I wrote down several formulae at his dictation, only promising to divulge nothing before his death.

The old man evidently considered himself perjured, for after his revelations he came no more to see me.
Some days had passed after our last interview, and I thought no more of him.

All at once I lost my appetite and fell sick.

I could eat nothing without experiencing a nausea, followed immediately by continual vomiting.
Two missionaries and my French servant, who partook of my food, exhibited almost the same symptoms.

Not suspecting the true cause of these ailments, I attributed them to climate and the locality, and especially to the pestilent winds which had brought an epidemic ophthalmia among the natives.