A cheer went up, but as suddenly died away again.

An overlapping fringe of wreckage had caught on the point of the island and arrested the whole mass.
The men, who had gained the shore with difficulty, looked back with a cry of despair.

But the next moment from among them leaped a figure, alert, buoyant, invincible, and, axe in hand, once more essayed the passage.

Springing from timber to timber, he at last reached the point of obstruction.

A few strokes of the axe were sufficient to clear it; but at the first stroke it was apparent that the striker was also losing his hold upon the shore, and that he must inevitably be carried away with the tossing debris.