did look forward to once more seeing my relations in France, but that
hope is now abandoned. My name is Fonseca, I am a younger brother of a
noble family of that name, and I intended, if not to enrich my brother,
at least to endow his daughter with the wealth I have brought with me.
Should my fears be verified, I trust to your honour for the performance
of my request. It is, to deliver this casket, which is of great value,
into the hand of either one or the other. Here is a letter with their
address, and here is the key; the remainder of my property on board, if
saved, in case of my death, is yours, and here is a voucher for you to
show in case of necessity."

I took the casket, but did not tell him that I was the husband of his
niece--as he might have disinherited her for having married so much
below her rank in life. The old gentleman was right in his supposition,
the serpent returned in the afternoon, and seizing him as he had the
sailor, in the morning, again, plunged into the sea; and so he continued
bearing two or three off every day, until I was the only one left. On
the eighth day he had taken off the last but me, and I knew that my
fate must be decided in the evening; for large as he was, he could
penetrate every part of the ship, and could draw you to him, when you
were many feet distant, by sucking in his breath.

There happened to be two casks, of a material lately invented in
England, which we were taking to France on trial; during the hurricane,
one had burst, and the stench proceeding from it was intolerable.
Although it had gradually evaporated, I perceived that whenever the
serpent approached any thing that had been defiled with it, he
immediately turned away, as if the smell was as unbearable to him as it
was to us. I don't know what it was composed of, but the English called
it _coal tar_. It struck me that I might save myself my means of this
offensive composition. I knocked out the head of the remaining cask, and
arming myself with a broom dipped in it, I jumped into the cask which
contained the remainder, and awaited my fate with anxiety. The serpent
came; as usual, forced his head and part of his body down the hatchway,
perceived me, and with eyes darting fire reached out his head to seize
me. I dashed the broom into his mouth, and bobbed my head immediately
under the coal tar. When I lifted it up again, almost suffocated, the
animal had disappeared. I crawled out, and looking over the side,
per