Grayson.] 296 [June 7, 



far and wide had doubtless been seen. I started to camp as fast as 

 the nature of the ground would permit, in order to signalize her 

 should she come hear enough to our cove. I felt, however, indiffer- 

 ent as to her coming in, as I had not satisfied myself of the full and 

 complete exploration of the Island, and I was not quite ready yet to 

 go. 



"By the time I reached the camp none of my companions had 

 seen her, although she had arrived abreast of our cove, five or six 

 miles off, and under full headway was sailing past. Signals of smoke 

 was made as soon as possible, by firing the dry grass on the sur- 

 rounding hills, while my son Edward, with a white flag, ran out on 

 the extreme point of rocks. The sight of this flag brought her to. 

 She came within about three miles and sent a boat to see what we 

 wanted. The sea was very rough and was breaking furiously in the 

 cove. As the little boat neared the shore, I felt the chances of 

 getting off in her very doubtful ; the only place that we could em- 

 bark was a bluff point of rocks, upon which we had made the first 

 landing, but the waves were now breaking against this with great 

 force. The boat, however, came near this point, and when an oppor- 

 tunity offered, her stern was backed up to the rocks. Eddie, sup- 

 posing the mate, who was in the stern, wished to come ashore to 

 make some arrangements about taking us off, reached him his hand 

 to assist him in jumping ashore, but instead of doing so he pulled my 

 son into the boat, and one of our sailors jumped in after him. She 

 pulled off immediately to keep clear of the breakers. 



"The mate then informed me that the bark was the A. A. Eldridge 

 from San Francisco, bound for Valparaiso, and that he would return 

 for the rest of us. I went to camp and packed up such things as 

 could be taken off. But after the boat returned the mate told me 

 he would not take the smallest package in the boat, and if our lives 

 were saved we ought to be thankful. Upon these conditions I hesi- 

 tated about going, but as my son was already on board there was no 

 alternative; especially as he, the mate, said he would not return 

 again, fearing to lose the little boat. The idea of going to Valpar- 

 aiso was out of the question, but I would not be separated from my 

 son, and so determined to go, the mate crying out that he would only 

 give us five minutes to decide. There was no time to be lost, and 

 unavoidably leaving everything behind, we jumped into the frail 

 boat; the sea was growing more stormy, and amid the roar of 

 breakers, heightened by the thundering of the waves into a cavern, 



