"mistral" which blew. As the wind lulled, I heard
sounds of voices in lamentation, which appeared to proceed from the road
at a short distance. I rose, and continued my route, when I stumbled
over the body of a man. I examined him by the faint light that was
emitted from the stars. He was quite dead; and it immediately occurred
to me that a robbery had been committed, and the lamentations which I
had heard proceeded from those who had escaped with their lives. The
cloak of the dead man was lying underneath him; it was a capote, such as
are worn by officers. I unclasped it from his neck, round which it was
fastened with two bear's-paws chased in silver, and, wrapping it round
my benumbed limbs, proceeded further on to where I now occasionally
heard voices much plainer than before. I again fell in with two more
prostrate bodies, and, as the day had now begun to break, perceived that
they were clothed like people of low condition. Passing my hand over
their faces, I felt that they were quite dead and stiff. Afraid that if
found close to the spot, and unable to give any account of myself, I
should be accused of murder, I thought of immediate flight; but the
plaintive voice of a woman met my ears, and it was an appeal that I
could not resist. I proceeded a few yards further, and perceived a
carriage, the horses of which lay dead in their traces, with the driver
beside them. To the hind wheels were secured with ropes an elderly man
and a young woman.

"God be praised, my dear father, help is at hand!" said the young woman,
as I approached; and as I came close to them, she cried out, "Oh, I know
him by his cloak; it's the gentleman who defended us so gallantly, and
whom we supposed to have been killed. Are you much hurt, sir?"

Aware that I had better be any body than myself; with my usual invention
and presence of mind I replied, "Not much, madam, thanks be to Heaven!
I was stunned, and they left me for dead: I am happy that I am still
alive, to be of service to you:" and I immediately proceeded to cast
loose the ropes by which the father and daughter (as by their
conversation they appeared to be) had been confined to the wheels. The
robbers had stripped them both nearly to the skin, and they were so
numbed with the cold that they could scarcely stand when they were
unbound,--the poor girl especially, who shivered as if suffering under a
tertian ague. I proposed that they should enter the carriage as the
best s