Page:Memoirs of a Huguenot Family.djvu/132

 126 peasants, and he invoiced it to us at the price of real good wine.

We made still another adventure, and ordered the return cargo to be in salt. I lost by this more than all I had gained, and I was saddled with debts besides. I will give the particulars.

After the Captain had taken in his cargo, he was applied to by several Protestants to give them a passage to England, which he agreed to do most cheerfully. They were some of a numerous class, those who had made abjuration in the hope of being free from disturbance, and gaining time to turn all their property into cash, and then to watch an opportunity for escaping with it. In this case they placed mistaken confidence in the integrity of the Captain, and put their money into his hands for safe keeping. The sight of the treasure was a temptation beyond his powers of resistance, and he determined in some way or other to make it his own. He let one or two of the sailors into his confidence, and arranged with them to take the vessel to Spain. The Captain told the passengers that the wind was contrary, and they might require to shelter the vessel in some port, and as they would run great risk by going into a French port, he intended to stretch over to the coast of Spain. When between Bilboa and St. Sebastian, with every sail set, the wind and tide favoring their wicked purposes, they ran the vessel upon the beach and she was a complete wreck. Here was an end of our cargo of salt; it returned to the sea whence it came.

The most horrible part of the story is yet to come. The Captain and crew jumped into the boat with the treasure, and left the passengers to be drowned, for every wave washed