Chapter 45

His clutch on his self-control in any real crisis never slipped; his mental steering-gear never gave way. Again his pallid lips moved in speech: "The--thing--to--do," he said very slowly and deliberately, "is to swim out and--and touch it. If it dissolves into nothing I'll probably feel better----" He began to remove coat, collar, and shoes, forcing himself to talk calmly all the while. "The thing to do," he went on dully, "is to swim over there and get a look at it. Of course, it isn't really there. As for drownin…