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Capt. B. H.
MR. WILCOX INTRODUCES FRANK TO HIRAM LITTLE.–Page 85.


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR
A TALE OF THE GOLD FIELDS OF CALIFORNIA.
By G. A. HENTY,
Author of "Bonnie Prince Charlie," "With Clive in India," "The Dragon and
the Raven," "The Young Carthaginian," "The Lion of the North,"
"With Lee in Virginia,” “By Pike and Dike,” “Under
Drake's Flag," "By England's Aid," "In
Freedom's Cause,” In the Reign
of Terror," etc., etc.
ILLUSTRATED BY H. M. PAGET.
NEW YORK :
THE F. M. LUPTON PUBLISHING COMPANY,





Juvenile - Stocks
sift
hu. Herbert kould
10-180-1933
CONTENTS.
0
.
0
.
.
.
.
1
.......
.
CHAPTER 1.
Westminster! Westminster!.........
CHAPTER II.
A Cold Swim.......
CHAPTER III.
A Cripple Boy........
CHAPTER IV.
An Adopted Child....
CHAPTER V.
A Terrible Accusation.
CHAPTER VI.
At New Orleans........
CHAPTER VII.
On the Mississippi........
CHAPTER VIII.
Starting for the West.......
CHAPTER IX.
On the Plains..
CHAPTER X.
A Buffalo Story........
CHAPTER XI.
How Dick Lost His Scalp......
10-8.35 MES
....... 137
...... 155
....... 167


CONTENTS.
PAGE
Ival................................
........ 230
......
........ 244
CHAPTER XII.
The Attack on the Caravan..
CHAPTER XIII.
At the Gold-Fields....
CHAPTER XIV.
Captain Bayley.......
CHAPTER XV.
The Missing Heir....
CHAPTER XVI.
John Holl, Dust Contractor.....
CHAPTER XVII.
The Lonely Diggers.......
CHAPTER XVIII.
A Dream Verified........
CHAPTER XIX.
Striking it Rich........,
CHAPTER XX.
A Message from Abroad...
CHAPTER XXI.
Happy Meetings......
CHAPTER XXII.
Cleared at Last.........
......... 297
........... 313
.......... 331
........... 345


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
CHAPTEK L
WESTMINSTER! WESTMINSTER!
A cripple boy was sitting in a box on four low wheels,
In a little room in a small street in Westminster; his age
was some fifteen or sixteen years; his face was clear-cut
and intelligent, and was altogether free from the expres-
sion either of discontent or of shrinking sadness so often
seen in the face of those afflicted. Had he been sitting
on a chair at a table, indeed, he would have been re-
marked as a handsome and well-grown young fellow; his
shoulders were broad, his arms powerful, and his head
erect. He had not been born a cripple, but had been
disabled for life, when a tiny child, by a cart passing
over his legs above the knees. He was talking to a lad
a year or so younger than himself while a strong, hearty-
looking woman, somewhat past middle age, stood at a
washtub.
"What is all that noise about?" the cripple exclaimed,
as an uproar was heard in the street at some little dis-
tance from the house.
"Drink, as usual, I suppose," the woman said.
The younger lad ran to the door.
"No, mother; it's them scholars a-coming back from
orioket. Ain't there a fight jist!"


2
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
The cripple wheeled his box to the door, and then tak-
ing a pair of crutches which rested in hooks at its side
when not wanted, swung himself from the box, and
propped himself in the doorway so as to command a view
down the street.
It was indeed a serious fight. A party of Westminster
boys, on their way back from their cricket-ground in St.
Vincent's Square, had been atacked by the "skies." The
quarrel was an old standing one, but had broken out
afresh from a thrashing which one of the older lads had
administered on the previous day to a young chimney-
sweep about his own age, who had taken possession of
the cricket-ball when it had been knocked into the road-
way, and had, with much strong language, refused to
throw it back when requested.
The friends of the sweep determined to retaliate upon
the following day, and gathered so threateningly round
the gate that, instead of the boys coming home in twos
and threes, as was their wont, when playtime expired,
they returned in a body. They were some forty in num-
ber, and varied in age from the little fags of the under
school, ten or twelve years old, to brawny muscular
young fellows of seventeen or eighteen, senior queen's
scholars, or sixth form town boys. The queen's scholars
were in their caps and gowns, the town boys were in
ordinary attire, a few having only flannel cricketing
trousers.
On first leaving the field they were assailed only by
volleys of abuse; but as they made their way down the
street their assailants grew bolder, and from words pro-
ceeded to blows, and soon a desperate fight was raging.
In point of numbers the "skies" were vastly superior,
and many of them were grown men; but the knowledge
of boxing which almost every Westminster boy in those


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
days possessed, and the activity and quickness of hitting
of the boys, went far to equalize the odds.
Pride in their school, too, would have rendered it im-
possible for any to show the white feather on such an oc-
casion as this, and with the younger boys as far as possi-
ble in their center, the seniors faced their opponents
manfully. Even the lads of but thirteen and fourteen
years old were not idle. Taking from t'he fags the bats
which several of the latter were carrying, they joined in
the conflict, not striking at their opponents' heads, but
occasionally aiding fheir seniors, when attacked by three
or four at once, by swinging blows on their assailants'
shins.
Man after man among the crowd had gone down before
the blows straight from the shoulder of the boys, and
many had retired from the contest with faces which
would for many days bear marks of the fight; but their
places were speedily filled up, and the numbers of the
assailants grew stronger every minute.
, "How well they fight!" the cripple exclaimed.
"Splendid! isn't it, mother? But there are too many
against them. Eun, Evan, quick, down to Dean's Yard;
you are sure to find some of them playing at racquets in
the Little Yard, tell them that the boys coming home
from cricket have been attacked, and that unless help
comes they will be terribly knocked about."
Evan dashed off at full speed. Dean's Yard was but a
few minutes' run distant. He dashed through the little
archway into the yard, down the side, and then in at
another archway into Little Dean's Yard, where soma
elder boys were playing at racquets. A fag was picking
up the balls, and two or three others were standing at
the top of the steps of the two boarding-houses.
"If you please, sir," Evans said, running up to one of


4
CAPTAIN BA YLBY'S HEIR.
the racquet-players, "there is just a row going on; they
are all pitching into the scholars on their way back from
Vincent Square, and if you don't send help they will get
it nicely, though they are all fighting like bricks."
"Here, all of you," the lad he addressed shouted to the
others; "our fellows are attacked by the 'skies' on their
way back from the fields. Eun up college, James; the
fellows from the water have come back." Then he turned
to the boys on the steps, "Bring all the fellows out quick;
the 'skies' are attacking us on the way back from the
fields. Don't let them wait a moment." .
It was lucky that the boys who had been on the water
in the two eights, the six, and the fours, had returned,
or at that hour there would have been few in the board-
ing-houses or up college. Ere a minute had elapsed
these, with a few others who had been kept off field and
water from indisposition, or other causes, came pouring
out at the summons—a body some thirty strong, of whom
fully half were big boys. They dashed out of the gate
in a body, and made their way to the scene of the con-
flict. They were but just in time; the compact group of
the boys had been broken up, and everyone now was
fighting for himself.
They had made but little progress toward the school
since Evan had started, and the fight was now raging op-
posite his house. The cripple was almost crying with
excitement and at his own inability to join in the fight
going on. His sympathies were wholly with "the boys,"
toward whose side he was attached by the disparity of
their numbers compared to those of their opponents, and
by the coolness and resolution with which they fought.
"Just look at those two, mother—those two fighting
back to back. Isn't it grand I There I there is another
one down; that is the fifth I have counted. Don't they


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
S
fight cool and steady? and they almost look smiling,
though the odds against them are ten to one. Oh,
mother, if I could but go to help them!"
Mrs. Holl herself was not without sharing his excite-
ment. Several times she made sorties from her doorstep,
and seized more than one hulking fellow in the act of
pummeling a youngster half his size, and shook him with
a vigor which showed that constant exercise at the wash-
tub had strengthened her arms.
"Yer ought to be ashamed of yerselves, yer ought; a
whole crowd of yer pitching into a handful o' boys."
But her remonstrances were unheeded in the din,
which, however, was raised entirely by the assailants,
the boys fighting silently, save when an occasional shout
of "Hurrah, Westminster!" was raised. Presently
Evan dashed through the crowd up to the door.
"Are they coming, Evan?" the cripple asked eagerly.
"Yes, 'Arry; they will be 'ere in a jiffy."
A half-minute later, and with shouts of "Westminster!
Westminster 1" the reinforcement came tearing up the
street.
Their arrival in an instant changed the face of things.
The "skies" for a moment or two resisted; but the mus-
cles of the eight—hardened by the training which had
lately given them victory over Eton in their annual race
-—stood them in good stead, and the hard hitting of the
"water" soon beat back the lately triumphant assailants
of "cricket." The united band took the offensive, and in
two or three minutes the "skies" were in full flight.
"We were just in time, Norris," one of the newcomers
said to the tall lad in cricketing flannels whose straight
hitting had particularly attracted the admiration of Harry
Holl.
"Only just," the other said, smiling; "it was a hot


6
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
thing, and a pretty sight we shall look up school to-mor-
row. I shall have two thundering black eyes, and my
mouth won't look pretty for a fortnight; and, by the look
of them, most of the others have fared worse. It's the
biggest fight we have had for years. But I don't think
the 'skies' will interfere with us again for some time, for
every mark we've got they've got ten. Won't there be a
row in school to-morrow when Litter sees that half the
sixth can't see.out of their eyes."
. Not for many years had the lessons at Westminster
been so badly prepared as they were upon the following
morning—indeed, with the exception of the half and
home-boarders, few of whom had shared in the fight, not
a single boy, from the under school to the sixth, had
done an exercise or prepared a lesson. Study indeed had
been out of the question, for all were too excited and too
busy talking over the details of the battle to be able to
give the slightest attention to their work.
Many were the tales of feats of individual prowess;
but all who had taken part agreed that none had so dis-
tinguished themselves as Frank Norris, a sixth form town
boy, and captain of the eight—who, for a wonder had for
once been up at fields—and Fred Barkley, a senior in the
sixth. But, grievous and general as was the breakdown
in lessons next day, no impositions were set; the board-
ing-house masters, Bichards and Sargent, had of course
heard all about it at tea-time, as had Johns, who did not
himself keep a boarding-house, but resided at Carr's, the
boarding-house down by the great gate.
These, therefore, were prepared for the state of things,
and contented themselves by ordering the forms under
their charge to set to work with their dictionaries and
write out the lessons they should have prepared. The
sixth did not get off so easily. Dr. Litter, in his lofty


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
7
solifrude as head-master, had heard nothing of what had
passed; nor was it until the sixth took their places in tha
library and began to construe that his attention was
called to the fact that something unusual had happened.
But the sudden hesitation and blundering of the first
"put on," and the inability of those next to him to cor-
rect him, were too marked to be passed over, and he
raised his gold-rimmed eye "lasses to his eyes and looked
round.
Dr. Litter was a man standing some six feet two in
height, stately in manner, somewhat sarcastic in speech,
a very prodigy in classical learning, and joint author of
the great treatise "On the Uses of the Greek Particle."
Searchingly he looked from face to face round the library.
"I cannot," he said, with a curl of his upper lip, and
the cold and somewhat nasal tone which set every nerve
in a boy's body twitching when he heard it raised in
reproof, "I really cannot congratulate you on your ap-
pearance. I thought that the sixth form of Westminster
was composed of gentlemen, but it seems to me now as if
it consisted of a number of singularly disreputable-look-
ing prize-fighters. What does all this mean, Williams?"
he asked, addressing the captain; "your face appears to
have met with better usage than some of the others."
"It means, sir," Williams said, "that as the party from
fields were coming back yesterday evening, they were
attacked by the 'skies'—I mean by the roughs—and got
terribly knocked about. When the news came to us I
was up college, and the fellows had just come back from
the water, so of course we all sallied out to rescue them."
"Did it not occur to you, Williams, that there is a
body called the polico, whose duty it is to interfere ia
disgraceful uproars of this sort?"
"If we had waited for the police, sir," Williams said,


8
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
"half the school would not have been fit to take their
places in form again before the end of the term."
"It does not appear to me," Dr. Litter said, "that a
great many of them are fit to take their places at present.
I can scarcely see Norris' eyes; and I suppose that boy
is Barkley, as he sits in the place that he usually occu-
pies, otherwise I should not have recognized him; and
Smart, Kobertson, and Barker and Barret are nearly as
bad. I suppose you feel satisfied with yourselves, boys,
and consider that this sort of thing is creditable to you;
to my mind it is simply disgraceful. There! I don't
want to hear any more at present; I suppose the whole
school is in the same state. Those of you who can see
had better go back to school and prepare your Demos-
thenes; those who cannot had best go back to their
boarding-houses, or up college, and let the doctor be sent
for to see if anything can be done for you."
The doctor had indeed already been sent for, for some
seven or eight of the younger boys had been so seriously
knocked about and kicked that they were unable to leave
their beds. For the rest a doctor could do nothing.
Fights w#e not uncommon at Westminster in those days,
but the number of orders for beefsteaks which the near-
est butcher had received on the previous evening had
fairly astonished him. Indeed, had it not been for the
prompt application of these to their faces very few of the
party from the fields would have been able to find their
way up school unless they had been led by their com-
rades.
At Westminster there was an hour's school before
breakfast, and when nine o'clock struck, and the boys
poured out, Dr. Litter and his under-masters held coun-
cil together.
"This is a disgraceful business!" Dr. Litter said,


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
9
looking, as was his wont, at some distant object far over
the heads of the others.
There was a general murmur of assent.
"The boys do not seem to have been much to blame,"
Mr. Eichards suggested in the cheerful tone habitual to
him. "From what I can hear it seems to have been a
planned thing; the people gathered round the gates be-
fore they left the fields and attacked them without any
provocation." \
"There must have been some provocation somewhere,
Mr. Eichards, if not yesterday, then the day before, or
the day before that," Dr. Litter said, twirling his eye-
glass by the ribbon. "A whole host of people do not
gather to assault forty or fifty boys without provocation.
This sort of thing must not occur again. I do not see
that I can punish one boy without punishing the whole
school; but, at any rate, for the next week fields.must
be stopped. I shall write to the commissioner of police,
asking that when they again go to Vincent Square some
policemen may be put on duty, not of course to accom-
pany them, but to interfere at once if they see any signs
of a repetition of this business. I shall request that,
should there be any fighting, those not belonging to the
school who commit an assault may be taken before a
magistrate; my own boys I can punish myself. Are any
of the boys seriously injured, do you think?"
"I hope not, sir," Mr. Eichards said; "there are three
or four in my house, and there are ten at Mr. Sargent's,
and two at Carr's, who have gone on the sick list. I sent
for the doctor, and he may have seen them by this time;
they all seem to have been knocked down and kicked."
"There are four of the juniors at college in the infirm-
ary," Mr. Wire, who was in special charge of the queen's
scholars, put in. "I had not heard about it last night,


10
CAPTAIN BAY LEY'S HEIR.
and was in ignorance of what had taken place until the
list of those who had gone into the infirmary was put
into my hands, and then I heard from Williams what had
taken place."
"It is very unpleasant," Dr. Litter said, in aweary
tone of voice—as if boys were a problem far more
difficult to be mastered than any that the Greek authors
afforded him—"that one cannot trust boys to keep out of
mischief for an hour. Of course with small boys this sort
of thing is to be expected; but that young fellows like
Williams and the other seniors, and the sixth town boys,
who are on the eve of going up to the universities,
should so far forget themselves is very surprising."
"But even at the university, Dr. Litter," Mr. Eichards
said, with a passing thought of his own experience,
"town and gown rows take place."
"All the worse," Dr. Litter replied, "all the worse.
Of course there are wild young men at the universities."
Dr. Litter himself, it is scarcely necessary to say, had
never been wild, the study of the Greek particles had
absorbed all his thoughts. "Why," he continued,
"young men should condescend to take part in disgrace-
ful affrays of this kind passes my understanding. Mr.
Wire, you will inform Williams that for the rest of the
week no boy is to go to fields."
So saying, he strode off in the direction of his own
door, next to the archway, for the conversation had taken
place at the foot of the steps leading into school from
Little Dean's Yard. There was some grumbling when
the head-master's decision was known; but it was, never-
theless, felt that it was a wise one, and that it was better
to allow the feelings to calm down before again going
through Westminster between Dean's Yard and the field,
for not even the most daring would have cared for a
repetition of the struggle.


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'8 HEIR.
11
Several inquiries were made as to the lad who had
brought the news of the fight, and so enabled the rein-
forcements to arrive in time; and had he been discovered
a handsome subscription would have been got up to
reward his timely service, but no one knew anything
about him.
The following- week, when cricket was resumed, no
molestation was offered. The better part of the working-
classes who inhabited the neighborhood were indeed
strongly in favor of the "boys," and liked to see their
bright young faces as they passed home from their
cricket; the pluck, too, with which they had fought was
highly appreciated, and so strong a feeling was expressed
against the attack made upon them that the rough ele-
ment deemed it better to abstain from further interrup-
tion, especially as there were three or four extra police
put upon the beat at the hours when the "boys" went to
and from Vincent Square.
It was, however, some time before the "great fight"
ceased to be a subject of conversation among the boys.
At five minutes to ten on the morning when Dr. Litter
had put a stop to fields, two of the younger boys—who
were as usual, just before school-time, standing in the
archway leading into Little Dean's Yard to warn the
school of the issuing out of the head-master—were talk-
ing of the fight of the evening before; both had been
present, having been fagging out at cricket for their
masters.
"I wonder which would lick, Norris or Barkley.
What a splendid fight it would be I"
"You will never see that, Fairlie, for they are cousins
and great friends. It would be a big fight, and I expect
it would be a draw. I know who I should shout for."
"Oh, of course, we should all be for Norris, he is such


13
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
a jolly fellow; there is no one in the school I would so
readily fag for. Instead of saying, 'Here, you fellow,
come and pick up balls,' or, 'Take my bat up to fields;'
he says, 'I say, young Fairlie, I wish you would come
and pick up balls for a bit, and in a quarter of an hour
you can call some other under-school boy to take your
place,' just as if it were a favor, instead of his having the
right to put one on if he pleased. I should-like to be his
fag; and he never allows any bullying up at Richards'.
I wish we had him at Sargent's."
"Yes, and Barkley is quite a different sort of fellow.
I don't know that he is a bully, but somehow he seems to
have a disagreeable way with him, a cold, nasty, hard
sort of way; he walks along as if he never noticed the
existence of an under-school boy, while Norris always
has a pleasant nod for a fellow."
"Here's Litter."
At this moment a door in the wall under the archway
opened, and the head-master appeared. As he came out
the five or six small boys standing round raised a tre-
mendous shout of "Litter's coming." A shout so loud
that it was heard not only in college and the boarding-
houses in Little Dean's Yard, but at Carr's across by the
archway, and even at Sutcliffe's shop outside the yard,
where some of the boys were purchasing sweets for con-
sumption in school. A fag at the door of each of the
boarding-houses took up the cry, and the boys at once
came pouring out.
The doctor, as if unconscious of the din raised round
him, walked slowly along halfway to the door of the
school; here he was joined by the other masters, and
they stood chatting in a group for about two minutes,
giving ample time for the boys to go up school, though
those from Carr's, having much further to go, had to rua


CAPTAIN BATLEY S HEIR.
13
for it, and not unfrequently had to rush past the masters
as the latter mounted the wide stone steps leading up to
the school.
The school was a great hall, which gave one the idea
that it was almost coeval with the abbey to which it was
attached, although it was not built until some hundreds
of years later. The walls were massive, and of great
height, and were covered from top to bottom with the
painted names of old boys, some of which had been
there, as was shown by the dates under them, close upon
a hundred years. The roof was supported on great
beams, and both in its proportions and style the school
was a copy in small of the great hall of Westminster.
At the furthermost end from the door was a semicircu-
lar alcove, known as the "shell," which gave its name to
the form sitting there. On both sides ran rows of
benches and narrow desks, three deep, raised one above
the other. On the left hand on entering was the under
school, and, standing on the floor in front of it, was the
armchair of Mr.Wire. Next came the monitor's desk, at
which the captain and two monitors sat. In an open
drawer in front of the table were laid the rods, which
were not unfrequently called into requisition. Extend-
ing up to the end were the seats of the sixth. The
"upper shell" occupied the alcove; the "under shell"
were next to them, on the further benches on the right-
hand side. Mr. Eichards presided over the "shell."
Mr. Sargent took the upper and under fifth, who came
next to them, and "Johnny," as Mr. Johns was called,
looked after the two fourths, who occupied benches on
the right hand of the door.
By the time the masters entered the school all the boys
were in their places. The doors were at once shut, then
the masters knelt on one knee in a line, one behind the


14
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
Other, in order of seniority, and the junior queen's
scholar whose turn it was knelt in front of them, and in
a loud tone read the Lord's Prayer in Latin. Then the
masters proceeded to their places, and school began, the
names of all who came in late being taken down to be
punished with impositions.
So large and lofty was the hall that the voices were
lost in its space, and the forms were able to work with-
out disturbing each other any more than if they had
been in separate rooms. The sixth only were heard
apart, retiring into the library with the doctor. His
seat, when in school, was at a table in the center of the
hall, near the upper end.
Thus Westminister differed widely from the great
modern schools, with their separate class-rooms and
lecture-rooms. Discipline was not very strict. When
a master was hearing one of the forms under him the
other was supposed to be preparing its next lessons, but
a buzz of quiet talk went on steadily. Occasionally, once
or twice a week perhaps, a boy would be seen to go up
from one of the lower forms with a note in his hand to
the head-master; then there was an instant pause in the
talking.
Dr. Litter would rise from his seat, and a monitor at
once brought him a rod. These instruments of punish-
ment were about three feet six inches long; they were
formed of birch twigs, very tightly bound together, and
about the thickness of the handle of a bat; beyond this
handle some ten or twelve twigs extended for about eigh-
teen inches. The doctor seldom made any remark
beyond giving the order, "Hold out your hand."
The unfortunate to be punished held out his arm at a
level with his shoulder, back uppermost. Eaising his
arm so that the rod fell almost straight behind his back,


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
18
Dr. Litter would bring it down, stroke after stroke, with
a passionless and mechanical air, but with a sweeping
force which did its work thoroughly. Four cuts was the
normal number, but if it was the third time a boy had
been sent up during the term he would get six. But
four sufficed to swell the back of the hand, and cover it
with narrow weals and bruises. It was of course a point
of honor that no sound should be uttered during punish-
ment. When it was over the doctor would throw the
broken rod scornfully upon the ground and return to his
seat. The junior then carried it away and placed a fresh
one upon the desk.
The rods were treated with a sort of reverence, for no
junior queen's scholar ever went up or down school for
any purpose without first going over to the monitor's
table and lightly touching the rod as he passed.
Such was school at Westminster forty years since, and
it has but little changed to the present day.


16
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
OHAPTEE II.
A COLD SWIM.
It is winter. Christmas is close at hand, and promises
to be a bitterly cold one. The ice has formed smooth
and black across the Serpentine, and a number of ^people
are walking along by its banks, looking forward to some
grand skating if the frost does but hold two days longer.
The sky is blue, and the sun shining brightly; the wind
is fresh and keen; it is just the day when people well-
clad, well-fed, and in strong health, feel their blood
dancing more freely than usual through their veins, and
experience an unusual exhilaration of spirits. Merry
laughter often rises from the groups on the bank, and
the air rings with the sharp sound made by pieces of ice
sent skimming by mischievous boys over the glassy sur-
face, to the disgust of skaters, who foresee future falls as
the result of these fragments should a slight thaw freeze
them to the surface.
Among those walking by the edge of the ice were
Frank Norris and Fred Barkley; with them was a bright-
faced girl of some fourteen years old. Alice Hardy was
cousin to both the young fellows, and was a ward of their
uncle, Captain Bayley, an old and very wealthy retired
officer of the East India Company service. His fortune
had not been acquired in India, but had descended to
him from his father, of whom he had been the youngest
son. His elder brothers had died off one by one, all un-
married or childless, and soon after he obtained his com-


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
a
mission he was recalled home to take his place as the next
heir to his father's estates; then he had married.
Soon after he succeeded to the property his wife died,
leaving him a little girl, who was called Ella after her.
Captain Bayley was hot and passionate. His daughter
grew up fiery and proud. Her father was passionately
fond of her; but just when she reached the age of twenty,
and had taken her place as one of the leading belles of
Worcestershire, she disappeared suddenly from the circle
of her acquaintances. What had happened no one ever
knew. That there had been some terrible quarrel was
certain. It was understood that Captain Bayley wished
no questions to be asked. Her disappearance was a nine
days' wonder in Worcestershire. Some said she had
turned Roman Catholic and gone into a convent; others
that she must have eloped, although with whom no one
could guess. But at last the subject died out, until two
years later Captain Bayley and his household appeared
in mourning, and it was briefly announced that his
daughter was dead.
Captain Bayley went about as before, peppery, kind-
hearted, perhaps a little harder and more cynical than
before, but a very popular personage in Worcestershire.
Those who knew him best thought him the most altered,
and said that although he appeared to bear the blow
lightly he felt deeply at heart the death of his daughter.
His nearest heirs now were his two nephews, Frank
Norris and Barkley, sons of his married sisters. Alice
Hardy bore no relation to him. For some years specula-
tion had been rife as to which of his two nephews he
would solect as his heir. Two years before this story
begins Alice Hardy's father and mother had both died of
typhoid fever, leaving Captain Bayley as guardian to
thrir daughter. Somewhat to the surprise of his friend?


18
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
the old officer not only accepted the trust, but had Alice
installed at his house, there to be educated by a governeea
instead of being sent to school. But although in a short
time she came to be regarded as the daughter of the
house, no one thought that Captain Bayley would make
her his heiress, as she had inherited a considerable for-
tune from her father; and the two lads at Westminster
were still regarded as rivals for the heirship.
Captain Bayley had never been on good terms with
either of his brothers-in-law; both had been merchants
in the city, and the old officer considered that his sisters
had made mesalliances in marrying them. Frank's
father and mother had died within a few months of each
other, when he was about twelve years old; Captain
Bayley's house had since been his home. Fred was often
invited to stay with his uncle down in Worcestershire,
and his London house in Eaton Square was always open
to him. Frank had never counted on the probability of
his uncle leaving him any money. Certainly he never
for a moment built castles in the air founded upon the
chance of the inheritance. His father had been an easy-
going and somewhat careless man, and would sometimes
laugh with the boy in speaking of his future and pre-
dicting what he would do if he were to come into old
Bayley's estates. None of the captain's intimates could
—had they been asked—have declared a preference for
the chances of either lad. Fred was certainly the clever-
est. He had gone into college head of his year, and
would have been captain, had not one of those of the
year before him, who had got into college under age,
elected to stay a year longer at school, and therefore by
right became captain, while Fred had to be content with
the honors of head monitor. Frank, on the other hand,
had failed to get into college at all, and had remained a
town boy.


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR. 19
Although it could not be said of Fred that in any open
way he laid himself out to gain his uncle's favor, he was
yet decidedly more attentive than was Frank, and would
give up any other engagement he might have if Captain
Bayley invited him to stay the Saturday and Sunday in
Eaton Square, while Frank went carelessly his own way.
And while there was nothing in the smallest degree ser-
vile in Fred's manner—for this indeed Captain Bayley
would have instantly noticed and resented—there was
just that slight deference which a young fellow should
exhibit in conversation with an elder, while Frank on the
other hand, carelessly expressed his own opinion and
ideas, which often differed very widely from those of the
old officer.
Captain Bayley's own manner evinced no shade of par-
tiality for one nephew over the other; and although Alice
had a sort of faint suspicion that Frank, who was cer-
tainly her own favorite, was also that of her uncle, she
could have given no reason for her belief.
In person the cousins were remarkably dissimilar.
Frank was two inches the tallest, and had a still greatei
advantage in width. It was clear that he would grow
into a big man, but his figure was at present loose and
unformed; he had dark brown hair, with a slight wave,
and would hardly have been called good-looking were it
not for his open, fearless expression and merry smile.
Fred's figure, although less strongly built, was far
more formed, and it was probable that years would effect
but little change in it. There was a sinew and wire in
his frame which would have told an athlete of great latent
strength in the slight figure. His hair was light, his
features clear and sharply cut, and the face a decidedly
intellectual one. His manner was somewhat cold and
restrained, but pleasant and courteous to men older than


20
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
himself; both young fellows carried themselves well,
with a certain ease of bearing, and that nameless air of
command which distinguish most young men who
have passed through the upper forms of a great publio
school.
Both lads had their circle of friends and admirers at
school, but Frank's was by far the largest. He was in-
deed universally popular, which was far from being the
case with his cousin. Upon the other hand, while Frank
seamed to be a sort of common property of the school, it
was somehow esteemed by those in Barkley's set a
special distinction to be admitted to his friendship.
But the party of three young people have been left
long enough walking by the edge of the Serpentine.
Presently they saw a knot of people gathered ahead; the
number increased as others ran up.
"What's up, I wonder?" Frank said. "Look out
there on the ice, Alice. You see that hole; there is
something moving—there's a dog's head, I declare.
Poor brute! it has run out after a stick, I suppose, and
the ice has given under it."
"Poor little thing!" Alice exclaimed pitifully, "can't
it get out? Do you think it will be drowned, Frank?
Can nothing be done for it?"
"The best thing you can do, Alice," Fred replied, as
Frank stood looking at the dog, who tried several times,
but in vain, to scramble out, the ice each time breaking
with its weight, "will be to turn and walk away; there
is no use standing here harrowing your feelings by
watching that poor little brute drown."
"Can nothing be done, Frank?" Alice again asked,
paying no heed to Fred's suggestion.
"That is just what I am thinking," Frank replied.
"You stop here, Alice, with Fred. I will go on and see
what they are doing."


CAPTAIN BA YLEY 'S HEIR. %\
"Can't I go with you, Frank?"
"You had better stop here," Frank replied; "the
crowd is getting thick there, and they are a roughish lot.
Besides, you will not be able to see over their heads, and
can do no good; so just do as I bid you."
The girl remained obediently with her cousin Fred,
while Frank-went off at a run toward the group.
"Frank orders you about just as if you were his fag,"
Fred said, with a smile which had in it something of a
sneer.
"I don't mind," the girl said stanchly, "it's Frank's
way, and I like it; at any rate one always knows what
Frank means, and he always means well."
"That is as much as to say, Alice, that you don't always
understand what I mean, and that I don't always mean
well," Fred Barkley said in a quiet tone, but with a
little flush of anger in his usually somewhat pale cheeks.
"No, I don't know that I mean that," Alice said care-
lessly; '"but I do not always understand what you mean,
though I always understand what you say."
"I should have thought that was the same thing, "Fred
replied.
"Should you?" Alice rejoined. "Well I shouldn't,
that's all."
As Frank Norris approached the group he began to
unbutton his collar and waistcoat.
"It will be a beastly cold swim," he grumbled to him-
self, "but I can't see the poor little brute drowned, and
drowned he certainly will be if no one goes in for him.
It's no distance to swim, and I should think one could
wade to within twenty yards of him; but it certainly
will be horribly cold." And he gave a shiver of antici-
pation as he looked at the smooth frozen surface.
With some little difficulty Frank pushed his way


22
CAPTAIN BA TLBT'B HEIR.
through to the center of the group by the water's side.
A little girl, poorly dressed, was standing crying bit-
terly; a cripple boy in a box upon wheels was trying to
pacify her, while another who had taken off his coat and
waistcoat, and laid them in the lap of the cripple, was
unlacing his boots.
"Are you going in, young un?" Frank said, as he
joined them.
"Yes, sir; I am going in for Flossy. She belongs to
this little girl, who is one of our neighbors."
"Can you swim well?" Frank asked, "for the water
will be bitterly cold."
"Yes,"the boy answered confidently, "I goes regu-
larly for a swim above Vauxhall Bridge in the summer,
and keeps on until the water gets too cold. I can do
that fast enough. I suppose the ice will break right
enough," and he looked up inquiringly at Frank.
"Yes, it will break with your weight easily enough;
you will have to raise yourself a little so as to break it
before you. You will have to put some weight on, for it
is nearly half an inch thick; I expect there is a thin
place where the dog has fallen in—a spring underneath,
most likely, so a mere skin has formed.
"Look here, young un, I was going in if you hadn't.
I shall get my boots ready to kick off now, so don't you
be frightened if you get numbed with the cold, or a
touch of cramp; just sing out and I will be with you in
a minute."
The cripple looked with pleasure up into Frank's
face.
"It is very good of you, sir, for you don't know the
dog as Evan does. Ah! I know your face, sir," he broke
off, "I saw you in the fight down by our place at West-
minster, when Evan ran up and fetched some more of
your chaps—and just in time they were too."


CAPTAIN BAYLEY S HEIR.
2iJ
"Oh! was it your brother who brought that news?"
Frank said quickly; "then I owe him one, and if I go in
to fetch him out we shall be only quits."
Evan had by this time entered the water, breaking the
ice before him as he went.
"My eye, ain't it cold!" he said, half-turning round;
"seems to nip one's legs up regular. All right, Flossy,"
he shouted to the dog, as he continued his way out, in
answer to a pitiful whine of the struggling animal.
For the first few paces Evan's progress was easy
enough; but when he got so deep that he could no
longer break the ice with his foot his difficulties began,
and it was only by flinging himself down upon it that he
was able to break it. A few yards further on the water
was up to his chin. He was now breaking the ice by
trying to climb upon it. Frank was watching him
closely, and noticed that he no longer proceeded about
his work deliberately, but with a hurried and jerky
action, as if he felt his strength failing him. Frank
pulled off his coat and waistcoat, and handed them to the
cripple, kicked off his boots, and stood in readiness to
plunge in.
The crowd had at first cheered the lad as he made his
way from the shore; some still uttered shouts of encour-
agement, others saw that he was getting exhausted, and
called to him to return. Suddenly the boy seemed to
lose his power altogether, held on to the edge of the ice,
and cast a despairing look toward the shore. Then grad-
ually his head disappeared under the water; but Frank
was already halfway toward him. A few strides had
taken him through the shallow water, and he swam with
vigorous strokes through the floating fragments to the
end of the line of broken water; then he too disappeared
for a moment. A dead silence reigned through tha


24
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'B HEIR.
crowd; but when two heads appeared above the water
together, a ringing cheer broke out. Carrying his sense-
less companion, Frank swam back to shore.
"Take off his wet clothes," he said, as he handed his
burden to some of the men. "Wrap him up in my coat
and his own, and then run with him up to the Humane
Society's house; they will bring him round in no time;
it is cold, not drowning."
Then he looked again across the water. The little dog
was swimming feebly now, its nose scarcely above the
surface. It had given a plaintive cry of despair as it saw
those who had approached so near turn back, for there
were but some five yards between the spot where the
boy's strength had failed and the circle which it had
broken in its efforts to climb out.
"I can't be colder than I am," Frank said to himself,
"so here goes."
Accordingly he again dashed into the water and swam
to the end of the narrow passage; a few vigorous strokes
broke the intervening barrier of ice. He seized the little
dog, put it on the ice, and with a push sent it sliding
toward the shore, and then turned and swam back again.
It was only just where the dog had fallen in tbat the ice
was too weak to bear its weight, and, after lying for two
or three minutes utterly exhausted, it scrambled to >ts
feet and made its way to the bank, where it was soon
wrapped in the apron of its delighted mistress.
Frank, on reaching the shore, was scarcely able to
stand, so benumbed were his legs by the cold. His
cousins had made their way through the crowd to the
spot.
"Oh, Frank," Alice exclaimed, "what a mad thing for
you to do. Oh! I am so pleased you did it—but dk, you
do look cold 1 What will you do i"


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
25
"lam all right, Alice," Frank said, as cheerfully as
his chattering teeth would allow him to speak. "You go
home with Fred; I shall get a hot bath and have my
clothes dried at the receiving-house, and shall be as right
as a trivet in half an hour. Th^re, good-by!"
Frank walked stiffly at first, but was presently able to
break into a run, which he kept up until he reached the
establishment of the Eoyal Humane Society. His first
question, as he entered, was for the boy.
"He will do, sir," the attendant answered, "we popped
him at once into a hot bath we had ready, and he has
opened his eyes, and is able to speak; we have just got
him into bed between warm blankets, and now it's your
turn." In another minute Frank was in the bath from
which the boy had just been taken, for there was no time
to prepare another. For the first minute or two he felt
an intense pain as the blood flowed back into his chilled
limbs, then a delightful sensation of warmth and comfort
stole over him; a glass of hot brandy and water com-
pleted his cure, and a few minutes later he felt that he
was fast going off to sleep in the warm blankets between
which he was laid.
Before the crowd whom the incident on the Serpentine
had gathered broke up, one or two of those present went
among the rest and collected a subscription for the lad
who had gone in after the dog. Nearly two pounds were
collected in silver and coppers, and handed over to the
cripple to give to his brother. Fred Barkley dropped in
five shillings, and Alice Hardy the same sum. Then
after walking to to the receiving-house, and hearing that
Frank and the lad had both recovered from the effects of
the cold, and would probably be all right after a few
hours' sleep, they returned home, Alice in a high state
of excitement over the adventure which she had wit-
nessed, Fred silent and gloomy.


t6
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
He accompanied Alice to Eaton Square, and was pres-
ent when she related to her uncle the story of the lad
going in to rescue the dog, and of Frank going in to
rescue the boy, and of ]^ afterward returning to set free
the dog. Upon the way home he had appeared to Alice
to take the matter exceedingly quietly, but he now, some-
what to her surprise, appeared almost as enthusiastic as
herself, and spoke in terms of high admiration of Frank's
conduct. Captain Bayley, as was usually the case with
him, took a view of the matter entirely opposed to that
of the speakers.
"Stuff and nonsense!" he said. "You call that a gal-
lant action? I call it a foolish boy's trick. What right
has Frank to risk getting rheumatic fever, and being laid
up as a cripple for life, merely to save a dog?"
"But he went in to save a boy uncle," Alice said in-
dignantly.
"Pooh, pooh!" the old officer exclaimed, "the boy
would never have gone in if he hadn't encouraged him.
That makes the case all the worse. Frank not only risked
catching rheumatism himself, but he risked the life of
that boy by encouraging him to do such a foolish action.
It was a hare-brained business altogether, sir; and I am
glad you had the wisdom, Fred, to keep out of it. The
idea of two lives being risked to save that of a wretched
cur is too absurd; if you had offered the girl who owned
it five shillings to buy another it would have been more
sensible."
"I don't believe you mean what you say a bit, Uncle
Harry," Alice exclaimed indignantly. "I believe if you
had been there, and had heard that poor little dog's
cries as we did, you would have gone in yourself. I am
sure I would if I had been a man."
"T always observe, my dear," Captain Bayley said sar-


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
27
castically, "that women would do wonderful things if
they had only been born men. Nature appears to be
always making mistakes by putting the dauntless and
heroic spirits into female bodies, and vice versa."
"I don't like you when you talk like that, Uncle Harry
—that is, I shouldn't like you if I thought you meant it;
but you only talk so out of contradiction. If I had said
I thought Frank was very foolish for having gone into
the water, you would have taken the opposite side
directly."
"You are an impudent puss, Miss Alice," her uncle
retorted, "and I shall have to tell Miss Lancaster that
unless she can keep you in better order I shall have to
send you to school. You appear to have been born
without the bump of veneration."
"I would venerate you ever so much, Uncle Harry,"
the girl replied, laughing,"if you would always be good
and resonable; but I cannot venerate you when you are
contrary and disagreeable, and say things you don't
mean."
As Fred Barkley walked home, he wondered again and
again to himself whether Captain Bayley had meant what
he said, and whether this act of Frank's would raise him
in his opinion or the contrary; but he nattered himself
that, at any rate, no harm had been done, for his own
advocacy of his cousin could not but have placed him in
the most favorable light.
Fred Barkley was shrewd, but his power of reading
character was, as yet, by no means perfect, and hia
unole's changing moods baffled the power of analysis.
He would not have been pleased had he known that at
that very moment the old officer was walking up and down
his library, muttering to himself: "I would give a good
deal if there were a glass window at* that boy Fred's


28 ' CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
heart, that I could see what it is really made of. Hia
head is strong enough; nature has given him a fair share
of brains, but, unless I am greatly mistaken, there is a
very grievous deficiency in his allowance of heart.
"I don't believe the boy ever spoke spontaneously from
the time he learned to talk, but that every word he says
is weighed before it passes through his lips, and its effect
calculated; whereas Frank never thinks at all, but just
blurts put the words which come to hand. It is curious
how much more Alice takes to him than to Fred, for he
bullies her and orders her about as if she were one of his
fags, while Fred is as courteous and polite to her as if
she were a young countess. I suppose it is instinct, for
children's opinions about people are seldom far wrong.
I thought when I brought Alice here that she would
help me to settle the problem."
Frank and Evan Holl woke at about the same time,
after sleeping for some hours; their clothes had been
dried for them, and they at once began to dress.
"How do you feel now, young un?" was Frank's first
inquiry as they sat up in their beds.
"I dunno how I feels," Evan replied. "I hardly
knows where I am, or how I got here, though I do seem
to remember something about this-'ere place too. Oh
yes!" he exclaimed suddenly, "I was trying to fetch out
poor little Flossy, and the ice would not break, and I got
colder and colder, and then I don't seem to remember
any more except somehow that I was here with people
standing round me, and I swallowed something hot and
went off to sleep. Ah yes! you were the gentleman as
said you would come in after me if I sang out."
"And I did come in,"Frank said. smilingly, "and
only just in time I was, for you did not sing out, but
went right down without a word. It was lucky you did
not get under the ice."


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
31
"And a nice sight I should look in it,"Mrs. Holl said,
laughing at the thought of herself in scarlet robes.
"When dad comes home we will talk over with him
what's the best way of laying out this money. It's yours
to do as you likes with, but I ain't a-going to have it
fooled away, so don't you make any mistake about that."


32
CAPTAIN BA TLEY'S HEIR.
CHAPTER III
A CRIPPLE BOY.
John Holl returned from work a few minutes after
Evan oame in. John Holl was a dustman. A short,
broadly-built man, with his shoulders bowed somewhat
from carrying heavy baskets up area steps. His looks
were homely, and his attire far from clean; but John was
a good husband and father, and the great proportion of
the many twopences he daily received as douceurs for
discharging his duties ware brought home to his wife, as
was all the weekly money, instead of being exchanged for
liquor at the public-house.
Sarah Holl added to the family income by going out
charring. She was a big woman, with a rough voice, and
slipshod in walk; her hands were red and hard from
much scrubbing and polishing, and she was considered
generally by the servants in the establishments at which
she worked to be a low person. But Sarah's heart was
in the right place; her children loved her, and her hus-
band regarded her as a treasure.
It was not until John Holl had changed his dirt-stained
clothes, and had freshened himself up with a copious
wash, had put on a pair of list slippers of Sarah's manu-
facture in place of his heavy boots, and had seated him-
self by the fire with his long pipe alight, while Sarah
bustled about getting the tea, that he was informed of
the important events which had taken place, for John,
like many more distinguished men, had his idiosyn-


CAPTAIN BA YLET'S HEIR.
33
crasies, and one of these was that he hated to be, as he
called it, "hustled," before he had tidied up. John was
not quick of comprehension, and could not give due
weight to what was said to him while engaged in the im-
portant work of changing; therefore all pieces of family
news were reserved until he had taken his seat and his
pipe was fully alight. Then Mrs. Holl began:
"What do you think, John, Evan 'as been a-doing to-
day?"
John gave a grunt, to signify that he would prefer
hearing the facts to wasting brain-power in random
guesses.
"Why, he has been in the Serpentine, and was nigh
drowned, and had to be taken to the 'Mane Society and
put into a hot bath, and all his clothes shrunk that much
as you never seed."
"I thought the ice weren't strong enough to bear,"
John said, taking his pipe from his mouth; "one of my
mates tells me as he heard a chap going along with skates
say as it weren't strong enough on the Serpentine to
hold a cat."
"No more it ain't, John; but Carrie Hill's little dog
run on and fell through, and nothing would do but that
Evan must go out and risk his life to fetch it out. And
a nice business he made of it; when he got close out to
the dog down he went hisself, and would have been
drowned as sure as fate if a young gent as was a-stand-
ing there hadn't swam out and brought him in. And I
think you ought to speak to him, John, for such venture-
some ways; he don't mind my speaking no more than
the wind a-blowing."
John Holl smoked his pipe in silence for some time,
looking solemnly into the fire; the number of facts and
ideas presented suddenly to him were too great to be
instantly taken in and grappled with.


34
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
"And how do you feel now, Evan?" he said at last;
"cold right through the bones?"
"No, father; I am as warm as need be; and what do
you think? I have got thirty-eight bob and some coppers
which they 'scribed for me."
"Did they, now?" John Holl said. Then after taking
in this new fact, and turning it over in different lights,
he said to his wife, "Well, Sarah, it seems to me that if
the people who saw our Evan go into the water sub-
scribed well-nigh upon two pounds for the boy, they
must have thought that what he did warn't a thing for
him to be jawed for, but a brave, good-hearted sort of
action; and I ain't no manner of doubt, Sarah, that
that's 'just what you think it yerself, only you are a bit
scared over the thought that he might have been drowned,
which is natural and womanlike. It seems to me as
Evan has done a wery honorable kind o' action. I know
as I should have liked to have done it myself, though I
holds that a man can't have too much of hot water and
plenty of soap in it, cold water alius giving me the
shivers, and being no good for getting out dirt—not
where it's ground in pretty thick. I suppose it's cos of
this that I didn't larn to swim. Evan, my boy, your
father feels proud of yer, and so does your mother—as
proud as a peacock—though she don't think it's right to
say so."
"Whereupon Mrs. Holl, finding to her great inward
satisfaction that the paternal sanction and approval had
been given to Evan's adventure, felt no longer con-
strained to keep up a semblance of disapproval, but em-
braced him with great heartiness, and then wiped her
eyes with the corner of her apron. Then came the great
point of the disposal of Evan's fortune. His first pro-
posal was to hand it over to his father as a contribution


CAP1AIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
35
toward the general expenses, but this John Holl per-
emptorily refused.
"It's your money, boy, to do as you like with; it's
earned in a honorable way, and a way to be proud of.
You are to do with it just what you likes; it were best
not to spend it foolish, but if you are disposed to spend
it foolish, you do so."
"There are such lots of things I should like to buy,"
Evan said. "I should like to buy mother a new Sunday
bonnet, and I should like to get you a pound of bacca;
and Winnie wants a new pair of boots and stockings, and
there's lots of things I should like to get for Harry, and
some warm gloves for Sue, and—and no end of things."
"Two pounds," John Holl said, "is a nice little lump
of money, Evan; but when you gets as old as I am you
will know as two pounds don't go wery far. My advice
to you is this, whatever you get yer sure awhile afterward
to want something else, and to wish as you had bought
that instead; that's human nature, and it's the same
with men, women, and boys—at least that's my 'speri-
ence, and mother will tell you the same. My advice is,
give that money to mother to keep for you, say for a
month. Well then, every day you can settle fresh what
you mean to buy, and that will be most as good as buy-
ing it; perhaps toward the end of the month you will
have settled yer mind on to something which really seems
to you better than all the others; that's my advice."
"And capital good advice too, father," Harry said.
And thus the approval of the two authorities of the
family having been obtained, the matter was considered
as settled.
"And who was the young gent as went in and fetched
you out, Evan?" John Holl asked, when the important
business of tea was conoluded and he again settled him -


36
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'B HEIR.
self to his pipe. "He must have been a good sort; I
should like to shake hands with that chap."
"He told me as his name were Frank Norris," Evan
replied; "he is one of the scholars we see going along to
Yincent Square; I knew him again directly. He was one
of those chaps as fought so well the day they got attacked
going back to the school. A fine-looking chap he is too,
with a pleasant face, and a nice sort of way about him.
No nonsense, you know; he talked just pleasant and nioe,
as Harry might talk to me, just as if he was a sort of pal,
and not a swell nohow."
"I should like to shake hands with him," John Holl
repeated; "he saved your life, that's sure enough"—for
by this time Harry had related the full details of the
affair. "I think, Sarah, as it would be only right and
proper, come Sunday, for you and I to go round to that
young fellow's house and tell him how we feels about it.
If it had been a chap of our own station in life I sup-
pose there ain't nothing we wouldn't do for him, if we
saw our way to it; and though I don't see as it's likely
as we can do nothing for this young fellow, the least as we
can do is to go and tell him what we thinks about it.
Did he tell you where he lived, Evan?"
"No, father. He didn't say where he lived; but he
writ down in a pocket-book my name and where we lived,
and said as how he would look in one of these days and
see that I was none the worse for my ducking."
"Well, I hopes as how he will," John said, "but if he
don't come soon, we must find him out. I expect his
name or his father's name would be down in a 'Eectory,
and the name ain't so common a one, as there would be
likely to be a great many on them living about here; but
if there was fifty I would call on them all till I found the
right one. I shan't be easy in my mind, not till I have


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
87
shaken that young chap's hand and told him what I
thinks on it. And I am sure your mother feels the same
as I do. And now, Harry, take out that fiddle of yours
and let's have a tune; my pipe alius seems to draw better
and sweeter while you are playing."
One of the children—there were eight in all in the
room—fetched Harry's fiddle from the wall. It was a
cheap, common instrument, but even far better judges of
music than the Holls would have been able to discern, in
spite of its cracked and harsh tone, that the lad who was
playing it had a genius for music. It is true that the
airs which he was playing, those which the street boys of
the day whistled as they walked by, were not of a nature
to display his powers. Harry could play other and very
different kinds of music; for whenever Evan earned a
sixpence by holding a horse, or doing any other odd job,
a penny or twopence were sure to go in the purchase of a
sheet of music for Harry at the cheap bookstalls. Harry
had learned the notes from a second-hand book of instruc-
tions which John Holl had bought for him one Saturday
night, when the weather had been particularly hot, and
people in their desire to get their dust bins emptied were
more liberal than usual. But of an evening, when John
was at home, Harry always played popular airs, as his
father and family were unable to appreciate the deeper
and better music. This he reserved for the time when
the children were at school, and mother was either char-
ring or was at the washtub.
Sarah used to wonder silently at the sounds which
seemed to her to have no particular air, such as she could
beat time to with her foot as she workedbut in her
heart she appreciated them; they made her feel as if she
was in church, and sometimes she would draw her apron
across her eyes, wondering all the time what there was in
the tones of the fiddle which should make her cry.


