Suddenly the body of white crystal began taking on a greenish hue, growing larger and larger, becoming dark and coppery, until above the surface appeared the head of the swimmer, who, spouting and snorting, was holding up all his submarine plunder to the little fellow.
"Now then, your turn!" he ordered in an imperious tone.
All attempts at resistance were useless.

His uncle either insulted him with the harshest kind of words or coaxed him with promises of safety.
He never knew certainly whether he threw himself into the water or whether a tug from the doctor jerked him from the boat.

The first surprise having passed, he had the impression of remembering some long forgotten thing.

He was swimming instinctively, divining what he ought to do before his master told him.

Within him was awakening the ancestral experience of a race of sailors who had struggled with the sea and, sometimes, had remained forever in its bosom.
Recollection of what was existing beyond his feet suddenly made him lose his serenity,--his lively imagination making him shriek, "Uncle!...