r an
instant; and during that instant, brief as it was, I could have faced
death itself rather than the uncertainty before me. The weakness passed
quickly away, and, with a short but fervent prayer, I grasped the rope
and slipped noiselessly over the parapet.

A sudden gust of wind swept past at the moment, and swung me out from
the wall as though I had been a thing of no weight, calling for all my
strength to prevent me from being blown away! And now I was buffeted
about, tossed here and thrown there, with a violence that almost
dislocated every joint in my body. The jerking motion and the chafing of
my rope on the parapet made me tremble for my security, and not without
cause; for in one great swing, in which I described an arc no other
pendulum, living or dead, ever compassed before, I came back with such
force against the roof of the sentry-box, striking it with both my feet
together at the same instant, that my cord snapped short in the very
centre.

[Illustration: 530-181]

The force of my fall, added to the previous blow, capsized the
sentry-box, and I came to the ground along with it, in a state of
fright that even to this very hour I cannot recall without shuddering.
Half-stunned by the fall, bruised and almost lifeless from terror, I sat
there waiting for the moment when the sentry would issue forth and seize
me; nor was it till after the lapse of several minutes that I perceived
that the soldier was in a trap, the weighty sentry-box had fallen
over on the front, and effectually debarred him from any chance of
self-extrication.

I stooped over to listen, but all was still; he never spoke a
word,--probably stunned by the shock, or he might have fainted from
terror. Whatever the cause, neither my humanity nor my curiosity cared
to explore further, but, rising to my feet, and ascertaining, to my
inexpressible delight, that I was uninjured, I set off at full speed
toward the shore. The sea suggested escape, and thither I bent my way,
without thinking more on the matter.

I could see, from the hurried movement of lights along the pier, that
boats were rapidly leaving for the various ships in the harbor. To get
on board any of these, no matter what, or whither bound, was all my
object,--a Tunis pirate or a Malay prow would have been a happy exchange
for the black prison at Malaga.

I had almost run myself out of breath, when I came up with a knot of
some dozen people who were hastening onward as fast as they