Whitaker felt land beneath his feet
His eye sought the girl's. In hers he read understanding and assent. Of one mind,
they struck out with all their strength. The comber overtook them, clasped them
to its bosom, tossed them high upon its great glassy shoulder. They fought madly to retain that place, and to such purpose that they rode it over a dozen yards before it crashed upon the beach, annihilating itself in a furious welter of creaming waters. Whitaker felt land beneath his feet....
The rest was like the crisis of a nightmare drawn out to the limit of human endurance. Conscious thought ceased: terror and panic and the blind instinct of
self-preservation—these alone remained. The undertow tore at Whitaker's legs as
with a hundred murderous hands. He fought his way forward a few pa
