Entry 9: August 20, 1830 Summary

Rutherford begins the passage by noting that his life could very well have ended when he slipped under water that night. However he had become so frail and weakened from bloodletting, that he found himself more buoyant than most and managed to stay afloat, floundering in the water until he was rescued. Someone's arms fished him up out of the water and someone's hand grabbed him by the hair and pulled him over deck railings. Rutherford has been rescued, along with Squibb and three children. A group of people gathers around them and asks what kind of fish they are; their conditions were so terrible that they are barely recognizable as human. Rutherford is so glad to be rescued that he does not release the ship's captain from his thankful embrace for half an hour. Rutherford soon learns the name of...