I continued to make good progress, and presently approaching the
block of blackness, for so it looked, perceived that it was certainly
land,--a solid rock, in short,--the head of some mountainous
submarine formation lifted ten or twelve feet above the sea. I could
now discern a faintness of vapour circling up from it and showing
like steam against the stars. Its front stretched a length of a
few hundred feet; how far it went behind I could not tell. A small
sound of creaming waters came from it, produced by the light swell
washing its shelter side. It lay all in a line of grayish darkness
even when I was quite close, and I could see nothing but the shapeless
body of it. Of a sudden my feet struck ground, and I waded thirty
paces along a shelf that was under water till my paces lifted to
the dry beach. But by this time I was fearfully exhausted; I could
scarcely breathe. My legs and arms were numbed to the weight of
lead. The atmosphere was warm, but not unbearably so--not hotter
than it had been at noon in the ship. Steam crawled up from every
pore, like the drainings of smoke from damp straw, but it did not
add to the distress of my breathing.
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