A boat was at hand, in which he escaped to the
opposite bank of the river.
"And now a new object took possession of my soul. I spoke a few
hurried but energetic words to my companions, and, having succeeded in
gaining over a few of them to my purpose made a frantic sally from the
kiosk. We rushed amid the crowd that surrounded it. They retreated, at
first, before us. They rallied, fought madly, and retreated again.
In the mean time we were borne far from the kiosk, and became
bewildered and entangled among the narrow streets of tall, overhanging
houses, into the recesses of which the sun had never been able to
shine. The rabble pressed impetuously upon us, harrassing us with
their spears, and overwhelming us with flights of arrows. These latter
were very remarkable, and resembled in some respects the writhing
creese of the Malay. They were made to imitate the body of a
creeping serpent, and were long and black, with a poisoned barb. One
of them struck me upon the right temple. I reeled and fell. An
instantaneous and dreadful sickness seized me. I struggled- I
gasped- I died."
"You will hardly persist now," said I smiling, "that the whole of
your adventure was not a dream. You are not prepared to maintain
that you are dead?"
When I said these words, I of course expected some lively sally from
Bedloe in reply, but, to my astonishment, he hesitated, trembled,
became fearfully pallid, and remained silent.
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