ed to fill their jars, a storm came up
which prevented them from returning to the ship. The wind grew so
violent that the ship itself was forced to sail out into the open sea.
About noon, Ringrose and his companions tried to follow the ship, but
were driven back upon the shore by a raging sea. Early in the evening
they tried a second time, and got some little distance from land, but
the waves were so violent that they were forced to throw overboard all
their jars of water to lighten their boats. Even then they were unable
to reach their ship, but went ashore in the darkness and hauled up their
canoes. They were unable to rest where they landed because of the great
numbers of noisy seals that troubled them exceedingly. Therefore they
went higher up into the islands, kindled a fire and spent a wet, hungry
and uncomfortable night. All about them were the nests and roosting
places of a multitude of birds, one of which fell down into their fire
and was killed. Early the next morning they put to sea again, and
finally found their ship half a league from them at anchor in a bay
which furnished them a better anchorage than any they had previously
discovered. More days were spent in taking on water, chopping wood,
catching fish and killing goats. Terrible storms struck them, and the
death of one of their mates made the stay an unhappy one.

Here they were told the story of a man who was cast upon this island,
the only one saved from a large ship, and who lived five years there
before any one came to carry him off. This was probably Alexander
Selkirk, from whose adventures on the island Defoe wrote his _Robinson
Crusoe_. Ringrose tells us that he on a trip into the island one day
found cut in the bark of a tree a cross with several letters beside it,
and that on the same tree he cut his own name with a cross above it. On
the twelfth of January, seeing three ships which appeared to be
men-of-war sailing toward them, they hurriedly left the island,
abandoning there one of their Indian allies because he could not be
found in time. Thus a second Man Friday was deposited upon Robinson
Crusoe's island.

[Illustration: A CROSS WITH SEVERAL LETTERS BESIDE IT]

While at the island, some of the buccaneers mutinied, deposed Captain
Sharp, and chose Watling to be their commander. When they left the
island they went directly to the coast and made a second attempt upon
the town of Arica, but they were beaten off with a great loss of men,
am