Page:Wonderful adventures of sixteen British seamen.pdf/17

 the north. Having reached this wind, they bore down for Valparaiso, with the view of disposing of the ship and cargo, and of dividing their spoil. Off Valparaiso lay a strong Spanish fleet, bloekadingblockading [sic] the port; but of this eireumstaneecircumstance [sic] our adventurers were not aware, neither did they entertain the slighest suspieionsuspicion [sic] that an obstaeleobstacle [sic] of so formidable a nature was at all likely to oppose itself to the completion of an adventure already nearly erownedcrowned [sic] with sueeesssuccess [sic]. At nightfall, previous to the morning when they expeetedexpected [sic] to reaehreach [sic] Valparaiso, they were not suffieientlysufficiently [sic] near that eitycity [sic] to distinguish the fleet that lay in the offing; so the wind being favourable, they skimmed over the waves with hearts bounding in thothe [sic] pride of being the undisputed masters of so gallant a ship and all she eontainedcontained [sic], little dreading the danger into whiehwhich [sic] they were about to fall. On they went, however, and a dense fog eomingcoming [sic] on at day dawn, they sailed through the very thiekestthickest [sic] of the Spanish fleet, not only without either seeing or being seen by a single ship), but without even suffering that annoyance which is produeedproduced [sic] by a consciousness of being in a situation of extreme danger, and, before the fog cleared away, they lay safely moored below the fort of Valparaiso-so true does it seem to be that "fortune favours the brave!"

On thothe [sic] morning, they reeeivedreceived [sic] the congratulations of the governor of the eitycity [sic], by whom thothe [sic] Minerva was deelareddeclared [sic] a lawful prize, and all Valparaiso resounded with the praises of her eaptorscaptors [sic] heroism.

The vessel and her eargocargo [sic] turned out a prize of great value, and the English tars soon found themselves in the possession of what appeared to them inexhaustible riehesriches [sic]. They would not have been