350 SHIPWRECK OF THE MEDUSA. 
the star of day arising above the horizon, admonished me to 
resume my labors. 
Having- returned to the cottage, I went to the harvest with 
Etienne. For the space of two days I continued at my ac- 
customed occupations, but on the morning of the third, on re- 
turning from the plantation to the house, I felt myself sudden- 
ly seized with a violent pain in my head. As soon as I 
reached home I lay down. On the morning I found mysel/ 
unable to rise out of bed ; a burning fever had manifested 
itself during the night, and even deprived me of the h6pe 0/ 
being able to return to Senegal. 
I was incapable of doing any thing. The good Etienne, 
touched with my condition, took his fowling-piece and went 
into the neighboring woods, to endeavor to shoot me some 
game. An old vulture was the only produce of the chase. 
He brought it to me, and, in spite of the repugnance I express- 
ed for that species of birds, he persisted in boiling some of it 
for me. In about an hour afterward he presented me with a 
bowlof that African broth: but I found it so bitter I could 
not swallow it. I felt myself -getting worse, and every mo- 
ment seemed to be the last of life. At last, about noon, hav- 
ing collected all my remaining strength, I wrote to my father 
the distressed state I was in ; Etienne took the charge of car- 
rying my letter, and left me alone in the midst of our island. 
At night I experienced a great increase of fever ; my strength 
abandoned me entirely; I was unable to shut the door of the 
house in which I la}^ 1 w^as far from my family ; no human 
being dwelt in the island ; no person witnessed my sufferings. 
I fell into a state of utter unconsciousness, and I knew not 
what I did during the remainder of the night. On the follow- 
ing morning, having recovered from my insensibility, I heard 
some person near me utter sorrowful cries ; it was my good 
sister Caroline. I opened my eyes, and to my astonishment 
found myself at Senegal, surrounded by an afflicted family. 
I felt as if I had returned from the other world. My father 
had set off on the instant he had received my letter,^ with Eti- 
enne, to the island, and finding me delirious, took me to Se- 
negal without my being conscious of it. Recovering by de- 
grees from my confusion, I was desirous of seeing my bro- 
thers, who had been attacked the same way as myself Our 
house looked like an hospital. Here a dying child wished 
them to take away the monster he imagined he saw before 
his bed; there another demanded something to drink, then re- 
fusing to take the medicines which were offered to him, filled 
