One morning, when it was my watch on deck, soon after dawn the cheery
sound was heard of "Land on the starboard-bow!" I looked out; and as
daylight increased, there appeared, as if rising out of the ocean in
their desolate grandeur, capped with snow and towering high above the
clouds, the lofty summits of a range of mountains trending away north
and south far as the eye could reach. They were the giant Cordilleras.
On we sailed with a fresh breeze. The sun ascended with stately pace
from behind them, and then a mist arose and shrouded their base. Hour
after hour we ran on, and yet we seemed not to have got nearer; till
once more the mists lifted, and wild, rocky, and barren heights sloped
upwards before us from the ocean. Full sixty miles were gone over from
the time those snowy peaks were first seen till we reached Valparaiso,
far away down at their base. We must have been a hundred and twenty
miles off them at sunrise.
Coming so suddenly from the wild regions of Tierra del Fuego and the
unattractive Falklands, Valparaiso appeared to us a very beautiful
place. It is very irregularly built--at the bottoms of valleys, on the
tops of hills, and on their steep and sometimes rugged sides, rising
directly out of the blue ocean, with a succession of range after range
of lofty mountains behind it the Cordilleras towering in the background
beyond all. Gerard and I were very eager to get on shore; so was old
Surley. He wagged his tail, and ran to the ship's side and barked, and
looked up in our faces and looked at the land, as much as to say, "How I
should like to have a scamper along the beach there!"
"Yes, you may all three go, if Mr McRitchie will take care of you,"
said the captain, laughing. Fleming got leave to accompany us, as he
had been unwell for some weeks, and the captain thought a trip on shore
would do him good. We found that there would be time to get right up
among the mountains, where we hoped to find some good sport, our great
ambition being to kill a guanaco--the name given to the llama in its
wild state. A number of boatmen good-naturedly helped us to land on the
beach, with our guns and carpet-bags. It was market-day; the market was
full of vegetables and other provisions, and the place bore a very
cheerful aspect. We heard that, in spite of the want of level ground,
the town has very rapidly improved in the last few years. The country
generally, since order has been established, has become prosperous.
Everybody praises the climate, and perhaps there is not a finer in the
world; for, although hot in summer, the air is dry and pure, and
tempered by the sea-breeze, which regularly sets in every forenoon. In
the harbour were two or three old hulks, the remains of the fleet
commanded by Lord Dundonald, when he performed one of his most gallant
exploits--the cutting out of the _Esmeralda_ frigate, belonging to the
Spaniards, from the port of Callao. Fleming was with him, and told me
all about it.
"What a lucky adventure!" I remarked.
"No, Mr Harry, it wasn't luck, it was prudence and forethought which
gained the day with him then at all times. There never was a more
prudent, and never a braver man. He feared nothing, and took every
precaution to insure success. We were three days getting ready. We
were all dressed in white, with a blue mark on the left arm--160
blue-jackets and 80 marines--and armed with cutlass and pistols--all
picked men. Every man knew exactly what he had to do--some to attack
one part of the ship, some another; others to go aloft and loose pails,
some to the main, and others to the foretop. The admiral sent all the
ships of the squadron out of the bay, except his own flag-ship. At
midnight we were told off into fourteen boats. A line of booms had been
placed across the mouth of the inner harbour, with only a narrow
entrance. Just then the admiral's boat, which led, ran foul of a
Spanish guard-boat; but he whispered to the crew, that if they gave any
alarm he would kill every one of them; so they held their tongues, and
we were quickly alongside the _Esmeralda_. The Spaniards were asleep,
and before they had time to seize their arms, we were upon them, the
frigate's cables were cut, and we were running out of the harbour. Had
the admiral's directions been followed in all points, we should have cut
out every craft in the harbour, and a rich treasure-ship to boot; but he
had traitors serving under him, and all was not done which ought to have
been done." Fleming told me also how Lord Dundonald took the strong
forts of Valdivia, to the south of Chili, by storm, with his single
ship's company; but I must not now repeat the story.
We engaged two caleches, rattle-trap vehicles, like gigs with hoods, to
carry us to Santiago, the capital of Chili. One horse was in the
shafts; another on the left side was ridden by a postilion on a
high-peaked saddle, with a long knife at the saddle-bow; he being
dressed with a straw hat over a silk handkerchief tied round his head
and the ends hanging down behind, a short jacket, coarse pantaloons,
high boots, huge spurs, and a poncho hanging over one shoulder. Jerry
and Mr McRitchie went together, Fleming accompanied me, and we had old
Surley, who sat up between our legs, looking sagaciously out before him.
