The Boy Travellers in South America. Thomas Wallace Knox
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much of the treasure of the churches, and also of the wealthiest merchants, had been sent on board a ship which sailed for Spain a few hours after the surrender of the city. It might have been captured with ease, but a party which Morgan had sent to intercept any departing vessel did not do their duty, and so the richest of all the prizes slipped through their hands.
Morgan and his party remained in Panama for three weeks, and then returned to Chagres. Before leaving they burned the city, and carried away six hundred prisoners, and one hundred and seventy-five beasts of burden laden with plunder. The division of the spoils was made at Chagres; it amounted to only two hundred dollars apiece, very much to the disappointment of the men. Morgan was openly accused of keeping very much more than belonged to him; the accusations became so serious as to threaten open revolt; and Morgan secretly embarked for Jamaica, and sailed away, with two ships besides his own.
He reached Jamaica in safety, and as the war between England and Spain was then over, his occupation as a legal freebooter was at an end. His services were promptly recognized by the British government, and he was appointed a marine commissary, and knighted by King Charles II. It is to be hoped that he led a less disreputable life as Sir Henry Morgan than when he was simply known as Morgan the buccaneer.
A curious incident is narrated by Morgan's biographer in the account of the capture of Chagres. The fort was surrounded by a palisade which the assailants repeatedly tried to set on fire, but each time failed. Just as they were about to give up the attack and retire, an arrow from the fort passed completely through the body of one of their number and protruded from his breast. The man was mad with pain; he seized the arrow and pulled it through, then wrapped it with cotton, rammed it into his gun, and fired it back again at the fort. The powder ignited the cotton, and this in turn set fire to the leaves with which the fort was thatched. The Spaniards were so busy in beating back their assailants that they did not discover the fire until too late to stop it. The flames spread to a barrel of powder, which blew a great hole in the side of the fort, and made an entrance for the buccaneers; meantime they took advantage of the confusion to open the palisade, and soon had the fort in their possession.
CHAPTER V.
FROM PANAMA TO GUAYAQUIL.—VASCO NUNEZ DE BALBOA.—HIS ADVENTURES AND DEATH.—SCENES IN GUAYAQUIL.—FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH SOUTH AMERICAN EARTHQUAKES.
Our friends spent another day in Panama, devoting part of the time to arrangements for their departure, and the rest to strolling around the city, and taking a short sail on the bay. They visited the island where the Pacific Mail Steamship Company has its coaling-station, and its wharves for receiving and discharging freight, and saw the docks where ships needing repairs can be accommodated. Fred made the following notes concerning the steamship connections from Panama:
"There are two American lines of steamers running northward to California, and to Mexican and Central American ports, and there are English, French, German, Chilian, and Peruvian lines reaching to all the ports of the west coast of South America. The most important of all these lines are the Pacific Mail (American), running northward, and the Pacific Steam Navigation Company (English), running to the south. When the Isthmus route was the favorite way of travel between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States there were sometimes two or three American lines between Panama and California, but at present there is only one.
"There was formerly a line between Panama and Australia, but it was discontinued long ago, and a line from here to the Sandwich Islands, Japan, and China has been talked of, but never established. When the Panama Canal is completed it is probable that the business of this port will be greatly increased, and the number of daily arrivals and departures will far exceed those of the most active times of the 'rush' for California."
Dr. Bronson and the youths left the hotel about two o'clock in the afternoon, and proceeded to the dock whence the tender was to carry them to their steamer. The ships of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company run in connection with the Royal Mail Line from England to Aspinwall; the arrival of the English steamer at Aspinwall had been announced by telegraph, and the train with the passengers and mails was due in Panama about half-past two. While they were seated on the tender, and engaged in studying the beautiful panorama of the bay, the whistle of the locomotive was heard, and soon the train rolled into the station, and its burden was transferred to the boat. The passage to the steamer was quickly made, and by four o'clock the great craft was on her southerly course.
As our friends leaned over the rail, Dr. Bronson gave the youths some reminiscences of the old days of California travel.
"On the voyage from New York to Aspinwall," said he, "passengers became pretty well acquainted with each other; and it generally happened that there were some practical jokers among them, who indulged in tricks for creating amusement. One of the standing jokes of the departure from Panama was, to create alarm among those who were making the voyage for the first time, by spreading a report that they had embarked on the wrong steamer, and were being carried to Callao."
"How could they do that?" Fred inquired.
"By looking at the map, you will see that the Bay of Panama is enclosed between the mainland and the Peninsula of Azuero, the latter extending to the southward about seventy-five miles; consequently a steamer going to California must proceed in that direction, until she can turn the point of the peninsula. Most of the novices were not aware of this; the rumor was started, and, if incredulous, they were told to look at the compass and be convinced. The compass corroborated the assertion of the jokers, and many a traveller was seriously disturbed in mind until the joke was explained."
"He was probably more careful in his study of geography after that experience," Frank remarked.
"Sometimes," continued the Doctor, "the California steamers sailed at the same time as the ships of the English line for South America, and occasionally there was an international race as long as their courses were nearly the same. The routes diverge very soon, so that the races were brief, but, with a large number of passengers on board of each steamer, there would be great excitement while the competition lasted, and much money was wagered on the result. On one occasion, owing to the carelessness of somebody, one steamer ran into another, but no serious damage was done; at another time a steamer hugged the shore too closely in order to shorten her running distance and get an advantage over her rival. These accidents called attention to the racing, and the managers of the different companies issued a very stringent order against any more trials of speed. I have not heard of a repetition of these affairs for a good many years, and there is rarely any opportunity for rivalry, if we may judge by the time-tables of the various lines running from Panama. When steamers are to leave on the same day there is generally an hour or two between their departures, and the later one does not attempt to over-haul her predecessor."
As the great ship moved steadily through the blue water of the Bay of Panama our young friends regarded with close attention the beautiful panorama that passed before their eyes. The land was on both sides of their course, the peninsula on the right, and the mainland of South America on the left; the horizon to the eastward was filled with the chain of the Cordilleras, which increase in height farther to the south, and form the lofty line of the Andes. One of the passengers who was familiar with the coast indicated to our friends the Gulf of San Blas, and other indentations which have come into prominence during the discussions about an inter-oceanic canal, and a good