I found McGregor, my new companion, in a state of despondent dread
lest a party of mutineers should arrive from Sandy Point 'and murder
us a'.' I endeavoured to convince him that there was no danger, as
indeed I believed there was not; but he refused to be comforted, and
grew so gloomy at the thought of the terrible fate in store for him,
that at last I gravely said: 'Well, I see there is no use in hiding
the truth from you. We are in a most dangerous plight, and if bad
fortune does lead the soldiers here, we are as likely as not to get
our throats cut.' This lugubrious intimation had the effect I
anticipated. Feeling that nature unaided was not strong enough to
sustain him under the present critical circumstances, McGregor applied
himself so assiduously to a jar of whisky that was fortunately at
hand, that in a very short time he became quite cheerful, and even
warlike, and sang 'Scots wha ha'e wi' Wallace bled' with astonishing
vigour and persistency, till, yielding to the soft influences of his
native stimulant, he at last sank into that sweet, calm slumber from
which the awakening is 'hot coppers.'
Meanwhile, evening came on apace, but no signs of the consul, and I
began to fear that he had been blown too far out to sea to get back
again that night. To pass away the time, I inspected the house, which
was one-storied, and consisted of two large front rooms, a
sitting-room, and a bedroom, behind which were two smaller
compartments, one used as a larder, and the other as a kitchen. From
the back-door one had only to step out to find one's self in a dense
beech forest.
Just as it was getting dark, I heard the sound of horses' hoofs, and
Guillaume galloped up to the house, breathless and excited. He told me
that matters had taken a very serious turn in the colony; the
mutineers had committed several acts of violence, and a general
massacre being apprehended, great numbers of the colonists were flying
to the woods. He himself had had a very narrow escape. He had been
seized by a party of mutineers, who were making preparations for
leaving for the pampas, and who wished to requisition his services as
guide to Santa Cruz. All his remonstrances were in vain, and they
plainly intimated to him that he had to choose between accompanying
them and having a bullet put through him; he was compelled, therefore,
to appear to assent. In order to gain time, he asked that he might be
allowed to go to Pedro's house to fetch some clothes, and his request
being granted, two soldiers were sent with him to prevent any attempt
he should make to escape. They were, fortunately, so drunk, however,
that they had hardly been a few minutes in the house when they lay
down and soon fell fast asleep. Profiting by this lucky circumstance,
Guillaume lost no time in jumping on a horse which happened to stand
in Pedro's yard, and in a few seconds he placed himself out of danger
of pursuit.
All this news was the reverse of reassuring, and I began to think that
McGregor's fears were, after all, not wholly unfounded. The consul's
house was only a few yards off the road which led from Sandy Point to
the Swiss colony at Agua Fresca, and at any time we might expect an
unpleasant visit from some of the soldiers, who were continually going
that way in search of horses or plunder. To make matters worse,
neither Guillaume nor I had a revolver, and although we searched all
over the house, we could not find an arm of any description. If
attacked, therefore, we had no means of defending ourselves--a
consideration which did not tend to allay our apprehensions.
After supper we made preparations for passing the night. McGregor, who
in the meantime had awakened, made up a bed for himself on the floor;
and although I advised him not to, he would insist on taking off his
clothes. I lay down on a sofa to take a short nap, pending the
consul's arrival, which I hoped would not now be long delayed. I soon
fell asleep, but at about midnight I awoke, roused by the pattering
of rain on the roof. I got up and looked out at the weather. The night
was pitch-dark, and the rain was falling in torrents; there was a
stormy wind blowing, and I could plainly hear the hoarse roar of the
waves on the beach. I went back to the sofa, but lay tossing about for
a long time, unable, tired as I was, to go to sleep again.
An hour went by, and I was just dozing off, when I thought I heard a
slight tap at the door. Hurriedly lighting the lamp, I got up and
looked out. Something touched my hand, and looking down, I saw a
little boy standing close to me. His first words were:
'My mamma is waiting at the bottom of the garden, and wants to know
whether she may come in.'
'Certainly, my boy,' I said. 'But who is your mother?'
'My father is the governor, and we have had to run away from the town,
for the soldiers are burning the houses and killing everybody.'
With that he ran away into the rain and the darkness, and came back
after a second or two, followed by a lady, with several children and
two maid-servants.
