04 



THE ROBBER BENAVIDES. 



awake all night, and as my window, which looked 

 to the sea, was directly over the shore, I started 

 up a dozen times fancying I heard the sound of 

 his voice calling for help amongst the waves. To- 

 wards morning I fell asleep, and dreamed that the 

 Conway and all on hoard had gone to the bottom. 

 From this unpleasant situation I was awakened by 

 the coxswain, who came to my bed-side, all dripping 

 with sea-water, and his hair standing on end, to 

 tell me that the boat had been found high and dry 

 on the beach, far from the spot where she had been 

 moored, but that there was no trace of the unfor- 

 tunate boat-keeper. I ran breathless to the spot ; 

 the painter, or rope which ties the boat, had been 

 chafed through ; the oars and rudder were gone, 

 and the general opinion was that the boat had been 

 upset, and the poor lad swallowed up in the surge. 

 The gale was still so high as to prevent all commu- 

 nication with the ship, and I therefore sent the 

 remaining hands in different directions, and went 

 myself in a state of painful anxiety, to trace the 

 shore, fearing every instant to discover the drowned 

 man. I shall not attempt to describe the horror 

 with which I saw four or five people, at some dis- 

 tance, bearing along something which looked like 

 a dead body. I could neither move nor speak, 

 and the coxswain, who was with me, stood nearly 

 as much aghast. Still less can I tell the delight I 

 felt on discovering this burden to be merely the 

 black root of a tree torn by the waves from some 

 bank, and drifted to the beach by the storm. 



After coasting all round the bay we returned in 

 great despair to the boat, and upon examining her 

 more closely I discovered lying within her, a small 

 horn used for baling the water out. It instantly 

 occurred to me that if she had actually been upset, 

 this horn could not possibly have remained where 

 it was, and therefore Fish, I thought, might yet 

 be safe. Had the horn been filled with diamonds 

 it could not have been more precious to me, and 

 I clung to the hope it afforded all this wretched day, 

 the most unhappy of my life. I searched every 

 public-house and lodging, and offered rewards to 

 the people, who dispersed themselves in all direc- 

 tions in search of the shipwrecked seaman, but 

 he was nowhere to be found. 



The second night closed in and still no accounts 

 of Fish. I went into company, and even found 

 my way to a ball-room, in hopes to disti'act my 

 thoughts ; but at every fall of the music I thought 

 I heard a cry in the surf, and quite forgetting 

 where I was, repeatedly imagined I saw him push- 

 ing his way towards me amongst the crowd. My 

 distress was augmented by the recollection of having 

 spoken somewhat sharpiy to the poor fellow two 

 days before, in consequence of an excursion he 

 had made to a wine-house without leave. Before 

 morning, the state of anxiety and doubt in which I 

 was kept had wrought me into a high fever, and I 

 was pacing the floor opposite the window which 

 overlooked the sea, and watching for the first peep 

 of day to renew my search, when the door was burst 

 open, and the coxswain rushed in to tell that Fish 

 was safe and sound on board the Conway, where 

 he had been upwards of thirty hours, little thinking 

 of the sensation he was exciting. 



It appeared, that shortly after he had obeyed the 

 coxswain's orders, and tied his boat to the Custom- 

 house barge, the pinnace of a merchant-vessel had 

 been overset by the surf close to him, and he had 



succeeded in rescuing the men, who afterwards 

 agreed with him that their situation was not one 

 in which to weather such a night. They there- 

 fore took stoutly to their oars, and pulled to a 

 brig not far off. Everything was then removed 

 that was liable to be washed away, except my 

 treasure of a horn. By some accident the rope 

 was chafed through, and the boat drifted on the 

 beach. During a casual lull a launch belonging 

 to one of the ships had called and taken Fish 

 from the brig to the Conway, where it seems 

 never to have struck any one what our anxiety 

 must be on shore, and no effort was made to com- 

 municate what had passed till the gale was entirely 

 gone. 



On the 1st of October we sailed from Valparaiso 

 for Conception, the frontier town on the coast, at 

 the distance of two hundred and twenty miles to 

 the southward. Our object was to learn the fate 

 of certain American and English seamen lately 

 made prisoners by a piratical chief of the name of 

 Benavides, whose head-quarters were at Arauco, 

 the capital of an unconquered Indian district of 

 the same name. It is situated on the coast oppo- 

 site the island of St. Mary's, one of the stations 

 to which American and English ships repair to 

 catch seals, and recruit their stock of wood and 

 water. Benavides had, in the first instance, suc- 

 ceeded in entrapping the American whaling-ship 

 Hero,, which he surprised in the night-time ; and, 

 with the boats and arms of his prize, had contrived 

 to capture two other American vessels, the Ocean 

 and Herselia, and finally, the English whale-ship, 

 Perseverance. 



The history of Benavides is curious. He was a 

 native of Conception, and served for some time in 

 the Chilian army, from, which he deserted to the 

 Royalists, but was retaken at the battle of Maypo 

 in 1818. He was of a most ferocious character, 

 and in addition to the crime of desertion had 

 committed many murders ; he was therefore most 

 justly sentenced to death, along with his brother 

 and other delinquents. Accordingly, the whole 

 party were brought forth in the Plaza of Santiago 

 and shot ; but Benavides, though terribly wounded, 

 was not killed, and had sufficient fortitude to feign 

 himself dead. The bodies being dragged off, were 

 left without burial to be destroyed by the galli- 

 nazos, a species of vulture. The sergeant who 

 superintended this last part of the ceremony was 

 personally inimical to Benavides, on account of his 

 having murdered some of his relations ; and to 

 gratify his revenge, drew his sword, and, while 

 they were dragging the body of his foe to the pile, 

 gave it a severe gash across the neck. The reso- 

 lute Benavides bore this also, without flinching, 

 and lay like a dead man amongst the others, until 

 it became dark ; he then contrived to extricate 

 himself from the heap, and in a most miserable 

 plight crawled to a neighbouring cottage, the gene- 

 rous inhabitants of which received and attended 

 him with the greatest care. 



General San Martin, who was at that time 

 planning the expedition to Peru, and was looking 

 about for able and enterprising individuals, heard 

 of Benavides being still alive ; and knowing his 

 talents and courage, considered him a fit person 

 to serve some of his desperate purposes in those 

 trying times, when, to gain the great objects in 

 view, there was little scrupulousness about the 



