But both possessed what was far better, in such a strait, than the
knowledge of a swimmer, in that self-command and coolness in emergencies
which they are apt to acquire, who pass their time in encountering the
hazards and in overcoming the difficulties of war. Each retained a
sufficiency of recollection, therefore, on coming to the surface, to
understand his situation, and not to increase the danger by the
ill-directed and frantic efforts that usually drown the frightened. The
case was sufficiently desperate, at the best, without the additional risk
of distraction, for the bark had already drifted to some unseen spot,
that, as respects them, was quite unattainable. In this uncertainty, it
would have been madness to steer amid the waste of waters, as likely to
go wrong as right, and they limited their efforts to mutual support and
encouragement, placing their trust in God.
Not so with Sigismund. To him the roaring tempest was mute, the boiling
and hissing lake had no horrors, and he had plunged into the fathomless
Leman as recklessly as he could have leaped to land.
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