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At two in the afternoon the swell was so high, and the wind, which was against them, so boisterous, that they could not proceed along the seacoast in their leaky canoe. A young chief who had come with them as one of their guides, and who had been allowed to leave when the seacoast was reached, returned bearing a large porcupine on his back.
On Wednesday the 16th of January 1493, the admiral set sail from the Gulf of Arrows, or Samana, with a fair wind for Spain, both caravels being now very leaky and requiring much labour at the pumps to keep them right.
The third day of the gale dawned, but the appearances were as alarming as ever: the continual breaking of the seas over the stern had washed away the binnacles, and it was impossible now to be certain of the course the ship had been steered, or the distance which had been run; the leaky state of the vessel proved how much she had already suffered from the violent shocks which she had received, and the certainty was apparent, that if the weather did not abate, she could not possibly withstand the force of the waves much longer.
I came to the river Bzib, deep and fast-running, and rowed myself across in a leaky and muddy boat. I ploughed my way through deep sand, or stepped from boulder to boulder, or crushed through miles of sea-holly and prickly shrub. I came to the sacred wood in which the Ahkbasians used to pray when they were pagans, but in which, since their conversion, they have chiefly committed murder.
I think I sit again beside Charley Wilson, my sick "buddy," and hear his uneven breathing through all the stamping of the rows of wet horses on their corduroy floor roofed with leaky pine brush. That squ-ush, squ-ush is the sound of the stable-guard's boots as he paces slowly through the mud, to and fro, with the rain rattling on his glazed poncho and streaming corded hat.
Let me give you a note from the personal experience of another of God's saints who walked the higher way, one who habitually lived on that level, and who expressed himself thus: 'Let me say that my spiritual life is no longer like a leaky suction pump, half the time dry, and affording scanty water only by desperate tugging of the handle, but it is like an artesian well of water springing up unto everlasting life.
Thanks also to Captain Staunton's never-ceasing care with regard to the boats, they were all in perfect condition, and not leaky as baskets, as are too many boats when required to be lowered upon an unexpected emergency.
They mended the leaky canoe again and Eeny-Meeny finished her trip in comparative dryness. "Oh, dear," said Katherine, when they were back at Ellen's Isle once more, and had finished telling Mr. and Mrs. Evans their adventures, "what was there in life worth living for anyway, before we had Eeny-Meeny?" Being Chief that week it was Katherine's duty to blow the rising horn in the morning.
Her master was much surprised at first, but soon recovered on being told we were bound for Panama, and readily offered to pilot us thither, as he was bound for that port; and begged us to take his bark in tow, as he could not fetch the land, and his hogs were almost dead for want of water, while his vessel was ready to sink, being so leaky that his people were no longer able to stand to the pumps.
The breeze is freshening, and we must get along. Then our visitor made an earnest appeal. His boat was leaky, his comrades were worn out, yet if we would let them come aboard they would, after a little rest, tow the cutter in a calm, and not trouble us in any way. Then, when we sighted Santo, they would leave us and make for Leper's Island, which was the place they wanted to reach.
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