Away we rattled. The road was much better than we had expected to find
it in a place so far away from England as this seemed. My idea was,
that once round Cape Horn, we should not see anything but painted
savages or long-tailed Chinese; and I was quite surprised to find good
roads and carriages in Chili. We slept two nights on the road; admired
Santiago, which is full of laughing gas, the air is so fine; it stands
1700 feet above the level of the sea. Then we started off on horseback
towards the Cordilleras, to a spot called the Snow Bank, whence Santiago
is regularly supplied with snow all the year round. At the capital we
fell in with an English sailor, Tom Carver by name, who had served with
Fleming under Lord Cochrane, and having married a Chilian wife, had
settled in the country. He came as our interpreter, for without him a
guide we procured would have been of very little service. Leaving our
horses at a small rancho, or farm-house, we set off with our guns,
Fleming and the guide carrying most of the provisions, though we each of
us had a share. The scenery was wild and grand in the extreme,
consisting of the snow-capped peaks of the Andes, of rugged heights, and
of dark glens and gorges, with precipices which went sheer down many
hundred feet below us. We had not gone far before we came to a
suspension bridge made of hides, cut into strips and twisted together,
thrown across a fearful gorge. Bundles of sticks placed on the ropes
form the road. It was full of holes, and as I looked through, far down
into the torrent foaming below, I could not help feeling how very
disagreeable it would be to slip through. Surley followed at my heels,
and even he did not like it. We now reached a wide valley, on the sides
of which, far up on the mountains, we descried a number of animals,
which Jerry and I concluded, without doubt, were the much-desired
guanacoes. Mr McRitchie, with Simmons, the sailor, and the guide, were
ahead; Fleming was with us; so we agreed, as we could not fail of being
seen by our companions, we would climb the mountain in chase of the
game. Up, up we climbed, old Surley after us. He seemed to think it
very good fun; but Fleming, not accustomed to such exercise, was soon
blown.
"Come along, Fleming," cried Jerry; "we shall soon be up to the beasts;
don't give in, man."
"No, Mr Gerard, you go on, and leave me to follow you slowly," answered
Fleming. "If I stop, you'll easily find me again."
We, of course, were ready enough to follow this advice; so Jerry,
Surley, and I, pushed on up the mountain as fast as we could climb
towards the nearest herd of guanacoes. They were of a light-brown
colour, of about the size of a stag. I should describe the animals we
saw as having small heads, with large and brilliant eyes, thick lips,
and ears long and movable. The neck was very long, and kept perfectly
upright, while the haunches were slightly elevated; so that they looked
somewhat like little camels--the purpose of which, indeed, they serve
when domesticated. We could see several herds in different parts on the
side of the mountain. There was one low down near the path in the
direction the doctor and his companions had taken. They were feeding
quietly, when one looked up, then another, and away the whole herd
scampered at a tremendous rate up the mountain. We thought that the
sight of the doctor's party had put them to flight; and it showed us
that we must be cautious in approaching the herd we had marked. Old
Surley was very eager to be after them, and we had great difficulty in
keeping him back.
The air was keen and at the same time hot. There was not a cloud in the
intense blue sky, and the rays of the sun came down with great force,
and blistered our skin and peeled our noses till we were afraid of
touching them; but we did not think much about that trifle while the
guanacoes were in sight. Concealing ourselves as much as possible
behind rocks and bushes, and here and there an evergreen quillay-tree,
we got nearer and nearer to them. Sometimes we got behind clumps of the
great chandelier-like cactus, whose sturdy green twisted stems afforded
us capital shelter.
"It is lucky we are not very big, or we should not be able to hide
ourselves so well," observed Jerry as we crept on. The valley lay far
below us, with steep precipices and a brawling torrent, with rocks and
shrubs scattered about; and high above us wild jagged peaks and
snow-covered mountain-tops. The stillness of the air was most
extraordinary. Not a sound reached our ears. Never have I been in a
wilder or more magnificent scene. I do not know what our four-footed
companion thought of it, but he certainly enjoyed the idea of catching a
guanaco--so did we, indeed, more than anything else. We had got within
five hundred yards of the nearest without being discovered. Hitherto we
had gone on very cautiously. Our eagerness overcame our discretion. We
left cover and ran on exposing ourselves to view.
"Stop, stop, Harry!" sang out Jerry. "We are near enough to fire; stop
and let us recover our wind." The advice was good, and I was about to
follow it, when one of the guanacoes turned his head and saw us. Before
we could bring our rifles to our shoulders, they were off like the wind.
Jerry was going to fire after them but I stopped him, pointing to
another herd a short distance further off, along the side of the
mountain.
