"What do you mean by
saying I half choked you, Peterkin?" said I.
"What do I mean? Is English not your mother-tongue, or do you want me
to repeat it in French, by way of making it clearer? Don't you
remember----"
"I remember nothing," said I, interrupting him, "after we were thrown
into the sea."
"Hush, Peterkin!" said Jack; "you're exciting Ralph with your
nonsense.--I'll explain it to you. You recollect that after the ship
struck, we three sprang over the bow into the sea: well, I noticed that
the oar struck your head and gave you that cut on the brow, which
nearly stunned you, so that you grasped Peterkin round the neck without
knowing apparently what you were about. In doing so you pushed the
telescope--which you clung to as if it had been your life--against
Peterkin's mouth----"
"Pushed it against his mouth!" interrupted Peterkin; "say, crammed it
down his throat. Why, there's a distinct mark of the brass rim on the
back of my gullet at this moment!"
"Well, well, be that as it may," continued Jack, "you clung to him,
Ralph, till I feared you really would choke him; but I saw that he had
a good hold of the oar, so I exerted myself to the utmost to push you
towards the shore, which we luckily reached without much trouble, for
the water inside the reef is quite calm."
"But the captain and crew, what of them?" I inquired anxiously.
Jack shook his head.
"Are they lost?"
"No, they are not lost, I hope, but I fear there is not much chance of
their being saved.
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