ESCAPE OF THE REPUBLICAN EXILES. 135 



other part of their voyage, must have closed their 

 history in this world. Berwick, their pilot, now 

 turned his prow to the shore it was repulsive, an 

 interminable forest ; but at sea they must perish. A 

 huge billow rolled them in, upset their canoe, threw 

 out their arms and themselves, and left them in the 

 mire. It was only by main force that they held 

 their vessel from going back again upon the billow. 

 They were now on shore, but without arms or ammu- 

 nition to protect them from the Indians, the tigers, 

 or the Dutchmen. They were in rags, covered with 

 mud, tortured by reptiles and insects innumerable, 

 and without a morsel. The storm came on heavier 

 still. The night was a dreadful conflict of the ele- 

 ments, with every intermission of the storm filled up 

 by the roaring of the sea and the screams of tigers. 

 The rain fell in a deluge, the wind tore through the 

 forest with the force of cannon-balls ; and during the 

 whole storm they were compelled to remain knee- 

 deep, or neck-deep, in the waves, holding fast their 

 canoe, on which alone they depended for reaching 

 any habitable spot, and which was continually on the 

 point of being carried off by the surges. In addition, 

 half-naked as they were, they found the cold piercing. 

 Such was a night under the equator. 



Morning dawned, and it never dawned more wel- 

 come. The storm subsided ; and Pichegru, who had 

 preserved his meerschaum and tinder-box, lighted a 

 fire, which cheered their frozen bodies and dried their 



