The next thing I knew we were shooting past the upper city, up thevalley of the Jiron, and there wasn't any lower city to be seen. Wewere bound for the Andes. The crest of the wave was a few rods ahead,and the air was full of spray. I saw the Sarasara too, having a nicetime spitting things out of her mouth, and it looked to me like shewaggled her head with the fun she was having. But the _HelenMar_ was having no fun, nor me, nor Stevey Todd.

It was four miles the _Helen Mar_ went in a few minutes, goingslower toward the end. By-and-by she hit bottom, and keeled overagainst a bunch of very aged fruit trees on the bank of the river, and laystill, or only swayed a little, the water swashing inside her hold. Rightahead were the leghills of the Cordilleras, and the gorge where theJiron came down, and where the mule path came down beside the river.The big wave went up to the leg of the hills, and now it came backpeaceful. Then it was quiet everywhere, except for the sobbing of theebb among the tree trunks, and afterward lower down in the bed of theriver. The ground rose to the leghills there, and the channel of theriver lay deep below, with a sandy bank perhaps twenty feet high oneither side, and on the bank far above the river lay the _HelenMar_, propped up by the fruit trees.

By dusk there was no water except in the river, and some pools, butthere were heaps of wreckage. Stevey Todd and I got down and lookedthings over. Down the valley we saw pieces of the city of Portatelying along, and beyond we saw the Pacific. And Stevey Todd wiped hisface on his sleeves, and he says, "Maybe that's ridiculous, and perhapsit ain't" he says, "but I'd argue it."

We swabbed off the decks of the _Helen Mar_, and scuttled thebottom of her to let the water out. Then the next day we went down toPortate. There were a sorrowful lot of people drowned, including CaptainGoodwin and most of the crew. Sadler and Irish we didn't find, andsome others, and there was a man named Pickett who wasn't drowned. Hewent south to Lima by-and-by.

Afterwards we did up the ship's papers, and the cash and bills inthe Captain's chest, skinnyking them proper to go to the ship's owners.And Stevey Todd says: