* * * I now
soon found I was close in with the shore. * * * I swam within twelve
feet of the shore before I could touch bottom, and in so doing I found
I could not stand, I was so cold * * * but I moved around in shoal
water until I found I could stand, then stept on shore. * * * I had
not sent my clothes adrift more than twenty-five minutes or so before
striking the shore. I was completely naked except for a small hat on
my head which I had brought from the Old Jersey. What a situation was
this, without covering to hide my naked body, in an enemy's country,
without food or means to obtain any, and among Tories more unrelenting
than the devil,--more perils to encounter and nothing to aid me but
the interposition of heaven! Yet I had gained an important portion of
my enterprise: I had got on land, after swimming in the water two
hours and a half, and a distance of perhaps two miles and a half."
Hawkins at last found the barn and slept in it the rest of the night,
but not before falling over a rock in the darkness, and bruising his
naked body severely. Next morning a black girl came into the barn,
apparently hunting for eggs, but he did not dare reveal himself to
her. He remained there all day, and endeavored to milk the cows, but
they were afraid of a naked stranger. He left the place in the night
and travelled east. In a field he found some overripe water melons,
but they were neither wholesome nor palatable.
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