ttered and wayworn,
to the summit of a steep descent, and looked below me on the sea. About
all the coast, the surf, roused by the tornado of the night, beat with a
particular fury and made a fringe of snow. Close at my feet I saw a
haven, set in precipitous and palm-crowned bluffs of rock. Just outside,
a ship was heaving on the surge, so trimly sparred, so glossily painted,
so elegant and _point-device_ in every feature, that my heart was seized
with admiration. The English colours blew from her masthead; and, from
my high station, I caught glimpses of her snowy planking, as she rolled
on the uneven deep, and saw the sun glitter on the brass of her deck
furniture. There, then, was my ship of refuge; and of all my
difficulties only one remained: to get on board of her.

Half an hour later, I issued at last out of the woods on the margin of a
cove, into whose jaws the tossing and blue billows entered, and along
whose shores they broke with a surprising loudness. A wooded promontory
hid the yacht; and I had walked some distance round the beach, in what
appeared to be a virgin solitude, when my eye fell on a boat, drawn into
a natural harbour, where it rocked in safety, but deserted. I looked
about for those who should have manned her; and presently, in the
immediate entrance of the wood, spied the red embers of a fire and,
stretched around in various attitudes, a party of slumbering mariners.
To these I drew near: most were black, a few white; but all were dressed
with the conspicuous decency of yachtsmen; and one, from his peaked cap
and glittering buttons, I rightly divined to be an officer. Him, then, I
touched upon the shoulder. He started up; the sharpness of his movement
woke the rest; and they all stared upon me in surprise.

"What do you want?" inquired the officer.

"To go on board the yacht," I answered.

I thought they all seemed disconcerted at this; and the officer, with
something of sharpness, asked me who I was. Now I had determined to
conceal my name until I met Sir George; and the first name that rose to
my lips was that of the Senora Mendizabal. At the word, there went a
shock about the little party of seamen; the negroes stared at me with
indescribable eagerness, the whites themselves with something of a
scared surprise; and instantly the spirit of mischief prompted me to
add: "And if the name is new to your ears, call me Metamnbogu."

I had never seen an effect so wonderful. The negroes threw thei