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37507	----	THE SPANIARDS IN FLORIDA, COMPRISING THE NOTABLE SETTLEMENT OF THE HUGUENOTS IN 1564, AND THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FOUNDED A. D. 1565. BY GEORGE R. FAIRBANKS, VICE PRESIDENT FLORIDA HISTORICAL SOCIETY: HONORARY MEMBER NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY: LECTURER ON AMERICAN HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. JACKSONVILLE, FLA. COLUMBUS DREW. 1868. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by COLUMBUS DREW, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED TO BUCKINGHAM SMITH, ESQ., U. S. SECRETARY OF LEGATION AT MADRID, TO WHOSE EFFORTS IN THE DISCOVERY AND PRESERVATION OF THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF THE SPANISH DOMINION IN AMERICA, A GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT IS DUE FROM AMERICAN SCHOLARS. PREFACE. This volume, relating to the history and antiquities of the oldest settlement in the United States, has grown out of a lecture delivered by the author, and which he was desired to embody in a more permanent form. The large amount of interesting material in my possession, has made my work rather one of laborious condensation than expansion. I have endeavored to preserve as fully as possible, the style and quaintness of the old writers from whom I have drawn, rather than to transform or embellish the narrative with the supposed graces of modern diction; and, as much of the work consisted in translations from foreign idioms, this peculiarly un-English style, if I may so call it, will be more noticeably observed. I have mainly sought to give it a permanent value, as founded on the most reliable ancient authorities; and thus, to the extent of the ground which it covers, to make it a valuable addition to the history of our country. In that portion of the work devoted to the destruction of the Huguenot colony and the forces of Ribault, I have in the main followed the Spanish accounts, desiring to divest the narrative of all suspicion of prejudice or unfairness; _Barcia_, the principal authority, as is well known, professing the same faith as Menendez, and studiously endeavoring throughout his work, to exalt the character of the Adelantado. I am under great obligations to my friend, BUCKINGHAM SMITH, ESQ., for repeated favors in the course of its preparation. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. The interest evinced in the publication of the first edition of this volume, in 1858, under the title of HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF ST. AUGUSTINE, has induced the author to prepare a second edition for the press, under the present title, as being more exactly descriptive of that portion of the history of Florida embraced in its pages. He hopes at no distant day to put to press the History of Florida, in a much more complete form, and embracing the chequered and various pictures of the many expeditions which sought either to found upon its shores a kingdom to satiate their ambition, or to find wealth commensurate with their desires. A chapter of no mean interest in the history of Florida has been added since the first preface was written. Battles have been fought upon its soil, more considerable as to the numbers engaged and the fierceness of the fray, than any ever before recorded. But as this chapter forms a portion of the general history of the State rather than of the old city which played but an inconsiderable part in the contest, it does not fall within the purview of this work to make more than a brief mention of this period. G. R. F. UNIVERSITY PLACE, TENN., OCT. 1, 1868. CONTENTS. PAGE. CHAPTER I. Introductory 9 CHAPTER II. First discovery, 1512 to 1565.--Juan Ponce de Leon 11 CHAPTER III. Ribault, Laudonnière, and Menendez--Settlements of the Huguenots, and foundation of St. Augustine.--1562-1566-1568 13 CHAPTER IV. The attack on Fort Caroline.--1585 19 CHAPTER V. Escape of Laudonnière and others from Fort Caroline--Adventures of the fugitives 24 CHAPTER VI. Site of Fort Caroline, afterwards called San Matteo 31 CHAPTER VII. Menendez's return to St. Augustine--Shipwreck of Ribault--Massacre of part of his command.--A. D. 1565 38 CHAPTER VIII. Fate of Ribault and his followers--Bloody massacre at Mantanzas, 1565 46 CHAPTER IX. Fortifying of St. Augustine--Disaffections and mutinies--Approval of Menendez' acts by king of Spain.--1585-1568 54 CHAPTER X. The notable revenge of Dominic de Gourgues--Return of Menendez--Indian Mission.--1568 60 CHAPTER XI. Sir Francis Drake's attack upon St. Augustine--Establishment of missions--Massacre of missionaries at St. Augustine.--1586-1688 65 CHAPTER XII. Subjection of the Apalachian Indians--Construction of the fort, sea wall, &c.--1688-1700 71 CHAPTER XIII. Attack on St. Augustine by Gov. Moore of South Carolina--Difficulties with the Georgians.--1702-1732 77 CHAPTER XIV. Siege of St. Augustine by Oglethorpe.--1732-1740 82 CHAPTER XV. Completion of the castle--Descriptions of St. Augustine a century ago--English occupation of Florida.--1755-1763-1788 90 CHAPTER XVI. Re-cession of Florida to Spain--Erection of the Parish Church--Change of flags.--1783-1821 100 CHAPTER XVII. Transfer of Florida to the United States--American occupation--Ancient buildings, &c. 106 CHAPTER XVIII. Present appearance of St. Augustine, as given by the author of Thanatopsis--Its climate and salubrity 110 CHAPTER XIX. St. Augustine in its old age.--1565-1868 118 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. The Saint Augustine of the present and the St. Augustine of the past, are in striking contrast. We see, to-day, a town less in population than hundreds of places of but few months' existence, dilapidated in its appearance, with the stillness of desolation hanging over it, its waters undisturbed except by the passing canoe of the fisherman, its streets unenlivened by busy traffic, and at mid-day it might be supposed to have sunk under the enchanter's wand into an almost eternal sleep. With no participation in the active schemes of life, and no hopes for the future; with no emulation, and no feverish visions of future greatness; with no corner lots on sale or in demand; with no stocks, save those devoted to disturbers of the public peace; with no excitements and no events; a quiet, undisturbed, dreamy vision of still life surrounds its walls, and creates a sensation of entire repose, pleasant or otherwise, as it falls upon the heart of the weary wanderer sick of life's busy bustle, or upon the restless mind of him who looks to nothing as life except perpetual, unceasing action--the one rejoicing in its rest, the other chafing under its monotony. And yet, about the old city there clings a host of historic associations, that throw around it a charm which few can fail to feel. Its life is in its past; and when we recall the fact that it was the first permanent settlement of the white man, by more than forty years, in this confederacy; that here for the first time, isolated within the shadows of the primeval forest, the civilization of the Old World made its abiding place, where all was new, and wild, and strange; that this now so insignificant place was the key of an empire; that upon its fate rested the destiny of a nation; that its occupation or retention decided the fate of a people; that it was itself a vice provincial court, boasted of its adelantados, men of the first mark and note, of its Royal Exchequer, its public functionaries, its brave men at arms; that its proud name, conferred by its monarch, "_Le siempre fiel Ciudad de San Augustin_,"--The ever faithful City of St. Augustine--stood out upon the face of history; that here the cross was first planted; that from the Papal throne itself rescripts were addressed to its governors; that the first great efforts at Christianizing the fierce tribes of America proceeded from this spot; that the martyr's blood was first here shed; that within these quiet walls the din of arms, the noise of battle, and the fierce cry of assaulting columns, have been heard;--Who will not then feel that we stand on historic ground, and that an interest attaches to the annals of this ancient city far more than is possessed by mere brick and mortar, rapid growth, or unwonted prosperity? Moss-grown and shattered, it appeals to our instinctive feelings of reverence for antiquity; and we feel desirous to know the history of its earlier days. CHAPTER II. FIRST DISCOVERY, 1512 TO 1565--JUAN PONCE DE LEON. Among the sturdy adventurers of the sixteenth century who sought both fame and fortune in the path of discovery, was Ponce de Leon, a companion of Columbus on his second voyage, a veteran and bold mariner, who, after a long and adventurous life, feeling the infirmities of age and the shadows of the decline of life hanging over him, willingly credited the tale that in this, the beautiful land of his imagination, there existed a fountain whose waters could restore youth to palsied age, and beauty to efface the marks of time. The story ran that far to the north there existed a land abounding in gold and all manner of desirable things, but, above all, possessing a river and springs of so remarkable a virtue that their waters would confer immortal youth on whoever bathed in them; that upon a time a considerable expedition of the Indians of Cuba had departed northward in search of this beautiful country and these waters of immortality, who had never returned, and who, it was supposed, were in a renovated state, still enjoying the felicities of the happy land. Furthermore, Peter Martyr affirms, in his second decade, addressed to the Pope, "that among the islands on the north side of Hispaniola, there is one about three hundred and twenty-five leagues distant, as they say which have searched the same, in the which is a continual spring of running water, of such marvelous virtue that the water thereof being drunk, perhaps with some diet, maketh old men young again. And here I must make protestation to your Holiness not to think this to be said lightly, or rashly; for they have so spread this rumor for a truth throughout all the court, that not only all the people, but also many of them whom wisdom or fortune have divided from the common sort, think it to be true."[1] Thoroughly believing in the verity of this pleasant account, this gallant cavalier fitted out an expedition from Porto Rico, and in the progress of his search came upon the coast of Florida, on Easter Monday, 1512, supposing then, and for a long period afterwards, that it was an island. Partly in consequence of the bright spring verdure and flowery plains that met his eye, and the magnificence of the magnolia, the bay and the laurel and partly in honor of the day, Pascua Florida, or Palm Sunday, and reminded, probably, of its appropriateness by the profusion of the cabbage palms near the point of his landing, he gave to the country the name of Florida. On the 3d of April, 1512, three hundred and fifty-five years ago, he landed a few miles north of St. Augustine, and took possession of the country for the Spanish crown. He found the natives fierce and implacable; and after exploring the country for some distance around, and trying the virtue of all the streams, and growing neither younger nor handsomer, he left the country without making a permanent settlement. The subsequent explorations of Narvaez, in 1526, and of De Soto, in 1539, were made in another portion of our State, and do not bear immediately upon the subject of our investigation, although forming a most interesting portion of our general history. CHAPTER III. RIBAULT, LAUDONNIÈRE, AND MENENDEZ--SETTLEMENTS OF THE HUGUENOTS, AND FOUNDATION OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 1562-1565-1568. The settlement of Florida had its origin in the religious troubles experienced by the Huguenots under Charles IX. in France. Their distinguished leader, Admiral Coligny, as early as 1555 projected colonies in America, and sent an expedition to Brazil, which proved unsuccessful. Having procured permission from Charles IX. to found a colony in Florida--a designation which embraced in rather an indefinite manner the whole country from the Chesapeake to the Tortugas--he sent an expedition in 1562 from France, under command of Jean Ribault, composed of many young men of good family. They first landed at the St. John's River, where they erected a monument, but finally established a settlement at Port Royal, South Carolina, and erected a fort. After some months, however, in consequence of dissensions among the officers of the garrison, and difficulties with the Indians, this settlement was abandoned. In 1564 another expedition came out under the command of René de Laudonnière, and made their first landing at the River of Dolphins, being the present harbor of St. Augustine, and so named by them in consequence of the great number of Dolphins (Porpoises) seen by them at its mouth. They afterwards coasted to the north, and entered the River St. Johns, called by them the River May. Upon an examination of this river, Laudonnière concluded to establish his colony on its banks; and proceeding about two leagues above its mouth, built a fort upon a pleasant hill of "mean height," which, in honor of his sovereign, he named Fort Caroline. The colonists after a few months were reduced to great distress, and were about taking measures to abandon the country a second time, when Ribault arrived with reinforcements. It is supposed that intelligence of these expeditions was communicated by the enemies of Coligny to the court of Spain. Jealousy of the aggrandizement of the French in the New World, mortification for their own unsuccessful efforts in that quarter, and a still stronger motive of hatred to the faith of the Huguenot, induced the bigoted Philip II. of Spain, to dispatch Pedro Menendez de Aviles, a brave, bigoted and remorseless soldier, to drive out the French colony, and take possession of the country for himself. The compact made between the King and Menendez was, that he should furnish one galleon completely equipped, and provisions for a force of six hundred men; that he should conquer and settle the country. He obligated himself to carry one hundred horses, two hundred horned cattle, four hundred hogs, four hundred sheep and some goats, and five hundred slaves, (for which he had a permission free of duties), the third part of which should be men, for his own service and that of those who went with him, to aid in cultivating the land and building. That he should take twelve priests, and four fathers of the Jesuit order. He was to build two or three towns of one hundred families, and in each town should build a fort according to the nature of the country. He was to have the title of Adelantado of the country, as also to be entitled a Marquis, and his heirs after him, to have a tract of land, receive a salary of 2,000 ducats, a percentage of the royal duties, and have the freedom of all the other ports of New Spain.[2] His force consisted, at starting, of eleven sail of vessels, with two thousand and six hundred men; but, owing to storms and accidents, not more than one half arrived. He came upon the coast on the 28th August, 1565, shortly after the arrival of the fleet of Ribault. On the 7th day of September, Menendez cast anchor in the River of Dolphins, the harbor of St. Augustine. He had previously discovered and given chase to some of the vessels of Ribault, off the mouth of the River May. The Indian village of Selooe then stood upon the site of St. Augustine, and the landing of Menendez was upon the spot where the city of St. Augustine now stands. Fray Francisco Lopez de Mendoza, the Chaplain of the Expedition, thus chronicles the disembarkation and attendant ceremonies:-- "On Saturday the 8th day of September, the day of the nativity of our Lady, the General disembarked, with numerous banners displayed, trumpets and other martial music resounding, and amid salvos of artillery. "Carrying a cross, I proceeded at the head, chanting the hymn _Te Deum Laudamus_. The General marched straight up to the cross, together with all those who accompanied him; and, kneeling, they all kissed the cross. A great number of Indians looked upon these ceremonies, and imitated whatever they saw done. Thereupon the General took possession of the country in the name of his Majesty. All the officers then took an oath of allegiance to him, as their general, and as adelantado of the whole country." The name of St. Augustine was given, in the usual manner of the early voyagers, because they had arrived upon the coast on the day dedicated in their calendar to that eminent saint of the primitive church, revered alike by the good of all ages for his learning and piety. The first troops who landed, says Mendoza, were well received by the Indians, who gave them a large mansion belonging to the chief, situated near the banks of the river. The engineer officers immediately erected an entrenchment of earth, and a ditch around this house, with a slope made of earth and fascines, these being the only means of defense which the country presents; for, says the father with surprise, "there is not a stone to be found in the whole country." They landed eighty cannon from the ships, of which the lightest weighed two thousand five hundred pounds. But in the meantime Menendez had by no means forgotten the errand upon which he principally came; and by inquiries of the Indians he soon learned the position of the French fort and the condition of its defenders. Impelled by necessity, Laudonnière had been forced to seize from the Indians food to supply his famished garrison, and had thus incurred their enmity, which was soon to produce its sad results. The Spaniards numbered about six hundred combatants, and the French about the same; but arrangements had been made for further accessions to the Spanish force, to be drawn from St. Domingo and Havana, and these were daily expected. It was the habit of those days to devolve almost every event upon the ordering of a special providence; and each nation had come to look upon itself almost in the light of a peculiar people, led like the Israelites of old by signs and wonders; and as in their own view all their actions were directed by the design of advancing God's glory as well as their own purposes, so the blessing of Heaven would surely accompany them in all their undertakings. So believed the Crusaders on the plains of Palestine; so believed the conquerors of Mexico and Peru; so believed the Puritan settlers of New England (alike in their Indian wars and their oppressive social polity); and so believed, also, the followers of Menendez and of Ribault; and in this simple and trusting faith, the worthy chaplain gives us the following account of the miraculous escape and deliverance of a portion of the Spanish fleet:-- "God and his Holy Mother have performed another great miracle in our favor. The day following the landing of the General in the fort, he said to us that he was very uneasy because his galley and another vessel were at anchor, isolated and a league at sea, being unable to enter the port on account of the shallowness of the water; and that he feared that the French might come and capture or maltreat them. As soon as this idea came to him he departed, with fifty men, to go on board of his galleon. He gave orders to three shallops which were moored in the river to go out and take on board the provisions and troops which were on board the galleon. The next day, a shallop having gone out thither, they took on board as much of the provisions as they could, and more than a hundred men who were in the vessel, and returned towards the shore; but half a league before arriving at the bar they were overtaken by so complete a calm that they were unable to proceed further, and thereupon cast anchor and passed the night in that place. The day following at break of day they raised anchor as ordered by the pilot, as the rising of the tide began to be felt. When it was fully light they saw astern of them at the poop of the vessel, two French ships which during the night had been in search of them. The enemy arrived with the intention of making an attack upon us. The French made all haste in their movements, for we had no arms on board, and had only embarked the provisions. When day appeared, and our people discovered the French, they addressed their prayers to our Lady of _Bon Secours d'Utrera_, and supplicated her to grant them a little wind, for the French were already close up to them. They say that _Our Lady_ descended, herself, upon the vessel; for the wind freshened and blew fair for the bar, so that the shallop could enter it. The French followed it; but, as the bar has but little depth and their vessels were large, they were not able to go over it, so that our men and the provisions made a safe harbor. When it became still clearer they perceived besides the two vessels of the enemy, four others at a distance, being the same which we had seen in port the evening of our arrival. They were well furnished with both troops and artillery, and had directed themselves for our galleon and the other ship, which were alone at sea. In this circumstance God accorded us two favors. The first was, that the same evening after they had discharged the provisions and the troops I have spoken of, at midnight the galleon and other vessel put to sea without being perceived by the enemy; the one for Spain, and the other for Havana, for the purpose of seeking the fleet which was there; and in this way neither was taken. "The second favor, by which God rendered us a still greater service, was that on the day following the one I have described there arose a storm, and so great a tempest that certainly the greater part of the French vessels must have been lost at sea; for they were overtaken upon the most dangerous coast I have ever seen, and were very close to the shore; and if our vessels, that is the galleon and its consort, are not shipwrecked, it is because they were already more than twelve leagues off the coast, which gave them the facility of running before the wind, and maneuvering as well as they could, relying upon the aid of God to preserve them."