THE LOSS OF THE CARAK On the day after I had given my fortune and letters into the charge of Captain Bell, I watched the 'Adventuress' drop slowly round the mole of Cadiz, and so sad was I at heart, that I am not ashamed to confess I wept.

I would gladly have lost the wealth she carried if she had but carried me.

But my purpose was indomitable, and it must be some other ship that would bear me home to the shores of England.
As it chanced, a large Spanish carak named 'Las Cinque Llagas,' or 'The Five Wounds,' was about to sail for Hispaniola, and having obtained a licence to trade, I took passage in her under my assumed name of d'Aila, passing myself off as a merchant.

To further this deception I purchased goods the value of one hundred and five pesos, and of such nature as I was informed were most readily saleable in the Indies, which merchandise I shipped with me.

The vessel was full of Spanish adventurers, mostly ruffians of varied career and strange history, but none the less good companions enough when not in drink.