38
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
Three or four days later, when Harry, as usual, was
playing on his violin, and Mrs. Holl was washing, there
was a knock at the door.
"Drat it!" Mrs. Holl muttered, "who's a-coming
bothering now, just when I am busy?"
"If no one is to come except when you are not busy,"
Harry laughed, as Mrs. Holl moved toward the door,
wiping the lather from her arms and hands, "we shan't
have many visitors, for as far as I can see you are always
busy."
"Ah!" he exclaimed, as Mrs. Holl opened the door,
and he saw who was standing without, "it's the gentle-
man who got Evan out of the water."
"Mrs. Holl?" Frank asked interrogatively, and then,
catching sight of Harry, he at once walked across to him
and shook him by the hand.
"I hope I am not intruding, Mrs. Holl, but I promised
your son to look in and see how he was; and as I had to
come down to the school to-day for a book I wanted for
my holiday task, I thought it would be a good opportu-
nity to fulfill my promise."
"It is no intrusion, sir, and I am sure I am heartily
glad to see yer, and thank ye for coming," Mrs. Holl
said, as she dusted an already spotless chair and placed
it for her visitor. "My John does nothing every evening
but talk of how he wishes he could see you, to tell you
how beholden he and me feels to you for having brought
our Evan to land just as was being drowned."
"No thanks are required indeed, Mrs. Holl," Frank
said cheerfully, "it was a sort of partnership affair. You
see I was going in after the dog, only Evan, who was a
sort of friend of the family, had first claim; so we agreed
that he should try first and do all the hard work of break-
ing the ice, and then, if the cold was too much for him, I


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
39
was to go out and fetch him in and finish the job myself.
So you see it was a mutual arrangement, and no particu-
lar thanks due to any one. But your son is a plucky
young fellow, Mrs. Holl, and he behaved most gallantly.
I find, too, from what your son here tells me, that I owe
him one for having fetched help up from the school when
we were getting the worst of it just opposite your house
here. Well, in the first place, how is he? None the
worse, I hope, for the cold."
"Not at all, sir. He is out to-day with a friend of
ours as 'as got a barrow, and lives in the next street, but
who is that hoarse with the cold that he can't speak out
of a whisper; so he offered Evan sixpence to go along
with him to do the shouting, and a nice shouting he will
make; his voice goes through and through my head when
he is only a-talking with his brothers and sisters here,
and if anything can bring them to the windows it will
be his voice. He offered to come round here with tho
barrow afore they started off this morning, but says I,
No, Evan; I have a good name in the street, I hope, and
don't wish to be dighted as a nuisance to the neighbor-
hood, nor to have my neighbors accusing me of a-being
the cause of fits in their children."
"I don't suppose that it would be as bad as that, Mrs.
Holl," Frank said, laughing. "However, if his voice i3
as loud apd clear as that, it is evident that he is not much
the worse for his cold bath. I came round partly to see
him, partly to know if I could do anything for him; he
seems a sharp lad, and I am sure he is as honest as he i3
plucky. As a beginning, my uncle says he could come
into the house as a sort of errand-boy, and to help the
footman, until he can hear of some better position for
him among his friends."
"I am sure you are very good, sir," Mrs. Holl said


40 CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
gratefully; "I will mention it to his father, and he—
But I doubt whether Evan's steady enough for a place
yet, he is alius getting into mischief; there never was
such a boy for scrapes; if all my eight were like him I
should go clean mad afore the week was out. When he
is in the house, as long as he is talking or singing I can
go on with my work, but the moment that he is quiet I
have to drop what I am a-doing on and look arter him,
for he is sure to be up to some mischief or other."
"No, no, mother," Harry put in, laughing; "you are
giving Evan a worse character than he deserves. He is
up to fun, as is only natural with one who has got the
free use of his limbs, but he never does anj' real harm."
"No, I don't say that he does real harm, 'Arry," Mrs.
Holl replied, "but I do say as at present he is too full of
boyish tricks to be of any good in a place, and we should
be a-having him back here a week arter he went, and
that would be a nice show of gratitude to this gentleman
for his kindness."
"I don't suppose he is as bad as you make out, Mrs.
Holl; and no doubt he would tame down after a time,
just as other boys do. Perhaps a place in a warehouse
would be more suitable for him at first.
"And it was you who were playing as I came in," he
went on, noticing the violin; "I was wondering who was
playing so W6ll. How jolly it must be to play! I wish
I could, but I should never have patience to learn. Who
taught you?"
"I picked it up myself, sir," Harry replied, "from a
book father bought me. You see I have plenty of time
on my hands; I don't get out much, except just along
the street, for I can't very well get across crossings by
myself. The wheels go well enough on a level, but I
cannot push them up a curb-stone. But what with read-


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HSIR.
41
ing and fiddling the days pass quickly enough, especially
when mother is at home; she is out two or three days a
week, and then the time seems rather long."
"I should think so," Frank said; "I should go mad if
I were laid up entirely. I am awfully sorry for you. If
you are fond of books I shall be glad to let you have
some; I have got no end of them, and there they stand
on my shelf unopened from year's end to year's end.
What sort of books do you like best? Sea stories, or
Indians, or what?"
"I should like any story-books, sir," Harry replied,
his eyes brightening up with pleasure; "I have read a
few which father has picked up for me at the bookstalls,
and I have gone through and through them until I could
almost say them by heart. And then tales of travel and
history—oh, I love history 1 to read what people did
hundreds of years ago, and how nations grew up step by
step, just like children, it is splendid!"
"I am afraid," Frank said, with a laugh, "that I don't
care so much for history as you do. Names are hard
enough to remember, but dates are awful; I would rather
do the toughest bit of construing than have a page of
Greek history to get up. Well, I will certainly look you
up some books on history and some travels, and will send
you some of Marryat's stories. I suppose you do not
care for schoolbooks; I have got a barrow-load that I
shall never want again."
"Oh yes, sir," Harry said eagerly, "I think I should
like those best of all. Have you a Virgil, sir? I do like
Virgil, and all that story about the siege of Troy. I only
had it for a fortnight. Father bought it for me, and
then one of the little ones managed somehow to take it
out and lose it; she ran out with it for a bit of fun, and
we suppose sat down on a doorstep and forgot it."


42
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
"But, bless me," Frank exclaimed, "you don't mean
to say that you read Virgil in Latin I You are a rum
fellow. How on earth did you learn it?"
"I have taught myself, sir," Harry said. "Father is
awfully good, and often ricks up books for me at old
bookstalls. Of course sometimes he gets things I can't
make out. But he got twelve once for a shilling, and
there was a Latin grammar and dictionary among them;
and when I had learned the grammar, it was very easy
with the dictionary to make out the sense of some of the
Latin books. But of course I often come across things
that I don't understand. I think sometimes if some one
would explain them to me once or twice, so that I could
really understand how the rules in the grammar are
applied, I could get on faster."
"Well, you are a rum fellow!" Frank exclaimed again.
"I wish I liked lsarning as you do, for though I am in
the sixth at Westminster, I own that I look upon the
classics as a nuisance. Well, now, look here; I have got
an hour at present with nothing special to do, so if you
like we will have a go at it together. What have you got
here?" and he walked across to a shelf on which were a
number of books. "Oh! here is a Caesar; suppose we
take that; it's easy enough generally, but there are some
stiffish bits now and then. Let's start off from the
beginning, and perhaps I may be able to make things
clear for you a bit."
In spite of Mrs. Holl's protestations that Harry ought
not to trouble the gentleman, the two lads were soon deep
in their Csesar. Frank found, to his surprise, that the
cripple boy had a wonderful knack of grasping the sense
of passages, but that never having been regularly taught
to construe, he was unable to apply the rules of grammar
which he had learned. Frank taught him how to do


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
43
this, how to take a sentence to pieces, how to parse it
word by word, and to see how each word depended upon
the others, so that even if absolutely in ignorance of the
meaning of any one word in a sentence, he could never-
theless parse them unerringly in the order in which they
would be rendered in English—could determine the
value of each, and their bearing upon one another.
This was quite a revelation to Harry; his face flushed
with eagerness and excitement, and so interested were
both lads in their work, that the hour was far exceeded
before the lesson came to an end by Mrs. Holl interfering
bodily in the matter by carrying off the dictionary, and
declaring that it was a shame that Harry should give so
much trouble.
"It is no trouble at all, Mrs. Holl," Frank said laugh-
ing. "You see one is accustomed a little to teaching, as
one often gives one's fag, or any other little chap who
asks, a construe, or explains his lesson to him. But I
can tell you that there are precious few of them who take
it all in as quickly as your son does. Now that I have
made myself at home, I will come in sometimes when
school begins again, if you will let me, for half an hour
and read with Harry. But I don't think he will want
any help long. Still, it may help to show him the regu-
lar way of getting at things. And now I must hurry off.
You will ask Evan to think over what I have said. Here
is my address. I wrote it down in case I should find no
one in. If he makes up his mind about it before I come
again, he had better call on me there; the best time
would be between nine and eleven in the morning; I
have always finished breakfast by nine, and I have put
off my holiday task so long that I must stick at it regu-
larly two hours a day till school begins again, so he will
be pretty sure to find me between nine and eleven. Will


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
you tell your husband not to worry about seeing me?
I don't want to be thanked, for it was, as I told you, a
sort of partnership business between your boy and me."
"Now I call that a downright nice sort of young
chap," Mrs. Holl said, as their visitor departed, "good-
hearted and good-natured, without no sort of nonsense.
He just sits himself down and makes himself at home as
if he was one of the family, and I was able to go on with
my washing just as if he hadn't been here."
For a time Harry did not answer.
"So, that's a gentleman," he said at last, in a low
voice, as if thinking loud; "I have never spoken to a
gentleman before.''
"Well, lad," Sarah Holl said, "there ain't much differ-
ence between the gentry and other sorts. I don't see
very much of them myself in the houses I goes to, but I
hears plenty about them from the servant's talk; and,
judging from that, a great many of them 'as just as nasty
and unpleasant ways as other people."
"I suppose," Harry said thoughtfully, "there can't be
much difference in real nature between them and us;
there must, of course, be good and bad among them; but
there is more difference in their way of talking than I
expected."
"Well, of course, Harry; they have had education,
that accounts for it; just the same as you, you have edu-
cated yourself wonderful, talks different to John and me
and the rest of us."
"Yes," Harry said; "but I am not talking about mis-
takes in grammar; it's the tone of voice, and the way of
speaking that's so different. Now why should that be,
mother?"
"I suppose a good deal of it," Mrs. Holl answered, "is
because they are brought up in nurseries, and they can't


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
45
run about the house, or halloo or shout to each other in
the streets. D'ye see they are taught to speak quiet,
and they hear their fathers and mothers, and people
round them, speaking quiet. You don't know, Harry,
how still it is in some of them big houses, you seem
half-afraid to speak above a whisper.''
"Yes, but I don't think he spoke lower than I do,
mother, or than the rest of us. Oh, mother!" he went
on, after awhile, "isn't he good? Just to think of his
spending an hour and a half sitting here, showing me how
to construe. Why, I see the whole thing in a different
way now; he has made clear all sorts of things that I
could not understand; and he said he would come again
too, and I am quite sure that when he says a thing he
means to do it. I don't believe he could tell a lie if he
tried. And is he not good-looking too?"
"He is a pleasant-looking young chap," Mrs. Holl
replied, "but I should not call him anything out of the
way. Now I should call you a better-looking chap than
he is, Harry."
"Oh, mother, what an ideal" Harry exclaimed, quite
shocked at what seemd to him a most disrespectful com-
parison to his hero.
"It ain't no idea at all," Mrs. Holl rejoined stoutly;
"any one with eyes in his head could see that if you was
dressed the same as he is you would be a sight the best-
looking chap of the two."
"Ah, mother!" Harry said, laughing, "you remind
me of an old saying I saw in a book the other day, 'A
mother's geese are all swans.'"
"Tarn sure," Mrs. Holl said, in an aggrieved voice,
"you ain't no goose, Harry, and if any one else said so
I should give them a bit of my mind sharp enough."
Harry did not attempt to argue with her, but with a


46
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
little laugh turned to his books again, and was soon deep
in the mysteries of Csesar.
The next day a carrier's cart stopped before Mrs. Holl's
house, to the great amazement of the neighborhood—for
such an occurrence had not been known in the memory
of the oldest inhabitant in the street, and quite a crowd
of children collected to witness the delivery of a square
heavy box of considerable weight at the door.
Harry was almost beside himself with delight as he
took out the treasures it contained; and as fully half
were story-books, his delight was shared by the rest of
the young Holls. It was evening when the cart arrived,
and John was just enjoying his first pipe, and he once
more uttered the sentiment he had expressed so often
during the last four days, "I should like to shake that
young chap by the hand."


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
47
CHAPTEE IV.
AN ADOPTED CHILD.
A few days after school had commenced Prank Norris
called in again at the Holla'. It was a bright day, and
Harry had gone out in his box, and Mrs. Holl was alone.
"Harry will be sorry he is out, sir," was her first
greeting to Frank; "he has been looking forward to your
coming again. You don't know, sir, how much good
you have done him. The boy has generally wonderful
good spirits, considering his condition; still, though he
don't say naught, I can see sometimes that he isn't never
quite happy except when he is working away with his
books or playing on that fiddle of his.
"Evan has been and spent all the money as was given
him that day at the Serpentine in buying a new fiddle for
him. I don't see much in the thing myself, and it seems
to me they must have cheated Evan altogether, for it
ain't a new un, but an old, brown, dirty-looking thing,
as looks as if it had been made nigh fifty years; and they
goes and charges him thirty-eight shillings for it, and
pretended to make a favor of it, while'John only paid seven
and sixpence for the one he had before, which was a
beautiful new shiny one.
"However, Harry seems delighted with it, and says
it's beautiful soft and mellow. But what he means I
don' know, though I do allow it ain't so squeaky as the
other; and sometimes when Harry is playing soft on it


48
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
it does sound beautiful. Still, thirty-eight shillings is a
big price for an old thing like that."
"Old fiddles are always worth more than new ones,
Mrs. Holl. Do you know there are some fiddles two or
three hundred years old which could not be bought for
less than three or four hundred pounds?"
"My gracious!" Mrs. Holl exclaimed, "three or four
hundred pounds for such a thing as a fiddle. I calls it
downright wicked."
"He is a wonderful boy that son of yours, Mrs. Holl,"
Frank said, changing the subject; "a regular genius I
should call him. What a pity it is that he is a cripple!"
"Ay, that it is," Mrs. Holl agreed, "and he is a won-
derful chap, is Harry. But he ain't no son of mine, Mr.
Norris, though he don't know it himself, and I shouldn't
like him to be told."
"Then what relation is he, Mrs. Holl, if it is not an
impertinent question?"
"He ain't no sort of relation at all, sir," the woman
answered.
"Then how came you to bring him up, Mrs. Holl?"
Frank asked in surprise.
"Well, sir, it was a very simple matter. But if so be
as you care to hear it,I will tell you just how it happened."
And, leaning against the mantelpiece, with the red light
of the fire thrown up into her face, Mrs. Holl went on
very slowly, and speaking as though she almost saw what
she was relating.
"Well, sir, it were an evening in April—a cold bitter
day. I was sitting here between light and dark, drink-
ing my tea with John, who was just come home from
work—John is my husband, you see, sir—when we heard
a noise outside in the street. We went out to see what
was the matter, and we found a poor young creature,
with a baby in her arms, had fallen down in a faint like.


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
49
"She was a pretty young thing, sir; and though her
dress was poor and torn, she looked as if she had not been
always so. Some one says, 'Take them to the work-
house.' 'No!' says I—for my heart yearned toward the
poor young thing—'bring her in here; mayn't we,
John?' says I. Well, sir, John did not say nothing, but
he took the baby out of her arms and gave it to me, and
then he upped and took the poor young creature—she
were no great weight, sir—and carried her into the
house, and laid her on the bed, as it might be by the
window there.
"Well, sir, that bed she never left; she came round a
little, and lived some days, but her mind were never
rightly itself again. She would lay there, with her baby
beside her, and sing songs to herself; I don't know what
about, for it were some foreign language. She were very
gentle and quiet like, but I don't think she ever knew
where she was, or anything about it. She were very fond
of baby, and would take it in her arms, and hush it, and
talk to it. She faded and faded away, and the doctor
said nothing could be done for her; it made my heart
ache, sir, and if you will believe me, I would go upstairs
and cry by the hour.
"The thought of the little baby troubled me too. I
had lost my first little one, sir, and I could not a-bear the
thought of the little thing going to the workhouse. So
one day I says to John, 'John, when that poor mother
dies, for God's sake don't 'ee send the little baby to the
workhouse; He has taken away our own little one, and
maybe He has sent this one for us to love in his place.
Let us take him as our own.' John he did not say
nothing, but he up and gived me a great kiss, and said,
'Sairey, you're a good woman!' which of course, sir,"
Mrs. Holl put in apologetically, "is neither here nor


50
CAPTAIN BAYLET'S HEIR.
there, for any mother would have done the same; butit'a
John's way when he's pleased. That very same night
the baby's mother died."
Standing with her rough honest face lit up by the
bright fire-glow she related it, simply, and as a matter of
course, all unconscious of the good part she had taken in
it, assuming no credit to herself, or seeing that she
deserved any.
When she had finished there was a little silence.
Prank passed his hand furtively across his eyes, and then
shook Mrs. Holl warmly by the hand, saying, "Your hus-
band was right, Mrs. Holl, you are a good woman."
Mrs. Holl looked completely amazed, and stammered
out, "Lor' bless you, sir! there wasn't anything out of
the way in what I did, and there's scores and scores
would do the like. Having just lost my own little one,
my heart went out to the poor little thing, and it seemed
sent natural like, to fill up the place of the little angel
who was gone from us. Bless your heart, sir, there
weren't nothing out of the way in that, nothing at all,
and we have never had'cause to regret it. The boy's a
good boy, and a clever boy, and he is a comfort and a
help to us; a better boy never lived. But we have
always grieved sorely over the accident."
"Then he was not originally lame, Mrs. Holl?" Frank
asked.
"Dear me! no, sir, not till he were six years old. It
happened this way. I was laid up at the time—I was
just confined of Mary, she is my eldest girl—and some-
how Harry he went out in the street playing. I don't
rightly know how it happened; but never shall I forget
when they brought him in, and said that a cart had run
over him. John, he was in—which was lucky, for I
think I lost my head like, and went clean out of my mind


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'B HEIR.
51
for a bit, for I loved him just like my own. They did
not think he would have lived at first, for the cart had
gone over the lower part of his body and broke one of
his thigh-bones, and the other leg up high. It was a
light cart, I have heard tell, or it must have killed him.
"He were in bed for months, and, if you will believe
me, if ever there was a patient little angel on earth, it
was surely Harry. He never complained, and his chief
trouble was for my sake. At last he got well; but the
doctors said he would never walk again, for they thought
there was some damage done to his spine; and sure
enough he never has walked. He is always cheerful, and
keeps up wonderful, considering.
"He has always been given to reading. John made a
shift to teach him his letters, and then the children of
the neighbors, they lent him their schoolbooks, and
taught him what they knew, and in a short time, bless
you, sir, he knew more than them all! He would sit and
read for hours together. He is wonderful clever, Harry
is."
"Well, Mrs. Holl," Frank said, rising, "I am very
much obliged to you for your story; but I must be going
now, or else I shall be late for school. Tell Harry I am
sorry I missed him, and will look in again soon. Have
you thought anything further of what I said about
Evan?"
"Yes, sir, and thank you most kindly; but father
thinks he had better wait another year or so, till he gets
a bit older and steadier. As for them books as you was
kind enough to send Harry, the boy must thank you his-
self; except when he is playing on his fiddle he is always
reading at them, and it is as much as I can do to get him
outside the doors. He was never very fond of it, for ha
thinks people look at him; but since those books has


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
come I have regular to take them away from him, put his
cap on his head, and push him outside the door. He
will be in a taking that he has missed you to-day."
"Well, good-by, Mrs. Holl, I haven't a moment to
lose," and Frank, putting on his hat, made off at a sharp
run to school, only arriving just in time to save prayers.
Frank Norris, although a sixth town boy, was not head
of Eichards', as Johnstone had been longer in that form,
and was consequently senior to him. Johnstone was,
however, small and Slightly built, and cared little for
rowing, cricket, or football. He had gained his place in
the sixth by sheer hard work rather than by talent. He
was fussy and irritable, with a strong sense of the impor-
tance of his position as a sixth town boy and head of
Eichards'. Between him and Frank there was no cor-
diality, for it irritated him that the latter was upon all
occasions appealed to, and his advice asked in everything
relating to games, and all matters of dispute referred to
him. Frank, on the other hand, although he at all times
gave way to Johnstone in house matters, was constantly
annoyed by his continual self-assertion and his irritation
at trifles. They were the only two sixth town boys at
Eichards', but there were three upper "shells," Harris,
Travers, and James, and these ranked almost with the
sixth, for the great demarcation of the school was be-
tween the upper and under "shells," the former having
the right to fag.
Frank and Johnstone had each a small room of their
own; the three upper "shells" had a room together, but
they used Frank's study almost as much as their own;
one or other would generally come in to work with him
in the evening, and it was here that councils were held
as to house matters or knotty points connected with field
or water.


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
53
"I wish Trafalgar Square wasn't out of bounds,"
Harris said one evening.
They had finished the work for the next day, and had
gathered for a chat in Frank's room before turning into
bed. Frank was sitting in a rickety armchair by the
fire, Harris on the table, and the other two on the bed.
""Why do you wish so, Harris?" Frank said.
"Why, I should liVe to go up to see those rows they
have pretty nearly every day. Thompson, the home
boarder, told me he saw a regular fight there yesterday
evening between the police and the Chartists."
"Well, it's no use wishing, because bounds begin at
the gate in Dean's Yard. I never could understand
myself why we should be allowed to go the other way,
down the slums, as far as we please, where there is every
chance of getting into a row, while we are not allowed to
walk quietly up Parliament Street; then we may go along
the other way, by the new Houses of Parliament, to
Westminster Bridge, and across the bridge to baths; but
we may not go out from Dean's Yard and walk across in
front of the abbey to the bridge. I expect when the
rules were made there were no houses built beyond us,
and there were fields extending back from the river,
while the other way led up to the court. But I should
certainly like to go up and see one of those Chartist
riots. However, I don't think it can be done; it would
be setting a bad example to the young uns, and the
chances are ten to one we should run against one of the
masters."
"Hardly likely, I should think," Travers said; "it
would be shocking bad luck to run against one of them in
a crowd like that."
"Well, you see, Travers, we are so precisely conspicu-
ous in these tail-coats; of course it's the custom, and I


54
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
stick up for old customs; still, I do think it's a ridicu-
lous thing that we should be obliged to wear tail-coats.
Of course the jackets for the fellows under the upper
'shell' are all right, but one cannot go on wearing jackets
higher than that; still, I do think they might let us wear
cutaways; tail-coats were all right when everyone else
wore tail-coats, but in our days it is absurd to wear a
coat which nobody else wears except for an evening dress.
You can tell a fellow a mile off as a Westminster boy by
his coat."
"It has its advantages," James said. "Look how
Johnstone would lose his importance without his tails, he
would look like a plucked jay."
There was a general laugh.
"He is not a bad fellow," Frank replied, "though he
does think a good deal of himself. Still, as no one else
thinks anything of him, it is just as well he should fancy
himself. But never mind that now. No, I don't think
there is any chance of our getting to see the fun in Tra-
falgar Square. I should like to go to one of the halls
where those fellows spout, and to get up and say some-
thing the other way. Of course one would have to go in
a strong body, else there would not be much of us left
when we got into the street again. I must have a chat
with Perkins about it, he is sure to be up to all that kind
of thing."
"Yes, but there would be the trouble of getting in
after lock-up."
"Oh, I dare say we might get over that," Harris re-
plied; "the fags would never peach."
"We won't tell them if we can help it," Frank said;
"if we go in for any lark of that sort only one of our fags
must know it. I can trust young Phillpot to hold his
tongue. Well, I will ohat it over with Perkins, and see
what can be done."


66
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
The next morning, after breakfast, Frank walked down
to "The Black Dog." He was one of Perkins' best
pupils, and the latter had more than once been heard to
express his regret that Frank had not been born in a
lower class of life.
"He's got the making of a champion in him," the ex-
pugilist would say regretfully; "in another five years,
when he has got his full height and filled out, I warrant
he will fight twelve stone; look how quick he is on hie
pins; and I tell you I have all my work to do now to
guard my head, he hits like lightning, and once or twice
has fairly knocked me off my pins. I'd back him now
for fifty pounds against any novice in England; and as
for pluck, I have never seen him wince; hit him as hard
as you will he always comes up smiling. Barkley, he is
a good boxer too, but he ain't got temper, sir; he gets
nasty if he has a sharp counter; and though he keeps
cool enough, there is an ugly look about his face which
tells its tale. He would never keep his temper, and I
doubt if he's real game at bottom. I knows my cus-
tomers, and have never hit him as I hit Norris; I don't
want to lose a pupil as pays fair and square, and I know
I should mighty soon lose him if I were to let out at him
sharp. No, there is bad blood in that chap some-
where."
"Well, Master Norris, and what do you want at this
time of the morning?" he said, as Frank, after entering
the saloon, rang a bell which sounded in the bar and
summoned him to the saloon. "Not a lesson at this time
of the day, surely?"
"Not exactly, Perkins, considering I am due at ten
o'clock, and therefore have only five minutes to stay. I
just dropped in to ask you about something on which
you can perhaps advise us."


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
57
"Fire away, Master Norris; anything I can do for you
you knows as I will.''
"I was thinking, Perkins, that it would be a great lark
to go up to one of those halls where those Chartist fellows
meet, and to hear their speeches."
"I don't see that there would be any lark in it," Per-
kins replied, "unless you meant getting up a row."
"I don't know that I exactly meant to get up a row;
but if there was a row, so much the more lark."
"Well, sir, if I might give my advice, I don't think, if
I was you, I would do it in school-time. Your hands
can guard your face pretty tidy, I grant you, but the
chances is as you would not get out of such a row as that
would be without being marked. I knows of a place
over the other side of the water, not far from the New
Cut, where they meet. Bill Lowe, him as comes here to
spar twice a week, yer know, he goes there; he takes up
with them Chartist notions, which I don't hold with no
ways. I don't see nothing in them seven pints as would
do anything for the ring; and that being so, let it alone,
says I. However, Master Norris, since you have a fancy
that way I will talk the matter over with him, and then if
you really makes up your mind you would like to go, I
will get four or five of my lads as can use their mawleys,
and we will go in a body.
"Then if there should be a row, I reckon we can fight
our way out. There ain't much in them chaps, tailors
and shoemakers, and the like; they are always great
hands for jaw, them tailors and shoemakers, but I never
seed one as I would put five pound on in a twelve-foot
ring. Poor undersized creatures, for the most part, but
beggars for jaw; but there are some rough uns with 'em,
and yer might get badly marked before yer got out."
But Frank's mind was now bent upon it.


58
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
"It will be a lark, Perkins, anyhow; things have been
rather slow at school lately, and three or four of us have
set our minds on it. So if you let me know what even-
ing will suit you, we will be here."
Four evenings later Frank Norris, with the other three
boys, slipped/mt after prayers were over, and started on
their expedition. Frank's fag closed the door noise-
lessly behind them and rebolted it; he had strict orders
to take his place at an upper window at eleven o'clock
and watch for their return. If when they made their
appearance the house was quiet and the lights out, he was
to slip down and let them in; if not, they were to go
away again and return an hour later. All four boys were
in thick pea-jackets, and wore rough caps which they
had bought for the purpose.
When they reached Perkins' public-house, the prize-
fighter surveyed them closely.
"Ye will pass in a crowd," he said; "but keep your
caps well down over yer faces. Now mind, young gents,
if there's a row comes over this 'er business, I ain't to
blame in the matter."
"All right, Perkins, but there will be no row."
Being joined by Bill Lowe and three other boxers, they
set out together for the New Cut; past the new Houses
of Parliament—still in the hands of the builders—over
Westminster Bridge, past the flaring lights in front of
Astley's, and into the New Cut.
Here, as usual, business was brisk; the public-houses
were doing a roaring trade. Bows of costermongers'
carts lined the road on either side, and the hoarse shouts
of the venders of fruit, vegetables, and shellfish, min-
gled with the babel of voices from the throng of people
who loitered about the street, which was regarded as the
promenade of the neighborhood. Sounds of musical


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
69
instruments and a loud chorus came from the upper win-
dows of many of the public-houses and from the low
music-halls known by the name of "penny gaffs."
It was in front of one of these that the party stopped.
Unlike the others, no row of flaring lights burned over
the entrance, no posters with huge letters and sensa-
tional headings invited the public to enter; one solitary
lamp hung over the door, which was kept closed; men
were passing in, however, after exchanging a word with
one of those stationed at the door.
"It's a private sort of affair," Perkins said; "none
ain't supposed to go but those as is in the swim. They
pretend to be mighty afraid of the peelers; but, Lor'
bless you! the police don't trouble about them. When
these chaps gets to making rows in the street, and to
kicking up a rumpus, then they will have something to
say about it sharp enough; but as long as they merely
spout and argue among themselves, the peelers lets them
go on. Well, young gents, here we goes."
Bill Lowe advanced first; he was known to the door-
keeper, and the words "All right, mate, friends of mine,"
were sufficient. He stood aside, and the party entered.
Passing through a passage, they were in a hall some fifty
feet long by half as wide; the walls had originally been
painted blue, with wreaths of flowers along the top, but
these and the roof were so discolored by smoke and dirt
that the whole were reduced to a dingy brown. At the
end at which they entered was a gallery extending some
fifteen feet into the room, at the other end was a raised
platform, with a drop curtain. The latter was now
raised, and displayed a table with half a dozen chairs.
The chairman for the evening was seated in the center of
the table. He was a young man with a pale face, eyea
bloodshot from many nights spent in the reeking atmos-


60
OAPTAm BAYLEY'S HEIR.
phere of the room, and tumbled hair, which looked as if
weeks had passed since it had made the acquaintance of
a brush. He had just risen as the party entered; the
room, which was fairly filled with men, rang with the
applause which had greeted the speaker who had sat
down.
"Fellow-workmen," said the chairman—("I wonder
what you work at," Frank muttered below his breath;
"nothing that requires washing, anyhow.")—"Fellow-
workmen, your cheers are evidence how deeply you have
been moved by the noble words of my friend Mr. Dug-
gins, and how your blood boils at the hideous slavery to
which we are condemned by a tyrannical aristocracy.
You will now be addressed by my eloquent friend Mr.
Simpkins, boot-closer."
Mr. Simpkins rose. He was a short, round-shouldered
man, made still shorter by the bend which he had ac-
quired by the operation of boot-closing; his eyes were
small, and sunken in his head; his nose wide and fiat, as
if in his early youth he had fallen on the edge of a pew-
ter pot, and he too had the appearance of regarding
water with as deep an aversion as he viewed the
aristocracy.
"Fellow-workmen," he began, "or rather I should say
fellow-slaves"—this sentiment was received with a roar
of applause, "the time is approaching when our chains
will be broken, when the bloodstained power known as
the British Constitution will be rent and trampled under
foot, when the myrmidons of power will flee before an
uprisen people. They know it, these oppressors of ours;
they trembled in their palaces and mansions, where they
feast upon the wealth drained from the blood of the
people. They know that the day is at hand, and that the
millions whose labor has created the wealth of this coun-
try are about to reclaim their own."


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
til
A roar of applause went up as the speaker paused and
mopped his forehead with a red handkerchief. But the
applause was suddenly stilled by the sound of the em-
phatic "Bosh!" which Frank shouted at the top of his
voice. Everyone turned round, and shouts arose of
"Who is that?" "Down with him 1" "Turn him out!"
"Knock him down!" The orator seized the occasion.
"A spy of the tottering government has intruded upon
the deliberations of this assembly, but I tell him I fear
him not."
"Never mind, out he goes," one of the men shouted,
and all began to press upon the little group standing at
the back of the room, and from one of whom the objec-
tionable word had evidently come.
"We are in for a row, Mr. Norris, and no mistake,"
Perkins said; "the sooner we gets out of this the better."
But this was not so easily done; the crowd had already
interposed between them and the door.
"Now stand back," Perkins said, "and let us out.
We ain't no spies, and we don't want to hurt any one.
Some of you may know me; I am Perkins of the Black
Dog, over at Westminster, so you had best leave us
alone."
The greater part of those present, however, had im-
bibed sufficient to render them valorous, and a rush was
made upon the party.
Their reception was a warm one; the five prize-fighters
struek out right and left, while Frank and his school-
fellows ably seconded them. A tall, red-haired fellow,
who had singled out Frank, was met by a blow which
knocked him off his feet, and he fell backward as if shot.
Their vigorous blows drove the leading assailants back,
and in spite of their numbers the crowd of angry men
recoiled before their handful of opponents.


62
CAPTAIN BAYLBY'S HEIR.
"Come on," Perkins said, "make for the door; they
are breaking up the chairs, and we shall have it hot in a
few minutes."
Keeping together, they fought their way, in spite of
all opposition, to the door, Perkins leading, while Bill
Lowe brought up the rear. They were soon in the open
Bir.
"Now," Perkins exclaimed, "you hook it, gents, as
fast as you can; me and Bill will keep the door for a
minute." The boys dashed off, and after making at full
speed into the Westminster Bridge road, slackened their
pace, and walked quietly back to Dean's Yard. They
were in high glee over their adventure, which all agreed
had been a splendid lark, and was the more satisfactory
as all had escaped Without any mark which would testify
against them. It was still early, and they had for two
hours to walk the streets until the whistle of the fag at
the window told them that all were in bed and quiet, and
they might safely make their entry. This was effected
without noise; the bolts were slipped into their places
again, and with their shoes in their hands the party
went noiselessly up to their rooms.


0AP1AIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
6a
CHAPTER V.
A TERRIBLE ACCUSATION.
Two days later, as Frank was about to start for the
ericket-field, a small boy, whom he recognized as a son
of Perkins, stopped him.
"Father wants to speak to you particular, Mr. Norris."
"All right, young un, I will go round there at once."
Wondering what Perkins could have to say to him,
Frank took his way to the public-house.
"What is it, Perkins?" he asked the prize-fighter, as the
latter let him into his private parlor.
"Well, sir, there's a rumpus over this business as we
had the other night."
"How a rumpus, Perkins?"
"Well, sir, there was a tall red-haired chap—leastways
I hear as he's tall and red-headed, and is a tailor by
trade; his name is Suggs. It seems as how he got
knocked down in the scrummage, and was so bad that the
police, who came up after you left, took him to hospital;
they brought him round all right, but it seems as how
the bridge of his nose was broke, and it will be flat to his
face for the rest of his life. Now I fancy that's a piece
of your handiwork, Mr. Norris; I saw jist such a chap as
that go down when you hit him, and I thought to myself
at the time what a onener it was."
"Yes, I did knock down just such a fellow," Frank
said, "and I am sorry I hit him so hard; I was afraid at
the time that I hurt him."


64
CAPTAIN BA YLEY '8 HEIR.
"You should not let out from the shoulder in that sort
of way, Mr. Norris," the pugilist said, shaking his head;
"you hit like the kick of a horse, and you never know
what mayn't come of them sort of blows. No, sir; half-
arm hitting is the thing for a general row; it hurts
just as much, and is just as good for closing up an eye,
but it don't do no general damage, so to speak. Now,
sir, there's a row over the business. In course I holds
my tongue; but they says as four of the party was young
uns, and they guessed as they was gents. Now they
puts things together, and have found out as I gives les-
sons to some of you Westminster gents, and they guesses
as some of you was with me. Now, as I tells them, what
can they do? They was the first to begin it, and we
was only standing on self-defense, that's the way I puts
it. No magistrate would look at the charge for a minute.
It stands to reason that nine men did not attack four or
five hundred. They must have been attacking us, that's
clear to any one; and if it was me I should not care the
snap of a finger about it—that's what I tells the red-
haired tailor when he came here with two of his pals this
morning. 'We has as much right to our opinions as
you have; you attacks us,' says I, 'and we gives you
pepper, that's all about it.' 'His beauty's spoilt for life,'
says one of his mates. 'He never had no beauty to spoil,'
says I, 'by the look of 'im,' so we got to words. 'They
was Westminster boys,' says he. 'That's all you knows
about it,' says I. 'I will go to their master,' says he,
'and report the case, and show him my nose,' says he.
'You have got no case to report,' says I, 'and no nose to
show.' 'We will see about that,' says he; 'I ain't going
to be made an object for the rest of my life for nothing.'
"So we goes on arguing; but at last he lets out that if
I bring him a 'tenner' in the course of the week he will


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'8 HEIR.
65
shut up. I ain't allowed, of course, Mr. Norris, that any
of you young gents had a hand in the fray, quite the
contrary; but he has got it into his head that it is so,
and he has made up his mind that he will go to the
master. I don't think it likely that they could spot you,
for they could hardly have got a fair look at your faces."
"No," Frank said, "Idon't suppose they would recog-
nize any of us; but the first thing Litter would do would
be to ask us if any of us were concerned in the affair.
It's a beastly nuisance, for just now I happen to be com-
pletely cleaned out, and I am sure I do not know where
I could get ten pounds from."
"If it had been any other time I could have helped you,
Mr. Norris, but I paid my brewers only last night, and
I ain't got two quid in the house; but I might manage
to get it for you by the end of the week, if there ain't no
other way. But my advice to you would be, let the red-
haired man goto the master; if you keep your own coun-
sel, no one can swear it out against you."
"No, I won't do that, Perkins," Frank said, "it's
known in the house; besides, if I am asked I must say
it's me. Thank you for your offer. I will see you again
in a day or two."
Frank walked back to his boarding-house, moody and
dejected. Harris was in his room working. Frank told
him what had happened.
"This is a bad business indeed," Harris said. "By
Jove I if it comes out, Litter would expel the four of us.
"What is to be done? I am sure I don't know."
"I don't see where I am to get ten pounds; I have only
got fifteen shillings now."
"I have only seven and sixpence," Harris said. "I
have paid Shotten's bill for last term this week, and
I know that Travers and James have not much more than


66
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S IIEIR.
I have. We might get something on our watches; but
they are all silver, and I don't suppose we could get more
than a pound apiece for them. But still that's some-
thing, and with our united silver would make up six
pounds."
"I could get a pound or two from my cousin," Frank
said: "Fred always seems to be well supplied with
money."
"Because he never spends any," Harris said. "Iam
mistaken if Barkley will lend you anything."
"Oh, he will lend it if he's got it." But Harris turned
out to be right. After the next school Frank laid the
case before his cousin, who listened in silence to the
story.
"I am very sorry, Frank," he said when he had fin-
ished, "but I am entirely out of money at present."
"I thought you always had money," Frank said
shortly.
"Not always," Fred replied quietly. "As you know,
I am fond of books, and last week I paid my bill for that
edition of Shakespeare that you were admiring."
Fred Barkley had indeed a library of books of which
he was very proud, and which was worth more than all
those belonging to the rest of the boys up college to-
gether. Frank was too proud to suggest that his cousin
could, if he chose, easily raise the amount required on a
few of his favorites, and left the room without saying a
word.
Fred Barkley did not continue the work upon which
he was engaged after his cousin had left the room, but
sat looking fixedly at the papers before him.
"This is a grand opportunity," he muttered to himself,
"and I should be'a fool if I let it slip. The question is,
how is it best to be managed. I should be an idiot


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
67
indeed if I cannot put a spoke into Master Frank's wheel
somehow."
The next day the sixth form, as usual, went into the
library to do their construing. Dr. Litter, according to
his usual custom, walked up and down hearing them and
asking questions, the form sitting at their desks, which
ran round the room. The doctor was a fidgety man,
aDd was always either twirling his watchchain or eye-
glass, or rattling the keys, knife, and other articles in his
trousers pockets. Being perfectly conscious of the
habit, he often emptied the contents of his pocket on to
the table before starting to walk about the room, and this
he did on the present occasion.
As often happened, he was called from ihe room in the
course of the lesson, and, ordering the boys to get up
twenty additional lines of their Greek play in his absence,
he left the room and did not return for half an hour.
While he was away the boys moved freely about, some to
consult each other's lexicons, others to chat. When Dr.
Litter returned the lesson was finished, and the boys
went back to the great schoolroom.
On the following morning Frank Norris received a
letter. On his opening it he found, to his astonishment,
that it contained only a banknote for ten pounds, with
the words "From a friend." Frank was simply
astounded.
Who on earth could have sent him the exact sum of
which he stood in need? He at once told his three
friends what bad occurred, and they were as much aston-
ished as himself. All agreed that it was a perfect God-
send, though how any one could have got to know of his
necessity for ten pounds at this special time none could
imagine, as this was, as far as they were aware, known
only to themselves and Fred Barkley. Frank at once


68
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
concluded that his cousin must have sent him the money,
and immediately sent up college and asked him to come
to his room. Fred soon came up, and Frank at once pro-
ceeded to thank him for his gift. Fred, however, ap-
peared as surprised as himself, and disclaimed any
knowledge whatever of the note.
"I told you, Frank," he said reproachfully, "that I
had no money. Do you think that if I had it I would
not have given it to you at once, instead of sending it in
that roundabout manner? Do you know the handwrit-
ing? that may afford you some clew."
"No," Frank said; "the name and address, as well as
the words within, are done in printing characters, so that
it is impossible to say who wrote them. Well, it is an
extraordinary business, and I can only say that I am ex-
tremely thankful to the good fairy who has got me out of
the scrape."
Frank felt indeed relieved. He felt sure that the head-
master would consider such an escapade by boya of the
sixth form an unforgivable crime, and that expulsion
would follow discovery; and knowing the hot temper of
his uncle, he feared that the latter would view the mat-
ter in the most serious light. It was therefore with a
light heart that he went across to the Black Dog and
placed the note in the hands of Perkins, merely saying
that he was glad to say that he had been able to get the
money to satisfy the red-haired tailor for his loss of
beauty.
"It goes agin my heart to give it to him, Mr. Norris;
but in course if you decide not to face it out there's
nothing for it. I am glad you have got the money
together."
A week later one of the monitors informed Frank that
the head-master wished to see him in the library.


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
69
Wondering at this unusual order, Frank at once repaired
there. Dr. Litter was sitting at his table, and he raised
his eyes gravely as Frank entered.
"Norris," he said, "I have been shocked at what has
happened more than at anything which has occurred to
me during my head-mastership of Westminster. I may
tell you that everything is discovered. Now I leave it to
you to make a full and frank confession."
Frank was thunderstruck. So in some way his break-
ing out of bounda had become known to the head-master.
The tailor must have turned traitor and peached after
having received his money.
For a minute he stood silent and confounded, while
Dr. Litter looked at him gravely.
"I acknowledge, sir," Frank began, "that I broke out
of bounds to go to a Chartist meeting, and that I got into
a row there. I am very sorry now, but I really meant no
harm by it; it was a foolish lark."
"And is that all you have to confess?" Dr. Litter said
quietly.
"Yes, sir," Frank said in surprise;"I don't know that
there's anything else for me to say."
"You have not come to the most serious part of it yet,"
the doctor said.
"I don't know what you mean, sir," Frank said, more
and more astonished.
"You hurt him, and very seriously."
"Yes, sir, I broke a man's nose in the fight, but I did
it in self-defense."
"And you paid him ten pounds to prevent his coming
to me," the doctor said.
"I acknowledge that I did so, but I don't see there
was any harm in that."
"And where did you get the ten pounds from?" tho
dootor asked slowly.


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
11
boys of my form could have taken it, and I could only
suppose that I had dropped it between the school and my
house.
"As it happened, I had only got the note the day
before from my bankers, and had therefore no difficulty
in obtaining the number. I gave notice at the Bank of
England at once that the note had been lost, and re-
quested them to obtain tho name and address of the pre-
senter, should it be brought in. It was presented yester-
day by a man who, after being questioned, said he was a
tailor, living in Bermondsey. As I was determined to
follow the matter up, I saw the superintendent of police,
and a policeman was sent across to him. The man said
he had been seriously injured by one of my boys at a
low meeting held at some place in the New Cut, and that
the ten pounds had been given him as compensation, he
having threatened to come and complain to me.
"He was ignorant of the name of the boy, but he had
received the note from & prize-fighter named Perkins,
who keeps a low public-house down at Millbank. I sent
a note to the man, requesting him to be good enough to
call upon me this morning early. He did so. I told
him that I had heard that he had paid to that man tec
pounds as compensation for an injury which he had re-
ceived from one of my boys, and I asked him from whom
he had received it.
"He told me that nothing whatever would have induced
him to tell; but as he knew the young gent would him-
self confess the instant the question was put, for he hac
told him he should do so did it come to my ears, there
was no motive in his keeping silence, and it was Mr.
Norris who had given it to him. On inquiry I find that the
meeting in question was held between half-past nine and
eleven; therefore, to have been present, Norsis must have


78
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
broken out of bounds and got into the boarding-house at
night.
"This, in itself* would be a very grave offense, but it
is as nothing by the side of the other. I am most reluc-
tantly obliged to admit that I can come to but one conclu-
sion: Norris, having broken bounds, and got into a dis-
graceful fray, was afraid that the matter would come to
my ears. It was absolutely necessary for him to procure
ten pounds to buy the silence of this man; my own very
culpable carelessness, which I most deeply regret, *left the
note on the table, and the temptation was too much for
him.
"I have questioned him how he got it. If he had said
that he had picked it up in the yard, and, not knowing to
whom it belonged, had very improperly, without making
inquiry, devoted it to the purpose of silencing this man,
I should have gladly believed him—for hitherto he has
stood high in my estimation, and I should certainly have
considered him incapable of an act of theft. But he tells
me that it was sent to him in an envelope, by whom he
does not know; and this absurd story is, to my mind, a
plear proof that he must have stolen it from the table."
The two masters had at first looked at Frank with in-
credulous surprise, but as the narrative continued and
the proofs appeared to accumulate, their expression
changed, and they ^regarded him with horror, not un-
mixed with pity. For a minute there was silence, then
Mr. Eichards said:
"Strong as the proofs seem to be, sir, I can hardly
believe in the possibility of Norris having behaved in
this way. He has always been a particularly straightfor-
ward, honest, and honorable jlad; there is not a boy in
the house of whom I would so absolutely have disbe-
lieved this tale. That he did send this note to the man


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
78
there can, by his own confession, be no doubt, but I still
cannot believe that he stole it. Come now, Norris, you
have got into a terrible scrape, but don't make matters
worse; tell us frankly the truth about it."
"I have told the truth," Frank said, in a low and un-
natural voice. "I received the note in an envelope;
here it is, sir, with, as you see, only the words 'From a
friend.' I showed it when I had got it to Harris, Tra-
vers, James, and Barkley, and had not the remotest idea
who it came from."
"To whom had you mentioned the need you had of
ten pounds?" Mr. Wire asked.
"No one knew it except those four and Perkins, not a,
soul."
The three masters looked even more grave. The four
boys were sent for one by one, and were asked if they
had mentioned to any one the need which Frank had of
ten pounds; but all deolared they had spoken to no one
on the subject.
"He showed you the envelope containing the note he
received; what did you think about it?"
"It seemed a curious thing, sir," Harris said, "but
none of us could account for it."
"I am accused," Frank said in a harsh voice, "of
having stolen that note from Dr. Litter's table."
For the moment the four boys stood in silent aston-
ishment.
"Nonsense, Frank," Harris burst out impetuously,
"we know you better than that, old fellow; if an angel
from heaven came down and told me you were a thief I
would not believe him," and Harris seized his friend's
hand and wrung it warmly, an example followed by his
three companions.
. Hitherto Frank's face had been hard and set, but he


74
CAPTAIN BA 7LEY'S HEIR.
broke down now, and the tears streamed down his
cheeks.
"Yon can go now," Dr. Litter said, and when the door
closed upon them he continued: "I would give much,
very much, Norris, to be able to believe in your inno-
cence; but I cannot see a possibility of it; the evidence
to my mind is overwhelming. I acquit you of any idea
of deliberate theft. You were pressed and afraid of ex-
posure, and the temptation offered by the note was too
strong for you; you thought you saw a way of escape,
and to account to your comrades for the possession of
the money you put it in an envelope and posted it,
directed to yourself. Even now, if you will confess the
truth, I will send you home privately, and avoid publio
expulsion and disgrace in consideration of the good char-
acter you have always hitherto borne; if not, I must at
once lay the whole facts before your uncle and guardian,
and to-morrow you will be publicly expelled."
"I have nothing to say, sir," Frank said quietly;
"overwhelming as the proof appears against me, I have
spoken the simple truth, and I swear that I never saw
that note until I took it from the envelope."
"Go to your room, sir!" Dr. Litter said, with indig-
nation, "this continued denial is almost worse than the
offense."
Without a word Frank rose and left the library.
"This is indeed a shocking business," Mr. Wire said,
as he followed Dr. Litter to the schoolroom.
"I cannot credit it," Mr. Eichards put in; "I know
him so well, that, absolutely conclusive as I allow the
evidence to be, I still hesitate to believe him to be
guilty."
After school was over Fred Barkley ran up to hi3
cousin's room.


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
75
"My dear Prank," he exclaimed, "we are ordered not
to communicate with you, hut I could not help running
in to tell you that everyone believes you to be innocent."
"I hardly know whether I believe it myself," Frank
said bitterly. "But you can do something for me, Fred;
I have written a line to my uncle, will you post it for me
at once?"
"Certainly," Fred replied; "but there is some one
coming upstairs, so I must be off." He took the letter
and was gone. It contained only a few words:
"My Dear Uncle: If you believe me innocent of this
hideous charge, which I swear to you I am not guilty of,
send me one line by hand when you get this. As long
as I know that you have faith in me I can face it out."
The afternoon passed slowly to the prisoner. His
unple would get the letter between three and four, and
he might have an answer half an hour afterward. Hour
after hour passed, and, except the servant who brought
up his tea, no one came near him. He reasoned to him-
self that his uncle might be out. At eight o'clock he
heard a noise on the stairs; a number of feet approached
his room, and then the door opened, and the whole of the
boys in the boarding-house poured in.
"Norris, old fellow," Harris said, "we could stop away
no longer, and in spite of orders we have come to see
you. 1 beg to tell you in the name of the whole house,
and I may say the whole school, that not a boy here be-
lieves you to be guilty. How the note came into your
hands we don't know and we don't care, but we are cer-
tain you did not take it."
"No! nol" was shouted in a chorus.
"So keep up your spirits, old fellow," Harris said, "it
will come right sooner or later."


