l, but when John Shark hove in sight my sympathy
flew to the winds. It is a fact that in Magellan I let pass many ducks
that would have made a good stew, for I had no mind in the lonesome
strait to take the life of any living thing.

From Cape Pillar I steered for Juan Fernandez, and on the 26th of
April, fifteen days out, made that historic island right ahead.

The blue hills of Juan Fernandez, high among the clouds, could be seen
about thirty miles off. A thousand emotions thrilled me when I saw the
island, and I bowed my head to the deck. We may mock the Oriental
salaam, but for my part I could find no other way of expressing
myself.

The wind being light through the day, the _Spray_ did not reach the
island till night. With what wind there was to fill her sails she
stood close in to shore on the northeast side, where it fell calm and
remained so all night. I saw the twinkling of a small light farther
along in a cove, and fired a gun, but got no answer, and soon the
light disappeared altogether. I heard the sea booming against the
cliffs all night, and realized that the ocean swell was still great,
although from the deck of my little ship it was apparently small. From
the cry of animals in the hills, which sounded fainter and fainter
through the night, I judged that a light current was drifting the
sloop from the land, though she seemed all night dangerously near the
shore, for, the land being very high, appearances were deceptive.

[Illustration: The _Spray_ approaching Juan Fernandez, Robinson
Crusoe's Island.]

Soon after daylight I saw a boat putting out toward me. As it pulled
near, it so happened that I picked up my gun, which was on the deck,
meaning only to put it below; but the people in the boat, seeing the
piece in my hands, quickly turned and pulled back for shore, which was
about four miles distant. There were six rowers in her, and I observed
that they pulled with oars in oar-locks, after the manner of trained
seamen, and so I knew they belonged to a civilized race; but their
opinion of me must have been anything but flattering when they mistook
my purpose with the gun and pulled away with all their might. I made
them understand by signs, but not without difficulty, that I did not
intend to shoot, that I was simply putting the piece in the cabin, and
that I wished them to return. When they understood my meaning they
came back and were soon on board.

One of the party, whom the rest called "king,"