darkness has fairly fallen.

After the captain left me I looked around and saw that no one else was
nigh upon the deck. I took my calabash gourds and entered the boat that
hung from the davits astern. Taking a hint from Captain Leach, I had
secured a coil of line by which I might lower myself into the water,
for if I had dropped with a splash I would have been pretty sure to have
been discovered. Having removed my shoes and stockings, which I wrapped
in a piece of tarpaulin, together with my tinder-box and flint and
steel, all of which I secured upon my head, and having slipped the cords
which bound the calabashes under my arms, I slid down the line into the
water astern.

Having committed my life into the keeping of Providence, I struck out
boldly for the shore, being aided by a current which set towards it, and
directing my course by the lights which glimmered faintly in the
distance. So I reached the beach, and built a fire, whereby I dried my
clothes. Then, having put on my shoes and stockings, which had been kept
pretty dry by the tarpaulin, I walked up the beach in the direction of
the scattered row of houses which, the moon having now risen, stood out
very plain at about a quarter of a mile distant. I found the town to
consist of a great straggling collection of low one-story buildings,
mostly made of woven palm-branches, smeared over with mud which had
dried in the sun. At this time it could not have been much less than
nine o'clock, and all was dark and silent. I went aimlessly here and
there, not knowing whither to direct my steps, until at last I caught
sight of a little twinkle of light, which I perceived came through a
crack of an ill-hung shutter. I went around to the front of the hut,
which seemed larger and better made than others I had seen. Above the
door hung an ill-made sign, and the moon shining full upon it, I could
plainly see a rude picture of a heart with a crown above it, and
underneath, written in great sprawling letters,--

"Le Coeur du Roy."

--From this I knew that it was an ordinary, at which I was greatly
rejoiced, and also what suited me very well was to find that it was
French, for I had no mind to fall in with English people just then, and
I knew enough of French to feel pretty easy with the lingo. So into the
place I stepped, as bold as brass, and ordered a glass of grog and
something to eat.

There were perhaps half a score of rough, ill-looking fellows gath