The next instant I was in a bear's grip, the very breath crushed out of me, yet, by some chance, my one arm remained free, and I drove the sharp steel into him twice before he forced the weapon from my fingers.

Through a wrestler's trick, although my wrist was as numb as if dead from his fierce grip, I thrust an elbow beneath the brute's chin, and thus forced his head back, until the neck cracked.
This respite served merely for the moment, yet sufficiently long to win me a firm foot-hold on deck, and a breath of night air.

He was too strong, too immense of stature.

Apparently unweakened by his wounds, the giant negro, thoroughly aroused, exerted his mighty muscles, and, despite my utmost effort at resistance, thrust me back against the stern rail, where the weight of his body pinned me helplessly.

With a roar of rage he drove his huge fist into my face, but happily was too close to give much force to the blow.