I listened with painful eagerness, but was unable to distinguish a third signal.

He sunk to rise no more.
I was for a time inattentive to my own situation.

The dreadfulness and unexpectedness of this catastrophe occupied me wholly.

The quick motion of the lights upon the shore showed me that I was borne rapidly along with the tide.

How to help myself, how to impede my course or to regain either shore, since I had lost the oar, I was unable to tell.