I felt myself
stunned, and imagining the bullet had entered my brain, discharged
mine as quick as possible, that I might not die unrevenged: then
flying upon my antagonist, knocked out several of his fore-teeth
with the butt-end of the piece, and would certainly have made an
end of him with that instrument, had he not disengaged himself,
and seized his cutlass, which he had given to his servant when he
received the pistol. Seeing him armed in this manner, I drew my
hanger, and, having flung my pistol at his head, closed with him
in a transport of fury, and thrust my weapon into his mouth, which
it enlarged on one side to his ear. Whether the smart of this wound
disconcerted him, or the unevenness of the ground made him reel, I
know not, but he staggered some paces back: I followed close, and
with one stroke cut the tendons of the back of his hand, Upon which
his cutlass dropped, and he remained defenceless. I know not with
what cruelty my rage might have inspired me, if I had not at that
instant been felled to the ground by a blow on the back part of
my head, which deprived me of all sensation. In this deplorable
situation, exposed to the rage of an incensed barbarian, and the
rapine of an inhuman crew, I remained for some time; and whether
any disputes arose among them during the state of my annihilation,
I cannot pretend to determine; but in one particular they seemed to
have been unanimous, and acted with equal dexterity and dispatch;
for when I recovered the use of my understanding, I found myself
alone in a desolate place, stripped of my clothes, money, watch,
buckles, and everything but my shoes, stockings, breeches and
shirt.
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