entirely, setup her main-mast, hoisted her sails, and followed the rest of
the division. Some men in this boat, seeing that the others deserted us,
threatened to fire upon them, but were stopped by Lieutenant Espiau. Many
persons have assured us that it was the intention of this officer to come
and take the tow-rope; but his crew opposed it; had he done so, he would
certainly have acted with great imprudence. His efforts would have been of
little use to us, and his devotedness would but have increased the number
of victims.[B6] As soon as this boat was gone, we had no doubt but that we
were abandoned; yet we were not fully convinced of it till the boats had
disappeared.

It was now that we had need of all our courage, which, however, forsook us
more than once: we really believed that we were sacrificed, and with one
accord, we cried that this desertion was premeditated. We all swore to
revenge ourselves if we had the good fortune to reach the shore, and there
is no doubt but that, if we could have overtaken, the next day, those who
had fled in the boats, an obstinate combat would have taken place between,
them and us.

It was then that some persons who had been marked out for the boats, deeply
regretted that they had preferred the raft, because duty and honor had
pointed out this post to them. We could mention some persons: for example,
Mr. Correard, among others, was to go in one of the boats; but twelve of
the workmen, whom we commanded, had been set down for the raft; he thought
that in his quality of commander of engineers, it was his duty not to
separate from the majority of those who had been confided to him, and who
had promised to follow him wherever the exigencies of the service might
require; from that moment his fate became inseparable from theirs, and he
exerted himself to the utmost to obtain the governor's permission to have
his men embarked in the same boat as himself; but seeing that he could