Page:The Count of Monte-Cristo (1887 Volume 2).djvu/43

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THE COUNT OF MONTE-CRISTO.
23

the more so, that the ship seemed to say, Get along, save yourselves; and we felt the poor Pharaon sinking under our feet. We soon launched the boat, and all eight of us got into it. The captain descended the last, or rather, he did not descend; he would not quit the vessel; so I

took him round the waist, and threw him into the boat, and then I jumped after him. It was time, for just as I jumped, the deck burst with a noise like the broadside of a man-of-war. Ten minutes after, she pitched forward, then the other way, spun round and round, like a dog after its own tail, and then good-bye to the Pharaon. As for us, we were three days without anything to eat or drink, so that we began to think of drawing lots who should feed the rest, when we saw La Gironde.