Chapter I

In that delightful and exciting book, written by Captain Joshua Slocum,
and entitled, "Sailing Alone Round the World," there is a part wherein
the adventurous American seaman relates how he protected himself from
night attacks by the savages by a simple, but efficient precaution. It
was his custom, when he anchored for the night off the snow-clad and
inhospitable shores of Tierra del Fuego, to profusely sprinkle his
cutter's deck with sharp tacks, and then calmly turn in and sleep the
sleep of the just; for even the horny soles of the Fuegian foot is
susceptible to the business end of a tack; and, as I read Slocum's
story, I smiled, and thought of dear old Yorke and the _Francesco_.