My first concern was to look for the frigate.
Had the crew seen me go overboard?
Was the Abraham Lincoln tacking about?
Would Commander Farragut put a longboat to sea?
Could I hope to be rescued?
The gloom was profound.
I glimpsed a black mass disappearing eastward, where its running lights were fading out in the distance.
It was the frigate.
I felt I was done for.
"Help!
Help!"
I shouted, swimming desperately toward the Abraham Lincoln.
My clothes were weighing me down.
The water glued them to my body, they were paralyzing my movements.
I was sinking!
I was suffocating . . . !
"Help!"
This was the last shout I gave.
My mouth was filling with water.
I struggled against being dragged into the depths. . . .
Suddenly my clothes were seized by energetic hands, I felt myself pulled abruptly back to the surface of the sea, and yes, I heard these words pronounced in my ear:
"If master would oblige me by leaning on my shoulder, master will swim with much greater ease."
With one hand I seized the arm of my loyal Conseil.
"You!"
I said.
"You!"
"Myself," Conseil replied, "and at master's command."
"That collision threw you overboard along with me?"
"Not at all. But being in master's employ, I followed master."
The fine lad thought this only natural!
"What about the frigate?"
I asked.
"The frigate?"
Conseil replied, rolling over on his back.
"I think master had best not depend on it to any great extent!"
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that just as I jumped overboard, I heard the men at the helm shout,
'Our propeller and rudder are smashed!' "
"Smashed?"
"Yes, smashed by the monster's tusk!
I believe it's the sole injury the Abraham Lincoln has sustained.
But most inconveniently for us, the ship can no longer steer."
"Then we're done for!"
"Perhaps," Conseil replied serenely.
"However, we still have a few hours before us, and in a few hours one can do a great many things!"
Conseil's unflappable composure cheered me up.
I swam more vigorously, but hampered by clothes that were as restricting as a cloak made of lead, I was managing with only the greatest difficulty.
Conseil noticed as much.
"Master will allow me to make an incision," he said.
And he slipped an open clasp knife under my clothes, slitting them from top to bottom with one swift stroke.