He had got to die.

Yes, there was no escape for him.

Here he must die a miserable death, and his body would be swept on and on until it reached the Gulf and drifted out to sea; for this running water must find its way to the sea somehow.
If he could only reach that sea alive! but of course that was impossible.

Was it?
How far is the Gulf?
And the poor boy tried to collect his thoughts.
It couldn't be more than five miles in a straight line, nor, at the most, more than three times as far by water.

Perhaps there might be more "sink holes" opening into this buried river.