THOMAS COMES TO SHORE
For an hour or more I stood thus craning my neck upwards to seek for the priest. At length when I was about to sink back into the hold, for I could stand no longer in that cramped posture, I saw a woman’s dress pass by the hole in the deck, and knew it for one that was worn by a lady who had escaped with me in the boat.
“Señora,” I whispered, “for the love of God listen to me. It is I, d’Aila, who am chained down here among the slaves.”
She started, then as the priest had done, she sat herself down upon the deck, and I told her of my dreadful plight, not knowing that she was acquainted with it, and of the horrors below.
“Alas! señor,” she answered, “they can be little worse than those above. A dreadful sickness is raging among the crew, six are already dead and ma
