CHAP. my efcape before the building Ihould be burnt down;
x- but in this' Twas difap'pointed, asr they ftilf remained;
and at the fame time thé flames èncreafed fo faft, ;that
the heat, became infuppPrtable'in the place where I was,
and I had no other alternative' left', than to be burnt to
death, or to leap From a high garret window into the midft
of my exafperated enemies., This laft meafure,-- however,
I refolved upon, and had not.only the good fortune
to light Unhurt upon my feet, but to efcape without a
wound, from among fo many men armed with fabfes
and bill-hooks. I flew’ to the river-fide* into which I
plunged headlong; however, not being able to fwihi, I
immediately funk to the bottom; but (faid like) J ftill
kept my full prefence of mind, and while theyi-concluded
me to be drowned, found means* by .the help Of
the moco-moco and mangrove roots, to bring myfelf not
only under cover of the impending verdure, but- juft fo
far above water with my lips as to .continue in a ftate-of
refpiration till all was over. Having killed every other
perfon, the rebels departed, and I was taken up by a boat
from my very perilous fituation.”
On the 30th I arrived at Devil’s Harwar, and the fuc-
ceeding day rowed up the Cormoetibo Creek; where,
having tied the boat to a tree which overfpread it with
thick branches, we quietly lay down to fleep during the
night; myfelf and Quaco in the boat tipon the benehes,
and the negroes under the feats, except thofe whom I
ordered
ordered alternately fhkeep watch*-;an<J-awake me if they CHAP,
heard the leaft fuftlingua the woods, forbidding them all , x‘
:abfolutely ;to fpeak or make any. noife* deff, the: rebels,
who were.hoveringron both fides of the Creek* might
hear and furprizeus. «As for myfelf, who was the only
whife perfon. among# them all, I was, confident I Ihould
mot, in Rich a cafe, efcape their (fury. ‘ After theie precaution's,
we all Jay down and-flept foundry, from nine
o’clock., till , about three- in? the morjfin^j| at which time
Quaco and myfelf were -both fuddenly thrown down
-frompur benthos* by the boat all at ojcipe heqlipg. upon
-one fide* while all ;the pegroes leaped overboard into
thq water, I inffantly cpcked my piftal, and-jumping
Up,' afke.d aloud what .fjyas-the matter ƒ pofitively dpter- *
mined to defend, myfelf ro the Jaff extremity, rather than
-be taken Fpr the fpace pf
a few fecori#,I obtained no an£wer,; w h f% ^
Suddenly re.<#ifyfng itfelf {by:thernotion,of I was
thrown Pff my feet) one of the fwimming pegrops called
out* Ma^ra, fla wan fea-eow;” andrto my gregtihappi-
nefs it proved to he no other than the .manati, or fea-cow,
which is palled in Cayenne the lamentyn^ By the account
of the negroes it had flept pnder the boat, which, ,by;!thg
-creature’s awaking» had 'thrown; upon
one fide, and again replaced when the manati made .its
-efcape from underneath, it. 1 did not;fo ;rnuch. as fee
the creature, nor indeed ffardly had the negrp*: owing to
the darktiefs- of the night, which lafted feme hours
after ;