An idea took hold on him, jest from cussedness, you'd say, but it was partly from revenge on the cap'en and partly to get away from the ship.

The ship was well in shore, and the current settin' towards it.

He slipped the painter--that man--and set himself adrift with the baby.

It was a crazy act, you'd reckon, for there was n't any oars in the boat; but he had a crazy man's luck, and he contrived, by sculling the boat with one of the seats he tore out, to keep her out of the breakers, till he could find a bight in the shore to run her in.

The alarm was given from the ship, but the fog shut down upon him; he could hear the other boats in pursuit.