"You'll frighten them too if you do," I observed. "Let us try to get up
to them more cautiously." One great difficulty was to keep Surley back,
or he would have followed the herd till he had caught one of them, or
broken his neck over a precipice. Consoling ourselves for our
disappointment with the hopes of getting near enough up to the next herd
to fire before being seen, we scrambled on as before. Now and then we
glanced behind us to mark the spot where we had left Fleming, while we
kept an eye in the direction Mr McRitchie had taken; and on that broad
exposed mountain-side, we did not think it possible that we could miss
each other. We climbed on, therefore, without any misgivings as to how
we should find our way back again. I fastened my handkerchief through
Surley's collar to keep him back. He was thus able also sometimes to
help me up a steep place or a rock quicker than I could have got by
myself. Jerry followed close behind me. The distance was, we found,
greater than we expected to the next herd. We were, fortunately, to
leeward of them, and not one of them noticed our approach. We halted
behind a thick cactus. There was a rock some three hundred yards
further off, and within a good shot of the herd.
"Now, Jerry, you mark the fellow to the left; I'll take the one to the
right," said I, almost trembling in my eagerness. "Don't let us fire
till we get up to the rock; then rest a moment, and it will be hard if
we don't hit one of them. If we miss, we'll see what Surley can do for
us." Jerry nodded his agreement to this proposal, and crouching down,
we crept on till we reached the rock. For an instant we waited to
recover breath, then we lifted up our rifles and rested them on a ledge
of the rock. It would be impossible to have got a better aim. Crack--
crack--we both fired. Off scampered the herd up the mountain.
"We've missed! we've missed!" we cried. "Oh, bothera--No, no! there's
one fellow staggering. The one I fired at," I exclaimed. "Hurrah!"
"There's another! See, see!--he's over--no! he's up again, and away
with the rest," sung out Jerry. "Let Surley after him, Harry. He'll
bring him down. Hurrah, hurrah, what luck!"
With such like exclamations we darted from behind our cover, and ran as
fast as our legs could carry us up to the guanaco I had hit; while
Surley, hounded on by us, went off in hot chase after the animal Jerry
had wounded. We were soon up to the guanaco I had hit. Poor beast! he
staggered on, and then over he went on his side. He looked up at us
with his mild eyes, as much as to say, "Oh, you cruel white men, who
come from far-off across the seas, you have well-nigh destroyed the
original people of the country, and now you would wage war against us,
its harmless four-footed inhabitants." He tried to spit at us, but his
strength failed him, and in an instant more he was dead. As soon as we
saw this, off we went after Surley. He had singled a guanaco out of the
herd, and marks of blood on the grass showed that it had been wounded.
Old Surley was among them. Then one beast was seen to drop astern.
Slower and slower he went, kicking out all the time at the dog, who ran
leaping up to try and catch hold of his neck. He got a kick, which sent
him rolling over, but he was up again.
"Hurrah!" cried Jerry. "He has him now, though. Remember, Harry,
that's the beast I shot."
On we ran and clambered to get up with Old Surley and the guanaco, which
was still struggling to get away. He made several desperate springs
forward, but he struck out with his heels and spat in vain, for the
stanch dog was not to be shaken off. He was rapidly getting weaker--he
struggled less violently--at last over he came, and we saw there was no
chance of his escaping. We stopped, and, like good sportsmen, loaded
our rifles in case they might be required. By the time we got up the
guanaco was dead, and Old Surley was standing over him, looking
wonderfully proud of his victory. What was to be done with the game now
that we had got it? was the question. We could not carry it away, for
each animal was fully four feet high, and eight or nine long. We looked
about for marks by which we should know the spot where the last killed
lay. We thought that we had found some that we could not mistake, but,
still more certainly to recognise it, we piled up all the stones and
bushes we could collect on a rock, till we had made a considerable heap,
which we thought would be conspicuous at a distance. We then began to
consider that it was time to look about for our companions. We could
nowhere make them out, but we had no doubt as to easily finding the spot
where we had left Fleming. First, however, we had to go and mark the
place more distinctly where we had left my guanaco. It took us as long
to descend the mountain as to climb it; for we often came to steep
places which we had to make a circuit to avoid. We reached the edge of
a small precipice, where we had a tolerably clear view of the hill-side
below us, and of the valley beyond. In ascending, we had passed on one
side of the rock. We looked about to discover the spot where we had
left the guanaco. There it lay; but not a hundred yards from it we saw
another animal approaching it by stealthy steps. We watched it
narrowly.
"It must be a big cat!" cried Jerry.
"No, no; it is a puma--the South American lion," I sang out. "Oh, if we
can but get a shot at him it will be fine!"
He was so intent on the prospect of a feast off the dead guanaco that he
did not see us. He crawled up near it, and then sprang on the carcass.
