CHAPTER XX.
“The torrent roar’d; and we did buffet it
With lusty sinews; throwing it aside
And stemming it with hearts of controversy.”
Julius Cæsar.
On jumping into the sea, Appadocca swam dexterously after the pitcher, which he had thrown before him; then resting one hand upon it, and moving the other easily through the water, he paused a moment to gaze at the large ship that was now looming in the darkness, and was rapidly leaving him far behind.
The vessel continued her course. It was evident no one on board of her had seen his escape. He was left alone on the sea. He now began to swim in the direction in which long habit had taught him the coast of Venezuela was situated. As he progressed through the water he pushed the pitcher before him. Now and then he paused, and rested as before, with one hand on the pitcher, while he lightly floated himself with the other. Hours passed, and every succeeding one found the indefatigable Appadocca buffetting the waves with a heart of resolution, and an eye of determination. The thick darkness of the night was fast passing away, the gray dawn of morning was appearing, and the dark mountains of Venezuela began to rise to the view with that cheating delusion which mountains at that early hour of the morning present, and by their apparent nearness, one moment seduce the weary oarsman into the grateful belief that he is fast approaching the end of his irksome labour, only to irritate him the next by their constant and still greater recession.
The swimming fugitive felt encouragement and support from these two happy circumstances. More and more vigorously he stretched out his arms. Only three miles now seemed to separate him from the land. The currents and the sweep of the waves were in his favour.
On, on he pushed his befriending pitcher, and swam and rested alternately. The desperate hazard which he had incurred in throwing himself overboard in a boiling sea in a part where all the sharks of the neighbouring waters assemble to feed upon the refuse that is borne down by the gulf-current, seemed about to terminate happily and prosperously, and the act which at first may have borne the appearance of a voluntary seeking of death on his part, was about to result in deliverance and safety.