atives' signal-fires, which blazed up now on all sides. Clouds flew
over the mountain from the west all day; at night my good east wind
failed, and in its stead a gale from the west soon came on. I gained
anchorage at twelve o'clock that night, under the lee of a little
island, and then prepared myself a cup of coffee, of which I was
sorely in need; for, to tell the truth, hard beating in the heavy
squalls and against the current had told on my strength. Finding that
the anchor held, I drank my beverage, and named the place Coffee
Island. It lies to the south of Charles Island, with only a narrow
channel between.

[Illustration: Looking west from Fortescue Bay, where the _Spray_ was
chased by Indians. (From a photograph.)]

By daylight the next morning the _Spray_ was again under way, beating
hard; but she came to in a cove in Charles Island, two and a half
miles along on her course. Here she remained undisturbed two days,
with both anchors down in a bed of kelp. Indeed, she might have
remained undisturbed indefinitely had not the wind moderated; for
during these two days it blew so hard that no boat could venture out
on the strait, and the natives being away to other hunting-grounds,
the island anchorage was safe. But at the end of the fierce wind-storm
fair weather came; then I got my anchors, and again sailed out upon
the strait.

Canoes manned by savages from Fortescue now came in pursuit. The wind
falling light, they gained on me rapidly till coming within hail, when
they ceased paddling, and a bow-legged savage stood up and called to
me, "Yammerschooner! yammerschooner!" which is their begging term. I
said, "No!" Now, I was not for letting on that I was alone, and so I
stepped into the cabin, and, passing through the hold, came out at the
fore-scuttle, changing my clothes as I went along. That made two men.
Then the piece of bowsprit which I had sawed off at Buenos Aires, and
which I had still on board, I arranged forward on the lookout, dressed
as a seaman, attaching a line by which I could pull it into motion.
That made three of us, and we didn't want to "yammerschooner"; but for
all that the savages came on faster than before. I saw that besides
four at the paddles in the canoe nearest to me, there were others in
the bottom, and that they were shifting hands often. At eighty yards I
fired a shot across the bows of the nearest canoe, at which they all
stopped, but only for a moment. Seeing that they persisted