I immediately took them into the bedroom, and handed an armchair to
Mrs. D----, the governor's wife, who was pale with exhaustion and
suffering, and almost in a fainting condition. As soon as she was
sufficiently rested to be able to speak, she told me that on the
previous night, shortly after twelve o'clock, she had been startled
from her sleep by the discharge of cannon, with which the mutineers
had signalised the commencement of the revolt. Her husband immediately
rushed into the street. He had hardly been gone two minutes, when
suddenly a hail of mitrailleuse bullets began to crash through the
house, riddling the very walls of her bedroom. By a miracle, in the
midst of this deadly fire, she had time to collect all her children,
and escape with them unhurt into the street by a back-door. In a few
seconds more the house was in flames, and as she hurried away, she
could hear the jubilant shouts with which the mutineers greeted the
supposed successful slaughter of her husband and his family. She
managed to escape to a little house on the beach, where she had
remained hidden during the day without having been detected. But
towards night the uproar and fighting amongst the mutineers increased,
several houses were set fire to, and fearing that any moment a passing
soldier might burst into the house and discover her, as soon as it got
dark she had decided on attempting to reach the English consul's
house. By chance she had learned during the daytime that her husband
had escaped, and that in all probability he had gone to fetch the
Chilian man-of-war _Magellanes_, now at Skyring Water, to put down the
revolt.
I told her that Mr. Dunsmuir would, in all probability, not be back
that night, but that, in the meantime, I should be glad to render her
any assistance that she might require.
The children, the eldest of whom was the little boy who had come to
the door first, and he was only seven, were dressed in whatever
clothes the servants had hurriedly been able to snatch up on the night
of the first alarm.
The poor things were in a terrible plight. They had been more than two
hours on the road from Sandy Point, and were drenched to the skin with
the rain and mire. They had eaten nothing for twenty-four hours. I
took them in some tea; but rest being what they chiefly required, with
the help of mattresses and rugs, etc., we managed to make some
tolerably comfortable beds for them. Having done this, we withdrew to
the sitting-room, there to consult as to our plan of action, should
the mutineers come to the house.
In the midst of the discussion, there was another knock; and on the
door being opened, two more fugitives from the colony, an Irishman and
his wife, made their appearance. Both seemed to have had recourse to
strong stimulants to support their courage, and under the
circumstances they were certainly not a desirable addition to our
party.
During all this time McGregor had preserved a cheerful, unconcerned
demeanour. He had been particularly active in his attentions to the
D---- family, to the extent of insisting, with well-meant but
misplaced zeal, that all should swallow a drop of whisky before going
to bed. He found the new-comers did not require so much pressing.
Guillaume and I were sitting by the fire in the kitchen, trying to get
a little sleep, of which we were sorely in need, when suddenly there
was a loud banging at the front-door, followed by a loud chorus of
oaths and vociferations. We immediately ran into the sitting-room, and
Guillaume went to open the door, whilst I took the lamp into the
kitchen. I had hardly put it down, when I heard a crash in the
front-room, the house was filled with shrieks, and the Irish couple,
McGregor, and, as I thought, Guillaume, rushed madly past me into the
forest. Seized with the panic, I followed them for a moment; but
reflection returning, I went back to the house, ashamed of my want of
courage. I found half a dozen drunken soldiers in the sitting-room,
parleying with Guillaume. Owing to the darkness, they had fortunately
not discovered the other room, where Mrs. D---- was concealed; and in
order to divert their attention from it, we induced them to go into
the kitchen. There we plied them with more whisky, in the hopes of
quickly reducing them to a state of complete inebriety. The transition
phase was not a very pleasant one, inasmuch as they never let go their
carbines, and frequently, half in joke, half in earnest, they pointed
them threateningly at us. At times, too, they would wander into the
sitting-room, and then moments of terrible suspense ensued for us,
lest they should open the door of the bedroom. We were careful always
to follow them, and had made up our minds, in the event of their
attempting anything of the kind, to suddenly throw ourselves upon the
two men nearest us, seize their carbines, which were sixteen-repeating
Winchesters, and open fire on the lot. There was every chance in
favour of the success of such a measure, as the mutineers were already
so drunk that they could hardly stand, and if taken by surprise, would
have been too bewildered to offer any resistance.
The tension of these moments was heightened by the probability that at
any moment Mrs. D----'s babies might begin to cry, and thus reveal the
secret of the room. Miraculously enough, however, they kept quiet, and
we always managed to get the men back to the kitchen without the
dreaded crisis occurring. It seemed as if they never would leave.