[3] Menendez had ascertained from the Indians that a large number of the French troops had embarked on board of the vessels which he had seen off the harbor, and he had good ground for believing that these vessels would either be cast helpless upon the shore, or be driven off by the tempest to such a distance as would render their return for some days impossible. He at once conceived the project of attacking the French fort upon the river May, by land. A council of war was held, and after some discussion, for the most part adverse to the plan proposed by him, Menendez spoke as follows: "Gentlemen and Brothers! we have before us now an opportunity which if improved by us will have a happy result. I am satisfied that the French fleet which four days since fled from me, and has now come to seek me, has been reinforced with the larger part of the garrison of their fort, to which, nor to port, will they be able to return for many days according to appearances; and since they are all Lutherans, as we learned before we sailed from Spain, by the edicts which Jean Ribault published before embarking, in order that no Catholic at the peril of his life should go in his fleet, nor any Catholic books be taken; and this they themselves declared to us the night they fled from us, and hence our war must be to blood and fire, not only on account of the orders we are under, but because they have sought us in order to destroy us, that we should not plant our holy religion in these regions, and to establish their own abominable and crazy sect among the Indians; so that the more promptly we shall punish them, we shall the more speedily do a service to our God and our king, and comply with our conscience and our duty. "To accomplish this, we must choose five hundred arquebuse men and pikemen, and carry provisions in our knapsacks for eight days, divided into ten companies, each one with its standard and its captain, and go with this force by land to examine the settlements and fort of our enemies; and as no one knows the road, I will guide you within two points by a mariner's compass; and where we cannot get along, we will open a way with our axes; and moreover, I have with me a Frenchman who has been more than a year at their fort, and who says he knows the ground for two leagues around the fort. "If we shall arrive without discovery, it may be that falling upon it at daylight we may take it, by planting upon it twenty scaling ladders, at the cost of fifty lives. If we are discovered, we can form in the shelter of the wood, which I am assured is not more than a quarter of a league distant, and planting there ten standards, send forward a trumpeter requiring them to leave the fort and the country, and return to their own country, offering them ships and provisions for the voyage. They will imagine that we have a much greater army with us, and they may surrender; and if they do not, we shall at least accomplish that they will leave us undisturbed in this our own settlement, and we shall know the way, so that we may return to destroy them the succeeding spring." After some discussion it was concluded that after hearing mass they should undertake the expedition on the third day. Considerable opposition was manifested on the part of the officers; but, with a consummate knowledge of human nature, the Adelantado got up the most splendid dinner in his power, and invited his recreant officers to the repast, and dexterously appealed to their fears, as well as their pride, and overcame their reluctance to undertake the unknown dangers of a first march through Florida at a wet season, an actual acquaintance with which would still more have dampened their ardor. The troops assembled promptly upon the day appointed, at the sound of the trumpet, the fife and the drum, and they all went to hear mass, except Juan de Vicente, who said he had a disorder of the stomach, and in his leg; and when some friends wished to urge his coming, he replied: "I vow to God, that I will wait until the news comes that our force is entirely cut off, when we who remain will embark in our three vessels, and go to the Indies, where there will be no necessity of our all perishing like beasts." This Juan Vicente seems to have been an apt specimen of a class of croakers not peculiar to any age or country. Of his future history the chronicle gives other instances of a similar spirit; and his sole claim to immortality, like that of many an other, is founded upon his impudence. CHAPTER IV. THE ATTACK ON FORT CAROLINE--1565. The troops, having heard mass, marched out in order, preceded by twenty Biscayans and Asturians having as their captain Martin de Ochoa, a leader of great fidelity and bravery, furnished with axes to open a road where they could not get along. At this moment there arrived two Indians, who said that they had been at the fort six days before, and who "seemed like angels" to the soldiers, sent to guide their march. Halting for refreshment and rest wherever suitable places could be found, and the Adelantado always with the vanguard, in four days they reached the vicinity of the fort, and came up within less than a quarter of a league of it, concealed by a grove of pine trees. It rained heavily, and a severe storm prevailed. The place where they had halted was a very bad one, and very marshy; but he decided to stop there, and went back to seek the rearguard, lest they might lose the way. About ten at night the last of the troops arrived, very wet indeed, for there had been much rain during the four days; they had passed marshes with the water rising to their waists, and every night there was so great a flood that they were in great danger of losing their powder, their match-fire, and their biscuit; and they became desperate, cursing those who had brought them there, and themselves for coming. Menendez pretended not to hear their complaints, not daring to call a council as to proceeding or returning, for both officers and soldiers went forward very inquietly. Remaining firm in his own resolve, two hours before dawn he called together the Master of the Camp and the Captains to whom he said that during the whole night he had sought of God and his most Holy Mother that they would favor him and instruct him what he should do most advantageous for their holy service; and he was persuaded that they had all done the same. "But now, Gentlemen," he proceeded, "we must make some determination, finding ourselves exhausted, lost, without ammunition or provisions, and without the hope of relief." Some answered very promptly, "Why should they waste their time in giving reasons? for, unless they returned quickly to St. Augustine, they would be reduced to eating palmettos;[4] and the longer they delayed, the greater trouble they would have." The Adelantado said to them that what they said seemed very reasonable, but he would ask of them to hear some reasons to the contrary, without being offended. He then proceeded--after having smoothed down their somewhat ruffled dispositions, considerably disturbed by their first experience in encountering the hardships of such a march--to show them that the danger of retreat was then greater than an advance would be, as they would lose alike the respect of their friends and foes. That if, on the contrary, they attacked the fort, whether they succeeded in taking it or not, they would gain honor and reputation. Stimulated by the speech of their General, they demanded to be led to the attack, and the arrangements for the assault were at once made. Their French prisoner was placed in the advance; but the darkness of the night and the severity of the storm rendered it impossible to proceed, and they halted in a marsh, with the water up to their knees, to await daylight. At dawn the Frenchman recognized the country, and the place were they were, and where stood the fort; upon which the Adelantado ordered them to march, enjoining upon all, at the peril of their lives, to follow him; and coming to a small hill, the Frenchman said that behind that stood the fort, about three bow-shots distant, but lower down, near the river. The General put the Frenchman into the custody of Castaneda. He went up a little higher, and saw the river and one of the houses, but he was not able to discover the fort, although it was adjoining them; and he returned to Castaneda, with whom now stood the Master of the Camp and Ochoa, and said to them that he wished to go lower down, near to the houses which stood behind the hill, to see the fortress and the garrison, for, as the sun was now up, they could not attack the fort without a reconnoisance. This the Master of the Camp would not permit him to do, saying this duty appertained to him; and he went alone with Ochoa near to the houses, from whence they discovered the fort; and returning with their information, they came to two paths, and leaving the one by which they came, took the other. The Master of the Camp discovered his error, coming to a fallen tree, and turned his face to inform Ochoa, who was following him; and as they turned to seek the right path, he stopped in advance, and the sentinel discovered them, who imagined them to be French; but examining them he perceived they were unknown to him. He hailed, "Who goes there?" Ochoa answered, "Frenchmen." The sentinel was confirmed in his supposition that they were his own people, and approached them; Ochoa did the same; but seeing they were not French, the sentinel retreated. Ochoa closed with him, and with his drawn sword gave him a cut over the head, but did not hurt him much, as the sentinel fended off the blow with his sword; and the Master of the Camp coming up at this moment, gave him a thrust, from which he fell backwards, making a loud outcry. The Master of the Camp, putting his sword to his breast, threatened him with instant death unless he kept silence. They tied him thereupon, and took him to the General, who, hearing the noise, thought the Master of the Camp was being killed, and meeting with the Sergeant-major, Francisco de Recalde, Diego de Maya, and Andres Lopez Patino, with their standards and soldiers, without being able to restrain himself, he cried out, "Santiago! Upon them! Help of God, Victory! The French are destroyed. The Master of the Camp is in their fort, and has taken it." Upon which, all rushed forward in the path without order, the General remaining behind, repeating what he had said many times: himself believing it to be certain that the Master of the Camp had taken with him a considerable force, and had captured the fort. * * * * * So great was the joy of the soldiers, and such their speed, that they soon came up with the Master of the Camp and Ochoa, who was hastening to receive the reward of carrying the good news to the General of the capture of the sentinel. But the Master of the Camp, seeing the spirit which animated the soldiers, killed the sentinel, and cried out with a loud voice to those who were pressing forward, "Comrades! do as I do. God is with us;" and turned, running towards the fort, and meeting two Frenchmen on the way, he killed one of them, and Andres Lopez Patino the other. Those in the environs of the fort, seeing this tragedy enacted, set up loud outcries; and in order to know the cause of the alarm, one of the Frenchmen within opened the postern of the principal gate, which he had no sooner done than it was observed by the Master of the Camp; and throwing himself upon him, he killed him, and entered the gate, followed by the most active of his followers. The French, awakened by the clamor, some dressed, others in their night-clothes, rushed to the doors of their houses to see what had happened; but they were all killed, except sixty of the more wary, who escaped by leaping the walls. Immediately the standards of the Sergeant-major and of Diego Mayo were brought in, and set up by Rodrigo Troche and Pedro Valdes Herrera, with two cavaliers, at the same moment. These being hoisted, the trumpets proclaimed the victory, and the bands of soldiers who had entered opened the gates and sought the quarters, leaving no Frenchman alive. The Adelantado hearing the cries, left Castaneda in his place to collect the people who had not come up, who were at least half the force, and went himself to see if they were in any danger. He arrived at the fort running; and as he perceived that the soldiers gave no quarter to any of the French, he shouted, "That at the penalty of their lives they should neither wound nor kill any woman, cripple, or child under fifteen years of age." By which seventy persons were saved; _the rest were all killed_! Renato de Laudonnière, the Commander of the fort, escaped with his servant and some twenty or thirty others, to a vessel lying in the river. Such is the Spanish chronicle, contained in Barcia, of the capture of Fort Caroline. Its details in the main correspond with the account of Laudonnière, and of Nicolas Challeux, the author of the letter printed at Lyons, in France, under date of August, 1566, by Jean Saugrain. In some important particulars, however, the historians disagree. It has been already seen that Menendez is represented as having given orders to spare all the women, maimed persons, and all children under fifteen years of age. The French relations of the event, on the contrary, allege that an indiscriminate slaughter took place, and that all were massacred without respect to age, sex, or condition; but as this statement is principally made upon the authority of a terrified and flying soldier, it is alike due to the probabilities of the case, and more agreeable to the hopes of humanity, to lessen somewhat the horrors of a scene which has need of all the palliation that can be drawn from the slightest evidences of compassion on the part of that stern and bigoted leader. The Spanish statement is further confirmed by other writers, who speak of a vessel being dispatched by Menendez subsequently to carry the survivors to Spain. CHAPTER V. ESCAPE OF LAUDONNIÈRE AND OTHERS FROM FORT CAROLINE. ADVENTURES OF THE FUGITIVES. The narratives of this event are found singularly full, there being no less than three accounts by fugitives from the massacre. The most complete of these is that of Nicolas de Challeux, a native of Dieppe, which was published in the following year. I have largely transcribed from this quaint and curious narrative, not only an account of the fullness of the details, but also for the light it throws upon the habits of thought and modes of expression of that day, when so much was exhibited of an external religious faith, and so many were found who would fight for their faith when they refused to adhere to its requirements. There are apparent, also, a close study of the Scriptures, a great familiarity with its language, a frequent use of its illustrations, and a disposition to attribute all things, with a reverent piety, to the direct personal supervision of the Almighty. By the aid of a map of the St. John's River, it will not be difficult to trace the perilous route of escape pursued by De Challeux and his companions, over obstacles much magnified by the terror of the moment and want of familiarity with the country:-- "The number of persons in the fort was two hundred and forty, partly of those who had not recovered from sea-sickness, partly of artisans and of women and children left to the care and diligence of Captain Laudonnière, who had no expectation that it was possible that any force could approach by land to attack him. On which account the guards had withdrawn for the purpose of refreshing themselves a little before sunrise, on account of the bad weather which had continued during the whole night, most of our people being at the time in their beds sleeping. The wicket gate open, the Spanish force, having traversed forests, swamps, and rivers, arrived at break of day, Friday, the 20th September, the weather very stormy, and entered the fort without any resistance, and made a horrible satisfaction of the rage and hate they had conceived against our nation. It was then who should best kill the most men, sick and well, women and little children, in such a manner that it is impossible to conceive of a massacre which could equal this for its barbarity and cruelty. "Some of the more active of our people, jumping from their beds, slipped out and escaped to the vessel in the river. I was myself surprised, going to my duty with my clasp-knife in my hand; for upon leaving my cabin, I met the enemy, and saw no other means of escape but turning my back, and making the utmost possible haste to lead over the palisades, for I was closely pursued, step by step, by a pike-man and one with a partisan; and I do not know how it was, unless by the grace of God, that my strength was redoubled, old man as I am and grey-headed, a thing which at any other time I could not have done, for the rampart was raised eight or nine feet; I then hastened to secrete myself in the woods, and when I was sufficiently near the edge of the wood at the distance of a good bow-shot, I turned towards the fort and rested a little time, finding myself not pursued; and as from this place all the fort, even the inner-court was distinctly visible to me, looking there I saw a horrible butchery of our men taking place, and three standards of our enemies planted upon the ramparts. Having then lost all hope of seeing our men rally, I resigned all my senses to the Lord. Recommending myself to his mercy, grace and favor, I threw myself into the wood, for it seemed to me that I could find no greater cruelty among the savage beast, than that of our enemy which I had seen shown towards our people. But the misery and anguish in which I found myself then, straitened and oppressed, seeing no longer any means of safety upon the earth, unless by a special grace of our Lord, transcending any expectation of man, caused me to utter groans and sobs, and with a voice broken by distress to thus cry to the Lord: "'O God of our fathers and Lord of all mercy! who hast commanded us to call upon Thee even from the depths of hell and the shades of death, promising forthwith thy aid and succor! show me, for the hope which I have in Thee, what course I ought to take to come to the termination of this miserable old age, plunged into the gulf of grief and bitterness; at least, cause that, feeling the effect of Thy mercy, and the confidence which I have conceived in my heart for Thy promises, they may not be snatched from me through fear of savage and furious wild beasts on one hand, and of our and Thy enemies on the other, who desire the more to injure us for the memory of Thy name which is invoked by us than for any other cause; aid me, my God! assist me, for I am so troubled that I can do nothing more.' "And while I was making this prayer, traversing the wood, which was very thick and matted with briars and thorns, beneath the large trees where there was neither any road nor path, scarcely had I trailed my way half an hour, when I heard a noise like men weeping and groaning near me; and advancing in the name of God, and in the confidence of His succor, I discovered one of our people, named Sieur de la Blonderie, and a little behind him another, named Maitre Robert, well known to us all, because he had in charge the prayers at the fort. "Immediately afterwards we found also the servant of Sieur d'Ully, the nephew of M. Lebreau, Master Jaques Trusse, and many others; and we assembled and talked over our troubles, and deliberated as to what course we could take to save our lives. One of our number, much esteemed as being very learned in the lessons of Holy Scripture, proposed after this manner: 'Brethren, we see to what extremity we are brought; in whatever direction we turn our eyes, we see only barbarism. The heavens, the earth, the sea, the forest, and men,--in brief, nothing favors us. How can we know that if we yield to the mercy of the Spaniards, they will spare us? and if they should kill us, it will be the suffering of but a moment; they are men, and it may be that, their fury appeased, they may receive us upon some terms; and, moreover, what can we do? Would it not be better to fall into the hands of men, than into the jaws of wild beasts, or die of hunger in a strange land?' "After he had thus spoken, the greater part of our number were of his opinion, and praised his counsel. Notwithstanding, I pointed out the cruel animosity still unappeased of our enemies, and that it was not for any human cause of quarrel, that they had carried out with such fury their enterprise, but mainly (as would appear by the notice they had already given us) because we were of those who were reformed by the preaching of the Gospel; that we should be cowards to trust in men, rather than in God, who gives life to his own in the midst of death, and gives ordinarily his assistance when the hopes of men entirely fail. "I also brought to their minds examples from Scripture, instancing Joseph, Daniel, Elias, and the other prophets, as well also the apostles, as St. Peter and St. Paul, who were all drawn out of much affliction, as would appear by means extraordinary and strange to the reason and judgment of men. His arm, said I, is not shortened, nor in any wise enfeebled; his power is always the same. Do you not recollect, said I the flight of the Israelites before Pharaoh? What hope had that people of escaping from the hands of that powerful tyrant? He had them, as it were, under his heel. Before them they had the sea, on either side inaccessible mountains. "What then? He who opened the sea to make a path for his people, and made it afterwards to swallow up his enemies, can not he conduct us by the forest places of this strange country? While thus discoursing, six of the company followed out the first proposition, and abandoned us to go and yield themselves up to our enemies, hoping to find favor before them. But they learned, immediately and by experience, what folly it is to trust more in men than in the promise of the Lord. For having gone out of the wood, as they descended to the fort they were immediately seized by the Spaniards and treated in the same fashion as the others had been. They were at once killed and massacred, and then drawn to the banks of the river, where the others killed at the fort lay in heaps. We who remained in the wood continued to make our way, and drawing towards the sea, as well as we could judge, and as it pleased God to conduct our paths and to straiten our course, we soon arrived at the brow of a mountain and from there commenced to see the sea, but it was still at a great distance; and what was worse, the road we had to take showed itself wonderfully strange and difficult. In the first place, the mountain from which it was necessary for us to descend, was of such height and ruggedness, that it was not possible for a person descending to stand upright; and we should never have dared to descend it but for the hope we had of sustaining ourselves by the branches of the bushes, which were frequent upon the side of the mountain, and to save life, not sparing our hands which we had all gashed up and bloody, and even the legs and nearly all the body was torn. But descending from the mountain, we did not lose our view of the sea, on account of a small wood which was upon a little hill opposite to us; and in order to go to the wood it was requisite that we should traverse a large meadow, all mud and quagmire, covered with briars and other kind of strange plants; for the stalk was as hard as wood, and the leaves pricked our feet and our hands until the blood came, and being all the while in water up to the middle, which redoubled our pain and suffering. The rain came down upon us in such manner from heaven, that we were during all that time between two floods; and the further we advanced the deeper we found the water. "And then thinking that the last period of our lives had come, we all embraced each other, and with a common impulse, we commenced to sigh and cry to the Lord, accusing our sins and recognizing the weight of his judgment upon us. 