"When I came to I was lying on a flat ledge or platform of rock with the hot sun streaming down on me.  The gale had now abated, but there were plenty of signs of its results.  Numbers of bales and barrels, that had formed our cargo, were being collected on the platform by a number of villainous-looking, half-naked men.  A slight tingling pain in my hand made me look down, and I saw that one of my fingers had been cut off, so that one of the wretches could steal a paltry silver ring I was wearing.