contrary, they ridiculed my dread of
death as cowardly, made haste to let my wife's corpse into the pit, and
lowered me down the next moment in an open coffin with a vessel full of
water and seven loaves.

"As I approached the bottom, I discovered by the aid of the little light
that came from above the nature of this subterranean place; it seemed an
endless cavern, and might be about fifty fathoms deep.

"Instead of losing my courage and calling death to my assistance in that
miserable condition, however, I felt still an inclination to live, and
to do all I could to prolong my days. I went groping about, for the
bread and water that was in my coffin, and took some of it. Though the
darkness of the cave was so great that I could not distinguish day and
night, yet I always found my coffin again, and the cave seemed to be
more spacious than it had appeared to be at first. I lived for some days
upon my bread and water, which being all spent, I at last prepared for
death.

"I was offering up my last devotions when I heard something tread, and
breathing or panting as it walked. I advanced toward that side from
whence I heard the noise, and on my approach the creature puffed and
blew harder, as if running away from me. I followed the noise, and the
thing seemed to stop sometimes, but always fled and blew as I
approached. I pursued it for a considerable time, till at last I
perceived a light, resembling a star; I went on, sometimes lost sight of
it, but always found it again, and at last discovered that it came
through a hole in the rock, large enough to admit a man.

"Upon this, I stopped some time to rest, being much fatigued with the
rapidity of my progress: afterward coming up to the hole, I got through,
and found myself upon the seashore. I leave you to guess the excess of
my joy: it was such that I could scarcely persuade myself that the whole
was not a dream.

"But when I was recovered from my surprise, and convinced of the reality
of my escape, I perceived what I had followed to be a creature which
came out of the sea, and was accustomed to enter the cavern when the
tides were high.

"I examined the mountain, and found it to be situated betwixt the sea
and the town, but without any passage to or communication with the
latter; the rocks on the sea side being high and perpendicularly steep.
I prostrated myself on the shore to thank God for this mercy, and
afterward entered the cave again to fetch bread and water,