Составить краткий пересказ этого отрывка текста! нужно! в вообще не заранее ! "i can swim," he said. "swim! " i could hardly believe my ears; it seemed such an insane answer to give. "i swam for my university."[1] i got some glimmering of what he was driving at. i've known too many men who were little tin gods at their university to be impressed by it. "i was a pretty good swimmer myself when i was a young man," i said. suddenly i had an idea. pausing in his story, burton turned to me. "do you know kobe? " he asked. "no," i said, "i passed through it once, but i only spent a night there." "then you don't know the shioya club. when i was a young man i swam from there round the beacon and landed at the creek of tarumi. it's over three miles and it's rather difficult on account of the currents round the beacon. well, i told my young namesake about it and i said to him that if he'd do it i'd give him a job. i could see he was rather taken aback. "you say you're a swimmer," i said. "i'm not in very good condition," he answered. i didn't say anything. i shrugged my shoulders. he looked at me for a moment and then he nodded. "all right," he said. "when do you want me to do it? " i looked at my watch. it was just after ten. "the swim shouldn't take you much over an hour and a quarter. i'll drive round to the creek at half past twelve and meet you. i'll take you back to the club to dress and then we'll have lunch together," "done," he said. we shook hands. i wished him good luck and he left me. i had a lot of work to do that morning and i only just managed to get to the creek at tarumi at half past twelve. but i needn't have hurried; he never turned up." "did he funk it at toe last moment? " i asked. "no, he didn't funk it. he started all right. but of course he'd ruined his constitution by drink and dissipation. the currents round the beacon were more than he could manage. we didn't get the body for about three days." i didn't say anything for a moment or two, i was a trifle shocked. then i asked burton a question. "when you made him that offer of a job, did you know he'd be drowned? " he gave a little mild chuckle and he looked at me with those kind and candid blue eyes of his. he rubbed his chin with his hand. "well, i hadn't got a vacancy in my office at the moment.
