“As soon as the sailor was able to give an account of himself and his fellow-sufferers, we learned that they were the survivors of the ship Falcon, Captain Pentecost, homeward bound from Havana to Liverpool, and foundered in the late equinoctial storm, when in latitude this and that, and longitude so and so; never mind the figures, they are forgotten long ago, even if they were ever exactly known, which is doubtful.
“The crew and passengers of the wrecked ship had left it in two boats and on a raft. The captain had taken command of the first boat, the first mate of the second boat, and the second mate of the raft.
“The sailor could give no account of the fate of either boat after they had left the wreck.
“On the raft besides himself, Zebedee Wyvil, second mate of the Falcon, who was in command, there were seven common seamen and three passengers; these passengers being Señor Don Alphonzo Zuniga and his wife and child.
“A sad story could be told of the long sufferings and terrible deaths of these shipwrecked victims, but it would not only be quite useless, but altogether too heart-rending. Besides which, tragedy is both unpleasant and unprofitable, except to the performers on the stage, with an audience of two thousand persons, averaging a dollar a head.
“In brief, all the passengers on the raft perished from want and exposure, except the sailor, whose strong vitality sustained him, and the child, for whose sake all had denied themselves from the beginning.
“You may be sure that the captain and the crew of the Polly Ann were very much interested in the story of the shipwrecked sailor and the child. The captain gave Zebedee Wyvil a berth as soon as he was able to handle a rope; and one and another talked of adopting the little Spanish waif. But Zebedee Wyvil informed all and sundry that the child was his own treasure trove, and that he should keep it until it should be claimed by those, if any such lived, who should have a better right to it than himself.
“Certainly no one on the Polly Ann ventured after that to dispute Wyvil’s possession of the little Zuniga.
“In due time the Polly Ann reached New York, discharged her cargo of linen, tartan, Paisley shawls, and so forth; loaded with another cargo of tobacco and cotton, and cleared for Glasgow, Zebedee Wyvil going as third mate, and taking with him his treasure trove, to which arrangement no one, under the circumstances, objected.
“In due time also the Polly Ann reached Glasgow, and there Mate Wyvil, who had only engaged for the homeward voyage, left the ship, taking his little Spanish boy with him.