retched my limbs on the hard couch assigned me that night, I
remembered my God in heaven, and my home in Tuscany. It was the first
night that an ingenuous youth had spent among outcasts, whose hands
were still reeking with the blood of his companions. At that period
of manhood we are grateful for the mere boon of _life_. It is pleasant
to live, to breathe, to have one's being, on this glorious earth, even
though that life may be cast among felons. There is still a _future_
before us; and Hope, the bright goddess of health and enthusiasm,
inspires our nerves with energy to conquer our present ills.

I threw myself down thankfully, but I could not rest. Sore and tired
as I was, I could not compose my mind to sleep. The conduct of Rafael
surprised me. I could not imagine how he became familiar with my
biography, nor could I identify his personal appearance with my uncle
who went so long before to South America. A thousand fancies jumbled
themselves in my brain, and, in their midst, I fell into slumber. Yet
my self-oblivion was broken and short. My pulse beat wildly, but my
skin did not indicate the heat of fever. The tragedy of the galliot
was reacted before me. Phantoms of the butchered wife and men,
streaming with blood, stood beside my bed, while a chorus of devils,
in the garb of sailors, shouted that _I_ was the cause of the
galliot's loss, and of their murder. Then the wretched woman would
hang round my neck, and crawl on my breast, besprinkling me with gore
that spouted from her eyeless sockets, imploring me to save
her;--till, shrieking and panting, I awoke from the horrible
nightmare. Such were the dreams that haunted my pillow nearly all the
time I was forced to remain with these desperadoes.

* * * * *

I thanked God that the night of the tropics was so brief. The first
glimmer of light found me up, and as soon as I could find a companion
to control the hounds, I ran to the sea for refreshment by a glorious
surf-bath. I was on a miserable sandbar, whose surface was hardly
covered with soil; yet, in that prolific land of rain and sunshine,
nature seems only to require the slightest footing to assert her
magnificent power of vegetation. In spots, along the arid island, were
the most beautiful groves of abundant undergrowth, matted with
broad-leaved vines, while, within their shadow, the fresh herbage
sprang up, sparkling with morning dew. In those climates, the blaze of
noon is a