XXVI 11 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 



bridge ; and when I supposed myself at the 

 temporary gangway leading to the vessel — not 

 being able to distinguish land from water, on 

 account of the darkness, 0 horrible mistake ! — I 

 was, in fact, on the very confine of the basin — 

 and at the next step, I sank overhead in the water, 

 after having dropped down some fifteen feet. 

 Death now stared me in the face. 



Here, I ought to remark, that I wore the 

 miraculous medal of the Blessed Virgin, so well 

 known throughout all France ; and I had daily 

 begged this " Consolatrix Afflictorum," that she 

 would obtain for me, from our dear Redeemer, 

 the favor that I might not die a sudden and 

 unprovided death. 



At the first plunge into the water, I heard a 

 voice exclaim from the vessel, " there is somebody 

 overboard :" but not a word more. Stunned and 

 confounded by the awful accident, and not in 

 the least aware whither I was swimming, I had 

 got under the paddle wheel ; and there I found 

 support. Just at this critical moment, when 

 through excessive cold and numbness, I was on 

 the point of sinking for the last time ; a voice 

 called out in French, "courage, and I will save you." 



In an instant of time a Belgian sailor, seized my 

 hand, and immediately a comrade came to his 



