“I thought about this. Suddenly, I was full of new hope. I realized that, at the turn of the tide, smaller things went up to the sea again. Barrels, I saw, were falling very slowly.
“I decided quickly. I tied myself to the water barrel. I tried to explain my plan to my brother. At last he understood, but he was too afraid to move. There was no more time. I said goodbye to him, and jumped into the water.
“An hour later I watched the boat crash into the bottom of the pool. But I, on the barrel, did not fall far. Then, at last, the whirlpool began to calm, and I began to move up. Soon I was in the place where the Moskoe-strom was. The sea was still stormy, but luckily it carried me to the calm fishing grounds. There, a boat found me and took me out of the water.
“At first I could not speak. The fishermen on the boat were my old friends, but they did not know me. I was a stranger to them. My black hair was white and my face was completely changed too. When I told them my story, they did not believe me. Do you?”