CAPTAIN BA YLET'S HEIR.
77
"You posted the letter to my uncle, Fred?" he asked.
"Yes, at once," he replied.
Frank was silent.
"What do you mean to do?" Fred went on.
"Do?" Frank asked, "what do you mean?"
"Why, I suppose you don't mean to stop here until to-
morrow?"
"I don't know," Frank replied, "I had not thought
about it."
"I shouldn't, if I were in your place. It would be a
fearful business; there hasn't been a boy expelled from
Westminster for the last thirty years. I shouldn't stop
for it if I were you.''
"But what am I to do? where am I to go?" said Frank
listlessly.
"Do?" said Fred, "why, go abroad to be sure. I
should go out to California, or Australia, or somewhere,
and in time this will be all forgotten. Perhaps it will
turn out who sent that money. It is not as if facing it
out would do any good, for you can prove nothing.
Everyone who know you believes you innocent."
"Uncle Harry doesn't," Frank said bitterly, "or he
would have sent an answer to my letter."
"Ah! well, you know what he is," Fred said, "how
passionate and hasty he is; but after a time he will think
as we all do, never fear. Look here, I thought that you
would want some money, so have been round to Ginger's
and have sold all my books. The old beggar would not
give me more than twenty pounds for them, though I
have paid him more than double that, beside what I
have bought from others. However, here are the twenty
pounds at your service; if you like to take them you are
welcome."
Frank remained irresolute for a moment; then the


78
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
thought of the terrible scene in the schoolroom, and oi
the tones in which the doctor would pronounce his expul.
sion, overcame him.
"I may as well go before as after, for I could not go
home after that. Thank you, Fred, with all my heart; I
will take your money and advice, and if I get a rich man
I will pay you again. Are the fellows in bed?”
“Yes,” Fred replied, “and Richards is in his study,
so you can go down with me and slip out easy enough.”
"Tell the others,” Frank said, “that I went because I
could not face the scene to-morrow, and that I hope some
day to return and prove my innocence.”
Without another word he opened his drawers, packed
some clothes in a small portmanteau, put on his pea-
jacket and the low cap he had worn in his unfortunate
expedition to the New Cut; then he stole softly down-
stairs with Fred, and sallied out into the night air.


OAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR
OHAPTER VI.
AT NEW ORLEANS.
FRANK NORRIS took his way eastward after leaving
Westminster. He slept at a small hotel in the city, and
at daybreak walked on to the docks. He was careless
where he went, so that it was out of England; but he was
determined, if possible, to work his passage, so as to
leave the sum of money in his pocket untouched until he
got to his destination. He went on board a number of
ships and asked the captains if they wanted hands, but
on his acknowledgment that he had never been at sea,
none of them would ship him for the outward voyage
only. At last he paused before a fine ship, the Mis-
sissippi; a printed placard on the wharf beside her men-
tioned that the well-known and favorite clipper would
sail for New Orleans on that day. He walked on board
and went up to the captain, who was talking to the first
mate, while the latter was superintending the getting of
cargo on board.
“Do you want a hand, sir?"
“Well, that depends,” the captain said; “I am still
two or three hands short, but they have promised to send
me them this morning. Are you a sailor?”
“No, sir; but I can row and sail an open boat, and am
ready to make myself useful. I want to work my passage
out.”
“You look an active young fellow," the captain said,
"but I don't care about taking a landsman only for the


80
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
voyage out; I should have to ship another hand in your
place at New Orleans, and probably have to pay more
wages there than I could get one for here. Still, likely
enough, they may send me down at the last moment two
or three hands who know no more about it than
you do, and may not be half so willing to learn as I
should judge you to be. What do you say, Ephraim;
shall we take him?"
"He looks a likely sort," the mate said.
"Very well then, it's agreed; you can take off your
coat and fall to work at once; I will send down word to
the office that I have shipped you." Frank stripped off
his coat and waistcoat, and stowed them, with his port-
manteau, out of the way, and then set to work with a
will, the whiteness of his shirt, and his general appear-
ance, exciting some jeering comments among the other
men at work; but the activity and strength which he
showed soon astonished and silenced them.
By one o'clock the last bale of cargo was stowed, and
the hatches put on. The landsmen who had been em-
ployed went on shore, and Frank went forward to the
fo'castle with the men to dinner.
"Not the sort of grub you have been accustomed to,
lad," one of the men said.
"I have eaten worse," Frank said carelessly, "and
don't care if I never eat better. How long do you sup-
pose we shall be before we get to New Orleans?"
"It all depends upon the wind," the sailor answered,
"maybe a month, maybe three. Are you going to leave
us there?"
"Yes," Frank said, "I am only working my passage
out."
"It's a roughish place is New Orleans," the sailor
said; "the sort of place where you want to have a knife


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR. 81
or pistol ready at hand. Lor', I have seen some rum
doings there; it's a word and a blow, I can tell ye."
"Ah! well," Frank laughed, "I suppose I shall do as
well as the rest."
The voice of the mate was now heard calling to all
hands to prepare to cast off. The men had hurried
through their dinner, for they knew that the time allowed
them would be short, and began casting off hawsers, coil-
ing down ropes, and preparing for a start. The bell was
ringing, and the friends of the passengers were saying
good-by. The capstan was manned, and the vessel
moved slowly away from the quay.
Five minutes later she was at the dock gates; these
swung open, and the vessel slowly made her way through
them, and was soon in the river.
As the men ran aloft to loosen the sails, Frank placed
himself next to the sailor who had spoken to him at
dinner, and followed him up the shrouds, and, imitating
his actions, he was soon out on the yard hauling away
with the others. When the sails were all set he returned
below.
"Wall done, youngster," the mate said; "Ireckonyou
are about as spry for a green hand as any I have come
across; I had my eye on you, and you'll do. You go on
like that, and you will make a first-rate hand afore long."
There was plenty of work to do as they went down the
river. The sails had to be braced round, as the wind
took them on different sides in the winding reaches; the
decks were sluiced down, to get rid of the first coat of
dirt which they had acquired in the docks; ropes had to
be coiled and tidied up, and the many articles lying
loosely about the deck to be put in their places and
lashed in readiness for sea work. The tide met them
just as it was getting dark, and as the wind dropped, and


82
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
was not sufficiently strong to carry the ship against it,
the anchor was dropped a few miles below Gravesend.
The men were divided into two watches, but all were
told that, with the exception of two stationed as an
anchor watch, they could turn in till tide turned. Frank
threw himself at once into the bunk which had been
allotted to him. He had not closed an eye the night
before, and was worn out by emotion and fatigue, and
scarcely had he lain down than he was sound asleep. He
had been placed in the starboard watch, and slept till he
was roughly shaken at four o'clock in the morning.
"Get up, mate, your watch is called."
Frank leaped out and made his way on deck. The
vessel had been now three hours under weigh. She had
passed the Nore, whose light shone brightly over the
stern.
"The wind is freshening a bit," one of the men said,
"we shall be out round the Foreland by dinner-time."
The voyage was an uneventful one; Frank escaped the
first fight in which newcomers generally have to take part
before they settle down in their new sphere. He was
thoroughly good-tempered, and fully a match for any of
his messmates in chaff, and he soon became a favorite in
the fo'castle. He was always ready to take his share of
the work, and was soon as much at home on the yards as
the rest. The change and the newness of the life were
very good for him; he was never alone, and had no time
to think or brood over his troubles, and he was almost
sorry when the end of the voyage approached.
"Not a lively-looking shore," the mate said to him aa
he leaned against the bulwark, looking at the low banks
of the river a few miles below New Orleans. "No, even
an American may confess that there ain't much beauty
about this river. It's a great river, and a mighty useful


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
83
one, but it ain't beautiful. Now, what are you thinking
of doing when you get ashore?"
"I was thinking to begin by getting employment on
board a boat of some sort. What I shall do afterward
of course I do not know; but if I can earn my living on
the water for a few months, till I have time to look round
and see what is best to be done, I shall be well satisfied.
I have got a few pounds, but I don't want to touch them;
they will come in useful if I want to move, or to buy a
horse, or anything of that sort."
"You will do," the mate said. "You have shown
yourself a right-down sharp fellow on board this ship,
and I expect you will make your way whatever you try a
hand at. I have taken a fancy to you, and should be
glad to do you a good turn if I can. I have been in and
out of this port for some years, and know Orleans pretty
tidy, and I can tell you that there ain't a port on this
side of the water or the other where a fellow can be put
out of the way more promptly than here; there are parts
of New Orleans which, I tell you, are a sort of hell on
earth.
"There are places you couldn't go into without some
one picking a quarrel with you afore you have been in
there two minutes, and a quarrel here means knives out
afore you have time to think. On the other hand,
Orleans is a place where a steady industrious fellow, with
his head screwed on right, has a good chance of getting
on. The trade up the river is immense, and will be far
greater than it is now; and there's pretty well a continent
to the west, with openings of all sorts, land and cattle,
houses and mining, and trade with Mexico. But I don't
see as you can do better than to follow out your own idea.
"I know a score of men here who own boats trading up
the river, and the first time I go ashore I will take you


84
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
with me and put you in good hands. The rate of pay
ain't high, for it's looked on as easy work; still, a few
months at it will open your eyes and put you into the
ways of the country, and, once at home, I tell you there's
money to be made on the river, heaps of it, and when it's
seen that you are steady, and willing, and 'cute, you will
find plenty who will give you a helping hand. There's
no greater place for loafers than New Orleans, and a chap
who will really work will soon make his mark."
Prank warmly thanked the mate for his offer. The
moment the ship cast anchor off the town a crowd of
negroes came on board and unloaded her, and the crew
had comparatively little to do; the three or four passen-
gers who had come out in her went on shore at once, but
it was not until the third afternoon after her arrival that
the mate was able to leave the ship.
"Now, lad," he said to Frank, "jump into the boat
along with me, and I will see if I can't put you into the
groove."
Keeping along the wharves for some distance, the mate
presently entered a small wooden office, telling Frank to
wait outside.
On entering he accosted the only occupant of the place,
a man of some forty years of age, who was dressed en-
tirely in white, and was sitting smoking a huge cigar,
with his chair tilted back and his feet on the table.
"How are you, Ephraim?" he said, as the mate
entered. "I saw your ship had arrived. Had a good
voyage?"
"First-class," the mate replied; "not very fast, but
quiet and comfortable," and he took a cigar from an open
box on the table and lighted it. "I haven't come round
for a talk with you now, I have only just come ashore for
the first time; but I wanted to speak to you about a


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
85
young chap as came out with us. He has worked his
passage out, and is about the smartest young fellow I
ever shipped, and has the makings of a first-class seaman
in him, but he doesn't care about stopping at sea. He's
of good family in the old country, as one can easily see.
I expect he has got into some scrape, and has had to
make a bolt of it; however, that's no business of mine.
He's as strong as a horse, and as active as a squirrel; he
can handle an oar and sail a boat. I didn't like the
thought of his landing here and getting into bad hands,
so I thought I would come straight to you. He said
what he wanted to do was to work on the river, for a few
months at any rate, until he got to know the place. Now
I know you have a dozen tugs and a score of barges, and
I thought you might set him on at once. He would make
a good second hand on one of your large boats. H it's
but to oblige me, I wish you would put him on board one
with a sober, steady chap of a decent kind; as soon as he
gets to know the work and the river, I will guarantee
that he will be fit to take charge himself."
"That's easy enough done, Ephraim," the trader
replied, "all except finding the sober and steady decent
man to put him under. However, I will do my best
Have you got him here?"
"Yes, he is outside," Ephraim said; and rising, ha
went to the door and called Frank in. "This is the hand
I was speaking to you about, Mr. Willcox."
"Well, young man," the trader said, "Ihear you want
a berth on board a tug or flat. Which would you rather
have?"
"I would prefer to be on a flat, at any rate for a time,
sir," Frank said; "I am a pretty good hand at sailing or
rowing, but I don't know anything about steamboats."
"There's not much to learn in that," the trader said;


86
CAPTAIN BA TLEY'S HEIR.
"the work is simply to keep the decks clean, to help to
load and unload at each landing-place, and to pole off in
Bh allows. However, I will put you on board a flat. The
wages to begin with will be twenty dollars a month and
your keep, if that will suit you."
"That will do, sir, very well," Frank said. "When
shall I come to work?"
"If you come here this time to-morrow you can go
aboard at once. One of the flats will go up the first
thing in the morning."
"Thank you, sir, I will be here. I am greatly obliged
to you, Mr. Alderson, for your kind recommendation of
me."
"I am glad to have put you into a berth," the mate
said. "Now I should recommend you to get on board
again soon."
Frank strolled about the wharves for an hour or two,
and then went on board. Before going on shore the fol-
lowing day, the captain gave him a certificate, saying
that he had sailed in the Mississippi, and was a good,
willing, and reliable hand.
"You may not intend to go to sea again, but if you
should, this will get you a better berth than if you had
applied as a landsman. I am very pleased with your
conduct on board the ship, and I am only sorry you are
leaving us. I think it's a pity you don't stick to it, for
it is clear that you are well educated, and would be able
to pass as a mate as soon as you had been the requisite
time at sea. However, you can fall back on that if you
don't get on as well as you expect on shore."
The mate said good-by to him warmly.
"Your employer is one of the very best in the place,"
Baid he. "You must not suppose he is in a small way
because you see him in that little office; he is one of the


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR. 87
largest tug and flat owners in New Orleans. He keeps
his eye on his men, and will push you forward if he sees
you deserve it. He has the name of having the best of
captains on the river, and of being one of the best and
most liberal of employers. But you must not expect
much in flat life, you will find the men rough as well as
the work."
"I shan't mind that," Frank said cheerfully; "our
own bargemen on the Thames are not the most polished
of men."
"And, lad," the mate added, "I should advise you to
hand over any money you may have with you to Mr. "Will-
cox; the less money you have in your pockets the better.
You have no occasion for it on the river, and there are
loafers hanging about at every landing who would think
nothing of knocking a man on the head if they thought
he had got fifty dollars in his pocket."
Frank promised to take his advice, and, with a hearty
farewell to the mate, and a cordial one to his late ship-
mates, he put his portmanteau in the boat and was rowed
ashore.
"Oh, here you are," Mr. Willcox said, as he entered;
"just give a call to that man you see outside."
Before doing so, Frank handed over his twenty sover-
eigns to the trader, asking him to keep them for him,
and then went to the door. On a log close by a tall,
gaunt man was sitting smoking a short pipe. Frank
asked him to step in.
"Hiram," the trader said, "this is the young Britisher
who is going as your second hand. I have good accounts
of him as a sailor, so you won't have to teach him that
part of the business. Of course he is new to the river
and its ways."
"I will put him through," the man said, "and teach
him as much as I knows myself if he cares to learn."


88
CAPTAIN BA YLEY 'S HEIR.
"There is no one knows the river better, Hiram; and,
as you know, I would have given you the command of a
steamer long ago if you would have taken it."
"No, sir," the man said emphatically, "not for Hiram
Little. I have been on board a flat all my days, and am
not going to be hurried along in one of them puffing
things. They have their uses, I am ready enough to
allow, when the current is swift and the wind light; I
am glad enough of a cast now and then, but to be always
in a bustle and flurry is more than I could stand. Come
along, youngster, with your sack; the boat is a quarter
of a mile down."
Taking up his portmanteau, Frank followed his con-
ductor, who with long strides led the way along the
wharf. Not a word was spoken till they reached the side
of the boat. This was not a flat such as now are in gen-
eral use, but a large boat some forty feet in length by
fourteen wide, almost flat-bottomed, and capable of
carrying a cargo of eight or ten tons of goods. In the
stern was a little cabin some eight feet long for the captain
and his mate. In front was a similar structure for the
four negroes who formed the crew.
She carried one mast, with a large lug-sail. She had
four sweeps, but these were seldom used. When the
wind was fair she ran before it, when it was foul the mast
was lowered; if it fell calm when they were coming down
the stream they drifted with it, if when going up, they
either anchored or poled her along in the back waters
close in shore, or made their way up the numerous chan-
nels where the stream flowed sluggishly, or tied on
behind a tug if one happened to come along.
Their principal work was to carry up supplies to the
various plantations along the banks, to trade with the vil-
lages, and to bring down produce to New Orleans; for


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
89
the stopping places of the steamers were at wide dis-
tances apart, and the number of steamers themselves very
small in comparison with those now afloat on the great
river. At times they made longer journeys, going up as
far as St. Louis; but in that case they were generally, as
Frank afterward learned, towed up the whole distance.
"Hi! Pete, shove that plank ashore," Hiram shouted,
and a negro at once showed his head above a scuttle in
the bow of the boat, and then emerging, pushed a plank
across the fifteen feet of water which intervened between
the flat and the wharf.
"That's your first lesson, young man," Hiram said.
"Never on no account lay your craft close alongside;
thar's river thieves at these landings as would empty half
the cargo if you left the boat for ten minutes, if they
could step aboard, and these niggers are always asleep
the minute after you take your eyes off them. So,
whether you have got anything aboard or not, stick to
the rule and moor her a bit off the wharf. It's only the
trouble of dropping the grapnel over on the outside in ad-
dition to the hawser ashore, and then there's never no
trouble when you get back and have to report as how you
have lost some of the bales. It ain't as how we carry up
many things as would pay for taking; soft goods for the
stores up the river mostly goes by steamer, but them as
ain't hurried, and likes to keep their dollars in their
pockets, has their goods up by flats. I have got ten
hogsheads of sugar, twenty-four crates of hardware,
some barrels of molasses, and forty casks of spirits on
board, eighty kegs of nails and a ton or two of rice and
flour. We reokon to go up light, and I don't care to
have the flat more nor half-full, for when the river's low
and the wind light the less we have on board the better.
Now, Fete, let's have tea as soon as may be."


90
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
By this time they had entered the cabin, at the stern
of the boat. It was only about five feet high, but was
large and roomy, and Frank saw with pleasure that it
was neat and clean, and was an abode infinitely prefer-
able to the forecastle of the Mississippi.
"Now, lad, that's your side, and this is mine; that's
your bunk. I am given to tidy ways, having all my life
lived in small places, and I hope as you will fall into my
ways; I keeps the cabin tidy myself, and Pete never
comes aft here except to bring the food and take it away
again; I can't a-bear niggers messing about a place.
Victuals of all sorts is provided. You can do as you like
about liquor. I keeps a keg of rum on board, and I likes
my glass at night; if you likes to join me at that you can
pay for half the keg, it has not been broached yet. If
you want to drink more nor two glasses a night, ye had
best get in yer own stock; if ye don't want to touch it at
all, just leave it."
Frank said he liked a glass of grog at night, and should
be glad to join in the cask, and that he would do his best
to keep his side of the cabin as tidy as the other. In a
few minutes the negro brought in the meal, which con-
sisted of a steak fried with onions, followed by a large
bowl of oatmeal, with a jug of molasses, and the whole
was washed down with tea.
"The stream does not seem to run very rapidly,"
Frank said, as he and his companion, having lit their
pipes, sat down on the deck above.
"It varies," Hiram replied; "sometimes it's sluggish,
as you see it here, sometimes it runs like a mill-stream.
The art of sailing here is to know the river; for what
with its back currents and its eddies, its channels behind
islands and its sandbanks, one who knows it can manage
to make his way up, while one who didn't know would be


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
91
drifting backw rd instead of getting forward. That's
what you have got to learn. Fortunately the wind gen-
erally blows up the stream; when it don't it's a case of
down anchor. There are places where one can hardly
get along unless the wind happens to be unusually
strong, and there I generally get a tow. The boss has
got about twenty steamers on the river, so we don't gen-
erally have to wait many hours before one comes along.
The tugs is gradually doing away with sailing boats, and
in time there won't be many of our kind of craft left;
but they are useful, you see, for small places where the
steamers don't stop, and for the rivers which run into
the Mississippi."
The next morning at daybreak the sail was hoisted, the
hawsers thrown off from the shore, and the flat made her
way up the river. Frank was surprised to see how fast
she sailed, although the wind was but light. The work
was easy, for the wind was steady and they seldom sailed
at night, the wind generally dropping at sundown.
They touched at numerous little settlements, and gradu-
ally got rid of the cargo with which they had started.
Sometimes they left the main river and sailed for many
miles by narrow channels, where the current, for the
most part, was almost imperceptible. They were more
than a month from the time they started before they
reached the spot at which they were to take in the cargo
for their return voyage. The flat was then loaded up
with grain, which was put in in bulk and covered with
tarpaulin; the boat was now laden down nearly to the
water's edge.
The downward voyage differed widely from that up the
river; the sail was now seldom used, and instead of
skirting the shores they kept in midchannel, from time
to time directing the boat's course by the use of the


92
OAPTAIN BATLBY'S HEIR.
sweeps. The moon was nearly fall when they started,
and they continued their voyage by night as well as day.
Hiram and Frank took it by turns to be on watch; but
the former was seldom down below, except on the rare
occasions when the river was free from shoals.
Frank had by this time learned by the ripples on the
water to detect the shallows, and could direct the course
without assistance; but as soon as the splash of oars was
heard on the water, Hiram was sure to appear on deck,
however short the time since he had retired to rest.
"You are seeing the river at its best," he was saying
one day. "It is about half-full now; when the water's
low, the channel where we can pass loaded is often only
fifty yards wide, with the water running through it like
a sluice. When the water is in flood there is no fear of
shoals, but you have got to look about, for it is full of
floating trees and logs; when these get stuck we call
them snags, and if you were to run on one of them the
chances are it would knock a hole as big as a cask in her
bottom, and down you would go in two or three
minutes."


CAPTAIN BAY LEY'S HEIR.
93
CHAPTEE VII.
ON THE MISSISSIPPI.
"We are going to have a change of weather, I
reckon," Hiram said one afternoon as they were drifting
down the stream during their second voyage. "You
have been lucky since we started, but we are going to
have a change at last; and I can tell you when it blows
here it's a caution. They have been having a lot of rain
up the country, for the river has been rising regular for
the last ten days. We had best make fast for the night,
and the sooner we does it the better, for the wind is get-
ting up fast and the rain is just a-going to begin."
In a quarter of an hour the boat was moored to a great
tree at the lower end of an island.
"We shall be snug here," he said, "and out of the way
of the drift that will be coming down presently. You
can turn in and take a long spell of sleep to-night, for
sometimes these storms last for days when they come on
this time of year, and you will see there will be a sea on
that the boat could hardly live in. I wish we had
stopped two hours ago; there was a creek where we could
have run her in and been snug all through it, but I didn't
think it was coming up so quick, and it's too far on to
the next place to risk it; however, I expect we shall do
very well here."
In another half-hour the gale burst upon them furi-
ously, and Frank congratulated himself that the boat was
snugly moored. The thick muddy water of the river was


94
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
speedily lashed into angry waves; the rain came down in
torrents, and although the left-hand bank was but a quar-
ter of a mile distant it was soon lost to view. Frank was
glad to leave the deck and crawl into the little cabin, and
sit down to a hot meal which the negro cook had pre-
pared.
"Better here than outside, my lad," Hiram said. "I
can go as wet as any man if need be, but I like to keep a
dry jacket when I can. The wind is just howling out-
side. I reckon this is going to be a bigger storm nor
ordinary, and I have seen some biggish storms on the
Mississippi too. I have had some narrer escapes of it, I
can tell you, special in the days before there was nary a
tug on the river, and we had to row or pole all the way
up; besides there ain't so many trees brought down as
there used to be in a flood, seeing as the country is get-
ting more and more cleared every day.
"I reckon the time will come when you will be able to
go up either the Mississippi or Missouri to the upper
waters without seeing a tree drifting down, and when
there won't be a snag in their beds. I mind the time
when the snags were ten times worse than they is now.
I mind once we ran on one of the darned things in pretty
nigh as wild a night as this is going to be. I had six
hands along with me, and we wanted to get down, 'cause
we knew the old man would have a cargo ready for us,
and we wanted a run of a day or two on shore at Orleans
before we started up again, so we held on. The wind
was higher than we reckoned on, and we was just saying
we should have done better to tie up when there was a
crash. I thought at first that she would have gone over
with the shock, but she didn't—not that it would have
made much odds, for there was a snag through her bot-
tom, and the water pouring in like a sluice. It waa


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
95
darkish, but we could make out there was some trees a
boat's-length or two ahead which had been caught as they
rolled down by another snag, and hung there. The boat
didn't float more than a minute after she struck, and then
we were all in the river, those who couldn't swim grip-
ping hold of the oars and poles; half a minute and we
were all clinging to the boughs, and hoisting ourselves
as well as might be clear of the water.
"I tell you, lad, that was a night. It wasn't that we
was drenched to the skin with the rain pouring down,
and the wind cutting through us—that kind of thing
comes natural to a boatman—but it was the oncertainty
of the thing. The trees moved and swayed with the
waves and current; the flood we knew was rising still,
and any moment they might break away from the snag
and go whirling along, over and over, down the river.
Even if they didn't break away of theirselves, another
tree might drive down on us, and if it did the chances
was strong as the hull affair would break loose.
"All that night and all next day we hung on, and then
the wind went down a bit, and a nigger who had made
us out from the shore came off in a dugout and took us
ashore in two trips. That war a close shave. The wind
was northerly and bitter cold, and I don't believe as we
could have hung on another night more nor that. Next
morning, when we turned out from the nigger's hut to
have a look round, there wasn't no sign of them thar
trees, they had just gone down the river in the night.
Yes, I have had a good many narrow shaves of it, but I
do think as that war the narrowest."
"Well, I am heartily glad," Frank said, "that we are
tied safely up, out of the way of floating trees, snags, or
anything of the kind. I always like hearing the wind
when I am snug, and I shall sleep sound knowing that I


96
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S llEIii.
am not going to hear your shout of 'Watch on deck' in
my ear."
In spite of the howling of the gale Frank slept soundly.
But he could scarcely believe that it was broad daylight
when he awoke; the light was dim and leaden, and when
he went out from the cabin he was startled at the aspect
of the river. The waves had risen until it resembled an
angry sea, the yellow masses of water being tipped with
foam; the clouds hung so low-that they almost touched
the top of the trees; the rain was still falling, and the
drops almost hurt from the violence with which they
were driven by the wind. The river had risen consider-
ably during the night, and the lower end of the island
was already submerged; boughs of trees and driftwood
were hurrying along with the stream, and more than one
great tree passed, now lifting an arm high in the air,
now almost hidden in the waves, as it turned over and
over in its rapid course. Frank felt glad indeed that the
boat lay in comparatively sheltered waters, though even
here the swell caused her at times to roll violently.
"What do you think of it, lad?" Hiram, who had
risen some time before Frank, asked.
"It is a wonderfully wild scene," Frank said enthusi-
astically, "a grand scene I I should not have had an idea
that such a sea could have got up on any river. Look at
that great tree rolling down—it looks as if it was wrest-
ling for life."
"The wrestle is over, lad, there ain't no more life for
that tree; it will just drift along till it either catches on
a sandbank and settles down as a snag, or it will drift
down to the mouth of the Mississippi, and maybe help to
choke up some of the shallow channels, or it may chance
to strike the deep channel, and go away right out into
the Gulf of Mexico,, and then the barnacles will get hold


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
91
of it, and it will drift and drift till at last it will get
heavier than the water, and then down it will go to the
bottom and lie there till there ain't no more left of it.
No, lad, there ain't no more life for that tree."
"Maybe it will wash ashore near the city, or some
plantation," Frank said, "and be hauled up and cut into
timber, or perhaps into firewood. After all, the useful
life of a tree begins with its fall."
"Eight you are, lad; yes, that might happen, and I
am glad you put it in my mind, for somehow I have
always had a sorter pity for a tree when I see it sweeping
down in a flood like this. Somehow it's like looking at a
drowned man; but, as you say, there's a chance of its
getting through it and coming to be of use after all, and
what can a tree wish better than that? But we had best
be hauling the boat up to the tree and shifting the rope
up the trunk a bit; it's just level with the water now,
and was nigh eight feet above when we tied it yesterday.
I tell you if this goes on there will be some big floods,
for it will try the levees, and if they go there ain't no
Baying what damage may be done in the plantations."
All day the wind blew with unabated fury, and when
evening came on Frank thought that it was increasing
rather than diminishing in force.
"Let's have a glass of grog and tumble in, my lad,"
Hiram said, "it gives one the dismals to listen to the
wind." They had scarcely wrapped themselves in their
blankets when the boat swayed as if struck by an even
stronger blast than usual; then there was a sudden crash,
which rose even above the howling of the gale.
"What's that?" Frank exclaimed, sitting np.
"It's the tree," Hiram began; but while the worda
were in his mouth there was a shock and a crash, the roof
of the little cabin was stove in, and the boat heeled over


98
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
until they thought it was going to capsize. Frank was
thrown on to the floor with the violence of the shock, but
speedily gained his feet.
"What has happened?" he exclaimed.
"The tree has gone," Hiram said; "I have been look-
ing at it all the afternoon, but I didn't want to scare you
by telling you as I thought it might go. It's lucky it
didn't fall directly on us, or it would have knocked the
boat into pieces. The door is jammed. Get hold of that
hatchet, lad, and make a shift to get your head out to
look round and see what we are doing. Do you hear
them niggers hallooing like so many tomcats? "What
good do they suppose that will do?"
"I can't ae§ anything," Frank said when he looked
out; "it's pitch dark. I will make this hole a bit bigger,
and then I will take the lantern and crawl forward and
see what has become of the blacks. I am afraid the tree
has stove the boat in; look at the water coming up
through the float-boards."
"Ay, I expect she is smashed somewhere; it could
hardly be otherwise; I reckon this is going to be about
as bad a job as the one I was telling you about. Here,
lad, put this bottle of rum into your jacket and this loaf
of bread; I will take this here chunk of cold beef; like
enough we may want 'em afore we are done."
When Frank had enlarged the hole sufficiently to allow
his body to pass through, he put the lantern through and
then crawled out. He was in a tangle of branches and
leaves. The head-rope was a long one; the tree had fal-
len directly toward them, and the boat was, as far as
Frank could see, wedged in between the branches, which
forked some forty feet above the roots; a cross branch
had stove in the cabin top, and another rested across tho
scuttle of the cabin used by the negroes.


100 CAPTAIN BA YLEY 'S HEIR.
of you, and lend a hand and unreeve the halliards from
the mast and bind her as tight as you can to the
branches; pass the ropes under the thwarts. Make haste
before she shakes herself free." For the tree, now well
clear of the shelter of the land, was swaying heavily.
The work was soon done, and the boat securely fas-
tened to the tree.
"How is it the tree lies steady without rolling over
and over, Hiram?" Frank asked, after they had paused
on the completion of the work.
"I reckon it's the boat as keeps it steady, lad. As
long as she lies here she is no weight, but she would be
a big weight to lift out of water, and I reckon she keeps
the whole affair steady. It couldn't be better if we had
planned it. All these boughs break the force of the
waves, and keep off a good bit of the wind too; we ain't
going to do badly after all.
"Pete, get me that half-bottle of rum from my locker
and a tin mug. That is right. Now here is a good
strong tot each for you to make your faces black again;
you were white with fear when we got you out of that
cabin, and I don't blame you; I should have been in just
as bad a fright myself if I had been there, though I
shouldn't have made such a noise over it. Still, one
can't expect men of one color to have the same ways as
those of another, and I am bound to say that if the boat
had gone down your boss would have lost four good
pieces of property. Feel more comfortable—eh?"
The negroes grinned assent. Easily cast down, their
spirits were as easily raised, and seeing that the white
men appeared to consider that there was no urgent dan-
ger, they soon plucked up their courage.
"I think," Frank said, "the best thing will be to man-
age to get the cabin door open, "We can put a tarpaulin


OAPTAm BA YLEY'S HEIK.
101
over the hole in the roof, and we shall then have a shel-
ter we can go into; the water is not over the lockers, but
I shouldn't like to go in until we get the door open. If
this tree did take it into its head to turn round, it would
be awkward if there were two or three of us in there,
with only that hole to scramble through."
"You are about right, lad; it will be a sight more
comfortable than sitting here, for what with the rain and
the splashing up of this broken water one might as well
be under a pump."
The axes were called into requisition again, for the
door was jammed too firmly to be moved.
"Chop it up, and shove the pieces under the tarpaulin,
Sam; they will get a bit drier there, and we may want
them for a fire presently; there is no saying how long
we may be in this here floating forest. That's right.
Now, hang one of them lanterns up in the cabin. That's
not so bad. Now, lad, our clothes-bags are all right on
these hooks. ■ I am just going to rig myself up in a dry
shirt and jacket, and advise you to do the same; we may
as well have the upper half dry if we must be wet below."
Frank was glad to follow Hiram's example, and a dry
flannel shirt made him feel thoroughly warm and com-
fortable. He handed a shirt to each of the negroes, and
the whole party, clustered in the little cabin, were soon
comparatively warm and cheerful, in spite of the water,
which came up to their knees, and when the boat rose on
a wave, swashed up over the locker on which they were
Bitting.
A supply of dry tobacco and some pipes were produced
by Hiram, and the little cabin was soon thick with smoke.
"Taking it altogether," Hiram said, "I regard this as
about the queerest sarcumstance that ever happened to
me; it was just a thousand to one that tree would have


102
CAPTAIN BAYLET'S HEIR.
smashed us up and sunk us then and thar. It was
another thousand to one that when we were staved in we
shouldn't have got fixed so that the boat couldn't sink;
if any one had told it me as a yarn I should not have
believed it."
"It has indeed been a wonderful escape," Frank said,
"and I think now that we should be ungrateful indeed if
everyone of us did not fervently thank God for having
preserved us."
"Eight you are, lad; praying ain't much in my way—
not regular praying; but we men as lives a life like this,
and knows that any moment a snag may go through the
boat's bottom, thinks of these things at times, and knows
that our lives are in God's hands. It ain't in nature to
go up and down this broad river, special at night, when
the stars are shining overhead, and the dark woods are
as quiet as death, and there ain't no sound to be heard
but the lap of the water against the bow for a man not to
have serious thoughts. It ain't our way to talk about it.
I think we try to do our duty by our employers, and if a
mate is laid up, he need never fear getting on a shoal for
want of a helping hand; and when our time comes, I
fancy as there ain't many of us as is afeared of death, or
feels very bad about the account they say we have got to
render arterward. It's different with the niggers; it's
their way to be singing hymns and having prayer-meet-
ings, and such like. There is some as is agin this, and
says it gives 'em notions, and sets them agin their mas-
ters; but I don't see it; it pleases 'em, and it hurts no
one; it's just the difference of ways. I expect it comes
to the same in the end; leastways, I havo seen many a
wreck in this here river, when whites and blacks have
been a-looking death i n the face together, and sartin the
white man, even if he has been a hard man, ain't no mora


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HE1K.
103
afraid to die than the black, generally just the contrary.
That's my notion of things."
Fraifk nodded, and for a time there was silence in the
cabin.
"How long are we likely to be in this fix?" Frank
asked presently.
"Thar ain't no saying; supposing we don't bring up
agin a snag—which the Lord forbid, or like enough, the
tree would shift its position, and we should find our-
selves bottom upward if we did—we may drift on for days
and days. Still, we shall be safe to make ourselves seen
as soon as the weather clears, and there are boats out
again; we have only got to light a fire of wet wood to
call their attention. I don't expect this here gale will
last much longer; after another day it ought to begin to
blow itself out. As long as nothing happens to this tree,
and the boat keeps fast where it is, there ain't nothing to
make ourselves uncomfortable about. We'd best have a
look at them lashings; I tell you, there is a tidy strain
on them."
Examining the ropes carefully, they found some of
them were already chafed, and, dragging out a piece of
wet canvas from the lockers, they cut it into strips and
lashed it round the ropes at the points where they were
chafing. The strain was indeed very heavy, for the tree
and the waterlogged boat rose but little with the waves,
and the bow was submerged deeply every time a wave
passed them, the gunwale being at no time more than a
few inches out of water. Additional lashings were put
on, and then Hiram and Frank returned to the cabin, and
the latter dozed away the hours till morning, as did the
negroes, Hiram remaining wide awake and watchful, and
going out from time to time to look at the lashings. As
soon as day broke Frank roused himself and went out;
Hiram was just descending from one of the boughs.


104:
CAPTAIN BATLEY'S HEIR.
'"I have had a look round," he said; "I don't think
it's blowing quite bo hard, but thar ain't much change
yet. It ain't not to say a cheerful kind of lookout."
Frank climbed up to take a view for himself, but he
-was glad to return very quickly to the shelter of the
cabin. Overhead 'was a canopy of low gray cloud;
around, a curtain of driving rain; below, a chaos of
white-headed waves. The day passed slowly, and with
little change. Sam found in the fore part of the boat the
iron plate on which he built his fire. They fixed this on
the roof of the cabin, fastened a tarpaulin across the
boughs so as to shelter it from the rain and drift, and
then, with some difficulty, managed to make a fire. Some
hot coffee was first prepared, and a frying-pan was then
put on and filled with slices of pork. The flour was wet,
but Sam made some flat cakes of the wet dough, and
placed them in the fat to fry when the pork was done.
"Not a bad meal that," Hiram said, when he had fin-
ished, "for a floating forest."
The negroes had now completely recovered from the
effects of their fright and wetting, and their spirits, as
usual, found vent in merry choruses.
"Just like children, ain't they?" Hiram said, as he
and Frank re-entered the cabin, while the negroes con-
tinued to feast overhead, "crying one moment and laugh-
ing the next. But I have known some good 'uns among
them too, as good mates to work with as a man could
want, and as good grit as a white man." Another meal,
later in the afternoon, alone broke the monotony of the
day. The aspect of the weather was unchanged at night-
fall, but Hiram asserted that the wind had certainly gone
down, and that in the morning there would probably be
a break in the weather. They smoked for some time,
and then the negroes dozed off, with their chins on their


CAPTAIN BATLEY'8 HEIR.
105
chests; and Frank was about to make an effort to do the
same, when Hiram, who had been going in and out
Beveral times, said suddenly, "I reckon we are out of the
main stream; don't you feel the difference?"
Now that his attention was called to it, Frank won-
dered that he had not noticed it before. The waves were
no longer washing over the fore part of the boat, and the
sluggish efforts of the tree and boat to rise and fall with
the water had ceased. He was still more struck, when
he went outside, by the comparative silence. The wind
still whistled overhead and swayed the branches, but the
hiss and rustle of the water had ceased.
"We are out of the main stream, that's sartin," Hiram
said, "though where we are is more nor I can tell till we
get daylight."
Frank took the lantern and climbed up the bough
which served as a lookout. It was pitch dark outside,
and the surface of the water was no longer broken by
white heads.
"Yes, we are certainly out of the main river, Hiram,
and in behind some big islands. Where do you think it
oould be?"
"I reckon, lad, we are somewhere down near the mouth
of the Arkansas. The stream has been running mighty
strong for the last two days, and the wind, catching all
these branches, must have helped us along a good bit.
I reckon we can't be far away from the Arkansas. It's a
bad stroke of luck drifting in here; we may expect to get
hung up somewhere, and we shall be in a nice fix then,
out of sight of boats going up and down, and with miles
and miles of swamp stretching back from the shore.
However, it will be time to think of that to-morrow.
There ain't nothing for us to do; just lend us a hand,
and we will get this iron plate oft the roof. The tarpau*


106
CAPTAIN BAYLET'S HEIR.
lin keeps off the rain, and I will fetch a couple of
blankets, and we can stretch ourselves out here; I despise
going to sleep sitting up."
Frank was sound asleep in a few minutes. He had a
confused notion of feeling a slight jerking motion, and
of hearing Hiram say, "There, she is anchored;" but he
did not suffer this to rouse him, and, dropping off, slept
soundly till morning. At the first stir Hiram made he
was awake.
"We have had a goodish spell of sleep, I reckon, lad,
and I feel all the better for having had my legs stretched
out straight"
"So do I, ever so much; the wind seems to have gone
quite down, and it has stopped raining."
"We shall have the sun up soon."
Frank was soon up in the lookout.
"I can see trees on both sides of us, but I can make
out nothing more than that; there's a mist hanging over
them, though it's clear enough on the water. We are
not moving."
"I could have told you that," Hiram said, "didn't we
get fast on something before we went to sleep last
night?"
"Oh, I forgot about that; I was just off when you
spoke and didn't quite take it in. We are quite out of
the current; the water is moving very sluggishly past
us."
"So much the worse, lad; that's just what I fancied.
We have got blown out of the stream, and got in behind
some of the islands, and are perhaps at the mouth of one
of the loops where there ain't no stream to speak of; use-
ful enough they are when you are making your way up-
stream, but no-account places to get stuck in. Now you
darkeys below there, wake up, and let's have some food;


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
107
you will soon have the sun up to warm you and dry your
clothes a bit. By the time we have had our breakfast,"
he went on to Frank, "the mist will have lifted, and we
shall have some chance of seeing where we have been cast
away, and can talk over what's the best thing to be done
in this here business."
The iron plate was replaced on the cabin, the fire was
lit, and coffee and fried bacon were soon ready. The
first sparkle of the sun through the leaves brought a
shout of delight from the negroes, and directly the meal
was over they cut away some of the small branches and
let the sun stream in on to the roof of the cabin.
"That's enough, boys," Hiram said; "by midday we
shall be glad of the shade. Now, let you and I light our
pipes, lad, and take a survey, and then talk this job
over.1'
On looking round, they found that the passage, or
creek, in which they were was some eighty yards wide;
ahead it seemed to narrow; behind them, a bend shut
out the view a quarter of a mile away.
"That's just what I expected. You see we have drove
in here, and there's been just current enough to drift us
on till the lower branches touched the bottom or caught
in a snag; the water ain't flowing half a mile an hour
now, and I reckon when the water begins to drop, which
will be in a few days, if it holds fine, there won't be no
current to speak of."
"But we are not going to stay here a few days, are we,
Hiram?"
"Well, lad, I ain't no particular wish to stay here no
time at all, if you will just pint out the way for us to be
moving on."
"Well, we could all swim ashore," Frank said; "the
distanoe is nothing, and all the blacks swim."


108
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
"And how fur do you reckon the shore to be, lad?"
"About forty yards," Frank said.
"I reckon it to be miles, lad—twenty, perhaps, or forty
for aught I know." Frank looked at his companion in
surprise.
"Yes, that is about it, lad. Don't you see them trees
are all growing out by the water, and what looks to you
like low bush iB just the top of the underwood. The
river, I reckon, must have riz twenty feet, and all this
low land is under water. As I told you, we are near the
mouth of the Arkansas, and for miles and miles the coun-
try ain't much better than a swamp at the best of times.
You can swim to them trees, and roost up in the
branches, if the fancy takes yer, and maybe we may de-
oide that's the best thing to do, when we have talked it
over; but as to getting to land, you may put that notion
out of your head altogether. I told you, lad, last night,
I didn't like the lookout, and I don't like it a bit better
this morning, except that I look to be dry and comfort-
able in another hour. What's to come after that I don't
quite see."
Frank was silent. The prospect, now that he under-
stood it, was unpleasant indeed. There they were with
a disabled and waterlogged boat, in the middle of a dis-
trict submerged for many miles, and surrounded beyond
that by fever-stricken swamps, while the prospect of any
craft happening to come along was remote indeed. For
some minutes he smoked his pipe in silence.
"You consider it impossible for us to make our escape
through the wood?"
"Just unpossible, lad. We might make our way from
tree to tree, like a party of monkeys, but we should get
to creeks where we couldn't cross; we should be half our
time swimming. We could take no food to speak of


CAPTAIN BA TLEY'S HEIR.
109
with us; to should get lost in the swamps, if ever we got
through the forest. No, lad; my present idea is it is
impossible, though, if we detarmines at last there ain't
■othing else for us to do but to try for it, Hiram Little
ain't the man to die without making a hard fight for his
life; but I tell you, lad, Hooks on it as unpossible. You
have been on these banks with me, and you know how
thick the trees and bushes grow, so that a snake could
hardly make his way through them. When the river is
at her level the ground ain't about a foot or two out of
water, and when the river falls—and it mayn't fall to its
level for weeks—it will just be a swamp of mud."
"Well, in that case," Frank said, "it seems to me that
our only chance is to repair the boat."
"That's just my idea, young fellow. There is a big-
gish hole on each side, the ribs are smashed in, and a lot
of damage is done, but we could make a shift to mend it
if we could get her ashore; but there ain't no shore to
get her to, that's the mischief of it; beside, here we are
stuck, and if we were to cut away the tree to loose her
she would go straight to the bottom."
"Yes, we mustn't cut her loose before we are along-
side something. My idea is that if we first of all cut off
all the boughs that are above us, close to the trunk, that
will make a good deal of difference in the weight, and we
should float higher. Then, with hatchet and saw, we
must get rid of those below, taking a rope first to the
trees and hauling her closer and closer alongside them as
we get rid of the weight, till at last there is only the
trunk and these two great arms that have nipped her. I
think that way we might get alongside the trees."
"I reckon we might, lad. Yes, I don't see much
difficulty about that. And what shall we do when we
get there?"


110 CAPTAIN BA YLEY '8 HEIR.
"I should get under a big tree, like that one over
there, with that great arm stretching over the stream.
We've got plenty of ropes, and I should fasten them from
ker bow and stern, and from her thwarts, tight to that
arm overhead. When I got her fixed, I would chop away
one of these arms that grip her, and let her float free.
We have no tackle that would be of any use in hoisting
her, but if we take the plug out of her bottom, she will
empty as the river sinks, and hang there. Once she is
in the air there will be no difficulty in patching her up."
"That's a capital idee, young fellow," Hiram ex-
claimed, giving Frank a mighty ^pat on the shoulder.
"I do believe it is to be done that way. I tell you, I did
not see my way out of this fix nohow, but you have hit
upon it, by gosh! Here, you darkies, get them axes and
saws out of the cabin, and clear away this forest."
An hour's work cleared away all the wood above water.
The sun was by this time well above the trees; tne
negroes woke up to life and cheerfulness in its warmth,
and worked vigorously.
"Before we do anything more," Frank said, "I will
swim with a light line to that tree, and then haul the
tow-rope after me, and make it fast to it; it is possible
that when we cut away some of the other boughs the
whole affair may turn over and sink, but if the tow-rope
is fast we may be able to drag it alongside.''
When the rope was attached to the tree, they proceeded
with their work. The two great arms were chopped
through just beyond the point at which the boat was
wedged, thus getting rid of the whole of the upper part
of the tree.
"She's free now," Hiram said. "Stand in the middle
of the boat, you boys; I can feel that a very little would
sway her over now."



20W
Capt. B. H.
FRANK RENDERS GOOD SERVICE DURING A FLOOD ON THE Mississippl.–Page 1ro.





OAPTAW BA YLEY'S HBIB.
Ill
The bow sank some inches, and fully half the boat was
submerged.
"Now, you and I will get out at this end of the trunk,
lad, and tow her in, stern foremost."
They got within ten yards of the tree before she again
stuck, and it took them some hours' work to cut away
the branch which projected under water; but at last this
was done and the boat was placed in position under the
arm of the great tree they had pitched upon, and a num-
ber of ropes fastened firmly to the arm.
"Now we will have some dinner," Hiram said; "and
while Pete is cooking it we will get ashore with the saw
and cut the heads off of some of these small trees, and
fasten them to this trunk, so as to make a sort of raft
that we can put all these tubs on. The ropes would
never hold her with her cargo on board. I reckon some
of the sugar is spoiled; but the boss always has good
casks, and maybe there ain't much damage done. The
rum is right enough, and I reckon there won't be much
spoiled except them bales of calico."
They worked hard, but it was late in the evening
before the raft was formed and the cargo all shifted on to
it.
"Now, we will just chop off this arm and free her,"
Hiram said, "and then we can stretch ourselves out for
the night. We have done a tidy day's work, I reckon,
and have arned our sleep."
The arm was chopped through, and the boat was freed
from the tree which had, in the first place, so nearly
destroyed it, but which, in the end, had proved their
means of safety. The raft was fastened alongside by a
rope, and the negroes betook themselves to it for the
night, while the two white men, as before, lay down to
sleep on the cabin-top.


