Thereafter, he struggled a bit, but that did not last long, and presently he became unconscious.

I believed he was dead.
The choice then seemed to lie between drowning too or letting go of him.
I did not dare try the shallows, for ninety per cent.

of them are quicksands in that river, and more than one army has perished in the effort to force its way across.

The only possible safety lay in keeping to mid-stream and sweeping along with the current until something should turn up--a boat--a log--possibly a backwater, or even the breakwater of a bridge.
So I decided to drown, and to annoy the angels of the underworld by taking as long as possible in the process.

And I set to work to fight as I had never in my whole life fought before.