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William Henry Giles Kingston
Twice Lost
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4064066162580
Table of Contents
Chapter Two.
Rounding Cape Horn—A gale—Put into a port in Patagonia—Visit a whaler—A romantic history—The lost child—A young lady—A snug harbour—Climb a mountain—A narrow escape—Valparaiso—The coral island—Communicate with the natives—An addition to our crew—Dicky Popo lost overboard—The Sandwich Islands—My shipmates—Survey an island—Recover Popo, and find a white boy—How Popo was saved—Gain information about Harry, the white boy.
Little did I think, scarcely six months before, when seated at a desk in my father’s counting-house, that I should ever see Cape Horn; yet there it rose on our starboard beam, dark, solitary, and majestic, high above the ocean, which rolled in vast undulations at its base.
Onward we glided, with the ship’s head to the westward and the wind aft, under all sail; now rising to the summit of a glass-like billow, now sinking deep down into the valley to climb up the watery steep on the opposite side. We had touched at Rio, to obtain a supply of wood and water and fresh provisions; but I need not give a description of that magnificent harbour, as nothing very particular occurred there.
“That’s a fine sight!” I exclaimed, as I watched the mighty headland, which gradually faded from view over our starboard quarter.
“You’ll see a good many other fine sights,” observed Peter Mudge, who was somewhat matter-of-fact. “For my part, I have been glad to see the last of it each time I have come round this way, and to get safe into the Pacific; for twice I have been driven back, and have been kept knocking about among the icebergs, with the wind sharp enough to cut our noses off, for six blessed weeks or more. I only hope that is not to be our lot this time.”
“I hope not,” I answered. “I was expecting to be in smooth water, with a sunny sky overhead, before many days are over.”
“So we may, youngster; then we’ll hope for the best,” said Mudge. “Still, when a fellow has met with as many ups and downs as I have, he learns not to fancy himself safe in harbour till he has got there.”
This time, however, Mudge, and we his shipmates, were not doomed to disappointment, and were, ere long, floating on the waters of the Pacific. We ran to the northward with a flowing sheet, keeping much closer in with the coast than, I believe, is usual, till we reached the 46th degree of south latitude. It then fell a dead calm. We had just before caught sight of a sail away to the eastward, beyond which, some forty or fifty miles off, rose the lofty peaks of the Cordilleras, covered with eternal snows; or I should say, perhaps, the southern end of that mighty chain which rises abruptly from the Isthmus of Panama, and extends the whole length of the continent.
For the entire day we lay rolling our masts from side to side, till it almost seemed as if they would be shaken out of the ship. The commander wished to speak the stranger, on the chance of her being lately from England, and able to give us fresher intelligence than we possessed. He had ordered a boat to be got ready to be sent away, when, on looking at the barometer, he found that it was falling, while a bank of clouds was seen to be rising to the north-west.
“Hold fast with the boat,” he said; “before she can return, we may have a gale down upon us.”
We had not long to wait for it; and in half an hour or so we were dashing through the water under close-reefed topsails, heeling over with the wind from the north-west till the water came rushing in through the lee ports. The master, who had been on the coast before, recommended that, in order not to lose ground, we should run for the Gulf of Penas; where we could find shelter under the lee of an island, or get into one of the snug ports of the mainland. The ship’s head was accordingly kept to the eastward. The sail we had seen was also standing in the same direction, probably with the same object in view. We guessed, therefore, that she was also bound to the northward, and wished to avoid being driven back. Mudge expressed his satisfaction that we had not stood away on the other tack.
“If we had, we should have run a chance of being blown back again round the Cape into the Atlantic,” he observed. “Not every captain, however, would venture to stand in for the land as we are doing; we must keep our eyes open and the lead going, or we may chance to run the ship on shore. But as yonder vessel probably knows her way, we shall have her as a guide, and may hope to find shelter without difficulty.”
We quickly overhauled the stranger, which proved to be a barque; and from her appearance, as we caught sight of her hull, there was no doubt that she was a South Sea whaler, and that, consequently, she was likely to be well acquainted with the coast. As we stood on, we caught sight of an extensive chain of islands, stretching out from the mainland on our larboard bow. Gradually they appeared more and more abeam, while ahead rose up several lofty and rugged peaks. The stranger still kept the lead; and following her, we at length found ourselves in an extensive bay, completely sheltered from the gale blowing without. Being now in perfectly smooth water, and the commander considering it not prudent to run farther in, we furled sails, and brought up some distance ahead of the whaler, which had just before come to an anchor.
The spot where we found ourselves was about the wildest I had ever seen: dark rocks rose out of the sea fringing the shore, and rugged mountains towered up to the sky in all directions; while not a sign of human life was visible. As we swept the coast with our glasses, we discovered, almost abreast of the ship, a deep indentation which looked like the mouth of a gulf or estuary. This we naturally felt anxious to explore, and we hoped to have leave to do so the next day.
Soon after we had furled sails, the commander directed Peter Mudge to take the jolly-boat and board the whaler, with a message to the master requesting any newspapers of a late date which he might possess. “Yes, you may go, Rayner,” he said to me. “And, Mr. Mudge, take him a leg of mutton my steward will put into the boat, and some oranges we brought from Rio.” We had killed a sheep the previous day.
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