ergetic Botello and his companions had encountered too
many dangers to be frightened at the perils of a run across the Gulf,
and the resolution was adopted to give the Portuguese fleet, by the aid
of St. Francis, the go-by in the open sea.

The run was successfully achieved; not, however, without many weary days
at the oar, and many an appeal to St. Francis for favoring winds, and
for aid in the sudden tornadoes which frequently threatened to ingulf
them. Cape de Verd was reached; the barren shore of the great desert was
passed, with but a single stoppage in the Rio del Ouro--a slender arm of
the sea setting up a few miles into the sands of Sahara. Here a few
dates and some barley cakes were purchased of a family of wandering
Arabs; and again putting to sea, the shores of Morocco were cautiously
coasted. Without further adventure, but not without further suffering,
and labor, and danger, the short remaining distance was passed. The head
of the Straits of Gibraltar--the headlands of Spain--the southern point
of Algarve, successively came in sight; and then the smiling mouth of
the golden Tagus greeted their longing eyes.

And thus was happily finished this wonderful voyage--a voyage which, if
performed in the present day, with all the means and appliances of
navigation, would excite the admiration of the world, but which, under
the circumstances of the age, the prejudices and ignorance of the
voyageurs, and the imperfect state of maritime science, may truly be
considered the most astonishing upon record. It must be observed, too,
that this was no involuntary boat expedition--no desperate alternative
of some foundering ship's crew--but the deliberate, carefully considered
project of an experienced sailor; and that the hardihood evinced in its
conception was surpassed by the resolution, perseverance, and skill,
with which it was conducted to its end.

The presence of Botello was soon known to his friends; and the rumor
spread through the city that an Indian fleet had arrived off the mouth
of the Tagus. It reached the court, so that upon his application for an
audience of the king, he found no detention except from the curiosity of
the courtiers and ministers; which, however, he resolutely refused to
satisfy, until he had communicated his news to the royal ear.

Botello exhibited his copy of the convention with Badur, king of
Cambaya, and the plans of the fort which was being erected at Diu, and
related the history of hi