three hundred persons, who had escaped out
of the galleys. He immediately had the vessel he intended to discharge
brought alongside, and had its guns brought on board. Then making a
short speech to the Christians, he ordered them to pass into the
discharged vessel, where they found stores enough for more than a month
and for a greater number of people; and as they embarked he gave each of
them four Spanish crowns, which he sent for to his own ship, in order
partly to relieve their wants when they reached land, which was not far
off; for the lofty mountains of Abyla and Calpe were in sight. They all
thanked him heartily for his generous behaviour, and when they were
nearly all embarked, the same person who had first spoken to him from
the deck of the ship, addressed him, "You would do me a greater service,
valorous sir, in taking me with you to England than in sending me to
Spain; for, though it is my country, and it is but six days since I left
it, I have nothing to look for there but grief and desolation.

"You must know, senor, that at the sack of Cadiz which happened about
fifteen years ago, I lost a daughter, whom the English carried away with
them to England, and with her I lost the comfort of my age and the light
of my eyes, which since she passed from their sight, have never seen
anything to gladden them. Grief for this calamity and for the loss of
my property, of which I was also despoiled, so overcame me that I was no
longer able or willing to apply myself to commerce, in which I had been
so successful that I was commonly reputed to be the richest merchant in
our whole city; and so indeed I was, for, besides my credit, which was
good for many hundred thousand dollars, my estate was worth more than
fifty thousand ducats. I lost all; yet all my losses would have been
nothing had I not lost my daughter. After the general calamity and my
own, want pressed me so hard, that not being able to bear up against it,
myself and my wife--that woe-begone creature sitting yonder--determined
to emigrate to the Indies, the common refuge of the well-born poor. We
embarked six days ago in a packet-ship, but just outside the harbour of
Cadiz we were captured by those two corsairs. This was a new addition to
our affliction; but it would have been greater had not the corsair taken
this Portuguese ship, which fortunately detained them until you came to
our rescue."

In reply to Richard's question what was his daughter's name, the
Sp