in, my father
supplicated M. Laperere, the officer of the boat, to receive him on
board, and had his arms already out to catch him, when M. Laperere
instantly let go the rope which attached us to the other boats, and
tugged off with all his force. At the same instant every boat imitated
our execrable example; and wishing to shun the approach of the
shallop, which sought for assistance, stood off from the raft,
abandoning, in the midst of the ocean, and to the fury of the waves,
the miserable mortals whom they had sworn to land on the shores of the
Desert.

Scarcely had these cowards broken their oath, when we saw the French
flag flying upon the raft. The confidence of those unfortunate persons
was so great, that when they saw the first boat which had the tow
removing from them, they all cried out the rope is broken! the rope is
broken! but when no attention was paid to their observation, they
instantly perceived the treachery of the wretches who had left them so
basely.--Then the cries of Vive le Roi arose from the raft, as if the
poor fellows were calling to their father for assistance; or, as if
they had been persuaded that, at that rallying word, the officers of
the boats would return, and not abandon their countrymen. The officers
repeated the cry of Vive le Roi, without a doubt, to insult them; but,
more particularly, M. Lachaumareys who, assuming a martial attitude,
waved his hat in the air. Alas! what availed these false professions?
Frenchmen, menaced with the greatest peril, were demanding assistance
with the cries of Vive le Roi; yet none were found sufficiently
generous nor sufficiently French, to go to aid them. After a silence
of some minutes, horrible cries were heard; the air resounded with the
groans, the lamentations, the imprecations of these wretched beings,
and the echo of the sea frequently repeated, alas! how cruel you are
to abandon us!!! The raft already appeared to be buried under the
waves, and its unfortunate passengers immersed. The fatal machine was
drifted by currents far behind the wreck of the frigate; without
cable, anchor, mast, sail or oars; in a word, without the smallest
means of enabling them to save themselves. Each wave that struck it,
made them stumble in heaps on one another.--Their feet getting
entangled among the cordage, and between the planks, bereaved them of
the faculty of moving. Maddened by these misfortunes, suspended, and
adrift upon a merciless ocean, they were soon