What should he do?
He now knew that San Lorenzo was heavily guarded and there was no hope of shelter on Frouton.
It were better to challenge the mercy of the monsters of the deep than that of his human foes, so he quickly made up his mind to return and conceal himself under the crags of San Lorenzo in one of the caverns which he had passed.

He paddled back through the heavily rolling waves and got under the cliffs of the island, looking every moment to be run down by a torpedo boat; but fortunately his pursuers missed him and he felt a wave of hot air, impregnated with that saline smell which betokened the entrance to a cave.

Then he could see a blacker spot than the darkness that surrounded him, which he knew was the entrance.

He unhesitatingly struck for it, the mountain seeming to close over and swallow him as he entered the mysterious chamber of the sea.

Cautiously he made his way back, not knowing what creatures he might encounter.
Slowly and with straining eyes he advanced through the thick blackness, until he could hear the breathing and stirring of what he rightly conjectured to be seals.