The dogged waterman behind me still held on and seemed to be gaining.

Little wonder if he did, for I had been rowing all night, and now my arms began to flag.

Yet what was his stake on this race compared with mine?
So away down the stream I pulled past Deptford, and the Queen's Palace at Greenwich (Heaven save her!) turning my looks now forward, now backward, and praying each minute for a sight of the _Misericorde_.

A little past Greenwich I was near meeting my end; for, looking eagerly for a sight of my pursuers behind, I failed to perceive a boat crossing the river ahead of me; nor was it till my boat's nose struck her full in the side that I was aware of the obstacle.

The man and woman in the boat (which seemed to be a floating pedlar's shop plying among the ships), swore at me roundly, and I had much ado to persuade them that no harm was done, and that if any one had a right to complain, I had.