112
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
CHAPTEE Vm.
STARTING FOR THE WEST.
The next morning they found, to their satisfaction,
that the river had sunk nearly a foot. The boat had
risen considerably when the cargo had been removed the
evening before, and the ropes overhead had been propor-
tionately tightened so that she now hung so high that
the rents were well out of water, and they were able at
once to set about the work of repair. There were tools
on board, for during their prolonged trips it was often
necessary to execute repairs of one kind or other. The
flooring-boards were utilized for the repairs, and by
evening the holes were closed effectually.
The next day the work was strengthened by additional
ribs and stringers, a coat of pitch was put on outside and
in, and Hiram pronounced the work complete. From
time to time the ropes had been loosened as the river
continued to fall, although less rapidly, and it was
thought well not to put too great a strain upon them.
The next morning the plug was again driven into the
bottom of the boat, and they set to work to pump and
bale her out, and then shifted the cargo back again from
the raft." This was not a long job, and at night, after a
great washing-up of the cabins, to get rid of the mud
that had been left there, they had the satisfaction of tak-
ing possession of their old quarters.
"Well, lad/' Hiram said, when they lighted their
pipes after supper, "I never thought we were coming so


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
113
well out of that job. With plenty of rice and sugar, not
to speak of rum, on board, I didn't expect we war going
to starve, but I thought we might have been weeks and
weeks—ay, months, maybe—before any one came along,
and the thought as came into my mind was as we should
have to make a raft and pole along till we got out into
the river again. However, here we are, with the boat
not much the worse, and everything on board ready for
a start in the morning; and it's thanks to you as we have
done it, for I am free to say as I don't think as I should
have hit on this plan as we have carried out. You a?e
a good mate to work with, lad, and no mistake. I don't
wish never to get a better. It's a pity ye don't mean to
stick to it for good, for I can swar that you would make
one of the best hands on the Mississippi, in time.
The journey down the river was continued next morn-
ing. At the first place they stopped at they heard
reports of widespread damage, of great tracts submerged,
and of danger to life; the river was still at full flood,
although it had fallen two feet from its highest level, and
the next ten days were spent in rescuing the unfortunate
people from the tops of the houses, trees, and patches of
rising ground on which they had taken refuge. Then,
having done all they were able, and the river having now
fallen nearly to its average level, they continued their
voyage down to New Orleans.
Hiram, in his report of the voyage to his employer,
spoke in high terms of Frank's conduct, and ascribed to
his quickness of invention their escape from what seemed
likely to be an almost endless detention.
"But I am afraid he has made his last v'yage with me,"
he said; "he is talking of striking out across the plains
to Californy. There was a good talk of gold thar before
we started; and last night, after we came in, and went in


114
CAPTAIN BA YLET 'B HEIR.
for a drink and to hear the news, there didn't seem
nothing else to talk about. The young chap was asking
all sorts of questions, and I expect he's off; and I don't
know as I blames him. He's the sort of fellow to get on.
He has plenty of grit; he's strong and active now, and in
a couple of years he will widen out and make a very big
man. He's had a first-rate edication—he don't talk
about it, but one would be blind not to see that—he will
make his way wherever he goes, and I don't blame him
for striking out from the river. He likes the river, too;
but it ain't the place for making a fortin, unless you've
got money at your back, as you have, boss. But I don't
know if he had money, and could go into steamers and
such like, that he would stick to it.
"I don't know nowt of his history, but I think things
must have gone hard with him somehow, and he came
out here for excitement more than for making money.
But there's nothing reckless about him; he don't drink,
and he don't gamble, and it says a lot for a young fellow
in New Orleans that he don't do one or the other. And
he can fight, he can; there ain't no doubt about that.
Why, I saw him give the biggest kind of thrashing to
the bully of a lumber camp, where we moored up along-
side one night, as ever you seed. The chap was big
enough to eat him, but he didn't have no kind of show.
The young un just hit him where he liked, and in five
minutes that chap's face was a thing to see, and the lad
never got so much as a scratch. I wouldn't have thought
as a man could have used his hands like that if I hadn't
been thar. I shall be right-down sorry to lose him."
"I knew well-nigh when I took him on that he was not
likely to stay, Hiram; he said as much. He wanted to
get to know something about the ways of the country
before he decided upon anything. If all young fellows


CAPTAIN BA YLEY 'S HEIl
115
would do as he did, go to work for a few months, instead
of loafing about spending their money, and getting into
bad ways, and among bad fellows, it would be better for
them; he has only drawn a few dollars for his expenses
—when he was down the last time—since he came to
work, so he has got a good sum due to him. I will have
a talk with him myself. There are a good many partiea
starting from here and taking the Santa Fe route; but,
taking them all in all, I don't think I should recommend
him to hang on to one of them."
"No, I should guess they would be a pretty hard lot
who would go out from here—gamblers, and horse-
thieves, and runaway sailors, and Mexican fighters—nei-
ther good to travel with or good to work with; he had
better go up and strike from St. Louis."
"He had better go higher still, Hiram; there's a
northern route, and I hear a lot of the western men are
making across that. However, I will talk to him."
That afternoon Frank went into Mr. Willcox's little
office.
"Hiram has been speaking in very high terms of you,
and I find that I am indebted to you for the saving of the
boat, with what cargo she had on board, which Hiram
said he had altogether given up as lost. You seem to
have been in a position of very great danger, and to have
had an extraordinary narrow escape of your lives. How-
ever, I can understand that you are not content to settle
down for life on the Mississippi, but I can tell you that
with enterprise, judgment, and steadiness there is fort-
une to be made here still. I am not surprised that the
gold-seeking mania has got hold of you."
"It is not so much, sir, the gold-seeking mania as the
excitement attending it. I don't think I particularly
care about making money, but I do want the excitement


116
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
of such a life. I have come out for that, and not, as it
is generally called, to make my fortune. The course of
my life at home has been upset by circumstances into
which I need not enter, and, at any rate for a time, I
want action, and excitement. After that, perhaps, I may
think of settling down, and what is called making my
way."
"I can understand your feeling, lad, and will not try
to persuade you to stop at this business. And now, what
route are you thinking of taking across the continent?"
"I was thinking of joining a party going direct from
here across to Santa Fe."
"I don't think that will be a good plan, lad. The car-
avans from here are composed, for the most part, of very
hard characters, the sort of men who would shoot you
for your horse if they took a fancy to it; I would by no
means advise you to ally yourself with such men. I
can, I think, put you in the way of a better plan than
that. I find that a great number of caravans from the
West are going by a northern route which crosses the
Missouri at a point called Omaha. I have been thinking
that this will become an important place, and have made
up my mind to freight four or five flats with flour, bacon,
and other goods of all sorts, and a frame store, and go
up to there and open a business. I shall want a handy
man with me at first; I shall take up a storekeeper to
leave there in charge, but at first he will want help. If
you like to go up in charge of one of the scows, and to
stay to help put up the store and set things running, I
will give you a hundred dollars, and you can have your
passage up for your horse, which I should advise you to
buy here. You will get one that will carry you, though
of course not much to look at, for about fifty dollars; I
know several horse-dealers here, and will get one for'


118
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
Mr. Willcox's house was situated two miles out of the
city. It was a large building, with a veranda running
round it, and standing in well-kept and handsome
grounds; three or four negroes ran out as the carriage
drove up.
"Sam, take this gentleman's portmanteau upstairs, and
get a bath ready for him at once, and lay out a suit of
white clothes for him.
"We always have a bath before dinner in this coun-
try, "he said to Frank; "one wants to get rid of the dust
of the day. Dinner will be ready in half an hour."
After enjoying a luxurious bath, and attiring himself
in a suit of snowy-white gear, Frank descended to the
dining-room.
Mr. Willcox was a widower, without children, and they
therefore dined alone. As they were sitting over their
wine after dinner in the veranda, Frank's host said, "I
did not wish to be inquisitive, but if you don't mind
telling me, I should like to know why a young fellow
like yourself should embark upon a life of adventurr."
Frank had met with such kindness from his employer,
that he frankly told him the whole history of the events
which had driven him from England.
"It is a singular story," the trader said, "and I own
that appearances were against you. Of course I don't
know him, and maybe misjudge him altogether, but the
only person who appears to me to have had any interest
whatever in getting you into disgrace, and causing you
to leave the country, is your cousin."
"Fred Barkley!" Frank exclaimed, in surprise; "I
can assure you such an idea never entered my mind; he
is not at all a bad fellow, though certainly he is not pop-
ular at school.''
"I should prefer taking the general verdict of the


120
CAPTAIN BAY LEY'S HEIR.
occurred to you at first, you would only have injured
yourself by stating it, for it would have been regarded as
a hideous aggravation of your crime to bring such a
charge against your cousin unsupported by a shadow of
proof. No; now you have taken your line you must go
through with it, and trust to time to right you. It is a
suspicion only, but you mark my words, if the mystery
is ever solved it will be found that your cousin was at
the bottom of it."
Frank spent a very pleasant week at the charming resi-
dence of Mr. Willcox. The latter entertained a good
deal, and Frank met at his house several of the leading
merchants of New Orleans, and acquired a good deal of
knowledge of the state of the country. Most of them
were incredulous as to the stories of the abundance of
gold in California. That gold had been discovered they
did not deny; but they were of opinion that the find
would be an isolated one, and that ruin would fall upon
the crowds who were hastening either across the con-
tinent, or by ship via Paaama, to the new Eldorado.
Several of them tried to dissuade Frank from his inten-
tion of going thither, and more than one offered to place
him in their counting-houses, or to procure him employ-
ment of other kind.
Frank, however, was firm, for he was going, not for
the sake of making money, but of finding adventure and
excitement. He went down every day to the wharf and
superintended the loading of the scows, and at the end
of ten days he resumed his boatman's clothes and took
his place on one of the scows. Hiram accompanied him,
with eight negroes, two for each flat. A tug took them
in tow, and they started up the river. Mr. Willcox was
to follow by a steamer next day, and would arrive at
Omaha some time before them, and have time to choose


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
121
and buy a lot of land for his store, and to have all in
readiness for their arrival. Frank had purchased a
Btrong, serviceable horse for his own riding, and a pony
for his baggage, together with blankets and other neces-
saries for the journey. His mining outfit he decided to
get at Sacramento, as, although the cost would be con-
siderable, he did not wish to encumber himself with it
on his journey across the plains. The rifle and revolver
had been presented him by Mr. Willcox, and he deter-
mined to practice steadily with both on his voyage up
the river, as his life might depend on his proficiency
with his weapons.
The voyage up the Mississippi and Missouri was per-
formed without any notable adventure, although in the
little known waters of the upper river the tug ran several
times aground. Those on board the flats had but little
to do,their duties being confined to pumping out the water
when there was any leakage; and the negroes had been
taken up more for the purpose of unloading the cargo,
carrying it to its destination, and putting up the store,
than for any service they could render on the voyage.
Frank, who had laid in a large store of ammunition for
the purpose, amused himself by practicing with his pistol
at a bottle towed behind the scow, or with his rifle at
floating objects in the stream, in feeding and taking care
of his horses, and in listening to many yarns from Hiram.
"I can tell you, lad," the latter said one day, when,
after passing St. Louis, they had entered the waters of
the. Missouri, "thar have been changes on this river
since I was a youngster. I was raised at St. Louis,
which was not more than a frontier town in those days,
and most of the work lay below; here and there was a
farm on the Missouri, but they got thinner as they got
higher up, and long before we got to where we are going


122
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
it was all Indian country. I used to go up sometimes
with traders, but I never liked the job; first I didn't
like selling 'fire-water,' as they called it, to the Indians,
for it made them mad, and brought on quarrels and wars;
in the next place, it was a dangerous business. The
Indians used to meet the traders at some place they had
appointed beforehand, and there would be big feastings;
sometimes the traders would come back with the boat
loaded up with buffalo robes and skins, and Indian
blankets, and such like; once or twice they didn't come
back at all, and it was just a mercy that I didn't stay
behind with them on one of the trips.
"I went up with a trading party to a place somewhere
near this Omaha; we had three boats, with six voyagers
in each. I was about twenty-five then, and was steers-
man of one of them. There were four traders; they were
in my boat, and they played cards and drank all the way
up. One of the boats was a flat—not a fiat like this, but
just a big flat-bottomed boat, for they were going, as I
understood, to get some good horses from the Indians
and take them down to St. Louis. We had pretty hard
work getting her along, and a weak crew would never
have got her against the stream, though of course we
chose a time when the river was low and there wasn't
much stream on. Sometimes we rowed, sometimes we
poled, keeping along the shallows and back waters; and,
though the pay was good, I wasn't sorry when we got to
the place appointed; not only because the work was hard,
but because I didn't like the ways of them traders, with
their gambling, and drinking, and quarreling. How-
ever, they gave up drink the last day, and were sober
enough when they landed.
"I don't know why, but I didn't think things were
going to turn out well. I had heard the traders say as


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR. 12{j
it was some trouble about the quality of the goods, and
that the Indians got a notion they were being cheated,
which, sure enough, they war."
"Was anything done to punish the Indians, Hiram?"
"Lor' bless you, who was to punish them? "Why,
there was scarce a settler then west of the Mississippi.
No; if traders went among 'em they went among 'em at
thar own risk; and, I am bound to say, that if the Indians
were treated fair, and the men understood thar ways,
thar was no great danger. The Indians knew if they
killed traders that others wouldn't come among them,
and they wanted goods—guns and powder most of all,
but other things too, such as blankets, and cloth as they
calls cotton, and hatchets, beads, and other things, and
they wanted to trade off thar hosses and buffalo robes,
and skins of all kinds. That was the protection the
traders had; and it warn't very often the Indians fell
foul of them, except it might be a muss got up over the
fire-water.
"When the news came down to St. Louis there was a
good deal of talk about it; but it got about that these
fellows had been taking up trash, and the general verdict
was that it sarved 'em right. All the traders on the
frontier set their faces agin men who cheated the Indians,
not because they cared for the Indians, mark you, but
because anything that made bad blood did harm to the
trade all over. However, it gave me a bad scare, and it
was a good many years before I came up the Upper Mis-
souri again. There's some men as seems to me to be
downright fond of fighting; but I don't feel like that,
anyway. If I get into a hard corner, and have got to
fight, then I fights, but I had rather go round the other
way if I could. Thar are dangers enough on this river
for me; what with snags, and shoals, and storms, they


126
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
are enough for any reasonable man. Then there are the
river pirates; they are worse than all, though it's some
years since we had much trouble with 'em."
"Kiver pirates, Hiram? I have not heard you say
anything about them before. I did not know there were
any pirates on these rivers."
"Thar used to be, lad, years back, lots of them, and a
pretty lively time we used to have on the river."
"But what sort of pirates, Hiram?"
"Well, thar war two sorts, you see, at that time.
Twenty-five years ago the settlements on the river war a
long way apart. You might go fifty miles without seeing
a village when you once got past the plantations on the
lower river; you may say as this region then was like
what Kansas is now. Chaps who had made it too hot for
them in the East came out here, and just had to wrestle
round for a living. New Orleans is pretty bad now, but
it was a sight worse then; and St. Louis was a pretty
hard place. Then, too, thar war runaway slaves. So
you see, one way or the other, a fellow who wanted to
get together a band up to any mischief had not to look
far for men.
"Well, as I said, thar war two sorts. Thar war the
men who lived away from the river, say in the low coun-
try between the Arkansas and the main stream, which
was then pretty nigh all swamp and forest; perhaps they
had hosses, perhaps not, but mostly they had. Well,
one fine morning a dozen of them would ride into one of
the villages on the river. Thar wasn't much to take
thar, you know, onless it war fever, and they had enough
of that in thar own swamps. They would wait, maybe,
for a day or two, till a boat came in, and as soon as it
had made fast they would cover the men with thar rifles,
and just empty it of all it had got—powder, blankets,


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
groceries, and dry goods, and what not—and make off
again. I got my cargo lifted, I should say, a dozen
times that way. It war onpleasant, but thar was nothing
for it; and it warn't no use making a fuss when you saw
half a dozen rifles pinted at you. Why, in the early
days of steamers, more than once they got held up, and
the fellows went through the passengers and cargo and
took what they fancied.
"Well, that was one sort of pirate. The other was
what you may call the regular water pirate. They lived
on the islands, in among the back waters, or wherever
thar might be a patch of raised ground among the
swamps, and had boats; and they would attack you at
night as you war dropping down the stream or poling up
the backs. They war wuss nor the others. A sight
more nor half of 'em war blacks; and good reason why,
for the fevers carried off the whites as joined them be-
fore they had been thar long. They was a powerful bad
lot, and those who fell into thar hands hadn't much
chance of thar lives. The runaway slaves war down on a
white man, and he had no marcy to expect at thar hands;
beside, they didn't want no tales told which might scare
boats from going near the places where they war hiding.
So in general they fust emptied the boats, and then scut-
tled and sunk them, and cut the throats of all on board.
Hundreds of boats war missed in those days, and none
ever knew for sartin what had become of them.
"I tell you one had to keep one's eyes open in those
days. We had strong crews, and every man was armed,
and a pretty sharp lookout was kept; but for all that thar
was places, back-waters, and cuts, and such like, whar I
wouldn't have been stuck in after dark, not for all the
money in Orleans. Even in the open river no one was
safe from 'em, for they got so bold they would go out,


128
CAPTAIN BA YLBY'S HEIR
four or five .boat-loads, and attack in broad daylight;
things got so bad that no one dared go up or down, un-
less it was ten or twelve boats together for protection.
It war the steamers as broke 'em up; thar ain't no stop-
ping a steamer, and everyone took to being towed up or
down. Then the population increased, and regular ex-
peditions war got up to hunt 'em down. Altogether it
got made too hot for 'em, and the game didn't pay; but
for some years, I can tell you, they war a terror to the
river.''
"And were you never attacked, Hiram?"
"I was chased several times," Hiram said; "but I had
a fast boat and a good crew, and we generally had four
white men on board then, and plenty of arms. - Yes, we
had some skirmishes, but it was only once I had a regu-
lar set-to with 'em, and that war a pretty bad job."
"How was it, Hiram?"
"Well, you see, the river was pretty full, and the wind
had been light for some time, and there warn't no way
of making against the main stream; I had waited for
three weeks, and me and my mates got sick of it. We
had a cargo which was due up the river, and we made up
our minds at last that we would push on and take our
chance. We had eight negroes, all strong active fellows,
armed with cutlasses and old ship muskets, and we four
whites had rifles and pistols. We allowed we could make
a good fight of it, so we agreed as we would go up the
back-waters, so managing as to be able to get out into the
stream every night and anchor thar. We shifted the
cargo a bit, so as to pile it up round the sides, stowing
the rice-bags so as to make a sort of breastwork; then off
we started. >
"For some days we got along well, the blacks poled
thar best, and every evening we just hit a pint where we


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
129
could go out into the stream agin. Two or three times
we fancied we war watched, for we heard the snapping of
twigs, and sounds in the thick swamp jungle ahead; but
I reckon they thowt better of it when they saw two rifle-
barrels peeping out from the sacks on each side, and saw
we war ready for a tussle. But one day—it wasn't very
far from the pint where we mended up that boat the
other day—we war later than usual; the stream war
stronger than we reckoned on, we had run aground two
or three times on the mud, and it war getting dark, and
we had two miles yet before we got to a place where we
could get out into the river. The blacks war working
thar hardest; it didn't need no words from us to keep
'em at it, for they knew as well as we did what was the
danger, and the boat just flew along that narrow channel.
"We war on the watch, with our eyes fixed on the
bank, and our ears pretty wide open to catch any sound
ahead. All of a sudden a gun was fired close alongside.
The blacks gave a yell, and would have jumped down
into shelter, only I shouted, 'Stick to your poles, men, if
you lose them we are done for; there's no danger, it's
only one man.' So on we went again, for, luckily, no
one was hit. 'That's a signal, Bill,' says I to one of my
mates. 'I reckon we shall have trouble afore we are out
of this.' On we went, flying between the bushes, which
warn't fifteen yards apart. Not a sound was heard but
the panting of the blacks, the splash of their poles in the
water, and a sort of sighing noise behind, as the ripples
the boat made as she glided along rustled among the
boughs which dipped down into the stream.
"We had got a mile further when we heard a noise.
It was much as a pole might make knocked against the
side of the boat. I knew thar was mischief now. 'Get
in your poles, lads,' I said; 'four of you get out oars


130 -VAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
through the holes we have left for them atween the bags,
and put your muskets close at hand; the other four get
your muskets, and station yourselves two on each side.'
"We went on slowly now; we knew they war ahead of us,
and that hurrying wouldn't do no good, and that we had
got to fight anyhow. It might have been five minutes
when thar was a flash from the bushes on either side—-
which we could scarce see in the darkness, and fully a
dozen muskets poured a volley into us, buckshot and ball,
as we found on looking over the boat the next morning.
It was a good job as we put them rice-bags in place, for
I reckon thar wouldn't have been many of us up to fight-
ing if they hadn't been thar. We had agreed not to fire
back if we war fired at from the wood, for they couldn't
do us much harm thar, and it was best to keep our fire
for the boats which they war sure to have as well.
"The moment the volley was fired two boats shot out,
one from each side. 'Now, give it 'em,' says I. Up we
jumped, four on each side, and poured our fire into the
boats, which warn't twelve feet away. The darkies who
war rowing had been told what to do, and, to do 'em
justice, they did it well. Thar was a yell from the boats
as we fired, for I reckon every shot told; but the way
they had got brought 'em on, and their bows struck us
just at the same moment. Then at it we went with our
pistols as they crowded forward and tried to get on
board. It was over in half a minute, for the four blacks
had seized their poles, and, shoving them into the boats,
two on each side, pushed 'em off.
"I have heard pretty tall language on the Mississippi,
but I never heard such volleys of cussing as came up from
them boats; some of the men blazed away with thar
guns, some shouted to others to row alongside, some who
war hit yelled and cussed like fiends; and all this time


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
131
we war lying behind the bags, ramming down fresh
charges for the bare life. We gave 'em eight more shots
before they could cast off the poles and come at us again.
This time they came along more on the broadside, and
five or six of 'em sprang on board; but we war ready
with the butts of our rifles, and the blacks with thar cut-
lasses, and we cleared them off again. The four darkies
had stuck to thar poles; one boat was shoved off, and
one of the blacks run his pole right through the bottom
of the other, and in a minute she went down.
"The other boat didn't know what had happened, and
came up again; but leaivng two of the blacks to chop
down any of the fellows in the water who might try to
climb aboard, the other ten of us stood up and fought
''em fair. Our blood was up now, and our darkies fought
like demons. The pirates soon found they had the worst
of it, and would have got apart from us if they could;
but we jumped into thar boat and fought them thar, and
they soon jumped over and made for the bank. Directly
it was over they began to fire agin from the shore, and we
jumped back into shelter agin in our own boat and
manned the four oars agin. We fastened the painter of
the boat on to our stern, and towed her behind us, and
in another half an hour were out in the stream. It was
a toughish fight, I can tell you, while it lasted; two of
the blacks and one of my mates had been hit by thar
musket-balls, and the rest of us war either gashed by
thar knives or had got ugly cracks. However, six of
them war lying in the boat when we hauled it alongside;
two war stone dead, the other four had been stunned with
the butt ends of the muskets or cut down by the darkies'
sabers. We took 'em down to the next place and handed
'em over to the sheriff; and as thar happened to be a lot
of boats waiting thar for the wind, you may guess it
warn't many hours afore they tried and hung 'em.


132
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S IIEIR.
"When the chaps heard the particulars, and that we
had sunk one boat, besides bringing off another, they
guessed as likely enough the pirates war trapped thar;
and so they got up a regular expedition, six boats, each
with a dozen men. I went back to show 'em the place.
They brought dogs with them, and hunted through the
woods and swamps till they came to the patch of higher
ground whar the pirates had got thar huts. Thar were
about twenty of 'em, mostly negroes, and they fought
hard, for thar was no escape, the boat having drifted
away after it had sunk. Behind thar war some widish
Channels, and some of the boats had gone round thar to
cut 'em off if they took to swimming. They war killed,
every man jack, and that put an end to one of the very
worst lots of pirates we ever had on the river."
"You were lucky to have got out of it so well, Hiram.
I suppose that sort of thing is quite over now."
"Yes. In course thar are water thieves still, chaps
who steal things from the boats if thar is no one with
'em, or if you are all asleep below; but thar haven't been
no real pirates for years now—leastways not above New
Orleans. Down in the great swamps, by the mouth of
the river, thar's always gangs of runaway slaves, and
desperate characters of all sorts, who have got to live
somehow. Thar are still boats sometimes missing up the
river, which may have been snagged and gone down with
all hands, and which maybe have come to thar end some
other way. Anyhow, no one thinks much about pirates
now, and the river's quite as safe as the streets of New Or-
leans. That mayn't be saying much,perhaps,but it's good
enough. Of course a party might any day take to the
swamp3 and stop up-passing boats, just as they might
take to the roads and stop wagons going wost; but one
doesn't trouble about things onless they get so as to be
what you might call a general danger.


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR. 133
"You can't go into a barroom without a risk of getting
into a fight with a drunken rowdy; you can't stop at one
of these landing-places but what thar's a chance of get-
ting into a mess with fellows who come in from the backs
for a spree, and one doesn't look to have these rivers
which, one and the other, are tens of thousands of miles
long, just kept as free from hard characters as a street in
Boston. It's as good as wo fan look for at present. Set-
tlement is going on wonderful fast, and, like enough, in
another forty years there won't be any more pirates on
the great rivers here than thar are on the seas. Steam
and settlements is bound to wipe 'em out at last."
During the last two or three hundred miles of the jour-
ney up the Missouri a few settlements only were passed,
little villages nestling closely together on the edge of the
river, surrounded often by a stockade; for although the
Indians were gradually falling back before the advance
of the whites, Indian wars were of frequent occurrence,
and then the bands of wild horsemen swept down to the
Missouri, carrying fire and destruction in their course.
In front of every settlement lay a scow or two, used partly
for the transportation of the crops, but valuable also as
an ark of refuge in case of attack. The shores were low,
and shallows and banks abounded in the stream, and
sometimes the tug ran aground four or five times in the
course of the day. In spite of his practice with his fire-
arms, and Hiram's talk and stories, Frank began to find
the days pass very slowly, and was not a little glad when
Hiram pointed out a cluster of huts on the left bank, and
said, "There is Omaha."
Half an hour later the tug was alongside, and Mr. Will-
eox was on board.
"I am glad to see you up," he said, as the flats were
moored to the bank, and Frank stepped ashore and joined


134 CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
him. "The time has gone slowly here; for though I
Btayed four days at St. Louis, I have been here nearly a
week. There is lots to do, and I am greatly pleased that
I went in for it. I wish you could have made up your
mind to settle here; you would have made a precious
deal better thing of it than you ever will do by digging
for gold. However, I know it's no use talking about
that. I have got a capital location on the main street; I
bought it off a fool who came up in the steamboat with
me, and had made up his mind to sell out and cross the
plains. I had an offer for it yesterday at five times the
price I gave for it; but, bless you, I wouldn't have taken
twenty times. This is going to be a big place. I am
glad you have come for another reason. I am putting
up at one of the shanties they call an hotel, but one
might as well try to live in the tower of Babel. There
is an uproar day and night; every inch of the floor is
taken up for sleeping on, and I have been nearly driven
out of my mind. Now I can live on board the tug till
she goes down with the empty flats. I am glad I brought
up those eight negroes, for there would be the greatest
difficulty in hiring hands here; everyone seems to have
gone stark mad, and to consider every hour's delay in
pushing west as so much loss of a chance of making a
fortune."
For the next fortnight the labor was incessant.
Hiram, Frank, and the eight negroes toiled in landing
the stores and the framework of the house, and in trans-
porting them to the lot which Mr. Willcox had pur-
chased. Even the engineers of the tug were induced by
the high payment Mr. Willcox offered to aid in the work.
Several stretchers, or hand-barrows, had been brought up
with them, and on these such bales and boxes as were too
heavy for one man to carry were transported. The


136
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
but be careful, lad, and don't get into no fights if you
can keep out of 'ein."
Frank remained for another fortnight assisting in the
store; by the end of that time things had settled down.
They were already doing a very large business, and Mr.
Willcox had sent down orders, both to St. Louis and
New Orleans, for fresh consignments of stores very greatly
exceeding those which he had brought up with him.
Three months previously Omaha had been a tiny set-
tlement of a dozen houses, but was rapidly growing into
a considerable place.
Many stores were rising, but the distance from the
inhabited settlements, and the difficulties of carriage,
were enormous. The population was, for the most part,
a floating one, scores of wagons and vehicles of all sorts
arriving every day, while as many departed. This was
the last point of civilization, and here the emigrants
generally halted for a few days to rest their weary cattle,
and to fill up their stores of provisions for the journey
across the wilderness.
All believed that a vast fortune awaited them on the
other side of the continent, and the most fabulous tales
of the abundance of gold were circulated and believed.
In some cases the parties consisted only of men who had
clubbed together and purchased a wagon, and started,
leaving their wives and families behind them. In others
they were composed of whole families, who had sold off
farms or businesses in the East in the assurance of acquir-
ing a fortune at the gold-diggings. Around the little
settlement the plain was dotted with the white tilts of the
wagons, mingled with the tents which had been extem-
porized of sail-cloth, tarpaulins, and blankets,


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIM.
OHAPTEE IX-
ON THE PLAINS.
'"I think now that you can spare me, Mr. Willcox,"
Frank said, just a month after the day of landing. "The
store has got into swing now; the two negroes know
their work well, and everything is going on smoothly;
therefore, if you have no objection, I shall see about
making a start."
"I shall be sorry to lose you," Mr. Willcox said;
"but, as you say, the place will run itself now. I shall
go down by the next steamer, and send up two more
storekeepers and a clerk from my office there. This is
going to be a big thing. Well, lad, here's the money
you gave me to take care of, and the two hundred dollars
due to you. I will give orders to Simpson that you are
to take everything you can requiro for your journey from
the store, and mind don't stint yourself; you have done
right-down good service here, and I feel very much in-
debted to you for the way you have stuck to me at this
pinch. I wish you every luck, lad, and I hope some day
that rascally affair at home will be cleared up, and that
you can go back again cleared of that ugly charge. Any-
how, it is well for you to make your way out here. It
will be a satisfaction for you, if you do go back, to have
shown that you were dependent on no one, but that you
could fight your own way, and make your living by the
aid of your own hands and> your own brain. And now
look here, if at any time you get sick of gold-digging, as


138
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
you very well may, and want to turn your hand to any-
thing else—and in a country like that, mind you, with
a population pouring in from all parts, there will be big
opportunities—if you want capital to start you, just you
send a letter to David Willcox, New Orleans, and tell me
you have drawn on me for five thousand dollars. I am a
rich man, lad, and have no children of my own; I have
some nephews and nieces who will get my monej' some
day, but I can do what I like with it, and you will be
heartily welcome to the sum I mention. I have taken a
fancy to you, and it will be a real pleasure to me to help
you. If you do well you can some day send the money
back, if you like; if you don't do well, there's an end of
it. Don't let it trouble you for a moment, for it cer-
tainly won't trouble me, and be sure you don't hesitate
to draw it when you want it. Eemember, I shan't re-
gard it as an obligation, but it will be a real genuine
pleasure to me to cash that order."
Frank thanked Mr. Willcox very heartily for his kind
offer, of which he promised to avail himself should an
opportunity arise, and in any case to write to him occa-
sionally to tell him how he was getting on. Then he
strolled out to examine the great gathering round the
settlement, which hitherto he had had no time to do, hav-
ing been at work from daybreak until late at night. As
he wandered among the motley throng of emigrants, he
was struck with the hopefulness which everywhere pre-
vailed, and could not but feel that many of them were
doomed to disappointment. Many of them were store-
keepers, men who had never done a day's work in their
life; some were aged men, incumbered with wives and
large families, and Frank wondered how these would
ever survive the terrible journey across the plains, even
if they escaped all molestation from the marauding In-


CAPT AI N BAYLEY'S HEIR.
139
dians. He paused for a moment near four men who were
seated round a fire cooking their meals.
All were sturdy, sunburned men, who looked inured to
hardship and work. The fact that all were animated by
a common impulse rendered every one friendly and com-
municative, and Frank was at once invited to sit down.
"Of course you are going through, young fellow?"
"Yes," Frank said, "I am going to try."
"Got a horse, I suppose?"
"Yes," Frank said, "a riding horse, and a pony for
my baggage."
'"We calls it swag out on the plains," one said; "we
don't talk of baggage here. Are you with any one?"
"No," Frank replied, "I am alone; but I am open to
join some party. I suppose there will be no difficulty
about that."
"None on airth," the other answered; "the stronger
the better. In course you have a rifle, beside that Colt
in your belt?"
"Yes," Frank replied; ' cut I suppose all this Indian
talk is exaggeration, and there is not much danger from
them."
"Don't you go to think it, young man; the Injins is
thar, you bet, and no Jmistake, and a big grist of scalps
they will take. The news of this here percession across
the plains will bring them down as thick as bees on the
track, and I tell you there will be some tough fights
afore we get across.''
"Have you had much experience of the plains?" Frank
asked.
"We are hunters," the other said briefly, "and have
been out there, more or less, since we were boys. We
knows what Injins is, and have fought them agin and
agin; but none of us have ever made this journey, indeed


140
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
there wara't five men who had ever crossed the Rockies
by the northern track afore the gold scare began. But I
know enough of the country to know as it will be a fear-
ful journey, and full half of these people as you see fool-
ing about here as if they were out for a summer excursion
will leave their bones by the way."
"You don't really think things are as bad as that,"
Frank said.
"I does," the other replied emphatically. "What with
Injins, and want of food and water, and fatigue, and the
journey across the plains, it will want all a man to make
the journey. We four means to get through, and are
bound to do it; but as for this crowd you see here, God
help them!"
"Do you mean to go with one of the caravans, or start
, alone?"
"There is a lot going on to-morrow, and we shall join
them. We may be of some use, for the best part of them
are no better than a flock of sheep, and four good hands
may keep them out of some mischief; but I expect we
shall have to push on by ourselves before the journey is
over."
"I am intending to go on to-morrow also," Frank
said, "and I hope you won't mind giving me some in-
structions in the ways of the wilderness, which are, I
own, altogether new to me.''
"All right, young fellow; we shall see you on the
road, and if you likes to chum up with us you may, for I
likes yer looks, and you seems to be one of the right
sort."
Frank said that he would gladly chum with them if
they would allow him, and the next morning, at daybreak,
having said adieu to Mr. Willcox, he saddled his horse
and loaded up his pony, and moved across to the


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
141
Spot where his new acquaintances were encamped. They
were preparing for a start. All had good riding horses,
while two baggage animals carried the provisions for the
party. The caravan which they intended to accompany
was already far out on the plain.
"They are off in good time," Frank said; "I did not
think they would manage to move till midday."
"No more they would," one of the hunters said; "but
the chap as is bossing the team moved them off yesterday
evening and got them a mile out of camp, so they were.
able to start right off the first thing this morning."
In a few minutes they were on horseback, and, riding
at easy pace for the sake of the baggage-horses, they
overtook the caravan in two hours. It consisted of four-
teen wagons, and four or five light carts with tilts over
them. The wagons were all drawn by oxen, having six,
eight, or ten, according to their size or weight. The men
walked by the side of their cattle; the greater part of
the women and children trudged along behind the
wagons, while a few with babies were seated within
them. From time to time one of the men or boys would
set up a song, and all would join in the chorus. One of
these was ringing out in the air when the hunters joined
them.
"Poor critturs!" the eldest of the hunters, who was
called Abe by the others, said, "they are a slight-hearted
as if they war a-going to a camp meeting; they don't
know what's afore them."
The party rode on to the head of the wagons, where
the oxen were led by the man who was regarded as the
head of the party. He had at one time been a hunter,
but had married and settled down on a farm. Two sons,
nearly grown-up, walked by his side. He had been
chosen as leader by the rest as being the only one of the


142
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
party who had any previous knowledge of the plains and
their dangers and difficulties.
"Well, mate," Abe said, "I told you two days ago
that I thought that we should go on with your lot, and
here we are. I don't say as how we shall go all the way
with you; that will depend upon circumstances; at any
rate we will stay with ye for a bit. Now my proposal is
this; you shall hitch our three baggage-horses on behind
your wagons, and tell off one of the boys to look after
them; we shall hunt as we go along, and what meat there
is will be for the service of the camp, but if we supply
you with meat it will only be fair that you supply us
with flour and tea."
"That's a bargain," the man said. "You bring us in
meat, and we will supply you with everything else; and
I needn't tell you how glad I am to have you wioh me.
Five extra rifles may make all the difference if we are
attacked. We have got about twenty rifles in camp; but
that ain't much, as with women and children, we count
up to nigh sixty souls, and none of us here except myself
have had any experience of Indian ways."
"That's fixed, then," Abe said. "At any rate you
need not be afraid of a surprise so long as we are with
you."
The addition to their party gave great satisfaction to
the whole caravan. Of flour and bacon they had ample
stores to last them upon their long journey, and the pros-
pect of a supply of fresh meat was exceedingly welcome;
still more was the thought that the hunters would be
able to warn them against any surprise by the Indians,
and would, in case of the worst, aid them in their
defense.
The hunters were equally satisfied. Their supplies
were quite insufficient ior the journey, and they were


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
143
now free from the necessity of accommodating their pace
to that of the baggage-horses. Their progress would,
indeed, he slower than it would have been had they jour-
neyed alone, but time was a matter of no importance to
them. Even in the matter of Indian surprises they were
better off than they would have been had they been
alone. In case of meeting these marauders, they must
have abandoned their baggage-animals; and their pros-
pects, either of flight or defense, would have been poor
had they met with a large body when alone, whereas the
force with the caravan could defend the wagons against
even a resolute attack of the redskins. There was no
occasion for the hunters to set out in the pursuit of
game for the first day or two, as a supply of fresh meat
had been brought from Omaha. They therefore rode
with the caravan, making the acquaintance of its various
members.
One of the women had volunteered to cook for them;
and thus, when they encamped on the bank of a small
stream, they had only to attend to the watering of their
animals. While the meal was preparing they walked
about in the camp, and gave many hints to the women
as to the best way of preparing fires. These were great-
fully received, for the emigrants were wholly unaccus-
tomed to cooking without the usual appliances, and their
efforts, in many cases, had been very clumsy and unsuc-
cessful. They were surprised to find that by digging a
trench in the direction from which the wind was blowing,
and covering it over with sods, they could get a draught
to their fire equal to that which they could obtain in a
grate; while by building a low wall of sod close to lee-
ward of the fire, they prevented the flames from being
driven away, and concentrated them upon their pots and
kettles.


144
CAPTAIN BA YLET 'S HEIR
"It does not matter for to-night," Abe said to tho
leader, "nor for a good many nights to come; but if I
was you I should begin to-morrow to make 'em arrange
the wagons in proper form, the same as if we was in the
Injin country. It ain't no more trouble, and there's
nothing like beginning the right way."
"You are right," the man said, "to-morrow night we
will pitch them in good form; but for a time there will
be no occasion for the cattle to be driven in every night,
the longer they have to graze the]better."
"That's bo," Abe said "they will want all their condi-
tion for the bad country further on."
The following day the hunters left the camp early.
There was little chance of finding game anywhere near
the line which they were following, for the wild animals
would have been scared away by the constantly passing
caravans. After riding for ten miles they began to keep
a watchful eye over the country, which, although flat to
the eye, was really slightly undulating. Proceeding at
an easy pace, they rode on for upward of an hour. Then
Dick, one of the hunters, suddenly drew rein.
"What is it, Dick?" Abe asked.
"I saw a horn over there to the left, or I am mis-
taken, '' the hunter said.
"We will see anyhow," Abe said; "fortunately we are
down wind now. You had better stop behind this time,
young fellow, and watch us.''
In a moment the four men dismounted and threw their
reins on the horses' necks—a signal which all horses on
the plains know to be an order that they are not to move
away—and the animals at once began cropping the grass.
For a short distance the men walked forward, and then,
as they neared the brow over which Dick declared he had
seen the horn, they went down on all fours, and finally,
when close to the brow, on their stomachs.


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
145
Very slowly they drew themselves along. Frank
looked on with the greatest attention and interest, and
presently saw them halt, while Abe proceeded alone.
He lifted up his head slightly, and immediately laid it
down again, while the other three crawled up close to
him. There was a moment's pause, then the guns were
thrust forward, and each slightly raised himself.
A moment later the four rifles flashed, and the men
sprang to their feet and disappeared over the brow.
Frank rode forward at full speed to the spot, and arrived
there just in time to see a number of deer dashing at full
speed far across the plain, while the four hunters were
gathered round three dead stags in the hollow. The
hunters' shots had all told; but two had fired at the same
animal, the bullet-holes being close to each other behind
the shoulder.
"Dick was right, you see," Abe said. "It was lucky
he caught sight of that horn, for we might not have come
upon another herd to-day. Now we will make our way
on to the camping-ground; we can go easy, for we shall
be there long before the teams."
Their horses were brought up, and the deer placed
upon them. The hunters then mounted, and took their
way in the direction of the spot where the caravans would
encamp for the night.
"I understand how you find your way now, because
the sun is up," Frank said, "but I cannot understand
how you would do it on a cloudy day, across a flat coun-
try like this, without landmarks."
"It's easier to do than it is to explain it," Abe said.
"In the first place there's the wind; it most always blows
here, and one only has to keep that in a certain quarter.
If there ain't no wind, there's the grass and the bushes;
if you look at these bushes you will see that they most


146
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
all turn a little from the direction in which the wind
generally blows, and this grass, which is in seed, droops
over the same way. Then, in course, there is the gen-
eral direction of the valleys, and of any little streams.
All of these are things one goes by at first, but it gets to
come natural, what they call by instinct; one knows,
somehow, which is the way to go without looking for
signs. You will get to it in time, if you are long enough
on the plains; but at present you watch the forms of all
the bushes and the lay of the grass, 'cause you see in
hunting we might get separated, and you might miss
your way. If you should do so, and ain't sure of your
direction, fire your gun three times, as quick as you can
load it, and if we are in hearing we will fire a gun in
reply and come to you; but you will soon get to know
the signs of the country if you will pay attention and
keep your eyes skinned."
They arrived at the stream fixed upon for the camping-
ground early in the afternoon. The point at which the
caravans would cross it was plain enough, for the wagons
all traveled by the same line, and the trail was strongly
marked by the ruts of wheels where the ground was soft,
by broken bushes, and trampled herbage. The saddles
were taken off the -horses, and these were allowed to
graze at will; those of the hunters were too well-trained
to wander far, and Frank's horse was certain to keep
with the others.
Late in the afternoon the wagons arrived; it had been
a long march of more than twenty miles, and men and
beasts were alike tired. The women and children had,
during the latter part of the journey, ridden in the
wagons. There was a general feeling of satisfaction at
the sight of the hunters and their spoil, and at the blaz-
ing fire, over which a portion of the meat was already


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
147
roasting. The oxen were unharnessed and watered, the
wagons were ranged six on each side, and two across one
end, the other end being left open for convenience;
across this the light carts were to be drawn at night.
The deer were skinned, cut up, and divided among the
various families in proportion to their numbers.
For two months the caravan moved forward without
adventure. The hunters kept it well provided with
game, which was now very plentiful. Very disquieting
rumors were afloat along the road. These were brought
down by the express riders who carried the mails across
the plains and for whose accommodation small stations
were provided, twenty or thirty miles apart; and as these
were placed where water was procurable, they were gen-
erally selected as camping-grounds by the emigrants.
The tales of Indian forays, which had at first been
little more than rumors, were now confirmed. The ex-
press riders reported that the Indians were out in large
numbers, and that many attacks had been made upon
parties of emigrants, sometimes successfully, and involv-
ing the massacre of every soul in them. The caravan
was still some distance from the scene of these attacks i
but as the Indians ranged over the whole plains, it could
not be said that they were beyond the risk of assaults.
Acting under the hunters' advice, the caravan now moved
in much closer order, the wagons advancing two abreast,
so that they could be formed in position for defense at
the shortest notice; and the rifles were always kept
loaded, and strapped on the outsides of the wagons in
readiness for instant use.
Frank had by this time become an adept in hunting,
and though still very far behind his companions in skill
with the rifle, was able to make a fair contribution toward
the provisioning of the camp. The hunters now divided


148
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
into two parties, three going out in search of game on
one side of the line of march, two on the other; they
thus acted as scouts on either side, and would be able to
bring in word should any suspicious signs be observed.
Several small herds of buffalo had been met with, and a
sufficient number killed to provide the party with meat
for some time to come.
Frank had never passed a more enjoyable time than
those two months of travel. The air was clear, bright,
and exhilarating; the long days spent in the saddle, and
the excitement of the chase, seemed to quicken his pulse
and to fill him with a new feeling of strength and life.
His appetite was prodigious, and he enjoyed the roughly-
cooked meals round the bazing fire of an evening as he
had never enjoyed food before. The country was, it is
true, for the most part monotonous, with its long low
undulations, and the bare sweeps, unbroken by tree or
bush; but there was always something new and interest-
ing to be seen, for Frank was fond of natural history, and
the habits and ways of the wild creatures of the prairie
were full of interest for him. His companions, although
taciturn when on horseback and engaged in scouting the
country, or in hunting, were full of anecdote as they sat
round the fire of an evening, and Frank heard many a
story of wild adventure with the Indians or in the chase.
When they returned early to the camp, there was
plenty of amusement in wandering about among the
wagons, watching the various groups engaged at their
work as unconcernedly as if they had been still in their
little farms among the settlements, instead of on the
plains with months of toilsome and dangerous journey
before them. Some of the women cooked, while others
mended their clothes and those of their husbands and
children, while the men attended to the oxen, or made


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR. 149
such repairs as were needed to the wagons and harness.
As for the children, the life suited them admiiably; to
them it was a continual picnic, without school or lessons.
And yet they too had their share of the work, for as soon
as the wagons halted, all save the very little ones started
at once over the plain to search for the dried buffalo
dung, or, as it was called, chips, which formed the staple
of the fires; for wood was very scarce, and that in the
neighborhood of the camping-grounds, which were
always at a stream or water-hole, had long since been
cleared off by the travelers who had preceded them. The
chips afforded excellent fuel, burning with a fierce,
steady glow, and making a fire something like that
afforded by well-dried peat. Another source of fuel wer9
the bones which lay in many places, scattered pretty
thickly. Sometimes these marked the spot where long
before a party of Indians had come upon a herd of
buffalo, sometimes they were remains of the cattle of car-
avans which had preceded them; these were often quite
fresh, the herds of coyotes stripping off the flesh of any
animals that fell by the way, and leaving nothing in the
course of a day or two after their death but the bare
bones. Whenever the caravan came upon such a skele-
ton upon the line of march, the men broke it up, and
flung the bones into one of the wagons for the night's
fire.
Sometimes, as they got well on in their journey, they
came to patches of soap-weed, a vegetable of soft, pulpy
nature, which grows to a considerable height, and dies
from the bottom, retaining its greenness of appearance
long after the stem has become brown and withered; it
burns freely, with a brilliant flame. The women of the
party rejoiced when a clump of soap-weed was dis-
covered, and it was always the occasion of a general wash,


150
CAPTAIN BATLEY'S HEIR.
as by immersing some of it in water it had all the prop-
erties of soap, except that it did not make the lather
which distinguishes the real article. But in places where
the soap-weed was not to be found, and chips were
scarce, the hunters did their best to supply fuel, and
would generally bring home large bundles of wood upon
such of the horses as were not carrying game.
The children's greatest delight was when the camp
happened to be pitched near a prairie-dog town, and they
were never weary of watching the antics of these funny
little creatures. Some of these towns were of consider-
able extent, the ground within their circle being quite
bare of herbage from their scratching, and the constant
scampering of their little feet, and covered thickly with
the mounds which marked the entrances to the innumer-
able holes. The prairie dogs themselves were about the
size of rabbits, but seemed to Frank, from their quick,
jerking motions, and their habit of sitting up on their
hind-legs, to resemble squirrels more than any other ani-
mal. They were as much interested in the travelers as
the latter were with them, almost every mound having its
occupant sitting up watching them inquisitively. There
were four or five dogs with the caravan, and until the
novelty had passed off, and they became convinced of the
utter futility of the chase, the dogs exhausted themselves
in their endeavors to capture the prairie dogs. These
seemed to feel an absolute enjoyment in exasperating the
dogs, sitting immovable until the latter were within a
few yards of them, and then suddenly disappearing like
a flash of lightning down their holes, popping their
heads out again and resuming their position on the tops
as soon as the dogs had dashed off in another direction.
But the prairie dogs were not the only "occupants of
the towns; with them, apparently on terms of great friend-


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
151
ship, lived a colony of little owls, sharing their abodes,
and sitting with them on their hillocks. There were also
a third species of inhabitant, and the presence of these
caused strict orders to be given to the children not to
wander over the ground; these were rattlesnakes, of
which, on a sunny afternoon, many could be seen basking
on the sand-heaps.
"Yes, you always find the three together," Abe said,
in answer to Frank's question, "and how such contrary
things get to be friends is more nor I can tell. Sartin
they must eat each other, there ain't anything else for
'em to eat. The prairie dogs air a puzzle; you never see
'em any distance beyond thar towns, and yet they must
live on grass and roots. The owls, no doubt, live on little
prairie dogs and the rattlesnakes may sometimes eat an
old one. Still, there it is; they never seem afraid of
each other, and no one, as far as I knows, has ever seen
a prairie dog fifty yards away from his town. The rum-
mest thing about them is as every town has got its well.
The prairie dogs have all got their holes, and though you
may see 'em going about popping in and out of each
others' houses, I fancy as they always keep to their own.
But there's one hole which they all use, and that goes
down to the water. No matter how deep it is, they takes
it down; I fancy the whole lot digs at it by turns till they
get there. You will see thar towns are always on lowish
ground, so that they can get down to water all the
sooner; that's why they build up those mounds round
each hole."
"I thought it was just the earth they had thrown out*
Abe."
"So it is, partly; but it serves to keep the water out
in the wet season too. If you watch 'em you can see 'em
building the earth up and patting it down hard if it gets


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
153
Injins get bit sometimes, and I never heard of thar
dying. Tho only thing as we are regular feered of out in
these plains is a little beast they call the hydrophobia
cat."
"I never heard of that. What is it like, Abe?"
"It is a pretty little beast, marked black and white,
and about the size of a big weasel. It has got a way of
coming and biting you when you are asleep, and when it
does it is sartin death; thar ain't no cure for it; the best
plan is to put your Colt to your head and finish it at
once."
"What horrible little beasts!" Frank said; "I hope
they are not common."
"No, they ain't common, and there's more danger
from them down south; if you sleeps in an old Mexican
hut that's been deserted, or places of that sort, it's best
to look sharp round afore you goes to sleep."
The game most commonly met with were the black-
tailed and white-tailed deer. These were generally met
with in parties of from six to twelve, and were usually
stalked, although sometimes, by dividing and taking a
wide circle, they could manage to ride them down and
get within shot. This could seldom be done with the
antelope, which ran in much larger herds, but were so
suspicious and watchful that there was no getting within
shot, while, once in motion, they could leave the horses
behind with ease. The only way in which they could
get them would be by acting upon their curiosity. One
or two of the hunters would dismount, and crawl through
the grass until within three or four hundred yards of the
herd; then they would lie on their backs and wave their
legs in the air, or wave a colored blanket, as they lay
concealed in the grass. The herd would stop grazing
and look on curiously, and gradually approach nearer


154
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
and nearer to investigate this strange phenomenon, until
they came well within shot, when the hunters would leap
to their feet and send their unerring bullets among them.
"You would hardly believe, now," Peter said, one day
when he and Frank had brought down two fine antelopes
by this maneuver, "that the coyotes are just as much up
to that trick as we are. They haven't got a chance with
the deer when they are once moving, although sometimes
they may pick up a fawn a few days old, or a stag that
has got injured; but when they want deer-meat they just
act the same game as we have been doing. Over and
over again have I seen them at their tricks; two of them
will play them together. They will creep up through
the grass till they can get to a spot where the antelope
can see them, and then they will just act as if they were
mad, rolling over on their backs, waving their legs about,
twisting and rolling like balls, and playing the fool, till
the antelope comes up to see what is the matter. They
let them come on till they are only a few yards away, and
then they are on one like a flash, before he has time to
turn and get up his speed. One will catch him by a leg,
and the other will get at his throat, and between them
they soon pull him down. They will sham dead too.
Wonderful cute beasts is them coyotes; they are just
about the sharpest beasts as lives."
"Do they live entirely upon deer?"
"Bless you, no; they will eat anything. They hang
about behind the great buffalo herds, and eat them as
drops; where there are such tens of thousands there is
always some as is old or injured and can't keep up;
beside, sometimes they get scared, and then they will
run over a bluff and get piled up there dead by hun-
dreds. The coyotes pick the bones of every beast as dies
in the plains. The badgers helps them a bit; there are
lots of those about in some places."


