Fernandez, and, as I saw its
wood-covered heights rising out of the blue ocean, I could not help
longing to go on shore and visit the scenes I had read about in Robinson
Crusoe. I told old Tom about my wish. Something more like a smile than
I had ever yet seen, rose on his countenance. "I doubt, Jack, that you
would find any traces of the hero you are so fond of," he observed; "I
believe once upon a time an Englishman did live there, left by one of
the ships of Commodore Anson's squadron, but that was long ago, and the
Spaniards have turned it into a prison, something like our Norfolk
Island."

STORY ONE, CHAPTER 5.

We, however, did call off another island in the neighbourhood, called
Massafuera, to obtain a supply of wood and water. The ship was hove-to,
and the pinnace and jolly-boat were sent on shore with casks. I was
anxious to go, but old Tom kept me back. "You stay where you are,
Jack," he said, "or the skipper may play you some trick. It's a
dangerous place to land at, you are sure of a wetting, and may lose your
life in going through the surf."

In the evening, when the party returned, I found this to be the case.
Still, I might have been tempted, I think, to run off and let the ship
sail away without me, as I heard that there were plenty of goats on the
island, abundance of water, and that the vegetation was very rich.

It is also an exceedingly picturesque spot, the mountains rising
abruptly from the sea, surrounded by a narrow strip of beach. Those who
went on shore had also caught a large quantity of fish, of various
sorts, as well as lobsters and crabs, which supplied all hands for
several days.

Perhaps old Tom had a suspicion of what I might have been tempted to do,
and I fancied that was his chief reason for keeping me on board.

The idea having once taken possession of my mind, I resolved to make my
escape at the next tempting-looking island we might touch at, should I
find any civilised men living there, or should it be uninhabited. I had
no wish to live among savages, as I had read enough of their doings to
make me anxious to keep out of their way, and I was not influenced by
motives which induce seamen to run from their ships for the sake of
living an idle, profligate life, free from the restraints of
civilisation.

A few days after leaving Massafuera, we got into the trade winds, which
carried us swiftly along to the northward. Again we crossed the
equator; and about three