'Alas! Lord,' said we, 'what are we but poor worms of the earth? Our souls weakened by grief, surrender themselves into thy hands. Oh, Father of Mercy and God of Love, deliver us from this pain of death! or if thou wilt that in this desert we shall draw our last breath, assist us so that death, of all things the most terrible, shall have no advantage over us, but that we may remain firm and stable in the sense of thy favor and good-will, which we have too often experienced in the cause of thy Christ to give way to the spirit of Satan, the spirit of despair and of distrust; for if we die, we will protest now before thy Majesty, that we would die unto thee, and that if we live it may be to recount thy wonders in the midst of the assembly of thy servants.' Our prayers concluded, we marched with great difficulty straight towards the wood, when we came to a great river which ran in the midst of this meadow; the channel was sufficiently narrow but very deep, and ran with great force, as though all the field ran toward the sea. This was another addition to our anguish, for there was not one of our men who would dare to undertake to cross over by swimming. But in this confusion of our thoughts, as to what manner to pass over, I bethought myself of the wood which we had left behind us. After exhorting my comrades to patience and a continued trust in the Lord, I returned to the wood, and cut a long pole, with the good size clasp knife which remained in my hand from the hour the fort was taken; and I returned to the others, who awaited me in great perplexity, 'Now, then, comrades,' said I, 'let us see if God, by means of this stick, will not give us some help to accomplish our path.' Then we laid the pole upon the water, and each one by turn taking hold of the end of the pole, carried it by his side to the midst of the channel, when losing sight of him we pushed him with sufficient force to the other bank, where he drew himself out by the canes and other bushes growing along its borders; and by his example we passed over, one at a time; but it was not without great danger, and not without drinking a great deal of salt water, in such manner that our hearts were all trembling, and we were as much overcome as though we had been half drowned. After we had come to ourselves and had resumed courage, moving on all the time towards the wood, which we had remarked close to sea, the pole was not even needed to pass another creek, which gave us not much less trouble than the first; but by the grace of God, we passed it and entered the wood the same evening, where we passed the night in great fear and trembling, standing about against the trees. "And, as much as we had labored, even had it been more, we felt no desire to sleep; for what repose could there be to spirits in such mortal affright? Near the break of day, we saw a great beast, like a deer, at fifty paces from us, who had a great head, eyes flaming, the ears hanging, and the higher parts elevated. It seemed to us monstrous, because of its gleaming eyes, wondrously large; but it did not come near us to do us any harm. "The day having appeared, we went out of the wood and returned towards the sea, in which we hoped, after God, as the only means of saving our lives; but we were again cast down and troubled, for we saw before us a country of marsh and muddy quagmires, full of water and covered with briars, like that we had passed the previous day. We marched across this salt marsh; and, in the direction we had to take, we perceived among the briars a body of men, whom we at first thought to be enemies, who had gone there to cut us off; but upon close observation, they seemed in as sad a plight as ourselves, naked and terrified; and we immediately perceived that they were our own people. It was Captain Laudonnière, his servant-maid, Jacques Morgues of Dieppe (the artist), Francis Duval of Rouen, son of him of the iron crown of Rouen, Niguise de la Cratte, Nicholas the carpenter, the Trumpeter of Sieur Laudonnière, and others, who all together made the number of twenty-six men. Upon deliberating as to what we should do, two of our men mounted to the top of one of the tallest trees and discovered from thence one of our vessels, which was that of Captain Maillard, to whom they gave a signal, that he might know that we were in want of help. Thereupon he came towards us with his small vessel, but in order to reach the banks of the stream, it was necessary for us to traverse the briars and two other rivers similar to those which we passed the previous day; in order to accomplish which, the pole I had cut the day before was both useful and necessary, and two others which Sr. de Laudonnière had provided; and we came pretty near to the vessel, but our hearts failed us from hunger and fatigue, and we should have remained where we were unless the sailors had given us a hand, which aid was very opportune; and they carried us, one after the other, to the vessel, on board of which we were all received well and kindly. They gave us bread and water, and we began afterwards, little by little, to recover our strength and vigor; which was a strong reason that we should recognize the goodness of the Lord, who had saved us against all hope from an infinity of dangers and from death, by which we had been surrounded and assaulted from all quarters, to render him forevermore our thanks and praises. We thus passed the entire night recounting the wonders of the Lord, and consoled each other in the assurances of our safety. "Daylight having come, Jacques Ribault, Captain of the Pearl, boarded us to confer with us respecting what was to done by us, and what means we should take for the safety of the rest of our men and the vessels. It was then objected, the small quantity of provisions which we had, our strength broken, our munitions and means of defense taken from us, the uncertainty as to the condition of our Admiral, and not knowing but that he had been shipwrecked on some coast a long distance from us, or driven to a distance by the tempest. "We thereupon concluded that we could do no better than return to France, and were of the opinion that the company should divide into two parts, the one remaining on board the Pearl, the other under charge of Captain Maillard. "On Friday, the twenty-fifth day of the month of September, we departed from this coast, favored by a strong northerly wind, having concluded to return to France, and after the first day our two ships were so far separated that we did not again encounter each other. "We proceeded five hundred leagues prosperously, when, one morning about sunrise, we were attacked by a Spanish vessel, which we met as well as we could, and cannonaded them in such sort that we made them subject to our disposal, and battered them so that the blood was seen to overrun the scuppers. We held them then as surrendered and defeated; but there was no means of grappling her, on account of the roughness of the sea for in grappling her there would be danger of our striking together, which might have sunk us; she also, satisfied with the affair, left us, joyful and thanking God that no one of us was wounded or killed in this skirmish except our cook. "The rest of our passage was without any renconter with enemies; but we were much troubled by contrary winds, which often threatened to cast us on the coast of Spain, which would have been the finishing touch to our misfortunes, and the thing of which we had the greatest horror. We also endured at sea many other things, such as cold and hunger; for be it understood that we, who escaped from the land of Florida, had nothing else for vestment or equipment, by day or by night, except our shirts alone, or some other little rag, which was a small matter of defence from the exposure to the weather; and what was more, the bread which we eat, and we eat it very sparingly, was all spoilt and rotten, as well also the water itself was all noisome, and of which, besides, we could only have for the whole day a single small glass. "This bad food was the reason, on our landing, that many of us fell into divers maladies, which carried off many of the men of our company; and we arrived at last, after this perilous and lamentable voyage, at Rochelle; where we were received and treated very humanely and kindly by the inhabitants of the country and those of the city, giving us of their means, to the extent our necessities require; and assisted by their kindness we were each enabled to return to his own part of the country."[5] Laudonnière's[6] narrative speaks more of his own personal escape; and that of Le Moyne[7] refers to this description of De Challeux, as containing a full and accurate account of what took place. Barcia mentions De Challeux, very contemptuously as a carpenter, who succeeding badly at his trade, took up that of preaching, but does not deny the truth of his narrative. Those who separated from their comrades and threw themselves upon the enemies' mercy, are mentioned by the Spanish writers; but they are silent as to the treatment they received. CHAPTER VI. SITE OF FORT CAROLINE, AFTERWARDS CALLED SAN MATTEO. It might naturally be supposed that a spot surrounded with so many thrilling and interesting associations, as the scene of the events we have just related, would have been commemorated either by tradition or by ancient remains attesting its situation. But, in truth, no recognized point now bears the appellation of Fort Caroline, and the antiquary can point at this day to no fosse or parapet, no crumbling bastion, no ancient helm or buckler, no shattered and corroded garniture of war mingled with the bones of the dead, as evidencing its position. A writer who has himself done more to rescue from oblivion the historical romance of the South than any other,[8] has well said, "It will be an employment of curious interest, whenever the people of Florida shall happen upon the true site of the settlement and structure of Laudonnière, to trace out in detail these several localities, and fix them for the benefit of posterity. The work is scarcely beyond the hammer and chisel of some Old Mortality, who has learned to place his affections and fix his sympathies upon the achievements of the past." With a consciousness of our unfitness to establish absolutely a memorial so interesting as the site of Fort Caroline must ever be, I shall endeavor to locate its position, upon the basis of reasons entirely satisfactory to myself, and measurably so, I trust, to others. The account given by Laudonnière himself, the leader of the Huguenots, by whom Fort Caroline was constructed, is as follows:--After speaking of his arrival at the mouth of the river, which had been named the River May by Ribault, who had entered it on the first day of May, 1562, and had therefore given it that name, he says, "Departing from thence, I had not sailed three leagues up the river, still being followed by the Indians, crying still, 'amy,' 'amy,' that is to say, friend, but I discovered an hill of meane height, neare which I went on land, harde by the fieldes that were sowed with mil, at one corner whereof there was an house, built for their lodgings which keep and garde the mil. * * * * * * Now was I determined to searche out the qualities of the hill. Therefore I went right to the toppe thereof; where we found nothing else but cedars, palms, and bay trees of so sovereign odor that Balme smelleth not more sweetly. The trees were environed around about with vines bearing grapes, in such quantities that the number would suffice to make the place habitable. Besides the fertilitie of the soyle for vines, one may see mesquine wreathed about the trees in great quantities. Touching the pleasure of the place, the sea may be seen plain enough from it; and more than six great leagues off, towards the River Belle, a man may behold the meadows, divided asunder into isles and islet, enterlacing one another. Briefly, the place is so pleasent, that those which are melancholicke, would be inforced to change their humour. * * "Our fort was built in form of a triangle; the side towards the west, which was towards the land, was inclosed with a little trench and raised with turf made in the form of a battlement, nine feet high; the other side, which was towards the river, was enclosed with a palisade of planks of timber, after the manner that Gabions are made; on the south line, there was a kind of bastion, within which I caused an house for the munition to be made. It was all builded with fagots and sand, saving about two or three foote high, with turfes whereof the battlements were made. In the middest, I caused a great court to be made of eighteen paces long, and the same in breadth. In the middest whereof, on the one side, drawing towards the south, I builded a corps de garde and an house on the other side towards the north. * * * * One of the sides that inclosed my court, which I made very faire and large, reached unto the grange of my munitions; and on the other side, towards the river, was mine own lodgings, round which were galleries all covered. The principal doore of my lodging was in the middest of the great place, and the other was towarde the river. A good distance from the fort I built an oven." Jacob Le Moyne, or Jacques Morgues, as he is sometimes called, accompanied the expedition; and his _Brevis Narratio_ contains two plates, representing the commencement of the construction of Fort Caroline, and its appearance when completed. The latter represents a much more finished fortification than could possibly have been constructed, but may be taken as a correct outline, I presume, of its general appearance. Barcia, in his account of its capture, describes neither its shape nor appearance, but mentions the parapet nine feet high, and the munition house and store house. From the account of Laudonnière and Le Moyne, it was situated near the river, on the slope or nearly at the foot of a hill.[9] Barcia speaks of its being behind a hill, and of descending towards it. The clerical-carpenter, Challeux, speaks of being able, after his escape, to look down from the hill he was on, into the court of the fort itself, and seeing the massacre of the French. As he was flying from the fort towards the sea, and along the river, and as the Spaniards came from a southeast direction, the fort must have been on the westerly side of a hill, near the river. The distance is spoken of as less than three leagues by Laudonnière. Hawkins and Ribault say, the fort was not visible from the mouth of the river. It is also incidentally spoken of in Barcia as being two leagues from the bar. De Challeux, in the narrative of his escape, speaks of the distance as being about two leagues. In the account given of the expedition of De Gourgues, it is said to be, in general terms, about one or two leagues above the forts afterwards constructed on each side of the mouth of the river; and it is also mentioned in De Gourgues, that the fort was at the foot of a hill, near the water, and could be overlooked from the hill. The distance from the mouth of the river, and the nature of the ground where the fort was built, are thus made sufficiently definite to enable us to seek a location which shall fulfill both these conditions. It is hardly necessary to remark that there can be no question but that the fort was located on the south or easterly side of the river, as the Spaniards marched by land from St. Augustine in a northwesterly direction to Fort Caroline. The River St. Johns is one of the largest rivers, in point of width, to be found in America, and is more like an arm of the sea than a river; from its mouth for a distance of fifteen miles, it is spread over extensive marshes, and there are few points where the channel touches the banks of the river. At its mouth it is comparatively narrow, but immediately extends itself over wide-spread marshes; and the first headland or shore which is washed by the channel is a place known as St. John's Bluff. Here the river runs closely along the shore, making a bold, deep channel close up to the bank. The land rises abruptly on one side into a hill of moderate height, covered with a dense growth of pine, cedar, &c. This hill gently slopes to the banks of the river, and runs off to the southwest, where, at the distance of a quarter of a mile, a creek discharges itself into the river, at a place called "the Shipyard" from time immemorial. I am not aware that any remains of Fort Caroline, or any old remains of a fortress, have ever been discovered here; but it must be recollected that this fort was constructed of sand and pine trees, and that three hundred years have passed away, with their storms and tempests, their rains and destructive influences--a period sufficient to have destroyed a work of much more durable character than sandy entrenchments and green pine stakes and timbers. Moreover, it is highly probable, judging from present appearances, that the constant abrasion of the banks still going on has long since worn away the narrow spot where stood Fort Caroline. It is also to be remarked, that as there is no other hill, or high land, or place where a fort could have been built, between St. John's Bluff and the mouth of the river, so it is also the fact that there is no point on the south side of the river where the channel touches high land, for a distance by water of eight or ten miles above St. John's Bluff. The evidence in favor of the location of Fort Caroline at St. John's Bluff is, I think conclusive and irresistible, and accords in all points with the descriptions given as to distance, topography, and points of view. It is within the memory of persons now living, that a considerable orange grove and somewhat extensive buildings, which existed at this place, then called San Vicente, have been washed into the river, leaving at this day no vestiges of their existence. It has been occupied as a Spanish fort within fifty years; yet so rapid has been the work of time and the elements, that no remains of such occupation are now to be seen. The narratives all speak of the distance from the mouth of the river as about two leagues; and in speaking of so short a distance the probability of exactness is much greater than when dealing with longer distances. As to the spot itself, it presents all the natural features mentioned by Laudonnière; and it requires but a small spice of enthusiasm and romance that it be recognized as a "goodlie and pleasante spotte," by those who might like the abundance of the wild grapes and the view of the distant salt meadows, with their "iles and islets, so pleasante that those which are melancholike would be inforced to change their humour." It is but proper, however, to say, that at a plantation known as Newcastle there is a high range of ground, and upon this high ground the appearance of an old earth-work of quadrangular form; but this point is distant some six leagues from the mouth of the river, is flanked by a deep bay or marsh to the southeast, and the work is on the top of the hill and not at its foot, is quadrangular and not triangular, and is a considerable distance