The Island of the English Author:Frank Cowper Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III THE CHANGES AND CHANCES OF LIFE Being a good swimmer, I did not lose my head when I found myself in the water. Although the tide was running st... more »rongly, I did not doubt that I should be able to reach the shore. Monsieur de Kersaint and Billy Budden were doing their best to make for the same direction. The Frenchmen, however, luffed, and in a few minutes were alongside of us. I felt myself seized roughly. Hoarse voices cried all manner of things, and in another minute I was standing on the deck of the Arrow watching the capture of Billy Budden, who roared that they were skin- ing him as they drew him on board. I could not see what had become of Monsieur de Kersaint. He had disappeared. Whether he had dived or been knocked under I could not make out. By the way the people on the Arrow were running about it seemed clear they had lost sight of him too. I hoped he had dived. While the Frenchmen were jabbering and looking over the gunwale, suddenly there was a cry raised. Everybody looked in the direction indicated, and I saw, coming round the Bill, a couple of galleys. They were the boats of the coastguards, and the men were giving way with a will, for the capture of the Arrow had been seen from Chesilton. In a moment the ketch was put before the wind, which was blowing off shore, and stood away from the land. To my disgust, the breeze freshened as we drew out from the Bill, and I saw there was no chance of the coastguard catching us. As far as I could make out, however, the boats pulled towards a black speck which I supposed was Monsieur de Kersaint, who must have escaped by diving when the Frenchmen tried to get hold of him. I knew he was an excellent swimmer, and had often watched him diving from the end of the pier. When the excitement of the chase wa...« less