CAPTAIN BAYLMY'S HEIR.
155
CHAPTER X
A BUFFALO STORY.
Sometimes, instead of taking his rifle and accompany-
ing the other hunters, Frank would borrow a shotgun,
and go out on foot and return with a good bag of prairie
fowl, birds resembling grouse. Occasionally in the
canyons, or wooded valleys, far away from the track, the
hunters came across the trail of wild turkeys; then two
of them would camp out for the night, and search under
the trees until they saw the birds perched on the boughs
above them, and would bring into camp in the morning
half a dozen dangling from each of their saddles. Fre-
quently, in their rides, they came across skunks, pretty
black and white little animals. Frank was about to shoot
the first he saw, but Peter, who was with him, shouted
to him not to fire.
"It's a skunk,"he said; "it ain't no use wasting your
powder on that varmin. Why, if you were to kill him,
and went to take it up, you wouldn't be fit to go into
camp for a week; you would stink that bad no one
couldn't come near you. They are wuss than pizen,
skunks. Why, I have seen dogs sit up and howl with
disgust after interfering with one of them. I don't say
as they can't be eaten, cos the Indians eat them; and,
for the matter of that, I have ate them myself. But they*
have to be killed plump dead, and then the stink-bag has
to be cut out from them directly; but if you ain't hard
pressed for food, I advise you to let skunks alone."


156
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
The first time that they came across a large herd of
buffalo was a day Frank long remembered. He was out
with the four hunters; they had just scampered to the
top of one of the swells, when they simultaneously reined
in their horses, for the valley—half a mile wide—in front
of them was filled with a dark mass of moving animals,
extending back for two or three miles.
"There, Frank," Abe said, "there is meat for you—■
jnough Ior an army for months."
Frank.was too surprised to speak for a time; the num-
ber seemed countless.
"What a wonderful sight!" he exclaimed at last.
"Ay, that it is, lad, to one who has never seen it afore;
and to think that thar are scores of herds like that out
on these plains. It's one of the mightiest sights of
natur. But it's nothing to see 'em now, going along
quiet, to what it is to see 'em when they are on the
stampede, when the ground shakes with thar tread, and
the air seems in a quiver with thar bellowing; thar don't
seem nothing as could stop 'em, and thar ain't. If it's
a river, they pours into it; if it's a bluff, they goes over
it, and tens of thousands of them gets killed. The Injins
is mighty wasteful of thar flesh, but I doubt whether all
the Injins in the continent kills as many as kills them-
selves in them wild stampedes. We will just wait where
we are until they are past, and then we will drop down
on 'em and cut three or four of 'em off. We will take
one apiece; that will give us as much flesh as the wagons
can load up, and I don't hold to taking life unless the
meat's wanted. Now, lad, all that you have got to do is,
when you ride down just single out your beast, ride
alongside of him, and empty your Colt behind his
shoulder. Keep rather behind him, and have your horse
well in hand to wheel if he twists round and charges
you."


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S METE.
157
A few minutes later the signal was given, and the five
horsemen dashed down the slope. A deep bellow pro-
claimed that the herd had become aware of the presence
of their enemies. The leisurely pace at which they were
proceeding changed instantly into a gallop on the part of
those conscious of danger. The impulse was communi-
cated to those in front, and in a few seconds the whole
herd was tearing along like a mighty torrent.
But they were too late to escape the hunters, who came
down upon their rear, and each proceeded to single out
an animal. Following Abe's instructions, Frank ranged
up alongside a fine bull, and opened fire with his revol-
ver at a point just behind the shoulder. At the third
shot the great beast swerved sharply round, and had not
Frank been on the alert he would have lost his seat, so
sharply did the horse wheel to avoid the animal's horns.
The buffalo at once resumed its course behind the herd;
but Frank was soon alongside again, and as he fired the
last shot of his revolver had the satisfaction of seeing the
great beast stagger and then fall prostrate. He at once
reined in his horse and looked round. His companions
were all some distance in the rear, having brought down
their game with less expenditure of lead, knowing exactly
the right spot where a wound would be fatal.
"That's a fair lot of meat," Abe said, as they gathered
into a group. "That will last 'em a long time. Now, if
we had been Injins, we should have gone on shooting
and shooting till we had killed a score or more, and then
taken just the best bits, and left the rest for the coyotes;
but I call it downright wicked to waste meat. Kill
what you want—that's natural and right; but I am agin
drawing a bead on an animal, whether he be buffalo or
deer, or whatnot, onless you want his meat, or onless his
hide be of value to you, If men acted on that thar rule


158
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
there would be game on these plains for any time; it's
willful destruction as is clearing 'em out, not fair
hunting.
"Now we will ride off and stop the teams as they come
along and bring 'em round here. It won't be so very
far out of thar way. We can stop a couple of days to cut
up and dry the meat. The rest will do the cattle good,
and there's nothing like having a supply of dried meat;
I don't say it's as toothsome as fresh, but it ain't ter be
despised, and the time may come, in fact it's pretty sure
to come, when we shan't be able to do much hunting
round the wagons. We are getting nigh the country
where we may expect to meet with Injin troubles. It's
just as well we met with this herd afore we got thar, for
we should have been pretty sure to find a party of them
hanging on the rear of the buffalo."
Three hours later the wagons arrived at the spot, the
emigrants in high spirits at the news that such an abund-
ant supply of meat had been procured. The hunters
skinned and cut up the five buffaloes; the wagons were
placed some fifteen yards apart, and several cords
stretched tightly between them; upon these was hung
the flesh, which was cut in strips some four inches wide
and half an inch thick. By the end of the third A&y the
whole of the meat was dried by the united action of the
sun and wind. The skins had been pegged out in the
sun, and some of the boys, under Abe's instructions,
roughly cured them, first scraping them inside, and then
rubbing them with fat mixed with salt.
"It's a rough way," Abe said, "and the Injin women
would laugh to see it; they just rub and rub at them till
they get them as soft and pliable as the leather they
make gloves of east. Still, they will keep as they are,
and will do to chuck in the bottom of the wagons for the


CAPTAIN BATLEY'S HEIR.
159
women and children to sit upon; besides, we shall find
it cold at night as we get on, and a buffalo-robe ain't to
be despised, even if it ain't dressed to perfection. When
they dry and get stiff the boys can take another rub at
'em when we halts; it will give 'em something to do,
and keep them out of mischief."
"Talking of buffalo," Abe began, as the hunters were
sitting round the fire on the evening of th« hunt, "that
reminds me that it wasn't so very far from this har spot
that me and Eube was nearly wiped out by the TJtes some
ten years ago. Eube, he was a young chap then, and
had not been long out on the plains. We war hunting
with a party of Cheyennes, and had been with them well-
nigh all the summer. One day we war in pursuit of
buffalo—they were plentiful then; you think they are
plentiful now, but you would see ten herds then for
©very one you see now. But they are going, and I expect
in another twenty years that a man might ride across the
plains and never catch sight of a hump. If the gold
turns out to be as rich as they say, there will be hun-
dreds of thousands of people cross these plains, and, like
enough, settlements be formed right across the continent.
However, there war plenty of herds ten years ago.
"We had come upon a big herd, and was chasing them.
I had singled out an old bull, and had pushed right into
the herd after him; Eube, he was pretty close to me.
Well, I came up to the bull, and put a rifle-ball between
his ribs. The herd had rather separated as we got among
them, making way for us right and left as we rode after
the bull. As he fell we reined in our horses, and looked
round. Not a Cheyenne was to be seen; five minutes
afore they had been hanging on the herd, sending their
arrows in up to the feather among the buffalo; now not
a soul was to be seen. You may guess this staggered me


160
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
and I says to Eube, 'Look out, Eube, there's something
up, as sure as fate.'
"Well, I had scarcely spoken afore I saw a big party
of Injins come charging down across our rear. 'Utes,'
says I, 'by thunder! They are after the Cheyennes!
Fling yourself flat on your horse, Eube, and get into the
herd.'
"The buffalo war only fifty yards away yet, and yer
may be sure we spurred up pretty sharp till we got up to
them. I seed at once it was our only chance. Our horses
war blowed, for we had had a sharp chase afore we
caught the herd, and there was no chance of our getting
away from the Utes in the open plains. We soon caught
up the herd, and charged in among them. The brutes
were packed so close together that they could hardly
make room for us; but we managed to wedge ourselves
in. Those next to us snuffed and roared, but they war
too pressed by those behind to do much; but by shout-
ing and waving our hats we managed to keep a clear
space three or four yards on either side of us. All this
time we war lying down on our horses' necks, and there
war no fear that any one would see us in the midst of
that sea of tossing cattle; but I war afraid they would
have caught sight of us afore we got among 'em. I
eussed myself for having fired that last shot; they must
have heard it, and would have known that some of us
hadn't seen them coming, and must be somewhere among
the herd.
"I raised my head a little at last, and took a look
round. Sure enough, there was a dozen Utes coming up
behind the herd. I puts spurs again into my horse, and,
catching up an old bull in front of me, progged him with
my bowie-knife, and Eube did the same to the beast next
to him. They gave a roar and plunged on ahead through


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
161
the mass, and we followed close to their heels. It was
tight work, I can tell you, for the buffaloes on both sides
war touching one another. We kept going about half a
length behind the beasts next to us, so that the horses'
shoulders war just behind the shoulders of the buffaloes;
as you know, the buffaloes have got no necks to speak
of, and so, although they gave savage thrusts with their
horns, they couldn't get at the horses. Our beasts were
frightened near out of their lives, but they war well
broken, and we managed to keep 'em in hand.
"The thing I was most afraid of was that they would
be knocked off their legs, and in that case we should be
trampled to death in a minute. As I leaned forward I
kept one hand fixed on the neck of the buffalo next me,
and I shouted to Rube to do the same, so as we could
make a shift to jump on to the buffalo's back if our
horses fell; but, I tell you, I was beginning to fear that
we shouldn't see any way out of it. What with us in the
middle, and the Utes yelling behind them, the herd war
fairly mad with fright; and there war no saying where
they would go to, for, you know, a herd of buffaloes,
when fairly stampeded, will go clean over a precipice a
hundred yards high, and pile themselves up dead at the
foot till there is not one left. It war a bad fix, you bet,
for I war sure that the Utes war after us, and not after
the buffaloes, for they kept on, though they could soon
have killed as many of the herd as they wanted. It was
maybe four in the afternoon when the chase commenced,
and so it went on till it was dark. The buffaloes war
going nigh as fast as when we started, but the horses
could scarce keep their legs; I was sure they couldn't
run much longer, so I says to Rube, 'We must get out of
this, or else we shall be done for.'
"So we sets to work a-probing the buffalo with our


162
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
knives again. They started on ahead as hard as they
could, bursting a way through the crowd. We followed
close behind them, keeping up the scare until we finds
ourselves in front of the herd; then we spurred our
horses on, and dashed out in front. Done as the horses
were, they knew they had got to go, for, with the herd
coming like thunder upon their heels, it was death to
stop. We swerved away to the right, but it took us half
an hour afore we war clear of the front of the herd. We
went a few hundred yards further, and then drew rein.
"Kube's horse fell dead as he stopped, and mine wasn't
worth much more. For half an hour we could hear the
herd rushing along, and then it had passed. We had
go out of our biggest fix, but it warn't a pleasant position.
"There we war out on the plains, with only one horse
between us, and he so done up that he couldn't put one
foot afore the other.
"Where the Cheyennes war there was no saying; the
band might have been wiped out by the TJtes, or they
might have got away. At any rate there was no counting
on them. The Utes who had followed the herd would be
sure to be on our trail in the morning; they would follow
all night, or as long as the herd ran. When the buffalo
war fairly tired out they would lay down, and the Utes
would see then as we warn't there. Then they would set
out upon the back trail, skirting along each side of the
line trampled by the herd until they came upon our trail;
the dead horse was a sign as they could see a mile away,
so it was clear that we must foot it as soon as we could.
We gave the horse an hour's rest; and it did us as much
good as him, for I can tell you we war pretty well used
up. We drove him afore us until, after six hours' walk-
ing, we came to a stream. We went up this for an hour,
then we both filled our hunting-shirts with stones and
fastened them on the horse, and then drove him off."


0APT AW BAYLEY'S HEIR.
163
"What did you put the stones on his back for?"
Frank asked.
"To make the Utes think as he was carrying double.
Each of the loads was about the weight of a man, and the
horse was so tired that he staggered as he walked; so aa
they would see his tracks, and wouldn't see ours, they
would naturally come to the conclusion as we war both
on his back. It warn't likely as the critter would go far
before he laid down, perhaps not more than half a mile;
but that would do for us. We went back a few hundred
yards in the stream, and then struck off across the
prairie, the same side as we had come from, taking care
to make as little sign as possible.
"The Utes would be riding along by the side of the
stream and looking for a horse's print, and the chances
war1 that they wouldn't see ours. When they came up to
the horse and found out the trick, they would gallop
back again; at least half of them would go up the stream
and half would take the back track; but, you see, as they
went up they would have trampled across our track, and
they would find it mighty hard work to pick it up again.
"We footed it all day, and the prospect warn't a pleas-
ant one. The nearest settlement was nigh a thousand
miles away, we had no horses, and we daren't fire a gun
for fear of bringing Utes down upon us. We had made
up our minds to strike for the Cheyennes' country, that
being the nearest where we could expect to find friends.
For two days we tramped on. The third day we war
sitting by the side of a stream, eating a prairie dog as
we had trapped, when Rube stopped eating suddenly,
and said, 'ListenI'
"I threw myself down and put my ear to the ground,
and, sure enough, could hear the gallop of horses.
'Injins,' says I, and chucks a lot of wet sand and gravel


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
165
we should have made straight away instead of getting
into the herd."
"They don't seem to go as fast as a horse, Abe. 1
seemed to keep up quite easily with that bull I shot."
"Yes, for a burst a horse is faster than a buffalo, but
when they once gets going on a downright stampede they
will tire out any horse and go well-nigh as fast too. I
tell you you have to be pretty spry, even if you are well-
mounted, when a downright big herd, well on the stam-
pede, comes on you. It's a terrible sight, and it makes
one tingle, I can tell you, especially as the horse is
pretty nigh mad with fear."
"It must be as bad as a prairie fire."
"Worse, my lad; ever so much worse. You can see a
prairie fire fifty miles away—more nor that at night, ever
so much—and you have plenty of time to set the grass
afire ahead of you, and clear the ground afore it comes
up, though it does travel, when the wind is blowing,
much faster than a horse can gallop. I have seen it go
thirty miles an hour, the flames just leaping out ahead
of it and setting grass alight a hundred yards before the
main body of the fire came up. I tell you it is a terrible
sight when the grass has just dried, and is breast-high;
but, as I say, there ain't no cause to be afraid if you do
but keep your head. You just pulls up a band of grass
a couple of feet wide, and lights it ahead of you; the
wind naturally takes it away from you, and you look
sharp with blanket or leggings to beat it down, and pre-
vent it working back agin the wind across the bit of
ground you have stripped. As it goes it widens out
right and left, and you have soon got a wide strip cleared
in front of you. In course you don't go on to it as long
as you can help it, not till you are drove by the other
fire coming up; that gives it time to cool a bit. If you


16t>
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
must go on soon, owing to being pressed, or from the
fire you have lit working round agin the wind—as it will
do if the grass is very dry—the best plan is to cut up
your leggings or any bit of hide you have got with you,
the rawer the better, and wrap them round your horse's
feet and legs; but it ain't often necessary to do that, as
it don't take long for the ashes to cool enough so as to
stand on."
Fortunately a bottom with good grass had been found
close at hand to the place where they encamped, and
when the caravan proceeded the draft oxen were all the
better for their two days' rest.
"We shall have to begin to look out pretty sharp for
Injin signs," Abe said, as they started early next morn-
ing. "Fresh meat is good, but we can do without it;
there's enough pork and jerked meat in the wagons to
last pretty nigh across the plains; but we are getting
where we may expect Injins in earnest. We might, in
course, have met 'em anywhere, but as they know the
caravans have all got to come across their ground, it
don't stand to reason as they would take the trouble to
travel very far east to meet 'em. I don't say as we won't
knock down a stag, now and agin, if we comes across
'em, but the less firing the better. We have been hunt-
ing up till now, but we must calculate that for the rest
of the journey we are going to be hunted; and if we
don't want our scalps taken, not to talk of all these
women and children, we have got to look out pretty spry.
I reckon we can beat them off in anything like a fair
fight—that is, provided we have got time to get ready
before they are on us, and it depends on us whether wa
do have time or not."


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
16?
CHAPTEE XI.
HOW DIOK LOST HIS SCALP.
Two or three days after they had moved from their last
halting-place, when they were siting at the fire one even-
ing, and Abe had been telling a yarn of adventure, he
said, when he had finished:
"About the closest thing as I know was that adven-
ture that Dick thar had. Dick, take off that thar wig of
yourn."
The hunter put his hand to his head and lifted at once
his cap, made of skin, and the hair beneath it, showing,
to Frank's astonishment, a head without a vestige of
hair, and presenting the appearance of a strange scar,
mottled with a deep purple, as if it was the result of a
terrible burn.
"You see I have been scalped," the hunter said. "I
don't suppose you noticed it—few people do. You see,
I never takes off my fur cap night or day, so that no one
can see as I wears a wig."
"There's naught to be ashamed of in it," Abe said,
"for it is as honorable a scalp as ever a man got. Do
you tell the story, Dick."
"You know it as well as I do, "the hunter replied,
"and I ain't good at talking."
"-Well, I will tell you it then," Abe said, "seeing that
I knows almost as much about it as Dick does. The


163
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
affair occurred the very year after what I have been
telling you about. Dick was attached as hunter and
ecout to Fort Charles, which "was, at that time, one of
the furthest west of all our stations. There was fifty
infantry and thirty cavalry there, and little enough too,
for it war just on the edge of the Dakota country. The
Dakotas are a powerful tribe, and are one of the most
restless, troublesome lots I knows. Several strong par-
ties of our troops have been surprised and cut to pieces
by them; and as to settlements, no one but a born fool
would dream of settling within reach of them.
"I never could quite make out why we wanted to put
a fort down so close to them, seeing as there warn't a
settlement to protect within a hundred and fifty miles;
but I suppose the wiseacres at Washington had some sort
of an idea that the redskins would be afraid to make
excursions to the settlements with this fort in their rear,
just as if they couldn't make a sweep of five hundred
miles if they took it into their heads, and come back into
their country on the other side.
"Just at that time there was no trouble with them; the
hatchet was buried, and they used to come into the fort
and sell skins and furs to the traders there for tobacco
and beads. After that affair I was telling ye of, Eube
and me, we went back for a spell to the settlement, and
then took a fancy to hunt on another line, and, after
knocking about for a time, found ourselves at Fort
Charles. That was where we met Dick for the first time.
"The commander of the fort was a chap named White,
a captain; he had with him his wife and daughter. A
worse kind of man for the commander of a frontier sta-
tion you could hardly find. He was not a bad soldier, and
was well liked by his men, and I have no doubt.if he had
been fighting agin other white men he would have dona


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
169
well enough; but he never seemed to have an idee what
Injin nature was like, and wern't never likely to learn.
"First place, he despised them. Now, you know, the
redskins ain't to be despised. You may hate them, you
may say they are a cussed lot of rascals and thieves, but
there ain't no despising them, and any one as does that
is sure to have cause to repent it, sooner or later. There
was the less reason with the Dakotas, for they had cut up
stronger bodies of troops than there was at Fort Charles
without letting a soul escape. Then, partly because the
captain despised them, I suppose, he was always hurting
their feelings.
"Now, a chief is a chief, and a man who can bring
three hundred horsemen into the field, whether he is red-
skin or white, is a man to whom a certain respect should
be paid. But Captain White never seemed to see that,
but just treated one redskin like another, just as if they
war dirt beneath his feet. Well, as I told you, he had
with him his wife and daughter. His wife was too fin a
a lady for a frontier fort, still she was not badly liked;
but as to the daughter, there warn't a man in the fort
but would have died for her. She war about fifteen
year old, and as pretty as a flower. 'She war always
bright and merry, with a kind word to the soldiers as she
rode past them on her pretty white mustang.
"Dick, here, he worshiped her like the rest of us. If
he got a particular good skin, or anything else, if he
thought she would like it he would put it by for her, and
she used, in her merry way, to call him her scout. Well,
one day Black Dog, one of the most powerful chiefs of
the Dakotas, rode into the fort with twenty of his braves.
Just as he came in, Queen May, as we all called her,
came galloping up on her mustang, and leaped like a
bird from her saddle at the door of the commander's


.170
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
house, where her father was standing. I war standing
next to him, and so I saw Black Dog's eye fall on her,
and as long as she stood talking there to her father he
never took it off; then he said something to the brave as
was sitting on his horse next to him.
"'Cuss him!' Dick said to me, and I could see his
hold on his rifle tighten, 'what does he look at Queen
May like that for? You mark my words, Abe, trouble
will come of this.'
"It was not long before trouble did come, for half an
hour later the Dakota rode out of the fort with his men
in great wrath, complaining that Captain White had not
received him as a chief, and that his dignity was in-
sulted. It war like enough that Captain White was not
as ceremonious as he should have been to a great chief—
for, as I told you, he war short in his ways with the red-
skins—but I question if harm would have come of it' if it
hadn't been that Black Dog's eye fell on that gal.
"I believe that there and then he made up his mind to
carry her off. We didn't see any redskins in camp for
some time; and then rumors were brought in by the
scouts that there war going to be trouble with them, that
a council had been held, and that it war decided the
hatchet should be dug up again. Captain White he
made light of the affair; but he was a good soldier, and
warn't to be caught napping, so extra sentries were put
on.
"As Bube and me didn't belong to the fort, of course
we war independent, and went away hunting, and would
sometimes be away for weeks together. One day, when
we war some forty miles from the fort, we came upon the
trail of a large number of redskins going east. We
guessed as there must be nigh two hundred of them.
They might, in course, have been going hunting, but we


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
171
didn't think as it were so; sartainly they had no women
with them, and they had been traveling fast. We
guessed the trail was three days old, and we thought we
had best push on straight to the fort to let them know
about it.
"When we got thar we found we were too late. On
the morning of the day after we had started a scout had
arrived with the news that a strong war party of Dakotas
were on their way to the settlements. Captain White at
once mounted half his infantry on horses, and with them
and the cavalry set out in pursuit, leaving the fort in
charge of a young officer with twenty-four men. Just
after.nightfall there was a sound of horsemen approaoh-
ing, and the officer, thinking it was the captain returning,
ordered the gate of the stockade to be left open. In a
moment the place was full of redskins. The soldiers
tried to fight, but it were no use; all war cut down, only
one man making his escape in the darkness.
""At daybreak, the captain, with his troops, rode into
the fort. Dick, who had been with him, had, when the
party was returning, gone out scouting on his own ac-
count, and had come across the back track of the red-
skins. The moment he had brought in the news the
horses were saddled again, and the party started back;
but they had gone nearly sixty miles the day before, and
it was not until morning that, utterly exhausted and
weary, they got within sight of the fort. Then they saw
as it war too late.
"Not a roof was to be seen above the stockade, and a
light smoke rising everywhere showed as fire had done
it. They rode into camp like madmen. There lay all
their comrades, killed and scalped; there were the
bodies of Mrs. White and her servants, and the nigger
laborers, and the trader and his clerks, and of all who


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
had been left behind in the camp, except the captain's
little daughter; of her there weren't no signs. Eube
and me arrived half an hour later, just as the soldier who
had escaped had come in and was telling how it all came
about.
"It war a terrible scene, I can tell you; the captain he
were nigh mad with grief, and the men were boiling over
with rage. If they could have got at the Dakotas then
they would have fought if there had been twenty to one
against them. Dick war nowhere to be seen; the man
said that he had caught a fresh horse, which had broken
its rope and stampeded through the gate while the mas-
sacre was going on, and that he had ridden away on it
on the Indian trail.
"If the horses had been fresh the captain would have
started in pursuit at once, and every man was burning to
go. But it was lucky as they couldn't, for if they had I
have no doubt the whole lot would have been wiped out
by the Dakotas. However, there was no possibility of
moving for at least a couple of days, for the horses war
altogether used up after the march. So they had time to
get cool on it.
"That afternoon the captain, who was in council with
the two officers who remained, sent for Eube and me, and
asked us our opinion as to what was best to be done.
We says at once that there weren't nothing. 'You have
lost nigh a third of your force,' says I, 'and have got
little over forty left. If we were to go up into the Dako-
ta country we should get ambushed to a certainty, and
should have a thousand of them, perhaps two thousand,
down on us, and the odds would be too great, captain; it
couldn't be done. Besides, even if you licked them—
and I tell you as your chance of doing so would be
mighty small—they would disperse in all directions, and


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
173
then meet and fight you agin, and ye wouldn't be no
nearer getting your daughter than you war before.
"'If you ask my advice, it would be that you should
send back to the nearest fort for more men, and that you
should at once get up the stockade where it has been
burned down, for there is no saying when you will be
attacked again. I tell you, captain, that to lead this
party here into the Dakota country would mean sartin
death for them.'
"Mad as the captain was to go in search of his daugh-
ter, he saw that I was right, and indeed I concluded he
had made up his mind he could do nothing before he
sent for us, only he hoped, I suppose, as we might give
some sort of hope. 'I am afraid what you say is true,'
says he. 'At any rate we must wait till Dick, the scout,
returns; he will tell us which way they have gone, and
what is their strength.'
"By nightfall the soldiers had buried all the dead just
outside the stockade, and had built a temporary wall—
for there wasn't a stick of timber within miles—across
the gaps in the fence.
"At nightfall Eube and me, whose horses war fresh,
started for the nearest fort, and four days afterward got
back with forty more horse-soldiers. We found that
Dick had not come back, and we made up our minds as
he had gone under. When we were away we had heard
that the redskins had attacked the settlements in a dozen
different places, and that there was no doubt a general
Injin war had broken out. The officer at the fort where
I went to was a major; it was a bigger place than Fort
Charles, which was a sort of outlying post. I had, in
course, told him about the captain's daughter being car-
ried off.
"He sent up a letter with the soldiers to the captain,


174
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
saying how sorry he was to hear of his loss, ind he sent
up forty men; but he ordered that unless Captain White
had received some intelligence which would, in his opin-
ion, justify his undertaking an expedition into the Indian
country with so small a force as he could command, he
was at once to evacuate the place and fall back with his
force on the settlement, as the position was quite unten-
able, and every man was needed for the defense of the
settlers.
"When the captain got the order he walked up and
down by hisself for four or five minutes. Yer see it war
a hard choice for him; as a father he was longing to go
in search of his child, as a soldier In saw that he should
be risking the whole force under his command if he did
so, and that at a time when every man was needed at the
settlements. At last the order was given that the troops
should take the back track to the settlements on the fol-
lowing evening.
"The captain told the officers that he should wait till
then to give the horses of the men who had arrived with
us time to rest; but I know in his heart he wanted to
wait in the hope of Dick arriving with news.
"The next day, at four in the afternoon, the men war
beginning to saddle their horses, when the sentry sud-
denly gave the cry of 'Injins, InjinsF
"In a moment every man seized his carbine and sword,
and shoved his bridle on his horse's head, buckled up,
and jumped into the saddle. There was no occasion for
any orders. I climbed up on to the stockade, for the
country was pretty nigh a dead flat, and the lookout had
been burned with the huts.
"Sure enough, there in the distance war some horse-
men coming across the plain; but they war straggling,
and not many of them. I could not make head nor tail


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
175
of it. They war Injins, sure enough, for even at that
distance I could tell that by their figures. Then I saw
as there was more of them coming behind them; the idea
suddenly struck me: 'Eide, captain 1' I shouted; 'ride .
with your men for your life, they are chasing some one.'
"There warn't any necessity for Captain White to give
any orders; there was a rush to the gate, and as fast as
they could get through they started out at full gallop.
Me and Rube dropped over the stockade, for our critters
war picketed outside. "We didn't wait to saddle them,
you may guess, but pulled up the ropes, jumped on to
their backs, and galloped on; and we war soon by the
side of Captain White, who was riding as if he was mad.
We could see them a little plainer now, and says I, sud-
denly, 'Captain, there is a white horse in front, by gumP
"A sort of hoarse cry came from the captain, and he
spurred his horse agin, although the critter was going at
its best speed. They war two miles from us yet, but I
could soon make out as the white horse and another was a
bit ahead, then came eight or ten Injins in a clump, and a
hundred or more straggling out behind. It seemed to
me as they war all going slow, as if the horses war dead
beat; but what scared me most was to see as the clump
of Injins war gaining on the two ahead of them, one of
whom I felt sure now was the captain's daughter, and the
other I guessed was Dick.
"The captain saw it too, for he gave a strange sort of
cry. 'My God!' he said, 'they will overtake her.' We
war still a mile from them, when we saw suddenly the
man in front—this chap Dick here—part sudden from
the white horse, wheel straight round, and go right back
at the Injins. They separated as he came to them. We
saw two fall from their horses, and the wind presently
brought the sound of the cracks "of Jpistols. There war


176
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
no 'Colts,' in those days, but I knew that Dick carried a
barce of double-barreled pistols in his hosters. Then
the others closed round him.
"There was a sort of confusion; we could see toma-
hawks waving, and blows given, and when it was over
there war but four Injins out of the eight to be seen on
their horses. But the white horse had gained a hundred
yards while the fight was going on, and the Injins saw
that we war a-coming on like a hurricane, so they turned
their horses and galloped back again.
"Three minutes later the captain's daughter rode up.
She war as white as death, and the captain had just time
to leap off and catch her as she fainted dead away. The
rest of us didn't stop, you bet; we just gave a cheer and
on we went, and the Dakotas got a lesson that day as they
will remember as long as they are a tribe. Their horses
were so dead beat they had scarcely a gallop in them,
while ours were fresh, and I don't think ten of the var-
mints got away.
"We didn't draw rein till it was dark, and next morn-
ing we counted two hundred and fifteen dead redskins on
the plains. The first thing in the morning, Eube and me
rode back to where the fight began, to give Dick a burial.
We looked about, but couldn't find him. There was
Black Dog, with one of his bullets through his forehead,
two others shot through the body, and one with his skull
stove in with a blow from Dick's rifle, which was lying
there with the stock broken. So we supposed the cap-
tain had had him carried to the fort, and we rode on
there.
"When we got there we found as he was alive. It
seems at the moment the captain's daughter recovered
from her faint she insisted on going back with the cap-
tain to see if Dick was alive. They found him well-nigh



Capt. B. H.
THE ESCAPE OF THE CAPTAIN'S DAUGHTER.--Page 176.





CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
dead. He had got an arrow through the body, and two
desperate clips with tomahawks, and had been scalped,
but he was still breathing. There war no one else nigh,
for every man had ridden on in pursuit; but they man-
aged, somehow, between them, to get him upon the cap-
tain's horse. The captain he rode in the saddle, and
held him in his arms, while his daughter led her horse
back to the fort. There they dressed his wounds, and
put wet cloths to his head, and watched him all night.
"In the morning he was quite delirious. Fortunately
the captain considered that after the way they had licked
the redskins the day before there was no absolute neces-
sity for evacuating the fort; so the troops cut turf and
made huts, and parties were sent off to the nearest tim-
ber to bring in boughs for roofs, and there we stopped,
and in six weeks Dick was about again with his wig on
his head.
"You will wonder whar he got his wig from, seeing as
that sort of thing ain't a product of the plains; but he
is wearing his own hair. Among the fust of the Injins
we overtook and killed was a chap with Dick's scalp
hanging at his girdle, and when it was known as he was
alive they searched and found it; and one of the soldiers
who was fond of collecting bird-skins, and such like, just
preserved it in the same way, and when Dick was able to
go out again he presented him with his own scalp. So
if any one says to Dick as he ain't wearing his own hair,
Dick can tell him he is a liar.
"Lor', how grateful that gal was to Diok; he never
was a particular good-looking young fellow, and he
wasn't improved by the scrimmage, but I believe if he
had axed her she would have given up everything and
settled down as a hunter's wife."
Diok growled an angry denial.


178
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
"Well, mate, it may be not quite that, but it war very
night it. It was downright pretty to see the way she
hung about him, and looked after him, just for all the
world as if she had been his mother, and he a sick child.
The captain, too, didn't know how to make enough of
Dick; and as for the men, they would have done anything
for him for having saved the life of Queen May. I
heards three or four years afterward, as she married the
young officer who was in command of the horse.-soldiers
at the next fort."
"But tell me," Frank said, "how did Dick manage to
get her away from the Indians?"
"That," Abe said, "he'd better tell you himself, seeing
as concerning that part of the business he knows more
nor I do. Now, Dick, speak out."
"There ain't much to tell," Dick said gruffly, taking
the pipe from his mouth. "Directly as we got back to
camp, and I found she had gone, it seemed to me as I had
got to follow her; and my eye lighting on the loose
horse, I soon managed to catch the critter, and, shifting
my saddle to it, I started. As you may guess, there war
no difficulty in following the trail. They had ridden all
night, though they knew there was no chance of their
being pursued. But about fifty miles from the fort I
came upon their first halting-place; they had lit fires and
cooked food there, and had waited some hours.
"The ashes were still warm, and I guess they had left
about four hours afore I arrived; so I went on more care-
fully, knowing that if I threw away my life there was no
chance of recovering the gal. I guess, by the direction
which they were taking, they were going to Black Dog's
village; and, after going a bit further on the trail to
make sure, I turned off, and went round some miles, in
case they should have left any one to see if they war fol-


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
179
lowed. I knew where the village was, for I had been
hunting near it.
"I camped out on the plains for the night, and next
day rode to within five miles of the village, which was
among the hills. I left my horse in a wood where there
was water, and taking my rifle and pistols went forward
on foot to the village and arrived there after dark. As
I expected, I found the hull place astir. A big fire was
blazing in the center; on a pole near it hung the scalps
they had taken, and they were a-dancing round it and
howling and yelling. I didn't see any signs of the gal
but as there were two redskins with their rifles hanging
about the door of a wigwam next to that of the chief, I
had no doubt she was there.
"This wigwam was in the center of the village, and
there were lots of old squaws and gals about, so that I
could not, for the life of me, see any way of stealing her
out. Next night I went back to the camp and watched,
but the more I thought on it, the more difficult it seemed.
The second night I catched an Injin boy who was wan-
dering outside the camp. I choked him, so that he
couldn't holler, and carried him off; and when I got far
enough away I questioned him, and found that in two
days there was to be a grand feast, and Black Dog was
then going to take the white gal as his squaw. So I saw
as there was no time to be lost. I strapped up the Indian
boy and tied him to a tree, and then went back to the
village.
"This time the gal was sitting at the door of the tent.
I crept up behind, cut a slit in the skins, and got inside.
As I expected, there was no one in there, the squaws as
was watching her was outside; so I crept up close to the
entrance, and I says to her, 'Hush! don't move, your
scout Dick is here.' She gave a little tremble when I
began, and then sat as still as a mouse.


180
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
"Says I, 'I don't see no plan for getting you away
secret, you are watched altogether too close, the only
plan is to make a race for it. There ain't many horses on
the plain as can beat that mustang of yours, and I know
you can ride him barebacked. Do you take a head of maize
now, and walk across to where he is picketed, and feed
and pat him; then to-morrow morning early do the same.
They won't be watching very closely, for they will think
you are only going to do the same as to-night. I have
put an open knife down behind you. You cut his rope,
jump on his back, and ride straight; I will join you at
the bottom of the valley. They may overtake us, but
they won't hurt you; if they do catch you, they will just
bring you back here again, and you will be no worse off
than you are now. Will you try?' The gal nodded, and
I crept away out of sight.
"A few minutes afterward I saw her going along with
some ears of maize to where the horses were tied up.
Two Indians followed her at a little distance, but she
walked across so natural that I don't think they had any
suspicion; she fed the horse, and talked to it, and petted
it, and then went back to the village. Next morning be-
fore daylight, I mounted my horse and rode to the mouth
of the valley, a quarter of a mile from the village.
"Half an hour after daylight I heard a yell, and almost
directly afterward the sounds of a horse's hoofs in full
gallop. I rode out, and along she came as hard as the
horse could go. Three or four mounted Indians war just
coming into the other end of the valley four hundred
yards away.
"'All right, Queen May, we have got a fine start,1
says I, and then we galloped along together. 'Not too
fast,' I told her, 'it ain't speed as will win the race.
There is a long hundred miles between us and the fort


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR. 181
We must keep ahead of them varmints for a mile or two,
and then they will settle down.'
"For the first five or six miles we had to ride fast, for
the redskins tried the speed of their horses to the utmost;
but none of them gained anything on us, indeed we
widened the gap by a good bit. You see at first they
only thought it was a wild scheme on the part of the gal,
and the first as started jumped on the first horses that
came to band; it wasn't till they saw me that they found
it was a got-up thing. One of the first lot galloped back
with the news. But by the time the alarm was spread,
and the chase really taken up in earnest, we was a good
mile away, and a mile is a long start.
"Black Dog and some of his best-mounted braves rode
too hard at first. Ef we had only had a short start they
would have catched us, perhaps; but a mile's start was
too much to be made up by a rush, and so Black Dog
should have known; but I reckon he was too mad at first
to caloulate. By hard riding he and his best-mounted
braves got within half a mile of us when we war about
ten miles from the village. But by that time, as you
may guess, the steam was out of their horses, while we
had been riding at a steady gallop.
"The first party that had started had now tailed away,
and was as far back as the chief. It was safe to be a long
ohase now, and I felt pretty sure as the gal would escape,
for her mustang was a beautiful critter, and the captain
had given a long price for it; besides, it was carrying no
weight to speak of. I didn't feel so sure about myself,
for though my horse was a first-class one, and had over
and over again, when out hunting, showed herself as fast
as any out, there might be as good ones or better among
the redskins, for anything I knew. When we were fairly
out on the plains, I could see that pretty nigh the whole
tribe of redskins had joined in the chase.


182
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
"At first I couldn't make out why; for although they
are all wonderful for bottom, some of the redskins'
horses ain't much for speed, and many of them could
never have hoped to have come up with us. But when I
thought it over, I reckoned that seeing I had joined the
gal, they might have thought that I had brought her news
that the captain, with all the soldiers from the fort, was
coming up behind, and I expect that's why the chief and
his braves rode so fast at first.
"I don't know as I ever passed a longer day than that.
"We went at a steady gallop, always keeping just about
half a mile ahead of the redskins. Sometimes I jumped
off my horse and ran alongside of him with my hand on
the saddle for half a mile, to ease him a bit. The gal
rode splendidly; the mustang had a beautiful easy pace,
and she set him as if she was in a chair. For the first
fifty miles I don't think the redskins gained a yard on
us; they warn't pressing their horses more than we were,
for it was a question only of last now. Then little by
little I could see that a small party was leaving the rest
and gaining slowly upon us; I darn't press my horse
further, but I began to give the gal instructions as to the
course she should keep.
"'What does it matter, Dick,' she asked, 'when you
are here to guide me?' 'But I mayn't be with you all
the time,'says I; 'it air quite possible that them redskins
will overtake me twenty miles afore I get to the fort, but
your critter can keep ahead of them easy, he is going
nigh as light now as when he started; when they get a
bit closer to us you must goon alone.' 'I shan't leave
you,' she says. 'Dick, you got into this scrape to save
me, and I am not going to run away and leave you to be
killed; if you are taken, I will be taken too.'
"'That would be a foolish thing,' says I, 'and a cruel


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
183
one, ef you like to put it so. I have risked my life to
save you, just as I have risked it a score of times before
on the plains; ef my time has come, it will be a comfort
to me to know as I have saved you, but ef you were taken
too I should feel that I had just chucked my life away.
Besides, you have got to think of the captain; now that
your mother has gone you have got to be a comfort to
him. So you see, miss, ef you was to get taken willful
you would be doing a bad turn to yerself, and to me, and
to yer father.'
"It was a long time before she spoke again, and then
she didn't say anything about what we had been talk-
ing of, but began to ask whether I thought we were sure
to find the soldiers still at the fort. In course I couldn't
say for sartin, but, to cheer her up, I talked hopeful
about it, though I thought it was likely enough they had
fallen back on the settlements. I did some long spells of
running now, and got more hopeful, for the Injins didn't
gain anything to speak of.
"We war all going very slow now, for the horses were
pretty nigh beat. We had crossed two or three streams
by the way, and at each they had had a few mouthfuls
of water. It wasn't till we were within ten miles of the
fort that the Injins really began to gain. They must
have felt that there was a good chance of our slipping
through their fingers, and they determined to catch us
if they killed every horse in the tribe.
"I tried to urge my critter forward, but he hadn't got
it in him; and what frightened me more was that the
mustang didn't seem much faster; he had trod in a dog-
hole when we war about halfway across the plains, and
must have twisted his foot. I could see now he was
going a little lame with it. The redskins gained on us
bit by bit, and were pressing us hard when first wa
caught sight of the fort about four miles awa;


184
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S BEIR.
"I had begun to despair, for they warn't more than
two hundred yards behind now. The gal had held on
braveb', but she was nigh done. Good rider as she was,
it was a terrible ride for a young gal, and it was only the
excitement which kept her going; but she was nigh reel-
ing on the horse now. Sudden I says to her, 'Thank
God! miss, there are the soldiers; keep up your heart,
your father's coming to save you.'
"The Injins saw him too, for I heard the warwhoop
behind, and the sound of the horses came nearer and
nearer. I spurred my horse, and it was the first time I
had touched him since we started, but it wasn't no good.
'Eide, Queen May, ride for your life!' I cried out; but
I don't think she heard me. She was looking straight
forward now at the sojers; her face was like death, and
with a hard set look on it, and I expected every moment
to see her drop from her horse.
"I saw as it was all up; the redskins war but fifty
yards behind, and were gainin' fast upon us. So I says,
'Thar's your father, miss, ride on for his sake,' then I
turns my horse, and, with a pistol in each hand, I rides
back at the redskins. The gal told me afterward that
she did not hear me speak, that she didn't know I had
turned, and that all that time after she had first caught
sight of the sojers seemed a dream to her.
"I don't remember much of the scrimmage. Black
Dog was the first redskin I met, and I hit him fair be-
tween the eyes; arter that it was all confusion, I threw
away my pistols, and went at them with my rifle. I felt
as if a hot iron went through my body, then there was a
crash on my head, and I remember nothing more until I
found myself lying, as weak as a baby, in the hut in the
fort, with Queen May a-sitting working beside the bed,
So, as you see, it ain't much of a story."


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
185
"I call it a great deal of a story," Frank said; "I
would give a great deal to have done such a thing."
"Well, shut up, and don't say no more about it," Dick
growled, "ef you want us to keep friends. Abe's always
a-lugging that old story out, and he knows as I hates it
like pizen. We have had more than one quarrel about it,
and this is the last time, by gosh, as ever I opens my
lips about it. Pass over the liquor, I am dry."


186 CAPTAIN BA YLET 'S HEIR.
CHAPTER XTI.
THE ATTACK ON THE CAEAVAN.
Although great uneasiness had been caused by the
reports as to the Indians, the members of the caravan
were in good spirits. So far the journey had been a suc-
cess. The difficulties met with in crossing streams and
bad bits of ground had been considerable, but were no
greater than they had looked for. The animals had pre-
served their health and condition. The supply of fresh
meat had been regular, and all were in excellent health.
The rise of ground had been so gradual that it had
scarcely been felt; but they were now at a considerable
height above the sea, and the brisk clear air braced their
nerves, and enabled even the feeblest to stand the fatigue
without inconvenience.
One day when Frank was out alone with Dick on the
north of the line of march, they came within sight of
some buffalo grazing, and Frank was about to set spurs
to his horse when his companion suddenly checked him.
"What is is?" Frank said in surprise. "They don't
see us, and if we follow that hollow we shall be able to
get close to them before they can catch sight of us."
"That's so," Dick said, "but just at present it air a
question of something more serious than bufflars, it air
a question of Injins."
"Indians 1" Frank exclaimed, gazing round in every
direction. "Where, Dick? I see no signs of them."


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
18?
"No, and if you were to look round all day you
wouldn't see 'em; they are at your feet."
Frank looked down in surprise.
"I can see nothing," he said, after a minute examina-
tion of the ground.
"It's thar, though," Dick said, throwing himself off
his horse. "Look at this soft piece of ground; that is a
hoof print, and there is another and another." Frank
also dismounted and examined the ground.
"Yes," he said, "I can see a number of hoofprints
now you point them out. But how do you know that
they are Indian prints?"
"Because the are unshod; beside, you see, instead of
coming along in a crowd, as a drove of turned loose
horses would do, the marks are all together, one after the
other, as they came along in single file. There is no
doubt they are a party of Indians."
"They are ahead of us," Frank said.
"They were," Dick said, "but thar ain't no saying
where they are now; maybe watching us.''
The thought was not a comfortable one, and Frank
grasped his rifle tightly as he looked round.
"Just stay where you are," Dick said; "we are in a
hollow, and I will have a look round."
Dick made his way upon his hands and knees to the top
of the brow, choosing a spot where the shrubs grew
thickest, and making his way with such caution that
Frank could scarcely keep him in sight. When he
reached the brow he raised his head and looked round in
all directions and then went on. It was nearly half an
hour before he rejoined his companion.
"They have gone straight ahead," he said. "I went
over the brow, and down the next hollow, and found
their trail strong there, for the ground is swampy; they


168
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
had certainly passed within an hour of the time I got
there."
"How did you know that?" Frank asked.
"Because the water was still muddy where they had
passed; it would have settled again in an hour after
being disturbed, so they could not have been more than
that time ahead. They were keeping just parallel with
the line of march of the caravan."
"How many of them do you think there were?"
"Between fifty and sixty," Dick said confidently.
"Perhaps they were merely journeying quietly along,"
Frank suggested.
"Not likely," Dick replied; "they must have seen
these bufflars, and would have been after them, almost to
a sartinty, had they not had other business on hand.
No, I expect they were watching the caravan and had
made up their minds to wait till nightfall, or perhaps till
it came to some place where they can get up close with-
out being seen, and fall upon it by surprise. We will
ride back at once with the news, and put them on their
guard."
An hour's riding brought them to the caravan, where
their news created a great sensation. Hitherto the dan-
ger from Indians had appeared a remote trouble, which
might not, after all, befall them. The news that fifty or
sixty of these dreaded foes were marching along, almost
within sight, and might at any moment attack them,
brought the danger close indeed. The wagons were
driven in even closer order; the women and children
were told to keep between the lines; the men distributed
themselves among the teams, ready to unyoke the oxen at
the shortest notice, and to form the wagons in order of
defense. Abe and his companions had not yet returned;
but a quarter of an hour later they were seen galloping
toward the camp.


CAPTAIN BA YLEY S HEIR.
189
"You must keep close together and look spry," Abe
shouted as he approached; "we have come upon signs of
a large body of Indians, a hundred and fifty or two hun-
dred strong, I reckon, out there on the plains. They
have passed along this morning, and ain't up to no good,
I expect."
"We have found signs of a smaller party, Abe, some
fifty or sixty, on our left; these were marching straight
along, pretty well in the line we are going."
"Then," Abe said, "ye had best look to j'er guns, for
they mean mischief; they must have been watching us
this morning when we started, but concluded that the
ground was too level, and that we should have time to
get into position before they could get up to us, beside
we had all the advantage in the stockades at the station.
There ain't no station this evening."
"Do you think they will attack us on the road?"
Frank asked.
"That will depend on whether they think they can take
us unawares. Get on yer horses again. Dick, do you
ride half a mile ahead of the caravan, don't keep in the
hollows, but follow the line of the brow on the right.
Young Frank and I will scout half a mile out on the right
of the caravan; Eube and Jim, you go the same distance
on the left; that way we can see them coming, and the
teamsters will have plenty of time to form up the wagons.
But I don't reckon as they will attack; when they sees
as we are on the lookout they will guess we have come
across their tracks, and will see that their chances of a
surprise are gone for the day."
"Do you think they will attack us to-night?" Frank
asked his companions.
"They may, and they may not. As a general thing
these plains Inj ins are not fond of night attacks; it's part


190
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
superstition, no doubt, and part because they are much
more at home on horseback than on foot. Still there's
never no saying with an Injin; but I should say, lad,
that they ain't likely to do that yet. They will try other
ways fust. They knows as how they have got plenty of
time, and can choose their opportunity, if it's a month
hence. They are wonderful patient, are the redskins,
and time air of no account to them; but at present I
think the most dangerous times will be after we have
camped and before night comes on, and at daybreak
before we makes our start."
Two more days passed quietly, and a feeling of hope
pervaded the caravan that the Indians had ridden on and
sought for other prey. But Abe assured them that they
must not relax their precautions, and that the failure of
the Indians to attack was no proof whatever that they
had abandoned their intention to do so.
"An Injin is always most dangerous just when you
ain't thinking of him. You may be sure we have been
watched, although we haven't seen no one, and that see-
ing as we are on guard they are waiting for us to become
careless again; or it may be they have fixed upon their
place of attack, and if so, you may bet yer life it is a
good one. Above all things you men impress upon the
women and children that in case of a sudden attack they
shall each take refuge at once in the wagons, in the places
allotted to them, and that they shall do it without any
squealing or yelling; there's nothing bothers men and
flurries them, just as they have got need to be cool and
steady, as the yelping of a pack of women. Just impress
on them as it does no good, and adds to the chances of
their getting their throats cut and their har raised."
The hunter's orders were very strongly impressed upon
the women and children, and even the latter were made


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
191
to feel thoroughly the importance of silence in case of an
attack.
Upon the following day they came upon a spot where
the trail crossed a deep hollow; the sides were extremely
steep, the bottom flat and swampy. Kough attempts had
been made by preceding travelers to reduce the steepness
of the bank, but it was in no way improved thereby; the
upper edge was indeed more gradual, but the soil cut
away there, and shoveled down, had been softened by
subsequent rains, while the torn surface of the bottom,
and the deep tracks left by the wheels, showed how the
teams had struggled through it. They explored for some
little distance up and down to see if an easier point for
crossing could be discovered, but came to the conclusion
that the spot at which the tracks crossed it was the easi-
est, as in most places the bank had been eaten away by
winter rains and was almost perpendicular. They had
reached this spot late in the evening, and prepared to
cross soon after daybreak.
"You will have to fix up three teams to each wagon,"
Abe had said, "and take one over at a time. We will be
out early scouting—for, mind you, this is a likely place
to be attacked by the redskins; they will know there is a
bad spot here, and will guess as you will be in confusion
and divided, some on one side of the gulch, some on the
other. Give particular charge to the men to have their
rifles handy, and to prepare to defend the wagons to the
last, and pass round word among the women and children
not to be scared in case of an attack, as we shall drive
the Injins off handsomely if they come."
At daybreak, Abe, Dick, and Frank crossed the gulch,
the other two hunters remaining behind.
"We must not go far from the crossing," Abe said.
"We don't know which way the Sarnal critters maycomet


192
OAPTAm BAYLEY'S HEIR.
and in case of attack, all our guns will be wanted. They
will guess as we shall begin to cross the first thing in the
morning, and that it will take three or four hours to get
over. So, if they are coming, it will be in a couple of
hours, so as to catch us divided."
They took their station on a rise a few hundred yards
from the crossing, one of them riding back from time to
time to see how the operation of crossing was going on.
It was one of immense difficulty. The oxen were mired
almost up to their chests, and the wagons sunk axle-
deep. The wagons stuck fast in spite of the efforts of all
the men in the party. Frank looked on for some time,
and then a thought struck him.
"Look here, you will never get the wagons on in that
way, the oxen cannot pull an ounce. The best way will
be to unyoke them, take them across, and get them up
on the level ground on the top; then fasten your ropes
together and hitch them to the wagon. The bullocks, on
firm ground, can easily pull it across."
The suggestion was at once acted upon. The bottom
was some fifty yards wide, and there were plenty of
ropes in the wagons which had been brought for lower-
ing them down difficult places, and for replacing any of
the long rope traces which might be broken and worn
out. Two of these were attached to the wagon, and the
oxen were taken over and up the further side. A team
was attached to each rope, and as the whip cracked the
ponderous wagon was at once set in motion, and was
soon dragged through the mud and up the incline.
"That's a capital plan of yourn, young fellow," John
Little said. "Idon't know how we ever should have got
across the other way, and I had just made up my mind
to give it up and move down this hollow till we came to
firmer ground."


