I hadn't an uncomfortable moment, after I got outside of the
reef again; and the happiest hour of my life was that in which I saw
the tree-tops of the island dip."
"And how long were you navigating in this manner, and what land did
you first make?"
"Seven weeks, though I made half a dozen islands, every one of them
just such a looking object as that I had left. You weren't about to
catch me ashore again in any of them miserable places! I gave the old
boat a slap, and promised to stick by her as long as she would stick
by me, and I kept my word. I saw savages, moreover, on one or two of
the islands, and gave them a berth, having no fancy for being
barbacued."
"And where did you finally make your land-fall?"
"Nowhere, so; far as the launch was concerned. I fell in with a
Manilla ship, bound to Valparaiso, and got on board her; and sorry
enough was I for the change, when I came to find out how they
lived. The captain took me in, however, and I worked my passage into
port. Finding no ship likely to sail soon, I entered with a native who
was about to cross the Andes, bound over on this side, for the east
coast. Don't you remember, Miles, monsters of mountains that we could
see, a bit inland, and covered with snow, all along the west side of
South America? You must remember the chaps I mean?"
"Certainly--they are much too plain, and objects much too striking,
ever to be forgotten, when once seen.
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