It could but be tried. To go on thus much longer was, I knew, impossible. My strength would certainly fail by and by.
"Comrade," said I,—and my voice sounded strange, as if long unused,—"keep paddling steadily as you are, but the moment I say 'change,' paddle hard on the other side."
"Yes, Monsieur!" she answered as quietly as if we had been walking in a garden.
I watched the approach of one of those great waves which would, as I knew, have as vast a fellow to follow upon it. As soon as we were well over the crest I began to turn.
"Change!" I shouted. And Mizpah's paddle flashed to the other side. Down we slanted into the pit. We lay at the bottom for a second, broadside on,—then we got the little craft fairly about as she rose. A second more, and the wind caught us, and completed the turn,—and the next crest was fairly at my back. I drew a huge breath, praising God and St. Joseph; and we ran in toward the hollow of the land before us. That part of the coast was strange to me, save as seen when passing by ship; but I trusted there would be some estuary or some winding, within which we might safely come to land.
The strain was now different, and therefore my nerves and muscles felt a temporary relief; but it was still tremendous. There was still the imminent danger of broaching to as each wave-crest seized and twisted the frail craft. But having the wind behind me, I had of course more steerage way, and therefore a more instant and effective control. We ran on straight before the wind, but a few points off; and with desperate anxiety I peered ahead for some hint of shelter on that wild lee shore. Mizpah, of course, knew the unspeakable strain of wielding the stern paddle in such a sea.
"Are you made of steel, Monsieur?" she presently asked. "I can hardly believe it possible that the strength of human sinews should endure so long."
"Mine, alas, will not endure much longer, comrade," said I.
"And what then?" she asked, in a steady voice.
"I do not know," said I; "but there is hope. I think we have not been brought through all this for nothing."