Page:Adventures of Baron Wenceslas Wratislaw of Mitrowitz (1862).djvu/211

 fish, which had been caught in the sea, from the fishermen, and when they gave it us we received it with great gratitude, and asked them to cut it in pieces for us. When they had done as we wished, we were off with several pieces immediately to the pot, boiled some, baked the rest, and breakfasted off it with remarkably good appetites, though afterwards we paid for it bitterly. For we ate this fish’s fat, and drank water after it, till our stomachs and bellies swelled, so that for many weeks we did not rise from our places. I, and some of the rest, feeling sure that it must be some poison, were affected with violent sickness and diarrhœa, which lasted several days, and thence arose a dysentery, which weakened us so much that some of us could not move from the place where we were, but were obliged to lie in our own filth. The Turks laughed at us loudly, having put the fish in our way on purpose. When, after this sickness, dysentery, unbounded stench, and such a foul vapour arose that the guards themselves could not endure it, we informed our aga that we were all seriously ill, and that death awaited us. He came amongst us, and, seeing us in this condition, vehemently reproached the Turks, and threatened to punish them for poisoning us. He also asked our doctor what kind of medicine we ought to use. We begged for some garlic and a draught of brandy, and, clubbing together, induced the aga to allow us to buy a small cask of brandy. Then, eating the garlic and drinking the brandy, we immediately felt benefited, and some of us recovered, but others felt the effects as long as they remained in the prison. Our aga, seeing that we were better, was glad, and strictly forbad anything to be given us without his