CHAPTER LXXII. A bitter death, a suffocating death, A muffled death, ensnared in horrid silence, KEATS' MS. N regaining the brink of the chasm, breathless and almost exhausted, suffering from a contusion on my head and wrist, I sat down on the margin of that deep and dismal gulf, which gaped like a charnel-vault beneath me, and looked the more deep and terrific under the clear moonlight. Then the noise from below, which the parsee made, struggling for life; for at the bottom of the canal was a little stagnant water, dammed up with sand from the sea, and sludge washed down by the torrents, with all the accumulated filth from the slaughter-house-being a consistency in which no man could long float, or immediately sink; but every struggle made it worse. The man had sunk deep the first plunge, and his hard efforts to rise were apparent from the speechless agony with which he toiled, and the quick and stifling noise he made, as if half suffocated by the slimy composition. He panted, gasped, and floundered on the surface. I could perceive no more than an indistinct mass thus writhing and groaning in torture. It was a horrible sight, and, though not very nervous, my flesh quivered, and my whole frame shook as in sympathy with his sufferings. I gazed round in the vain endeavour of seeking something to aid me in rescuing him; but though the moon shone brightly, it only shewed me the hopelessness of the man's situation. I tried to keep my eyes off, but, as if fascinated, I could not. I had almost determined to give the alarm, by calling for assistance, (as I supposed a sentinel could not be very far,) regardless of consequences to myself. The struggle now became feeble, and the noise indistinct, rattling, and hoarse. I looked, and the dark mass was slowly sinking beneath the slimy surface; and, as he sunk for ever, I thought I saw an arm still holding its serpentine weapon, which seemed (as it might have been from his convulsive death), quivering while it gradually sunk-shaking, as it were, still in defiance! I remembered he had told me it was poisoned, and his last action reminded me of a venomous serpent I had killed the day before, which, whilst expiring with its emerald-green eye sparkling, and inflated hood, yet shot forth its forked tongue, as if in revengeful rage not to be subdued. My eyes were riveted on the spot where the man had disappeared. The bubbling and disturbed surface was subsiding into smoothness, when I was suddenly so startled as nearly to lose my balance and fall down headlong, at hearing a voice at my ear call out—“ All's well!" It was the voice of a distant sentinel, borne on the wind while my head was on the ground near the fatal spar which crossed the chasm, and which acted as a conductor. This, and the extreme stillness of the night, made the voice seem close to me, and certainly alarmed me more than I had ever been alarmed. I sprang on my feet, and looked round fearfully; but all was again still. Daylight was approaching, and every moment precious. I cast a last look at the spot where the man had sunk, and a pang of remorse came over me as I recalled the occurrences of the two last days, in which I had been the cause of the destruction of this man's property, perhaps of his brother's life, and then of himself. What havoc and sorrow had I caused in his family; what curses must fall on my head! -What demon of mischief urged me on? His death-cries long haunted me. It appeared to me, on after-reflection, that the waiter, or some other person in the tavern, had suspected me as concerned in the jeweller's affair-that he had acquainted him with his suspicions-that, during my morning walk, the jeweller had seen and recognized me-that he had afterwards followed and kept sight of me down to the place where my boat lay. Had he given notice to the authorities, and charged me with being the principal in the attack on his shop, he perhaps was aware of, or had experienced the tardy and corrupt proceedings of courts, and the little justice got by law: besides, there are wrongs which cannot be righted by law, and for which men seek redress in vengeance. Feelings of this sort must have determined him on attempting to kill me. If he had indeed known who I really was, his revenge would have been effectually executed by simply informing against me; but of this he had no suspicion. I hastened down to the beach, as if pursued; and, descrying the proa, I was about to hail her, when I called to mind the vicinity of the sentinel. My left wrist was strained or dislocated the hot blood was trickling down my face, and I was suffused with a clammy heat. I looked anxiously along the margin of the sea for a boat, but could discover none that would serve my turn. Every instant of delay augmented the hazard of detection: I therefore secured the few things which would be destroyed by water, in my cap, and walked into the sea, which was smooth, with a breeze from the land. I swam as fast as I could, having the use of but one paddle. There was no difficulty in this to one like me, who could swim nearly as well as walk, and whose daily pastime, when at Madras, had been in buffeting through the tremendous surf in which no European boat can live. But the danger I ran was from sharks and alligators, which were multitudinous about this island, the latter of which I knew used to swarm round the outlet from the slaughter-house, attracted by the smell of offal. Perhaps they were then banqueting on the wretched jeweller. H CHAPTER LXXIII. As past the pebbly beach the boat did flee, On sidelong wing, into a silent cove, Where ebon pines a shade under the starlight wove. SHELLEY. With shatter'd boat, oar snapt, and canvass rent, I slowly sail, scarce knowing my intent. KEATS. APPILY I got on board the proa; and, having silently weighed our grapnel, we all lay down, and let the boat drift out in the channel, till the fishing canoes ran out, when |