By this time I could speak
Castilian so perfectly, and was so Spanish in appearance, that it was
not difficult for me to pass myself off as one of their nation and this
I did, inventing a feigned tale of my parentage, and of the reasons
that led me to tempt the seas. For the rest, now as ever I kept my own
counsel, and notwithstanding my reserve, for I would not mingle in their
orgies, I soon became well liked by my comrades, chiefly because of my
skill in ministering to their sicknesses.
Of our voyage there is little to tell except of its sad end. At the
Canary Isles we stayed a month, and then sailed away for Hispaniola,
meeting with fine weather but light winds. When, as our captain
reckoned, we were within a week's sail of the port of San Domingo for
which we were bound, the weather changed, and presently gathered to a
furious tempest from the north that grew more terrible every hour. For
three days and nights our cumbrous vessel groaned and laboured beneath
the stress of the gale, that drove us on rapidly we knew not whither,
till at length it became clear that, unless the weather moderated,
we must founder. Our ship leaked at every seam, one of our masts was
carried away, and another broken in two, at a height of twenty feet from
the deck. But all these misfortunes were small compared to what was to
come, for on the fourth morning a great wave swept off our rudder, and
we drifted helpless before the waves.
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