All that I know is, that shortly after we
had shipped the heavy sea, that I have mentioned, a shower
of rain had the effect of calming the severity of the hurri-
cane, and tended to diminish the electric tension of the
atmosphere.
Thanks to the kind care of M. Letourneur and Miss Her-
bey, I recovered consciousness, but I believe that it is to
Robert Curtis that I owe my real deliverance, for he it was
that prevented me from being carried away by a second
heavy wave.
The tempest, fierce as it was, did not last more than a few
hours; but even in that short space of time what an irrepar-
able loss we have sustained, and what a load of misery seems
stored up for us in the future!
Of the two sailors who perished in the storm, one was
Austin, a fine active young man of about eight-and-twenty;
the other was old O'Ready, the survivor of so many ship-
wrecks. Our party is thus reduced to sixteen souls, leav-
ing a total barely exceeding half the number of those who
embarked on board the Chancellor at Charleston.
Curtis's first care had been to take a strict account of
the remnant of our provisions. Of all the torrents of rain
that fell in the night we were unhappily unable to catch a
single drop; but water will not fail us yet, for about four-
teen gallons still remain in the bottom of the broken barrel,
while the second barrel has not been touched.
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