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VOYAGES
A N D D I S C O V E R I E S OF
shattered vessel was almost in a foundering condition, he saw no alternative but to run it ashore on the southern coast of Cuba. Here then the crew of freebooters landed from their prize in more desperate plight than when they first took possession of it. They were on a wild and unfrequented coast ; their vessel lay a wreck upon the sands, and their only chance was to travel on foot to the eastern extremity of the island, and seek some means of crossing to Hispaniola, where, after all their toils, they might perhaps only arrive to be thrown into a dungeon.
Such, however,
is the yearning of civilized men after the haunts of cultivated society, that they set out, at every risk, upon their long and pain足 ful journey.
CHAPTER X. TOILSOME MARCH OF OJEDA AND HIS COMPANIONS THROUGH THE
MORASSES OF CUBA.
NOTWITHSTANDING the recent services of Ojeda, the crew of Talavera still regarded him with hostility ; but, if they had felt the value of his skill and courage at sea, they were no less sensi足 ble of their importance on shore, and he soon acquired that ascendency over them which belongs to a master-spirit in time of trouble. Cuba was as yet uncolonized.
It was a place of refuge to the
unhappy natives of Hayti, who fled hither from the whips and chains of their European taskmasters.
The forests abounded
with these wretched fugitives, who often opposed themselves to