It must have been some considerable
time, for when, at last, I came out into the light, the sun dazzled me.
None offered to stop me when I left the house. Many of my one-time
servants had been discharged by my father-in-law, who had taken upon
himself the management of my estates. The gatekeeper looked at me
curiously when I passed his lodge, and that was all the notice
vouchsafed me by my former dependents.
I knew that Dirk Hartog had returned from the voyage upon which he had
embarked soon after my marriage, and to him I determined to carry my
broken heart. Only upon that mirror of mystery known as the ocean could
I look for peace.
I found my old commander in the cabin of the "Santa Isabel", an ancient
Spanish vessel, reported to have voyaged to the south in 1595, when
Mendana, a Spaniard, was sent out with instructions to establish a
colony at the island of San Christobal, in the Solomon Group, and from
thence to make an attempt to discover the Great Southern Continent.
Mendana's fleet consisted of three large vessels and a frigate, and,
since it was intended to settle a colony, many took their wives with
them, among the emigrants being Mariana, the wife of Lope de Vega, who
commanded the "Santa Isabel".
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