from the water. These earth-works, I am satisfied, are Spanish or English remains of a much later period. By examining a map of the St. John's river, the first projecting land on the south side, lying east of the second township line marked from the coast, will be found nearly to indicate the point known as St. John's Bluff. On the eastern face the bluff is quite high and precipitous--being possibly the "brow of the mountain" mentioned by De Challeux--and immediately beyond is a deep indentation of the shore-line of several miles in circuit, within which is an immense tract of sea-marsh, interspersed with small islands, and cut up by narrow channels. Through this the fugitives may be supposed to have crossed, and, reaching the high lands which hem in the marsh near the mouth of the river, were enabled to view the vessels which offered them rescue. About the year 1856 a handful of small copper coins were accidentally found near the eastern margin of this marsh, in the rear of what is now known as Mayport Mill. Some few were at first found on the ground, as if accidentally exposed, and upon removing the earth for a slight depth the remainder were discovered. They were distributed among several gentlemen in Florida, and Mr. Buckingham Smith, at that time and more recently made the history of the coins a subject of especial inquiry in Spain. Just before putting the second edition of this work to press, the following letter was received by the publisher of this volume, and is given as matter of interest in connection with the locality referred to: * * * * * MADRID, August 15, 1868. MY DEAR SIR:--I brought with me from Florida, as I proposed, three copper coins of those found with others of the same sort many years ago, on the St. Johns river near the old site of Fort Caroline, in what the French three centuries ago called the Vale of Laudonnière, that I might have them examined in Europe. There were none of the sort in the British Museum, with which they might be compared, and in the Bibliothique Imperial I could only learn that they were Spanish. On my arrival here I gave them for inspection to Señor Bermudez, a long time in charge of the national collection of such like antiquities, second only in extent and value to that of Paris: and showed them also to other of my friends learned in numismatics. The work of A. Heiss, now making its appearance in numbers, with the title _Description General de las monedas Hispano-Christianas desde la invasion de los Arabes_, has been also consulted, and this is the amount of all the conclusions, the inscriptions on each coin being nearly the same: [image of a dagger] KAROLVS.ET.IOANNA RE. Two II in the midst, with crowns upon them; to the right P, to the left S; in the middle a square point. REVERSO: Same--same--same--REGIS. A Y in the middle, crowned; to the right IIII; to the left F. They were struck for Doña Juana and Carlos I., Empr. Charles V., between the years 1516 and 1555. The Y is supposed to refer to Ysabel: the double I to Joanna I., or may be to the columns of Hercules, and the crowns upon them to those of Castilla and Aragon. On later silver coins, not so rude, the columns are placed with the words _plus ultra_, as you may have observed on a Spanish dollar. The IIII (on some 4,) means four maravedises, the value of which have varied: at present 25 of these would be the value of a real. These coins are uncommon; in good preservation, very rare. The curiosity so many of us have had for a number of years about these matters, I believe is at last satisfied. I have visited the town of Aviles, a league from the Bay of Biscay, whence Pedro Menendez came, and brought his fleet to Florida, three centuries ago. I saw his tomb, and not far off the chapel of the family of one of his companions. There is no stranger any where to be heard of in all that country; every thing is intensely and old Spanish in every aspect. Going home late one evening, I was accosted by a native in good English. He said the town was rarely visited--three or four Englishmen within his memory had passed through, and he supposed me to be the first person from the United States who had ever been there. I told him I came from Florida, and, though rather late, was returning the visit of Menendez to St. Augustine. The estate of this old colonist is in the house of the Count of Canalejas, held by the Marquis of San Estevan, who is also by marriage the Count of Revilla Gigedo. I called on him at his country seat in Dania, and, detaining me to spend the day with him, gave orders to have his family pictures and palace shown to me at Gijon, and his papers at a residence in Oviedo. Among the documents is a valuable one for writing a life of Menendez. It is a draft for a letter in his own hand, directed to his nephew, Governor of Florida, in which he expresses his wish to be with him and away from business. He speaks of the "invincible armada" which he had been appointed to command, and gives the number of his ships. This probably was the last thing he ever wrote, dated ten days before he died, as it is known that he died on the ninth day of his sickness. Of course I have a copy to show you. Spain has greatly changed within the last eight years--impoverished itself, the people say, with improvements. The railroads traverse most parts, are well laid, durable, and the service good. The ancient monuments have begun to be cared for, are repaired, and in the charge of a commission of the government. Give my best regards to friends about you, and believe me truly yours, BUCKINGHAM SMITH. Mr. COLUMBUS DREW, Jacksonville, Fla. CHAPTER VII. MENENDEZ'S RETURN TO ST. AUGUSTINE--SHIPWRECK OF A. D. 1565. After an ineffectual attempt to induce those in the small vessels of the French to surrender, failing in this, the General concluded to return to St. Augustine, and send two of his vessels to the mouth of the river to intercept them. Some of the fugitives from the fort fled to the Indians; and ten of these were given up to the Spaniards, to be butchered in cold blood, says the French account,--to be sent back to France, says the Spanish chronicle. The 24th September being the day of St. Matthew, the name of the fort was changed to that of San Matheo, by which name it was always subsequently called by the Spaniards; and the name of St. Matthew was also given by them to the river, now called St. Johns, on which it is situated. The Spaniards proceeded at once to strengthen the fortress, deepening and enlarging the ditch, and raised and strengthened the ramparts and walls in such manner, says the boastful Mendoza, "that if the half of all France had come to attack it, they could not have disturbed it;" a boast upon which the easy conquest of it by De Gourgues, three years subsequently, affords an amusing commentary. They also constructed, subsequently, two small forts at the mouth of the river, one on each side, which probably were located the one at Batten Island and the other at Mayport. Leaving three hundred soldiers as a garrison under his Son-in-law, De Valdez, Master of the Camp, who was now appointed Governor of the fort, Menendez marched for St. Augustine, beginning now to feel considerable anxiety lest the French fleet, escaping from the tempest, might return and visit upon his own garrison at St. Augustine, the fate of Fort Caroline. He took with him upon his return but fifty soldiers, and, owing to the swollen waters, found great difficulty in retracing his route. When within a league of St. Augustine, he allowed one of the soldiers to go forward to announce his victory and safe return. The garrison at St. Augustine had been in great anxiety respecting their leader, and from the accounts given by those who had deserted, they had feared the total loss of the expedition. The worthy Chaplain thus describes the return of Menendez:-- "The same day, being Monday, we saw a man coming, crying out loudly. I myself was the first to run to him for the news. He embraced me with transport, crying 'Victory! Victory! The French fort is ours.' I promised him the present which the bearer of good news deserves, and gave him the best in my power. "At the hour of vespers our good General arrived, with fifty foot soldiers, very much fatigued. As soon as I learned that he was coming, I ran home and put on a new soutain, the best which I had, and a surplice, and going out with a crucifix in my hand, I went forward to receive him; and he, a gentleman and a good Christian, before entering kneeled and all his followers, and returned thanks to the Lord for the great favours which he had received. My companions and myself marched in front in procession, so that we all returned with the greatest demonstrations of joy." When about to dispatch the two vessels in his harbor to the St John's, to cut off the French vessels he had left there, he was informed that two sails had already been seen to pass the bar, supposed to contain the French fugitives. Eight days after the capture of Fort Caroline, a fire broke out in the quarters of St. Augustine, which destroyed much treasure and provisions, and the origin of which was doubtful, whether to be ascribed to accident or design. Much dissatisfaction prevailed among the officers and soldiers, and the fire was looked upon with pleasure by some, as having a tendency to hasten their departure from a spot which offered few temptations or rewards, compared to Mexico or Peru. On the very day of Menendez's return, a Frenchman was discovered by a fishing party on Anastasia Island, who, being taken, said he was one of a party of eighteen, sent in a small vessel, some days before, to reconnoitre the Spanish position; that they had been unable to keep the sea, and had been thrown ashore, about four leagues below, at the mouth of a river; that the Indians attacked and killed three of their number, and they thereupon escaped. Menendez dispatched a captain and fifty men, to get off the vessel and capture any of the French who might be found. On their arrival at the place, they found that all the French had been killed by the Indians; but they succeeded in getting off the vessel. Menendez, feeling uneasy in reference to their encounter with the Indians, had followed on after the expedition, in company with the worthy Chaplain, to whom his promenade among the briars, vines, prickly cedars, chaparral, and prickly pears of Anastasia, seems to have been a true _via dolorosa_. Upon their arrival, they found a considerable body of French upon the south side of an inlet, whose fires indicated their position. The four vessels of Ribault, which had gone in pursuit of the Spaniards at St. Augustine, had been overtaken by the storm, and after keeping to sea with incredible effort, had been finally driven ashore upon the shoals of Canaveral,[10] with but little loss of life but a total loss of every thing else; they were thus thrown on shore without shelter from the elements, famished with hunger, borne down by disappointment, and utterly dispirited and demoralized. They were consumed, also, by the most painful uncertainty. Marching to the northward along shore, they discovered a skiff, and resolved to send a small number of persons in it, to make their way by sea to Fort Caroline, to bring succor to them from there. This boat succeeded in reaching the St. John's, where they were informed, by friendly Indians, of the fate which had befallen the fort; and subsequently they fell in with a Frenchman who had escaped, who related to them the whole disaster. Upon this they concluded to seek their own safety among the friendly Indians of St. Helena, rather than to be the useless bearers of the tidings of their misfortunes to their companions in arms. There are several accounts of the sad fate which befel the followers of Ribault, the massacre of whom has been perpetuated by the memorial name given to its scene, "the bloody river of Matanzas," the ebb and flow of whose recurring tides for three hundred years have failed to wash out the record of blood which has associated this massacre of the Huguenots with the darkest scenes of earth's history. In consequence of the rank and number of the victims, the event produced various and somewhat contradictory accounts; but all stamped with a seal of reprobation and execration the act and the actors, without reference to creed or nationality. Challeux relates instances of cruel barbarity added to the atrocity of slaughter itself; and others, it appears, had given other versions, all in different degree pointing the finger of historic justice to mark and commemorate the crime against humanity. The Spanish historian, Barcia, aims to counteract this general condemnation, of which in his own language he says, "These calumnies, repeated in so many quarters, have sullied the fame of the Adelantado, being exaggerated by the heretics, and consented to by the Catholics, so that even the Father Felix Briot, in his annals, says that he caused them to be killed contrary to the faith which he had given them; which is altogether a falsehood, for the Adelantado did not give his word, nor would he when asked give it, to spare their lives, although they were willing to pay him for doing so; nor in the capture of Fort Caroline did he do more than has been related; and such is the account given by Doctor Salis de las Meras, brother-in-law to Donna Maria de Salis, wife of the Adelantado, who was present, and who, relating the punishment of the heretics, and the manner in which it was accomplished, says,-- "'The Adelantado occupied himself in fortifying his settlement at St. Augustine, as well as he could, to defend it from the French fleet if they should attack it. Upon the following day some Indians came and by signs informed them that four leagues distant there were a large number of Christians, who were unable to cross an arm of the sea or strait, which is a river upon the inner side of an inlet, which they were obliged to cross in order to come to St. Augustine. The Adelantado sent thither forty soldiers about dusk, and arrived about midnight near the inlet, where he commanded a halt until morning, and leaving his soldiers concealed, he ascended a tree to see what was the state of matters. He discovered many persons on the other side of the river, and their standards; and to prevent their passing over, he directed his men to exhibit themselves towards the shore, so that it might be supposed that he had with him a large force; and when they were discovered, a French soldier swam over, and said that the persons beyond the river were Frenchmen, that they had been wrecked in a storm, but had all saved their lives. The Adelantado asked what French they were? He answered, that they were two hundred of the people under command of Jean Ribault, Viceroy and Captain General of this country for the king of the French. He asked again, if they were Catholics or Lutherans? It was replied that they were all Lutherans, of the new religion; all of which was previously well known to the Adelantado, when he encountered their fleet with his vessels; and the women and children whom he had spared when he took their fort, had also so informed him; and he had found in the fort when he took it, six trunks filled with books, well bound and gilt; all of which were of the new sect, and from which they did not say mass, but preached their Lutheran doctrines every evening; all of which books he directed to be burnt, not sparing a single one. "'The Adelantado then asked him why he had come over? He said he had been sent over by his Captain, to see what people they were. The General asked if he wished to return. He said, "Yes, but he desired to know what people they were." This man spoke very plainly, for he was a Gascon of San Juan de Suz. "Then tell him," said the Adelantado, "that it is the Viceroy and Captain General of this country for the king, Don Philip; and that his name is Pedro Menendez, and that he is here with some of his soldiery to ascertain what people those were, for he had been informed the day before that they were there, and the hour at which they came." "'The French soldier went over with his message, and immediately returned, saying "that if they would pledge faith to his captain and to four other gentlemen, they would like to come and treat with him;" and they desired the loan of a boat, which the General had directed to bring some provisions to the river. The General instructed the messenger to say to his captain, "that he might come over securely under the pledge of his word," and then sent over for them the boat; and they crossed over. The Adelantado received them very well, with only ten of his followers; the others he directed to stay some distance off among some bushes, so that their number might appear to be greater than it was. One of the Frenchmen announced himself as captain of these people; and that in a great storm they had lost four galleons, and other vessels of the king of France, within a distance of twenty leagues of each other; and that these were the people from on board of one ship, and that they desired they would let them have a boat for this arm of the sea, and for another four leagues hence, which was at St. Augustine; that they desired to go to a fort which they held twenty leagues from there. It was the same fort which Menendez had taken. The Adelantado asked them "if they were Catholics or Lutherans?" He replied "that they were all of the New Religion." Then the Adelantado said to them, "Gentlemen, your fort is taken and its people destroyed, except the women, and children under fifteen years of age; and that you may be assured of this, among the soldiers who are here there are many things, and also there are here two Frenchmen whom I have brought with me, who said they were Catholics. Sit down here and eat, and I will send the two Frenchmen to you, as also the things which some of my soldiers have taken from the fort, in order that you may be satisfied. "'The Adelantado having spoken thus, directed food to be given to them, and sent the two Frenchmen to them, and many things which the soldiers had brought from the fort, that they might see them, and then retired himself, to eat with his own people; and an hour afterwards, when he saw that the French had eaten, he went where they were and asked if they were satisfied of the truth of what he had told them. They said they were, and desired that for a consideration, he should give them vessels and ships' stores, that they might return to France. The Adelantado answered, "that he would do so with great pleasure if they were good Catholics, or if he had the ships for them; but he had not the vessels, having sent two to St. Matteo (Ft. Caroline), the one to take the artillery they had captured, and the French women and children, to St. Domingo, and to obtain provisions. The other had to go upon business of his Majesty to other parts. "'The French captain replied, "that he should grant to all, their lives, and that they should remain with him until they could obtain shipping for France, since they were not at war, and the kings of Spain and of France were brothers and friends." The Adelantado said, "that was true, and Catholics and friends he would favor, believing that he would serve both kings in doing so; but as to themselves, being of the new sect, he held them for enemies, and he would wage war upon them even to blood and to fire; and that he would pursue them with all cruelty wherever he should encounter them, in whatever sea or land where he should be viceroy or captain general for his king; and that he would go and plant the holy faith in this land, that the Indians might be enlightened and be brought to the knowledge of the Holy Catholic Faith of Jesus Christ our Saviour, as taught and announced by the Roman Church. That if they wished to surrender their standards and their arms, and throw themselves upon his mercy, they might do so, for _he would do with them what God should of his grace direct_; or, they could do as they might deem proper; that other treaty or friendship they should not have from him." The French captain replied, that he could not then conclude any other matter with the Adelantado. He went over in the boat, saying, that he went to relate what had passed, and to agree upon what should be done, and within two hours he would return with an answer. The Adelantado said, "They could do as seemed best to them, and he would wait for them." Two hours passed, when the same French captain returned, with those who had accompanied him previously, and said to the General, "that there were many people of family, and nobles among them, and that they would give fifty thousand ducats, of ransom, if he would spare all their lives." He answered, "that although he was a poor soldier, he could not be governed by selfish interests, and if he were to be merciful and lenient, he desired to be so without the suspicion of other motives." The French captain returned to urge the matter. "Do not deceive yourselves," said the Adelantado, "for if Heaven were to join to earth, I would do no otherwise than I have said." The French officer then going towards where his people stood, said, that in accordance with that understanding he would return shortly with an answer; and within half an hour he returned and placed in the boat, the standards, seventy arquebuses, twenty pistols, a quantity of swords and shields, and some helmets and breast-plates; and the captain came to where the General stood, and said that all the French force there submitted themselves to his clemency, and surrendered to him their standards and their arms. The Adelantado then directed twenty soldiers to go in the boat and bring the French, ten by ten. The river was narrow and easy to pass, and he directed Diego Flores de Valdes, Admiral of the Fleet, to receive the standards and the arms, and to go in the boat and see that the soldiers did not maltreat them. The Adelantado then withdrew from the shore, about two bow shots, behind a hillock of sand, within a copse of bushes, where the persons who came in the boat which brought over the French, could not see; and then said to the French captain and the other eight Frenchmen who were there with him, "Gentlemen, I have but few men with me, and they are not very effective, and you are numerous; and, going unrestrained, it would be an easy thing to take satisfaction upon our men for those whom we destroyed when we took the fort; and thus it is necessary that you should march with hands tied behind, a distance of four leagues from here where I have my camp." The French replied "that they would do so;" and they had their hands tied strongly behind their backs with the match ropes of the soldiers; and the ten who came in the boat did not see those who had their hands tied, until they came up to the same place; for it was so arranged, in order that the French who had not passed the river, should not understand what was being done, and might not be offended, and thus were tied two hundred and eight Frenchmen. Of whom the Adelantado asked that if any among them were Catholics, they should declare it. Eight said that they were Catholics, and were separated from the others and placed in a boat, that they might go by the river to St. Augustine; and all the rest replied "that they were of the new religion, and held themselves to be very good Christians; that this was their faith and no other." The Adelantado then gave the order to march with them, having first given them meat and drink, as each ten arrived, before being tied, which was done before the succeeding ten arrived; and he directed one of his captains who marched with the vanguard, that at a certain distance from there he would observe a mark made by a lance, which he carried in his hand, which would be in a sandy place that they would be obliged to pass in going on their way towards the fort of St. Augustine, and that there the prisoners should all be destroyed; and he gave the one in command of the rearguard the same orders; and it was done accordingly; when, leaving there all of the dead, they returned the same night before dawn, to the fort at St. Augustine, although it was already sundown when the men were killed.'"