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
193
Five more wagons were got across in the same man-
ner. Suddenly Abe discharged his rifle.
"What's the matter?" Frank exclaimed.
"Injins," Abe said briefly. "Them's the heads of the
tarnal cusses just coming over the line of that rise."
The spot to where he pointed was about half a mile
distant, and soon Frank perceived a number of dark
objects rising above it. Almost at the same instant the
sound of a gun was heard on the other side of the gulch.
"'They are going to attack both sides at once," Abe
said, as they galloped back toward the crossing; "that
shows they are strong. If they had any doubts about
licking us they would have thrown thar whole strength
on one party or the other.''
On reaching the wagons they found the men there
working with all their might to get the six wagons in
position, side by side across the top of the ascent. The
oxen had already been taken down into the hollow.
"That's right," Abe shouted, as they leaped from
their horses and aided in the movement. "It couldn't
be better. Well and steady. You have three or four
minutes yet."
The wagons were drawn up in two lines with their
wheels touching, the inner line being on the very edge of
the descent. The women and children were placed in the
inner wagons, while the eight men who had come across
with them, and the three hunters, took their places in
the outside wagons.
Almost all the men had been across with the teams
when the guns were fired, but the remainder had run
back to aid in the defense of the wagons on the other
side. These were already in a position of defense, hav-
ing been so arranged before the crossing began. So well
had Abe's orders been carried out, that no confusion


194
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
-whatever had occurred. At the sound of the guns the
women had climbed, and helped the children, into the
wagons allotted to them, and the men, on arriving, quietly
took up their positions.
The Indians were not visible until they reached a spot
about three hundred yards from the wagons. As they
dashed up the rise they checked their horses. Instead of
seeing, as they had expected, everything in confusion and
dismay, not a soul was visible, and the clumps of wagons
stood, one on either side, ranged as for defense. How-
ever, after waiting for three days for their prey, they
were not to be balked. Their wild warcry rose in the
air, and the two bodies of horsemen charged down on
the travelers.
In an instant a deadly fire broke out, the men kneeling
in the bottom of the wagons and resting their rifles on
the rail, the tilt being raised a few inches to enable them
to see under it. Every shot told among the mass of
horsemen. The emigrants were all new to Indian war-
fare, but most of them were farmers accustomed from
boyhood to the use of the rifle, and the coolness of the
hunters, and their preparation for attack, steadied them,
and gave them confidence. Several of the Indians fell at
the first discharge, but the advance was not checked, and
at full speed they came on.
"Steady, lads; don't throw away a shot," Abe shouted,
as the men loaded and discharged their rifles as quickly
as possible; "see that every bullet tells."
Already the Indians were checking the speed of their
horses, for the position was a most difficult one to attack.
It could not be surrounded, and, indeed, could only be
attacked on the face of the outside wagons, from which
a stream of fire was pouring. As the leaders came on
Frank and the two hunters, who both, like himself, car-


196
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
attack. The deadly flank fire proved too much for their
courago, and soon they too were in full flight, carrying
off with them their killed and wounded. A shout of tri-
umph rose from the two parties of whites, and a scene of
wild delight took place; the women, now that the excite-
ment was over, cried and laughed alternately in hysterical
joy; the children shouted, while the men grasped each
other's hands in fervent congratulation.
"We all owe our lives to you and your comrades,"
John Little said to Abe. "If it had not been for you we
should all have gone under; and, I tell you, if ever we
get across these plains we will find some way to show our
gratitude. As long as John Little has a crust in the
world he will share it with you."
When the excitement had somewhat abated, the work
of crossing was recommenced, and in two hours all were
over and the journey was continued.
"Do you think the Indians will attack us again?" John
Little asked Abe, when the caravan was set in motion.
"They will, if they see a chance," Abe replied. "They
have lost a lot of men, and will get vengeance if they
can. It depends partly whether thar big chief was killed
or not; if he war they may give it up now; they sees as
we are strong and well armed. If not, thar chief will do
all he can to wipe us out, for he will be held responsible
for the affair, and such a defeat would lower his influence
in the tribe."
Five days later they saw some wagons in the distance.
Since the attack the hunters had not left the oaravan, as
the emigrants all declared that they would far rather go
without fresh meat than have the hunters absent from
the oamp. A few deer only, which had been seen from
the line of march, had been stalked and shot.
"There is a caravan halting ahead,"Prank said. "We


CAPTAIN BA YLEY '8 HEIR. 19?
heard at the last station that one passed ten days back.
I wonder what they are halting for. The next water,
according to the distances the station-keeper gave us,
must be ten miles away."
"I don't like the look of it," Abe replied. "Traveling
at about the same rate as we do, they should still be
about ten days ahead. I am very much afraid that some-
thing has happened; those varmint we thrashed, or some
other, may have attacked them."
For another mile not a word was spoken; then they
reached a spot from which the wagons and the ground
around them was clearly visible.
"I see no sign of movement," Abe said to John Little,
"and thar seems to be a lot of dark objects lying about.
I will ride forward with my mates. If, as I calculate,
there has been a massacre, you had better take the
wagons a detour a mile round, so that the women and
children may be spared the sight of it. It would be
enough to make them skeery for the rest of the journey."
Abe and his comrades galloped forward.
"Have your rifles ready," the former said; "there may
be some of the varmint hiding about still, though I don't
think it likely. I expect the attack took place some days
back."
On nearing the wagons their apprehensions were veri-
fied. Around lay the carcasses of the oxen with bales
and boxes broken open and rifled of their contents. In
and near the wagons were the bodies of their defenders,
mingled with those of the women and children. All had
been scalped, and the bodies were mutilated with gashes
of the tomahawks. No attempt had been made to put the
wagons into any position of defense; they still stood in a
long line, as they had been traveling when the Indians
fell upon them. There were twelve wagons, and they
counted eighty bodies lying around them.


198
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
"It has been a regular surprise," Abe said, "and I ex-
pect there war very little fighting. The Injins burst out
on them, there war a wild panic, a few shots war fired,
and it war all over; that's how I read it. Hullo! what's
that?"
A deep growl was heard, and turning they saw under a
bush a mastiff, standing over the body of a child. The
animal could with difficulty keep its legs; it had been
pierced by a lance, and had received a blow with a toma-
hawk on the head which had nearly cut off one of its
ears. It had doubtless been left for dead, but had re^
covered itself, and crawled to the side of one of the
children of the family to which it belonged. Its head
was covered with matted blood, and its tongue hung out,
black and parched with thirst; but it growled savagely,
its hair bristled on its back, and it prepared to defend to
the last the body of its young master.
"Poor fellow!" Frank said, dismounting. "Poor old
boy, we are friends."
At the kind tones of the voice the dog relaxed the
fierceness of its aspect, it gave a faint whine, and lay
down by the child's body. Frank took off his thick felt
hat, filled it with water from the skin hanging from his
saddle, and carried it to the dog. The animal raised
itself again with an effort, and drank eagerly; when it
had finished it thrust its great nose into Frank's hand
and wagged its tail, then it returned to the body and
gave a piteous howl. The tears stood in Frank's eyes.
"Lend a hand with your knives," he said to his com-
rades, who were looking on; "let us dig a grave for the
child, then the dog will perhaps follow us; it is a grand
dog, and I should like to have it."
The others dismounted, and with their knives and
hands they soon scraped a hole in the earth capable of


CAP 1 Allf BAYLEY'S HEIR.
199
containing the body. The mastiff stood by watching
their operations. Frank doubted whether it would allow
him to touch the body of the child; but the animal
seemed to comprehend his intentions, and suffered him
to raise the child and lay it in the ground. No sooner
was the grave filled up than the mastiff laid himself down
beside it. Frank now offered the animal some meat from
his wallet, and after this was eaten bathed its head with
water and brought the edges of the wound together, and
bandaged it with a strip torn from his hunting-shirt.
. "Come along, old fellow; come along with us, you
can do no good here."
He mounted his horse, and the mastiff rose to its feet
and stood irresolute, and gave another piteous howl.
"Will you ride back to the caravan, Abe, and tell them
there is no danger? I will move slowly with the dog,
and join them when they get abreast of us."
The four men started at a gallop. Frank dismounted
again and patted the mastiff; then tying his handkerchief
to its collar, he wadked slowly away, leading his horse.
The mastiff followed at once, walking with difficulty, for
its hind-legs were almost paralyzed from the spear-
wound, which had passed through its body just under
the spine, behind the ribs. It seemed, however, to feel
that Frank was its master now, and laid its great head in
his hand as he walked beside it.
As Frank saw the line on which the caravan was now
moving, he walked slowly across to it and halted until
the wagons came up. The mastiff was lifted into one of
them, and laid on some empty flour-sacks. Some more
water was given it, and the caravan proceeded on its
way.
The terrible fate which had befallen their predecessors
cast a deep gloom over the party, who shuddered to think


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S nEIR.
how narrowly they had escaped such a fate; there was no
need now to impress upon any the necessity of avoiding
straggling, and redoubled vigilance was observed during
the march.
Frank attended assiduously to the mastiff, to whom he
gave the name of Turk. The spear-wound was kept poul-
ticed, and that in the head was plastered. Had the dog
received such wounds at any other time they would have
probably proved fatal; but on the plains wounds heal
rapidly, and the brisk air and the life of activity and
exercise render man and beast alike able to sustain seri-
ous injuries without succumbing.
In a week Turk was able to walk with the caravan; a
fortnight later it could gallop by Frank's side. They
were now entering the Alkali PlainB, a wild and desolate
region, where water is extremely scarce, and, when found,
brackish and bitter to the taste, and whore the very
shrubs are impregnated with salt, and uneatable by most
animals. In anticipation of the hardships to be endured
in crossing this region, the bullocks had been allowed for
some time a daily ration of grain in addition to the grass
they could pick up during the halt, and were therefore in
good condition.
A halt was made for three days before entering this
district, and the teams were fresh and full of work when
they started. The marches across the salt plain were
long and painful to man and beast; the dust, which rose
in clouds, was so impregnated with salt that it caused an
intense irritation to the lips and nostrils.
Everything was done as far as possible to alleviate the
sufferings of the animals. Casks were filled with water
at each halting-place, and each time the oxen halted for
rest their mouths and nostrils were sponged, and a small
allowance given them to drink. As they progressed they


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
20 i
had reason to congratulate themselves on the precautions
they had taken, for scarce a mile was passed without
their coming across signs of the misfortunes which had
befallen those who had gone before, in the shape of
abandoned wagons, stores cast out to lighten the loads,
and skeletons of oxen and horses. But on the other hand,
there was now comparatively slight danger of an Indian
attack, for even the horses of the redskins, hardy as they
are, could not support the hardships of a prolonged stay
on the Alkali Plains.


202 CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
CHAPTER xirr.
AT THE GOLD FIELDS.
It was with intense delight that all the caravan noticed
the gradual change of herbage which showed that they
were approaching the confines of this terrible region;
and when, at their first halt after leaving it, they came
upon flowing streams, a general bath was indulged in by
man and beast, the oxen lying down in the water, and
being with great difficulty induced to emerge from it.
The hunters now recommenced their excursions in search
of game, for all were suffering from the want of fresh
meat, the children especially feeling the privation.
Turk accompanied the party. The dog was now com-
pletely restored, and nothing could induce it to leave
Frank's side. It was quite young, and Frank soon
taught it to remain by his horse while he dismounted to
stalk game; while in pursuit on horseback, Turk often
pursued and pulled down deer who would otherwise have
escaped.
One day Dick and Frank had gone out alone, and had
been led a long distance from the line of march in pur-
suit of a herd of deer. These had finally gone up a nar-
row canyon in the mountains. The hunters pursued them
for some distance, and then, despairing of overtaking
them, turned their horses, and began to retrace their
steps. Suddenly Turk, who was in advance, stopped,


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
203
uttered a deep growl, and its hair bristled from its head
to its tail.
"What is it, Turk?" Frank asked.
The animal replied with another low, deep growl.
"It must be some savage beast," Frank said.
"That ain't likely," Dick said; "any beast in this
canyon would have moved away when we passed before.
I think the dog must scent Inj ins. A party may have
seen us entering the gap, and may be in pursuit."
He threw himself off his horse, and listened, with his
ear to the ground.
"It's Injins, sure enough!" he exclaimed; "lean hear
the clattering of horses' hoofs on the hard rock. There's
nothing for it but for us to make our way up the canyon."
They turned their horses, and galloped forward, Turk,
after one more growl in the direction of the Indians, fol-
lowing. Presently the defile divided.
"Shall we take the main branch, or the one to the
right?" Frank asked.
"Better keep straight on," Dick said; "the other may
lead into some valley from which there could be no get-
ting out, and we should be caught in a trap. Seel" he
said, as he halted, "the deer have gone that way. Do
you see some of the pebbles have been thrown out of that
little stream? •
"Jump off your horse, and cut some bits off your
blankets and tie them round your horse's feet. If the
Indians see no marks going forward they will naturally
suppose we have turned off here in pursuit of the deer."
Frank did what his comrade suggested; but quickly as
the work was performed, they heard the sound of the
horsmen in pursuit, loud and distinct, before they again
set forward; Then, springing on their horses, they rode
up the canyon. After awhile they halted; the sounds of


204
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'8 ITMIR.
pursuit had ceased, and they had no doubt the Indiana
had turned off into the other ravine.
"It all depends how far that runs," Dick said, "how
booh they will be in pursuit again. If it comes soon to
an end it will not be long before we have them after us;
if it goes on for some miles we are safe."
Winding between perpendicular cliffs of great height,
they rode forward, mounting steadily. It was impossi-
ble to make rapid progress, for although in some places
the bottom of the ravine was bare, smooth rock, at others
it was piled with bowlders.
It was three hours before they emerged from it, and
upon doing so found they were upon an elevated plateau.
Before they moved forward, Frank said, "Turk, do you
hear them?" The dog stood with ears erect and quiver-
ing nostrils, looking down the ravine which they had
just left. Presently he gave a low, deep growl.
"They are coming," Frank said; "but they must be a
good way off, for Turk did not hear them at first. Which
way shall we go, Dick?"
"We had better turn to the left," Dick said, "for our
natural line leads to the right. However, it does not
make much difference, for they will be able to track us;
still, it may puzzle them. It will be dark in a couple of
hours, and if we can keep ahead till then we are safe."
They started at a gallop, and for an hour rode at full
speed in the direction which would take them down to the
plain at or near the spot where they had halted the night
before.
"Look out, Frank! rein up!" Dick suddenly shouted.
Frank pulled his horse back on its haunches, and but
just in time, for at the brow of the swell up which they
had been galloping the ground fell suddenly away in a
precipice two hundred feet deep, and the horse was
barely a length from it when he brought it to a standstill.



in
SERUM
WIN
Capt. B. A.
DICK AND FRANK ELUDE THE INDIANS.–Page 205.





206
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
the preoipice they would make along it to the right or
left, and so fall into the hands of one or other of the
parties who had gone to intercept them.
No sooner were they fairly out of sight than the
hunters rose, and, remounting their horses, continued
their way. "It's well-nigh dark," Dick said, "and I
doubt if they will be able to make out our back track
when they get to the edge; at any rate they cannot
follow it."
They rode on until they found that their horses could
no longer carry them, then, dismounting, led them by
the bridle. They had been steering by the stars, and
presently found themselves at the upper end of the
ravine.
"We won't enter this now," Dick said, "for some of
them may take it into their heads to gallop back, although
that ain't very likely. Anyhow the horses can't go any
further, and if they could we couldn't make our way
over these stones, it'll be as dark as pitch down there.
So we will move away two hundred yards and let the
horses feed while we get a few hours' sleep. That dog of
your'n will give us notice if any of the varmints are com-
ing this way."
The night passed without alarm, and at the first dawn
of light they were upon their feet again. The horses
were given a mouthful of water from the skins, and then
the hunters mounted and rode down the canyon. There
would be pursuit, they knew well; but the Indians would
not be able to take up the trail until daylight, and would
be an hour and a half following it to the top of the canyon,
so that they had fully two hours' start. This being the
case, they did not hurry their horses, but kept up a
steady pace until they emerged at the lower end of the
ravine: then they urged them forward, and two hours


208
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
It was nearly five months from the time of their leaving
Omaha before the caravan approached the point where
the great plateau of Nevada falls abruptly down to the
low lands of California many thousand feet below. Here
the hunters bade farewell to the emigrants, whom they
had so long escorted. All danger of Indians had been
long since passed, and they were now within a short dis-
tance of the gold regions.
Very deep and sincere were the thanks which were
poured upon them by the emigrants, who felt that they
owed their lives entirely to the vigilance and bravery of
Abe and his companions. They expected to meet again
ere long at the gold fields, and many were the assurances
that should by any chance better luck attend their search
than was met with by the hunters, the latter should share
in their good fortune.
The change in the character of the scenery was sudden
and surprising. Hitherto the country had been bare
and treeless, but the great slopes of the Nevada moun-
tains were covered from top to bottom with a luxuriant
growth of timber. Nowhere in the world are finer views
to be obtained than on the slopes of the Nevada moun-
tains. The slopes arte extremely precipitous, and some-
times, standing on a crag, one can look down into a
valley five or six thousand feet below, clothed from top
to bottom with luxuriant foliage, while far away in front,
at the mouth of the valley, can be seen the low, rich flats
of California.
On the lower slopes of these mountains lay the gold de-
posits. These were found in great beds of gravel and clay
which in countless generations had become so hardened
that they almost approached the state of conglomerate.
The gold from these beds were carried either by streams
which ran through them, or by the action of rain and


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
209
time, into the ravines and valleys, where it was found by
the early explorers. These great beds of gravel have
been since worked by hydraulic machinery, water being
brought by small canals, or flumes, many miles, along
the face of the hills, to reservoirs situated one or two
hundred feet above the gravel to be operated upon.
From the reservoirs extremely strong iron pipes lead
down to the gravel, and to the end of these pipes are
fitted movable nozzles, like those of fire-engines, but far
larger. The water pours out through these nozzles with
tremendous force, breaking up the gravel, and washing
it away down a long series of wooden troughs, in which
the gold settles, and is caught by a variety of contriv-
ances.
But in the early days of gold discovery the very exist-
ence of these beds of gravel was unknown, and gold was
obtained only in the ravines and valleys by washing the
soil in the bottom. It had already been discovered that
the soil was richer the further the searchers went down,
by far the greater finds being made when the diggers
reached the solid rock at the bottom, in the irregulari-
ties of which, worn by water thousands of years before,
large quantities of rough gold were often discovered.
There was no difficulty in following the track through
the forest, and after two days' traveling the party
arrived at the first mining village. They chose a piece
of ground for their camp, fastened their horses to stumps,
erected a tent of blankets and placed in it the stores
brought on their baggage-horses, which had remained un-
touched since they started. Then, leaving one of their
number,in charge, they started off to visit the diggings.
The whole of the bottom of the narrow valley was a
scene of life and bustle. The existence of gold in the
valley had been discovered but three weeks before, but a


210
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
rush had taken place from other diggings. The ground
had been allotted out, and a number of tents pitched and
rough huts erected. Men were working as if for bare
life. The lots were small, and the ground was already
perfectly honeycombed with holes. Generally the dig-
gers worked in batches of four or five, each member of
which took up a claim, so that the space for operations
was enlarged.
Two men labored with pick and shovel, and the baskets,
as they were filled with earth and sand, were first screened
in a sieve to remove the larger portion of stones and
rock, and were then poured into what was known as a
cradle, which was a long trough on rockers; one man
brought water in buckets from the stream, and poured it
into this, while another kept the cradle in constant
motion. The mud and lighter portions of stone flowed
away over the edge or were swept off by the hands of the
men employed in working it, the particles of gold sink-
ing to the bottom of the machine, where they were found
at the clean-up at the end of the day's work.
The newcomers looked on with great interest at the
work, asking questions as to the luck which attended the
operators. The majority gave but a poor acoount of
their luck, the value of the finds at the end of the day
being barely sufficient to pay the enormous rate charged
for provisions, which had to be carried up from the coast
some hundreds of miles away. The stores were brought
in wagons as far as Sacramento, and from that town were
carried to the diggings on the backs of mules and horses.
Consequently it was impossible for a man to live on the
poorest necessities of life for less than three or four dol-
lars a day, and in the out-of-the-way valleys the cost was
'tften considerably more.
Some of the diggers owned that they were doing well,


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
211
but there was a general disinclination to state even the
approximate amount of their daily winnings. The
hunters found, however, that the general belief was that
some of those who had claims in the center of the valley,
where of course the gold would settle the thickest, were
making from ten to twenty ounces per day.
"That's something like!" Dick said. "Just fancy
making from forty to eighty pounds per day. I vote
we set to work at once. As well here as anywhere else."
"Yes, I suppose we may as well begin here," Frank
agreed; "at any rate until we hear what is being done in
the other places. But you see we must be ready to move
off as soon as a report comes of some fresh discovery, so
as to get good places. Here, of course, we must be con-
tent to settle down outside the rest. We will mark out
five claims at once, turn up the ground, and put our tools
there; they say that's sufficient to take possession. Then
we will go up into the forests and cut down a pine or
two, and slit it up into planks for making one of those
cradles. That will take us all day to-morrow, I reckon."
As they sat round the fire that evening, talking over
their prospects, Abe said:
"I tell you what it is, mates, I have been thinking this
here matter over, and when I sees what tremendous
prices are being charged for grub here, I concluded there
must be a big thing to be made in the way of carrying.
Now we have got our five riding-horses, and the three
baggage-horses, that makes eight. Now what I proposes
is this; three of us shall work the claims, and the other
two shall work the horses; we can sell the riding-saddles
down at Sacramento, and get pack-saddles instead. We
can begin by carrying for one of the traders here.
"I hear that a horse can earn from five to ten dollars a
day, so our eight horses will earn forty to eighty dollars


212 captain ba yley's heir.
a day. Now that's a good sartin living for us all, es-
pecially as we shall bring up the provisions for ourselves,
instead of paying big rates here. Arterards we will see
how things go, and if we like we can open a store here,
and one of us mind it. Anyhow the horses will keep us
well. If the claim turns out well, so much the better; if
it don't, we can do very well without it. I proposes as
we take it by turns to drive the horses and dig."
The counsel was good and prudent, but it was only
adopted after some discussion, for the sums which the
more fortunate diggers were earning were so large that
all looked forward to making a rapid fortune, and were
inclined to despise the small but steady gains offered by
the plan Abe suggested. However, Frank sided with
Abe, and offered to go with him on the first trip to Sacra-
mento, and the others thereupon fell in with the plan.
The next day the cradle was made by Abe and Frank,
the others setting to to dig and wash out in a bucket.
At the end of a day of hard work they had got about a
quarter of an ounce of glittering yellow dust. This was
not paying work, but they were not disappointed; they
had not expected to strike upon good ground at the first
attempt, and were quite satisfied by the fact that they
really had met with the gold which they had come so far
to seek.
That evening Abe made a bargain to bring up goods
from Sacramento for one of the storekeepers, having pre-
viously found the rate which was current. At daybreak
next morning he and Frank started off on horseback,
each with three horses tied, head and tail, behind the one
he was riding, Turk marching gravely by their side.
The distance to Sacramento was upward of seventy
miles. On their road they met numerous parties making
their way up the mountains. All carried a pick and


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
213
shovel, a bucket and blanket, and a small sack with flour
and bacon. Many of them were sailors, who had deserted
from their ships at San Francisco, where scores of vessels
were lying unable to leave for want of hands.
All, as they passed, asked the last news from the dig-
gings, where the last rush was, and what was the average
take at the camp, and then hurried on, eager to reach the
spot where, as every man believed, fortune awaited him.
Two days of travel down the mountains took them to
Sacramento. Here their saddles were disposed of, and
pack-saddles bought. The horses were laden with sacks
of sugar and flour, sides of bacon, and mining tools, and
after a day's stay in town they started back for the camp.
Sacramento, but a few months before a sleepy, quiet
city, mostly inhabited by Spaniards, or rather people of
Spanish descent, was now a scene of animation and
bustle. Long teams of wagons, laden with stores, rolled
in almost hourly across the plains from San Francisco,
while the wharves at the riverside were surrounded by
laden barges. Bands of newly arrived emigrants wan-
dered through the streets, asking eager questions of any
one who had time enough to talk as to the best way of
getting to the diggings, and as to the camp which they
had better select for their first attempt. Dark-looking
men, half Spaniard and half Indian, went along on their
'ittle ponies, or rode at the head of a string of laden
animals, with an air of perfect indifference to the bustle
around them.
Sounds of shouting and singing came through the
doors of pome saloons, in which many of the fortunate
diggers were busily engaged in dissipating their hard-
earned gains. Men sunburned almost to blackness, in red
shirts and canvas trousers, walked along the streets as if
the town and all in it belonged to them in virtue of the


214
QAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
store of gold-dust tied up in their -waist-belts. In these,
revolvers and bowie-knives were stuck conspicuously, and
the newly arrived emigrants looked with awe and envy at
these men who had already reaped a harvest at the mines.
Shooting affrays were of frequent occurrenoe in the
drinking saloons, where at night gambling was invariably
carried on, the diggers being as reckless of their lives as
of their money.
"About ten days of that place would be enough to ruin
any man," Abe said, as they walked at the head of their
cavalcade from the town. "I reckon as Sacramento is a
sort of hell on arth, and guess there's more wickedness
goes on in that ere little .town than in any other place its
own size on the face of creation. They tells me as San
Francisco is worse, but at any rate Sacramento is bad
enough for me."
On the evening of the third day after leaving Sacra-
mento they arrived at the mining camp, and having de-
livered the stores they had brought up to the trader, and
received the amount agreed upon, they took their way to
the spot where they had pitched their camp.
"Well, lads, what luck?" Abe asked, as at the sound
of their feet their comrades came out to greet them.
"We have got about four ounces of dust," Dick said,
"and our backs are pretty nigh broken, and our hands
that blistered we can hardly hold the shovel. However,
we have been better the last two days. I expect there
have been two or three hundred people arrived here since
you left, and they are all at work now."
"Well, that's pretty well for a beginning," Abe said,
"though you wouldn't have much of your four ounces
left if you had to pay for grub. However, we've brought
up another half-sack of flour, twenty pounds of sugar,
and five pounds of tea, and a half-side of baoon, so we


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIB.
215
have got quite enough to go on for a long time yet. I
have brought up, too, a good stout tent, which will hold
us comfortable, and, after paying for all that, here's
thirty pounds in money. I got five pounds a horse-load,
so with your earnings and ours we haven't made a bad
week's work; that's pretty nigh ten pounds a man. I
don't say that's anything wonderful, as times goes here;
but when we hit on a good spot for our digging, we shall
pick it up quick. Now let's pitch the new tent, and
then we will have supper, for I can tell you walking
twenty-five miles in this mountain air gives one some-
thing like an appetite."


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
217
"But, Captain Bayley," the lawyer urged, "we must
first see whether this gentleman had any reasonable cause
for his belief. If the evidence is what may be considered
as strong, we must accept his action as taken bond. fide."
"Don't tell me, sir," Captain Bayley exclaimed angrily.
"What do I care for evidence? Of course he told me a
long rigmarole story, but he could not have believed it
himself. No one but a fool could believe my nephew
Frank guilty of theft; the idea is preposterous; it was as
much as I could do to restrain myself from caning him
when he was speaking."
The lawyer smiled inwardly, for Dr. Litter was a tall,
stately man, six feet two in height, while Captain Bayley
was a small, slight figure, by no means powerful when in
his prime, and now fully twenty years the senior of the
head-master.
"Well, Captain Bayley," he said, "in the first place it
is necessary that I should know the precise accusation
which this gentleman has brought against your nephew.
Will you be good enough to repeat to me, as nearly as
you can, the statement which he made, as, of course, if
we proceed to legal measures, we must be exact in the
matter?"
"Well, this is about the story he told me," Captain
Bayley said, more calmly. "In the first place, it seems
that the lad broke bounds one night, and went with a man
named Perkins—who is a prize-fighter, and who I know
gave him lessons in boxing, for I gave Frank five pounds
last half to pay for them—to a meeting of these Chartist
blackguards somewhere in the New Cut.
"Well, there was a row there, as there naturally would
be at such a place, and it seems Frank knocked down
some Badical fellow—a tailor, I believe—and broke his
nose. Well, you know, I am not saying this was right;


218
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
still, you know, lads will be lads, and I used to be fond
of getting into a row myself when I was young, for I
could spar in those days pretty well, I can tell you,
Griffith. I would have given a five-pound note to have
seen Frank set to with that Radical tailor. Still, I dare
say, if the lad had told me about it I should have got into
a passion and blown him up."
"I shouldn't be surprised at all," the lawyer said
dryly.
"No. Well that would do him no harm; he knows me,
and he knows that I am peppery. Well, it seems this
fellow found out who he was, and threatened to report
the thing to the head-master, in which case this Dr.
Litter said he should have expelled him for being out of
bounds, a thing which in itself I call monstrous. Now,
here is where Frank was wrong. He ought to have coma
straight to me and told me the whole affair, and got his
blowing up and his money. Instead of that, he asked
three or four of the other boys—among them my nephew
Fred—to lend him the money, but they were all out of
funds. Well, somebody, it seems, sent Frank a ten-
pound note in an envelope, with the words 'From a
friend,' and no more. Frank showed the envelope to tho
others, and they all agreed that it was a sort of godsend
and Frank sent the note to the tailor. Now it seems that
the day before Frank got the note the head-master, when
he was hearing his form had put a ten-pound note with
some other things on the table, and being called out, he,
like a careless old fool, left them lying there.
"Some time afterward he missed the note, and does not
remember taking it up from the table; still, he says, he -
did not suspect any of the boys of his form of taking it,
and thinking that he had dropped it on the way to his
house, he stopped the note at the bank, happening to


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
219
have its number. A few days afterward the note was
presented; it was traced to the tailor, who admitted hav-
ing received it from Frank; and would you believe it,
sir, this man now pretends to believe that my nephew
stole it from the table, and sent it to himself in an
envelope. It's the most preposterous thing I ever heard."
Mr. Griffith looked grave.
"Of course, Captain Bayley, having met your nephew
at your house several times, I cannot for a moment be-
lieve him guilty of taking the note; still, I must admit
that the evidence is strongly circumstantial, and were it
a stranger who was accused I should say at once the thing
looked nasty."
"Pooh! nonsense, Griffith," the old officer said
angrily; "there's nothing in it, sir—nothing whatever.
Somebody found the note kicking about, I dare say, and
didn't know who it belonged to; he knew Frank was in
a corner, and sent it to him. The thing is perfectly
natural."
"Yes,"the lawyer assented doubtfully; "butthe ques-
tion is, who did know it? Was the fact of your nephew
requiring the money generally known in the school?"
"No," Captain Bayley admitted. "The doctor exam-
ined the four boys before Frank. They all declared that
they knew nothing of the note, and that they had not
mentioned the circumstance to a soul; but my opinion
is that one of them is a liar."
"It is certainly necessary to believe, "Mr. Griffith said
slowly, "that one of them is either a liar or a thief. Of
course there may be some other solution of the matter,
but the only one that I can see, just at the present
moment, is this: Your nephew is the sort of lad to be ex-
tremely popular among his schoolmates; either one of
these four boys took the note from the master's table.,


220
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
with the good-natured but most mistaken idea of getting
him out of a scrape, or they must have mentioned his
need of money to some of their schoolfellows, one of
whom finding the note, perhaps in the yard, where the
head-master may have dropped it, sent it to Frank to re-
lieve him of the difficulty.
"These are possible solutions of the mystery, at any
rate. But if you will take my advice, Captain Bayley,
you will not, in the present state of affairs, take the steps
which you propose to me against Dr. Litter. It will be
time enough to do that when your nephew's innocence is
finally and incontestably proved. Of course," he said, see-
ing that his listener was about to break out again, "you
and I knowing him, know that he is innocent; but others
who do not know him might entertain some doubt upon
the subject, and a jury might consider that the doctor
was justified, with the evidence before him, in acting as
he did, in which case an immense deal of damage might
be done by making the matter a subject of general talk."
With some difficulty Captain Bayley was pessuaded to
allow his intention to rest for awhile.
"It is late now," he said, "but I shall go and see
Frank to-morrow. I wish I had seen him this afternoon
before I came to you. However, I have no doubt when
I get home I shall find a letter from him—not defending
himself, of course, as he would know that to be unneces-
sary, but telling me the story in his own way."
But no letter came that evening, to Captain Bayley's
great irritation. He told Alice Hardy the whole circum-
stances, and she was as indignant as himself, and warmly
agreed that the head-master should be punished for his
unjust suspicions.
"And do you say he is really going to be expelled to-
morrow?" she asked, in a tone of horror.


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
"So the fellow said, my dear; but he shall smart for it,
and the laws of the land shall do Frank justice."
At half-past nine the next morning Fred Barkley
arrived at Captain Bay ley's.
"Well," his uncle exclaimed, as he entered, "I sup-?
pose you have been sent to tell me they have got to the
bottom of this rigmarole affair."
"No, uncle," Fred said, "I have, I am sorry to say,
been sent to tell you that Frank last night left his board-
ing-house and is not to be found."
Captain Bayley leaped from his seat in great wrath.
"The fool I the idiot I to run away like a coward in-
stead of facing it out; and not a line or a message has he
sent to me. Did you know, sir, that your cousin was
going to run away?"
Fred hesitated.
"Yes, uncle, I knew that he was going, and did my
best to dissuade him, but it was useless."
Captain Bayley walked up and down the room with
quick steps, uttering exclamations testifying his anger
and annoyance.
"Has he got any money?" he said suddenly, halting
before Fred. "Did he get any money from you?"
Fred hesitated again, and then said:
"Well, uncle, since you insist upon knowing, I did let
him have twenty pounds which I got for the sale of my
books."
"I believe, sir," the old officer said furiously, "that
you encouraged him in this step, a step which I con-
sider fatal to him."
Fred hesitated again, and then said:
"Well, uncle, I am sorry that you should be so angry
about it, but I own that I did not throw any obstacle
in the way."


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'8 HEIR.
"You did not, sir," Captain Bay ley roared, "and why
did you not? Are you a fool too? Don't you see that
this running away instead of facing matters out cannot
but be considered, by people who do not know Frank, as
a proof of his guilt, a confession that he did not dare to
stay to face his accusers?"
Fred was silent.
"Answer me, sir," Captain Bay ley said; "don't stand
there without a word to explain your conduct. Do you
or do you not see that this cowardly flight will look like
a confession of guilt?"
"I did see that, uncle," Fred said, "but I thought
that better than a public expulsion."
"Oh! you did, did you?" his uncle said sarcastically,
"when you knew that if he had stopped quietly at home
we should have proved his innocence in less than no
time."
Fred made no reply.
"Do you think we shouldn't have proved his inno-
cence?" roared his uncle.
"I am sorry to say anything which is displeasing to
you, uncle, but I fear that you would never have proved
Frank's innocence."
The words seemed to have a sobering effect on Captain
Bayley. The blood seemed to die out of his face; he put
one hand on a chair, as if to steady himself, while he
looked fixedly in his nephew's face.
"Do you mean, Fred," he said, in a low voice, "do
you mean that you have a doubt of Frank's innocence?"
"I should rather not say anything about it," Fred
replied. "I hope with all my heart that Frank is not
guilty, but"
""What do you think?" Captain Bayley repeated;
"have you any grounds whatever for believing him
guilty?"


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
223
"No, sir, and I do not wish you to be in the slightest
degree influenced by what I said." He paused, but
Captain Bayley's eyes were still fixed upon him, as if
commanding a complete answer.
"Well, sir," he went on hesitatingly, "I must own
that, sad as it is to say so, I fear Frank did it."
"Did he confess it to you?" Captain Bay ley asked, in
a strained, strange voice.
"No, uncle, not in so many words, but he said things
which seemed to me to mean that. When I tried to dis-
suade him from running away, and urged him to remain
till his innocence could be proved, he said angrily,
'What's the use of talking like that, when you know as
well as I do that it can't be proved.' Afterward he said,
'It is a bad job, and I have been an awful fool. But who
could have thought that note would be traced back to
Litter?' and other remarks of the same kind. He may
be innocent, uncle—you know how deeply I wish we
could prove him so—but I fear, I greatly fear, that we
shall be doing Frank more service by letting the matter
drop. You know the fellows in the school all believe
him innocent, and though his going away has staggered
some of them, the general feeling is still all in his favor;
therefore they are sure to speak of him as a sort of vic-
tim, and when he returns, which of course he will do in
a few years' time, the matter will have died away and
have been altogether forgotten."
The old officer sat down at the table and hid his face
in his hands.
All this time Alice, pale and silent, had sat and listened
with her eyes fixed upon the speaker, but she now leaped
up to her feet.
"Uncle," she said, "don't believe him, he is not
speaking the truth, I am sure he is not. He hates


224
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
Frank, and I have known it all along, because Frank is
bigger and better than he; because Frank was generous
and kind-hearted; because everyone liked Frank and no
one liked him. He is telling a lie now, and I believe
every word he has said since he came into the room is
false."
"HushI child," the old officer said; "you must not
speak so, my dear. If it was only the word of one lad
against another, it would be different; but it is not so.
The proof is very strong against Frank. I would give
all I am worth if I could still believe him innocent, and
had he come to me and put his hand in mine, and said,
'Uncle, lam innocent,' I would have believed him against
all the evidence in the world. It is not I who condemn
him, he has condemned himself. He sends me no word;
he cannot look me in the face and declare himself inno-
cent. He runs away at night, knowing well that there
could be but one construction as td this, and that all
would judge him guilty. No, Alice, it breaks my heart
to say so, but I can struggle no longer against these
facts. The lad whom I have lovGd as a son has turned
out a thief."
"No, uncle, no," the girl cried passionately, "I will
never believe it, not to the end of my life. I cannot
prove him innocent, but I know he is so, and some day
it will be proved; but till then I shall still think of him
as my dear brother, as my true-hearted brother, who has
been wrongfully accused and who is the victim of some
wicked plot of which, perhaps, Fred Barkley knows more
than any one else,"and, bursting into a passion of tears,
she ran from the room.
Fred looked after her with an expression of pity and
sorrow.
"Poor child!" he said, "it is a terrible blow for her,
and she scarce knows what she is saying."


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
235
"It is a terrible blow," Captain Bayley said, in a
dreary voice, "a moat terrible blow to me and to her.
No wonder she feels it; and I have been planning and
hoping that some day, a few years hence, those two
would get to like each other in a different way. I had,
by my will, divided my fortune equally between you and
him, but I have liked him best. Of course, I brought
him up, and he has been always with me; it was natural
that I should do so. Still I wanted to be fair, and I
divided it equally. But I was pleased. at the thought
that her fortune, which is, as you know, a very large
one, would be his, and enable him to make a great figure
in the world if he had chosen; and now it is all over.
"Go away now, my boy, the blow has been too much
for me. I am getting an old man, and this is the second
great blow I have had. Do not take to heart the wild
words of poor little Alice. You see she scarcely knows
what she is saying."
Without another word Fred took his departure. When
once out of sight of the house his steps quickened, and he
walked briskly along.
"Splendid!" he said to himself; "a grand stroke
indeed, and perfectly safe. Frank is not likely to return
for twenty years, if ever, and I don't think the old man
is good for another five. I expect I shall have some trou-
ble with that little cat, Alice; but she is only a child,
and will come round in time, and her fortune will be
quite as useful to me as it would have been to him. I
always knew he was little better than a fool, but I could
hardly have hoped that he would have walked into the
trap as he has done. I suppose that other blow old
Bayley spoke of was that affair of his daughter. That
was a lucky business for me too."
Fred Barkley was not mistaken, it was of his daughter


226
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
Captain Bayley had been thinking when he spoke. Ha
had married young when he first went out to India, and
had lost his wife two years later, leaving him with a
daughter six months old. He had sent her home to
England, and after a twenty years' absence he had re-
turned and found her grown up.
She had inherited something of her father's passion-
ate disposition, and possessed, in addition, an amount
of sullen obstinacy which was wholly alien to his nature.
But her father saw none of these defects in her character.
She was very beautiful, with an air of pride and hauteur
which he liked. She had a right to be proud, he
thought, for she was a very wealthy heiress, for, his
two elder brothers having died childless while he was in
India, the fine property of their father had all descended
to him.
Though the girl had many suitors, she would listen to
none of them, having formed a strong attachment to a man
in station altogether beneath her. He had given lessons
in drawing at the school which had been her home as
well as her place of education during her father's
absence, for Captain Bayley had quarreled with his sis-
ters, both of whom, he considered, had married beneath
them.
The fact that Ella Bayley was an only child, and that
her father was a wealthy man, was known in the school,
and had, in some way, come to the ears of the drawing-
master, who was young, and by no means ill-looking.
He had played his cards well. Ella was romantic and
impetuous, and, before long, returned the devotion which
her teacher expressed for her.
When her father returned home, and Ella left school to
take her place at the head of his establishment, she had
hoped that she should be able to win from him a consent


228
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
self; they had moved from the place they had first lived
at, and taken much smaller lodgings.
Here the people of the house reported their life had
been very unhappy; the husband had taken to drink, and
there had been fierce and frequent quarrels between
them, arising—the landlady had gleaned, from the loud
and angry utterance of the husband—from the wife's
refusal to appeal to her father for assistance. They had
left this place suddenly, and in debt; thence they had
moved from lodging to lodging at short intervals, their
position getting worse, until they were last lodged in a
wretched garret. From this point they were traced with
great trouble down to Nottingham, where the husband
obtained a precarious living by producing designs for
embroidery and curtains.
Had he been steady he might have soon done fairly,
but a great part of his time was spent in public-houses,
and he was seldom sober. When returning home one
night in a state of drunkenness, he was run over by a
heavy van and killed. As his wife possessed but a few
shillings in the world, he was buried at the expense of
the parish and his widow at once left the town.
The people where she lodged believed that she had
gone to London, taking with her her six-months'-old
child, and had started to tramp the way on foot. The
woman said that she doubted whether she could ever
have got there. She was an utterly broken woman, with
a constant racking cough, which was like to tear her to
pieces, and before she set out her landlady had urged
upon her that the idea of her starting to carry a heavy
child to London was nothing short of madness.
After this all trace of Ella had been lost. Advertise-
ments offering large rewards appeared in the papers; the
books of every workhouse between Nottingham and Lon-


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR. 229
don, and indeed of almost every workhouse in England,
were carefully searched to see if there was any record of
the death of a woman with a child about the time of her
disappearance. A similar search was made at all the
London hospitals, and at every institution where she
might have crawled to die; but no trace had ever been
found of her.
That she was dead was not doubted; for it was found
that at Nottingham she had once gone to the parish doc-
tor for some medicine for her child. The physician had
taken particular notice of her, had asked her some ques-
tions, and had made a note in his case-book that the
mother of the child he had prescribed for was in an
advanced stage of consumption, and had probably but a
few weeks, certainly not more than a few months, to live.
It was long before the search was given up as hopeless,
and many hundreds of pounds were spent by Captain
Bayley before he abandoned all hope of discovering, if
not his daughter, at least her child. During the year
which elapsed before he was forced to acknowledge that
it was hopeless, Captain Bayley had suffered terribly.
His self-reproaches were unceasing, and he aged many
years in appearance.
It was three years after this, on the death of his sister,
Mrs. Norris, whose husband had died some years before,
that he took Frank into his house and adopted him as
his son, stating, however, to all whom it might concern,
that he did not regard him as standing nearer to him as
his heir than his other nephew, Fred Barkley, but that
his property would be divided between them as they
might show themselves worthy of it. It was three years
later still, that, at the death of her father, an old fellow-
officer, his household was increased by the addition of
Alice, who had been left to his guardianship, but who
had soon learned, like Frank, to address him as uncle.


230
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'B HEIR.
CHAPTEE XV.
THE MISSING HEIR,
It was a long time before the house in Eaton Square in
any way recovered its former appearance. Captain Bay-
ley had lost much of his life and vivacity, and, as the
servants remarked to each other, nothing seemed to put
him out. He went for his morning ride in the park, or
his afternoon visit to the club, as usual, but his thoughts
seemed far away; he passed old friends without seeing
them, and if stopped he greeted them no longer with a
cheery ring in his voice, or a quick smile of welcome.
Everyone who knew him remarked that Bayley was going
downhill terribly fast, and was becoming a perfeot
wreck.
Frank's name was never now mentioned in the house.
Its utterance had not been forbidden, but it had been
dropped as a matter concerning which a hopeless dis-
agreement existed. Alice had changed almost as much
as her uncle. Her spirits were gone; her voioe was no
longer heard singing about the house; she no longer ran
up and down the stairs with quick, springing footsteps,
and indeed seemed all at once to have changed from a
young girl into a young woman. Sometimes, as she sat,
the tears filled her eyes and rolled fast down her cheeks;
at other times she would walk about with her eyebrows
knitted, and hands clinched, and lips pursed together, a
little volcano of suppressed anger.
Although no disoussion on the subject had taken place


232
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
—'all families of distinction/ says he,' 'as got their own
crest, which belongs to them and no one else.' Now
this 'ere crest of the guv'nor's is a hand holding a dag-
ger, and the hand has only got three fingers. I said as
how there was two missing, and that the chap as did it
couldn't have known much of his business to go and leave
out two fingers. But the butler says, 'That's your
hignorance,' says he; 'the hand 'as got only three
fingers because a hancestor of the captain's in the time of
the Crusaders'— 'And what's the Crusades?' says I.
'The Crusaders was a war between the English and the
Americans hundreds of years ago,' says he."
Harry burst into a shout of laughter. "Mr. Butler
does not know anything about it, for the Crusades were
wars between people who went out to the Holy Land to
recover the Holy Sepulcher from the Turks who held it."
"Ah, well," Evan said, "it don't make no odds
whether they was Turks or Americans. However, the
butler says as how the Captain Bayley what lived in those
days, he saw a red Injun a-crawling to stab the king,
who was a-lying asleep in his tent, and just as his hand
was up to stick in the knife, Captain Bayley he gives a
cut with his sword which whips off two of the fingers,
and before the Injun could turn round and go at him he
gives another cut, and takes off his hand at the wrist,
and the next cut he takes off his head; so the hand with
three fingers holding a dagger was given him to carry as
a crest. I suppose after a time the hand got wore out, or
got bad, so as he couldn't have carried it about no
longer, and instead of that, as a kind of remembrance pf
the affair, he 'as them put on his forks and spoons.''
Mrs. Holl had been listening with grave interest to the
narrative.
"Does I understand you to say, Evan, that no other


5>34
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
The seal was fetched by Mrs. Holl from a pill-box, ia
which it was carefully stored away in the corner of a
drawer. Harry examined it closely.
"It looks like a hand holding a dagger," he said,
"but it's too small for me to see whether it has three
fingers or four. Evan, will you run round with it to
the little watchmaker's in the next street, and ask him
to look at it with one of the glasses he sticks in his eye
when he is at work, and to tell you whether it has three
fingers or four."
Evan returned in a few minutes with the news that the
watchmaker at once said that the hand had but three
fingers.
"Well, from that, Harry," Mrs. Holl said, "if what
this man have been and told Evan is right, you must be
some relation to Captain Bayley."
"A cousin, fifty times removed, perhaps," Harry
laughed, "but, at any rate, it is pleasant to be able to
think that I come of a good family."
"You knew that before, Harry," Mrs. Holl said
severely, "for I told you over and over again that your
mother was a lady, though she was in bad circumstances,
and I think, after charring in respectable houses for the
last twenty years, I ought to know a lady when I sees
one. Well, there's nothing as you think I could do
about it?"
"I should think not," Harry laughed. "How the old
gent would stare if Evan was to walk up to him and say,
'Captain Bayley, I have got a foster-brother at home who,
I think, is a relation of yours.' That would be a nice
piece of cheek, wouldn't it?"
Evan laughed.
"However, mother, I votes as in future we calls Harry
Harry Bayley instead of Harry Holl."


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
235
"You won't do anything of the sort, Evan," the crip-
ple lad answered hotly. "Holl's my name, and you
don't suppose I am going to drop the name of the father
and mother who brought me up, and have tended me all
these years, for Bayley or any other name; beside, even
if it should turn out that I am remotely connected with
the family, there is no reason why my name should be
Bayley, for, of course, if my mother had been a Bayley,
she would have changed her name when she married."
Harry thought but little more of the matter, but Mrs.
Holl turned it over frequently in her mind, and discussed
it with John. John said, "He didnt' think much would
come of it; still, he didn't see as how there could be any
harm in asking, seeing that she had set her mind on it."
So Mrs. Holl resolved to move in the matter. Evan,
on being appealed to, said that he did not see how she
was to get to speak with Captain Bayley; the footman
wouldn't be likely to show her in to his master unless she
stated her business. But after much pressing, and de-
claring over and over again he wished he had never said
a word about the hand with three fingers, Evan con-
sented, if he found an opportunity, to ask Captain Bay-
ley to see his mother. This opportunity, however, did
not arrive, Evan's duties never bringing him in contact
with his employer. At last Mrs. Holl became desperate,
and one morning, after breakfast, she went to Captain
Bayley's house. The ring at the area-bell brought out
the cook.
"What is it?" she said sharply.
"I am the mother, ma'am, of Evan, as works here."
"Well, come down, if you want to see him."
"I don't want to see him, I want to see Captain
Bayley."
"I will tell the footman," the cook said, "but I don't
think it likely as you can see the captain."


