“They must be well roasted, at all events,” answered Dick. “The sun won’t have been long up either before every bone will be picked clean by the galiñasos and other birds.”
“It’s mighty possible, I’m afraid, that two or three of our fellows have been caught. It will be a cruel job if they are, for though a sailor lays it to his account to get drowned now and then, he doesn’t expect to be frizzled into the bargain,” observed Pat O’Riley.
They went on joking for some time, notwithstanding the fearful scene they had gone through, and although even at that moment some of their shipmates might be lying scorched to death on the plain below them. I, however, was soon asleep, with my head on Kitty’s lap, and therefore cannot say what she and Edward Falconer talked about. All I know is, that before I closed my eyes I saw him endeavouring to shield her from the wind, which blew sharply over the knoll.
At daylight we set out, Edward and Dick insisting on carrying Kitty in a chair formed with their hands, while Pat O’Riley carried me on his shoulders.
“Well, Miss Kitty, we had given you up for lost,” exclaimed Mrs Podgers, who met us at the gangway.
It struck me, young as I was, that her address did not show much maternal affection.
“Had not Mr Falconer and some of the crew come to our rescue, the boy and I would have been probably burnt to death, but they bravely risked their lives to save ours,” answered Kitty, firmly.
A boat was sent back to look for the remainder of the men; some at length arrived, but three could not be found, though search was made for them in every direction. Some thought that they had run away, others that they had been destroyed by the flames. A portion of one ox only was brought on board, but the captain would not wait to obtain more, and having filled up the water-casks, the Dolphin again sailed to go round Cape Horn.
We had got very nearly up to the southern end of America, when we met a gale blowing directly against us, which sent us back far away to the eastward and southward. The wind, however, again coming fair, we ran before it under all sail to make up for lost time.
Finding Dick’s berth empty one evening after it was dark, and not feeling inclined to sleep, I crept up on deck to be with him, as I had been accustomed to do in more genial latitudes. I found him on the look-out on the forecastle.