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.The sailor on the deck gave his rope a toss.We rebounded off the hull and bobbed outward from the ship.A gust of rain washed over us, carryingus further away.I looked back.The ship was a misty, light-sparked shape in the night.I had escaped!Now I only had to get ashore in Greece!Chapter 7The sea was black, the rain was black, the sky was black.I felt that I was being drowned in a hurricane Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlof ink!Gone was all sense of direction, gone was any stability, and, a couple of minutes after I had gotten intothe boat, gone was anything I had eaten in three days!It is a nauseating fact that I was very seasick."Row!" I cried between retches."Row where?" said Madison."Row anyplace, but for Gods' sakes, get me ashore.I'm dying!"The only advantage in being in all this was that the rain was so heavy it was washing my face clean.I feltI had the whole Aegean for a bathtub and the sky as well."You better bail," said Madison."The water is up around my knees."Maybe it would be far better to just drown and get this over with.I felt like I was in an automaticwashing machine with the lights off.I might as well pull the plug and go down the drain.A vague haze of moonlight came through a temporary rift of cloud.Madison was trying to do somethingwith the oars.The water, smashing around in the craft, was up to my chest.That was because I was lying in it."Bail!" said Madison urgently. Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlThere was no bailing can.I only had my straw hat.I used it.As fast as I threw water out it rained back in."There's a fast current running here," said Madison above the hiss of the downpour."Did you see howfast we sped away from the ship? Or maybe it's the wind.No, there isn't any wind.Yes, I think there issome wind." He was holding up a finger to test it.A wave knocked his hand down."No, there isn't anywind.It's the waves.Yes, I think it is the wind.""Oh, Gods, make up your mind!" I yelled, trying to bail with my straw hat."I'm much better with a typewriter," said Madison."Give me a nonbouncing desk and I could handlethis.Eighteen point quote STORM unquote 20 point quote STORM SUBSIDES unquote 22 pointquote MADISON SAVED."I thought the inflatable was going to sail up into the air, flip like a pancake and come down.Then it slidand slithered from one mountainous crest to the next and then, for variety, tried to be a pancake again."Wait," said Madison."I think I hear surf."I stopped bailing.It was all running out of the holes in the hat anyway.I took time out to retch.The faint haze of light, cast by the moon far above this holocaust, grew stronger for a moment."There's land over there!" said Madison.He promptly put his back to it and even though he caught crabs now and then and even though we spunentirely about occasionally, we seemed to be making progress. Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlTo my right I heard a snarl.I knew what it was at once.The monster who had been waiting for dayshad decided to attack full force and swallow me at last.I saw a faint but nearby glimmer of white.It could be nothing but teeth."Hold on!" cried Madison."I'll try to surfboard in!"Up we rose.Down went the bow of our craft.And suddenly we were going at sixty miles an hour!Through white-frothed blackness!Then we tripped.With a roaring ferocity, the surf devoured us!Down I went in the churning maelstrom.Abruptly I realized that the life jacket was not a life jacket anymore.It was a death jacket.Full ofmagazines, it was taking me straight to the bottom!I tried to get rid of it.The machine gun across my back was holding it on!I felt myself surging forward in the depths.Now something was strangling me!I struck something on the bottom.A rock? Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlSomething was towing me!Oh, Gods, the sea had decided to take me off to its cave where it could eat me at leisure.It was too much for me.I passed out.A bit later, I opened my eyes.There was a roaring in my ears.Something was over me, outlined against the luminous sky.This was where the sea would boil me aliveand have me bit by bit for snacks."Goodness," said a voice."I'm glad you're still alive."The sea doesn't talk English and it wants to see everybody dead.I was reassured.I raised my head.The roaring wasn't in my ears
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