hovered round the bulwarks and got
entangled among the rigging of the _Rose_. He shot several of the
huge albatrosses that floated fearlessly over the deck, but was not
successful in his efforts to catch the fish that were seen coming to
the surface of the troubled sea. The sea was made so boisterous by
rain and snow, and such a stiff wind blew from the west, that for two
or three days the _Rose_ could not double the Cape. She was forced to
tack towards the south until a favourable gale set in, which carried
her safely to Valparaiso.

Valparaiso was reached on the 28th of November, after ten weeks passed
on shipboard. There and at Santiago, the seat of government, to which
he proceeded as soon as the congratulations of his new friends
would allow him, Lord Cochrane was heartily welcomed. So profuse and
prolonged were the entertainments in his favour--splendid dinners,
at which zealous patriots tendered their hearty compliments, being
followed by yet more splendid balls, at which handsome women showed
their gratitude in smiles, and eagerly sought the honour of being led
by him through the dances which were their chief delight--that he had
to remind his guests that he had come to Chili not to feast but to
fight.

There was prompt need of fighting. The Spaniards had a strong land
force pressing up from the south and threatening to invest Santiago.
Their formidable fleet swept the seas, and was being organized for an
attack on Valparaiso. Admiral Blanco Encalada had just returned from
a cruise in which he had succeeded in capturing, in Talcuanho Bay, a
fine Spanish fifty-gun frigate, the Maria Isabel; but his fleet
was ill-ordered and poorly equipped, quite unable, without thorough
re-organization, to withstand the superior force of the enemy. An
instance of the bad state of affairs was induced by Lord Cochrane's
arrival, and seemed likely to cause serious trouble to him and worse
misfortune to his Chilian employers. One of the republican vessels was
the _Hecate_, a sloop of eighteen guns which had been sold out of the
British navy and bought as a speculation by Captains Guise and Spry.
Having first offered her in vain to the Buenos Ayrean Government,
they had brought her on to Chili, and there contrived to sell her with
advantage and to be themselves taken into the Chilian service. They
and another volunteer, Captain Worcester, a North American, liking
the ascendancy over Admiral Bianco which their experience had won
f