it came again, and there I was,
floating all alone on the water.

"During the night a light breeze from the northward sprang up, and I
began to fear that I might be drifted out into the Atlantic. However, I
couldn't help myself, and was not going to cry die. I was mighty
thankful that the sea was smooth, and so I sat on my raft, trying to be
as happy as I could; but the thinking of you, Mr Terence, and not
knowing if you had escaped, often made me sad. I wished, too, that I
had had my fiddle, when I would have played myself a tune to keep up my
spirits. I can't say how many days I spent on the raft, sleeping when I
could not keep my eyes open, till all the provisions and the water I had
brought were gone. Then I got very bad, and thought I was going to die.
The weather, too, was changing, and the sea getting up. I was just
lying down on the raft, not long before the bright sun sank into the
ocean, and not expecting to see it rise again, when I heard a shout,
and, opening my eyes, I saw a small craft, which I guessed was a French
fishing-boat from her look, coming towards me. She having hove-to,
presently a boat was lowered from her deck, and I was taken on board,
more dead than alive. The Frenchmen gave me some food, and, taking me
down into the cabin, put me to bed.

"It came on to blow very hard that night. For some days we were
knocking about, not able to get back to port. From the heavy seas which
broke over the little vessel, and from the way I heard the Frenchmen
speaking, I thought that after all we should be lost, but I was too weak
to care much about the matter just then.

"However, at last the weather moderated, and after several days I found
that we were at anchor in smooth water. I was still very bad, so the
French skipper carried me ashore to his cottage. He fed me pretty well,
and I at last got strong enough to walk about. By this time I had
managed somehow to make him understand me, and I asked him to tell me
how I could cross over to Ireland, as I wanted to get home and learn if
you had escaped. He laughed at me, however, and said that I owed him a
hundred francs for taking care of me, and that I must pay him. I
answered that I would be glad enough to pay him, like an honest man, as
soon as I could get any prize-money, and that I would send it over to
him. To this, however, he would not agree, but said that if I would
help him in a trick he wanted to play off on the people, he would be