The whole weight of his body struck me on the right shoulder, and I fell violently to the left, while the enraged animal passed entirely over me.

I had fallen upon my knees, with my head buried among the blankets, and these protected me from a second furious assault, during which I felt the sharp teeth pressing vigorously upon the woollen which enveloped my neck--yet, luckily, without being able to penetrate all the folds.

I was now beneath the dog, and a few moments would place me completely in his power.

Despair gave me strength, and I rose boldly up, shaking him from me by main force, and dragging with me the blankets from the mattress.
These I now threw over him, and before he could extricate himself, I had got through the door and closed it effectually against his pursuit.
In this struggle, however, I had been forced to drop the morsel of ham-skin, and I now found my whole stock of provisions reduced to a single gill of liqueur.

As this reflection crossed my mind, I felt myself actuated by one of those fits of perverseness which might be supposed to influence a spoiled child in similar circumstances, and, raising the bottle to my lips, I drained it to the last drop, and dashed it furiously upon the floor.
Scarcely had the echo of the crash died away, when I heard my name pronounced in an eager but subdued voice, issuing from the direction of the steerage.