Part 3 (1/2)

In the same expedition went the _Nictheroy_, the shi+p purchased by the United States govern the Spanish war and renamed the _Buffalo_ The _Destroyer_ was in many ways the better shi+p of the two, but the Brazilians in their curious war sank her thees due reat deal But noithin two years the whirligig of tih it was the legal government which had eation tothese visits to Brazil I had made the acquaintance of Dr

Perera, owner and editor of ”El Commercio Jornal,” and soon after the _Spray_ was safely moored in Upper Topsail Reach, the doctor, who is a very enthusiastic yachtsman, came to pay oon to his country residence The approach to his uarded by his arian pram, and a Cape Ann dory, the last of which he obtained froood Brazilian fare, that I e; but he found that even on the best I fattened slowly

Fruits and vegetables and all other provisions necessary for the voyage having been taken in, on the 23d of October I unmoored andMello faction in the person of the collector of custoe dues when she cleared, notwithstanding that she sailed with a yacht license and should have been exees Our consul reminded the collector of this and of the fact--without ht the _Destroyer_ to Brazil ”Oh, yes,” said the bland collector; ”we remember it very well,” for it was now in a srin, adifficulty, offered to freight the _Spray_ with a cargo of gunpowder for Bahia, which would have put me in funds; and when the insurance coo shi+pped on a vessel manned by a crew of only one, he offered to shi+p it without insurance, taking all the risk hireater compliment than I deserved The reason why I did not accept the business was that in so doing I found that I should vitiate my yacht license and run into ht would amount to Instead of all this, another oldthe cash direct

While at Pernambuco I shortened the boom, which had been broken when off the coast of Morocco, by re the broken piece, which took about four feet off the inboard end; I also refitted the jaws On October 24,1895, a fine day even as days go in Brazil, the _Spray_ sailed, having had abundant good cheer Making about one hundredthe coast, I arrived at Rio de Janeiro Nove, and about noon cast anchor near Villaganon, to await the official port visit On the following day I bestirred hest lord of the ad the h official I met said: ”Captain, so far as we are concerned, you may have the shi+p, and if you care to accept her ill send an officer to show you where she is” I kneell enough where she was at thatawash in Bahia, it was more than likely that she rested on the bottom there

I thanked the kind officer, but declined his offer

The _Spray_, with a number of old shi+pmasters on board, sailed about the harbor of Rio the day before she put to sea As I had decided to give the _Spray_ a yawl rig for the teonia, I here placed on the stern a seer , and each one contributed so to her outfit Captain Jones, who had acted as ave her an anchor, and one of the steaed Jones's anchor once on the voyage, and the cable not only stood the strain on a lee shore, but when towed off Cape Horn helped break co seas astern that threatened to board her

CHAPTER VI

Departure frouay--A narrow escape from shi+pwreck--The boy who found a sloop--The _Spray_ floated but soed--Courtesies fro at Montevideo--An excursion to Buenos Aires--Shortening the mast and bowsprit

On November 28 the _Spray_ sailed froale of wind, which tore up things generally along the coast, doing considerable da It ell for her, perhaps, that she was clear of the land Coasting along on this part of the voyage, I observed that while some of the small vessels I fell in ere able to outsail the _Spray_ by day, they fell astern of her by night To the _Spray_ day and night were the same; to the others clearly there was a difference On one of the very fine days experienced after leaving Rio, the steaave the longitude by chronorees W, ”as near as I can make it,” the captain said The _Spray_, with her tin clock, had exactly the sa at ease in ation, but it startled me not a little to find my position by account verified by the shi+p's chronoht, and for several days the two vessels sailed along the coast together Right here a current was experienced setting north,the shore, hich the _Spray_ becaed the shore entirely too close In a word, at daybreak on theof December 11 the _Spray_ ran hard and fast on the beach This was annoying; but I soon found that the sloop was in no great danger The false appearance of the sand-hills under a bright moon had deceived me, and I lamented now that I had trusted to appearances at all The sea, though moderately smooth, still carried a shich broke with soed to launch e-anchor and warp; but it was too late to kedge the sloop off, for the tide was falling and she had already sewed a foot Then I went about ”laying out” the larger anchor, which was no easy matter, for my only life-boat, the frail dory, when the anchor and cable were in it, areat for her Then I cut the cable and made two loads of it instead of one The anchor, with forty fathoetting through the surf; butfast, and by the tih to drop the anchor she was full to the gunwale and sinking

There was not a moht be lost I sprang fro the anchor aboveover

I grasped her gunwale and held on as she turned bottom up, for I suddenly reht her, but with too erness, for she rolled clean over, and left unwale, whilea h the as blowingwould have to be done Three tiht the dory, and I was just saying, ”Now I lay me,” when I was seized by a determination to try yet once more, so that no one of the prophets of evil I had left behind er may have been, much or little, I can truly say that the moment was the most serene of my life

