It was broad day when I awoke and found myself tossing at the southwestend of Treasure Island. The sun was up, but was still hid from me behindthe great bulk of the Spy-glass, which on this side descended almost tothe sea in formidable cliffs.

Haulbowline Head and Mizzen-mast Hill were at my elbow, the hill bareand dark, the head bound with cliffs forty or fifty feet high andfringed with great masses of fallen rock. I was scarce a quarter of amile to seaward, and it was my first thought to paddle in and land.

That notion was soon given over. Among the fallen rocks the breakersspouted and bellowed; loud reverberations, heavy sprays flying andfalling, succeeded one another from second to second; and I saw myself,if I ventured nearer, dashed to death upon the rough shore or spendingmy strength in vain to scale the beetling crags.

Nor was that all, for crawling together on flat tables of rock, orletting themselves drop into the sea with loud reports, I beheld hugeslimy monsters--soft snails, as it were, of incredible bigness--two orthree score of them together, making the rocks to echo with theirbarkings.

I have understood since that they were sea lions, and entirely harmless.But the look of them, added to the difficulty of the shore and the highrunning of the surf, was more than enough to disgust me of thatlanding-place. I felt willing rather to starve at sea than to confrontsuch perils.

In the meantime I had a better chance, as I supposed, before me. Northof Haulbowline Head the land runs in a long way, leaving, at low tide, along stretch of yellow sand. To the north of that, again, there comesanother cape--Cape of the Woods, as it was marked upon the chart--buriedin tall green pines, which descended to the margin of the sea.

I remembered what Silver had said about the current that sets northwardalong the whole west coast of Treasure Island; and seeing from myposition that I was already under its influence, I preferred to leaveHaulbowline Head behind me, and reserve my strength for an attempt toland upon the kindlier-looking Cape of the Woods.

There was a great, smooth swell upon the sea. The wind blowing steadyand gentle from the south, there was no contrariety between that and thecurrent, and the billows rose and fell unbroken.

Had it been otherwise, I must long ago have perished; but as it was, itis surprising how easily and securely my little and light boat couldride. Often, as I still lay at the bottom, and kept no more than an eyeabove the gunwale, I would see a big blue summit heaving close above me;yet the coracle would but bounce a little, dance as if on springs, andsubside on the other side into the trough as lightly as a bird.

I began after a little to grow very bold, and sat up to try my skill atpaddling. But even a small change in the disposition of the weight willproduce violent changes in the behavior of a coracle. And I had hardlymoved before the boat, giving up at once her gentle, dancing movement,ran straight down a slope of water so steep that it made me giddy, andstruck her nose, with a spout of spray, deep into the side of the nextwave.

I was drenched and terrified, and fell instantly back into my oldposition, whereupon the coracle seemed to find her head again, and ledme softly as before among the billows. It was plain she was not to beinterfered with, and at that rate, since I could in no way influence hercourse, what hope had I left of reaching land?

I began to be horribly frightened, but I kept my head, for all that.First, moving with all care, I gradually bailed out the coracle with mysea cap; then getting my eye once more above the gunwale, I set myselfto study how it was she managed to slip so quietly through the rollers.

I found each wave, instead of the big, smooth, glossy mountain it looksfrom shore, or from a vessel's deck, was for all the world like anyrange of hills on the dry land, full of peaks and smooth places andvalleys. The coracle, left to herself, turning from side to side,threaded, so to speak, her way through these lower parts, and avoidedthe steep slopes and higher toppling summits of the wave.

"Well, now," thought I to myself, "it is plain I must lie where I am,and not disturb the balance; but it is plain, also, that I can put thepaddle over the side, and from time to time, in smooth places, give hera shove or two towards land." No sooner thought upon than done. There Ilay on my elbows, in the most trying attitude, and every now and againgave a weak stroke or two to turn her head to shore.

It was very tiring and slow work, yet I did visibly gain ground; and, aswe drew near the Cape of the Woods, though I saw I must infallibly missthat point, I had still made some hundred yards of easting. I was,indeed, close in. I could see the cool, green tree-tops swaying togetherin the breeze, and I felt sure I should make the next promontory withoutfail.

It was high time, for I now began to be tortured with thirst. The glowof the sun from above, its thousand-fold reflection from the waves, thesea water that fell and dried upon me, caking my very lips with salt,combined to make my throat burn and my brain ache. The sight of thetrees so near at hand had almost made me sick with longing; but thecurrent had soon carried me past the point; and, as the next reach ofsea opened out, I beheld a sight that changed the nature of my thoughts.