We did not like to have our game destroyed, so we could not help
shouting out, "Get off from that, you beast!" Our voices startled the
puma, and looking round and seeing us, and Surley approaching with an
angry growl, he trotted off down the mountain. We agreed that he was
probably an old fellow, and that, having lost his activity, he could not
catch the live animals. We both fired, but we were not near enough, and
missed him. Away he bounded down the mountain without once stopping to
look behind him.
"I vote we take some slices out of our friend here," said Jerry. His
suggestions were generally very practical. "I don't see why we should
run the risk of losing our dinner altogether. The chances are that
another of these pumas finds him out and leaves us but poor pickings."
I agreed to the wisdom of the suggestion, and so we supplied ourselves
with enough meat for all the party. We then raised a mark near our
guanaco as we had done before.
"That will do famously," said Jerry, finishing the heap with a long
piece of cactus. "Now, let us go and look for Fleming. The doctor and
guides will be back soon. I'm getting very hungry, I know, and if they
don't come I vote we make an attack on the prog baskets without them."
"Let us find Fleming and the baskets first," I answered; for my mind
began to misgive me about finding him as easily as we had expected. The
chase after the guanacoes had led us a long way, and I found it very
difficult to calculate distances or the size of objects in that bright
atmosphere, where the proportions of all surrounding objects were so
vast. Still I did not express my fears to Jerry. We kept our eyes
about us, on the chance of falling in with another puma; for we agreed
that it would be much better to be able to talk of having killed a lion
than even two harmless llamas. On we went for a long time, scrambling
over the crags, and precipices, and rough ground.
"Where can Fleming have got to?" exclaimed Jerry at last; "I am certain
that we are up to the spot where we left him." I thought so likewise.
We shouted at the top of our voices, but the puny sounds seemed lost in
the vast solitudes which encompassed us. "I think it must have been
further on," said I, after I had taken another survey of the country.
So on we rushed, keeping our eyes about us on every side.
We had gone on some way further, when Jerry laid his hand on my arm.
"What is that, Harry?" he exclaimed. "It is the puma! See the rascal
how stealthily he creeps along! He's after some mischief, depend on it.
I hope he won't go back and eat up our guanacoes."
"We must take care that he does not do that," said I. "We'll stop his
career. Is your rifle ready. We'll creep after him as stealthily as he
is going along. He is so busy that he does not see us, and the chances
are that we get near enough to knock him over."
"Come along then," exclaimed Jerry; and, imitating the puma's cautious
mode of proceeding, we rapidly gained on him. We had got up almost
close enough to fire when Jerry whispered, "O Harry, what is that? It's
Fleming, dear! dear!"
Just below where the puma was crouching down ready to make his fatal
spring, lay the form of the old seaman; but whether he was dead, or
asleep, or fainting, we could not tell. There was not a moment to be
lost. In another instant the savage brute would have fixed his claws in
his throat. We rushed on--so did old Surley. The puma had actually
begun his spring when we fired. Both our bullets took effect, but still
he leaped forward. He fell close to Fleming. Our shipmate sprang up on
his knees, but it was only to receive the claws of the brute on his
chest. The blow knocked him over. We were running on and shouting all
the time, to distract the attention of the puma.
"He is killed! he is killed!" cried Jerry. "No." In an instant, with a
clasp-knife in his hand, Fleming was up again and plunging away at the
throat of the brute. He rose to his knees. He gave stab after stab,
and prevented the puma from fixing its jaws on his own throat, which
seemed the aim of the enraged animal. The brave Surley was at his
flanks tearing and biting at them with all his might.
"Hold on, Fleming," we shouted; "we will be up to you directly."
"Fire! fire!" cried Fleming; "I can't keep the brute back much longer."
At length Surley's attack seemed to produce more effect on the puma.
For a moment he turned round to try to repel him. Fleming seized the
opportunity, and, taking better aim than he had hitherto been able to
do, plunged his knife right up to the hilt in the animal's breast, and
then sprang back out of his way. We came up at the same moment, barely
in time to save Surley from some severe handling, for the puma had
turned all his fury on him. We stopped and loaded, and then running on
got close up to the beast, to run no risk of hitting the dog, and fired.
Over he rolled, giving a few spasmodic clutches with his claws, and
with a snarl expired.
"You've saved my life anyhow, young gentlemen," said Fleming. "When I
felt the brute's claws on my breast, before I saw you and honest Surley
there, I thought it was all over with me."
