158 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



be entrapped. He shook the captain's hand as he 

 stepped over the side, the negroes dipped their oars 

 into the water, and in a short time the boat was 

 seen from the schooner as a mere speck upon the 

 vast expanse of ocean. 



The voyage was prosperous, and in eleven days the 

 vessel reached its destination. The Columbian offi- 

 cer, his wife and children, were received with the 

 utmost kindness and hospitality by the young and 

 handsome wife of Captain Ready, in whose house 

 they took up their quarters. They remained there 

 two months, living in the most retired manner, with 

 the double object of economising their scanty resources 

 and of avoiding the notice of the Philadelphians, who 

 at that time viewed the patriots of Southern America 

 with no very favourable eye. The insurrection against 

 the Spaniards had injured the commerce between the 

 United States and the Spanish colonies, and the purely 

 mercantile and lucre-loving spirit of the Philadelphi- 

 ans made them look with dislike on any persons or 

 circumstances who caused a diminution of their trade 

 and profits. 



At the expiration of the above-mentioned time, an 

 opportunity offered of a vessel going to Marguerite, 

 then the headquarters of the patriots, and the place 

 where the first expeditions were formed under Bolivai 

 against the Spaniards. Estoval (that was the name 

 by which the Columbian officer was designated in his 

 passport) gladly seized the opportunity, and taking a 



