40 
perceived the ship abandoned to its wretched fate, and 
that it continued to beat in the most horrible manner 
against the rocks, I determined not to wait till it was 
wrecked. I called out to my servants, " The boat, the 
boat." They seized upon it immediately; but every 
one wished to throw himself into it. They gave me 
their hands, and I leapt into it, over the heads of the 
rest of the passengers. I ordered them to clear away 
from the ship; but one man, whose father remained on 
board, held the boat fast to the ship by a rope, which 
he held in his hand, crying out, " Abouya! Abouya!" 
Oh my father! Oh my father! I respected for a moment 
this cry of filial piety; but at the sight of a number of 
men who were ready to precipitate themselves into 
the boat, I cried to this good son to let go the rope. 
Deaf to my cries, he continued to hold by it, and to 
call for his father; when, fearing the boat would be 
overwhelmed by numbers, I found myself forced to 
strike him upon his hand, which made him quit his 
hold; and in the same instant we were carried a hun- 
dred toises from the ship. This scene passed in less 
than a minute. Short moments, but very dreadful ones! 
But where to go? Instead of the soft light of the 
moon, which might have lighted us on our course, a 
veil of black clouds covered us with the deepest ob- 
scurity; we could discern nothing: we were almost 
naked. The waves of the sea filled the boat with 
water, whilst a deluge of rain fell at intervals. A dis- 
cussion arose; some wished to go to the right, others 
to the left, as if it had been possible to distinguish ob- 
jects through such thick and dark clouds. The dispute < 
becoming serious, I silenced it, by seizing the helm, 
and saying to them, in an imperious tone, " 1 know 
€< tfcat which you are ignorant of; I charge myself with 
