Answer:
The story begins with Jerry and his mother on vacation from their native England to a coastal town in an unnamed foreign country, but probably either in France or North Africa. As they walk down to the "safe" beach where they always go, Jerry notices the “wild and rocky bay” where he would like to play. However, he goes with his mother. The next morning, he asks to go down to the wild, rocky beach and is given permission. She goes on to the beach, concerned as always about Jerry’s well-being.
When Jerry arrives at the wild beach, he goes for a swim while he can see his mother in the distance, just a small dot on the crowded beach. He notices some local boys, they dive in to the sea in turn and Jerry is impressed by them. Eventually, the boys dive and do not come up for a long time. Jerry dives down to see what is there and finds a big black wall of rock and understands that the boys have swum through some hole in it to the other side. The boys take 160 seconds to go through the rock and the boys go away, leaving jerry experiencing failure and crying.
Jerry asks his mother for some goggles and determines to repeat the feat of the boys. He finds the hole and then begins practising holding his breath, making his nose bleed and exhausting himself. Jerry determines to go "through the tunnel" the day before they leave holiday and continues exercising his lungs. On the last day he attempts his feat and although it is hard, he manages it. He returns home, exhausted and having suffered a massive nose bleed. The mother notices that he looks somewhat "strained" but determines not to worry. As Jerry announces how long he can stay underwater, the mother tells him not to overdo it and is ready for a "battle of wills" but Jerry gives in, finding it not important to go to his wild beach now that he has gone through the tunnel.
