"Having thus performed, as well as we were permitted to do it, the
last duty to the dead, and the guards having stationed themselves on
each side of us, we began reluctantly to retrace our steps to the
boat. We had enjoyed the pleasure of breathing for a few minutes the
air of our native soil; and the thought of return to the crowded
prison-ship was terrible in the extreme. As we passed by the waterside
we implored our guards to allow us to bathe, or even to wash ourselves
for a few minutes, but this was refused us.
"I was the only person of our party who wore a pair of shoes, and well
recollect that I took them off for the pleasure of feeling the earth,
or rather the sand, as we went along. * * * We went by a small patch
of turf, some pieces of which we tore up from the earth, and obtained
permission to carry them on board for our comrades to smell
them. Circumstances like these may appear trifling to the careless
reader; but let him be assured that they were far from being trifles
to men situated as we had been. The inflictions which we had endured;
the duty which we had just performed; the feeling that we must, in a
few minutes, re-enter the place of suffering, from which, in all
probability, we should never return alive; all tended to render
everything connected with the firm land beneath, and the sweet air
above us, objects of deep and thrilling interest.
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