Not a whit, however, did he appear to have suffered, for we soon saw him again swimming to his rude vessel.

Many times in succession was he thus washed off and sent whirling towards the beach, and as often obliged to dive head foremost through the waves.

But at last, after very nearly an hour of incessant struggling, and the loss of more than a mile of distance, he succeeded, for the first time, in reaching the back of the surf, without having parted company either with his paddle or with his catamaran.

After this it became all plain sailing; he soon paddled off to the Roads, and placed the Admiral's letter in the first lieutenant's hands as dry as if it had been borne in a despatch-box across the court-yard of the Admiralty.
I remember one day, when on board the Minden, receiving a note from the shore by a catamaran lad, whom I told to wait for an answer.

Upon this he asked for a rope, with which, as soon as it was given him, he made his little vessel fast, and lay down to sleep in the full blaze of a July sun.