hoarse shout of triumph, which did for the moment lead me to think I had been perceived from the ship; but casting my eye around I spied on my right hand a skiff and Tonga in it, pulling the oars; yet feebly, because of his arms being wrenched as I have described.
'Twas a wonder he had not caught sight of me; but I think his eyes were chiefly occupied in glancing over his shoulder to see if the fair girl were trying to escape him, and truly, as the proverb runs, "One sees naught but the deer when one runs with the hounds."
As I caught sight of him he shifted his oars, which he had hitherto been pulling (and could, I take it, no longer do for the suffering of his arms), and standing up in the boat, with his face to the shore, he took to pushing the oars for his greater comfort. Thus was his back set towards me, so that, unseen and with very little ado, I overtook the boat, and laying hold of the sling at the stern, I let him pull me towards the shore, to his greater pain and exhaustion.
This maneuver did not serve me another turn, for against the black stern of the boat my dark head was indistinguishable from the ship, unless one did carefully examine with a spyglass; and doubtless by this time Rodrigues and his company, having found that I was no longer in the ship, were scanning the sea to know if I were there. That I had been in the cabin pretty recently, and that Lady Biddy had told him no more than the truth, Rodrigues might see full well by the burning lamp and the grenade I had left behind me.
At last the boat ran around, and, dropping my feet, I felt the sandy bottom. Then, glancing along the side, I saw my poor Lady Biddy kneeling beside a tree with her face hid in her hands, to shut out the sight of that horrid black, which did stir my entrails with hatred of him.
Yet I saw full well that I must not discover myself till I was got on firm ground, for a man up to his neck is powerless—though he have the heart of a lion—against another whose limbs are free to act. With a blow of an oar Tonga might have settled my business; and, knowing this, I kept still hid from him under the gunwale of the boat until he leapt out on to the sand.