Surley was standing over the dead body of the puma, and he seemed to
think that he had had the chief hand in killing him. We were very proud
of the trophy; and when we found that Fleming was scarcely injured,
though his clothes were somewhat torn, we were very glad that the
adventure had occurred. Fleming told us that when we did not return he
had set off to look after us; but at last, overcome again with the heat
of the sun, he had sat down and dropped asleep. It was now getting late
in the day, so after we had marked the place where the dead puma lay, we
agreed that we would return to the bottom of the valley and try and find
our companions. That we might enjoy a whole day in the mountains, it
had been arranged that we should bivouac in the valley, and not commence
our return till the following morning. We looked about for the doctor
and guides, but they were nowhere to be seen. We fired off our rifles,
but no one answered in return. We began to be anxious. Could they have
been stopped by robbers? or could any Indians have attacked them? Such
things had occurred before now, we were told. Sometimes bands of the
fierce Araucanian Indians had been known to make incursions into the
province from the south, and to attack farm-houses and even villages
among the mountains. Robbers, too, in large bands once frequented the
country, and laid contributions on all the peaceable inhabitants.
Still, since the government has been settled and order established, such
occurrences were no longer heard of. We therefore resolved that it
would be unwise to make ourselves unhappy; so, after having partaken of
some of the articles of Fleming's basket to stay our appetites, we set
to work to prepare for our encampment for the night. We fixed on a spot
under a high rock, which would shelter us from the prevailing wind; and
we then looked about for fuel with which we could light a fire. We
found a plant in great abundance, but we could not tell whether, it
would burn or not. "Try, at all events," said Fleming. We made a heap,
and put some paper and matches under it. It burned admirably, exuding a
resinous smell; and we afterwards found that it was called the _Alpinia
umbellifera_. After we had collected enough fuel for the night, we sat
ourselves down before the fire wrapped up in our cloaks, which Fleming
had been carrying for us. When enough ashes had been made, we produced
our meat and toasted some slices at the end of our ramrods.
"I say, Harry, does not this remind you of the night we spent at the
Falkland Islands?" said Jerry. "I like this bivouacking life
amazingly." I agreed with him that it was very good fun in fine
weather, but that with cold and snow, or rain, I thought we should very
likely change our tune.
"That you would, young gentlemen," observed Fleming. "Remember that
you've only seen the bright side of life as yet. There's a dark side as
well, and you should be prepared for it when it comes, otherwise you
won't be fit to meet it like men. Don't go on fancying that the sun is
always to shine on you, and that you are always to be warm and
comfortable, and to have plenty of money in your pockets, and no
troubles and sorrows, and pains and sicknesses. You'll have your share,
and it is better that you should depend on it, not to make you value
this world too much."
"I say, Fleming, don't preach--there's a good fellow!" exclaimed Jerry.
"I want just now to enjoy my slice of guanaco. I know what you say is
very true, and I'll remember and think about it by-and-by."
Fleming might have made further remarks on the subject, had not a faint
shout, as if from a distance, reached our ears. We listened. Could it
be from Indians or robbers? Jerry put his hand to the top of his head.
"Oh, my scalp!" said he; "it feels very uncomfortable already." Again
the shout reached us. We shouted in return. We had little doubt that
it was raised by the doctor and his companions. Soon they emerged out
of the darkness laden with all sorts of specimens of natural history.
We crowed over them, however, for they had not killed either a guanaco
or a puma. They could not doubt our assertions, as they had proof in
the slices of the former which we cooked for them. Fleming and Old
Surley, too, showed the marks of their encounter with the puma; and we
got great credit for having killed him. We were a very merry party as
we drew round the fire recounting our adventures; and Surley sat up
looking as wise as any of us, and if he could but have put his words
together, he would have told as good a story as any of us. At all
events, he dogfully played his part at the feast, and ate up with
evident relish all the scraps of guanaco flesh which we gave him. Mr
McRitchie was as satisfied as we were with the result of his day's
excursion; and as we had an abundant supply of everything to make the
inner man comfortable, and good cloaks to keep the outer warm, we were
all very happy. Our guide talked a good deal, though no one but Tom
Carver understood a word he said. Tom and Fleming, however, spun the
longest yarns, all about Lord Cochrane and all the wonders he had done,
and how from his daring and bravery he made the people of the country
believe that he was in league with the Evil One, if he was not rather
the Evil One himself. They gave him the name of the _Diabo_.
"No one ever deserved it less," exclaimed Fleming. "The devil, to my
mind, is cunning and cowardly, and a fool into the bargain. Resist him,
and he'll run away. Act a straightforward, honest part, and he can
never get round you. Lord Cochrane, you see, mates, was as true and
honest as steel, as brave as his sword, and so wise, that he never
undertook to do anything when he didn't see the way clear before him
that would lead to success." Tom agreed also in heartily praising their
old chief, though they were not very complimentary to the Spaniards or
to the people of Chili, whom he had come to assist.
"I say, Tom, do you mind when we were going away from Valparaiso to
attack Callao, and you and I were serving aboard the _O'Higgins_, how
that lieutenant brought the admiral's little son on board?" said
Fleming, for the purpose, I suspect, of drawing his friend out.
