THE ISLANDS OF ARMENIO
It was now brought home to me that Donna Isabel Barreto was henceforth
to play no unimportant part in the prosecution of our voyage. She had
recovered her good looks, and although she was older than any of us on
board the "Golden Seahorse", and probably ten years older than Hartog,
she nevertheless exerted an influence over the captain which I could
see he found it impossible to resist. Donna Isabel had once more
resumed her feminine attire, having stitched together for herself a
wardrobe from the ship's stores of cloth and calico, and Hartog begged
from me three of the rubies which I had found in the Valley of
Serpents, which he presented to her, and which she wore sewn on to a
black velvet cap.
Donna Isabel openly expressed her desire to amass treasure in order to
follow up Montbar and take her revenge upon him for having marooned her
and her people upon a desert island. This desire for revenge obsessed
her. Her Spanish blood burned to repay the insults and indignities
which Montbar had heaped upon her, and she looked forward with pleasure
to the tortures which she promised herself she would inflict upon
Montbar when once she held him in her power.
In order to obtain means to make war upon her enemy, Donna Isabel
persuaded Hartog to embark upon a fresh adventure, which promised to
provide the necessary funds to equip a frigate equal to that owned by
Montbar, so that she might engage him upon equal terms.
The story that Donna Isabel had to tell was one confided to her by her
late husband, Captain Barreto, which she had kept locked in her memory
ever since, waiting for some such opportunity as the present, when the
information she possessed might be turned to account. The story was,
briefly, as follows:
A long time ago a Spanish vessel sailed from Manila for Mexico, and
east of Japan had by a violent storm been driven toward a small but
high-rising island.
When the crew went ashore, the island proved to be a country, strange
and unknown to anyone; the people being of handsome stature, white
skinned, and of good proportions, very affable, and amiably disposed.
On their arrival in Mexico, the sailors related many marvels about the
wealth of this island, giving their hearers to understand that, so to
say, gold and silver were almost to be picked up at discretion on the
shore, while the kettles and other cooking utensils of the natives were
made of these metals. These islands were named the Islands of Armenio,
after an Armenian merchant who was on board the ship. Donna Isabel
professed to have received from her late husband the true bearings of
these islands, which she confided to Hartog, and a course was set
accordingly.
Pedro de Castro, Donna Isabel's son, had now been forgiven his
treachery toward us in stealing our vessel, since Hartog considered his
punishment in having been marooned upon a desert island commensurate
with his offence. He was, therefore, permitted to join us in the cabin,
and was given employment as ship's purser, for which he was well
suited. He expressed great contrition for what he had done, and I
honestly believe at the time he intended to serve us faithfully. But
treachery once practised is oft-times repeated, so I made up my mind to
keep a watchful eye on Pedro de Castro lest we again be caught
tripping.
We now proceeded northward, coasting with great care a succession of
small rocky islands that appeared to be uninhabited. As we proceeded,
the weather became rough and tempestuous, the sea running so high that
it sometimes threatened to engulf us. During the whole of our voyage we
had not met with such a mountainous sea.
At last we perceived a land to the north, trending to the north-east,
of which the coast seemed to be one continuous rock, remarkably level
at the top, and of a reddish colour, against which the sea broke with
such fury as to make a landing impossible, but Donna Isabel declared
this rock to be one of the islands of Armenio we had come in search of.
As there were no other islands to be seen, we concluded that during the
ages which had passed since the white-skinned people inhabited them,
the continuous beating of the waves had gradually demolished the
islands until nothing remained but the plateau of red rock to which we
had come, and over which the sea sometimes swept in a mass of foam.
But, having come to the island of her dreams, Donna Isabel would not
leave it until we had ascertained, beyond doubt, that a landing was
impracticable. It was not handsome, white-skinned natives whom we had
come in search of, she said, but solid gold, which neither tempests nor
seas can destroy. In order to satisfy her, we remained several days in
the vicinity of this mass of rocks, hoping that the weather would
moderate, so as to make possible a landing upon it, and at last we were
rewarded for our patience by a lull in the heavy breakers, so that the
pinnace, of which I took charge, was able to approach close to the
steep and jagged shore. Thereupon six of the Spaniards leaped
overboard, trusting to their skill as swimmers to make the land, which
they did, remaining on shore for upward of an hour. When they returned
they reported the rock to be a mass of auriferous quartz, in which was
embedded more gold than they had ever thought to see in one place, but
so tightly wedged was it between the crevices that they had been unable
to bring any of it away except a few small specimens which they showed
us. With picks and crowbars, however, they declared it would be easy to
obtain an unlimited supply of gold.
