ght the news
of my death.

"The people of the inn came up and found I had been struck by four balls
and several slugs, but none of the wounds in any vital part. Calling for
a confessor, I received all the sacraments as became a Catholic
Christian; but I gradually recovered, though it was two months before I
was able to continue my journey. I then proceeded to Genoa, but found no
other means of passage than two feluccas, which were hired by myself and
two Spanish gentlemen. One of them we employed to go before and pilot
the way, and in the other we ourselves embarked. In this way we pursued
our voyage, closely hugging the shore; but when we came to a spot on the
coast of France, called the Three Marias, two Turkish galleys suddenly
came out upon us from a creek, and one keeping to seaward of us, the
other more in shore, they cut off our escape to the land and captured
us. The corsairs stripped us to the skin, plundered the feluccas, and
having completely emptied them, let them drift ashore, instead of
sinking them, saying that they might serve to bring them more pickings
another time.

"You may well believe how bitterly I felt my captivity, and above all,
the loss of the certificates from Rome, which I carried in a tin case,
with the bill for the sixteen hundred ducats; but, by good fortune, they
fell into the hands of a Christian slave, a Spaniard, who kept them, for
if the Turks had got hold of them, they would have required for my
ransom at least the amount of the bill. They carried us to Algiers,
where I found that the fathers of the Most Holy Trinity were redeeming
Christian slaves. I spoke to them, told them who I was, and they, moved
by charity, ransomed me, though I was a foreigner. The price set upon me
was three hundred ducats; they paid down one hundred on the spot, and
engaged to pay the remaining two hundred as soon as the ship should
return with the contributions for the release of the Redemptorist father
who remained in Algiers in pledge for four thousand ducats, which he had
spent over and above the amount he had brought in hand; for so extreme
is the charity of these compassionate fathers, that they give their
liberty for another's, and remain in captivity that others may go free.
In addition to the happiness of obtaining my liberty, I recovered the
case with the certificates and the bill. I showed its contents to the
good father, and promised him five hundred ducats, in addition to the
amount of my ra