gust, filling the air and shutting up the prospect. In this way it continued till past noon; at intervals, as the sky lighted up, I took a firebrand, and set fire to the bushes on the beach, and then hoisted the flag again, walking wearily to and fro till the storm ceased and the sky became clear."
After a time, to his great relief, he perceived a boat launched from the shore, with four or five men on board. It approached within an eighth of a mile, where the rowers lay on their oars. After a short parley with them, kept up by shouting through his hands, the strangers declined to approach on account of the Indians, and were about to row away. The critical moment had arrived. The promises and bribes with which he had sustained the hopes of his persecutors having failed, he knew that he had nothing to expect at their hands but a cruel death. His resolution, therefore, was soon taken. Dashing away from his savage companions, he plunged headlong into the sea, closely pursued by them, with their long knives in hand. His clothes and shoes encumbered him, and the surf, agitated by a high wind, rolled in heavy seas upon the shore. The boat was forty or fifty yards off, and as the wind did not blow in shore, it drifted, so as to increase the original distance unless counteracted by the crew. Whether the boat was backed up towards him he could not determine; his head was a great part of the time under water, his eyes blinded with the surf, and most strenuous exertion was necessary to live in such a sea. "As I approached the boat," says his narrative, "I could see several guns, pointed, apparently, at me. Perhaps we had misunderstood each other—perhaps they viewed me as an enemy. In fact,
