"Do you feel better now ?" But he did not answer me for a moment, although I felt a tremble go through his frame.
A moment afterwards, with what sounded like a sob, he cried out, "You brave laddie! To theenk that you of all ithers should ha' coom to save a reckless loon lik' me, the noo! It's a joogement on me for me cruel leeing again' you, boy; you've heapit coals o' fire on me head!" "Never mind that now, Mr Macdougall," I said.

"We've got to see about getting back to the ship, and then we can let bygones be bygones! Have you got your breath back now ?" "Eh ?" "Do you think you can manage to put a hand on my shoulder, and rest quiet in the water while I tow you along ?" "Aye, I'll try it, laddie." "Mind, you mustn't clutch hold of me too hard," I cried; and, easying him off from my chest, I turned round again in the water.
He sank about a foot at first from the change of position, but, keeping strict heed to my injunctions, and gripping my shoulder with a grasp of iron, he was presently floating half alongside and half behind, with his head well out of the water, as I struck out to where I could still see the ship as we rose every now and then at intervals on the crests of the following waves; although, when we descended again between the intervening hollows, we seemed shut in by a wall of sea.
The pampero having blown off from the pampas inland--whence the local name for these tornadoes--had come from the westwards, and, of course, the set of the waves, even after the wind had ceased to move them, continued in a south-westerly direction, whither the _Esmeralda_ had also been carried away from us, the exposed surface of her hull drifting her more rapidly away than such tiny atoms as we presented to the influence of the rollers.

When, therefore, Mr Macdougall was so far recovered as to permit of my attempting to regain the ship, she was already quite a mile off, if not more! As I looked at her distant sails, which came in sight when we got atop of the billows, they seemed to be gliding further and further away each fresh time that I saw them, showing that there was no wind; so, knowing that a boat would have to pull all that distance against a heavy head sea in order to fetch us, I almost despaired of our being picked up.
No one but those who have undergone a similar experience, can imagine the utter loneliness that strikes upon the heart of a solitary swimmer, struggling in the middle of the ocean for dear life.

The sea never looks so terribly wide and vast as then, the sky never so far off, as he gazes upwards in piteous entreaty; while the elements appear to mock his puny efforts to reach the receding vessel containing his comrades of a moment ago, who now seem basely leaving him to perish! These thoughts flashed through my mind as I struck out in the direction of the _Esmeralda_.

All the sins and omissions of my past life then rose before my mental kaleidoscope, making me conscious of my unpreparedness to die, and yet want of justification to live; but I struck out bravely nevertheless, and I need hardly say, I did not whisper a word of my fears to the mate, who kept silent and motionless the while, without incommoding my efforts.
My strokes got slower and slower, for the wash of the sea over us every now and then was terribly fatiguing; for, although I was very strong for my age, and powerfully built, still the strain of supporting Mr Macdougall besides myself, was more than I was able to manage--the strongest man couldn't have done it.
He saw this even before I did, and took away his hand from my shoulder.
"Let me bide, laddie," he said.