ope.

I had reserved 1000 cruzados for my own expenses, which I considered as
quite sufficient, but they were gradually wasting away, for I was
everywhere received, and in the best company of Rio. At last one day
the superior sent for me, and told me that he was about to send an
advice-boat to Lisbon, and I might take a passage if I wished; that it
was a very small one, but a very fast sailer. I thanked him heartily,
accepted the proposal, and went to my room to pack up my clothes. In
the afternoon the captain of the xebeque called upon me, and told me
that he would start on the following morning if I would be ready. I
replied that I should be, put some dollars into his hands, requesting
that he would procure for me anything that he considered would be
necessary and agreeable, and if the sum I had given him was not enough,
I would repay him the remainder as soon as we were out of harbour. I
took my leave of the superior, who parted with me with many
protestations of regard on his side, and tears of gratitude on mine, and
early the next morning I was on board of the xebeque. In light winds
she was extremely fast, but she certainly was too small to cross the
Atlantic Ocean; nevertheless, as the captain said, she had crossed it
several times, and he hoped that she often would again.

The passage, however, that he usually made, was to run up to the
northward of the Antilles, and then cross over, making the Bahama Isles,
and from thence taking a fresh departure for Lisbon. Our crew consisted
of only eight men, besides the captain; but, as the vessel was not more
than thirty tons, they were sufficient. We made a good run, until we
were in about twenty-four degrees of north latitude, when, as we
stretched to the eastward to cross the Atlantic, we met with a most
violent gale, which lasted several days, and I fully expected every hour
that the vessel would go down, buried as she was by the heavy sea. At
last we had no chance but to scud before the wind, which we did for two
days before a raging and following sea, that appeared determined upon
our destruction. On the second night, as I was on deck, watching the
breaking and tossing of the billows, and the swift career of the little
bark, which enabled her to avoid them, the water suddenly appeared of
one white foam, and, as we rose upon the next sea, we were hurled along
on its crest, reeling on the foam until it had passed us, and then we
struck heavily upon a rock.