 it were with the last expiring hope of my mind; and voluntarily
consented, thus maimed and forlorn, to encounter all the evils that were yet in
store for me.
    This is the latest event, which at present I think it necessary to record. I
shall doubtless hereafter have further occasion to take up the pen. Great and
unprecedented as my sufferings have been, I feel intimately persuaded that there
are worse sufferings that await me. What mysterious cause is it, that enables me
to write this, and not to perish under the horrible apprehension!
 

                                   Chapter XV

It is as I foreboded. The presage with which I was visited was prophetic. I am
now to record a new and terrible revolution of my fortune and my mind.
    Having made experiment of various situations with one uniform result, I at
length determined to remove myself, if possible, from the reach of my
persecutor, by going into voluntary banishment from my native soil. This was my
last resource for tranquillity, for honest fame, for those privileges to which
human life is indebted for the whole of its value. In some distant climate, said
I, surely I may find that security which is necessary to persevering pursuit;
surely I may lift my head erect, associate with men upon the footing of a man,
acquire connections, and preserve them! It is inconceivable, with what ardent
reachings of the soul I aspired to this termination.
    This last consolation was denied me by the inexorable Falkland.
    At the time the project was formed, I was at no great distance from the east
coast of the island, and I resolved to take ship at Harwich, and pass
immediately into Holland. I accordingly repaired to that place, and went almost
as soon as I arrived to the port. But there was no vessel perfectly ready to
sail. I left the port, and withdrew to an inn, where after some time I retired
to a chamber. I was scarcely there, before the door of the room was opened, and
the man, whose countenance was the most hateful to my eyes, Gines, entered the
apartment. He shut the door as soon as he entered.
    Youngster, said he, I have a little private intelligence to communicate to
you. I come as a friend, and that I may save you a labour-in-vain trouble. If
you consider what I have to say in that light, it will be the better for you. It
is my business now, do you see, for want of a better, to see that you do not
break out of bounds. Not that I much