Twenty times they got to the front-door, and we began to breathe
afresh, thinking they were at last off; but twenty times, for some
reason or other, they would come back again. From their conversation
it was very hard to find out what they exactly wanted. Those who were
still sufficiently sober to speak articulately, at times told us that
they were going to start off to the pampa immediately, and at others
that they intended holding the colony against all comers. At one
moment they would be maudlinly affectionate; at another, they would
lengthily discuss which mode of killing us was preferable--shooting us
or cutting our throats. Of course we were always on the alert, and
ready to make good our objections to either of these methods.
At last we had the indescribable satisfaction of seeing them depart
for good. Guillaume followed them at some distance, to give the alarm
in case they should come back, whilst I ran to the bedroom to tell
Mrs. D---- that for the moment the danger was over. What she must have
suffered all this time may be imagined. For two hours, every second of
which must have seemed an eternity to her, she had been expecting to
see the door burst open at any moment, and herself and her children at
the mercy of the mutineers, of whose murderous intentions towards her
she had had terrible proof in the bombarding of her house on the night
of the commencement of the revolt. But her courage had not given way,
as it might well have done under even less trying circumstances; and I
found her, though pale and prostrate, thoroughly calm and collected. I
hurriedly told her that at any moment the mutineers might come back,
and that we had better leave the house, and fly to the woods.
We accordingly set out immediately. I took two of the smaller children
in my arms, the maids each carried one, and the others walked by the
side of their mother; and Guillaume, who had returned after having
seen the soldiers safely off to the bottom of the garden, brought up
the rear, carrying a mattress and some rugs and blankets. We then
dived into the forest. It was still raining, and the night was as dark
as could be. At every step we would meet with some mishap, now
stumbling over the fallen trunk of a tree, and now slipping into some
boggy hole. The children, who had hitherto behaved admirably, having
borne hunger and cold and fatigue without a murmur, could now hardly
be kept from crying. I carried a little girl of about four years old;
her shoes and stockings had been lost in the hurry of collecting the
rugs and bedclothes, and her uncovered feet were icily cold. But
though I could hear her sob now and then on my shoulder, she was too
brave to cry aloud. How the two babies lived through all this exposure
was a miracle.
After having walked for about half an hour, for we could make but slow
progress, we came to a spot which seemed far enough from the house to
be safe, and there we spread out the two mattresses on the wet ground,
under the lea of the trunk of a fallen beech-tree. The whole party
managed to lie down on this rough bed, and, having covered them over
with the rugs and blankets Guillaume had brought, we left them, to go
back to the house to fetch some provisions and some more coverings,
for there was no knowing how many days we might be compelled to pass
in the woods.
We went very cautiously towards the house, as we could hear voices in
the kitchen, and feared lest the soldiers might have returned already.
The strains of 'Scots wha ha'e,' which pleasantly smote on our ears,
reassured us, however, and we went boldly forward. We found that the
Irish couple and McGregor had returned. They were toasting their happy
escape with more whisky. McGregor was delighted to see that we were
still alive, and said he had run away at the approach of the soldiers
because 'I dinna speak Spanish, ye ken.'
We were cold and exhausted with the night's exertions, so whilst
Guillaume went to see whether the coast was clear, McGregor set about
making coffee, and I busied myself collecting provisions and other
necessaries for taking with us to the woods.
Guillaume soon came back, bringing three carbines, which he had found
at the bottom of the garden. From the marks in the ground, he surmised
that, under the influence of their deep potations, the soldiers had
probably lain down to sleep there, and on awakening had forgotten
their arms. This was indeed a prize. Each carbine still contained some
six or seven charges. As McGregor would have nothing to do with a
weapon, Guillaume and I kept one each, and hid the other away in a
bush near the house. As good luck, like bad, seldom comes singly,
whilst rummaging about the bedroom in search of the little girl's
stockings, I found a revolver. This might prove a more valuable weapon
under certain circumstances than the carbine even, and with it safe in
my coat-pocket I felt quite a different man.
