CHAPTER VIII.
From Cape Pillar into the Pacific--Driven by a tempest toward Cape Horn--Captain Slocum's greatest sea adventure--Beaching the strait again by way of Cockburn Channel--Some savages find the carpet-tacks--Danger from firebrands--A series of fierce williwaws--Again sailing westward.
It was the 3d of March when the _Spray_ sailed from Port Tamar direct for Cape Pillar, with the wind from the northeast, which I fervently hoped might hold till she cleared the land; but there was no such good luck in store.

It soon began to rain and thicken in the northwest, boding no good.

The _Spray_ reared Cape Pillar rapidly, and, nothing loath, plunged into the Pacific Ocean at once, taking her first bath of it in the gathering storm.

There was no turning back even had I wished to do so, for the land was now shut out by the darkness of night.

The wind freshened, and I took in a third reef.