ved my salvation. They descended upon the serpents like bolts from
above, carrying them off in their talons to the mountain tops, there to
be devoured at their leisure. The dark valley became alive with
flapping white wings and squirming serpents, in the midst of which
pandemonium I mercifully lost consciousness.

When I came to myself Hartog was beside me. It was pitch dark, but he
carried a ship's lantern in his hand.

CHAPTER XLIII

WE AGAIN LEAVE NEW HOLLAND

"Courage, comrade," said Hartog, who held a flask of spirits to my
lips, and at the sound of his familiar voice life returned to me. I was
so weak, however, and the shock to my nervous system had been so great,
that I could not speak. I pressed his hand to let him know how thankful
I was that he had come himself to my assistance. None, I firmly
believe, but Hartog could have saved me at that moment from madness or
death. With the tenderness of his great heart, which could be gentle as
a woman's upon occasions, he lifted me in his arms, and bore me to the
cradle at the end of the rope by which he had descended. I was soon
drawn to the top of the cliff, where my companions awaited me, and
presently Hartog himself joined us. We did not fear the pygmies and
giants at night-time, for the dread of evil spirits in the dark is
universal among the aborigines of New Holland, making it unlikely they
would attack us, but it was a melancholy procession which made its way
through the woods to the beach where our boats lay, with me carried on
a stretcher by willing hands, since I was incapable of making any
exertion.

Next day, after a night of delirium, during which I raved, so Hartog
told me, of eagles and serpents, I awoke refreshed, though still very
weak. I could not bear to be left alone, not even for a moment, and
Hartog nursed me with a tenderness that my mother would have given me
had she been at my bedside. At length I pulled through, and was able to
come on deck; but it was a shadow of my former self who crept up the
companion ladder to where a couch had been prepared for me. As I lay
thus, recovering my strength in the sun, I was able to give Hartog some
account of my adventure. At first, when I spoke of rubies, he evidently
regarded what I said as a flight of fancy inseparable from the dreadful
ordeal through which I had passed. But when I insisted that I had told
him nothing but truth, he brought me the clothes I had worn on my
descent into the valle