"So now, Ralph, we must prepare to meet these fellows.

Their motto is, 'No quarter.' If we can manage to floor those coming in this direction, we may escape into the woods for a while." "There are five of them," said I; "we have no chance." "Come, then," cried Peterkin, starting up, and grasping Jack convulsively by the arm, "let us dive; I will go." Those who are not naturally expert in the water know well the feelings of horror that overwhelm them, when in it, at the bare idea of being held down, even for a few seconds,--that spasmodic, involuntary recoil from compulsory immersion which has no connection whatever with cowardice; and they will understand the amount of resolution that it required in Peterkin to allow himself to be dragged down to a depth of ten feet, and then, through a narrow tunnel, into an almost pitch-dark cavern.

But there was no alternative.

The pirates had already caught sight of us, and were now within a short distance of the rocks.
Jack and I seized Peterkin by the arms.
"Now, keep quite still, no struggling," said Jack, "or we are lost." Peterkin made no reply, but the stern gravity of his marble features, and the tension of his muscles, satisfied us that he had fully made up his mind to go through with it.

Just as the pirates gained the foot of the rocks, which hid us for a moment from their view, we bent over the sea, and plunged down together head foremost.