CAPTAIN WEBB'S CHANNEL SWIM. 



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warning. But Webb is a man among ten thousand; the collapse from penetrating cold which 

 the best swimmers usually experience after long exposure in the water seems unknown to him. 

 By nine o'clock he was within a mile of the shore, a little to the westward of Calais, and at 

 this juncture, young Baker, then only sixteen years of age, plunged in and kept the exhausted 

 swimmer company, not, however, trying to aid him in any way except by encouragement. 



CAPTAIN MATTHEW WEBB. (From a Photograph by Albert Fradelle.) 



Unfortunately, however, two hours previously a strong breeze had risen, and the sea, 

 which had hitherto been like a sheet of glass, was running high, with crested waves. 

 Webb was evidently fearfully exhausted. The tide was running strongly away from the 

 shore, and the swimmer was battling against double odds when he was least fit for it. 

 Still, at 9.45 he had lessened the distance by one-half; he was only half a mile from the 

 beach. Would he ever reach it? 



Just as the now utterly exhausted swimmer was beginning bitterly to think that 

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