[11] Such is the second part of this sad and bloody tragedy; which took place at the Matanzas Inlet, about eighteen miles south of the city of St. Augustine, and at the southerly end of Anastasia Island. The account we have given, it must be borne in mind, is that of De Solis, the brother-in-law and apologist of Menendez; but even under his extenuating hand the conduct of Menendez was that of one deaf to the voice of humanity, and exulting in cold-blooded treachery, dealing in vague generalities intended to deceive, while affording a shallow apology for the actor. A massacre in cold blood of poor shipwrecked, famished men, prisoners yielding themselves to an expected clemency, tied up like sheep, and butchered by poignard blows from behind, shocked alike the moral sense of all to whom the tale without regard to faith or flag. CHAPTER VIII. FATE OF RIBAULT AND HIS FOLLOWERS--BLOODY MASSACRE AT MATANZAS--1565. The first detachment of the French whom Menendez met and so utterly destroyed, constituted the complement of a single vessel, which had been thrown ashore at a more northerly point than the others. All these vessels were wrecked between Mosquito Inlet and Matanzas. Of the fate of the main detachment, under Ribault in person, we have the following account, as related by the same apologist, the chaplain De Solis: "On the next day following the return of the Adelantado at St. Augustine, the same Indians who came before returned, and said that 'a great many more Christians were at the same part of the river as the others had been.' The Adelantado concluded that it must be Jean Ribault, the General of the Lutherans at sea and on land, whom they called the Viceroy of this country for the king of France. He immediately went, with one hundred and fifty men in good order, and reached the place where he had lodged the first time, at about midnight; and at dawn he pushed forward to the river, with his men drawn out, and when it was daylight, he saw, two bow-shots from the other bank of the river, many persons, and a raft made to cross over the people, at the place where the Adelantado stood. But immediately, when the French saw the Adelantado and his people, they took arms, and displayed a royal standard and two standards of companies, sounding fifes and drums, in very good order, and showing a front of battle to the Adelantado; who, having ordered his men to sit down and take their breakfast, so that they made no demonstration of any change, he himself walked up and down the shore, with his admiral and two other captains, paying no attention to the movement and demonstration of battle of the French; so that they observing this, halted and the fifes and the drums ceased, while with a bugle note they unfurled the white flag of peace, which was returned by the Adelantado. A Frenchman placed himself upon the raft, and cried with a loud voice that he wished to cross over, but that owing to the force of the current he could not bring the raft over, and desired an Indian canoe which was there to be sent over. The Adelantado said he could swim over for it, under pledge of his word. A French sailor immediately came over, but the General would not permit him to speak with him, but directed him to take the canoe, and go and tell his captain, that inasmuch as he called for a conference, if he desired anything he should send over some one to communicate with him. The same sailor immediately came with a gentleman, who said he was the sergeant major of Jean Ribault, Viceroy and Captain General of this land for the king of France, and that he had sent him to say, that they had been wrecked with their fleet in a great storm, and that he had with him three hundred and fifty French; that they wished to go to a fort which they held, twenty leagues from there; that they wished the favor of boats, to pass this river, and the other, four leagues further on, and that he desired to know if they were Spaniards, and under what leader they served. "The Adelantado answered him, that they were Spaniards, and that the captain under whom they served was the person now addressing him, and was called Pedro Menendez. That he should tell his General that the fort which he held twenty leagues from there had been taken by him, and he had destroyed all the French, and the rest who had come with the fleet, because they were badly governed; and then, passing thence to where the dead bodies of the Frenchmen whom he had killed still lay unburied, pointed them out to him and said, therefore he could not permit them to pass the river to their fort. "The sergeant, with an unmoved countenance, and without any appearance of uneasiness on account of what the Adelantado had said, replied, that if he would have the goodness to send a gentleman of his party, to say to the French general, that they might negotiate with safety, the people were much exhausted, and the general would come over in a boat which was there. The Adelantado replied, 'Farewell, comrade, and bear the answer which they shall give you; and if your general desires to come and treat with me, I give my word that he shall come and return securely, with four or six of his people whom he may select for his advisors, that he may do whatever he may conclude to be best.' "The French gentleman then departed with this message. Within half an hour he returned to accept the assurance the Adelantado had given, and to obtain the boat; which the Adelantado was unwilling to let him have, but said he could use the canoe, which was safe, and the strait was narrow; and he again went back with this message. "Immediately Jean Ribault came over, whom the Adelantado received very well, with other eight gentleman, who had come with him. They were all gentlemen of rank and position. He gave them a collation, and would have given them food if they had desired. Jean Ribault with much humility, thanked him for his kind reception, and said that to raise their spirits, much depressed by the sad news of the death of their comrades, they would partake only of the wine and condiments, and did not wish anything else to eat. Then after eating, Jean Ribault said, 'that he saw that those his companions were dead, and that he could not be mistaken if he desired to be.' Then the Adelantado directed the soldiers to bring each one whatever he had taken from the fort; and he saw so many things that he knew for certain that it was taken: although he knew this before, yet he could not wholly believe it, because among his men there was a Frenchman by name of Barbero, of those whom the Adelantado had ordered to be destroyed with the rest, and was left for dead with the others, having with the first thrust he received fallen down and made as though he were dead, and when they left there he had passed over by swimming, to Ribault; and this Barbero held it for certain that the Adelantado had deceived them in saying that the fort was taken, it not being so; and thus until now he had supposed. The Adelantado said that in order with more certainty to believe this and satisfy himself, he might converse apart with the two Frenchmen who were present, to satisfy him better; which he did. "Immediately Jean Ribault came towards the Adelantado and said, 'it was certain that all which he had told him was true; but that what had happened to him, might have happened to the Adelantado; and since their kings were brothers, and such great friends, the Adelantado should act towards him as a friend, and give him ships and provisions, that he might return to France.' "The Adelantado replied in the same manner that he had done to the other Frenchmen, as to what he would do; and that taking it or leaving it, Jean Ribault could obtain nothing further from the Adelantado. Jean Ribault then said that he would go and give an account of matters to his people, for he had among them many of noble blood; and would return or send an answer as to what he would do. "Three hours afterwards, Jean Ribault returned in the canoe, and said, 'that there were different opinions among his people; that while some were willing to yield themselves to his clemency, others were not.' The Adelantado replied 'that it mattered but little to him whether they all came, or a part, or none at all; that they should do as it pleased them, and he would act with the same liberty.' Jean Ribault said to him, 'that the half of the people who were willing to yield themselves to his clemency, would pay him a ransom of more than 100,000 ducats; and the other half were able to pay more, for there were among them persons of wealth and large incomes, who had desired to establish estates in this country.' The Adelantado answered him, 'It would grieve me much to lose so great and rich a ransom, under the necessity I am under for such aid, to carry forward the conquest and settlement of this land, in the name of my king, as is my duty, and to plant here the Holy Evangel.' Jean Ribault considered from this, that with the amount they could all give, he might be induced to spare his own life and that of all the others who were with him, and that they might be able to pay more than 200,000 ducats; and he said to the Adelantado, 'that he would return with his answer to his people; that as it was late, he would take it as a favor if he would be willing to wait until the following day, when, he would bring their reply as to what they would conclude to do.' The Adelantado said, 'Yes, that he would wait.' Jean Ribault then went back to his people, it being already sunset. In the morning, he returned with the canoe, and surrendered to the Adelantado two royal standards--the one that of the king of France, the other that of the Admiral (Coligny),--and the standards of the company, and a sword, dagger, and helmet, gilded very beautifully; and also a shield, a pistol, and a commission given him under the high admiral of France, to assure to him his title and possessions. "He then said to him, 'that but one hundred and fifty of the three hundred and fifty whom he had with him were willing to yield to his clemency, and that the others had withdrawn during the night; and that they might take the boat and bring those who were willing to come over, and their arms.' The Adelantado immediately directed the captain, Diego Flores Valdes, Admiral of the fleet, that he should bring them over as he had done the others, ten by ten; and the Adelantado, taking Jean Ribault behind the sand hills, among the bushes where the others had their hands tied behind them, he said to these and all the others as he had done before, that they had four leagues to go after night, and that he could not permit them to go unbound; and after they were all tied, he asked if they were Catholics or Lutherans, or if any of them desired to make confession. "Jean Ribault replied, 'that all who were there were of the new religion,' and he then began to repeat the psalm, '_Domine! Memento! Mei_;' and having finished, he said, 'that from dust they came and to dust they must return, and that in twenty years, more or less, he must render his final account; that the Adelantado might do with them as he chose.' The Adelantado then ordered all to be killed, in the same order and at the same mark, as had been done to the others. He spared only the fifers, drummers, and trumpeters, and four others who said that they were Catholics, in all, sixteen persons." "_Todos los demas fueron degallados_,"--"all the rest were slaughtered," is the sententious summary lay which Padre de Solis announced the close of the sad career of the gray-haired veteran, the brave soldier, the Admiral Jean Ribault, and his companions.[12] At some point on the thickly-wooded shores of the Island of Anastasio, or beneath the shifting mounds of sand which mark its shores, may still lie the bones of some of the three hundred and fifty who, spared from destruction by the tempest, and escaping the perils of the sea and of the savage, fell victims to the vindictive rancor and blind rage of one than whom history recalls none more cruel, or less humane. But while their bones, scattered on earth and sea, unhonored and unburied, were lost to human sight, the tale of their destruction and sad fate, scattered in like manner over the whole world, has raised to their memory through sympathy with their fate, a memorial which will endure as long as the pages of history. The Adelantado returned that night to St. Augustine, where, says his apologist, some persons censured him for his cruelty. Others commended what he had done, as the act of a good general, and said that even if they had been Catholics, he could not have done more justly than he had done for them; for with the few provisions that the Adelantado had, either the one or the other people would have had to perish with hunger, and the French would have destroyed our people: they were the most numerous.[13] We have still to trace the fate of the body of two hundred, who retired from Ribault after his final determination to surrender to the tender mercies of Menendez. As we are already aware, it comprised the elite of his force, men of standing and rank, and whose spirits had retained energy to combat against the natural discouragements of their position; and they adopted the nobler resolve of selling their lives, at least with their swords in their hands. De Solis proceeds to give the following further account of them:-- "Twenty days subsequently to the destruction of these, some Indians came to the Adelantado, and informed him by signs, that eight days' journey from here to the southward, near the Bahama Channel, at Canaveral, a large number of people, brethren of those whom the General had caused to be killed, were building a fort and a vessel. The Adelantado at once came to the conclusion, that the French had retired to the place where their vessels were wrecked, and where their artillery and munitions, and provisions were, in order to build a vessel and return to France to procure succor. The General thereupon dispatched from St. Augustine to St. Matteo, ten of his soldiers, conveying intelligence of what had taken place, and directing that they should send to him one hundred and fifty of the soldiers there, with the thirty-five others who remained when he returned to St. Augustine, after taking the fort. The master of the camp immediately dispatched them, under command of Captains Juan Velez de Medrano and Andrez Lopez Patrio; and they arrived at St. Augustine on October 23d. On the 25th, after having heard mass, the Adelantado departed for the coast, with three hundred men, and three small vessels to go by sea with the arms and provisions; and the vessels were to go along and progress equally with the troops; and each night when the troops halted, the vessels also anchored by them, for it was a clear and sandy coast. "The Adelantado carried in the three vessels provisions for forty days for three hundred men, and one day's ration was to last for two days; and he promised to do everything for the general good of all, although they might have to undergo many dangers and privations; that he had great hope that he would have the goodness and mercy of God to aid him in carrying through safely this so holy and pious an undertaking. He then took leave of them, leaving most of them in tears, for he was much loved, feared, and respected by all.[14] "The Adelantado, after a wearisome journey, marching on foot himself the whole distance, arrived in the neighborhood of the French camp on All Saints Day, at daylight, guided by the Indians by land, and the three vessels under the command of Captain Diego de Maya. As soon as the French descried the Spaniards, they fled to their fort, without any remaining. The Adelantado sent them a trumpeter, offering them their lives, that they should return and should receive the same treatment as the Spaniards. One hundred and fifty came to the Adelantado; and their leader, with twenty others, sent to say that they would sooner be devoured by the Indians, than surrender themselves to the Spaniards. The Adelantado received those who surrendered, very well, and having set fire to the fort, which was of wood, burned the vessel which they were building, and buried the artillery, for the vessels could not carry them." De Solis here closes his account of the matter; but from other accounts we learn that the Adelantado kept his faith on this occasion with them, and that some entered his service, some were converted to his faith, and others returned to France; and thus ended the Huguenot attempt to colonize the shores of Florida. There are several other accounts of the fate of Ribault and his followers, drawn from the narratives of survivors of the expedition, which, without varying the general order of events, fill in sundry details of the massacres. The main point of difference is, as to the pledges or assurances given by Menendez. The French accounts say that he pledged his faith to them that their lives should be spared.[15] It will be seen that the Spanish account denies that he did so, but makes him use language subject to misconstruction, and calculated to deceive them into the hope and expectation of safety. I do not see that in a Christian or even moral view there is much difference between an open breach of faith and the breach of an implied faith, particularly when it was only by this deception that the surrender could have been accomplished. Nor could Menendez have had a very delicate sense of the value of the word of a soldier, a Christian, and a gentleman, when, as his apologist admits, he did directly use the language of falsehood, to induce them to submit to the degradation of having their hands tied. Nor, considered in its broader aspects is it a matter of any consequence whether he gave his word or no; nor does it lessen the enormity of his conduct, had they submitted themselves in the most unreserved manner to his discretion. France and Spain were at peace; no act of hostility had been committed by the French toward the Spaniards; and Ribault asked only to be allowed to pass on. In violation alike of the laws of war and the law of humanity, he first induced them to surrender, to abide what God, whose holy name he invoked, should put into his heart to do, and then cajoling them into allowing their hands to be tied, he ordered them to be killed, in their bonds as they stood, defenseless, helpless, wrecked, and famished men. It would have been a base blot upon human nature, had he thus served the most savage tribe of nations, standing on that far shore, brought into the common sympathy of want and suffering. The act seems one of monstrous atrocity, when committed against the people of a sister nation. CHAPTER IX. FORTIFYING OF ST. AUGUSTINE--DISAFFECTIONS AND MUTINIES--APPROVAL OF MENENDEZ' ACTS BY THE KING OF SPAIN. 