The little party remained around the fire for quite a while, talking of the storm and drying their clothing. Then the blaze was kicked into the water and they boarded the sloop once more.
“Are you quite sure we won’t have any more squalls?” asked Sam, of the native boatman.
“Storm gone now—no come back to-night,” answered Salvador.
Once aboard of the sloop the course was straight for Maracaibo. But the wind had gone down and it was not until after sunrise that they ran into the harbor and landed.
“Well, I guess you won’t forget Lake Maracaibo in a hurry,” said Mark to Sam, as they walked to their hotel.
“You’re right I won’t,” was the reply. “One such adventure is enough in a lifetime.”
They were just in time for breakfast and never did a meal taste better for, as Darry expressed it, “they were all as hungry as Tomcats locked out for the summer.” An hour was spent at the hotel and then they hurried away to catch the steamer back to La Guayra.
“I’m going to take a nap when I get on board,” said Mark, and this he did, and the others followed his example. They slept for several hours and did not stir until the steamer ran into the harbor of Puerto Cabello, situated directly north of Valencia, and thirty miles by railroad from that city.
“Puerto Cabello means the Port of the Hair,” explained Professor Strong. “The harbor is so safe that it was said in olden times that a ship could be anchored here by a single hair. This used to be a terrible spot for yellow fever, and Sir Francis Drake died here of the scourge, after capturing and looting Caracas and other cities in Queen Elizabeth’s time.”
Puerto Cabello is one of the most important seaports of Venezuela. Vessels from many countries stop there, bringing in goods of all sorts and taking away cargoes of coffee and cocoa in exchange. The long warehouses of importers and exporters line the docks and not far away is the railroad running to Valencia and other points of more or less importance. The public buildings are numerous and the usual statues of Bolivar and other public characters are not lacking. From Puerto Cabello to Valencia there is a well-built wagon road and this is used constantly by traders who are too old-fashioned to use the railroad.