Right in front of me, not half a mile away, I beheld the _Hispaniola_under sail. I made sure, of course, that I should be taken, but I was sodistressed for want of water, that I scarce knew whether to be glad orsorry at the thought; and, long before I had come to a conclusion,surprise had taken possession of my mind, and I could do nothing butstare and wonder.

The _Hispaniola_ was under her mainsail and two jibs, and the beautifulwhite canvas shone in the sun like snow or silver. When I first sightedher, all her sails were drawing, she was laying a course aboutnorthwest, and I presumed the men on board were going round the islandon their way back to the anchorage. Presently she began to fetch moreand more to the westward, so that I thought they had sighted me and weregoing about in chase. At last, however, she fell right into the wind'seye, was taken dead aback, and stood there awhile helpless, with hersails shivering.

"Clumsy fellows," said I, "they must still be drunk as owls." And Ithought how Captain Smollett would have set them skipping.

Meanwhile the schooner gradually fell off, and filled again upon anothertack, sailed swiftly for a minute or so, and brought up once more deadin the wind's eye. Again and again was this repeated. To and fro, up anddown, north, south, east, and west, the _Hispaniola_ sailed by swoopsand dashes, and at each repetition ended as she had begun, with idlyflapping canvas. It became plain to me that nobody was steering. And, ifso, where were the men? Either they were dead drunk, or had desertedher, I thought, and perhaps if I could get on board, I might return thevessel to her captain.

The current was bearing coracle and schooner southward at an equal rate.As for the latter's sailing, it was so wild and intermittent, and shehung each time so long in irons, that she certainly gained nothing, ifshe did not even lose. If I only dared to sit up and paddle, I made surethat I could overhaul her. The scheme had an air of adventure thatinspired me, and the thought of the water breaker beside thefore companion doubled my growing courage.

Up I got, was welcomed almost instantly by another cloud of spray, butthis time stuck to my purpose and set myself with all my strength andcaution to paddle after the unsteered _Hispaniola_. Once I shipped a seaso heavy that I had to stop and bail, with my heart fluttering like abird, but gradually I got into the way of the thing and guided mycoracle among the waves, with only now and then a blow upon her bowsand a dash of foam in my face.

I was now gaining rapidly on the schooner. I could see the brass glistenon the tiller as it banged about, and still no soul appeared upon herdecks. I could not choose but suppose she was deserted. If not, the menwere lying drunk below, where I might batten them down, perhaps, and dowhat I chose with the ship.

For some time she had been doing the worst thing possible forme--standing still. She headed nearly due south, yawing, of course, allthe time. Each time she fell off her sails partly filled, and thesebrought her, in a moment, right to the wind again. I have said this wasthe worst thing possible for me; for, helpless as she looked in thissituation, with the canvas crackling like cannon, and the blockstrundling and banging on the deck, she still continued to run away fromme, not only with the speed of the current, but by the whole amount ofher leeway, which was naturally great.

But now, at last, I had my chance. The breeze fell, for some seconds,very low, and the current gradually turning her, the _Hispaniola_revolved slowly round her center and at last presented me her stern,with the cabin window still gaping open and the lamp over the tablestill burning on into the day. The mainsail hung drooped like a banner.She was stock-still but for the current.

For the last little while I had even lost, but now, redoubling myefforts, I began once more to overhaul the chase.

I was not a hundred yards from her when the wind came again in a clap;she filled on the port tack and was off again, stooping and skimminglike a swallow.

My first impulse was one of despair, but my second was towards joy.Round she came, till she was broadside on to me--round still till shehad covered a half, and then two-thirds, and then three-quarters of thedistance that separated us. I could see the waves boiling white underher forefoot. Immensely tall she looked to me from my low station in thecoracle.

And then, of a sudden, I began to comprehend. I had scarce time tothink--scarce time to act and save myself. I was on the summit of oneswell when the schooner came stooping over the next. The bowsprit wasover my head. I sprang to my feet and leaped, stamping the coracle underwater. With one hand I caught the jib-boom, while my foot was lodgedbetween the stay and the brace, and as I still clung there panting, adull blow told me that the schooner had charged down upon and struck thecoracle and that I was left without retreat on the _Hispaniola_.