The String of Pearls (1850), p. 697

"No. That won't do. You must land now.''
Todd looked nervously along the bank of the river, and he saw a little miserable landing-place, towards which the men now began to urge the boat. He thought then that if he could get anything like a start of his pursuers on the shore, all might yet be well. "I could get across the country to Gravesend, and if once there, I might find some vessel to take me off.''

TODD'S ADVENTURE WITH THE SMUGGLERS.{Figure}

"Pull to shore, then," he said; "I will take my chance. Pull to shore at once, as swiftly as you possible can."
When the boat's head was turned towards the shore, it was pretty evident that the police-gallery was much more intent upon getting to Todd than to Gravesend, for the roers in it turned the boat's head in the same direction, and it became then, truly, a case of life and death to Todd.