236
CAPTAIN BA YLEY 'S HEIR
The footman soon made his appearance. Fortunately
he was very young, and had not yet acquired that
haughtiness of manner which characterizes his class.
Evan had before told him that his mother wanted to see
Captain Bayley, and had begged him to do his best,
should she come, to facilitate her doing so.
"Good-morning," he said. "Your boy told me you
would be likely enough coming. So you want to see the
captain; he has just finished his breakfast and gone into
the study. Now, what shall I say you wants to see hira
for? I can't show you in, you know, without asking him
first."
The young footman was, indeed, curious to know what
Mrs. Holl's object could be in wishing to see his master.
Evan had resisted all his attempts to find out, simply
saying that it was a private affair of his mother's.
"Will you say to him," Mrs. Holl said, "that the
mother of the boy as works here under you is most
anxious for to see him just for two or three minutes; that it
ain't nothing to do with the boy, but she wishes particu-
lar to ask Captain Bayley a question—if he will be so
good as to see her—that no one else but hisself could
answer."
"It's a rum sort of message," the young footman said,
"but, anyhow, I will give it; the captain ain't as hot-
tempered as he used to be, and he can but say he won't
see you."
Captain Bayley looked mystified when the footman
delivered Mrs. Holl's message to him; then he remem-
bered that it was Frank who had introduced her son to
help in the house, and he wondered whether her errand
could have any connection with him.
"Well, show her up, James," he said; "but just tell
her that my time is precious, and that I don't want to


238
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
there ourious in my crest being on my spoons? Now
just wait one minute, and tell me as plainly as you can."
Mrs. Holl waited a minute.
"Well, sir, it struck me all in a heap, because I've got
in the house a thing with just such another hand, a-hold-
ing of a knife in it."
"Oh!" Captain Bayley said, "you have got some arti-
cle with my crest on it in your house. How did you
come by it? It must have been stolen."
"No, sir, I will take my davey as the young person as
was my son Harry's mother never stole nothing in her
life."
"The young person who was your son Harry's mother,"
Captain Bayley repeated, in a somewhat puzzled tone.
"Are you talking of yourself?"
"Lor' no, sir, the young person."
"But what young person do you mean? How can any
young person have been your son Harry's mother except
yourself?"
"He ain't really my son, you see, sir; he is the son of
a young person who we took in, John and I, and who
died at our house; Harry is her son."
A great change passed over Captain Bayley's face, the
expression of impatience died out, and was succeeded by
one almost of awe. He dropped the paper which he had
hitherto held in his hand, and leaning forward he asked
in low tones:
"Do you mean that a woman who had in her possession
some article with my crest on it, and who had a child
with her, died in your house?"
"Yes, sir, that's what I mean; the article is a little
gold seal, with a red stone to it."
"How long ago was this?" came slowly from Captain
Bayley's lips.


r
239
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S SMB.
"About seventeen years ago," Mrs. Holl said. "Tha
mother died a few days afterward; the child is our Harry;
and I came to ask you—but, good lawks!"
An ashen grayness had been stealing across the old
officer's face, and Mrs. Holl was terrified at seeing him
suddenly fall forward across the table.
She rushed to the door to ask for help. James was in
the hall, having waited there, expecting momentarily to
hear his master tell him to show his visitor out. He
began to utter exclamations of dismay at seeing his mas-
ter's senseless figure.
"I will lift him up," she said. "Eun and fetch the
butler and the cook, and then go for the doctor as quick
as you can run; he has got a stroke."
The butler was first upon the scene. Mrs. Holl had
already lifted Captain Bayley into a sitting position.
"I have taken off his necktie and opened his oollar," she
said. The butler, who was unaware of Mrs. Holl's pres-
ence there, was astonished at the scene.
"Who are you?" he gasped, "and what have you been
doing to the captain? H you have killed him it will be
a hanging matter, you know."
"Don't you be a fool," retorted Mrs. Holl sharply,
"but run for some water; he has got a stroke, though
what it came from is more nor I can tell."
To be called a fool by this unknown woman of coarse
appearance roused the butler's faculties. He was sin-
cerely attached to his master, and without reply he at
once hurried away for water.
In five minutes the doctor, who lived close by, entered.
Mrs. Holl was still holding up the insensible man; Alice
Btood crying beside her, the servants were looking on.
"Open the windows," he said.
Then he felt the captain's pulse. For some time ho
stood silent; then he said:


240
CAPTAIN BA YLET'S HEIR.
"Lay him down at full length on the couch." Mrs.
Holl, without the least effort, lifted the slight figure and
laid it on the sofa.
"Now," the doctor said, "will you all leave the room
except Miss Hardy and you?" he nodded to Mrs. Holl.
As the servants retired reluctantly, the butler said:
"Please, sir, I don't know whether you know it, but
that woman was with him alone when he got insensible.
I don't know what she did to him, but I should recom-
mend that we should have a policeman in readiness."
"Nonsense," the surgeon said. "However, it will be
better that she should retire; but let her wait outside,
close at hand, in case he wishes to speak to her."
Sarah Holl followed the servants into the hall. The
doctor poured a few drops of cordial between Captain
Bayley's lips, and placed some strong salts beneath his
nostrils.
"You think he will come round?" Alice asked.
"He will come round," the doctor said confidently;
"his pulse is gaining power rapidly. It is not paralysis,
but a sort of fainting fit, brought on, I should imagine,
by some sudden shock; his heart is weak, and there was
a sudden failure of its powers. I have warned him over
and over again not to excite himself. However, I think
there is no great harm done this time; but he must be
careful in future; another such attack and it might go
hard with him. See, he is coming round." In a few
minutes Captain Bayley opened his eyes and looked round
vaguely.
"Lie quiet for a little while, my dear sir," the doctor
said cheerfully; "you have been ill, a sort of faintingfit,
but you will be all right in a short time. Drink this
glass of cordial.'' He lifted his patient's head and held
the glass to his lips. As Captain Bayley drank it Alice
placed a pillow under his head.


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
"How was it?" Captain Bayley asked, in a low tone.
"We don't know," the doctor said; "but don't think
about it at present. What you have to do now is to get
quite strong again; it will be time afterward for you to
think what upset you. You have given Miss Hardy here
quite a fright."
Captain Bayley nodded to Alice. "I never did such a
thing before," he said. "I was reading here in the
library—" Then he stopped, a sudden flush came to his
face.
"Don't agitate yourself, my dear sir," the doctor
said soothingly, "agitation now would be a very serious
thing. Drink a little more of this."
Captain Bayley did as he was told, and then asked:
"Where is the woman who was speaking to me?"
"She is outside," the doctor said. "I told her to
wait. But you really must not see her for a time."
"I am all right now," Captain Bayley said, rising to
his elbow, "and it will agitate me less to see her than to
wait. She brought me very strange news, news which I
never thought to hear. It is not bad news, my dear,"
he said to Alice, "it is the best news I ever heard. You
need not go away, doctor," he said, seeing the physi-
cian was preparing to leave; "you are an old friend, and
know all about it; beside, it is no secret. You know
how I searched for very many years for my daughter and
her child, and came at last to the conclusion that both
must be dead, for she was in a dying state when last
heard of. Well, I have found that the boy is alive. He
has been brought up by the woman who is the mother of
a boy who works here."
"Oh! I know," Alice exclaimed, "Frank told me the
story. She had told him about a woman who had fallen
down at her door, years ago, and how she had brought
up the child. But oh, uncle 1" she said pitifully, "I


242
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
have a sad thing to tell you. Frank said that he was
Buch a nice boy, so clever and good. Frank used to go
and help him with his books and he can read Latin and
all sorts of things; but, uncle, he met with an accident
when he was little, and he is a cripple."
For a minute Captain Bayley was silent.
"It is part of my punishment, dear," he said at last.
"God's will be done. However, cripple or not, I am
thankful to find that, from what you say, he is a boy
whom I can own without shame, for the thought has
troubled me always, that, should Ella's son be alive, he
might have grown up a companion of thieves, a wander-
ing vagabond. Thank God, indeed, it is not so! I am
glad you told me, Alice. Now, let me see this good
woman who has been a mother to him."
Mrs. Holl was again called in, and was asked to sit
down.
"The question you wished to ask me," Captain Bayley
said, "was, I suppose, whether I could give you any clew
as to who was the woman you took in, and whose child
you adopted? She was my daughter."
"Lor", sirl" Mrs. Holl exclaimed, "who would have
thought such a thing?"
"Who, indeed," Captain Bayley repeated; "but so it
was. For years I sought for her in vain, and had long
since given up all hope of ever hearing of her. Have
you got the seal with you?"
After some search Mrs. Holl produced from the corner
of her capacious pocket the seal, carefully wrapped up in
paper.
"That is it," Captain Bayley said, with a sigh.
"Alice, go to my desk, open the inner compartment, and
(here you will see the fellow to it."
Alice did as he requested.


24ti
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
all the better friends because you love, as do I, my dear
good cousin, Frank."
"Well, Harry," Captain Bayloy said hastily, "when
will you come home to me? I don't want to press you
to leave your kind friends here too suddenly, but I am
longing to have you home. I have the carriage at the
end of the street if you will come now."
"No, grandfather, not to-day; I will come to-morrow.
Father took his dinner away with him, and he will not
be back till this evening, and I am not going to let him
come and find me gone."
"Quite right, my boy, quite right," Captain Bayley
said. "Then to-morrow, at eleven o'clock, I will come
round in the carriage and fetch you. Mrs. Holl, remem-
ber that Harry Bayley owes you a deep debt of gratitude,
which he will do his best some day to repay as far as it
is in his power. Good-by, Harry, for the present. I
am glad your mother gave you my name; it seems to
show she thought kindly of me at the last. Perhaps she
found, poor girl, that I had not been altogether wrong in
my opposition to her unhappy fancy.''
The following day Harry was installed in Eaton Square.
Captain Bayley was delighted to find how easily and
naturally he fell into the new position, how well he ex-
pressed himself, and how wide was his range of knowl-
edge.
"He is a gentleman, every inch," he exclaimed de-
lightedly to Alice. "If you knew how I have thought of
him you would understand how happy it makes me to
see him what he is.''
Captain Bayley lost no time in obtaining the best pos-
sible surgical advice for his grandson; their opinion was
not as favorable as he had hoped. Had he been properly
treated at the time of his accident he might, they said,,


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
have made a complete recovery; but now it was too late.
However, they thought that by means of surgical appli-
ances, and a course of medicinal baths, he might recover
the use of his legs to some extent, and be able to walk
with crutches. This was something, and the captain
determined at once to carry their advice into effect.
Between Alice Hardy and the lad a strong friendship
speedily sprang up. The girl's bright talk, which was
80 different from anything he had hitherto experienced,
was very delightful to the lad; but the strong bond be-
tween them was their mutual feeling about Frank. From
her Harry learned the oharge under which Frank labored,
and his indignant repudiation of the possibility of such
a thing delighted Alice's heart; hitherto she had been
alone in her belief, and it was delightful to her to talk
with one who was of her own way of thinking. She in-
fected Harry with her own dislike and suspicions of Fred
Barkley, and amused the lad greatly by telling him how,
when she had heard of the discovery of his existence, she
had, when Mrs. Holl left, gone straight up to her room
and indulged in a wild dance of delight at the destruc-
tion of Fred's hope of being Captain Bayley's sole heir.
"It was glorious," she said. "I knew Fred hated
Frank, though Frank, silly old boy, was always taking
his part with me and scolding me because I didn't like
his cousin; and I am quite, quite sure that he has had
something to do with getting Frank into this dreadful
scrape, and it was glorious to think that just when he
thought that he had got the field clear, and Uncle Harry
all to himself, you should suddenly appear and put his
nose out of joint. That's a very unladylike expression,
Harry, and I know I oughtn't to use it, but there's
nothing else does so well. It's Fred's holidays now, and
he is away; I expect uncle will write and tell him all


CAPTAIN BA YLEY 'S HEIR. 249
his grandson had been found, and that he was all that he
could wish to find him.
"Naturally, Fred," he wrote, "this will make a con-
siderable difference in your prospects. At the same
time, as you have been led to believe that you would
come into a considerable property at my death, and as
you have done nothing to forfeit my confidence and affec-
tion, having proved yourself in all ways a steady and
industrious and honorable young fellow, I do not con-
sider it right that you should be altogether disinherited
by a discovery which has occasioned me such vast pleas-
ure. I have therefore instructed my solicitor to prepare
a new will. By this he will settle my property in War-
wickshire, and my town house, upon my grandson; but
my other house property, and a portion of my money in
stocks and shares, which has been accumulating for many
years, will be left to you, the value of the legacy being,
I calculate, about one-half of that of the property left to
my grandson. Thus you will be in nearly the same posi-
tion you would have occupied had not your cousin Frank
forfeited, by his disgraceful conduct, his place in my
affections."
Whatever may have been the feelings of Fred Barkley
when he received this communication, he wrote a grace-
ful letter of congratulation to his uncle, expressing his
pleasure at the discovery of his long-lost grandson, and
with many thanks for his kind intention on his own be-
half. His anger and disappointment were so great that
he did not return to town until the day before he was
going up to Cambridge—having left Westminster at the
end of the preceding term—for he did not feel himself
equal, before that time, to continue to play his part, and
to express personally the sentiments which he had writ-
ten. What rendered his disappointment even more


260 CAPTAIN BA YLEY 'S HEIR.
bitter was the thought that, indirectly, it was Frank who
had dealt him the blow, for Captain Bayley had men-
tioned in his letter that it was through the boy whom his
cousin had recommended as an assistant to the footman
that the discovery had been made.
The visit that he paid at Eaton Square was a short one.
To his relief Alico was not present, for he was certain
that she would have watched him with malicious pleas-
ure. But there had been a passage of arms between her
and her guardian of a more serious nature than any which
had ocourred since she had been under his care, owing to
her having expressed herself with her usual frankness
respecting Fred's visit.
Her guardian had resented this warmly, and had rated
her so severely as to what he called her wicked prejudice
against Fred, that she had retired to her room in tears.
This defeat of his favorite had not predisposed Harry to
any more favorable opinion of his unknown cousin; but
Fred, relieved from the presence of Alice, acted his part
so well, and infused so genuine a ring into the tone of
his congratulations, that he did much to dissipate the
prejudice with which Harry was prepared to regard him.
Alice was quick to observe the impression which Fred
had made, and quarreled hotly with Harry concerning it.
"I am disappointed in you altogether, Harry. I have
looked upon you as being a real friend of Frank, and now
you desert him directly his enemy says a few soft words
to you. I despise such friendship, and I don't want to
have anything to say to you."
In vain Harry protested. The girl flung herself out
of the room in deep anger, and thenceforth, for a long
time, Harry was made to feel that although she wished
to be civil to him as her guardian's grandson, yet that
the bond of union between them was entirely broken.


252
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
grandfather—mind I do not share all Alice's prejudice,
and have no inclination in any way to doubt the honesty
of my cousin Fred—but at the same time, in bare justice
to Frank, we must not forget that Fred was really a rival
of his in your affections, and that he would possibly bene-
fit greatly by Frank's disgrace, and we must also remem-
ber that the only evidence against Frank, with the excep-
tion of the circumstantial proof, comes from him.
"It was he who furnished Frank with funds to enable
him to run away, and we cannot tell whether or not he
did not even urge him to fly. You must remember,
grandfather, that Alice asserts Fred always hated Frank.
I know she is prejudiced and that you never noticed the
feeling nor did Frank; but children's perceptions are
very quick. And even allowing that she liked Frank
much the best, Fred was always, as she admits, very kind
and attentive to her—more so, in some ways, than Frank,
and there was no reason, therefore, for her taking up
such a prejudice had she not been convinced that it was
true.
"Now, grandfather, I will tell you what has occurred
to me. I know it will appear a hideously unjust sus-
picion to you, but I will tell you once for all, and we will
not recur to the subject again; God knows I may be
wronging him cruelly, but the wrong would be no greater
than that which has been done to Frank if he is really
innocent.
"Ever since you told me the whole story, I have lain
awake at night thinking it over. It may be that what
Alice has said may have turned my thoughts that way,
but I can see only two explanations of the affair.
"Frank is really guilty, or he is altogether innocent.
If he is innocent, who was guilty? Some one took the
note, some one sent it to Frank, and this some one must


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
253
bo a person who knew that Prank was in need of it; who-
ever did so can only have done it with one of two motives,
either to get Frank out of trouble, or to bring disgrace
upon him. Only four boys knew of the affair, and they
all declare that they told no one else. If they spoke
truly it was one of these four sent him the note—always
supposing that he did not take it himself. Of the other
three I know nothing; but I will take the case of Fred
and view it as if he was a stranger to both of us.
"He was a rival of Frank's. Alice declares he hated
him. At any rate he would benefit greatly by Frank's
disgrace. What did he do when Frank asked him to
help him? He refused to do so, on the ground that he
had no money; but two days later he was able to raise
double the sum Frank then wanted in order to assist him
to fly. Dreadful as the supposition is, it seems to me that
the only positive alternative to supposing Frank to be
guilty is to believe that his cousin took this note and sent
it to him in order to bring him into disgrace, and that
he afterward urged and assisted him to fly in order to
stamp his guilt more firmly upon him."
While Harry had been speaking Captain Bayley had
paced up and down the room.
"Impossible, Harry," he exclaimed, "impossible.
For, bad as was the case of Frank taking the note on the
pressure of the moment to get himself out of the silly
scrape into which he had got, this charge which you
bring against Fred would be a hundred times, ay, a thou-
sand times worse. It would be a piece of hideous treach-
ery, a piece of villainy of which I can scarce believe a
human being capable."
"I do not bring the charge, grandfather," Harry said
quietly, "I only state the alternative. That one of your
nephews took this note seems to me to be clear; the


354 CAPTAIN BA TLEY'S HEIR.
crime would be infinitely greater, infinitely more unpar-
donable in the one case than the other, but the incentive,
too, was enormously greater. In the one case the only
object for the theft would be to avoid the consequence of
a foolish, but, after all, not a serious freak; in the other
to obtain a large fortune, and to ruin the chances of a
dangerous rival.
"Eemember, at that time Fred did not know how you
had determined to dispose of your property. Frank was
living with you, and was apparently your favorite, there-
fore he may have deemed that it was all or nothing.
There, grandfather, I have done. I need not say that I
know little of the real disposition of your two nephews.
Frank behaved to me with the greatest kindness when I
was a poor cripple without the slightest claim upon him.
Fred has behaved kindly and courteously, although I
have come between him and you. I can only say that I
believe that one of these two must be guilty; which it is,
God alone knows."
"I wish you had said nothing about it," Captain Bay-
ley groaned, "it is dreadful; I don't know what to do
or what to think."
"There is nothing to be done," Harry said, "except,
grandfather, to find Frank. Let us find him and see
him face to face; let us hear his story from beginning to
end, and I think then we shall arrive at a just conclusion.
I have no doubt he has gone abroad, and I should advise
that you should advertise in all the Colonial and Ameri-
can papers begging him to return to have an interview
with you, and offering a handsome reward to any one
who will give you information of his whereabouts. If we
find where he is, and he will not come to us, we will go
to him."
"That's what I will do, Harry. I will not lose a


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
255
moment's time, but will set about it at once; if I spend
ten thousand pounds in advertising I will find him. As
to Fred, I cannot meet him again until I get to the bot-
tom of the affair, so we will stay away from England till
I get some news of Frank."
Before starting abroad, Captain Bayley carried out his
plan for rewarding John and Sarah Holl for the kindness
they had shown to Harry. After consultation with his
grandson, he had concluded that the best plan of doing
so would be to help them in their own mode of life. He
accordingly called upon the dust-contractor for whom
John Holl worked, a man who owned twenty carts. An
agreement was soon come to with him, by which Captain
Bayley agreed to purchase his business at his own price,
with the whole of the plant, carts, and horses. A fort-
night after this John's master said to him one day:
"John, I have sold my business, you are going to have
a new master."
"I am sorry for that," John said, "for we have got on
very well together for the last fifteen years. Besides,"
he added thoughtfully, "it may be a bad job for me; I
am not as young as I used to be, and he may bring new
hands with him."
"I will speak to him about you, John," his master
said; "he is a good sort, and I dare say I can manage it.
The thing is going to be done well. Three or four new
carts are going to be put on instead of some of the old
ones, and there are ten first-rate horses coming in place
of some of those that are getting past work. The stables
are all being done up, and the thing is going to be done
tip-top. Curiously enough his name is the same as
yours, John Holl."
"Is it now?" John said. "Well, that will be arum
go, to see my own name on the carts, 'John Holl, Dust


256
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
Contractor.' It don't sound bad neither. So you will
speak to him, gaffer?"
"Ay, I will speak to him," his employer answered.
Three days later John received a message from his
master to the effect that the new gaffer would take pos-
session next day, and that he was to call at the office at
eleven o'clock. He added that his new employer said
that he wished Mrs. Holl to go round with her husband.
John and Sarah were greatly mystified with the latter
part of this message, until the solution occurred to them
that probably their late employer had mentioned that
Mrs. Holl went out charring and cleaning, and that he
might intend to engage her to keep the office tidy.
Accordingly, at eleven o'clock on the following day,
John and Sarah presented themselves at the office at
Chelsea. As they entered the yard they were greatly
amused at seeing all the carts ranged along, in the glory
of new paint, with "John Holl, Dust Contractor," in
large letters on their sides. A boy was in the office, who
told them that they were to go to the house. The yard
was situated near the river, and the house which adjoined
it was a large, old-fashioned building, standing in a
pretty, walled garden. They went to the back door, and
knocked. It was opened by a bright-looking servant-
girl.
"Is Mr. Holl in?" Sarah asked.
"You are to be shown in," the girl said, and ushered
them into a large, old-fashioned parlor, comfortably fur-
nished.
John and Sarah gave a cry of surprise, for, sitting by
the fire, in his wheeled box, just as in the olden time,
was Harry.
Scarce a day had passed since he had left them with-
out his coming in for a half-hour for a chat with them,
but his appearance here struck them with astonishment.


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
257
"What on arth be you a-doing here, Harry?" Mrs.
Holl asked. "Do you know our new gaffer?"
"Yes, mother, I know him. Captain Bayley has had
some business with him, and asked me to come down
here to see him. You are to sit down until he comes."
"But that will never do, Harry. Why, what would he
think of us if he comes in and finds us sitting down in
his parlor just as if the pb.?3 belonged to us?"
"It's all right, mother, I will make it right with him;
he's a good fellow, is the new gaffer—a first-rate fellow."
"Is he, now?" John asked, interested, as he and
Sarah, seeing nothing else to do, sat down. "And hia
name is John Holl, just the same as mine?"
"Just the same, John, and he's not unlike you either.
Now, when I tell you what a kind action he did once,
you will see the sort of fellow he is. Once, a good many
years ago, when he wasn't as well off as he is now, when
he was just a hard-working man, earning his weekly pay,
a poor woman with a child fell down dying at his door.
Well, you know, other people would have sent for a
policeman and had her taken off to the workhouse, but he
and his wife took her into their house and tended her till
she died."
"That was a right-down good thing," John said, quite
oblivious of the fact that he too had done such an action.
Sarah did not speak, but gave a little gasping cry, and
threw her apron, which she wore indoors and out, over
her head, a sure sign with her that she was going to in-
dulge in what she called "a good cry." John looked at
her in astonishment.
"And more than that, John," Harry went on, "they
took in the child, and brought it up as one of their own;
and though afterward they had a large family, they never
made him feel that he was a burden to them, though he


258
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
grew up a cripple, and was able to do nothing to repay
them for all their goodness. Well, at last the boy's
friends were found. They had lots of money, and the
time came at last when they bought a business for John
Holl; and when he came, there the cripple boy was, sit-
ting at the fire, to welcome them and say, 'Welcome,
father! and -welcome, mother 1'" and Harry held out his
hands to them both.
Even now John Holl did not understand. He was
naturally dull of comprehension, and the loud sobbing of
his wife so bewildered and confounded him that it
divided his attention with Harry's narrative.
"Yes, Harry," he said, "it's all very nice. But what's
come to you, Sarah? What are you making all this fuss
about? We shall be having the new master coming in
and finding you sobbing and rocking yourself like a mad
-woman. Cheer up, old woman. What is it?"
"Don't you see, John," Sarah sobbed out, "don't you
aee Harry has been telling you your own story? Don't
you see that is you he has been talking about, and that
you are 'John Holl, Dust Contractor?'"
"Me?" John said, in utter bewilderment.
"Yes, father," Harry said, taking his hand, "you are
the John Holl. This house, and the business, and the
carts and horses, are yours; Captain Bayley has bought
them all for you. He would not come here himself, as I
wished him, but he asked me to tell you and mother how
glad he was to be able to repay, in a small way, he said,
your great kindness to me, and how he hoped that you
would prosper here, and be as happy as you deserve to
be. You will be better off than your last gaffer, for he
had to pay rent for this house and yard, but, as grand-
father has bought the freehold of them all for you, you
will have no rent to pay; and therefore I hope, even in


CAPTAIN BA TLET'8 HEIR. 259
bad times, you will be able to get along comfortably.
There, father, there, mother, dry your eyes, and look
sharp, for I can hear voices in the garden. Evan went to
your house after you had gone to bring all the children
round-here in a cab.
"You will find everything in the house, mother, and
you must get a grand tea as soon as possible. I have got
a servant for you—for, you know, you must have a ser-
vant now."
The next minute the children came bounding in, wild
with delight, and a happier party never assembled than
those who sat round the table of "John Holl, Dust Con-
tractor," on the evening of his first taking possession of
his new property.


260
CAPTAIN BA YLEY '3 HEIR.
CHAPTEE Xm
THE LONELY DIGGEBS.
The camp increased rapidly, for although no extraor-
dinarily rich finds were made, the valley bottom widened
out at this point, and the gold was generally dissemin-
ated in quantities sufficient to enable the miners to live,
and every one hoped that, as they got deeper, their
claims would increase in value. Every day added to the
number of tents and huts. Three bars competed with
each other for the favor of the diggers, and two large
stores drove a profitable trade in food and mining tools
and materials; brawls at the gambling-tables were of
nightly occurrence, and no small proportion of the gold
obtained by the more fortunate diggers found its way
into the pockets of the gamblers.
"I tell you what, Abe," Prank said, a short time after
their arrival, when they heard that a young man had
been shot down by one of the most notorious ruffians in
the camp, "I think it would be a good plan if we were all
to agree that we will not enter one of these saloons. I
know it's a temptation, after work is over, to saunter in
there; but I think such a party as we are are enough for
each other. We have done well enough for months out
on the plains, and I don't see why we should not do so
now. We are friends, and should be awfully sorry to
see any one of our number losing his share of our joint
earnings at the gambling-tables, or brought home with a
bullet-hole in his head.


262
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
no one is very likely to ask any of us to get up and go
off to one of the saloons."
The suggestion was adopted, and all bound themselves
not to enter a saloon to drink or gamble unless invited
to take a drink under circumstances in which a refusal
would be taken in bad part.
"I am mighty glad you proposed that," Abe said,
afterward. "Eube is all right, but Peter and Dick are
both of 'em fond of going on a spree now and then, and
this may keep them from it. I told 'em when we started
that I was ready to go partners as long as they kept from
drink, but I wasn't going to tie myself up with any one
as was going in for that. When we dissolves partner-
ship each one will have a right to do with his share what
he likes; he can gamble it away, or drink it away, or fool
it away as he chooses, but no man as drinks overnight
will do his fair share of work next day. Besides, luck
may at any time go agin us, and we may have to fall back
on what we have laid by when times were good; and if
any one had been and spent his share he couldn't bo
looking to the others to support him. Beside, as I
pinted out, we might want all the money we has got
atween us to buy up a claim in a good place. They
agreed to it, and so far they have kept to it; not, of
course, as they had much chance to do otherwise on the
way. Still, I think this fresh agreement's likely to do
good. We are working here on shares, and each man is
bound to do his best for the others."
After sitting by the fire for some time of an evening,
Frank generally got up and strolled round the camp, ac-
companied by Turk. There were many phases of life pre-
sented to him. While the successful diggers were drink-
ing and gambling in the saloons, there were many who
could barely keep life together. It was true this was in


CAPTAIN BAYLKY'S HEIB.
263
most cases their own fault, for men willing to work could
earn their five dollars a day by laboring in the claims of
wealthier or more successful diggers; but many would
hold on to their own claims, hoping against hope, and
believing always that the ground would get richer as they
went down.
Frank chatted freely with all, and he and his great dog
were soon known to everyone in camp. He was able to
do many little acts of kindness to those whose luck was
bad; for on arriving at the end of the journey each of
the party had, at Abe's suggestion, put twenty dollars
into the common fund, and beyond this amount the sum
he had brought with him from Omaha was still un-
touched; and many a man who would otherwise have
gone to bed supper!ess after a hard day's work, was in-
debted to him for the means of procuring a few pounds
of flour and a pound or two of pork.
His attention had been particularly attracted to two
men who lived in a small tent a hundred yards away
from any of the others, and who worked a claim by them-
selves. They did not seem to have any communication
with the rest of the diggers, and kept themselves entirely
apart. While at work Frank had heard several jeering
remarks as to the absurdity of working a claim in a part
of the ground which had over and over again been tried
and abandoned, and Frank felt sure that the men were
doing badly.
One day he observed that only one of the men was at
work, the younger of the two; and as he continued to
wield his shovel after the others had thrown down their
tools for the evening, Frank walked over to him.
"Is your partner ill?" he asked. "I see he is not
working with you to-day."
The man nodded, but continued his work without
s'


234
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
speaking. He was evidently indisposed for conversation.
"Why I ask," Frank said, "was not for mere curi-
osity, but because we have brought up with us from
Sacramento a few bottles of fever medicine, and other
things likely to be wanted here, and if any of them would
be of use you will be heartily welcome to them. We
ought all to help each other, for no one knows whether
he himself may not want a helping hand next."
"Thank you," the man said, somewhat gruffly; "we
shall get on all right, and my mate isn't fond of
strangers."
"Ineednot trouble him myself," Frank said; "lean
bring you round any medicines here, and you can give
them to him without saying how you got them."
"Thank you; medicine wouldn't do him any good,"
the man said, and resumed his work as if anxious to avoid
further conversation.
Frank, however, was not to be discouraged. The man
looked thin and haggard, and Frank suspected that it
might be food rather than medicine of which the man's
mate was in need. He therefore stood his ground.
"I am afraid you haven't hit on a very good spot," he
said. "I don't know much about it myself, for I have
only been here about a month; but I hear everyone say
that there have been several trials made here, and that
none of them have found anything to speak of."
"We must work where we can," the man said. "The
places were pretty well all taken up when we came, and
it didn't suit us to go further."
"Well," said Frank, "I don't want to be inquisitive,
mate, or to interfere in other people's affairs, but I
noticed your mate looked an elderly man, and that you
seemed pretty much alone. I am only just out here
myself, and I and the party I am working with are doing


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
265
fairly; so I thought it would be only neighborly to come
over and see if I could be of use in any way.''
"No, thank you," the man repeated; "there's nothing
we want."
Frank saw that at present he could do nothing; but he
had little doubt that the two men were really suffering
severely. Still he understood and respected their pride
and with a friendly "Good-evening" strolled oft to his
own hut.
The next evening he again went round to the solitary
workman.
"How is your mate?" he asked.
The man shook his head. "He's pretty bad."
The tone was softer and less repellent than that which
he had used the evening before. He was a young man of
not more than twenty-four, and Frank saw that his lip
quivered as he turned away from him and dug his shovel
into the ground.
"If your mate is worse," Frank said, "you have no
right to refuse my offer. I cannot help feeling that you
are doing badly; in that case, why should you not let me
lend you a hand? There's no disgrace in being unlucky.
Here men are unlucky one week, and make a rich strike
on the week following, and then they can lend a hand to
others, just as a hand may have been lent to them when
they wanted it. I think by your accent that you are an
Englishman, and an educated one, just as I am myself.
Why on earth don't you let me be a friend to you?"
The man did not reply; but Frank could guess by the
random way in which he was doing his work, that a
struggle was going on.
"He would not hear of it," he said at last.
"Then don't let him hear of it," Frank said promptly.
"If he has any mistaken ideas about taking help from a


266
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
stranger, the sort of ideas one would naturally have at
home, and is ill and wants something, we must help him
in spite of himself. If, as I suspect, he needs other
matters as well as medicine, you should provide him,
even if it be necessary to carry out a little harmless
deception."
"I would not tell him a lie," the man said almost
fiercely.
"No, there's no occasion for that," Frank went on.
"You can tell him that you have come across that nugget
in the claim," and Frank tossed into the hole a nugget
for which he had half an hour before given a digger ten
dollars from his own store.
For a moment the man stood irresolute, and then burst
into a passion of tears. Frank saw that he had gained
the day, and saying, "I will come round for a chat to-
morrow afternoon. That's my camp up there—that tent
just on the ridge. I have really medicines, if you think
they will be of any use," strolled away to his supper.
He glanced round when he had gone a little distance, and
saw the digger running at full speed toward the solitary
tent.
The next evening the young man dropped his shovel aa
he approached him, and came to meet him.
"I did not thank you last night," he began.
"Nonsense," Frank said, interrupting; "there ia no
occasion whatever for thanks. Why, it's the custom
here, whenever any one is taken ill, or is unfortunate,
and has to move on, a few friends, or, as it often hap-
pens, a few strangers, will each chip in a pinch of gold
dust to help him on. It's the rule here that we stand by
each other, and being both Englishmen, it is natural we
should lend each other a hand. How is your mate?"
"He is a good deal better, thanks to the food I was


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S BEIR. 267
able to get for him; for, as you guessed, we have been
nearly starving the last fortnight."
"But why did you keep on working at such a place as
this?" Frank asked. "Why didn't you go on wages?
There are plenty of men here who would be glad to take
on an extra hand if they could get him."
The young man hesitated.
"I know it must eeem utter folly," he said at last,
"but the fact is my partner has a fixed idea that claim
will turn out well; he dreamed it."
'' Pooh!'' Frank said; "diggers are constantly dream-
ing about lucky places—and no wonder, when they are
always thinking about them. I consider it madness to
keep on toiling here, even if your mate is ill. It is folly
to give in to him in this way, and for you both to be half-
starved when you can earn, at any rate, enough to keep
you both by working for others."
"That is just what I knew you would say," the young
man replied, "and I feel it myself, thoroughly."
"Then why on earth do you keep on doing it?"
"I have a reason, a very particular reason, though I
am not at liberty to explain it."
"Well, then, there's no more to be said," Frank
replied, vexed at what he regarded as obstinate folly.
He talked for a few minutes, and then strolled away, and
for the next two days did not go near the digger who
seemed so bert on slaving uselessly.
The third i .ay Frank noticed that the man was not at
work on his claim. As soon as he knocked off in the
evening he walked across to the spot. The tools still lay
in the hole, showing that the claim had not been aban-
doned, although work had temporarily ceased.
Next day the claim was still unworked; the tent stood
in its place, showing that the diggers had not moved



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Capt. B. H.
THE SICK FRIEND IN THE MINING CAMP.-Page 271.


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
271
"I can't tell, except by his pulse; but that certainly
Beems to me to be stronger. I gave him a few drops of
laudanum a couple of hours ago, and it seems to me he
has been dozing since; at any rate his eyes have been
half closed. I think that it is extreme weakness more
than anything else; he has overtaxed his strength, and is
worn out with fatigue and starvation. I shouldn't be
surprised if he gets round all right with quiet and
food." The opening of the tent, and the sound of
voices outside, roused the young digger, who had slept
without stirring from the moment he had lain down.
He joined the others outside.
"How I have slept!" he said. "I can't tell you how
much I am obliged to you; I was regularly done up, and
now I shall be able to take a fresh start again."
"My partner, Abe, here, has just brought us down
some tea and breakfast, and some really strong soup for
your mate." For Frank did not know whether the
young man would wish the fact of the relationship be-
tween him and his companion generally known.
"Thank you, heartily," the young man said, as he
seated himself by the side of Frank, on the stump of a
feled tree, and took the tea and food from Abe's hands.
"I feel ready to go on again now; but last night I quite
broke down. I have no one to speak to, you see, and it
was awful to see him lying there, and to be able to do
nothing. Your friend here," and he nodded to Frank,
"had been so kind to us a week ago, that I felt sure he
would not mind sitting up with him, though I know he
thought me a fool to go on digging at that wretched hole.
I think he looks"—and he motioned to the tent—"a
little better this morning. Of course there's not much
change; but his face does not look quite as it did yester-
day. I don't know what the difference is, but I am sure
there is a difference."


272
CAPTAIN BA YLET'S HEIR.
"His pulse is certainly a little stronger," Frank said,
"and I hope we shall pull him round, though I did not
think so when I saw him yesterday. I have been giving
him broth every hour, and a few spoonfuls of lemonade
with brandy in it between times, and I think the brandy
has done him more good than the soup; if I were in your
place, I would go on doing just the same to-day. This
soup Abe Las brought down is very strong, and two or
three spoonfuls at a time will be all he will want; there
is another lemon in there, and I would go on giving him
brandy too; I think it's just strength he wants."
"Strength and hope," the young man said. "He has
all along made up his mind that claim would pay, and I
think its failure did more to break him down than even
the fatigue and want of food; that was why I kept on
working as long as he was sensible. He still believed in
it, and would not hear of my stopping to nurse him. He
was very bad that night I went home with the nugget,
almost as bad as he was last night; but when I showed it
him he seemed to revive, and it was only when three
days passed without my being able to show another speck
of gold that he fell back again."
"Oh! you did find a nugget, then?" Abe said. "No
one thought you would strike on anything thar."
"I found it because your friend put it there,*' the
young man said, "and he saved both our lives, for we
Were starving."
Abe grunted.
"You shouldn't have kept it so dark, lad. We ain't
bad fellows, we diggers, though we are a rough lot, and
no one need starve in a mining camp. But no doubt
you had your reasons," he added, seeing the miner's face
blush up. "But what on arth made your mate stick to
that thar hole? Any one could have seen with half an
eye that it wasn't a likely place."


GAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
273
"He has a sort of belief in dreams, and he dreamed
three times, as he told me, of a stunted tree with gold
underneath it. We have been to half the mining camps
hi the country, and never had any luck; but directly he
came here he saw a tree standing just where our claim is,
and he declared it was the one he dreamed of. I told
him then it didn't seem a likely place to work, but he
would have it that it was the tree, and that there was
gold under it. He was already weak and ill, and to
please him I set to work there. I may tell you, as I have
told your friend, that he is my father; there is no reason
that there should be any mystery about it, and my only
reason for wishing that it should not be generally known
is that he had a sort of fancy against it."
"I guessed as much, young man," Abe said, "when I
saw you working together three weeks ago. A young
man don't tie himself to an old partner who ain't no
more good than a child at work unless there's some rea-
son for it, and there's many a father and son, ay, and a
father and four or five sons, working together in every
mining camp here. Still, if the old man has a fancy
agin it we will say naught on the subject. So he dreamed
three times of the tree, did he? Well, then, I don't
blame him for sticking to the claim; I don't suppose
there are a dozen miners in this camp who wouldn't have
done the same. I believes there's something in dreams
myself; most of us do. And he reoognized the tree
directly, you say? Wall, it's time for my mate and I to
be off to work, but this evening I will walk round and
have a look at your claim; thar may be somewhat in it,
arter all."
"You don't really believe in dreams, Abe?" Frank
said, as they walked off together.
"I think thar's something in 'em," Abe said. "1


274
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
have heard many a queer story about dreams, and I
reckon thar ain't many men as has lived out all thar lives
in the plains as doubts thar's something in 'em. The
Injins believe in 'em, and, though they ain't got no
books to larn 'em, the Injins ain't fools in their own way.
I have known a score of cases where dreams came true."
"Yes, I dare say you have," Frank said; "but then
there are tens of thousands of cases in which dreams
don't come true. A man dreams, for instance, that his
wife, or his mother, or some one he cares for, is dead;
when he gets home he finds her all right, and never
thinks any more about the dream, or says anything about
it. If in one case out of ten thousand he finds she is
dead, he tells everyone about his dream, and it is quoted
all about as an instance that dreams come true."
"Yes, perhaps there's something in that," Abe agreed.
"But I think there's more than that too. I know a case
of a chap who was out in the plains hunting for a caravan
on its way down to Santa Fe. There weren't, as far as
he knew, any Injins about, and what thar was had
always shown themselves friendly and peaceable. He
laid down by the fire and went to sleep, and he dreamed
that a party of Injins scalped him. He woke in a regu-
lar sweat from fright, and he was so badly scared that he
scattered the ashes of his fire and took his horse and
led him into a cedar bush close by. He hadn't been thar
twenty minutes when he heard tramping of horses, and
along came a party of Injins. They halted not twenty
yards away from where his fire had been, and camped till
the morning, and then rode on again. He could see by
thar dress and paint they were up to mischief, and the
very next day they fell upon a small caravan and killed
every soul. Now that man's dream saved [his life; thar
warn't no doubt about that. If he hadn't had warning,


CAPTAIN BA TLEY'S HEIR.
275
and had time to scatter his fire, and move quiet into the
bush, and get a blanket over his horse's head to prevent
its snorting, it would have been all up with him; and I
could tell you a dozen tales like that."
"I think that could be accounted for," Frank said.
"The man perhaps was sleeping with his ear on the
ground, and in his sleep may have heard the tramping of
the Indians' horses as they went over a bit of stony
ground, long before he could hear them when he arose to
his feet, and the noise set his brain at work, and he
dreamed the dream you have told me. But I know from
what I have heard that gold-miners are, almost to a man,
full of fancies and superstitions, and that they will often
take up claims from some idea of luck rather than fro m
their experience and knowledge of ground."
After the work was over Abe and Frank went down to
the claim.
"Well, I am free to own," Abe said, "that I don't see
no chance of gold here; it's clear out of the course of the
stream."
Frank was silent for two or three minutes, and then
said:
"Well, Abe, you know I put no faith whatever in a
dream, but if you look at that sharp curve in the oppo-
site bank higher up, you will see that it is quite possible
that in the days when this was a river instead of being a
mere stream, it struck that curve and came over by where
we are standing now. As the water decreased it would
naturally find its way down the middle of the valley, as
it does now; but I think it likely enough that in the old
times it flowed under where we are standing."
"By gosh, lad, I think you are about right. What do
you say to our taking up the claims next to this? We
are not doing much more than paying our way where we
are, and it's the horses who are really earning the money."


CAPTADT BAYLEY'S HEIR.
277
went off to sleep again. To-morrow morning I will set
to work again. I don't believe a bit in the dream
myself, but it will make him more comfortable to know
that I am at work upon it; and after all it may turn out
some good." «. -
"My partners have more faith in it than I have,"
Frank said. "Abe told them about the dream, and about
what I had noticed of the probable course of the river in
the olden times, and I have a proposal to make to you.
"We will take up five claims by the side of your two, two
on one side and three on the other; then three of us will
help you sink your shaft. All that's found in your claims
will be yours; and if it turns out rich you shall pay us
just as if we had been working for you by the day.
When we have cleared out your claims we are to have the
right of using your shaft for working right and left along
the bottom over our claims. I think that's a fair offer."
"I think it's more than fair; it is most kind," the
young man said. "You are risking getting nothing for
your labor if it turns out poor."
"Yes, we are risking that," Frank agreed, "but we are
not doing ourselves much good now. The two who are
working the horses earn enough to keep the five of us,
and if by any chance your claims should turn out well,
we shall be paid for our work for you, and will be able
to work out our own claims very cheaply; if we sunk a
shaft on our own account we should similarly lose our
labor if it turned out poor, and should not get so much
if it turned out rich. So I think the bargain is really a
fair one; and if you do not agree, my mates have quite
resolved to sink a shaft on their own account on the
strength of your father's dream."
"In that case I agree most heartily," James Adams
said, "and it will gladden my father's heart to be told
that the work is now to go on really in earnest."


278 CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
"If he is better to-morrow," Frank said, "it will be as
well to get your father's consent to the agreement, and
then we will begin on the following day."
The next morning the old man woke up a good deal
better. His first question, after he had taken some soup,
was:
"How is it you aren't an work, Jim? It's broad day-
light."
"I have knocked off for to-day, father, I wanted to
have a chat with you. A party of five miners, who have
been very kind to me while you have been ill—for you
have been ill now for more than a week, though you
don't know it—have made me a very good offer, although
I could not accept it until I consulted you. You see I
cannot get on much with the claim by myself; the ground
falls in and wants timbering, and I can do nothing alone.
Well, these miners have offered to help sink our shaft,
on the conditions that they get no pay if it turns out
poor, but if it turns out well they are to be paid for their
daily labor, and when we have worked out our claims
they are to have the right of using our shaft for working
out the claims they have staked out next to ours."
"No shares, Jim," the old man said; "you are sure
they are not to have any share in our claims, because I
won't agree to that."
"No, father; the agreement is just as I told you. If
it turns out well they get their wages and the right to use
our shaft to get at their claims."
"Very well, I will agree to that; we shall get down all
the sooner to our gold. But mind, have it put down on
paper, else they will be setting up a claim to a share in
our treasure.''
"I will get it done regularly, father," Jim said.
"They mean very fairly. As I told you, they have shown


CAPTAW BA YLEY'S HEIR.
279
me the greatest kindness—indeed you owe your life to
them, for if it had not been for them, I had, as you
know, no means whatever of holding on. While you
have been ill two of them have been sitting up with you
at night. They have showed themselves true friends."
"Well, I am glad you have found some friends, Jim,"
the old man said feebly. "But you must be careful, you
know, very careful, and be sure the agreement is signed
and witnessed properly.".


280
QAPTAIN BA YLBY'S HEIR.
CHAPTER XVIII
A DBEAM VERIFIED.
On the following morning, to the astonishment of the
miners of Cedar Camp, Frank and his companions took
their tools out of their claims and shifted to the claims of
the two men of the "solitary tent." Everyone asked
himself what could be the meaning of this move, and the
general supposition was that they must have discovered
that the two men had struck upon rich ground. Scores
of miners sauntered across during the day, looked on,
and asked a question or two; but the answers they ob-
tained threw no light upon the mystery. The ground
looked most unpromising; it was a flat some ten feet
above the level of the river bed, and the spot where they
were digging was twenty yards from the edge.
Fifteen yards further back the ground rose abruptly to
a height of thirty or forty feet; the ground around was
oovered with bushes, through which a few good-sized
trees rose. The two men had dug through two feet of
alluvial soil, and about five feet of sand. Altogether, it
was a place which seemed to afford no promise whatever;
and although, at the first impulse, some miners who were
doing badly had marked out olaims next to those staked
out by Frank and his party, no steps were taken to
oooupy them.
The first day was spent in getting out planks and lining
the proposed shaft, which was made much smaller than
the hole already dug, which extended over the whole of


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
281
the two claims. The next day a windlass was put in posi-
tion, and the work began in earnest. At the depth of
twenty feet they came upon gravel, a result which greatly
raised their spirits, as its oharacter was precisely similar
to that in the bed of the stream, and showed that Frank's
conjecture was a correct one, and that the river had at
one time flowed along the foot of the high ground
beyond.
When it was known in camp that the party were get-
ting up gravel there was a great deal of talk. Some of
the older hands came and examined the place, and, notic-
ing the sharp curve in the opposite bank above, con-
cluded, as Frank had done, that instead of being, as was
generally supposed, beyond the edge of the old river bed,
it was by no means improbable that the party were work-
ing over what was at one time a point which was swept
by the main body of water coming down.
More claims were staked out, and although no one had
any intention of beginning in earnest until they dis-
covered what luck attended the party who were sinking
the shaft, just enough was done each day to retain posses-
sion of the claims. Before they had gone far into the
gravel they discovered specks of gold, and, washing a
basinful from time to time, found that it was fairly rich,
certainly as good as any that had been found a few feet
below the surface of the ground at any other spot in the
camp. They determined, however, not to wash at pres-
ent, but to pile the stuff near the mouth of the shaft, to
be washed subsequently, and to continue to sink steadily.
A fortnight after the work had begun the old man had
gained sufficient strength to make his way across to the
shaft, and after that he spent his whole time watching
the progress of the work. His tent was brought over
and pitched close at hand. By this time, as their pros-


282
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
pects really looked good, Jim had told him the true
history of the nugget he had brought home, and how
much they owed to Frank; and he so far overcame his
shrinking from intercourse with his neighbors as to be-
come really cordial with Frank, who, when supper was
over, often strolled across and smoked a pipe with Jim in
the tent.
Frank often wondered what could have brought a man
of some sixty years of age, and evidently well educated,
and a gentleman, but, as was equally clear, wholly un-
fitted by age, habits, and constitution for rough labor in
such a country as that. The son had not denied that
he was English, but as he had not admitted it in so many
words, Frank thought that his father might object to any
questions on the subject, and in their many conversations
the past was seldom alluded to.
Turk, who was Frank's constant companion, took re-
markably to the old man, and in the daytime, when the
latter was ^sitting watching the baskets coming up from
below, generally took up his position by him, sometimes
lying blinking lazily in the sun, at other times sitting
up and watching the operations gravely, as if he were
thoroughly aware of their importance.
While the ground was still unpromising, Frank and
his party had bought up, for a few dollars, the claims of
several of the men who had staked out ground next to
their own, and now held six on either side of the claim
they were sinking on. Beyond these, as soon as the
gravel was known to contain gold, other miners began to
work—for the most part in parties, as the depth at which
paying ground lay beneath the surface was so great that
it could only be reached by joint labor—and the flat so
long neglected now became one of the busiest points in
the camp.


