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Page 65
CHAPTER EIGHT
IN WHICH MRS. HEARTFREE CONTINUES THE RELATION OF HER ADVENTURES.
The first evening after we were aboard this vessel, which was a
brigantine, we being then at no very great distance from the
Madeiras, the most violent storm arose from the northwest, in
which we presently lost both our masts; and indeed death now
presented itself as inevitable to us: I need not tell my Tommy
what were then my thoughts. Our danger was so great that the
captain of the ship, a professed atheist, betook himself to
prayers, and the whole crew, abandoning themselves for lost, fell
with the utmost eagerness to the emptying a cask of brandy, not
one drop of which they swore should be polluted with salt water. I
observed here my old friend displayed less courage than I expected
from him. He seemed entirely swallowed up in despair. But Heaven
be praised! we were all at last preserved. The storm, after above
eleven hours' continuance, began to abate, and by degrees entirely
ceased, but left us still rolling at the mercy of the waves, which
carried us at their own pleasure to the south-east a vast number
of leagues. Our crew were all dead drunk with the brandy which
they had taken such care to preserve from the sea; but, indeed,
had they been awake, their labour would have been of very little
service, as we had lost all our rigging, our brigantine being
reduced to a naked hulk only. In this condition we floated above
thirty hours, till in the midst of a very dark night we spied a
light, which seeming to approach us, grew so large that our
sailors concluded it to be the lantern of a man of war; but when
we were cheering ourselves with the hopes of our deliverance from
this wretched situation, on a sudden, to our great concern, the
light entirely disappeared, and left us in despair encreased by
the remembrance of those pleasing imaginations with which we had
entertained our minds during its appearance. The rest of the night
we passed in melancholy conjectures on the light which had
deserted us, which the major part of the sailors concluded to be a
meteor. In this distress we had one comfort, which was a plentiful
store of provisions; this so supported the spirits of the sailors,
that they declared had they but a sufficient quantity of brandy
they cared not whether they saw land for a month to come; but
indeed we were much nearer it than we imagined, as we perceived at
break of day. One of the most knowing of the crew declared we were
near the continent of Africa; but when we were within three
leagues of it a second violent storm arose from the north, so that
we again gave over all hopes of safety. This storm was not quite
so outrageous as the former, but of much longer continuance, for
it lasted near three days, and drove us an immense number of
leagues to the south. We were within a league of the shore,
expecting every moment our ship to be dashed in pieces, when the
tempest ceased all on a sudden; but the waves still continued to
roll like mountains, and before the sea recovered its calm motion,
our ship was thrown so near the land, that the captain ordered out
his boat, declaring he had scarce any hopes of saving her; and
indeed we had not quitted her many minutes before we saw the
justice of his apprehensions, for she struck against a rock and
immediately sunk. The behaviour of the sailors on this occasion
very much affected me; they beheld their ship perish with the
tenderness of a lover or a parent; they spoke of her as the
fondest husband would of his wife; and many of them, who seemed to
have no tears in their composition, shed them plentifully at her
sinking. The captain himself cried out, 'Go thy way, charming
Molly, the sea never devoured a lovelier morsel. If I have fifty
vessels I shall never love another like thee. Poor slut! I shall
remember thee to my dying day.' Well, the boat now conveyed us all
safe to shore, where we landed with very little difficulty. It was
now about noon, and the rays of the sun, which descended almost
perpendicular on our heads, were extremely hot and troublesome.
However, we travelled through this extreme heat about five miles
over a plain. This brought us to a vast wood, which extended
itself as far as we could see, both to the right and left, and
seemed to me to put an entire end to our progress. Here we decreed
to rest and dine on the provision which we had brought from the
ship, of which we had sufficient for very few meals; our boat
being so overloaded with people that we had very little room for
luggage of any kind. Our repast was salt pork broiled, which the
keenness of hunger made so delicious to my companions that they
fed very heartily upon it. As for myself, the fatigue of my body
and the vexation of my mind had so thoroughly weakened me, that I
was almost entirely deprived of appetite; and the utmost dexterity
of the most accomplished French cook would have been ineffectual
had he endeavoured to tempt me with delicacies. I thought myself
very little a gainer by my late escape from the tempest, by which
I seemed only to have exchanged the element in which I was
presently to die. When our company had sufficiently, and indeed
very plentifully feasted themselves, they resolved to enter the
wood and endeavour to pass it, in expectation of finding some
inhabitants, at least some provision. We proceeded therefore in
the following order: one man in the front with a hatchet, to clear
our way, and two others followed him with guns, to protect the
rest from wild beasts; then walked the rest of our company, and
last of all the captain himself, being armed likewise with a gun,
to defend us from any attack behind--in the rear, I think you call
it. And thus our whole company, being fourteen in number,
travelled on till night overtook us, without seeing anything
unless a few birds and some very insignificant animals. We rested
all night under the covert of some trees, and indeed we very
little wanted shelter at that season, the heat in the day being
the only inclemency we had to combat with in this climate. I
cannot help telling you my old friend lay still nearest me on the
ground, and declared he would be my protector should any of the
sailors offer rudeness; but I can acquit them of any such attempt;
nor was I ever affronted by any one, more than with a coarse
expression, proceeding rather from the roughness and ignorance of
their education than from any abandoned principle, or want of
humanity.
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