1565-1568. During the time of the several expeditions of the Adelantado against the French Huguenots, the fortification and strengthening of the defenses of the settlement at St. Augustine had not been neglected. The fort, or Indian council-house, which had been first fortified, seems to have been consumed in the conflagration spoken of; and thereupon a plan of a regular fortification or fort was marked out by Menendez; and, as there existed same danger of the return of the French, the Spaniards labored unceasingly with their whole force, to put it in a respectable state of defense. From an engraving contained in De Bry, illustrating the attack of Sir Francis Drake, twenty years afterwards, this fort appears to have been an octagonal structure of logs, and located near the site of the present fort, while the settlement itself was probably made in the first instance, at the lower end of the peninsula, near the building now called "the powder-house." He also established a government for the place, with civil and military officials, a hall of justice, etc. All of these matters were arranged by Menendez before his expedition against the French at Canaveral, of whom one hundred and fifty returned with him, and were received upon an equal footing with his own men, the more distinguished being received at his own table upon the most friendly terms; a clemency which, with a knowledge of his character, can only be ascribed to motives of policy. The position of the French at Canaveral was probably inaccessible, as they had their arms, besides artillery brought from the vessels; and the duplicity which had characterized his success with their comrades, was out of the question here; the French could therefore exact their own terms, and unshackled could forcibly resist any attempt at treachery. The addition of this number to his force lessened the already diminished supply of provisions which Menendez had brought with him; and want soon began to threaten his camp. He sent as many of his soldiers as he could into camp at San Matteo, and endeavored to draw supplies from the Indians; but unfortunately for him, the country between the St. Johns and St. Augustine was under the rule of the Indian Chief, Satouriara, the friend (and ally of the French), whose hostility the Spaniards were never able to overcome. Satouriara and his followers withdrew from all peaceable intercourse with the Spaniards, and hung about their path to destroy, harrass, and cut them off upon every possible occasion. The winter succeeding the settlement of the Spaniards at St. Augustine, was most distressing and discouraging to them. The lack of provisions in their camp drove them to seek, in the surrounding country, subsistence from the roots and esculent plants it might afford, or to obtain in the neighboring creeks, fish and oysters; but no sooner did a Spaniard venture out alone beyond, the gates of the fort, than he was grasped, by some unseen foe, from the low underbrush and put to death, or a shower of arrows from some tree-top was his first intimation of danger; if he discharged his arquebuse towards his invisible assailants, others would spring upon him before he could reload his piece; or, if he attempted to find fish and oysters in some quiet creek, the noiseless canoe of an Indian would dart in upon him, and the heavy war-club of the savage descending upon his unprotected head, end his existence. Against such a foe, no defense could avail; and it is related that more than one hundred and twenty of the Spaniards were thus killed, including Captain Martin de Ochoa, Captain Diego de Hevia, Fernando de Gamboa, and Juan Menendez, a nephew of the Adelantado, and many others of the bravest and most distinguished of the garrison. In this crisis of affairs, the Governor concluded to go to Cuba himself, to obtain relief for his colony. He in the meantime established a fort at St. Lucia, near Canaveral. A considerable jealousy seems to have existed on the part of the governor of Cuba; and he received Menendez with great coolness, and in reply to his appeals for aid, only offered an empty vessel. In this emergency, Menendez contemplated, as his only means of obtaining what he wished, to go upon a filibustering expedition against some Portuguese and English vessels which were in those waters. While making preparations to do this, four vessels of the fleet with which he had left Spain, and which had been supposed lost, arrived; and after dispatching a vessel to Campeachy for provisions, he commenced his return voyage to his colony, delaying however for a time in South Florida, to seek intelligence among the Indians of his lost son. In the meantime his garrisons at St. Augustine and San Matteo had mutinied, and were in open revolt; provisions had become so scarce that twenty-five reals had been given for a pound of biscuit, and but for the fish they would have starved. They plundered the public stores, imprisoned their officers, and seized upon a vessel laden with provisions which had been sent to the garrison. The Master of the Camp succeeded in escaping from confinement and releasing his fellow prisoners, by a bold movement cut off the intercourse between the mutineers on board the vessel and those on shore, and hung the Sergeant Major, who was at the head of the movement. The Commandant then attempted to attack those in the vessel, and was nearly lost with his companions, by being wrecked on the bar. The vessel made sail to the West India Islands. The garrison at San Matteo took a vessel there and come around to St. Augustine, but arrived after their accomplices had left. Disease had already begun to make its ravages, and added to the general wish to leave the country; which all would then have done had they had the vessels in which to embark. They used for their recovery from sickness, the roots of a native shrub, which produced marvelous cures. At this period Menendez returned to the famished garrison, but was forced to permit Juan Vicente, with one hundred of the disaffected, to go to St. Domingo by a vessel which he dispatched there for supplies; and it is said that the governors of the islands where they went, harbored them, and that of some five hundred who on different occasions deserted from the Adelantado, and all of whom had been brought out at his cost, but two or three were ever returned to him; while the deserters putting their own construction upon their acts, sent home to the king of Spain criminations of the Adelantado, and represented the conquest of Florida, as a hopeless and worthless acquisition; that it was barren and swampy, and produced nothing. After this defection, Menendez proceeded along the coast to San Matteo, and thence to Guale, Amelia, and adjoining islands, Orista and St. Helena; made peaceful proposals to the Indian tribes, lectured them upon theology, and planted a cross at their council-houses. The cacique of Guale asked Menendez how it was "that he had waged war upon the other white men, who had come from the same country as himself?" He replied, "that the other white people were bad Christians, and believers in lies; and that those whom he had killed, deserved the most cruel death, because they had fled their own country, and came to mislead and deceive the caciques and other Indians, as they had already before misled and deceived many other good Christians, in order that the devil may take possession of them." While at St. Helena he succeeded in obtaining permission of the Indians to erect a fort there, and he left a detachment. On his return he also erected fort San Felipe, at Orista; and after setting up a cross at Guale, the cacique demanded of him, that as now they had become good Christians, he should cause rain to come upon their fields; for a drought had continued eight months. The same night a severe rain-storm happened, which confirmed the faith of the Indians, and gained the Adelantado great credit with them. While here, he learned that there was a fugitive Lutheran among the Indians, and he took some pains to cause to be given to the fugitive hopes of good treatment if he would come into the Spanish post at St. Helena, while he gave private directions that he should be killed, directing his lieutenant to make very strange of his disappearance; an incident very illustrative of the vindictiveness and duplicity of Menendez.[16] He returned to St. Augustine, and was received with great joy, and devoted himself to the completion of the fort, which was to frighten the savages, and enforce respect from strangers. It was built, it is said, where it now stands, _donde este ahora_, (1722.) The colony left at St. Helena mutinied almost immediately, and seizing a vessel sent with supplies, sailed for Cuba, and were wrecked on the Florida Keys, where they met at an Indian town the mutineers who had deserted from the fort at St. Matteo: these had been also wrecked there. The garrison again becoming much straitened for provisions, the Adelantado, in June, was obliged to go to Cuba for succor. He was received with indifference, and his wishes unheeded. He applied to the governor of Mexico, and others who happened to be there, and who had the power of assisting him; from all he received no encouragement, but the advice to abandon his enterprise. He at last pawned his jewels, the badge of his order, and his valuables, thus obtaining five hundred ducats; with which he purchased provisions, and set sail on his return, with only sixty-five men. But just at this period succor came to the famished troops; a fleet of seventeen vessels arrived with fifteen hundred men from Spain, under Juan de Avila, as admiral. By this means all the posts were succored and reinforced, and the enterprise saved from destruction; for the small supplies brought by Menendez would have been soon exhausted, and further efforts being out of his power, they would have been forced to withdraw from the country. The admiral of the fleet also had entrusted to him for the Adelantado a letter from the king, written on the 12th of May, 1566, which, among other matters, contained the following royal commendation of the acts of Menendez. "Of the great success which has attended your enterprise, we have the most entire satisfaction, and we bear in memory the loyalty, the love, and the diligence, with which you have borne us service, as well as the dangers and perils in which you have been placed; and as to the _retribution_ you have visited upon the Lutheran pirates who sought to occupy that country, and to fortify themselves there, in order to disseminate in it their wicked creed, and to prosecute there their wrongs and robberies, which they have done and were doing against God's service and my own, we believe that you did it with every justification and propriety, and we consider ourself to have been well served in so doing."[17] To this commendation of Philip II., it is unnecessary to add any comment, save that no other action could have been expected of him. And of Charles the Ninth, of France, the Spanish historian says that he treated the memorial of the widows and orphans of the slain with contempt, "considering their punishment to have been just, in that they were equally enemies of Spain, of France, of the Church, and of the peace of the world." During the absence of Menendez to inspect his posts, disaffection again broke out; and finding his force too numerous, he with sixteen vessels went upon a freebooting expedition to attack pirates. He failed to meet with any; but having learned that a large French fleet was on its way, he visited and fortified the forts on the islands of Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico, and again returned to Florida; the expected French fleet never having arrived. About this time, a small vessel brought from Spain three learned and exemplary priests; one of whom, Padre Martinez, landed upon the coast with some of the crew, and being unable to regain the vessel, coasted along to St. George Island, where he was attacked and murdered by the Indians, with a number of his companions. The following year was principally occupied by Menendez, in strengthening his fortifications at his three forts, in visiting the Indian chiefs at their towns, and exploring the country. One of his expeditions went as far north as the thirty-seventh degree of latitude by sea, and another went to the foot of the Apalachian Mountains, about one hundred and fifty leagues, and established a fort. The former was about the mouth of the Chesapeake, called the Santa Maria,[18] and the land expedition, probably to the up-country of Georgia, in the neighborhood of Rome. All attempts at pacifying their warlike neighbor were as fruitless as their attempts to subjugate him; whether in artifice and duplicity, in open warfare, or secret ambush, he was more than equal to the Adelantado, and was a worthy ancestor of the modern Seminole,--never present when looked for, and never absent when an opportunity of striking a blow occurred. The Adelantado having had built an extremely slight vessel of less than twenty tons, called a frigate, concluded to visit Spain, and ran in seventeen days to the Azores, sailing seventy leagues per day, an exploit not often equaled in modern times. He was received with great joy in Spain, and the king treated him with much consideration. The Adelantado felt great anxiety to return to his colony, and deprecated the delays of the court, fearing the result of the indignation at his cruelty to the Huguenots, which, says his chronicler, increased day by day.[19] CHAPTER X. THE NOTABLE REVENGE OF DOMINIC DE GOURGUES--RETURN OF MENENDEZ--INDIAN MISSION--1568. While Menendez thus remained at the Spanish court urging the completion of his business, seeking compensation for the great expenditures which he had made in the king's service, and vindicating himself from the accusations which had been preferred against him,--the revenge, the distant murmurs of which had already reached his ears, fell upon the Spaniards on the St. Johns. Dominic de Gourgues, one of those soldiers of fortune who then abounded throughout Europe, took upon himself the expression of the indignation with which the French nation viewed the slaughter of their countrymen. From motives of policy, or from feelings still less creditable, the French court ignored the event; but it rankled nevertheless in the national heart, and many a secret vow of revenge was breathed, the low whispers of which reached even the confines of the Spanish court. Conscience, and the knowledge that the sentiment of the age was against him, made Menendez from the moment of his success exceedingly anxious lest well-merited retribution should fall upon his own colony. He guarded against it in every way in his power; he strengthened all his posts; he erected for the protection of San Matteo, formerly Fort Caroline, two small forts on either side of the entrance of the river, at the points now known as Batten Island and Mayport Mills. He placed large garrisons at each post, and had made such arrangements against surprise or open attack upon his forts, that Father Mendoza boasted that, "half of all France could not take them." De Gourgues, with three vessels and about two hundred and fifty chosen men, animated with like feelings with himself, appeared in April, 1568, off the mouth of the St. Johns. The Spanish fort received his vessels with a salute, supposing them to be under the flag of Spain. De Gourgues returned the salute, thus confirming their error. He then entered the St. Marys, called the Somme, and was met by a large concourse of Indians, friendly to the French and bitterly hostile to the Spaniards, at the head of whom was the stern and uncompromising Satouriara. Their plans were quickly formed, and immediately carried into execution. Their place of rendezvous was the Fort George Inlet, called by them the Sarabay; and they traversed that island at low tide, fell suddenly upon the fort at Batten Island on the north side of the river, completely surprising it. The force occupying the Spanish forts amounted to four hundred men, one hundred and twenty of whom occupied the two forts at the mouth of the river, and the remainder Fort Caroline. The French with their Indian allies approached the fort on the north side of the river at day-break. Having waded the intervening marsh and creek, to the great damage of their feet and legs by reason of the oyster banks, they arrived within two hundred yards of the post, when they were discovered by the sentinel upon the platform of the fort; who immediately cried, "to arms," and discharged twice at the French a culverin which had been taken at Fort Caroline. Before he could load it a third time the brave Olatocara leaped upon him, and killed him with a pike. Gourgues then charging in, the garrison, by this time alarmed, rushed out, armed hastily and seeking escape; another part of Gourgues' force coming up, inclosed the Spaniards between them, and all but fifteen of the garrison perished on the spot; the others were taken prisoners, only to be reserved for the summary vengeance which the French leader meditated. The Spanish garrison in the other fort kept up in the mean time a brisk cannonade, which incommoded the assailants, who however soon managed to point the pieces of the fort they had taken; and under the cover of this fire the French crossed to the other fort, their Indian allies in great numbers swimming with them. The garrison of sixty men, panic-struck, made no attempt at resistance, but fled, endeavoring to reach the main fort; being intercepted by the Indians in one direction, and by the French in another, but few made good their escape. These, arriving at Fort Caroline, carried an exaggerated account of the number of their assailants. De Gourgues at once pushed forward to attack Fort Caroline, while its defenders were terrified at the suddenness of his attack, and the supposed strength of his force. Upon his arrival near the fort, the Spanish commander sent out a detachment of sixty men, to make a reconnoisance. De Gourgues skillfully interposed a body of his own men with a large number of the Indians between the reconnoitering party and the fort, and then with his main force charged upon them in front: when the Spaniards, turning to seek the shelter of the fort, were met by the force in their rear, and were all either killed or taken prisoners. Seeing this misfortune, the Spanish commander despaired of being able to hold the fortress, and determined to make a timely retreat to St. Augustine. In attempting this, most of his followers fell into the hands of the Indians, and were slain upon the spot; the commandant with a few others alone escaped. De Gourgues, now completely successful in making retaliation for the fate of his countrymen on the same spot where they suffered, on the same tree which had borne the bodies of the Huguenots caused his prisoners to be suspended; and as Menendez had on the former occasion erected a tablet that they had been punished "not as Frenchmen but as Lutherans," so De Gourgues in like manner erected an inscription that he had done this to them "_not as to Spaniards, nor as to outcasts, but as to traitors, thieves and murderers_."