SHIPWRECK OF THK MEDUSA. 357 
grant on his estates, and we were to take possession of it af- 
ter the rainy season : but heaven had decided otherwise. 
From this time my father, always indignant at the manner 
in which the governor had acted toward us, resolved to re- 
tire ahogether lo his island, and to have as little intercourse 
with the Europeans of the colony as he could. Nevertheless, 
he received with pleasure the friends who from time to time 
came to visit us, and who sometimes carried him to St. Louis, 
where they disputed among themselves the pleasure of enter- 
taining him, and of making him forget his misfortunes by the 
favors which they heaped upon him ; but the mortifications 
he had experienced in that town made him always impatient 
till he returned to his island. One day as he returned from 
Senegal, after having spent tw^o days at the house of his 
friends, they lent him a negro mason to build an oven for us ; 
for till then v^^e had always baked our bread upon the embers. 
With this oven we were no longer obliged to eat our millet- 
bread with the cinders which so plenteously stuck to it. 
One morning as he was preparing to take the negroes to 
their labor, he perceived his dog did not follow him as usual. 
He called, but in vain. Then he thought his faithful com- 
pavuion had crossed the river to Babaguey, as he used to do 
sometimes. Arrived at the cotton field, my father remarked 
large foot-prints upon the sand, which seemed to be those of 
a tiger, and beside them several drops of blood, and doubted 
not that his poor Sultan had been devoured. He immediately 
returned to the cottage to acquaint us with the fate of his dog, 
which we greatly regretted. From that day the children 
were prohibited from going any distance from home ; my sis- 
ter and myself durst no more walk among the woods as we 
used to do. 
Four days after the loss of the faithful Sultan, as we were 
going to bed, we heard behind our cottage mewings like those 
of a cat, but much louder. My father instantly rose, and in 
spite of our entreaties and fears, went out armed with his 
sword and gun, in the hope of meeting with the animal whose 
frightful cries had filled us wdth dread ; but the ferocious 
beast, having heard a noise near the little hill where it was, 
made a leap over his head and disappeared in the woods. He 
returned a little frightened at the boldness and agility of the 
creature, and gave up the pursuit till the following day ; he 
caused some negroes to come from the island of Babaguey; 
whom he joined with his own, and putting himself at their 
head, he thought he would soon return with the skin of the ti- 
