Nowadays, when my opinions are sufficiently well known for me not
to fear being accused of any other motive than sympathy with the
misfortunes of the woman, I do not hesitate, now we have reached this
period in our history, to make use of the notes which have remained at
my disposition. The reader will therefore have an official itinerary
and authentic facts put before him. Having concluded this digression,
we will return to our narrative.
Landing was very laborious. A strong fishing-boat appeared for several
nights at the Planier lighthouse, was signalled and recognised:
the sign to come nearer was given, and it came alongside the
_Carlo-Alberto._ But there was a heavy sea; the two boats, lifted one
after the other without harmony in their movements by the furious
waves, collided, fell apart, came nearer and knocked up against one
another; the moment had to be seized, when the two sides were nearly
on a level, to spring from one to the other at the risk of a dangerous
descent upon the wet and consequently slippery seats of the boat. At
last, the trans-shipment was accomplished. The princess crossed from
the steamer into the ship's boat with six persons from her suite, and a
pilot who had been in Madame's service for a long while, and who knew
all the points of the coast, as well as the different rallying signals
that might indicate that the shore was dangerous, or that they might
land in safety.
The boat which had come to meet the princess was a fishing-boat:
its sails were saturated with sea water, which never dries; the
water stood stagnant in the bottom; the tar with which the boat was
repaired exhaled a nauseous and disgusting odour; moreover, it was
without a bridge, without shelter from the cold and piercing sea
wind, and it allowed the crest of the waves which broke against
its sides to pour over in-board, sometimes in wet spray, at times
in a heavy rainfall. The princess and her companions were ill clad
for such a condition of things; added to this, they were overtaken
by that intolerable indisposition called _sea sickness._ Imagine a
dark, cold, gloomy night, and you will have an idea of the hour which
passed after leaving the steamer for the fishing-smack. At last they
thought they had reached the landing-place, when, on approaching the
land, they perceived a light on the shore. As they came nearer, it
increased in size and became decipherable: what they had at first
taken for the pre-concerted signal transformed itself into a blazing
fire, and, by the aid of a night-glass, they could distinguish eight
to ten coastguardsmen warming themselves by the fire. They had to
take themselves off hastily to a distance; and yet it was imperative
they should land before daybreak. Unluckily, the point whereat the
coastguardsmen had established themselves was the only one where it was
possible to land; almost everywhere else the coast was inaccessible.
They risked themselves among the rocks, and succeeded in grounding by a
miracle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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