Chapter 16

"The morning air blows fresh on him:"
"The waves dance gladly in his sight;"
"The sea-birds call, and wheel, and skim--"
"O, blessed morning light!"
"He doth not hear their joyous call; he sees
No beauty in the wave, nor feels the breeze."
DANA.

Truth is, truly, often stranger than fiction. The history of the
circumstances that brought us into the hands of our enemies will fully
show this. La Pauline was a ship of six hundred tons, that carried
letters-of-marque from the French government. She sailed from France a
few weeks after we had left London, bound on a voyage somewhat similar
to our own, though neither sea-otter skins, sandal-wood, nor pearls,
formed any part of her contemplated bargains. Her first destination
was the French islands off Madagascar, where she left part of her
cargo, and took in a few valuables in return. Thence she proceeded to
the Philippine Islands, passing in the track of English and American
traders, capturing two of the former, and sinking them after taking
out such portions of cargo as suited her own views. From Manilla, la
Pauline shaped her course for the coast of South America, intending to
leave certain articles brought from France, others purchased at
Bourbon, the Isle of France, and the Philippines, and divers bales and
boxes found in the holds of her prizes, in that quarter of the world,
in exchange for the precious metals. In effecting all this, Monsieur
Le Compte, her commander, relied, firstly, on the uncommon sailing of
his ship; secondly, on his own uncommon boldness and dexterity, and
thirdly on the well-known disposition of the South Americans to
smuggle. Doubloons and dollars taking up but little room, he reserved
most of the interior of his vessel, after his traffic on the "Main,"
for such property as might be found in the six or eight prizes he
calculated, with certainty, on making, after getting to the eastward
of the Horn. All these well-grounded anticipations had been signally
realized down to a period of just three months to a day, prior to our
own arrival at this unhappy island.

On the night of the day just mentioned, la Pauline, without the
smallest notice of the vicinity of any danger, running in an easy
bowline, and without much sea, had brought up on another part of the
very reef from which we had made so narrow an escape. The rocks being
coral, there was little hope for her; and, in fact, they appeared
through her bottom within two hours after she struck. The sugars taken
in at the Isle of France, as a ground tier of ballast, were soon
rendered of doubtful value, as a matter of course, but the weather
remaining pleasant, Captain Le Compte succeeded, by means of his