After that I ran sometimes, and
sometimes walked. The sun was up and the day growing hot when I came
to the shore by the river; and there in the offing lay the _Mary
Pynsent_ at anchor, just as if nothing had happened, and the boat
made fast alongside as I had left her. If I could swim out and get
into the boat, my job was done. I had not thought upon sharks while
swimming ashore, but now I thought of them, and it gave me the
creeps. I dare say I sat on the shore for an hour, staring at the
boat before I made up my mind to risk it. There was a plenty of
sharks, too. When I reached the boat and climbed aboard of her, I
took a look around and saw their fins playing about in the shallows,
being drawn off there by the dead bodies the gunpowder had blown into
the water.
The boat had a mast and spritsail. I reckoned that I would wait
until sunset, then hoist sail and hold on past the river and along
shore towards Whydah. I counted on a breeze coming off shore towards
evening, which it did, and blew all night, so stiff that at two
miles' distance, which I kept by guess, I could smell the stink of
swamps. I ought to say here that, before starting, I had climbed
aboard the _Mary Pynsent_ and provisioned the boat.
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