I felt chilly, and I awoke. It was daylight. I stood on my feet and
looked around me. I found myself floating on the deep sea, far from the
shore, the outline of which was tinged with the golden hues of morn.
The rope and stick to which the boat had been made fast towed through
the water, as the land-breeze, driving me gently, increased my distance
from the land. For some moments I was rather scared; the oars were left
on shore, and I had no means of propelling my little skiff.
In vain did I paddle with my hands and the stick which I had taken on
board. I turned and turned again round to all the points of the
compass, but to no purpose. At last I began to reflect. The sea was
smooth and quiet; so I was in no immediate danger. The Padre, when he
awoke in the morning, would discover my accident, and perhaps see the
boat; he would hasten to town, but he would not arrive till the evening;
for he was an old man, and had to walk twenty-five miles. Boats would
be dispatched after me; even the Mexican schooner which lay in the bay.
The next morning I was certainly to be rescued, and the utmost of my
misfortune would amount to a day of fast and solitude. It was no great
matter; so I submitted to my fate, and made a virtue of necessity.
Happily for me, the boat belonged to an American exceedingly fond of
fishing; and consequently it contained many necessaries which I had
before overlooked. Between the foremost thwart and the bow there was
half a barrel filled with fishes, some pieces of charcoal, and some
dried wood; under the stern-sheets was a small locker, in which I
discovered a frying-pan, a box with salt in it, a tin cup, some herbs
used instead of tea by the Californians, a pot of honey, and another
full of bear's grease. Fortunately, the jar of water was also on board
as well as my lines, with baits of red flannel and white cotton. I
threw them into the water, and prepared to smoke my cigarito. In these
countries no one is without his flint, steel, tinder, and tobacco.
Hours passed so. My fishing being successful, I lighted a fire, and
soon fried a few fine mackerel; but by-and-bye the sun reached its
highest position, and the scorching became so intolerable that I was
obliged to strip and spread my clothes, and even my shirt, upon the
benches, to obtain a shelter. By that time, I had lost sight of land,
and could only perceive now and then some small black points, which were
the summits of fine tall pines.
As soon as my meal was finished, I don't know why, but instead of
sleeping a decent siesta of two hours, the Spanish tonic to digest a
dinner, I never awoke before sunset; and only then, because I began to
feel a motion that was far from being pleasant. In fact, the waves were
beginning to rise in sharp ridges, covered with foam; the mild
land-breeze had changed into a cool sharp westerly wind.
A fair wind, however, was a comfort, and as I put on my clothes, I began
to think that by making a proper use of the helm and standing upright in
the boat, my body would serve as a small sail, when "He, he, hoe!"
shouted twenty voices, on the larboard side of me. I started with
astonishment, as may be imagined, and turning round, perceived, fifty
yards from me, a large boat driving before the waves, impelled on by ten
oars. It was filled with men, casks, and kegs, and one at the helm was
making signals, apparently inviting me to stop. A few minutes after, we
were close to each other; and I dare say our astonishment was mutual,--
theirs to see me alone and without oars; mine, to behold such a wretched
spectacle. They were evidently the crew of a wrecked vessel, and must
have undergone frightful privations and fatigues, so emaciated was their
appearance.
No time, however, was to be lost. All of them asked for water, and
pointed to the horizon, to know in which direction they should go. My
stone jug was full; I handed it to the man at the helm, who seemed to be
the captain; but the honest and kind-hearted fellow, pouring out a small
quantity in the cup, gave some to all his companions before he would
taste any himself. The jug was a large one, containing two gallons or
more, but of course was soon emptied.
I gave them a fried mackerel, which I had kept for my supper; they
passed it to the captain, and, in spite of his generous denial, they
insisted upon his eating it immediately. Seeing which, I shewed them
nine or ten other raw fishes, two or three of which were heavy, and
proposed to cook them. They sang and laughed: cook the fish! No;
little cooking is wanted when men are starving. They divided them
brotherly; and this supply, added to the honey for the captain and the
bear's grease for the sailors, seemed to have endowed them with new
life.
The captain and four of the men, with oars, stepped into my skiff. At
that moment the stars were beginning to appear; and pointing out to him
one in the east as a guide, we ploughed our way towards the shore,
greatly favoured both by the wind and the waves. In a singular mixture
of English, French, Italian, and Latin, the captain made me comprehend
that his vessel had been a Russian brig, bound from Asitka, in Russian
America, to Acapulco, in Mexico, for a supply of grain, tallow, and
spirits; that it had been destroyed by fire during the night, scarcely
allowing time for the men to launch the long-boat. No provisions could
be procured; the boxes and kegs that had been taken in the hurry were of
no use; that they had been rowing forty-eight hours without food or
water, and were ignorant of their distance from the shore; and, finally,
that they had perceived my skiff a good half-hour before I awoke;
thought it at first empty, but saw me rising, and called to me, in the
hope that I would guide them to a landing-place. In return I explained
to him my adventure as well, as I could, and made him promises of plenty
for the next day; but I might have talked for ever to no purpose; the
poor fellow, overpowered with fatigue, and now feeling secure, had sunk
into a deep sleep.
At the break of day we made the land, at the entrance of a small river
and close to some fine old ruins. It was the very spot where I had
intended to go with the Padre. There were a few wild horses rambling in
the neighbourhood; I cleaned my gun, loaded it again, and killed one;
but not before the tired and hungry crew, stretched on the strand,
proved by their nasal concerts that for the present their greatest
necessity was repose after their fatigues. There were twenty of them
including the captain.
