4 Tale Days in Patagonia. 
now fast-breaking clouds ahead of us appeared the 
first welcome signs of dawn. By degrees the dark- 
ness grew less intense; only just ahead of us there 
still remained something black and unchangeable— 
a portion, as it were, of that pitchy gloom that a 
3 short 
time 
before 
had 
made 
sea and air 
appear one 
and indis- 
tinguishable ; 
» butas the light 
1 increased it 
changed not, 
and at last it 
was seen to be 
a range of low 
hills or dunes of 
sand scarcely a 
irony stone’s throw from 
. ca the ship’s bows. It 
was true enough 
that we were stuck 
fast in the sand; and although this was a safer 
bed for the steamer than the jagged rocks, the 
position was still a perilous one, and I at once de- 
termined to land. Three other passengers resolved 
to bear me company; and as the tide had now gone 
Our Captain. 
