Lily would have lost the wealth which I had settled on her.  But all talked loudly of my madness because I would not abandon the chase of my enemy but chose to follow him to the far Indies, though Squire Bozard took comfort from the thought that whether I lived or died the money was still his daughter’s.  Only Lily spoke up for me, saying ’Thomas has sworn an oath and he does well to keep it, for his honour is at stake.  Now I go to wait until he comes to me in this world or the next.’

But all this is out of place, for many a year passed away before I heard of these doings.

CHAPTER XI

THE LOSS OF THE CARAK

On the day after I had given my fortune and letters into the charge of Captain Bell, I watched the ‘Adventuress’ drop slowly round the mole of Cadiz, and so sad was I at heart, that I am not ashamed to confess I wept.  I would gladly have lost the wealth she carried if she had but carried me.  But my purpose was indomitable, and it must be some other ship that would bear me home to the shores of England.

As it chanced, a large Spanish carak named ‘Las Cinque Llagas,’ or ’The Five Wounds,’ was about to sail for Hispaniola, and having obtained a licence to trade, I took passage in her under my assumed name of d’Aila, passing myself off as a merchant.  To further this deception I purchased goods the value of one hundred and five pesos, and of such nature as I was informed were most readily saleable in the Indies, which merchandise I shipped with me.  The vessel was full of Spanish adventurers, mostly ruffians of varied career and strange history, but none the less good companions enough when not in drink.  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.  An hour later a green sea came aboard of us, washing away the captain, so that we filled and settled down to founder.