These thoughts, and acts, and calculations took up some time, and he now began to look around him.  Suddenly his eye caught sight of something not far away, dimly visible through the mist.  It looked like a rock.  A farther examination showed him that such was the case.  It was a rock, and he was drifting towards it.  No sooner had he ascertained this, than all his excitement once more awakened.  Trembling from head to foot at this sudden prospect of escape, he started to his feet, and watched most eagerly the progress of the boat.  It was drifting nearer to the rock.  Soon another appeared, and then another.  The rocks were black, and covered with masses of sea-weed, as though they were submerged at high tide.  A little nearer, and he saw a gravelly strand lying just beyond the rocks.  His excitement grew stronger and stronger, until at last it was quite uncontrollable.  He began to fear that he would drift past this place, into the deep water again.  He sprang into the bows, and grasping the rope in his hand, stood ready to leap ashore.  He saw that he was drawing nearer, and so delayed for a while.  Nearer he came and nearer.  At length the boat seemed to pass along by the gravelly beach, and move by it as though it would go no nearer.  This Tom could not endure.  He determined to wait no longer.  He sprang.

He sank into the water up to his armpits, but he did not lose his hold of the rope.  Clutching this in a convulsive grasp, he regained his foothold, which he had almost lost, and struggled forward.  For a few moments he made no headway, for the boat, at the pressure of the current, pulled so hard that he could not drag it nearer.  A terrible fear came to him that the rope might break.  Fortunately it did not, and, after a short but violent struggle, Tom conquered the resistance of the tide, and pulled the boat slowly towards the shore.  He then towed it near to the rocks, dragged its bows up as far as he could, and fastened it securely.

Then he looked around.

A few rocks were near him, about six feet high, jutting out of the gravel; and beyond these were others, which rose out of the water.  Most of them were covered with sea-weed.  A few sticks of timber were wedged in the interstices of the nearest rocks.  As to the rest, he saw only a rocky ledge of small extent, which was surrounded by water.  Beyond this nothing was visible but fog.

At first he had thought that this was a beach, but now he began to doubt this.  He walked all around, and went into the water on every side, but found no signs of any neighboring shore.  The place seemed rather like some isolated ledge.  But where was it, and how far away was the shore?  If he could only tell that!  He stopped, and listened intently; he walked all around, and listened more intently still, in hopes of hearing the sound of some neighboring surf.  In vain.  Nothing of the kind came to his ears.  All was still.  The water was not rough, nor was there very much wind.  There was only a brisk breeze, which threw up light waves on the surface.