"Ay, that I do," answered Tom Carver. "You see the flag-lieutenant had
gone on shore for some of the admiral's traps, when he fell in with the
little chap, who wasn't more than five or six years old. `I want to go
with father,' says he. `I must go with father aboard the big ship
there. I will go.' At first the lieutenant said he couldn't take him;
but the little fellow cried out so, that he couldn't find it in his
heart to refuse him; so he lifted him up on his shoulders and carried
him away to the boat. The child shouted and crowed with pleasure,
waving his little hat above his head, just like a sucking hero as he
was. When the people saw it, they seemed as if they would grow mad with
delight, and followed him in crowds, cheering and crying out, `_Viva la
Patria_' at the top of their voices. I was one of the boat's crew, and
certainly there was something in it somehow which took our fancy
mightily. Off we pulled aboard the flag-ship, before Lady Cochrane
found out what had become of the child, and I daresay she was in a great
taking. Well, we only got aboard just as the ship was under weigh, and
he couldn't be sent on shore again. There was nothing to be done but to
take him with us. We weren't sorry to have him, for, you see, next to a
monkey, there's nothing does a ship's company more good than having a
little child to look after. The small chap had nothing but the clothes
he was dressed in. `What's to be done with him?' says the admiral.
`Why, bless ye, my lord, he'll have fifty nurses, every one as good as
the she-maids as has to look after him ashore,' answered Ben Brown, the
admiral's coxswain; `and as for clothing, the ship's tailor will rig him
out in no time.' To my mind, the admiral rather liked having the little
fellow with him. Fearless himself, he couldn't even feel fear for one
of those he loved best on earth. Young master very soon made himself at
home among us, and in a couple of days the ship's tailor had as complete
a midshipman's uniform made for him as you'd wish to see.
"We were bound, do you see, to Callao, where the admiral discovered that
a large Spanish ship was about to sail for Europe, with great treasure
aboard. Besides her, there was a Spanish squadron of considerable force
lying in the harbour, under the protection of the guns of the forts.
The admiral was up to all sorts of dodges, so he hoisted American
colours, and, as two United States' ships of war were expected with
another ship, stood in. A fog, however came on, and the _Lantaro_, one
of our squadron, parting company, his plan was defeated. However, we
fell in with a Spanish gunboat in the fog, and took her. Fogs and light
winds baffled us for some time; but the admiral was not a man to be
turned aside from what he had intended, so at last we got in before the
forts, and with springs on our cables began blazing away at them and the
fleet, of which there were altogether some fourteen vessels. Well, I
was telling you of the admiral's little son. Of course his father was
very anxious about him, for it was no child's work we were about, so he
locked him up as he fancied safe in his after-cabin. As soon, however,
as the firing began, the youngster thought he should like to see some of
the fun; so what does he do, but work his way out through the
quarter-gallery window, and find his way up on deck. `Go down below,
sir, this moment,' says the admiral when he sees him. `You'll be having
your head shot off if you stay here.' The shot was flying about us
pretty thick by that time, let me tell you. `No, no, daddy,' says he.
`Let me stay here. You stay, and de oder midshipmens stay; why
shouldn't I?' He couldn't speak quite plain yet, do you see. `Take him
below out of harm's way, one of you,' says the admiral, turning to me.
You see he had plenty to do watching the enemy and issuing orders, and
had not time to look after the boy. So as the admiral ordered, I seized
up the young gentleman, and was going to carry him off below, when he
began to kick up such a hubbub, and to kick, and scratch, and bite, it
was as hard work to hold him as it would have been to gripe a
rattlesnake. `Put me down, I say--put me down,' he sung out. `I'll not
go below. I want to stay on deck and fight the enemy.' Well, I saw
that there was no use in taking him below, because, as no one could be
spared to look after him, he would have been soon up again; besides, to
my mind, a shot finds its way into one part of a ship as well as
another. So I put him down again, and there was his little lordship as
busy as any powder-monkey, handing up the powder to the gunners. Well,
as I was saying, the shot was falling pretty thick about our ears, when
a round shot takes off the head of a marine standing close to the small
boy, scattering the brains and blood of the poor fellow right over the
small chap, almost blinding him. The admiral was looking that way. His
tall figure bent forwards. I thought he would have fallen from the
agony of his mind. He believed his child was killed. In an instant,
however, the little hero recovered himself, and dashing the blood from
his face, ran up to his lordship. `Don't be afraid, papa,' says he;
`I'm not hurt--the shot did not strike me. Tom says the ball isn't cast
that can kill mamma's boy.' That was true enough, for he'd heard some
of us say, what we believed, that he couldn't come to harm any more than
his father could. The admiral's face brightened again, when he saw that
no harm had happened to the boy. I suppose after this he thought as we
did, for he let him stay on deck during the whole action; and a pretty
sharp one it was, when I tell you we had two hundred guns firing away at
us for a couple of hours. If it hadn't been for the fog, we shouldn't
have had a stick standing at the end of it. After this we had several
brushes with the enemy.
