He was advised to this course by a captain he had with him named Pantoja, who told him, that, if he did not fetch the land that day, in six days more they would not reach it; and in that time they must inevitably famish. I, seeing his will, took my oar; and the same did all who were in my boat, to obey it. We rowed until near sunset; but, as the governor carried in his boat the healthiest men there were among the whole, we could not by any means hold with or follow her. Seeing this, I asked him to give me a rope from his boat, that I might be enabled to keep up with him; but he answered me that he would do no little,[91] if they, as they were, should be able to reach the land that night. I said to him, that, since he saw the little strength we had to follow him and do what he had commanded, he should tell me what he would that I should do. He answered me, that it was no longer a time in which one should command another, but that each should do what he thought best to save his own life; that he so intended to act; and, saying this, he departed with his boat. As I could not follow him, I steered to the other boat at sea, which waited for me; and, having come up with her, I found her to be the one commanded by the captains Beñalosa and Tellez.
Thus we continued in company, eating a daily ration of half a handful of raw maize, until the end of four days, when we lost sight of each other in a storm; and such was the weather, that it was only by divine favor that we did not all go down. Because of the winter and its inclemency, the many days we had suffered hunger, and the heavy beating of the waves, the people began the next day to despair in such a manner, that, when the sun went down, all who were in my boat were fallen one on another, so near to death, that there were few among them in a state of sensibility. Among them all at this time there were not five men on their feet; and, when the night came, there were left only the master and myself who could work the boat. At the second hour of the night, he said to me that I must take charge of her, for that he was in such condition he believed that night he should die. So I took the paddle; and after midnight I went to see if the master was alive, and he said to me that he was better, and that he would take the charge until day. I declare that in that hour I would have more willingly died than seen so many people before me in such condition. After the master took the direction of the boat, I lay down a little while, but without repose; for nothing at that time was farther from me than sleep.