When we reported the finding of the gold to Donna Isabel, she vowed she
would never consent to abandon the treasure. "The sea cannot always be
rough," she said. "A calm must follow. Let us, therefore, wait in
patience until it comes, so that we may land and enrich ourselves."
Hartog, also, was in no mood to leave the gold until every effort had
been made to obtain it, so we continued to beat about in the vicinity
of the island awaiting a calm.
After three weeks tossing on the ocean, during which time of stress we
suffered much hardship by reason of our decks being continually
drenched by the seas which swept us fore and aft, a calm suddenly fell,
as it does in the tropics, without the least warning. Fortunately we
were not far from the island when the calm fell, so that we lay within
easy reach of it.
Without loss of time we manned the two pinnaces, I taking command of
one and Janstins of the other, and made for the shore. Donna Isabel
insisted upon coming in my boat. She had discarded her feminine
apparel, and now appeared in the sailor's clothes we had given her when
she first came aboard. Hartog, as captain, remained in charge of the
ship.
When we came to the island we found no difficulty in landing, and were
soon engaged with the picks and crow-bars we had brought with us, in
the work of gold-getting. We found the report given by the Spanish
sailors, who had been the first to land, to be somewhat exaggerated.
Still, there was an abundance of gold between the crevices of the rock,
and, what was more remarkable, we came upon what had evidently been
vessels of beaten gold, thus proving beyond doubt that the island had
formerly been inhabited.
During the course of the morning we obtained as much gold mixed with
quartz as the boats could conveniently carry, when we returned to the
ship, intending, after our midday meal, to come back for a fresh supply
of the precious metal, but on getting aboard we found Hartog much
perturbed by the extraordinary behaviour of the compass, and the
strange appearance of the sky.
"I don't like the look of it, Peter," said Hartog, when we descended
together to the cabin to discuss the situation. "I never knew this to
happen before but once, and I am not anxious to repeat the experience.
Unless I am greatly mistaken, there's something big coming."
When we returned to the deck, a low moaning sound came to us across the
sea, but, otherwise, there seemed to be nothing to cause anxiety. Donna
Isabel wished to return to the island for more gold, but Hartog would
not permit of any further expedition being made that day. He ordered
the boats to be hoisted, and the treasure carried below. Every stitch
of canvas had already been taken off the ship by the captain's orders,
and we now rode upon a glassy sea under bare poles. Then the moaning
increased, and presently there appeared upon the horizon a black line
over which lightning played, although no clouds were visible. The
atmosphere was at this time so oppressive that it was difficult to
breathe.
Hartog then ordered the helm to be lashed, the hatches to be put on,
and all hands below, he and I being the last to quit the deck just as
the storm broke upon us with hurricane force.
For three days and nights we remained between, decks, with the hatches
battened down, not knowing but that each moment might be our last. The
noise was deafening, while the violent motion of the vessel made the
getting about from one part of the ship to another difficult and
dangerous. Food and water we obtained with difficulty, not at regular
intervals, but when opportunity offered, crawling from one to another,
and helping those who, from exhaustion, were least able to help
themselves. The air became so foul in the cabin as to cause the ship's
lanterns to burn dimly, so that we feared they would soon be
extinguished. Thus we lived amid the raging elements, shut up in a
storm-tossed coffin which we knew might go to pieces at any moment.
At length, on the third day, Hartog ventured to open one of the
hatches, when a rush of cool air came to us as we lay gasping below,
bringing with it new life and vigour. The hurricane had passed, and
although the wind and sea still ran high, we were told we might come on
deck. But the happiness we felt at being released from our dreadful
imprisonment was checked when we saw the havoc which had been wrought
by the wind and the waves upon our ship. The decks were swept clean,
the masts gone by the board, the larboard bulwarks stove in, while the
cook's galley had disappeared.