Page:Adventures of Baron Wenceslas Wratislaw of Mitrowitz (1862).djvu/173

 of their sticks. When I saw the hooks on the gallows, and two executioners upon it holding the pullies, I immediately lost my self-command, swooned, and became entirely unconscious. Nor did we expect aught else than that they would hang us all up, since that was exactly the course of proceeding which they observed with others at their execution.

My comrades related to me afterwards (for, as aforesaid, I had lost the power of thought and recollection, as well as sensation) that, when they brought us under the gallows, two more executioners climbed up, and meanwhile a judge addressed us to the following effect, telling us that we saw a terrible death before our eyes, and, therefore, for the great compassion which he felt for us, promised, by the head of the Sultan, his lord, that our lives should be granted us if we would but turn Mahometans. But, by the grace of God, none of us did this, but we were all ready to lose our lives in preference; although, on the other hand, we were so overwhelmed by fear of death that none of us knew whether he was alive or dead.

After remaining still about a quarter of an hour, the sub-pasha gave orders to conduct us to the sea, which was close at hand. The vulgar, therefore, as they had not hung us on the hooks, had no other expectation but that they would drown us in the sea. Every living soul, therefore, ran down to the sea, and took their seats in boats and barges, for greater convenience in looking on. When they brought us to the shore, they thrust us almost head-over-heels into a boat, in which camels and mules, with all manner of mercantile burdens, are ferried over from Europe to Asia, cursing at us, meanwhile,