ile, I fought an uphill battle to shield him
from the swarms of ants and the clouds of mosquitoes: the prisoner of my
crime. The night fell, the roar of insects instantly redoubled in the
dark arcades of the swamp; and still I was not sure that he had breathed
his last. At length, the flesh of his hand, which I yet held in mine,
grew chill between my fingers, and I knew that I was free.

I took his pocket-book and the revolver, being resolved rather to die
than to be captured, and, laden besides with the basket and the bag of
gems, set forward towards the north. The swamp, at that hour of the
night, was filled with a continuous din: animals and insects of all
kinds and all inimical to life, contributing their parts. Yet in the
midst of this turmoil of sound, I walked as though my eyes were
bandaged, beholding nothing. The soil sank under my foot, with a horrid,
slippery consistence, as though I were walking among toads; the touch of
the thick wall of foliage, by which alone I guided myself, affrighted me
like the touch of serpents; the darkness checked my breathing like a
gag; indeed, I have never suffered such extremes of fear as during that
nocturnal walk, nor have I ever known a more sensible relief than when I
found the path beginning to mount and to grow firmer under foot, and
saw, although still some way in front of me, the silver brightness of
the moon.

Presently I had crossed the last of the jungle, and come forth amongst
noble and lofty woods, clean rock, the clean, dry dust, the aromatic
smell of mountain plants that had been baked all day in sunlight, and
the expressive silence of the night. My negro blood had carried me
unhurt across that reeking and pestiferous morass; by mere good fortune,
I had escaped the crawling and stinging vermin with which it was alive;
and I had now before me the easier portion of my enterprise, to cross
the isle and to make good my arrival at the haven and my acceptance on
the English yacht. It was impossible by night to follow such a track as
my father had described; and I was casting about for any landmark and,
in my ignorance, vainly consulting the disposition of the stars, when
there fell upon my ear, from somewhere far in front, the sound of many
voices hurriedly singing.

I scarce knew upon what grounds I acted; but I shaped my steps in the
direction of that sound; and in a quarter of an hour's walking, came
unperceived to the margin of an open glade. It was lighted by th