"At last the admiral considered that it would be a great thing to take
Valdivia, a strongly-fortified place on the south of Chili, still held
by the Spaniards. We had some Chilian troops on board, and very brave
fellows they were, under a French officer. Our own officers were worth
very little, and the admiral had to look after everything himself. One
night we were off the island of Quiriquina, and he had turned in to take
a little rest, leaving the deck in charge of one of the lieutenants.
The lieutenant thought he should like a snooze, so he turned in and left
a midshipman in charge of the ship. The midshipman went to sleep, and
when he awoke he found the ship all aback. In trying to box her off he
ran her on shore, on the sharp edge of a rock, where, if there had been
any swell, she would have beaten her bottom in. Many of the people
wanted to abandon the ship; but the admiral was not a man to allow such
a thing while there was a hope of getting her off; and telling them that
they would be all murdered by the savages on the coast if they landed,
he set all hands to work at the pumps. When they came to be examined,
they were all out of repair; and as the carpenter could make no hand at
mending them, what does the admiral do but whip off his coat and set to
work with his own hands. Didn't we feel that he was a man we'd follow
through thick and thin, though we knew that pretty well before then. At
last, what with pumping and bailing, we found that the water did not
gain on us, so the stream anchor was got, and heaving on it with a will,
we once more set the old ship afloat. `Never mind, my lads,' says the
admiral; `if we can but make her swim as far as Valdivia, we shall do
very well without a ship for a time.' By that we knew he intended to
take and occupy the place. The admiral wanted to take the Spaniards by
surprise, so he shifted his flag aboard the _Intrepedo_ brig-of-war,
taking with him the _Montezuma_, a man-of-war schooner, and, in spite of
a high sea, all the troops were put on board the two vessels. You
should just see what sort of a place Valdivia is, with strong forts on
both sides of a channel not three-quarters of a mile wide. There is
only one small landing-place, called the Aquada del Ingles, with a fort
protecting it. Towards that we stood, for the surf sets so heavily on
the shore, that a boat attempting to land anywhere else would be knocked
to pieces. We had a gallant English officer in command of the troops,
Major Miller. I never saw such a fire-eater. His body was almost
riddled with shot, but he never seemed to mind; nothing sickened him of
fighting; and as soon as he got well he was as ready for work as ever.
So, as I was saying, the brig and schooner ran in and anchored close to
Fort Ingles, keeping the boats on the other side of the vessels, out of
sight. The admiral hailed the fort, and said we had lost our boats
coming round Cape Horn, and begged they would send one; but just then
one of ours drifted astern, and the Spaniards, smelling a rat, opened
fire on us. Instantly the admiral ordered the troops to land, and a
launch, with the gallant Major Miller, and some forty-four marines,
shoved off, and under a heavy shower of musket-balls, pushed for the
shore. His coxswain was wounded, and he received a shot through his
hat. On we shoved (for I was with him), and leaping on shore with loud
cheers, we drove the enemy before us at the point of the bayonet. I
forgot to tell you that when the _O'Higgins_ got on shore, we had nearly
all our powder spoiled, so that he had to depend entirely on the
bayonet. There's no better weapon to be used when Spaniards are
concerned. They can't stand it. Other boats followed, and in less than
a hour we had 300 troops landed. We waited till it was dark to begin
the attack. There was a gallant young ensign, Mr Vidal. While the
main body advanced in front, firing off their muskets, and shouting to
show the Spaniards that we were going to give them a taste of the
bayonet, he got round to the rear of the forts, and opening his fire,
the enemy got frightened, and took to their heels, while we took the
forts--which was what we had come to take. At the same time 300 more
Spaniards, who were marching into Fort Ingles, were seized with a panic,
and all fled together. The brave Chilians bayoneted them by dozens; and
when the gates of the other forts were opened to receive the fugitives,
they entered at the same time, and thus fort after fort was taken with
very little loss to us, but a good deal to the enemy. Two days after,
we attacked the forts on the other side of the water with the same
success, and then took the town of Valdivia itself, which is some little
way up the river. We found a large supply of ammunition in the place,
and I know that I got a fair share of prize-money. That Major Miller I
was telling you of was soon after this again desperately wounded in
attempting to take another fort. When he had fallen, his faithful
marines made a desperate charge, and brought him off. They were all
Chilians, it must be remembered. One of them, named Roxas, was a very
brave fellow. He was the first to land with the major, and had helped
to carry him to the beach on their retreat. Two out of three were
wounded, and when the major invited him to step into the boat, `No,
sir,' says he; `I was the first to land, and I intend to be the last to
leave the shore.' You see, young gentlemen, it is not only Englishmen
can do gallant things, and I like when I have an opportunity to praise
those with other blood in their veins.