[20] After inducing the Indians to destroy the forts, and to raze them to the ground, he set sail for France, arriving safely without further adventure. His conduct was at the time disavowed and censured by the French court; and the Spanish ambassador had the assurance, in the name of that master who had publicly declared his approval of the conduct of Menendez, to demand the surrender of De Gourgues to his vengeance. The brave captain, however the crown might seem to disapprove, was secretly sustained and protected by many distinguished persons official and private, and by the mass of the people; to whom his boldness, spirit, and signal success were grateful. Some years afterwards he was restored to the favor of his sovereign, and appointed admiral of the fleet. That De Gourgues deserves censure, cannot be denied; but there will always exist an admiration for his courage and intrepid valor, with a sympathy for the bitter provocations under which he acted, both personal and national; a sympathy not shared with Menendez, who visited his wrath upon the religious opinions of men, while De Gourgues was the unauthorized avenger of undoubted crime and inhumanity. Both acted in violation of the pure spirit of that Christianity which they alike professed to revere, under the same form. While these scenes were enacting on the St. Johns, Menendez was on his way to his colonies, where he first heard of the descent of De Gourgues, then on his way back to France. The Adelantado upon his arrival found his troops hungry and naked, and their relations with the Indians worse than ever. Having made such arrangements as were in his power, he returned to Havana, to further his plans for introducing Christianity among the Indians; to which, to his credit be it said, he devoted the greater share of his time and attention. Father Rogel applied himself to learning their language, with great success; and an institution was established in Havana especially for their instruction. In the Ensayo Cronologica, there is set forth in full, a rescript addressed by Pope Pius V., to Menendez, conveying to him the acknowledgements of his Holiness for the zeal and loyalty he had exhibited, and his labors in carrying the faith to the Indians, and urging him strongly to see to it that his Indian converts should not be scandalized by the vicious lives of their white brethren who claimed to be Christians. A small party of Spaniards, as has already been mentioned, accompanied by a priest, De Quiros, had been left upon the Chesapeake, and under the auspices of a young converted chief, who had been some time with the Spaniards in Havana and Florida, anticipated a more easy access to the Indian tribes in that region. Another priest, with ten associates, went the following year; when, after they had sent away their vessel, they discovered that their predecessor had been murdered, through the treachery of the renegade apostate; and they themselves shortly fell victims to his perfidy. Menendez dispatched a third vessel there; when the fate of the two former parties was ascertained, and he went in person to chastise the murderers; he succeeded in capturing six or seven, who, it is said, (rather improbably I think), confessed themselves to have been implicated in the massacre. Menendez, in his summary and sailor-like way, ordered their execution at the yard-arm of his vessel. The Cronicle says that they were first converted and baptized, by the zeal of Father Rogel, before the sentence was carried into execution. A long period elapsed before any further efforts were made in this quarter to establish a colony; and it was then accomplished by the English. In consequence of these temporary establishments, however, the Spanish crown, for a long period, claimed the whole of the intervening country, as lying within its Province of Florida. The annals of the city during the remainder of the life of Menendez, present only the usual vicissitudes of new settlements,--the alternations of supply and want, occasional disaffections, and petty annoyances. Menendez was the recipient from his court of new honors from time to time, and had been appointed the grand admiral of the Spanish Armada; when, in September, 1574, he was suddenly carried off by a fever, at the age of fifty-five. It is a singular coincidence that De Gourgues, five years afterwards, was carried off in a similar manner, just after his appointment as admiral of the French fleet. A splendid monument in the church of San Nicolas, at Aviles, was erected to the memory of Menendez, with the following inscription: "HERE LIES BURIED THE ILLUSTRIOUS CAVALIER, PEDRO MENENDEZ DE AVILES, A NATIVE OF THIS CITY, ADELANTADO OF THE PROVINCES OF FLORIDA, KNIGHT COMMANDER OF SANTA CRUZ OF THE ORDER OF SANTIAGO, AND CAPTAIN GENERAL OF THE OCEANIC SEAS AND OF THE ARMADA WHICH HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS COLLECTED AT SANTANDER IN THE YEAR 1574, WHERE HE DIED ON THE 17TH OF SEPTEMBER OF THAT YEAR, IN THE 55TH YEAR OF HIS AGE." CHAPTER XI. SIR FRANCIS DRAKE'S ATTACK UPON ST. AUGUSTINE--ESTABLISHMENT OF MISSIONS--MASSACRE OF MISSIONARIES AT ST. AUGUSTINE--1586-1638. Nine years had elapsed from the death of Menendez, and the colony at St. Augustine had slowly progressed into the settlement of a small town; but the eclat and importance which the presence of Menendez had given it, were much lessened; when, in 1586, Sir Francis Drake, with a fleet returning from South America, discovered the Spanish look-out upon Anastasia Island, and sent boats ashore to ascertain something in reference to it. Marching up the shore, they discovered across the bay, a fort, and further up a town built of wood. Proceeding towards the fort, which bore the name of San Juan de Pinas, some guns were fired upon them from it, and they retired towards their vessel; the same evening a fifer made his appearance, and informed them that he was a Frenchman, detained a prisoner there, and that the Spaniards had abandoned their fort; and he offered to conduct them over. Upon this information they crossed the river and found the fort abandoned as they had been informed, and took possession of it without opposition. It was built entirely of wood, and only surrounded by a wall or pale formed of the bodies or trunks of large trees, set upright in the earth; for, says the narrative, it was not at that time inclosed by a ditch, as it had been but lately begun by the Spaniards. The platforms were made of the bodies of large pine trees (of which there are plenty here), laid horizontally across each other, with earth rammed in to fill up the vacancies. Fourteen brass cannon were found in the fort, and there was left behind the treasure chest, containing £2,000 sterling, designed for the payment of the garrison, which consisted of one hundred and fifty men. Whether the massive, iron-bound mahogany chest,[21] still preserved in the old fort is the same which fell into the hands of Drake, is a question for antiquaries to decide; its ancient appearance might well justify the supposition. On the following day, Drake's forces marched towards the town, but owing, it is said, to heavy rains, were obliged to return and go in the boats. On their approach, the Spaniards fled into the country. It is said, in Barcia, that a Spaniard concealed in the bushes, fired at the sergeant major and wounded him, and then ran up and dispatched him, and that in revenge for this act, Drake burnt their buildings and destroyed their gardens. The garrison and inhabitants retired to fort San Matteo, on the St. Johns river. Barcia says that the population of the place was then increasing considerably, and that it possessed a hall of justice, parochial church, and other buildings, together with gardens in the rear of the town. An engraved plan or view of Drake's descent upon St. Augustine, published after his return to England, represents an octagonal fort between two streams; at the distance of half a mile another stream; beyond that the town, with a look-out and two religious houses, one of which is a church, and the other probably the house of the Franciscans, who had shortly before established a house of their order there. The town contains three squares lengthwise, and four in width, with gardens on the west side. Some doubt has been thrown on the actual site of the first settlement, by this account; but I think it probably stood considerably to the south of the present public square, between the barracks and the powder-house. Perhaps the Maria Sanchez creek may have then communicated with the bay near its present head, in wet weather and at high tides isolating the fort from the town. The present north ditch may have been the bed of a tide creek, and thus would correspond to the appearance presented by the sketch. It is well known that the north end of the city was built at a much later period than the southern, and that the now vacant space below the barracks, was once occupied with buildings. Buildings and fields are shown upon Anastasia Island, opposite the town. The relative position of the town with reference to the entrance of the harbor is correctly shown on the plan; and there seems no sufficient ground to doubt the identity of the present town with the ancient locality. The garrison and country were then under the command of Don Pedro Menendez, a nephew of the Adelantado, who, after the English squadron sailed, having received assistance from Havana began, it is said, to rebuild the city, and made great efforts to increase its population, and to induce the Indians to settle in its neighborhood. In 1592, twelve Franciscan missionaries arrived at St. Augustine, with their Superior, Fray Jean de Silva, and placed themselves under the charge of Father Francis Manon, Warden of the convent of St. Helena. One of them, a Mexican, Father Francis Panja, drew up in the language of the Yemasees his "Abridgment of Christian Doctrine," said to be the first work compiled in any of our Indian languages. The Franciscan Father Corpa established a Mission house for the Indians at Talomato, in the northwest portion of the city of St, Augustine, where there was then an Indian village. Father Blas de Rodriguez, also called Montes, had an Indian Church at a village of the Indians called Tapoqui, situated on the creek called Cano de la Leche, north of the fort; and the church bearing the name of "Our Lady of the Milk" was situated on the elevated ground a quarter of a mile north of the fort, near the creek. A stone church existed at this locality as late as 1795, and the crucifix belonging to it is preserved in the Roman Catholic Church at St. Augustine. These missions proceeded with considerable apparent success, large numbers of the Indians being received and instructed both at this and other missions. Among the converts at the mission of Talomato, was the son of the cacique of the province of Guale, a proud and high-spirited young leader, who by no means submitted to the requirements of his spiritual fathers, but indulged in excesses which scandalized his profession. Father Corpa, after trying private remonstrances and warnings in vain, thought it necessary to administer to him a public rebuke. This aroused the pride of the young chief, and he suddenly left the mission, determined upon revenge. He gathered from the interior a band of warriors, whom he inspired with his own hatred against the missionaries. Returning to Talomato with his followers under the cover of night, he crept up to the mission house, burst open the chapel doors, and slew the devoted Father Corpa while at prayer; then severed his head from his body, set it upon a pikestaff, and threw his body out into the forest where it could never afterwards be found. The scene of this tragedy was in the neighborhood of the present Roman Catholic cemetery of St. Augustine. As soon as this occurrence became known in the Indian village, all was excitement; some of the most devoted bewailing the death of their spiritual father, while others dreaded the consequences of so rash an act, and shrunk with terror from the vengeance of the Spaniards, which they foresaw would soon follow. The young chief of Guale gathered them around him, and in earnest tones addressed them. "Yes," said he, "the friar is dead. It would not have been done, if he would have allowed us to live as we did before we became Christians. We desire to return to our ancient customs; and we must provide for our defense against the punishment which will be hurled upon us by the Governor of Florida, which, if it be allowed to reach us, will be as rigorous for this single friar as if we had killed them all.--For the same power which we possess to destroy this one priest, we have to destroy them all." His followers approved of what had been done, and said there was no doubt but what the same vengeance would fall upon them for the death of the one, as for all. He then resumed. "Since we shall receive equal punishment for the death of this one, as though we had killed them all, let us regain the liberty of which these friars have robbed us, with their promises of good things which we have not yet seen, but which they seek to keep us in hope of, while they accumulate upon us who are called Christians, injuries and disgusts, making us quit our wives, restricting us to one only, and prohibiting us from changing her.--They prevent us from having our balls, banquets, feasts, celebrations, games and contests, so that being deprived of them, we lose our ancient valor and skill which we inherited from our ancestors. Although they oppress us with labor, refusing to grant even the respite of a few days, and although we are disposed to do all they require from us, they are not satisfied; but for everything they reprimand as, injuriously treat us, oppress us, lecture us, call us bad Christians, and deprive us of all the pleasures which our fathers enjoyed, in the hope that they would give us heaven; by these frauds subjecting us and holding us under their absolute control. And what have we to hope except to be made slaves? If we now put them all to death, we shall destroy these excrescenses, and force the governor to treat us well." The majority were carried away by his address, and rung out the war-cry of death and defiance. While still eager for blood, their chief led them to the Indian town of Tapoqui, the mission of Father Montes, on the Cano de la Leche; tumultuously rushing in, they informed the missionary of the fate of Father Corpa, and that they sought his own life and those of all his order; and then with uplifted weapons bade him prepare to die. He reasoned and remonstrated with them, portraying the folly and wickedness of their intentions, that the vengeance of the Spaniards would surely overtake them, and implored them with tears, that for their own sakes rather than his, they would pause in their mad designs. But all in vain; they were alike insensible to his eloquence, and his tears, and pressed forward to surround him. Finding all else vain, he begged as a last favor that he should be permitted to celebrate mass before he died. In this he was probably actuated in part by the hope that their fierce hatred might be assuaged by the sight of the ceremonies of their faith, or that the delay might afford time for succor from the adjoining garrison. The permission was given; and there for the last time the worthy Father put on his robes, which might well be termed his robes of sacrifice. The wild and savage crowd, thirsting for his blood, reclined upon the floor and looked on in sullen silence, awaiting the conclusion of the rites. The priest alone, standing before the altar, proceeded with this most sad and solemn mass, then cast his eyes to heaven and knelt in private supplication; where the next moment he fell under the blows of his cruel foes, bespattering the altar at which he ministered, with his own life's blood. His crushed remains were thrown into the fields, that they might serve for the fowls of the air or the beasts of the forest; but not one would approach it, except a dog, which, rushing forward to lay hold upon the body, fell dead upon the spot, says the ancient chronicle; and an old Christian Indian, recognizing it, gave it sepulture in the forest. From thence the ferocious young chief of Guale led his followers against several missions, in other parts of the country, which he attacked and destroyed, together with their attendant clergy. Thus upon the soil of the ancient city was shed the blood of Christian martyrs, who were laboring with a zeal well worthy of emulation, to carry the truths of religion to the native tribes of Florida. Two hundred and sixty years have passed away since these sad scenes were enacted; but we can not even now repress a tear of sympathy and a feeling of admiration for those self-denying missionaries of the cross, who sealed their faith with their blood, and fell victims to their energy and devotion. The spectacle of the dying priest struck down at the altar, attired in his sacred vestments, and perhaps imploring pardon upon his murderers, cannot fail to call up in the heart of the most insensible, something more than a passing emotion. The zeal of the Franciscans was only increased by this disaster, and each succeeding year brought additions to their number. They pushed their missions into the interior of the country so rapidly that in less than two years they had established through the principal towns of the Indiana no less than twenty mission houses. The presumed remains of these establishments are still occasionally to be found throughout the interior of the country. CHAPTER XII. SUBJECTION OF THE APALACHIAN INDIANS--CONSTRUCTION OF THE FORT, SEA WALL, &c.--1638-1700. In the year 1638, hostilities were entered into between the Spanish settlements on the coast, and the Apalachian Indians, who occupied the country in the neighborhood of the river Suwanee. The Spaniards soon succeeded in subduing their Indian foes; and in 1640, large numbers of the Apalachian Indians were brought to St. Augustine, and in alleged punishment for their outbreak, and with a sagacious eye to the convenience of the arrangement, were forced to labor upon the public works and fortifications of the city. At this period the English settlements along the coast to the northward, had begun to be formed, much to the uneasiness and displeasure of the Spanish crown, which for a long period claimed, by virtue of exploration and occupation, as well as by the ancient papal grant of Alexander, all the eastern coast of the United States. Their missionaries had penetrated Virginia before the settlement at Jamestown; and they had built a fort in South Carolina, and kept up a garrison for some years in it. But the Spanish government had become too feeble to compete with either the English or the French on the seas; and with the loss of their celebrated Armada, perished forever their pretensions as a naval power. They were therefore forced to look to the safety of their already established settlements in Florida; and the easy capture of the fort at St. Augustine by the passing squadron of Drake, evinced the necessity of works of a much more formidable character. It is evident that the fort, or castle as it was usually designated, had been then commenced, although its form was afterwards changed; and for sixty years subsequently, these unfortunate Apalachian Indians were compelled to labor upon the works, until in 1680, upon the recommendation of their mission Fathers, they were relieved from further compulsory labor, with the understanding that in case of necessity they would resume their labors. In 1648, St. Augustine is described to have contained more than three hundred householders (_vecinos_), a flourishing monastry of the order of St. Francis with fifty Franciscans, men very zealous for the conversion of the Indians, and regarded by their countrymen with the highest veneration. Besides these there were in the city alone, a vicar, a parochial curate, a superior sacristan, and a chaplain attached to the castle. The parish church was built of wood, the Bishop of Cuba, it is said, not being able to afford anything better, his whole income being but four hundred pezos per annum, which he shared with Florida; and sometimes he expended much more than his receipts. In 1665, Captain Davis, one of the English buccaneers and freebooters (then very numerous in the West Indies), with a fleet of seven or eight vessels came on the coast from Jamaica, to intercept the Spanish plate fleet on its return from New Spain to Europe; but being disappointed in this scheme, he proceeded along the coast of Florida, and came off St. Augustine, where he landed and marched directly upon the town, which he sacked and plundered, without meeting the least opposition or resistance from the Spaniards, although they had then a garrison of two hundred men in the fort, which at that time was an octagon, fortified and defended by round towers. The fortifications, if this account be true, were probably then very incomplete; and with a vastly inferior force it is not surprising that they did not undertake what could only have been an ineffectual resistance. It does not appear that the fort was taken; and the inhabitants retired probably within its enclosure with their valuables.[22] In the Spanish account of the various occurrences in this country, it is mentioned that in 1681, "the English having examined a province of Florida, distant twelve leagues from another called New Castle, where the air is pleasant, the climate mild, and the lands very fertile, called it Salvania; and that knowing these advantages, a Quaker, or Shaker (a sect barbarous impudent, and abominable), called William Penn, obtained a grant of it from Charles II., King of England, and made great efforts to colonize it." Such was the extent then claimed for the province of Florida, and such the opinion entertained of the Quakers. In 1681, Don Juan Marquez Cabrera, applied himself at once, upon his appointment to the governorship of Florida, to finishing the castle; and collected large quantities of stone, lime, timber, and iron, more than sufficient subsequently to complete it. About this period, a new impulse was given to the extension of the missions for converting the Indians; and large reinforcements of the clerical force were received from Mexico, Havana, and Spain; and many of them received salaries from the crown. A considerable Indian town is spoken of at this period, as existing six hundred varas north of St. Augustine, and called Macarasi, which would correspond to the place formerly occupied by Judge Douglas, deceased, and which has long been called Macariz. Other parts of the country were known by various names. Amelia Island was the province of Guale. The southern part of the country was known as the province of Carlos. Indian river was the province of Ys. Westwardly was the province of Apalachie; while smaller divisions were designated by the names of the chiefs. It is hardly to be doubted, that the same spirit of oppression towards the Indians, exercised in the other colonies under Spanish domination, existed in Florida. It has been already mentioned that the Apalachians were kept at labor upon the fortifications of St. Augustine; and in 1680, the Yemasees, who had always been particularly peaceful and manageable, and whose principal town was Macarisqui, near St. Augustine, revolted at the rule exercised over them by the Spanish authorities at St. Augustine, in consequence of the execution of one of their chiefs by the order of the governor; and six years afterwards they made a general attack upon the Spaniards, drove them within the walls of the castle, and became such mortal enemies to them, that they never gave a Spaniard quarter, waylaying, and invariably massacring, any stragglers they could intercept outside of the fort. In 1670, an English settlement was established near Port Royal, South Carolina, one hundred and five years subsequent to the settlement of St. Augustine. The Spaniards regarded it as an infringement upon their rights; and although a treaty, after this settlement, had been made between Spain and England, confirming to the latter all her settlements and islands, yet as no boundaries or limits were mentioned, their respective rights and boundaries remained a subject of dispute for seventy years. About 1675, the Spanish authorities at St. Augustine, having intelligence from _white servants_ who fled to them, of the discontented and miserable situation of the colony in Carolina, advanced with a party under arms as far as the Island of St. Helena, to dislodge or destroy the settlers. A treacherous colonist of the name of Fitzpatrick, deserted to the Spaniards; but the governor, Sir John Yeamans, having received a reinforcement, held his ground; and a detachment of fifty volunteers under Colonel Godfrey, marched against the enemy, forcing them to retire from the Island of St. Helena, and retreat to St. Augustine.