Now and then I would doze, to be goaded into wakefulness by the wailing voice of a siren.
“Those damned horns! Those damned horns!” I complained aloud, again and again.
One of them, I found presently, was bearing down upon me from behind, growing louder and stronger. I turned and waited. Lights, dim and steaming, came into view.
With exaggerated caution to avoid making the least splash, I swam off to one side. When this nuisance was past I could go to sleep. I sniggered softly to myself as the lights drew abreast, feeling a foolish triumph in my cleverness in eluding the boat. Those damned horns. …
Life—the hunger for life—all at once surged back into my being.
I screamed at the passing boat, and with every iota of my being struggled toward it. Between strokes I tilted up my head and screamed. …