I told him I had no doubt it was true, and that it would have been
odd if the wind had not changed in fifteen days, Fin or no Fin.
"Oh," says he, "go 'way! You think, 'cause you been to college,
you know better than anybody. You know better than them as 'as
seen it with their own eyes. You wait till you've been to sea as
long as I have, and you'll know."
CHAPTER VII
JUAN FERNANDEZ - THE PACIFIC
We continued sailing along with a fair wind and fine weather until
Tuesday, Nov. 25th, when at daylight we saw the island of
Juan Fernandez, directly ahead, rising like a deep blue cloud out
of the sea. We were then probably nearly seventy miles from it;
and so high and so blue did it appear, that I mistook it for a cloud,
resting over the island, and looked for the island under it, until it
gradually turned to a deader and greener color, and I could mark the
inequalities upon its surface. At length we could distinguish trees
and rocks; and by the afternoon, this beautiful island lay fairly
before us, and we directed our course to the only harbor. Arriving at
the entrance soon after sun-down, we found a Chilian man-of-war brig,
the only vessel, coming out.
