My foes would be able to meet me by the time I was at the top.
There was no other place that I could see, for none could climb from the foot of the cliffs elsewhere, since if he reached the rocks he would have to stay where he leapt to them.

So as there was no help for it, I headed for the open sea.

No doubt, I thought, I should find some landing place along the coast before I had gone far, and meanwhile I was getting a fair start of the enemy, who would have to follow the windings of the cliffs if they cared to come after me.
I pulled therefore for the eastern end of the cove, opposite to the place where the ship lay, and so rounded the point and was out in the open and tossing on the waves in a way that tried my rowing sorely, for I am but a fresh-water boatman.

Lucky it was for me that there was little sea on, or I should have fared badly.

Then I pulled eastward, and against the tide also, but that was a thing that I did not know.
The boat was wonderfully light and swift, and far less trouble to send along than any other I had seen.