Francisco Bay have abandoned her--gone off to the gold-diggings!
Arriving in the heat of the _placer-fever_, they preferred seeking
fortune with pick, shovel, and pan, to handling tarry ropes at ten
dollars a month. Almost on the instant of the ship's dropping anchor
they deserted to a man, leaving her skipper to himself, or with only his
cook for a companion.

Neither is the latter Chilian, but African--a native of Zanzibar. No
more the two great monkeys, observed gambolling about the deck; for the
climate of Chili, lying outside the equatorial belt, is too cold for
indigenous _quadrumana_.

Not much appearing upon the _Condor_ would proclaim her a South American
ship; and nothing in her cargo, for a cargo she carries. She has just
arrived from a trading voyage to the South Sea Isles, extending to the
Indian Archipelago, whence her lading--a varied assortment, consisting
of tortoise-shell, spices, mother-of-pearl, Manilla cigars, and such
other commodities as may be collected among the Oriental islands. Hence
also the _myas_ monkeys--better known as orang-outangs--seen playing
about her deck. These she has brought from Borneo.

Only a small portion of her freight had been consigned to San Francisco;
this long ago landed. The rest remains in her hold for further
transport to Valparaiso.

How soon she may arrive there, or take departure from her present
anchorage, is a question that even her skipper cannot answer. If asked,
he would most probably reply, "_Quien sabe_?" and, further pressed,
might point to her deserted decks, offering that as an explanation of
his inability to satisfy the inquirer.

Her captain--Antonio Lantanas by name--is a sailor of the
Spanish-American type; and being this, he takes crosses and
disappointments coolly. Even the desertion of his crew seems scarcely
to have ruffled him; he bears it with a patient resignation, that would
be quite incomprehensible to either English or Yankee skipper. With a
broad-brimmed _jipi-japa_ hat shading his swarth features from the sun,
he lounges all day long upon the quarterdeck, his elbows usually rested
upon the capstan-head; his sole occupation rolling and smoking paper
cigarritos, one of which is usually either in his fingers, or between
his lips. If he at any time varies this, it is to eat his meals, or to
take a turn at play with his pet monkeys.

These creatures are male and female, both full of fun in their uncouth
fashion; and Captain L