CAPTURED BY A SPANISH CORSAIR. 43 



I meet you on holy ground I will break your head." 

 " Can you then suppose," I answered him, " that I am 

 here for my pleasure, and that, notwithstanding your 

 menace, I would not rather go with you, if I could ? " 

 These words calmed him ; he brought the sugar, the cof- 

 fee, and the tea claimed by the Moorish chief, and we 

 again set sail, though without having exchanged the usual 

 farewell. 



We had already entered the Gulf of Lyons, and were 

 approaching Marseilles, when on the 16th August, 1808, 

 we met with a Spanish corsair from Palamos, armed at 

 the prow with two twenty-four pounders. We made full 

 sail ; we hoped to escape it : but a cannon-shot, a ball 

 from which went through our sails, taught us that she 

 was a much better sailer than we were. 



We obeyed an injunction thus expressed, and awaited 

 the great boat from the corsair. The captain declared 

 that he made us prisoners, although Spain was at peace 

 with Barbary, under the pretext that we were violating 

 the blockade which had been lately raised on all the 

 coasts of France : he added, that he intended to take us 

 to Rosas, and that there the authorities would decide on 

 our fate. 



I was in the cabin of the vessel ; I had the curiosity 

 to look furtively at the crew of the boat, and there I per- 

 ceived, with a dissatisfaction which may easily be imag- 

 ined, one of the sailors of the " Mistic," commanded by 

 Don Manuel de Vacaro, of the name of Pablo Blanco, of 

 Palamos, who had often acted as my servant during my 

 geodesic operations. My false passport would become 

 from this moment useless, if Pablo should recognize me : 

 I went to bed at once, covered my head with the counter- 

 pane, and lay as still as a statue. 



