The last time of these two had well-nigh been fatal to me; for the sea
having hurried me along, as before, landed me, or rather dashed me,
against a piece of a rock, and that with such force as it left me
senseless, and indeed helpless, as to my own deliverance; for the blow,
taking my side and breast, beat the breath as it were quite out of my
body; and had it returned again immediately, I must have been strangled in
the water; but I recovered a little before the return of the waves, and
seeing I should be covered again with the water, I resolved to hold fast
by a piece of the rock, and so to hold my breath, if possible, till the
wave went back. Now, as the waves were not so high as at first, being
nearer land, I held my hold till the wave abated, and then fetched another
run, which brought me so near the shore that the next wave, though it went
over me, yet did not so swallow me up as to carry me away; and the next
run I took I got to the mainland; where, to my great comfort, I clambered
up the cliffs of the shore, and sat me down upon the grass, free from
danger and quite out of the reach of the water. I was now landed, and safe
on shore, and began to look up and thank God that my life was saved, in a
case wherein there was some minutes before scarce any room to hope.
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