The Days of a Man 1902 



seen boats reach shore safely under apparently simi- 

 lar conditions. But making for the channel, the 

 steersman and the man in the bow differed as to the 

 course, the one trying to escape the waves, the other 

 The spill to dodge the rocks. As a result we entered quarter 

 on; a huge, bellying wall of green ten feet high rolled 

 up behind, and, hitting us a tremendous crack, 

 deluged the boat and immediately plunged the bow 

 under. The shock hurled us with great violence to 

 starboard, the boat instantly turned over lengthwise, 

 to be literally flung on to the reef, while its former 

 occupants were all swept under the surf. 



For a moment I thought the end was come; escape 



i touch seemed perfectly impossible. I had gone down feet 



bottom first, striking my knee on a coral rock. But coming 



up quickly through the unstable waves, I felt a touch 



on my left arm and found my wife (who could not 



swim) clinging to it with one hand, firmly, to be sure, 



yet at the same time quite coolly, thus proving herself 



a true thoroughbred. 



It was of course out of the question to swim in 

 either direction, the heavy breakers encountering 

 the undertow of ebb tide. The best I could do, 

 therefore, was to face the shore, treading water and 

 Fita-fitas slowly drifting backward. Meanwhile, eight too- 

 luM unperturbed fita-fitas, almost ^as much at home in 

 water as on land, were paddling around and appar- 

 ently not paying much attention to anybody, since 

 they saw that Jack, who had been thrown from the 

 bow on to the reef, was already swimming the quiet 

 channel to Nu'uli. But presently Sa'laotoga, noticing 

 that Mrs. Jordan had been torn from me by a mighty 

 wave which engulfed us both, went to her assistance. 

 A moment afterward, Taavili Lua also came up on 

 C 120 ] 