We were just pouring out the coffee, having made all preparations for
finally leaving the house, when Guillaume, who was always on the
look-out, rushed suddenly in, and shouting, 'Run for your lives!'
seized me by the arm, and dragged me out of the house. We had just
time to snatch up the carbines and dash into the woods, when we heard
the soldiers banging at the front-door. We did not stop till we had
got some distance into the forest. Guillaume told me that there were
about a dozen soldiers, amongst whom, doubtless, the three whose
carbines he had taken. What they would do on not finding them anywhere
in the house, we did not know, but it was not impossible that in their
rage they might set fire to the house, and perhaps follow us into the
woods. We now deeply regretted having tarried so long in the house, as
we had now no provisions to take back to our charges. Whilst debating
what to do, we were startled by the sharp crack of a rifle, discharged
close to us, followed by the sound of approaching voices; and fearing
the soldiers were in pursuit of us, we hurried as fast as possible to
where we had left Mrs. D----.
On reaching the spot, we found she had risen, anxious on account of
our long absence, and startled by the shot she had just heard. Without
saying that I thought we were being followed, I told her that it was
perhaps better that we should go still further into the forest, and,
without losing a second, we gathered up the children, and again
commenced our pilgrimage, plunging deeper and deeper into the dense
mass of underwood, till we had got so far that pursuit seemed
impossible.
By this time all the younger children were crying bitterly for want of
food. A tin of preserved milk, which I had put in my pocket, had
dropped out somehow, and it now became almost a matter of life and
death that the babes should have some nourishment. Feeling the urgency
of the case, Guillaume and I again started towards the house, hoping
that the soldiers had given up their search for us, and had perhaps
gone back to Sandy Point. We crept along with beating hearts, starting
at the crackling of the branches under our feet, and fearing to find a
foe concealed behind every tree, till we at last got to the open near
the house. Under cover of some bushes, we crept close up to it. By the
hum of voices we could tell that the soldiers were still inside, and
presently one came out of the house and stood peering into the wood
for a short time, standing so close to us that we could hear his
breathing. After he had gone inside, we profited by the opportunity to
slip back into the wood, and having made a circuit, we ensconced
ourselves on an eminence on the other side of the house, where we were
more secure, and where we could better watch the coming and going of
our enemies.
There we lay hour after hour, and still they did not leave; they were
in warm quarters, and the whisky was doubtless too strong an
attraction for them. What, I began to think, if they should not leave
all day? Our only chance would be to steal into the house after dark,
and risk the rest. But it was doubtful whether the younger children
could live till then without some nourishment. The tin of milk I had
lost would have saved all anxiety, and I half made up my mind to start
off and follow the path I had taken from the house to the woods, on
the desperate chance of perhaps finding it again. Fortunately, matters
did not reach that pitch, for at last, after having impatiently waited
for about three hours, we saw ten or twelve soldiers leave the house,
mount their horses, and ride off in the direction of Sandy Point. We
immediately quitted our watchtower, and ran as fast as we could
towards the house; but to our horror, just as we got to the door, we
heard voices within again. We were desperate by this time; besides, it
was too late to turn back, so, holding our guns in readiness, we
cautiously approached the doorway. Then an anticlimax; for suddenly
the Irishwoman, followed by her spouse, rushed out and almost received
our fire.
On hearing Guillaume's shout of warning, they had waited a moment too
long, and before they could get out of the place the soldiers were
upon them. They had furiously demanded the missing carbines, but of
course they were not to be found anywhere, whereupon they threatened
to burn the house down. Here again the whisky saved the situation.
They lingered so long over the cask that they quite forgot to look for
the carbines, much less to go off in pursuit of us. Two or three of
them went a few yards into the wood, and fired off a single shot at
random, but they probably thought it would be dangerous to risk
themselves too far, and they accordingly went back to their comrades.
They stayed as long as the whisky lasted, and then went off again.
We lost no time in collecting a quantity of provisions, tins of
preserved meats and soups, milk, ham, eggs, etc., etc., to which I
added some plates, saucepans, knives, spoons--in fact, everything
necessary for a prolonged sojourn in the woods. I told McGregor to
come with us, if he liked, as to all appearance the mutineers seemed
in no hurry to leave for the pampas, and sooner or later he might get
into trouble. The Irish couple, having found a case of sherry, seemed
to think their lines cast in a very pleasant place, and as the
soldiers had as yet not done them any grievous harm, they made up
their minds to stay.
