n I felt a great relief, for my gag was pulled from my mouth. I
tried to speak, but I could not; my tongue seemed swollen and my throat
was parched, but it was pleasant to me to be able to breathe freely.

At length I made a great effort.

"Why am I taken here?" I asked.

No one spoke.

"What have I done that I should be treated thus?" I asked. "I have
harmed no man. I arrived in Falmouth only yesterday. What is your will
with me?"

Still no one spoke.

"Pull the bandage from my eyes and let me see, I cried. I said this
because two men still held my arms firmly, but no one moved to do my
bidding.

"Then give me something to drink," I cried--"water; my throat is
parched, and burns like fire."

"Yes, you shall drink," said a voice.

A few seconds later I heard the sound of bottles clinking, and then the
gurgle of something being poured therefrom.

"Here is something to cool your mouth. Here it is--fine stuff. Drink it
quickly, drink it all."

I felt a goblet placed against my lips, and a strange odour rise to my
nostrils. I thought it smelt like rum, and a sickly feeling came over
me.

"Drink quickly," said the same man who had spoken before; "it will do
you good."

I feared to drink, and I shut my teeth firmly, but a great sickness came
over me, and I could not keep my mouth closed, and some of the liquid
was poured on my tongue. It was pleasant to the taste and delightfully
cooling to my tongue, and so thirsty was I that I drank the contents of
the goblet, thankful for such a refreshing beverage.

"You feel better now, don't you?"

"Yes," I said; "take away the bandage, and I shall be all right."

No sooner had I spoken than I staggered, and should have fallen had not
I been kept up by the men who still held my arms.

"You are not so well, after all," I heard some one say. "You had better
lie down."

I yielded to the pressure upon my body, and felt myself falling; a great
roaring sound came into my ears, and then I realised that I was lying on
some sort of couch.

My senses, I was sure, were departing from me, and I had a vague idea
that I was falling through unlimited space, while wild winds and loud
thunders were all around me; then all became a great blank.

How long I remained unconscious I do not know, neither can I tell
whether the experiences through which I thought I went had any objective
reality.

This was what I thought or dreamed happened to me. For a long time all
was a perfect