On returning to the surface, in the half light, he felt a living creature struggling near him.

It was Top, who had sprung to his help.

He saw nothing of the balloon, which, lightened both of his weight and that of the dog, had darted away like an arrow.
There he was, in the midst of the angry sea, at a distance which could not be less than half a mile from the shore.

He attempted to struggle against the billows by swimming vigorously.

Top held him up by his clothes; but a strong current seized him and drove him towards the north, and after half an hour of exertion, he sank, dragging Top with him into the depths.