rted as it were with the last expiring hope of my mind; and
voluntarily consented, thus maimed and forlorn, to encounter all the
evils that were yet in store for me.

This is the latest event which at present I think it necessary to
record. I shall doubtless hereafter have further occasion to take up the
pen. Great and unprecedented as my sufferings have been, I feel
intimately persuaded that there are worse sufferings that await me. What
mysterious cause is it that enables me to write this, and not to perish
under the horrible apprehension!

CHAPTER XV.

It is as I foreboded. The presage with which I was visited was
prophetic. I am now to record a new and terrible revolution of my
fortune and my mind.

Having made experiment of various situations with one uniform result, I
at length determined to remove myself, if possible, from the reach of my
persecutor, by going into voluntary banishment from my native soil. This
was my last resource for tranquillity, for honest fame, for those
privileges to which human life is indebted for the whole of its value.
"In some distant climate," said I, "surely I may find that security
which is necessary to persevering pursuit; surely I may lift my head
erect, associate with men upon the footing of a man, acquire
connections, and preserve them!" It is inconceivable with what ardent
Teachings of the soul I aspired to this termination.

This last consolation was denied me by the inexorable Falkland.

At the time the project was formed I was at no great distance from the
east coast of the island, and I resolved to take ship at Harwich, and
pass immediately into Holland. I accordingly repaired to that place, and
went, almost as soon as I arrived, to the port. But there was no vessel
perfectly ready to sail. I left the port, and withdrew to an inn, where,
after some time, I retired to a chamber. I was scarcely there before the
door of the room was opened, and the man whose countenance was the most
hateful to my eyes, Gines, entered the apartment. He shut the door as
soon as he entered.

"Youngster," said he, "I have a little private intelligence to
communicate to you. I come as a friend, and that I may save you a
labour-in-vain trouble. If you consider what I have to say in that
light, it will be the better for you. It is my business now, do you see,
for want of a better, to see that you do not break out of bounds. Not
that I much matter having one man for my employer, or danc