Well, perhaps we would soon learn, for
Hartog reckoned we were not many leagues north of the place marked upon
the chart, which had encouraged us to embark upon this voyage.
CHAPTER XXX
A SPANISH SETTLEMENT
The "Golden Seahorse" being now repaired and revictualled, we once more
put to sea, and stood to the south at a safe distance from the coast
for fear of again meeting shoal water. On the morning of the first day
out we passed the shoal upon which we had so nearly lost our ship, it
being but a spot of land appearing above the surface, with several
rocks about it ten feet high, to be seen at low tide. It is of
triangular form, each side one league and a half long.
We now approached some formidable cliffs, which rose, like a gateway,
shutting out the land beyond. It was here that Hartog reckoned we
should find the place of the painted hands, if, indeed, such a locality
had any real existence.
The weather was now calm and fine, the wind fair, with a cloudless sky
overhead, so that barely an hour passed from the time we observed the
cliffs before we rounded them, when a sight appeared so unlooked for as
made us wonder if our eyes had played us false.
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