Idle Days in Patagonia

MP3 Audio CD. IDLE DAYS IN PATAGONIA

CHAPTER I


AT LAST, PATAGONIA!

The wind had blown a gale all night, and I had been hourly expecting that
the tumbling, storm-vexed old steamer, in which I had taken passage to the
Rio Negro, would turn over once for all and settle down beneath that
tremendous tumult of waters. For the groaning sound of its straining
timbers, and the engine throbbing like an overtasked human heart, had made
the ship seem a living thing to me; and it was tired of the struggle, and
under the tumult was peace. But at about three o'clock in the morning the
wind began to moderate, and, taking off coat and boots, I threw myself into
my bunk for a little sleep.

Ours, it must be said, was a very curious boat, reported ancient and much
damaged; long and narrow in shape, like a Viking's ship, with the
passengers' cabins ranged like a row of small wooden cottages on the deck:
it was as ugly to look at as it was said to be unsafe to voyage in. To make
matters worse our captain, a man over eighty years old, was lying in his
cabin sick unto death, for, as [p 2] a fact, he died not many days after our
mishap; our one mate was asleep, leaving only the men to navigate the
steamer on that perilous coast, and in the darkest hour of a tempestuous
night.