[Illustration: ”I suddenly re the dory for the fourth ti her upright while I hauled myself into her and with one of the oars, which I had recovered, paddled to the shore, somewhat the worse for wear and pretty full of salt water The position of et her afloat again was all I thought of or cared for I had little difficulty in carrying the second part ofit to the first, which I had taken the precaution to buoy before I put it into the boat To bring the end back to the sloop was a smaller matter still, and I believe I chuckled above enius had faithfully stood by me The cable reached from the anchor in deep water to the sloop's windlass by just enough to secure a turn and no ht distance fro tide was all I could do

I had already done enough work to tire a stouter lad to throw myself on the sand above the tide and rest; for the sun was already up, and pouring a generous warmth over the land While my state could have been worse, I was on the wild coast of a foreign country, and not entirely secure inon the shore when I heard the patter, patter of a horse's feet approaching along the hard beach, which ceased as it cae where I lay sheltered fro probably the most astonished boy on the whole coast He had found a sloop! ”It ht, ”for ah, there it was all high and dry and painted white He trotted his horse around it, and finding no owner, hitched the nag to the sloop's bobstay and hauled as though he would take her home; but of course she was too heavy for one horse to move With my skiff, however, it was different; this he hauled sorass He hadhis bigger prize away, anyhow, and was starting off for the settlement a mile or so away for the reinforcement when I discovered myself to him, at which he seemed displeased and disappointed ”Buenos dias, runted a reply, and eyedinto a volley of questions,--more than six Yankees could ask,--he wanted to know, first, whereThen he asked what I was doing here ashore so early in the”Your questions are easily answered,” I replied; ”my shi+p is from the moon, it has taken her a o of boys” But the intiht have cost me dearly; for while I spoke this child of the ca hi of towing me home by the neck, astern of his wild cayuse, over the fields of Uruguay

The exact spot where I was stranded was at the Castillo Chicos, about seven uay and Brazil, and of course the natives there speak Spanish To reconcile my early visitor, I told him that I had on my shi+p biscuits, and that I wished to trade thehted up his face, and showed that he was greatly interested, and that even in Uruguay a shi+p's biscuit will cheer the heart of a boy and make him your bosom friend The lad almost flew hos I was, after all, in a land of plenty With the boy ca thereat assistance to me in many ways

[Illustration: A double surprise]

A coast-guard from Fort Teresa, a few miles away, also came, ”to protect your property from the natives of the plains,” he said I took occasion to tell him, however, that if he would look after the people of his own village, I would take care of those fro, as I spoke, to the nondescript ”merchant” who had already stolen my revolver and several small articles from my cabin, which by a bold front I had recovered The chap was not a native Uruguayan

Here, as in many other places that I visited, the natives themselves were not the ones discreditable to the country

Early in the day a despatch cauards to render the _Spray_ every assistance

This, however, was not necessary, for a guard was already on the alert, andall the ado that would becorants aboard The saht word fro to tow the _Spray_ to Montevideo The officer was as good as his word; a powerful tug arrived on the following day; but, tostory short, with the help of the Gerel of Milan,” I had already floated the sloop and was sailing for port with the boom off before a fair wind The adventure cost the _Spray_ no s on the hard sand; she lost her shoe and part of her false keel, and received other dae, which, however, was readilyday I anchored at Maldonado The British consul, his daughter, and another young lady cas, strawberries, bottles of ood landfall, and better cheer than I had found at Maldonado once upon a time when I entered the port with a stricken crew in my bark, the _Aquidneck_

In the waters of Maldonado Bay a variety of fishes abound, and fur-seals in their season haul out on the island abreast the bay to breed Currents on this coast are greatly affected by the prevailing winds, and a tidal wave higher than that ordinarily produced by the uay before a southwest gale, or lowered by a northeaster, asjust receded before the northeast hich brought the _Spray_ in left the tide now at low ebb, with oyster-rocks laid bare for soood flavor were also plentiful, though sathered a mess of oysters and mussels here, while a native with hook and line, and with mussels for bait, fished froood-sized ones

The fisherman's nephew, a lad about seven years old, deserves mention as the tallest blasphee

He called his old uncle all the vile naully While he swore roundly in all the e, his uncle fished on, now and then congratulating his hopeful nephew on his accomplishment At the end of his rich vocabulary the urchin sauntered off into the fields, and shortly returned with a bunch of flowers, and with all sel I re seen the same flower on the banks of the river farther up, soht them to me Said he, ”I don't know; I only wished to do so” Whatever the influence was that put so a, thought I, and potent, seas over