Women
lay on the sand, dead drunk, beside the booty they had collected, while
unable to stir, it was snatched from their powerless grasp by others
stronger or more sober than themselves. Several pitched battles were also
taking place, both amongst boys and men, which generally terminated by
each of the combatants falling prostrate martyrs to Bacchus. The infection
was universal, and even the three "mounseers," the surviving crew of the
Bonne Esperance, could not resist an occasional sly pull at the liquor.
These men, though they had only just escaped sudden death, seemed not to
be cast down; but with their characteristic agility, one minute assisted
to roll the casks into carts, and then ran off perhaps to whisper a
compliment to some pretty girl, shrugging up their shoulders at the
unceremonious repulse they met with from _mademoiselle_.
But this scene was not to last long: for the tide had been imperceptibly
making way and closing. I had always observed that after coming to a
certain place, its velocity was greatly accelerated, and it was with
feelings of alarm that I saw the danger which the almost unconscious
people incurred.
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