"You'd like to know how we took the _Esmeralda_, I daresay?" said Tom.
"I told Master Harry all about that the other day," observed Fleming.
"It was a gallant thing, wasn't it?"
"But, I say, I wonder if the gentlemen over heard talk of what my lady
did? She was, for a woman, and a young, beautiful woman too, just as
brave as my lord. Well, I'll tell you. The first part I heard from a
man, a soldier, a brave, faithful fellow, who was with her; the rest I
saw myself. She, with her baby, was up the country, at a place called
Quilca, among the mountains, when, as she was at a ball at some great
man's house there, she heard that the Spaniards had made up their minds
to seize her and her infant, and to detain them as hostages. To think
with her was to act. Going quietly out of the ball-room and changing
her dress, she popped the nurse and child into a sort of palanquin, and
mounting one of her horses, and ordering out all the rest, she started
away in the middle of the night, and pushed on without stopping
anywhere, or telling any one where she was going. All that night and
all next day she travelled on, mounting another horse whenever the one
she rode grew tired. At last she arrived at a dark ravine, just a split
in the mountain some hundred feet deep, with a foaming torrent roaring
below. There was just the sort of rope bridge we had to cross
yesterday. Some of the people had gone down below to haul the horses
over, and she had sent her own horse across, when what should they hear
but the sound of the enemy's bugles. Seizing her child, she ordered the
palanquin-bearers to go over, and then followed close behind them
herself. Again the bugle sounded,--the enemy were close at hand. She
hurried on, but the movements of so many people crossing made the bridge
swing fearfully from side to side. She felt as if she must be thrown
off into the raging gulf below. More and more the bridge swung, and at
length, overcome with terror, she sank down on the narrow pathway,
clasping the infant to her breast. I've heard people say they dream of
such things. Here was the reality. The bridge continued to swing
backwards and forwards with a fearful motion, and she clung to it for
her life. It was a great risk for any one else to venture on the
bridge, but, in spite of that, Pedro, the soldier I told you of, crawled
along, and, says he in his own language, `Give me the child, my lady,
and I'll take care of it;' and crawling along with it in his arms, he
placed it in safety. Then he went back, and helped Lady Cochrane
across. Just then the advance guard of the enemy's troops appeared,
winding down the sides of the mountains. Pedro and the other men hacked
away at the bridge; the ropes parted and fell into the torrent, and her
ladyship was safe, while the Spaniards ground their teeth in vain. On
she pushed, till she reached the coast, and there she found the
admiral's ship, and came on board. We were all proud to have her; for
you see, with all her beauty, there wasn't a bit of vanity or nonsense
about her, and she would speak kind-like to any one of us, just as if we
was her equal. Soon after she came on board, the admiral heard that
there was a rich Spanish ship just about putting to sea, and a very good
sailer. He knew if she once got ahead of us we should never catch her
up, so, without waiting to land Lady Cochrane, we slipped our cables and
made sail up to where the treasure-ship and several others of the
enemy's vessels lay at anchor. We beat to quarters, and got up to them
about midnight all ready for action. We were not long in beginning the
sport, nor they in returning the compliments we paid them; for, besides
the treasure-ship, the Spaniards had some gun-boats moored under their
forts. While we were firing away, the mother, just like her little son,
wouldn't leave the deck, but stood there like any hero, animating the
men.
"After some time one of the crew of a gun, a Chilian, seemed to be
afraid of firing. What does her ladyship do, but, seizing his arm, and
guiding the match to the touch-hole, fire the gun! She thought maybe
that the man would be punished if he was observed. However, the effort
was too much for her, for you see she was but a young woman, and she
sank down on deck in a fainting fit. We thought she was wounded, and
several of us ran forward to lift her up and carry her below. It did
our hearts good to find that there was nothing really the matter with
her. When the action was over, and we had pretty well knocked the
treasure-ship and gun-boats to pieces, we returned in the morning to our
former anchorage. As we were furling sails, her ladyship came on deck
to show us she was all to rights. No sooner was the canvas stowed, than
we manned yards of our own accord, and then didn't we cheer her and the
admiral with right good will; and the whole crew, one and all, Chilians
and Englishmen, five hundred of us, burst forth with the hymn of the
Republic, praying at the end that Heaven would bless and prosper them.
She bowed more than once, but didn't say a word, and then burst into
tears.
"Ah! she was the lady who knew how to win a sailor's heart!"