These vexatious circumstances, and the prospect of an approaching
revolution, that threatened to be a bloody one, completely changed his
sentiments with regard to all South American governments, and he
bitterly regretted having sent for his daughter to join him.
It was too late now to remedy that mis-step; but he determined, as soon
as she arrived, to re-embark for England as soon as possible, and in
consequence he lost no time in disposing of his merchandize, and
transmitting his funds to the coast, and thence to the spirit-room of a
British frigate. Having thus "set his house in order," and adjusted his
Chilian books, he left St. Jago, and took up his abode for the time
being in Valparaiso, waiting impatiently for the arrival of the Hyperion
and Avon, that were now daily expected.
CHAPTER VI.
Finally, my dear hearers.
OLD SERMONS.
Nothing material occurred to the good brig Avon after parting company,
as aforesaid, with her consort, the Hyperion; a circumstance that I
regret not a little, as it deprives me of my only chance for describing
a storm at sea. They only experienced one tornado, and fifteen gales of
wind, before joining the other ship. The tornado was no great things
after all--the brig ran merrily before it, under a reefed foresail and
close-reefed main-topsail. The crew were all on deck during the whole
night it lasted, in case of their services being required. But the
females below had by far the worst of it--they were "turned in" to
berths that the ship-joiner had built with reference rather to the
accommodation of an able-bodied man, than a delicate young lady; and in
consequence, poor Julia was dashed first against the vessel's side, and
then against the front berth-board, as the brig rolled gunwales under at
every motion, till she began to think with the Frenchman, that she
"should get some sleeps, no, not never." In this dilemma she thought of
taking her maid, Miss Dorothea Hastings, into the berth with her, where
the two females, operating mutually as "checks" to each other,
eventually made out a very passable night's rest. As for the gales of
wind, they were the merest flea-bites in creation, though one of them
borrowed the brig's fore-topmast, and another walked away with her
jib-boom.
During this period, Benavidas had been taken a second time; and as his
captors did not choose to risk shooting him again, which they had
already practised upon him once without success, they hanged him. His
gang were nearly all killed or taken at the same time, and the prisoners
summarily dealt with.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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