ABSTRACT
When morning came, about 20 of us got in the boat and crossed to the other side, meeting two almadias in the middle of the channel on their way to bring back some of our people, and the people on them gave us a little boiled Indian corn and some fish that had also been boiled, but it was all cold; however, we found both things excellent. After we reached land a Creole Spaniard took us to his village and had us there until I left for Cartagena, which I did after three days during which I was convalescing from the trouble I had with my feet. In Cartagena, I recovered from the ordeal I had been through; and, as the Fleet was waiting there to set sail when the time arrived on the Ioth of August, a month and a half after our misfortune, I embarked on one of the galleons carrying silver, it costing me 300 patacas for my place on the ship; for the Castilians never give anything away. And although they knew I was poor and robbed, their ever present self-interest and hopes for gain prevailed, and it was necessary for me to borrow that number of patacas for my passage.
