CHAPTER EIGHT IN WHICH MRS. HEARTFREE CONTINUES THE RELATION OF HER ADVENTURES.
The first evening after we were aboard this vessel, which was abrigantine, we being then at no very great distance from theMadeiras, the most violent storm arose from the northwest, inwhich we presently lost both our masts; and indeed death nowpresented itself as inevitable to us: I need not tell my Tommywhat were then my thoughts. Our danger was so great that thecaptain of the ship, a professed atheist, betook himself toprayers, and the whole crew, abandoning themselves for lost, fellwith the utmost eagerness to the emptying a cask of brandy, notone drop of which they swore should be polluted with salt water. Iobserved here my old friend displayed less courage than I expectedfrom him. He seemed entirely swallowed up in despair. But Heavenbe praised! we were all at last preserved. The storm, after aboveeleven hours' continuance, began to abate, and by degrees entirelyceased, but left us still rolling at the mercy of the waves, whichcarried us at their own pleasure to the south-east a vast numberof leagues. Our crew were all dead drunk with the brandy whichthey had taken such care to preserve from the sea; but, indeed,had they been awake, their labour would have been of very littleservice, as we had lost all our rigging, our brigantine beingreduced to a naked hulk only. In this condition we floated abovethirty hours, till in the midst of a very dark night we spied alight, which seeming to approach us, grew so large that oursailors concluded it to be the lantern of a man of war; but whenwe were cheering ourselves with the hopes of our deliverance fromthis wretched situation, on a sudden, to our great concern, thelight entirely disappeared, and left us in despair encreased bythe remembrance of those pleasing imaginations with which we hadentertained our minds during its appearance. The rest of the nightwe passed in melancholy conjectures on the light which haddeserted us, which the major part of the sailors concluded to be ameteor. In this distress we had one comfort, which was a plentifulstore of provisions; this so supported the spirits of the sailors,that they declared had they but a sufficient quantity of brandythey cared not whether they saw land for a month to come; butindeed we were much nearer it than we imagined, as we perceived atbreak of day. One of the most knowing of the crew declared we werenear the continent of Africa; but when we were within threeleagues of it a second violent storm arose from the north, so thatwe again gave over all hopes of safety. This storm was not quiteso outrageous as the former, but of much longer continuance, forit lasted near three days, and drove us an immense number ofleagues to the south. We were within a league of the shore,expecting every moment our ship to be dashed in pieces, when thetempest ceased all on a sudden; but the waves still continued toroll like mountains, and before the sea recovered its calm motion,our ship was thrown so near the land, that the captain ordered outhis boat, declaring he had scarce any hopes of saving her; andindeed we had not quitted her many minutes before we saw thejustice of his apprehensions, for she struck against a rock andimmediately sunk. The behaviour of the sailors on this occasionvery much affected me; they beheld their ship perish with thetenderness of a lover or a parent; they spoke of her as thefondest husband would of his wife; and many of them, who seemed tohave no tears in their composition, shed them plentifully at hersinking. The captain himself cried out, 'Go thy way, charmingMolly, the sea never devoured a lovelier morsel. If I have fiftyvessels I shall never love another like thee. Poor slut! I shallremember thee to my dying day.' Well, the boat now conveyed us allsafe to shore, where we landed with very little difficulty. It wasnow about noon, and the rays of the sun, which descended almostperpendicular on our heads, were extremely hot and troublesome.However, we travelled through this extreme heat about five milesover a plain. This brought us to a vast wood, which extendeditself as far as we could see, both to the right and left, andseemed to me to put an entire end to our progress. Here we decreedto rest and dine on the provision which we had brought from theship, of which we had sufficient for very few meals; our boatbeing so overloaded with people that we had very little room forluggage of any kind. Our repast was salt pork broiled, which thekeenness of hunger made so delicious to my companions that theyfed very heartily upon it. As for myself, the fatigue of my bodyand the vexation of my mind had so thoroughly weakened me, that Iwas almost entirely deprived of appetite; and the utmost dexterityof the most accomplished French cook would have been ineffectualhad he endeavoured to tempt me with delicacies. I thought myselfvery little a gainer by my late escape from the tempest, by whichI seemed only to have exchanged the element in which I waspresently to die. When our company had sufficiently, and indeedvery plentifully feasted themselves, they resolved to enter thewood and endeavour to pass it, in expectation of finding someinhabitants, at least some provision. We proceeded therefore inthe following order: one man in the front with a hatchet, to clearour way, and two others followed him with guns, to protect therest from wild beasts; then walked the rest of our company, andlast of all the captain himself, being armed likewise with a gun,to defend us from any attack behind--in the rear, I think you callit. And thus our whole company, being fourteen in number,travelled on till night overtook us, without seeing anythingunless a few birds and some very insignificant animals. We restedall night under the covert of some trees, and indeed we verylittle wanted shelter at that season, the heat in the day beingthe only inclemency we had to combat with in this climate. Icannot help telling you my old friend lay still nearest me on theground, and declared he would be my protector should any of thesailors offer rudeness; but I can acquit them of any such attempt;nor was I ever affronted by any one, more than with a coarseexpression, proceeding rather from the roughness and ignorance oftheir education than from any abandoned principle, or want ofhumanity.