finding she steered
away to the eastward without hauling in for the island, we concluded she
must be a Spaniard. It was resolved to pursue her; and the Centurion
being in the greatest forwardness, we immediately got all our hands on
board, set up our rigging, bent our sails, and by five in the afternoon
got under sail. We had at this time very little wind, so that all the
boats were employed to tow us out of the bay; and even what wind there
was lasted only long enough to give us an offing of two or three leagues,
when it flattened to a calm. The night coming on, we lost sight of the
chase, and were extremely impatient for the return of daylight, in hopes
to find that she had been becalmed as well as we, though I must confess
that her greater distance from the land was a reasonable ground for
suspecting the contrary, as we indeed found in the morning, to our great
mortification; for though the weather continued perfectly clear, we had
no sight of the ship from the mast-head. But as we were now satisfied
that it was an enemy, and the first we had seen in these seas, we
resolved not to give over the search lightly; and a small breeze
springing up from the west-north-west, we got up our top-gallant masts
and yards, set all the sails, and steered to the south-east, in hopes of
retrieving our chase, which we imagined to be bound to Valparaiso. We
continued on this course all that day and the next; and then, not getting
sight of our chase, we gave over the pursuit, conceiving that by that
time she must in all probability have reached her port.

And now we prepared to return to Juan Fernandez, and hauled up to the
south-west with that view, having but very little wind till the 12th,
when, at three in the morning, there sprang up a fresh gale from the
west-south-west, and we tacked and stood to the north-west; and at
daybreak we were agreeably surprised with the sight of a sail on our
weather-bow, between four and five leagues distant. On this we crowded
all the sail we could, and stood after her, and soon perceived it not to
be the same ship we originally gave chase to. She at first bore down upon
us, showing Spanish colours, and making a signal as to her consort; but
observing that we did not answer her signal, she instantly luffed close
to the wind and stood to the southward. Our people were now all in
spirits, and put the ship about with great alacrity; and as the chase
appeared to be a large ship, and had mistaken us for he