Damian at once informed me of the imperative wishes of his boat’s crew.  M. Berthemie agreed with me to suffer some abuse such as could only be tolerated by a servant threatened by his master; all the suspicions disappeared.

Damian, who feared also for himself the arrival of Majorcan fishermen, hastened to set sail on the 29th of July, 1808, the first moment that was favourable, and we arrived at Algiers on the 3d of August.

Our looks were anxiously directed towards the port, to guess what reception might await us.  We were reassured by the sight of the tri-coloured flag, which was flying on two or three buildings.  But we were mistaken; these buildings were Dutch.  Immediately upon our entrance, a Spaniard, whom, from his tone of authority, we took for a high functionary of the Regency, came up to Damian, and asked him:  “What do you bring?” “I bring,” answered the commander, “four Frenchmen.”  “You will at once take them back again.  I prohibit you from disembarking.”  As we did not seem inclined to obey his order, our Spaniard, who was the constructing engineer of the ships of the Dey, armed himself with a pole, and commenced battering us with blows.  But immediately a Genoese seaman, mounted on a neighbouring vessel, armed himself with an oar, and struck our assailant both with edge and point.  During this animated combat we managed to land without any opposition.  We had conceived a singular idea of the manner in which the police act on the coast of Africa.

We pursued our way to the French Consul’s, M. Dubois Thainville.  He was at his country house.  Escorted by the janissary of the consulate, we went off towards this country house, one of the ancient residences of the Dey, situated not far from the gate of Bab-azoum.  The consul and his family received us with great amity, and offered us hospitality.

Suddenly transported to a new continent, I looked forward anxiously to the rising of the sun to enjoy all that Africa might offer of interest to a European, when all at once I believed myself to be engaged in a serious adventure.  By the faint light of the dawn, I saw an animal moving at the foot of my bed.  I gave a kick with my foot:  all movement ceased.  After some time, I felt the same movement made under my legs.  A sharp jerk made this cease quickly.  I then heard the fits of laughter of the janissary, who lay on the couch in the same room as I did; and I soon saw that he had simply placed on my bed a large hedgehog to amuse himself by my uneasiness.

The consul occupied himself the next day in procuring a passage for us on board a vessel of the Regency which was going to Marseilles.  M. Ferrier, the Chancellor of the French Consulate, was at the same time Consul for Austria.  He procured for us two false passports, which transformed us—­M.  Berthemie and me—­into two strolling merchants, the one from Schwekat, in Hungary, the other from Leoben.