lmost repented what I had done. It was I who had brought
about this last terrible contingency, and my own life was now to be the
forfeit. Yes; I had acted imprudently, rashly, and I will not deny that
at that moment I came near repenting of what I had done.

It was not a time for reflection. The crisis had arrived. We must all
yield up life. The sea would soon receive us within its ample embrace.
Masters and slaves, tyrants and their victims, must all perish together!

Such were the thoughts that were rushing through my brain, as I saw the
black swimmers approach. I no longer felt sympathy or pity for them.
On the contrary, I viewed them as enemies--as dreaded monsters who were
about to destroy and devour us--to engulph us all in one common
destruction, and among the rest myself--their late benefactor. Really,
at that moment, in the confusion of my thoughts, I was regarding these
unfortunate creatures as though they were voluntary agents--as though
they were actuated by gratuitous cruelty and revenge, and not victims of
despair struggling for the preservation of their own lives.

My senses had become confused; my reasoning faculties had forsaken me;
and, in common with those around me, I regarded the pursuers as enemies!

Under this impression--false though it may have been--I was the less
disposed to sympathise with them, when I saw the first who came near the
raft beaten back by the oars and handspikes of the sailors; for to this
it had now come.

It was a cruel scene that followed. I took no part in it. Though ever
so desirous that my life should be saved, I could never have gone to
such extremes to preserve it. I was but a looker-on.

I saw the foremost swimmers struck upon the head, or pushed away by
violent "jabbing" from the oars and handspikes. I saw some disappear
below the surface, as if they had gone to the bottom under the blow,
while others, not injured, swam off, and then circled round as if to get
ahead of us.

Though the fierce, angry shouts, and the still fiercer actions of the
white men intimidated the foremost swimmers, these demonstrations did
not drive them away. They only kept out of reach of the oars and
handspikes, but still followed on. Indeed, they no longer followed; for
the raft was no longer in motion; the rowers had enough to do without
propelling it further, and it had now come to a stand still!

CHAPTER SIXTY ONE.

It soon became evident that the foremost swimmer