George Allan England

“ Some few times Wingate had almost yielded—had thought death at hand; but rather that, now, than to lose his cherished plan of vengeance! In his shaken and emaciated body there still dwelt enough of the old-time stamina to keep his vital machinery going until nature could begin once more to build real strength.
He ate as heartily as he could, letting Jaccard and Zanelli infer that his appetite and his better appearance were resulting from his resumption of the morphine. After deprivation, the drug has this deceitful action of restoring a specious kind of health. ”

“ One of the strange features of morphine addiction is the readiness of nature to reassert herself, when all the poison is withdrawn. Wingate was now experiencing this. He had worked himself toward health as a galley slave works—sweating, gasping, gaining where he could, fighting to hold every gain. ”

“ His experience as an athlete had taught him how much he could endure; and gradually, bit by bit, he had increased the work. Life had returned, vitality began to flow back. It was too much to expect that any great degree of muscular strength could be so quickly built up; but at all events Wingate had gained nerve control. ”

“ He could make only a few feet at a time; then, clinging to the mangroves, he had to stop and rest. Bottomless sloughs seemed dragging him down. Only by holding fast to the mangrove branches could he keep from being engulfed. ”

“ It taxed his strength to drag the dinghy down into the surf and launch it, to row along the northern side of the cove and around the point there. Had anybody been on watch, Wingate must inevitably have been discovered by the increasing flashes of lightning ”