CHAPTER XXIV
TELLS OF THE STRANGE REVELATION MADE BY THE MADMAN OF BEDRUTHEN STEPS, AND OF TAMSIN TRUSCOTT'S TREACHERY
For a moment I gave myself up as lost. I remembered how the black waters of the gulf coiled and circled, and knew that there must be some strong current underneath. I remembered, too, how the stick I had thrown into it had disappeared from sight, and felt that there could be no hope for me. But this was only for a moment. I was a strong swimmer, and had been accustomed to the water all my life. After all, "Hell's Mouth" was not very wide, and I hoped I should be able to grasp the edge of the rocks and thus save myself. Then I remembered that Cap'n Jack and his followers would, if possible, keep me from ever escaping if it were in their power so to do. I had in a moment destroyed their hopes of ever getting Granfer Fraddam's treasure, for not one of them would dare to descend into the treacherous depths of the waters where I had thrown it.
All this passed through my mind like a flash, and then I felt myself drawn by a terrible current down and down into the depths.
"It's all over," I thought. "I shall have to go to my Maker without ever saying good-bye to my darling," and then death seemed terrible to me; so terrible, indeed, was the thought of it, that I determined I would not die, and I held my breath as well as I could while I was carried along by the force of the current.
How long I was under water I cannot say. It could not have been long, for one cannot live long without air, but it seemed ages to me. As I look back now it seems as though those few seconds were long years. I will not try and tell the thoughts that passed through my mind, or of the terrible things through which I thought I went. It is not a part of this story, neither do I expect I should be believed if I related it.
God in His infinite mercy, however, did not wish me to die, for presently my head shot above the water, and that without any effort of my own, and then instinctively I started swimming, after drawing a deep breath. As soon as I was able I looked around me, but the surroundings were entirely strange. Above me rose a cliff a good many feet high, and toward this I swam, being very careful, however, to save myself from striking against any of the countless rocks, some of which were only partially covered.
The sea was very calm, and this was my salvation, for presently I was able to get a footing on one of the rocks without being hurt. This done, I again looked around me, but all in vain. On the one hand was the sea, on the other rose the black cliff.