Loaded with the remaining blankets and with the provisions, we made
our way back as quickly as possible to Mrs. D----, who, as we had been
away for more than four hours, had become quite alarmed lest some
mishap had befallen us. We turned out the provisions, soon made a
fire, and having dissolved some milk for the younger children, we
commenced to prepare a substantial meal, of which everyone stood in
great need. We were just beginning to feel a little more at our ease,
the children had been able to dry their clothes and warm themselves by
the fire, some meat we had set to roast was nearly done to a turn,
and, feeling secure now from all danger, we were able for the first
time to quietly talk of the late events and discuss the probability of
the speedy arrival of the Chilian man-of-war--when two women came
running through the woods towards us, pale and frightened, calling out
as they got near, "The soldiers, the soldiers! Run for your lives!"
We all started to our feet in dismay. It was perhaps already too late
to fly. We were at all events armed, and could at least make a good
stand if necessary. Meanwhile we hurriedly lifted the children in our
arms, and leaving everything else behind us, we again "moved on,"
turning our heads at every second, to be prepared should the soldiers
arrive. No one appeared, however; and it seemed merely a false scare
of the women. The forest had become so dense that occasionally we had
to pick our way through thick underwood. The ground was a mere swamp,
full of treacherous holes, and the rain and moisture clinging to the
leaves of the bushes drenched us all to the skin as we brushed through
them. But still we kept on, determined to place such a distance
between the road and our camp as to leave us perfectly at ease as
regards the mutineers, who would certainly never take the trouble of
looking so far into the wood for anybody, even if they were to stop
another month round the colony.
When we reached a small open in the thicket, where the ground was
tolerably dry, we set down the children, and returned on our tracks to
fetch the mattresses, coverings, and food we had left behind. We found
everything just as we had left it, and not a sign of anyone having
been near the place. The women who had run past us had, perhaps, heard
some branches crackle, and had immediately concluded that the
mutineers were coming. However, there was nothing to be done but to
carry everything to our new camping-place--no easy task, as both
Guillaume and myself were completely done up with our continued
exertions, and the mattresses and various other articles were in
themselves heavy enough.
We had hidden our charges so well that we could not find them
ourselves; and only after a great deal of searching, quite by
accident, we happened to stumble on the place again. To keep off the
wet, which was dropping from the trees, we rigged up a kind of tent
over the mattresses with some blankets, and under its shelter the
whole party lay huddled together. We then tried to make a fire, but as
the wood was wet it could not be got to burn, and only blinded us with
smoke. After a great deal of blowing, we at last succeeded in raising
a fair glow, by the aid of which we managed to cook a meal, which was
actually eaten. And quite time it was, too, as the children had had
nothing but the milk for nearly forty-eight hours.
It was now about four o'clock. I became anxious to know what was going
on in the colony, and whether there was any possibility of the
mutineers leaving soon. Leaving McGregor in charge of the camp,
Guillaume and I made our way down to the road, and keeping under cover
of the wood, slowly proceeded in the direction of the colony, in the
hopes of meeting some one who could give us some news. We had not gone
very far when we saw a stout little man coming running along the road
at full speed. Guillaume recognised him as one of the bakers at Sandy
Point, and called to him to stop, as he ran past us. As soon as he
could find breath to speak, he said that a short time before the house
where he lived had been attacked by the soldiers, two of his
companions had been killed, and he had only saved himself by jumping
out of a window, just as the mutineers were standing in the doorway of
his room, with fixed bayonets, inviting him to pass through their
midst. There was hardly anyone left in the colony, most of the
inhabitants having taken refuge in the woods. He had seen several dead
bodies lying about as he had hurried away, but having never been out
of his house since the commencement of the revolt, he could give us
little information as to the doings of the mutineers.
We went back to the consul's house with him. The Irishwoman was still
there, and was sleeping peacefully in an armchair; her husband we
found lying in the kitchen, with several severe head-wounds. A
pillaging party had evidently gone through the place, for drawers were
upset, crockery smashed, curtains torn down, and general disorder
prevalent everywhere. The baker was in a hurry to be off to the woods,
for after his recent narrow escape he had a wholesome, but perhaps
excessive, dread of being suddenly seized by the mutineers again.
But though we had plenty of provisions of all kinds, there was neither
bread nor biscuit in the house, so I asked him--flour, eggs, and
butter being at hand--to make the dough for some cakes, which could be
baked up in the woods at our leisure. Very reluctantly he agreed to
do so, on condition that Guillaume should watch the road, to give
timely warning of the approach of danger. Presently Guillaume called
me, and on going out I saw a dense cloud of smoke rising in the
direction of the colony. The convicts had evidently set fire to the
town, a prelude, perhaps, to their departure. There was no wind, and
soon a heavy downpour of rain commenced; but we had little hope that a
stick would be left standing in the whole settlement, which was built
exclusively of timber. The dough being ready, though I think it had
not been kneaded very carefully, we went back into the wood, losing
our way as on the former occasion; and had it not been for the
familiar strains of 'Scots wha ha'e!' with which McGregor was cheering
the children, and which at last guided us to the camp, we might have
wandered about for hours.
