y I shifted a little on one side, and he only drove it
through my jacket. I recollected that I had my razor in my pocket,
which I took out under the water unperceived, and, closing with him
before he could repeat his thrust, I cut his throat from ear to ear, and
then made for the shore as fast as I could. As I swam remarkably well,
I had no great difficulty in reaching it. As soon as I landed, I looked
back, and observing that the English boats were towing our vessel out, I
made all the haste I could to the fort, which was close at hand. There
I was hospitably received; and we sat up till past midnight, drinking,
smoking, and abusing the English.
The next morning, a felucca anchored to procure some water; and, as she
was proceeding to Toulon, I requested a passage. We sailed with a fine
breeze; but a heavy gale came on, which tossed us about for many days,
and the master of the vessel had no idea to where she had been driven.
He consoled us, however, by asserting that we could never go to the
bottom, as there was a lady of great sanctity passenger in the cabin,
who had been sent for to assume the office of lady abbess of a convent
near Marseilles, and whom the saints would indubitably preserve.
This was some comfort, although fine weather would have been greater.
The gale continued; and the next morning we thought that we descried
land on the lee beam. The following night we were certain of our
conjectures having been correct, for the vessel was thrown on shore, and
in a few minutes went to pieces. I had the good fortune to save myself
upon a part of the wreck, and lay half-dead upon the beach until the
morning. When the day broke, I looked around me: there were the
fragments of the vessel strewed upon the beach, or tossed in mockery by
the surge; and close to me lay the dead body of the lady, whose sanctity
the captain had assured us would be a safeguard to us all. I then
turned from the beach to look at the inland country, and perceived, to
my astonishment, that I was not three miles from my native city,
Marseilles. This was a horrid discovery; for I knew that I should
receive no mercy, and could not proceed a mile without being recognised.
What to do was now the subject of my thoughts; and at last, as I viewed
the body of the dead lady, it occurred to me that I might pass myself
off for her.
I stripped it of its outer garment; and having then hauled my own
clothes upon the corpse, and covered it over w
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