HOSPITALITY OF M. DELAPORTE. 221 
without his assistance I should find it impossible to quit the 
country. Seeing- me resolved to extricate myself as speedily 
as possible from this state of distress and anxiety^ M. Dela- 
porte fixed an hour of the night for my return to the consulate^ 
to quit it no more till I should be enabled to embark for Eu- 
rope. I spent the remainder of the day at the fandac, and 
that my sudden disappearance might occasion no surprise 
amongst its inmates^ I apprised them that I intended to pro- 
ceed to Taone on my route to Algiers. When it was quite 
dark^ I rolled my bag in my wrapper to screen it from obser- 
vation^ and repaired to the appointed spot^ where 1 immedi- 
ately saw M. Delaporte and a Jew, who came to conduct me 
to my destined asylum. I was admitted to the Consular re- 
sidence by a back door^ and led to a good chamber^ where 
M, Delaporte presently sent me a European dress, for which 
I gladly exchanged the dirty rags 1 had so long worn : he 
then visited me in my new apartment, and expressed the 
greatest satisfaction at seeing me in a place of safety. 
After returning thanks to Almighty God, I lay down upon 
a good bed, rejoicing in my escape from the society of men 
debased by ignorance and fanaticism. Though all my wants 
were relieved, I found it impossible to close my eyes the 
whole night, so much was I agitated by the remembrance of 
the perils I had passed through. During my whole residence 
at the Consulate, M. Delaporte came many times each day to 
see and converse with me ; he treated me as his own son, and 
indeed lavished on me all the cares of the tenderest father. 
It would be difficult to describe my sensations on casting 
off for ever my Arab costume ; I retraced in my memory all 
the privations and fatigues I had endured, and the length of 
route I had traversed in a wild country, amidst a thousand 
dangers. I blessed God for my arrival in port; but I believed 
myself in a dream, and asked if it was indeed true that 
I might soon be restored to my country, or whether this en- 
chanting hope was but a delusion. 
