He moaned heavily, and the Spanish oarsmen looked at each other, and then at me, with eyes the reverse of friendly in expression; but now Hislop seated himself, assumed the tiller-lines, and said, in their own language,—
"Shove off for the ship, marineros. We must have the wounds of this picaro looked to at once; so give way with a will."
The boat's head fell round, her stern lay to the beach of that detested island of Alphonso, and the sturdy Espanoles, with their bare feet planted firmly on the stretchers, bent their backs at every stroke, and made the boat fly through the moon-lit bay, toward the ship, which lay more than a mile distant outside the coral reef.
In a few minutes I related to Hislop, how my time had been spent since his departure, and how I had feared that the desperate sequel of to-night would assuredly ensue when Antonio found a ship off the island.
"He will dangle from the yard-arm now, if ever a rascally pirate swung there!" said Hislop, through his clenched teeth.
After my loneliness on the island, I cannot describe how pleasant his voice—the voice of a valued and trusted friend—sounded in my ear!
He told me that the boat's crew soon repented of their selfishness and folly in leaving the island, and next day would have returned, but they had lost all idea of its bearings, and being without compass or chart, were compelled to run in what they believed to be the direction of Tristan da Cunha.
A sea half swamped the boat, and washing away the tarpaulin which covered the bread-bags, soaked and destroyed their contents; yet, having no other food, they were compelled to eat these salt-sodden biscuits, and thus their thirst became excited to agony, as they were under a vertical sun, and their supply of fresh water was rapidly consumed.
For six days and nights they endured unspeakable misery; and just when they were sucking the last putrid drops from the barrel-staves, a large vessel hove in sight, running due west, under a cloud of canvas. She saw their signal, bore down, and picked them up.
She proved to be the San Ildefonso, a Spanish merchant-ship of sixteen hundred tons, bound from Java to Cadiz, with a mixed crew of Spaniards and Lascars, and with a few cabin passengers; in all about sixty souls.