We were now quite a large party, the possibility of being again
disturbed by the mutineers was out of the question; and if only we had
been able to make a good blazing fire, than which there is nothing so
cheering to the spirits, we might, comparatively speaking, have felt
fairly comfortable. But whatever wood we could collect was quite wet,
and it was difficult to get it to burn sufficiently to cook the dinner
by.
Under shelter of the improvised tent we had managed to rig up, and
with the aid of the few coverings procured from the consul's house,
Mrs. D---- and the children were fortunately kept tolerably dry and
warm, and overcome with the anxieties and exertions of the day, they
were able to forget their troubles in sleep. As for myself and the
other men, we tried for some time to do likewise, but having no
coverings, the cold and wet effectually kept us awake, and we passed
the night huddled round the smouldering logs, listening to the
monotonous pattering of the rain on the canopy of leaves above us, and
longing wearily for the morning.
It broke at last, and with it came better weather. As soon as the sun
was well up, I went down to the house to see if there was anything
new. On reaching a point from which the settlement was visible, from
the changed aspect of the town, it was evident that the fire had done
great ravages. It was, however, too far off for me to recognise
whether many of the houses were left standing, which, considering the
nature of their construction, was not probable. A thin column of smoke
was still rising from one part, but the fire itself seemed spent. I
then looked down the straits towards Dawson's Island, but as yet there
was no sign of any coming steamer. The Pacific steamer _Cotopaxi_ was
due on the day before, and as it is very unusual for the vessels of
that line to be behind time, I concluded that she had been met by the
English consul, and was possibly awaiting the arrival of the Chilian
man-of-war, whose coming could not now be long delayed, before
approaching the colony.
On my way back to our forest sanctuary, I stumbled on a knot of
Chilian women, who told me they had escaped from the colony the
previous night, for fear of being taken to the pampas by the
mutineers, who were making preparations for leaving immediately. They
all had big bundles of clothes with them, and, strange to say, all
wore brand-new shawls and gowns. I had not the slightest doubt but
that they had done their share in the general plundering. It was good
news, at all events, to hear that the mutineers were at last really
off, of which the burning of the colony was the best proof.
After breakfast I started off with Guillaume, with the intention of
going to Sandy Point, if possible, and discovering the real state of
affairs there. But on reaching the road just below the consul's house,
to our surprise we found it thronged with fugitives from the
settlement, who were issuing from all parts of the woods, where they
had been hiding. On looking seawards, the reason became apparent.
Steaming along at full speed, and already nearly opposite the house,
we saw the long-expected _Magellanes_, the Chilian man-of-war. I
immediately ran back to take the welcome news to Mrs. D----, that her
troubles were now over. For the last time we carried the children
through the wood down to Mr. Dunsmuir's house, which, by the time we
got there, was crowded with women and children, carrying such of their
household goods as they had been able to take with them in their
flight.
As soon as the _Magellanes_ arrived in front of the house, a boat was
sent off to the shore, in which Mrs. D---- and her children embarked
to meet her husband, who was safe on board. Shortly after, another
larger boat came to fetch off the other women and children.
Here a rather ludicrous scene ensued. Just before the boat touched
land, the people on shore were suddenly seized with panic at the sight
of some dark bodies advancing on the road from Sandy Point, and which
they thought were the soldiers coming towards them. Immediately the
air was filled with shrieks, and, throwing down their bundles, they
all rushed into the water to meet the advancing boat. The sailors had
to keep them off with their oars, or they would have swamped the boat.
Meanwhile, the foe came nearer, the shrieks grew louder, some of the
men even sharing in the general weakness, till at last the coming
squadron of horsemen resolved itself into a herd of cows, who came
trotting leisurely down the road, ignorant of the panic their presence
had created.
The women and those of the men who chose to go were at last brought
safely on board, and the _Magellanes_ steamed slowly up the straits
towards the colony. Guillaume and I had already started off some time
before, and we arrived at the first house in the settlement almost as
soon as she arrived abreast of the pier.