“In two days, by an observation made, we found that we were well to the westward of the south coast of America, and the wind veering round to the south, we kept away on a northerly course. Every day, as we got into more temperate latitudes, the weather became finer and warmer, and the spirits of the seamen rose proportionably, though they were not the men they would have been in the natural course of things. They had plenty of work to do, which kept their minds employed, in preparing for our visit to the Spanish coast; we got up the remainder of the guns from the hold and shipped them on their carriages, we sent up topgallant masts and yards, got out the flying jib-boom, and repaired the damages we had received in the gale. The carpenters also set to work to build a boat to supply the place of the one we had lost; while the captain and supercargo made arrangements for their transactions on the coast.
“I am not giving you extracts from my log, so that I need only tell you that about a month was consumed in successful trading with the Spaniards, in spite of the men-of-war on the look out for us at sea, and the custom-house officers and soldiers sent to intercept us in shore. We touched, I remember, at Conception, Coquimbo, Huasco, Point Negra, and other places on the coast of Chili.
“At last the vigilance of the Spanish authorities being completely aroused, it was thought better to keep away from the shore for a short time, to throw them off their guard. Captain Derick accordingly determined to visit a group of islands some distance to the westward, to lay in a stock of turtle, with which those islands abound. I think they were the Gallipagos, but as we never reached them, I am not certain. The Pacific is very properly so called, but when the wind does take it into its head to blow, then it makes up for its general idleness. The weather had long continued calm and beautiful, and everything went well on board. Captain Derick once more laughed and joked, and his wife looked happy and contented. Not satisfied, however, to let things alone, he must bring up the subject of the old witch again, and declared that the whole story, from first to last, was trumped up by the crew, and that neither he nor any one else on board had ever set eyes on her since the day we left Liverpool. How he could venture on such assertions I don’t know, but he wanted to persuade others of what he wished to believe himself.
“The evening was beautifully calm and serene: it put me in mind of the one we had before the night on which we had lost our masts off the coast of Brazil, only this was calmer and warmer. Not a breath of air was felt, the sails hung listlessly down against the masts, the sea was smooth as a polished mirror, and the sky of the purest blue; the atmosphere, notwithstanding the warmth, was pleasant, and every one on board was in good spirits. As the night drew on, however, the air became more stagnant, the heat increased, and as there was not even a swell moving the bosom of the Pacific, the dead silence which prevailed became absolutely oppressive.
“The captain and his wife were sitting aft and leaning against the taffrail with their hands clasped in each other’s, for they were as fond now as when they were bride and bridegroom; the work of the day was over, and the crew were lying listlessly about the decks, not even amusing themselves with talking as usual. I do not believe a person on board had uttered a word for a quarter of an hour. I never felt so complete a silence; when on a sudden it was broken by a loud, piercing, derisive cackle, sounding close under our quarter. Every one knew the voice, and as we sprang up and looked over the bulwarks, we saw, as we expected, the old witch, gliding along the smooth sea, and taking a course directly ahead of us, while she howled and jeered, and pointed with her staff just as she had done before.
“The captain saw her too. ‘Damn her!’ he exclaimed, fiercely; ‘what does she want here?’
“The words were scarcely out of his mouth, when an answer was given back which fully accounted for her presence. Right astern there appeared, where a moment before the sky had been of beautiful blue, a cloud black as ink, spreading across the whole eastern horizon. We all saw what was coming—the men instinctively sprang to the brails.
”‘Clew up, haul down, let fly everything!’ shouted the captain.
“It was too late: before a tack could be let go, or a brail hauled on, the fierce hurricane struck us. In a moment, ere we could look round, the stout ship heeled over, and trembled in every timber. Crash upon crash was heard, mingled with the shrieks of the seamen, and she was left without a mast standing, a mere hull upon the water. Derick was the most undaunted, though he must have felt on whose account all these disasters were happening. He sprang up with an axe in his hand, and summoning the crew, set to work to cut away the shrouds to clear the shattered spars from the ship. It was done, and the ship drove furiously on before the howling blast.
”‘We shall ride it out and disappoint the accursed old hag; so never mind, my boys!’ he shouted, as he worked away.