I had led too much of an Indian life, not to know bow to bear fatigue,
and to be rapid in execution. The sun was not more than three hours
high, when I had already cooked the best part of the horse. All the
unfortunates were still asleep, and I found it was no easy matter to
awake them. At last, I hit upon an expedient which did not fail; I
stuck the ramrod of my gun into a smoking piece of meat, and held it so
that the fumes should rise under their very noses. No fairy wand was
ever more effective; in less than two minutes they were all chewing and
swallowing their breakfast, with an energy that had anything but sleep
in it. It is no easy matter to satisfy twenty hungry Russians; but
still there is an end to every thing. One of them knelt before me, and
kissed my feet. Poor fellow! he thought that I had done a great deal
for him and his companions, forgetting that perhaps I owed my own life
to them.
The men were tired: but when they heard that they could reach a city in
the afternoon, they made preparation for departure with great alacrity.
We pulled slowly along the coast, for the heat was intense, and the
rowers fast losing their strength. At one o'clock I landed at my former
encampment. The Padre had, of course, left the oars, sail, and
blankets. My skiff was rigged in a moment; and out of the blankets,
those in the long-boat managed to make a sail, an oar and a long pole
tied together answering for a mast. In doubling the northern point of
the bay, I perceived the Mexican schooner and many boats, pretty far at
sea. No doubt they were searching for me.
At six o'clock in the evening we landed at Monterey, amidst the
acclamations of a wondering crowd.
I was a general favourite, and my loss had occasioned much alarm; so
that when I landed, I was assailed with questions from every quarter.
The women petted me, some kissed me (by the bye, those were d'un certain
age), and all agreed that I should burn half a dozen of candles on the
altar of the Virgin Mary. There was one, however, who had wept for me;
it was Isabella, a lovely girl of fifteen, and daughter to the old
Governor. The General, too, was glad to see me; he liked me very much,
because we played chess while smoking our cigars, and because I allowed
him to beat me, though I could have given him the queen and the move. I
will confess, sotto voce, that this piece of policy had been hinted to
me by his daughters, who wished me to find favour in his sight.
"Dios te ayuda nino," said the Governor to me; I feared we should never
play chess any more. "Que tonteria, andar a dormir in una barca, quando
se lo podia sobre tierra firma!" (What folly to go sleep in a boat,
when it can be done upon solid ground!)
I told him the story of the poor Russians, and in spite of his pride,
the tears started in his eye, for he was kind-hearted. He took the
captain into his own house, and gave orders concerning the accommodation
of the crew; but the universal hospitality had not waited for commands
to show itself, and the poor fellows, loaded with attention and
comforts, soon forgot the dangers which they had escaped. Fifteen days
after they were sent on board the Mexican schooner, to the bay of St.
Francisco, where a Russian brig of war, bound to Asitka, had just
arrived. However, they did not part from us with empty hands. The
Montereyans having discovered their passionate love for tallow and
whiskey, had given them enough of these genteel rafraichissements, to
drown care and sorrow for a long while. As to the captain he received
the attention which his gallant conduct entitled him to, and on the eve
of his departure he was presented with a trunk, of tolerable dimensions,
well filled with linen and clothes.
A merry night was passed to celebrate my escape. Guns had been fired,
flags hoisted to recall the boats, and at ten o'clock in the night, the
whole population was gambolling on the lawn, singing, dancing, and
feasting, as if it was to have been our last day of pleasure during
life.
Thus passed away four weeks, and I must admit to my shame, I had
willingly missed two chances of going to Santa Fe. One morning,
however, all my dreams of further pleasure were dispelled. I was just
meditating upon my first declaration of love, when our old servant
arrived with four Indian guides. He had left the settlement seven days,
and had come almost all the way by water. He had been despatched by my
father to bring me home if I had not yet left Monterey. His
intelligence was disastrous; the Prince had been murdered by the Crows;
the Shoshones had gone on a war expedition to revenge the death of the
Prince; and my father himself who had been daily declining, expected in
a short time to rejoin his friend in a better world. Poor Isabella! I
would have added, poor me! but the fatal news brought had so excited me,
that I had but few thoughts to give to pleasure and to love. My
immediate return was a sacred duty, and, besides, the Shoshones expected
me to join with them on my first war-path. The old Governor judged it
advisable that I should return home by sea, as the Arrapahoes Indians
were at that moment enemies of the Shoshones, and would endeavour to cut
me off if I were to ascend the Buona Ventura. Before my departure, I
received a visit from an Irishman, a wild young fellow of the name of
Roche, a native of Cork, and full of fun and activity. He had deserted
on the coast from one of the American vessels, and in spite of the
promised reward of forty dollars, he was never discovered, and his
vessel sailed without him.
General Morreno was at first angry, and would have sent the poor devil
to jail, but Roche was so odd, and made so many artful representations
of the evils he had suffered on board on account of his being a
Catholic, that the clergy, and, in fact, all Monterey, interfered.
Roche soon became a valuable acquisition to the community; he was an
indefatigable dancer, and a good fiddler. Besides, he had already
accustomed himself to the Mexican manners and language, and in a horse
or buffalo hunt none were more successful. He would tell long stories
to the old women about the wonders of Erin, the miracles of St. Patrick,
and about the stone at Blarney. In fact, he was a favourite with every
one, and would have become rich and happy could he have settled.
Unfortunately for him, his wild spirit of adventure did not allow him to
enjoy the quiet of a Montereyan life, and hearing that there was a
perspective of getting his head broken in the "Settlement of the
Grandees," he asked permission to join my party.
I consented that Roche should accompany me: with my servant and the
Indians, we embarked on board of the schooner. Many were the presents I
received from the good people; what with pistols, powder, horses,
fusils, knives, and swords, I could have armed a whole legion. The
Governor, his daughters, and all those that could get room in the boats,
accompanied me as far as the northern part of the bay, and it was with a
swelling heart that I bade my farewell to them all.