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
283
"The gravel is getting richer and richer every day,"
Prank said to the elder Adams, five weeks after they be-
gan work. "I think now it would be as well to hire half
a dozen men to carry it down to the stream and wash it
there; yon could superintend them, and one of us will
work at the cradle. The stuff will pay splendidly now, I
am sure, and there's a big heap on the bank."
"If you think 60, by all means let us do so," the old
man said. "I should like to begin to get some gold; we
are in your debt more than a hundred dollars already,
Bince you have been advancing money for our living as the
work has gone on."
"There is no hurry on that account," Frank said.
"Ever since we washed the first pail of gravel it has been
evident that there was at least sufficient gold to pay for
washing out, and that my advances were perfectly safe;
so there is no hurry on that account. But at present it
has so improved that it would be rich enough to pay really
well;' beside, we shall be getting it stolen. I fancy last
night two or three bucketfuls were taken away at that edge
of the bank; and as there has been a perfect rush for
staking out claims to-day, I have no doubt that it was
found to pan out very rich."
The result of the first day's washing more than realized
their anticipations, for when the cradle was cleared up
over fifty ounces of gold were found at the bottom; and
at the end of three days the old man paid Prank and his
partner their wages at four dollars a day each from tho
time they had commenced working at the shaft.
Another fortnight and they reached the bed rock.
Each day the find had become heavier, but the climax
was reached when they touched the rock. It was found
that just where they reached the bottom, the rock which
formed the bank bordering the flat came down almost per-


284 CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
pendicularly to the level rock which had formed the old
bed of the stream. This was worn perfectly smooth by
the action of the water, and in the bed rock was a great
caldron soooped out by an eddy of the stream. This
was filled up with gravel, among which nuggets of gold
were lying thickly; and when its contents were taken to
the surface and separated, the gold was found to weigh
over three thousand ounces. The lower part of the
ground was then dug out to the full size of the claim,
and when all this was washed it was found that the total
amount of gold obtained from the claim was over six
thousand ounces.
As the work went on from day to day Frank observed
a gradual change coming over the elder of the two men.
At first he had been excited, and at times irritable; but
as each day showed increased returns, and it became a
moral certainty that the claim was going to turn out ex-
tremely rich, the excitement seemed to pass away. He
talked less, and spent less of his time in watching the
work going on, sometimes not even coming down to
watch the clean-up at the end of the day's work. Even
the discovery of the rich pocket in the rock scarcely
seemed to stir him. His son, upon the contrary, made
no secret of his satisfaction at the fortune which was fall-
ing to them. He shook off the reserve which had at first
distinguished him; a weight of care seemed to fall from
his shoulders, and his spirits became at times almost ex-
uberant.
At first he had looked to Frank almost a middle-aged
man, although his face and figure showed that he could
not be many years his own senior; now he looked almcit
like a schoolboy, so full was he of life and spirits. The
old man had taken much to Frank, and although during
the latter part of the time he had talked but little, ha


CAPTAIN BA YLBY'S HEIR.
285
liked him to come into the tent every evening to smoke a
pipe and chat with his son. He had several times en-
deavored to draw from Frank his reason for leaving
England and coming out to California at an age when
many lads are still at school; but he had obtained no
reply to his hints, for Frank did not care to enter upon
the story of that incident at Westminster.
The evening when the claims had been worked out,
and the last cradle washed out, the old man asked Frank
to bring Abe and his companions to the tent after they
had had their supper. The tent showed little signs of
the altered circumstances of its owners; a few more arti-
cles of cheap crockery and a couple of folding chairs were
the only additions that had been made. Some boxes had
been brought in now to serve as seats, and on one in the
center were placed half a dozen bottles of champagne,
which the young man proceeded to open.
"My friends," the elder said, "I am going away to-
morrow, and I trust that your claims will turn out every
bit as rich as ours has done."
"Even if they don't turn out as rich," Frank said,
"there is no fear of their not turning out well. We con-
sider we have made a capital bargain with you; we havo
been paid by you for our work in sinking the shaft, and
now it will be easjT for us to work our claims. It was a
lucky day for us when we made that contract to sink
your shaft."
"I am glad you think so, and very glad that you aro
likely to share my luck; still, I feel greatly indebted to
you. It was a bargain, of course, but it was a bargain
in which you were taking all the risk. There is, as you
say, every probability of your claims turning out well;
but there's no certainty in gold-mining, and at any rate
we cannot go away with a fortune without feeling thatj


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
287
I shall be alone, and now that it's all over I feel the
reaction. It has been an exciting time the last month."
"It has indeed/' Frank agreed, "and I have often
thought to myself what a comfort it was that they had
established a regular way of sending down gold twice a
week with an escort; it would have been terrible if you
had had to keep all that gold by you.'1
"Yes, I often thought so myself, and your offer to keep
the gold in your tent on the days when the escort wasn't
going was a great relief to me."
"It was safe enough with us," Frank said. "No one
would venture to try a tent with a pretty strong party;
but with only your son and yourself there might have
been a temptation to some broken-down gambler to carry
it off. Beside, we have Turk as a guard, and I don't
fancy any one would venture to try any tricks with our
tent while he is inside it."
"Well, I hope it will be your turn now," the old man
said, "and that before another two months are over you
too will be setting out on your way home with what your
friend called your pile."
"I shall not be doing that," Frank said; "whatever
we find, I have no thought of going back to England."
"No? Well, lad, I don't want your confidence if you
would rather not give it; but I will tell you my story,
and perhaps when you have heard it you may be the
more inclined to tell me yours. It is a painful story to
tell, but that is part of my punishment; and you, lad,
have a right to hear it, for I know that it is to you I owe
my life, and that it is through you that I am to-morrow
going home to do all that I can to retrieve my fault, and
to wipe out the stain on my name. I was a solicitor,
with a good practice, iv a town of the west of England—-
it does not matter what its name was. I lost my wife,


288 CAPTAIN BA YLEY 'S SEIB.
and then, like a fool, I took to drink. No one knew it
except my Bon, for I never -went out in the evening, but
would sit at home drinking by myself till I could scarce
stagger up to bed.
"He did all that he could to persuade me to give it up,
but it had got too strong a hold upon me. At last we
quarreled over it, and he left the house, and henceforth
we only met at the office. He was engaged to be married
to the daughter of our vicar. "When the crash came—for
in these cases a crash is sure to come sooner or later—the
business had fallen off, and a bill was presented for pay-
ment which I had altogether forgotten I had signed.
Then there was an investigation into my affairs. I could
help but little, for there were but few hours in the day
now when my brain was clear enough to attend to any
business whatever. Then it was found that ten thousand
pounds which had been given me to invest by one of my
clients had never been invested, and that it was gone
with the rest.
"I had not intended to do anything dishonest, that
even now I can affirm. I had intended to invest it, but
in my muddled state put off doing so, and had gone on
paying the interest as if it had been invested as ordered.
"When I knew that I had not enough in the bank to re-
place it, I went into foolish speculations to regain what I
had lost; but until the crash came I had never fairly
realized that I had not only ruined myself but was a
swindler. I shall never forget the morning when James,
who had been up all night going through my papers with
my head-clerk, came down and told me what he had dis-
covered. I was still stupid from what I had drunk over-
night, but that sobered me. I need not tell you what
passed between my son and me. I swore never to touch
liquor again. He sold out of consols five thousand


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
289
pounds which he had inherited from his mother, and
handed it over to the man I had defrauded, giving him
his personal bond that he would repay the rest of the
money, should he live; and on those terms my client
agreed to abstain from prosecuting me, and to maintain
an absolute silence as to the affair.
"Then Jim broke off his engagement, and took pas-
sages for us in a sailing ship for Panama, and so on to
San Francisco. I need not tell you the struggle it was
to keep to my promise; but when Jim had given up
everything for me, the least I could do was to fight hard
for his sake. My thoughts were always fixed on Califor-
nia, my only hopes that I might live to see the rest of the
debt repaid, and the boy's money replaced, so that he
could buy a business and marry the woman he loved. I
dreamed of it over and over again, and, as I told you,
three times I dreamed of the exact spot where we are now
sitting.
"Somehow, in my dreams, I knew that if I dug straight
down under the old tree that formed the center of the
dreams I should find gold. This became a fixed idea with
me, and when we reached the gold fields I never stopped
long in camp, so bent was I upon finding the tree of my
dreams. Jim bore with me wonderfully. I knew he did
not believe in my dream, but he was always ready to go
where I wanted. I think now he thought that I was
going out of my mind, or feared that if he thwarted me
I might take to drink again. However, at last we found
the tree—at least I was positive it was the tree of my
dreams. James tried to dissuade me from digging in a
place which looked so unpromising; but nothing would
deter me save death, and you see the result. We shall
go back; the debt will be cleared off, Jim will marry his
sweetheart, and I shall live with him to the end of my


290
CAPTAIN BAYLBY'S HEIR.
days. He is a grand fellow is Jim, though I dare say it
didn't strike you so when you first knew him."
"He is a grand fellow," Frank agreed heartily, "and
I am truly glad, Mr. Adams, that all has turned out so
well."
"And now, can you tell me something of yourself,
Frank? It is to you we owe it that things have turned
out well; and if, as I rather guess, you have got into
some scrape at home, I can only say that my son and
myself will be very glad to share our fortune with you,
and to take one-third of it each."
"I thank you greatly, sir, for your generous offer, but
it would be of no use to me. I have, as you suspect, got
into a scrape at home, but it is from no fault of my own.
I have been wrongfully suspected of committing a crime;
and until that charge is in some way or other cleared up,
and the slur on my name wiped off, I would not return
to England if I had a hundred thousand pounds."
"And can nothing be done? Would it be any use
whatever to set to work on any line you can suggest? I
would make it my own business, and follow up any clew
you could give me."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Adams; thank you with
all my heart; but nothing can be done, there is nothing
to follow. It was not a question of a crime so committed
that many outside persons would be interested in it, or
that it could be explained in a variety of ways. So far
as the case went it was absolutely conclusive, so conclu-
sive that I myself, knowing that I was innocent, could
see no flaw in the evidence against myself nor for months
afterward could I perceive any possible explanation save
in my own guilt. Since then I have seen that there is
an alternative. It is one so painful to contemplate that
I do not allow myself to think of it, nor does it seem to


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
293
"I will discharge your commission," Mr. Adams said.
"But do not be impatient for an answer; I may not find
a steamer going down to Panama for some time, and may
have to go thence to New York, and thence take steamer
to Europe. I may find on my arrival that the young lady
is absent from home, perhaps traveling with her father,
and there may be delays."
"My uncle is not her father," Frank said; "she is a
ward of his. But I will not be impatient; not for six
months will I give up such hope as I have."
"There is one more thing before I say good-night,"
Mr. Adams said. "I have been in great need, and know
how hard it is to struggle when luck is against one, and
I should like to give a small sum as a sort of thank-offer-
ing for the success which has attended me. In a mining
camp there must be many whom a little might enable to
tide on until luck turns. "Will you be my almoner?
Here is a bag with a hundred ounces of gold, the last we
got to-day from our claim. Will you take it, and from
time to time give help in the way of half a sack of flour
and other provisions to men who may be down in the
world from a run of ill-luck, and not from any fault of
their own?"
"I will gladly do so," Frank replied; "such a fund as
this would enable me to gladden the hearts of scores of
men. You can rely upon it, sir, that I will take care to
see that it is laid out in accordance with your instruc-
tions."
After leaving the tent Frank found James Adams sit-
ting down on a log a short distance away.
"I would not disturb you," the latter said, "as I
thought perhaps you were having a chat with my father
—indeed he told me he should like to have a talk with
you alone; but I want myself to tell you how conscious;


294 CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
I am that I owe my happiness to you. Has my father
told you how I am situated, and that I am going home to
claim the dearest girl in the world, if, as I hope and
believe, I shall find she has waited for me?"
"Your father has told me more," Frank said; "he has
told me how nobly you devoted your life to his, and why,
and I am truly glad that so much good has come of our
meeting. More than that first little help I must dis-
claim, for it was Abe and not I who believed in your
father's dreams, which I confess I had no shadow of be-
lief in, though they have, so unaccountably to me, been
verified."
"Nothing you can say, Frank, will minimize what you
have done for us. You saved my father's life. If it had
not been for you his dream would never have been car-
ried into effect, and he would now be lying in the grave-
yard on the top of the hill, and I should be working
hopelessly as a day laborer. I only want to say, that if
at any time you want a friend you can rely upon James
Adams up to the last penny he has in the world."
The next morning Mr. Adams and his son started for
San Francisco, and Frank and his party began to work
their claims from the bottom of the shaft. Although they
paid well, they proved far less rich than they had ex-
pected; they got good returns from the gravel, but found
no pockets in the bed rock, which was perfectly smooth
and even. They found that on either side of the Adams'
claims the wall of rock behind swept round; this, no
doubt, had caused an eddy at this spot, which had
worked out the hole in the bed rock, and caused the
deposit of so large a quantity of gold here; and, singu-
larly enough, Mr. Adams' dream had led him to take up
the exact spot under which alone the gold had been so
largely deposited. The party had taken on several


296
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
For the next two months no marked sucoess attended
the labors of Frank and his comrades, they paid their
expenses, and that was all. Frank enjoyed the life; he
was in no hurry to get rich, and it gave him great pleas-
ure to be able occasionally to give a helping hand ^to
miners whose luck was bad, from the fund with which
Mr. Adams had intrusted him. The work was hard, but
he scarcely felt it, for his muscles were now like steel,
and his frame had widened out until he was as broad and
strong as any of his companions, and few would have
recognized in him the lad who had shipped on board the
Mississippi fifteen months before.


298 CAPTAIN BAYLEY'8 HEIR.
"And where are you now?" Abe inquired.
"Well, I will tell you, Abe, and I wouldn't tell any
one else; but I said to you, 'If we ever makes a strike you
are in it.' We have been prospecting up in the gulehea
of the North Yuba. We found as we couldn't get places
worth working in the other camps, so we concluded it
war best to find out a spot for ourselves; so we six have
been a-grubbing and digging up among the mountains,
and I tell you we have hit it hot. We three, washing
with pans for four hours one morning, got out twenty-
eight ounces of gold."
"That was something like," Abe said, in admiration.
"I reckon it war. Well, we covered the place up, and
left our three mates to look arter it, telling them not to
dig or make any sign until we came back. We sold the
wagons and teams when we first got over, for they were
no good to us in the mountains, and bought horses so as
to keep ourselves supplied with provisions. We agreed
before we began work we would come down to the town
and get enough to last us, then we would move up quietly
at night to our find, stake out our claims, and begin to
work. Now if you and your four mates likes to join us,
you are welcome."
"Well, that's a downright friendly offer, mate, and
you bet we accept it. We had one capital stroke of luck,
but since that worked out we haven't done much at dig-
ging, though Frank here and me has done very fair,
trucking goods up from Sacramento. Where are your
women?"
"Well," the other said, "we had some trouble about
them. You see thar ain't many women up at the camps,
they are rough places, and not fit for them. So we
agreed that for the present it were best they should keep
out of it. So we bought a little place with ten or twelve


CAP1AIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
299
acres of ground, down at the foot of the hills, and thera
our wives and the kids are stopping.' There's a big
orchard, and they are raising vegetables, and when we
goes down for supplies we brings up a load or two of
fruit and vegetables, and rare prices they fetch, I can tell
you, more nor enough to keep them all down there. But
we have agreed to bring two of them up now to cook and
wash and leave the others to look arter the place and the
kids. Simpson and Jones ain't married, you know.
Women have a right to claims as well as men, and of
course we shall take up for those we bring up, as well as
for the two big lads; so that will give us ten claims,
beside the extra claims for discovery. So with your five
claims we can get hold of a tidy bit of ground. We aro
going to take these stores up now, and leave them in
charge of our friends in the gulch, who will keep them
hid in the woods, and then we can go back and bring up
the women and a cargo of vegetables."
"Well, in four days we will meet you here. I will
take all the horses and load them up. We were going to
bring up flour for the storekeeper, but now we will get
stores for ourselves. We will bring as much as we can
get along with. We can sell what we don't want, for
there is sure to be a rush in a short time. Frank shall
go back and tell the storekeeper we ain't a-coming with
the flour."
This was arranged, and four days later Abe and his
party arrived at the spot agreed on, and an hour
or two later the cavalcade, with the three men, two
women, and two boys of fifteen or sixteen years old, came
up, and the united party started together. It was some
fifty miles to the spot where the gold had been discovered.
Sometimes they wound along in deep vaWeys, passing
several camps in full operation. At the last camp, which


OAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
301
boys, they numbered fifteen, and could take up the five
claims which, by mining law, the discoverer of a new
place was entitled to, they had in all twenty claims,
which gave them the whole of the little amphitheater at
the foot of the fall for a distance of fifty yards down.
The men all set to work with their axes, and by night-
fall much had been done. Frank's party had their tent,
and the two small tents of the other party were allotted
to the married couples. A rough hut was got up for the
rest of the men; this was to act as the kitchen and gen-
eral room. A storehouse was erected of stout logs, with
earth piled thickly over it to keep out the wet, and here
their stores were securely housed. The tents and huts
were on the slope, where the rocks widened out twenty
yards below the bottom of their claim.
It was late in the second evening before the work was
done. All were anxious to test the ground, but it was
agreed not to touch it until they had housed themselves.
At daybreak they were at work, and soon all were wash-
ing out pans of gravel at the stream; the results fully
justified their expectations, there being a residuum of
glittering grains at the bottom of each pan varying in
weight from a pennyweight to a quarter of an ounce.
"Now," Abe said, "I should suggest that we makes a
big cradle, fifteen feet long by three feet wide, and hang
it on cross poles so as to be able to rock it easily; then
we will dam up the stream at the top of the fall, and lead
it down straight through a shoot into the cradle; of
course the shoot will have a sluice so as to let in just as
much water as we want, and that way two men will do
the work of eight or ten washing."
Abe's plan was agreed to, and all the men set to work
to construct the dam, cradle, and shoot.
It took two days' hard labor before all was in readi-


302
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
ness, and then the work began in earnest. Two men
swayed the cradle, four others shoveled the gravel and
dirt into it, three continually stirred the contents and
swept off the large stones and pebbles from the top,
while the other two carried them away beyond the
boundaries of their claims.
At the lower end of the cradle was a sheet of iron per-
forated with holes, large at the top, but getting smaller
lower down, and altogether closed four inches from the
bottom; through these holes the sand and gravel flowed
away. All day they worked vigorously and without in-
termission, and great was the excitement when, at the
end of the day's work, they proceeded to clear up by
emptying the cradle and examining the bottom. A shout
of satisfaction arose as the particles of gold were seen
lying thickly in the gravel at the bottom of the cradle.
Very carefully this was washed out, and it was found
that there were over fifty ounces of gold dust.
"I believe," Abe said, "that we have hit upon the
richest spot in Californy. Ef it's like this on the sur-
face, what is it going to be like when we get down to the
bed rock?"
The next morning two diggers arrived on the scene;
they saw at once by the methodical manner in which the
place was being worked that the party must have found
gold in paying quantities.
"Is it rich, mates?" they asked eagerly.
"Ay," Abe replied, "rich enough for anything. There
are the boundaries of our claims, lads, and ye are wel-
come to set to work below them."
The miners threw off their coats, and at once set to
work, and a shout of exultation greeted the result of the
first bucket of stuff they washed out.
"Another week," Abe said, "and every foot of ground


304
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
expected, the gravel to be richer and richer; and many
nuggets, some of them weighing upward of a pound,
were found.
At the end of each week four of the miners, armed to
the teeth, carried down the gold and deposited it at the
bank of Sacramento. An escort was needed, for many
attacks were made on gold convoys by parties of despera-
does; four men would indeed have been an insufficient
guard, but at the same time other diggers in the valley
sent down their find, and the escort was always made up
to eight men from the general body.
Frank, from the first, generally formed one of the
escort; he himself was perfectly ready to take his share
in the more laborious work of digging, but where Frank
went Turk went, and Turk formed so valuable a member
of the escort that the rest of the party begged his master
always to go with the treasure. Every week had added
to the weight and power of the animal, and he was now
a most formidable-looking beast. He was extremely
quiet and good-tempered at ordinary times, except that
he would not allow any stranger to touch him; but when
at all excited, his hair bristled from his neck to his tail,
and his low, formidable growl gave a warning which few
men would have been inclined to despise—indeed, of the
many rough characters in the camp, there was not one
who would not rather have faced a man with a revolver
in his hand than have ventured upon a conflict with Turk.
The dog appeared to know that the escort duty was one
which demanded especial vigilance. On the road a low
growl always gave notice of the approach of strangers;
and at night, when they stopped, and the heavy valises
were carried from the pack animals into the wayside rest-
ing-places, Turk always lay down with his head upon
them. He seemed so thoroughly to understand that this


308
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
Similar scenes took place in San Francisco, for the
force of the law was wholly insufficient to restrain the
reckless and desperate men who congregated in the
towns, and who thought no more of taking life than eat-
ing a meal. To put a stop to the frightful state of things
prevailing, the more peaceful of the San Francisco citi-
zens had also been obliged to organize a vigilance com-
mittee to carry out what was called Lynch law, a rough-
and-ready method of justice subject to grave abuses
under other circumstances, but admirably suited to such
a condition of things as at that time prevailed in
California.
For some time Frank worked between Sacramento and
the diggings. He enjoyed the life, riding in the pure
mountain air, under the shade of the forests, at the head
of the team. Sometimes he wondered vaguely how long
this was to last; if he was always to remain a rover, or
whether he would ever return to England. Sometimes
he resolved that he would go home and make an effort to
clear himself of this stain which rested upon his name;
but he could see no method whatever of doing so, as he
had nothing but his own unsupported assertion of his
innocence to adduce against the circumstantial evidence
against him, and there was no reason why his word
should be taken now more than it was before.
In many of the camps life had now become more civil-
ized. In cases where the bed of gold-bearing gravel was
large, and where, consequently, work would be continued
for a long time, wooden towns had sprung up, with
hotels, stores, drinking and gambling saloons. Work
was here carried on methodically; water was, in some
cases, brought many miles in little canals from mountain
lakes down to the diggings, and operations were carried
on on a large scale. Companies were being formed for
buying up and working numbers of claims together.


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S EEIR.
309
The valleys were honeycombed with shafts driven down,
sometimes through a hundred feet of gravel, to the bed
rock, as it was found much more profitable working this
way than in surface-washing. Stage-coaches and teams
of wagons were running regularly now along well-made
roads. Frank's earnings were therefore smaller than
they had been at first, but they still paid his expenses,
and added a few pounds each trip to his account at the
bank.
He took shares in many of the companies formed for
bringing down water from the lakes, and these were soon
found to be an exceedingly valuable property, paying in
many cases a return each month equal to the capital.
The life of a teamster was not without danger; bears
in considerable numbers were found among the moun-
tains, and these, when pressed by hunger, did not hesi-
tate to attack passing teams. In times of rain the rivers
rose rapidly, and the valleys were full of fierce torrents,
sometimes preventing horses from crossing for many
hours, and being still more dangerous if the rise com-
menced when the track to be followed wound along in
the foot of the valley. Several times Frank narrowly
escaped with his life when thus surprised; but in each
case he managed to reach some spot where his horses
oould climb the side before the water took them off their
feet.
The greatest danger, however, of the roads, arose from
the lawless men that frequented them. Coaches were fre-
quently stopped and plundered, and even the gold escorts
were attacked with success. Strong parties of the miners
sometimes went out in pursuit of the highwaymen, but
it was very seldom that success attended them, for the
great forests extended so vast a distance over the hills
that anything like a thorough search was impossible.


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
311
look after a fresh foe; but the field was clear, for the
remaining robber had, on seeing Turk, turned his horse
with a cry of alarm, and ridden away at full speed. The
passengers crowded round Frank, thanking him for their
rescue.
"I am glad to have been of use," Frank said, "and to
have arrived just in time; and now will one of you help
me off my horse, for my left arm is broken, I think."
The driver of the coach had been shot through the
heart by the first shot fired by the robbers. There were
two armed guards, one of whom had been killed, and the
other wounded, while two of the passengers who had left
the coach to take part in the defense had also been killed;
the wounded guard was helped down from the coach.
"You have done a good night's work," he said to
Frank; "there are nigh ten thousand ounces of gold in
the coach. No doubt those fellows got wind of the in-
tention of the bank people at Yuba to send it down to
Sacramento; it was kept very dark too, and I don't be-
lieve that one of the passengers knew of it. They would
have sent more than two of us to guard it if they had
thought that it had been let out; there must have been
some one in the secret who gave notice beforehand to
these chaps.
"Now, gentlemen, if one of you will take the ribbons
we will be moving on. I will get up beside him, and I
will trouble any of you who have got Colts to take your
places up behind; there ain't no chance of another attack
to-night, still, we may as well look out. Now, sir, if you
will take your place inside we will take you on until we
get to some place where your arm can be looked to. You
will hear from the directors of the bank as to this night's
work."
Frank's team had now arrived on the spot, and he


312
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
directed the men to complete their journey and deliver
their stores, and then to go down to the stables where
they put up at Sacramento and there to wait his arrival.
Frank was left behind at the next town, his fellow-pas-
sengers overwhelming him with thanks, many having
considerable amounts of gold concealed about them, the
result, in some cases, of months' work at the diggings.
One of them proposed that each man should contribute
one-fourth of the gold he carried to reward their rescuer,
a proposition which was at once accepted. Frank, how-
ever, assured them that although leading a team of mules
he was well off, and in no need whatever of their kind
offer.
Seeing that he was in earnest, his fellow-passengers
again thanked him cordially, and took their places in
the coach. They were not to be balked in their grati-
tude, and three days later a very handsome horse, with
saddle and holsters with a brace of Colt's revolvers,
arrived up from Sacramento for Frank, with the best
wishes of the passengers in the coach. On the same day
a letter arrived saying that at a meeting of the directors
of the bank it had been resolved that, as he had saved
them from a lc?s of fifty thousand pounds by bis gal-
lantry, a sum of two thousand pounds should be placed
to his credit at the bank in token of their appreciation cf
the great service he had rendered them.


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
CHAPTER XX.
A MESSAGE FROM ABROAD.
"I like this, grandfather. I think I like it better than
anything I have seen. In the sunlight the cathedral is
too dazzling and white, and the eye does not seem to find
any rest, but in the moonlight it is perfectly lovely.
And then the music of that Austrian band is just right
from here; it is not too loud, and yet we can hear every
note. Somehow, I always like better not to see the
players, but just to have the benefit of the music as we
do now, and to sit taking it in, and looking at that glo-
rious cathedral, all silver and black, in the moonlight.
It is glorious 1" Harry murmured, "I could not have
believed there was anything so lovely."
"Yes, yes," Captain Bayley said absently, "the icea
are good."
"I am not talking of the ices, grandfather, though no
doubt they are good. I am talking about the cathedral."
"Are you, my boy?" Captain Bayley said, rousing
himself. "Yes, there are cathedrals which beat Milan
when seen in broad daylight, but in the moonlight there
is no building in the world to compare with it, unless it
be the Taj Mahal at Agra. Of course they differ wholly
and entirely in style, and no comparison can be made
between them; the only resemblance is that both are
built of white marble; but of the two, I own that I prefer
the Taj."
"1 am afraid I shall never see that," Alice Hardy said.


320
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
"But the message, sir," Alice interrupted, "you can-
not know how we have been longing for a word from him
all this time."
"I do not know yet, Miss Hardy, whether I have any
message to deliver; it depends upon what you say in
answer to what I tell you. I think I can give you his
very words as we sat together the night before I left for
England; 'I have a little cousin, a girl, she was like my
sister; I think, I hope, that in spite of everything she
may still have believed me innocent. Will you see her,
and tell her you have seen me? Say no more until you
see by her manner whether she believes me to be a rascal
or not.'"
"No, no," Alice broke in, with a cry, "not for one
moment; surely Frank never doubted me. Never for a
single instant did I believe one word against him."
"Is anything the matter, my dear?" Captain Bayley
asked, opening his door, for the sound of her raised voice
had reached him.
"No, uncle," she cried, hurrying to him, "it is a
message from Frank. Go away a minute, or— No,"
and she turned again to Mr. Adams, "surely my uncle
can hear too, he is as interested as I am."
"My message was to you alone, Miss Hardy," Mr.
Adams said gravely; "I must deliver it as it was de-
livered to me. It will be for you to decide whether, after
hearing it, you think it right to observe the injunction it
contains for your absolute silence."
"At least tell me, sir," Captain Bayley exclaimed, as
much agitated as Alice, "whether he is alive and well."
"He is alive and well, sir—at least he was when I saw
him last, now nearly four months ago."
"Thank God for that, at least," Captain Bayley said
fervently. "Do not be long, Alice; you know what I


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
321
Bhall be feeling." He went back into his room again,
and closed the door, and Mr. Adams continued:
"If she thinks me a rascal, give her no clew to the part
of the world where you have come across me, simply say
that I wished her to know that I am alive and well.'
There, Miss Hardy, my message would have ended had
you not declared your faith in his innocence; I can now
go on: 'If you see that she still, in spite of everything,
believes that I am innocent, then tell her that I affirm on
my honor and word that I am so'—Alice gave a cry of
joy—'though I see no way of proving it. Tell her tbat
I do not wish her to tell my uncle that she has beard of
me; that I do not wish her to say one word to him, for,
much as I value his affection, I would not for the world
seem to be trying to gain the place he thinks I have for-
feited, until I can appear before him as a rich man whom
nothing could induce to touch one penny of his money,
and who values only his good-will and esteem.'
"That is all the message, Miss Hardy. But now that
I see you have never believed him guilty, I am at liberty
to tell you that we met in California, and to give you an
address to which you can write at Sacramento, and I can
tell you the story of our acquaintance; but as the story
is a long one, and it is now late, I will, with your per-
mission, call in the morning again."
Tears were streaming down the girl's face as she
lifted her head.
"Thank you, sir! oh, thank you so much I You can-
not tell how happy your message has made me—how
happy it will make us all, for I am sure that Frank will
not blame me for breaking his injunction. He cannot
tell the circumstances; he does not know that my uncle
has fretted as much as myself He evidently thinks that
he believes him guilty, though why he should do so 7.


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
don't know, for at first he was just as much convinced ag
I was of Frank's innocence, and it was only Frank's
silence and his going away without saying one word in
defense of himself that made him doubt him. Would
you mind sitting here for a minute or two while I go-in
to him? We want to hear so much, if you are not in a
hurry."
"I am in no hurry," Mr. Adams said, smiling. "After
traveling for two months to deliver a message, one would
not mind sitting up for a few hours to deliver it thor-
oughly; and let me tell you that if my message has made
you happy, your reception of it has given me almost
equal satisfaction. I should have been grieved beyond
expression to have had to write to him that you doubted
him, for my dear friend said, 'If your commission fails,
I shall lose my last pleasant thought of home.'"
"Poor Frank!" Alice murmured, as she turned to go
to her uncle's room, "how could he have ever doubted
us?"
"Uncle," she said, as she entered, "I feel quite justi-
fied in telling you Frank's message to me. Why it was
sent to me instead of to you I do not know, except that
it seems as if he thought that I might believe him inno-
cent, while somehow he had an idea that you thought ha
was guilty."
"Does he say he is innocent, Alice?" Captain Bayley
broke in.
"He does, uncle; he declares on his honor and word
that he is innocent."
"Thank God!" the old officer said, dropping into a
chair and covering his face with his hands. For a min-
ute he sat silent, but Alice could see how deeply he was
affected.
"Don't say any more, my dear," he said, in alow,


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
323
shaken voice. "I have heard quite enough; it was only
Frank's assurance that I have been wanting all this time.
I am content now. Thank God that this burden is
lifted off one's mind. Go in and tell Harry; I should
like to be alone for a few minutes."
"Yes, uncle; and Frank's friend is in the next room,
and will tell us all about him when you are ready to
hear it."
Harry was greatly delighted at the news, and after a
few minutes Alice returned with him to the sitting-room.
She knocked at her uncle's door, and called out, "We are
here, uncle, wnen you are ready to come in." In another
minute Captain Bayley entered. He went up to Mr.
Adams.
"You have brought me the best news I have ever
heard, sir; you cannot tell what a weight you have lifted
from my shoulders, and how I feel indebted to you."
"Yes, uncle, and do you know that Mr. Adams has
been traveling nearly two months to deliver the message,
knowing how anxious Frank will be to hear how it was
received. He went to Egypt after us, and finding we had
left has been following us ever since."
"God bless you, sir!" Captain Bayley said, seizing
Mr. Adams' hand and shaking it violently, "you are a
friend indeed. Now in the first place, please tell me the
message you have given my niece, for so far I have only
heard that Frank declared that he is innocent; that was
quite enough for me at first. I want to know why I was
to be kept in the dark."
"The message will explain that," Mr. Adams replied,
and he again repeated the message he had given Alice.
"Yes, that explains it," Captain Bayley said, when he
had finished; "that's just like the boy of old. I like
him for that. But why on earth did he not say he was
jnnocent at first?"


326
CAPTAI N BA YLET'S HEIR.
"The young scamp," Captain Bayley growled, "think-
ing all the time of his own feelings and not of mine. It's
nothing to him that I may be fretting myself into my
grave in the belief of his guilt; nothing that I may be
dead years and years before he comes with this precious
fortune he relies on making. Oh, no I we are all to wait
another twenty years in order that this jackanapes may
not be suspected of being mercenary; three dozen at the
triangles would do him a world of good, and if he were
here I would"
"You wouldn't do anything but shake his hand, and
shout 'Frank, my boy, I am glad to see you back again,'
so it's no use pretending that you would," Alice inter-
rupted. "And now, Sir. Adams, it's past twelve, and I
feel ashamed that we should have kept you so long; but
I know you don't mind, and you have made us all very
happy. You will come again in the morning, will you
not? There is so much to ask about, and we have not
yet even begun to tell you how deeply we are all obliged
to you for your goodness in hurrying away from England
directly you got home, and in spending weeks and weeks
wandering about after us."
"I shall be glad to call again in the morning, Miss
Hardy, but I shall start for England in the evening; I
am anxious to be back now that m» mission is fulfilled.
My son is to be married in ten days' time, and he would
like me to be present, although he said in his last letter
that he quite agreed that the first thing of all was to find
you and deliver the message, whether I got home or not.
As I have several matters to arrange before his marriage,
presents to get, or one thing or other, I shall go straight
through."
"That is right," Captain Bayley said, "we will travel
together, my dear sir; for of course we shall go straight


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
327
back to England now. We have been dawdling about in
thi3 wretched country long enough. Beside, everything
has to be arranged, and we have got to get at the bottom
of this matter; so if you have no objection, we will travel
home together. If the young people here want to dawdle
about any longer they can do so; I dare say they can
look after themselves, or if not, I can make an arrange-
ment with some old lady or other to act as Alice's
chaperon."
"You silly old man," Alice said, kissing him, "as if
we were not just as anxious to get home and to get to the
bottom of the thing as you are."
So the next afternoon the party started in the diligence
which was to take them over the St. Gothard to Lucerne.
Alice had by this time heard, somewhat to the confu-
sion of her ideas, that Prank was no longer the lad she
had always depicted him, but a tall, powerful young
man, rough and tanned by exposure, and a fair match in
strength for the wildest character in the mining camp.
By the time they reached London Mr. Adams and Cap-
tain Bayley had become fast friends, and the first thing
the next morning Captain Bayley drove with Alice to
Bond street and purchased the handsomest gold watch
and chain he could find as a wedding-present for young
Adams, and a bracelet as handsome for Alice to send to
the bride; then he sent Alice home in the carriage and
proceeded to his lawyer's. He returned home in the
worst of tempors. Mr. Griffith had refused to admit that
the receipt of Frank's message had in any way changed
the position.
"I understood all along, Captain Bayley, that your
nephew, when accused by his master, had denied the
theft; the mere fact that he now, three years later, re-
peats the denial to you, does not, so far as I can see, alter


330
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
anxiety all these months. You know I enjoy the sea,
and you will want somebody to look after you during the
voyage, and to see that you don't get into scrapes with
that dreadful temper of yours. Beside, you must have
some one to scold; you could not get on without it, and
you don't scold Harry half so vigorously as you do me."
And so at last it was settled, and a week later Captain
Bayley, his grandson, and Alice Hardy, sailed for
Panama.


332
CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
"Now," the spokesman of the deputation said, "let's
liquor."
Five glasses were poured out by the bartender, and
drank off solemnly; this was considered to bring the
ceremony to a close. »
In the evening Frank was sitting around a fire with
some of his acquaintances, when two persons were seen
approaching.
"Can you tell me," one of them said, when he got up
to the group, "whether Frank Norris is in the camp, and
if so, where I can find him?"
Frank sprang to his feet with a cry of astonishment.
"Uncle, "he exclaimed, "is it you, or am I dreaming?"
"My dear boy," Captain Baj'ley exclaimed, as he
grasped Frank's hand, "thank God we have found youl
We have been advertising and looking for you ever since
you left, nearly three years ago."
For a minute or two they stood grasping each other's
hand, their feelings being too full for further speech.
"Sit you down right here, Norris," one of the miners
said, rising, "no doubt you will like a talk together, and
we will leave you to yourselves."
The other miners rose, and with the real courtesy and
kindness which lurked under the rough nature of the
diggers, all left the spot. Captain Bayley was the first
to speak.
"But here is some one else wants to shake your hand,
Frank, an old friend too."
The fire was not burning very brightly, and although
Frank seemed to know the young fellow who stood lean-
ing lightly on two sticks, he could not recall where he
had seen him before.
"Don't you remember me, Frank," he said, "the lad
whom you took so much trouble with over his Homer?"


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
333
"Harry Holl!" Frank said in astonishment.
"It was as Harry Holl that you knew him, but we have
since found out that he is my grandson, the son of my
daughter Ella," Captain Bayley explained.
"Then you are my cousin," Prank said, advancing and
shaking Harry's hand; "but how on earth have you and
uncle come out here?"
"Let us sit down by the fire, Frank, for the evening is
chilly, and then I will tell you all about it. But first,
how about that enormous brute of a dog, who doesn't
seem to have made up his mind whether the proper thing
is not to devour us at once."
"Come, Turk, good dog, these are friends of mine."
Finding that the intentions of the newcomers were
amicable of which at first he had entertained some doubts,
Turk threw himself down by the side of his master.
"First of all, uncle," Frank said, as he sat down, "has
that affair been cleared up?"
"Well, not exactly cleared up, Frank, but we have our
suspicions. Harry and I never for a moment thought it
was you—that is not till you ran away instead of facing
it out. I don't want to scold you now, but that was a
foolish business."
"Then if you thought me innocent, uncle, why did
you not answer my letter? I should never have dreamed
of running away if I had not been heartbroken at the
thought that you believed me guilty."
"Letter!" Captain Bayley repeated in astonishment,
"what letter? That was just the thing, if you had
written me only one line to say you were innocent I
should never have doubted you for a moment, and even
your running away would have made no difference to
me."
"But I did write, uncle; I wrote to you the very first


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'B HEIB.
335
he admitted that the crime of stealing the note for the
purpose of ruining you would be infinitely greater than
the taking of money in your case.
"I have nearly worried myself into a lunatio asylum
over the matter. I have been away from England for
upward of a year—partly for the sake of Harry here, who
has got rid of his box long ago, and now gets along very
fairly on sticks, partly to avoid seeing Fred, for as long
as this thing was unsettled, it was impossible that I could
give him my hand.
"My heart has all along been with you, my boy, for you
know I loved you as a son; but your silence and your
running away were ugly weights in the scale against you.
Now that I find that that villain suppressed your letter—
for he must have done so, else I should have got it—and
that it was he who urged you to fly to get you out of the
way, I have no longer a shadow of doubt in my mind. I
must tell you that Harry here never doubted you from
the first; and as for Alice, she became a veritable little
fury when the possibility of your guilt was suggested.
We have had some rare battles and rows over that and
her absolute refusal to speak to Fred, who from the first
she insisted was at the bottom of it, though how she
arrived at that conclusion, except by instinct, is more
than I can tell. Her joy when Harry here was found,
and of course took the position I had intended for you,
and her delight in Fred's discomfiture, were, as I told
her several times, absolutely indecent. Not that she
minded a farthing; she is the most insubordinate young
person I ever came across. You will hardly know her
again, Frank, she is growing fast into a young woman,
and a very pretty one too."
"But how did you find me, uncle? Was it from Mr.
Adams that you heard where I was?"


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
339
I keep one regularly here, and put on the garb of civili-
zation. Alice would not recognize me in this red shirt
and high boots."
"Stuff and nonsense!" Captain Bayley said. "You
had a wash-up when we breakfasted, and what do you
want more? There, go up and see the girl at once,
Harry and I will join you in a minute or two; according
to my experience, these sort of meetings are always bet-
ter without the presence of a third party," and the old
officer winked at his grandson as Frank sprang up the
stairs after the waiter whom Captain Bayley. directed to
show him to Miss Hardy's sitting-room.
Although Captain Bayley had told him that Alice had
become a young woman, Frank had not realized the
change that three years had produced in her. He had
left her a laughing girl—a dear little girl, Frank had
always thought —but scarcely pretty, and he stood for a
moment in astonishment at the tall and very beautiful
young woman of eighteen who stood before him. Alice
was no less astonished, and for a moment could scarcely
credit that this broad muscular man was her old play-
fellow, Frank. The pause was but momentary on both
parties, and with a cry of joy and welcome the girl ran
into his arms as frankly and naturally as she had done as
a child.
"There, that's enough, Frank," she said presently.
"You mustn't do that any more, you know, because I am
grown up, and you know we are not really even cousins."
"Cousins or not, Alice," Frank said, laughing, "I
have kissed you from the time you were a child, and if
you suppose I am going to give it up now, when there is
a real pleasure in kissing you, you are mistaken, I can
tell you."
"We shall see about that, sir," the girl said; "we aro


CAPTAIN BA YLEY'S HEIR.
341
that Frank had written to protest his innocence, which
letter had never come to hand, and that it was Fred who
had urged Frank to fly and had supplied him with money
to do so.
"I always knew he was at the bottom of it," Alice
said decidedly. "I always said it was Fred. But I hope
Frank, you or uncle don't mean to take any steps to get
him into trouble. I hate him, you know, and always
have; still, I think he will be punished enough with the
loss of the money he so wickedly tried to gain."
"I think so too, Alice; he has behaved like a scoun-
drel of the worst kind, but, for my part, I am quite con-
tent to leave him alone. Still, we must if possible prove
that I was innocent."
"But we all know you are innocent, Frank. Uncle
never would have doubted it if it had not been for the
stories Fred told."
"Yes, Alice; but all the fellows at Westminster were
told I was guilty. I shall be constantly meeting them in
the world, and all my life this blot will hang to me if it
is not set straight. When we get home I shall go back
to the school and see if I cannot hit on some clew or
other. Of course if Fred would confess it would be all
right, but, after all, we have not a shadow of real proof
against him. We have only our suspicion, and the fact
that the letter did not come to hand; and if he faces it
out, and declares he posted it all right, who is to gainsay
him? Letters have gone wrong before now. I must
clear myself if I can, but I promise you that I will not
bring public disgrace upon him if it can possibly be
avoided."
"He ought to be publicly disgraced," Captain Bayley
roared, "the mean scoundrel, with his quiet voice and
his treacherous lies. Not disgrace him? I would tie


CAPTAIN BA YLET 'S HEIR.
him up to a post in St. Paul's Churchyard, and hire a
bellman to stand on a chair beside him and tell the story
of what he has done every half-hour. Why, sir, he
would have taken in St. Dunstan with his pretended
hesitation to say anything to your disadvantage, and the
affectation of pain with which he hinted that you had
confessed your guilt to him. The scoundrel, the rascal,
the hypocrite! When I think what his work has done,
that you were disgraced at school, and sent wandering
for three years—not that that has done you any harm,
rather the contrary—to think that Alice has been
wretched, and I have been on thorns and out of temper
with myself and everyone else for the same time, that
for the last year we have been wandering about Europe
like three sentimental travelers, wasting our lives, spend-
ing our money,, and making fools of ourselves, I tell you,
sir, if I was sitting as president of a court-martial on
him, I would give him five hundred lashes, and then
order him to be drummed out of the regiment."
Frank was about to speak, but Alice shook her head to
him behind her uncle's back; she knew that his bark was
much worse than his bite, and that, while contradiction
would only render him obstinate, he would if left alone,
cool down long before the time for action arrived, and
could then be coaxed into any course they might all agree
upon.
The next morning the party started for San Francisco.
Frank had already found a purchaser for his team of
mules at a good prioe, had wound up all his affairs, and
obtained an order from the bank on their agents in
England for the amount standing to his credit, which
oame to seven thousand five hundred and sixty pounds.
His uncle was astounded when he heard how much
Frank had earned in less than two years' work. "I shall


CAPTAIN BA YLE7 'S HEIR. 343
look at these red-shirted ruffians with more respect in
future, Frank; for, for aught I know, they may have tens
of thousands standing to their credit at the bank."
"My luck has been exceptional, sir," Frank said. "I
might dig for another fifty years without making so
much. Of course, there are people who have made a
good deal more in the same time, but then there are
thousands who are no richer than when they began. We
had done little more than to keep ourselves when we went
to work on Adams' claim. We had nearly four hundred
apiece from him, besides what we made for our labor, for
the horses pretty well kept us; then from the claim six
hundred apiece. We had four thousand each out of the
rich strike we made at the head of the gulch; the bank
gave me two thousand more; the odd money represents
the receipts of the rest of my digging and of my earnings
with the mule team."
They started for Europe by the first steamer which left
San Francisco for Panama, and reached home without
adventure. The next morning Captain Bayley took
Frank to Mr. Griffith, and told him the story as he had
learned it from Frank.
"There, Griffith," he said triumphantly, when he had
finished, "if you are not ready to admit that you are the
most obstinate, pig-headed fellow that ever lived, I give
you up altogether."
"I was wrong, I am glad to see," the lawyer said,
smiling, "but I cannot admit that I was wrong as far as
the evidence that was before me went; but certainly with
the light our young friend has thrown upon the matter I
cannot doubt that the view you took was the correct one.
Still, remember there is still no actual proof such as a
court of justice would go upon. Morally we may be con-
vinced, but unless you obtain further evidence I do not


CAPTAIN BA YLET 'S EE1B.
34o
CHAPTER XXII.
CLEARED AT LAST.
The following day, after lunch, Captain Bayley and
Frank drove round to "Westminster. Football was going
on in Dean's Yard, and Frank recognized among the
players many faces that he knew. It seemed strange to
him to think that while he had gone through so much,
and had grown from a boy into a man, that they hud
changed so little, and had been working away regularly
at the old round of Euripides and Homer, Terence and
Virgil. The carriage stopped at the entrance to Dean's
"Yard, and, alighting, they walked across to Mr. Eichards'.
Captain Bayley had written a line to the master, ask-
ing him if possible to remain at home, as he wished
particularly to see him, and he and Frank were ushered
straight into the master's study. He shook hands with
Captain Bayley, whose acquaintance he had made while
Frank had boarded with him, and then looked at Frank;
for a minute he did not recognize him, then he ex-
claimed in surprise, "Frank Norris!"
"Yes, it's I, sir," Frank said; "I don't ask you to
take my hand, for you believe me guilty of the crime of
which I was accused here. I can only say now, as I said
then, that I am innocent. I know now that I was a fool
to run away instead of facing it out, but I was desperate,
because everyone thought me guilty."
"Your schoolfellows did not, Norris," Mr. Richards
said. "I don't think that I did, even at first; a few


346
CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
hours afterward I almost knew you were innocent, and
had you not run away I could have gone far to prove it."
Frank gave an exclamation of joy, and Captain Bayley
exclaimed indignantly:
"Then why did you not prove it, sir? Why did you
allow my nephew to remain with the foul disgrace on his
name?"
"I did not act without consideration," Mr. Eichards
said calmly. "Norris had gone, and I resolved if he re-
turned again to say what I had learned; but my proofs
were not absolute. We had made, it seemed to me, a
terrible mistake, and I did not wish to cause ruin to
another boy unless it was absolutely necessary to do so
to clear Norris. Now that he has returned I can no
longer hesitate; but before I begin I must ask you both
whether your suspicions have fallen on any one else?"
"It is not suspicion, sir, it is certainty," Captain Bay-
ley said; "we have no doubt whatever that the whole
thing was the work of Frank's rascally cousin, Fred
Barkley. He was, you know, a sort of rival of Frank for
my favor, and he had reason to believe that I had deter-
mined that Frank should inherit the larger portion of my
property; thus he had a motive for bringing disgrace on
him. It was just as probablo that he should have stolen
the money and sent it to Frank as that Frank should
have stolen it himself; so far it seemed to me that it
might lie between either of them.
"What has settled the case in my mind is that I have
learned that Fred was intrusted with a letter by Frank
to me, declaring his innocence, which, as you know, I
never doubted until Frank left without writing to me.
That letter I never received, and I believe that it was
suppressed. In the seoond place it was Fred who per-
suaded his cousin to take that ruinous step of running


0AP1AIN BAYLEY S HEIR.
away, and pressed upon him money to enable him to do
bo, although he had refused to lend him a halfpenny
when Frank required it to pay that [broken-nosed tailor
to hold his tongue."
"Very well," Mr. Eichards said, "then I can speak
freely; my silence was caused to some considerable ex-
tent by regard for your feelings. You had lost one
nephew, who had gone away with a cloud of disgrace sur-
rounding him—for aught I could tell, Norris, in his
despair, might have committed suicide, or he might have
so cut himself off from you that you might never have
heard from him again—thus, then, I felt that it would be
cruel indeed to prove that your other nephew was a vil-
lain, unless by so doing I could restore Norris to you.
So, after much thought and deliberation, I determined
to hold my tongue until I heard that Norris had either
returned or had been heard of.
"On the morning when it was discovered that Frank
had fled, I called up one by one the whole of the boys in
the house. Even after his flight I could not believe that
Norris had done this thing, it was so absolutely contrary
to all that I knew of his disposition, and I determined to
sift ^the matter to the bottom. From the elder boys I
learned nothing, although I questioned them most closely
as to everything that had taken place in the house during
the past week. I was not disappointed, for I had hardly
expected to learn much from them.
"It was from the four boys who were the fags of the
four who had been in Frank's secret that I hoped to learn
something, and I was not mistaken. From the three in
the house I learned nothing; but when I came to Pear-
son, who was Barkley's junior and fag, I met with even
more success than I had expected. At first, of course,
the boy did not like to say anything; but I told him that


CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR.
351
the note was sent to Norris; thirdly, his suppression of
the letter to yourself; fourthly, the part he took in per-
suading Norris to run away; lastly, the hints which you
say he gave you that Norris had confessed his guilt.
"I shall tell him I have had this interview with you;
that you are thoroughly convinced of his guilt and of
Norris' innocence; and that while you are determined
that Norris shall be vindicated, you are desirous that his
act of treacherous villainy shall not be made public; if,
then, he will write a confession, saying that he took it,
this confession shall not be made public.
"I shall of course show it to the doctor, and explain
the whole circumstances to him, and ask him to make a
public statement in school to the boys, to the effect that
it has been found out that Norris was not guilty of the
act of which two years ago he was charged, and that the
real thief has been discovered, but that as he is no longer
at school it is unnecessary now to mention his name, and
that, moreover, he has been heavily punished for the
crime—which indeed is the case—by his loss of your
favor and of the fortune which he looked to obtain under
your will.
"I shall tell Barkley that if he refuses to confess it will
be necessary, in order to clear Norris, that the affair
should be investigated in a public court, and that Dr.
Litter will at once apply for a warrant for his apprehen-
sion on the charge of theft, and that the whole matter
will then be gone into in a police court. I cannot doubt
but that he will accept the first alternative, for the second
will be ruin to him."
Captain Bayley cordially assented. Three days later
Frank received a letter from Dr. Litter asking him to
call upon him.
"I am truly sorry, Norris," the head-master said, as