[Within the Tides by Joseph Conrad]@TWC D-Link book
Within the Tides

CHAPTER XII
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Following this track fearfully, they passed round the spur of the headland, and there on a large stone found the sandals, Renouard's white jacket, and the Malay sarong of chequered pattern which the planter of Malata was well known to wear when going to bathe.

These things made a little heap, and the sailor remarked, after gazing at it in silence-- "Birds have been hovering over this for many a day." "He's gone bathing and got drowned," cried the Editor in dismay.
"I doubt it, sir.

If he had been drowned anywhere within a mile from the shore the body would have been washed out on the reefs.

And our boats have found nothing so far." Nothing was ever found--and Renouard's disappearance remained in the main inexplicable.

For to whom could it have occurred that a man would set out calmly to swim beyond the confines of life--with a steady stroke--his eyes fixed on a star! Next evening, from the receding schooner, the Editor looked back for the last time at the deserted island.


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