[23] Ten years afterwards, three galleys sailed from St. Augustine, and attacked a Scotch and English settlement at Port Royal, which had been founded by Lord Cardross, in 1681. The settlement was weak and unprotected, and the Spaniards fell upon them, killed several, whipped many, plundered all, and broke up the colony. Flushed with success, they continued their depredations on Edisto River, burning the houses, wasting the plantations, and robbing the settlers; and finished their marauding expedition by capturing the brother of Governor Morton, and burning him alive in one of the galleys which a hurricane had driven so high upon land as to make it impossible to have it re-launched. Such at least is the English account of the matter; and they say that intestine troubles alone prevented immediate and signal retaliation by the South Carolinians.[24] One Captain Don Juan de Aila went to Spain in the year 1687, in his own vessel, to procure additional forces and ammunition for the garrison at St. Augustine. He received the men and munitions desired; and as a reward for his diligence and patriotism, he also received the privilege of carrying merchandise, duty free; being also allowed to take twelve Spanish negroes for the cultivation of the fields of Florida, of whom it is said there was a great want in that province. By a mischance, he was only able to carry one negro there, with the troops and other cargo, and was received in the city with universal joy. This was the first occasion of the reception of African slaves; although as has been heretofore mentioned, it was made a part of the royal stipulation with Menendez, that he should bring over five hundred negro slaves. Don Diego de Quiroga y Losada, the governor of Florida in 1690, finding that the sea was making dangerous encroachments upon the shores of the town, and had reached even the houses, threatening to swallow them up, and render useless the fort which had cost so much to put in the state of completion in which it then was, called a public meeting of the chief men and citizens of the place, and proposed to them that in order to escape the danger which menaced them, and to restrain the force of the sea, they should construct a wall, which should run from the castle and cover and protect the city from all danger of the sea. The inhabitants not only approved of his proposal, but began the work with so much zeal, that the soldiers gave more than seventeen hundred dollars of their wages, although they were very much behind, not having been paid in six years; with which the governor began to make the necessary preparations, and sent forward a dispatch to the home government upon the subject. The council of war of the Indies approved, in the following year, of the work of the sea wall, and directed the viceroy of New Spain to furnish ten thousand dollars for it, and directed that a plan and estimate of the work should be forwarded. Quiroga was succeeded in the governorship of Florida, by Don Laureano de Torres, who went forward with the work of the sea wall, and received for this purpose the means furnished by the soldiers, and one thousand dollars more, which they offered besides the two thousand dollars, and likewise six thousand dollars which had come from New Spain, remitted by the viceroy, Count de Galleo, for the purpose of building a tower, as a look-out to observe the surrounding Indian settlements. Whether this tower was erected, or where, we have no certain knowledge. The towers erected on the governor's palace and at the northeast angle of the fort, were intended as look-outs both sea and landward. The statements made in reference to the building of this wall, from the castle as far as the city, confirm the opinion previously expressed, that the ancient and early settlement of the place was south of the public square, as the remains of the ancient sea wall extend to the basin at the Plaza. The top of this old sea wall is still visible along the centre of Bay street, where it occasionally appears above the level of the street; and its general plan and arrangement are shown on several old maps and plans of the city. Upon a plan of the city made in 1665, it is represented as terminating in a species of break-water at the public square. It is unnecessary to add that the present sea wall is a much superior structure to the old, and extends above twice the distance. Its cost is said to have been one hundred thousand dollars, and it was building from 1837 to 1843. In the year 1700, the work on the sea wall had progressed but slowly, although the governor had employed thirty stone-cutters at a time, and had eight yoke of oxen drawing stone to the landing, and two lime-kilns all the while at work. But the money previously provided, and considerable additional funds was requisite, resembling in this respect its successor. The new governor, De Curriga, took the matter in hand, as he had much experience in fortifications. The defenses of the fort are spoken of as being at the time too weak to resist artillery, and the sea wall as being but a slight work. CHAPTER XIII. ATTACK ON ST. AUGUSTINE BY GOVERNOR MOORE OF SOUTH CAROLINA--DIFFICULTIES WITH THE GEORGIANS. 1702-1732. Hostilities had broken out between England and Spain in 1702. The English settlements in Carolina only numbered six or seven thousand inhabitants, when Governor Moore, who was an ambitious and energetic man, but with serious defects of character, led an invading force from Carolina against St. Augustine. The pretense was to retaliate for old injuries, and, by taking the initiative, to prevent an attack upon themselves. The real motive was said by Gov. Moore's opponents at home, to have been the acquisition of military reputation and private gain. The plan of the expedition embraced a combined land and naval attack: and for this purpose six hundred provincial militia were embodied, with an equal number of Indian allies; a portion of the militia, with the Indians, were to go inland by boats and by land, under the command of Col. Daniel, who is spoken of as a good officer, while the main body proceeded with the governor by sea in several merchant schooners and ships which had been impressed for the service. The Spaniards, who had received intimations of the contemplated attack, placed themselves in the best posture of defense in their power, and laid up provisions in the castle to withstand a long siege. The forces under Col. Daniel arrived in advance of the naval fleet of the expedition, and immediately marched upon the town. The inhabitants, upon his approach, retired with their most valuable effects within the spacious walls of the castle, and Col. Daniel entered and took possession of the town, the larger part of which, it must be recollected, was at some distance from the castle. The quaint description of these events, given by Oldmixon, is as follows:-- "Col. Rob. Daniel, a very brave man, commanded a party who were to go up the river in periagas, and come upon Augustino on the land side, while the Governour sailed thither, and attacked it by sea. They both set out in August, 1702. Col. Daniel, in his way, took St. Johns, a small Spanish settlement; as also St. Mary's, another little village belonging to the Spaniards; after which he proceeded to Augustino, came before the town, entered and took it, Col. Moor not being yet arrived with the fleet. "The inhabitants having notice of the approach of the English, had packed up their best effects and retired with them into the castle, which was surrounded by a very deep and broad moat. "They had laid up provisions there for four months, and resolved to defend themselves to the last extremity. However, Col. Daniel found a considerable booty in the town. The next day the Governour came ashore, and his troops following him, they entrenched, posted their guards in the church, and blocked up the castle. The English held possession of the town a whole month; but finding they could do nothing for want of mortars and bombs, they despatched away a sloop for Jamaica; but the commander of the sloop, instead of going thither, came to Carolina out of fear of treachery. Finding others offered to go in his stead, he proceeded in the voyage himself, after he had lain some time at Charlestown. "The Governour all this while lay before the castle of Augustino, in expectation of the return of the sloop, which hearing nothing of, he sent Col. Daniel, who was the life of the action, to Jamaica on the same errand. "This gentleman, being hearty in the design, procured a supply of bombs, and returned towards Augustino. But in the mean time two ships appeared in the offing, which being taken to be two very large men of war, the Governour tho't fit to raise the siege and abandon his ships, with a great quantity of stores, ammunition, and provisions, to the enemy. Upon which the two men of war entered the port of Augustino, and took the Governour's ships. Some say he burnt them himself. Certain it is they were lost to the English, and that he returned to Charles-Town over land 300 miles from Augustino. The two men of war that were thought to be so large, proved to be two small frigates, one of 82, and the other of 16 guns.[25] "When Col. Daniel came back to St. Augustine, he was chased, but got away; and Col. Moor retreated with no great honor homewards. The periagas lay at St. Johns, whither the Governour retired and so to Charles-Town, having lost but two men in the whole expedition." Arratomakaw, king of the Yamioseans, who commanded the Indians, retreated to the periagas with the rest, and there slept upon his oars with a great deal of bravery and unconcern. The governor's soldiers, taking a false alarm, and thinking the Spaniards were coming, did not like this slow pace of the Indian king in his flight, and to quicken him into it, bade him make more haste. But he replied, "No; though your governor leaves you, I will not stir till I have seen all my men before me." The Spanish accounts say that he burned the town, and this statement is confirmed by the report made on the 18th July, 1740, by a committee of the House of Commons of the province of South Carolina, in which it is said, referring to these transactions, that Moore was obliged to retreat, _but not without_ first burning the town.[26] It seems that the plunder carried off by Moore's troops was considerable; as his enemies charged at the time that he sent off a sloop-load to Jamaica, and in an old colonial document of South Carolina it is represented "that the late unfortunate, ill-contrived, and worst managed expedition against St. Augustine, was principally set on foot by the said late governor and his adherents; and that if any person in the said late assembly undertook to speak against it, and to show how unfit and unable we were at that time for such an attempt, he was presently looked upon by them as an enemy and traitor to his country, and reviled and affronted in the said assembly; although the true design of the said expedition was no other than catching and making slaves of Indians for private advantage, and impoverishing the country. * * * And that the expedition was to enrich themselves will appear particularly, because whatsoever booty, as rich silks, great quantity of church plate, with a great many other costly church ornaments and utensils taken by our soldiers at St. Augustine, are now detained in the possession of the said late governor and his officers, contrary to an act of assembly made for an equal division of the same amongst the soldiers."[27] The Spanish accounts of this expedition of Moore's are very meager. They designate him as the governor of St. George, by which name they called the harbor of Charleston; and they also speak of the plunder of the town, and the burning of the greater part of the houses. Don Joseph de Curriga was the then governor of the city, and had received just previous to the English attack, reinforcements from Havana, and had repaired and strengthened the fortifications. The retreat of the English was celebrated with great rejoicing by the Spaniards, who had been for three months shut up within the limited space of the walls of the castle; and they gladly repaired their ruined homes, and made good the ravages of the English invasion. An English account says that the two vessels which appeared off the bar and caused Moore's precipitate retreat, contained but two hundred men, and that had he awaited Colonel Daniel's return with the siege guns and ammunition, the castle would have fallen into their hands. In the same year, the king of Spain, alarmed at the dangers which menaced his possessions in Florida, gave greater attention to the strengthening the defenses of St. Augustine, and forwarded considerable reinforcements to the garrison, as well as additional supplies of munitions. The works were directed to be strengthened, which Governor Curriga thought not as strong as had been represented, and that the sea wall in the process of erection was insufficient for the purpose for which it was designed. Sixty years had elapsed since the Apalachian Indians had been conquered and compelled to labor upon the fortifications of St. Augustine; their chiefs now asked that they might be relieved from further compulsory labor; and after the usual number of references and reports and informations, through the Spanish circumlocution offices, this was graciously granted in a suspensory form, until their services should be again required. During the year 1712, a great scarcity of provisions, caused by the failure of the usual supply vessels, reduced the inhabitants of St. Augustine to the verge of starvation; and, for two or three months, they were obliged to live upon horses, cats, dogs, and other disgusting animals. It seems strange, that after a settlement of nearly one hundred and fifty years, the Spaniards in Florida should still be dependant upon the importation of provisions for their support; and that anything like the distress indicated should prevail, with the abundant resources they had, from the fish, oysters, turtle, and clams of the sea, and the arrow-root and cabbage-tree palm of the land. The English settlements were now extending into the interior portions of South Carolina; and the French had renewed their efforts at settlement and colonization upon the rivers discharging into the Gulf of Mexico. All three nations were competitors for the trade with the Indians, and kept up an intriguing rivalship for this trade for more than a hundred years. There seems to have been at this period a policy pursued by the Spanish authorities in Florida, of the most reprehensible character. The strongest efforts were made to attach all the Indian tribes to the Spanish interest; and they were encouraged to carry on a system of plunder and annoyance upon the English settlements of Carolina. They particularly seized upon all the negroes they could obtain, and carried them to the governor at St. Augustine, who invariably refused to surrender them, alleging that he was acting under the instructions of his government in so doing. In 1704, Governor Moore had made a sweeping and vigorous excursion against the Indian towns in Middle Florida, all of whom were in the Spanish interest; and had broken up and destroyed the towns and missions attached to them. In 1725, Col. Palmer determined, since no satisfaction could be obtained for the incursions of the Spanish Indians, and the loss of their slaves, to make a descent upon them; and with a party of three hundred men entered Florida, with an intention of visiting upon the province all the desolation of retributive warfare. He went up to the very gates of St. Augustine, and compelled the inhabitants to seek protection within the castle. In his course he swept every thing before him, destroying every house, field and improvement within his reach; carrying off the live stock, and every thing else of value. The Spanish Indians who fell within his power, were slain in large numbers, and many were taken prisoners. Outside of the walls of St. Augustine, nothing was left undestroyed; and the Spanish authorities received a memorable lesson in the law of retribution. CHAPTER XIV. SIEGE OF ST. AUGUSTINE, BY OGLETHORPE--1732-1740 Difficulties existed for many years subsequently between the Spanish and English settlements. In 1732, Oglethorpe planted his colony in Georgia, and extended his settlements along the coast towards Florida, claiming and occupying the country up to the margin of the St. Johns, and established a post at St. George Island. This was deemed an invasion of the territory of Spain; and the post was attacked unfairly, as the English say, and some of their men murdered. Oglethorpe, upon this, acting under the instructions of the home government, commenced hostilities by arranging a joint attack of the forces of South Carolina and Georgia, with a view to the entire conquest of Florida. The instructions of the king of England to Oglethorpe, were, that he should make a naval and land attack upon St. Augustine; "and if it shall please God to give you success, you are either to demolish the fort and bastions, or put a garrison in it, in case you shall have men enough for that purpose; which last, it is thought, will be the best way to prevent the Spaniards from endeavoring to retake and settle the said place again, at any time hereafter."[28] Don Manuel Monteano was then governor of Florida, and in command of the garrison. The city and castle were previously in a poor condition to withstand an attack from a well-prepared foe; and on the 11th November, 1737, Governor Monteano writes to the governor-general of Cuba, that "the fort of this place is its only defense; it has no casemates for the shelter of the men, nor the necessary elevation to the counter-scarp, nor covert ways, nor ravelins to the curtains, nor other exterior works that could give time for a long defense; but it is thus naked outside, as it is without soul within, for there are no cannon that could be fired twenty-four hours, and though there were, artillery-men to manage them are wanting." Under the superintendence of an able officer of engineers, Don Antonio de Arredondo, the works were put in order; the ramparts were heightened and casemated; a covered way was made, by planting and embanking four thousand stakes; bomb-proof vaults were constructed, and entrenchments thrown up around the town, protected by ten salient angles, many of which are still visible. The garrison of the town was about seven hundred and forty soldiers, according to Governor Monteano's return of troops. On the 25th March, 1740, the total population of St. Augustine, of all classes, was two thousand one hundred and forty-three. Previous to his attack upon the place, General Oglethorpe obtained the following information from prisoners whom he took at the outposts. He says: "They agree that there are fifty pieces of cannon in the castle at St. Augustine, several of which are of brass, from twelve to forty-eight pounds. It has four bastions. The walls are of stone, and casemated. The internal square is sixty yards. The ditch is forty feet wide, and twelve feet deep, six of which is sometimes filled with water. The counterscarp is faced with stone. They have lately made a covered way. The town is fortified with an entrenchment, salient angles and redoubts, which inclose about half a mile in length, and a quarter of a mile in width. The inhabitants and garrison, men, women and children, amount to above two thousand five hundred. For the garrison, the king pays eight companies, sent from Spain two years since for the invasion of Georgia; upon establishment fifty-three men each, three companies of foot and one of artillery, of the old garrison, and one troop of horse one hundred each upon establishment; of these, one hundred are at St. Marks, ten days' march from St. Augustine; upon the Gulf of Mexico, one hundred are disposed in several small forts." Of these out-posts, there were two, one on each side of the river St. Johns--at Picolata and immediately opposite--and at Diego. The purpose of the forts at Picolata was to guard the passage of the river, and to keep open the communication with St. Marks and Pensacola; and when threatened with the invasion of Oglethorpe, messengers were dispatched to the governor of Pensacola for aid, and also to Mexico by the same route. The fort at Diego was but a small work, erected by Don Diego de Spinosa, upon his own estate; and the remains of it, with one or two cannon, are still visible. Fort Moosa, was an out-post at the place now known by that name, on the North River, about two miles north of St. Augustine. A fortified line, a considerable portion of which may now be traced, extended across from the stockades on the St. Sebastian to Fort Moosa. Communication by a tide-creek existed through the marshes, between the castle at St. Augustine and Fort Moosa. Oglethorpe first attacked the two forts at Picolata, one of which, called Fort Poppa, or St. Francis de Poppa, was a place of some strength. Its remains still exist, about one-fourth of a mile north of the termination of the Bellamy Road, its earthworks being still strongly marked. After a slight resistance, both forts fell into his hands, much to the annoyance of Governor Monteano. Oglethorpe speaks of Fort Francis as being of much importance, "as commanding the passes from St. Augustine to Mexico, and into the country of the Creek Indians, and also being upon the ferry, where the troops which come from St. Augustine must pass." He found in it, one mortar piece, two carriages, three small guns, ammunition, one hundred and fifty shells, and fifty glass bottles full of gunpowder, with fuses--a somewhat novel missile of war. The English general's plan of operation was, that the crews and troops upon the vessels should land, and throw up batteries upon Anastasia Island, from thence bombarding the town; while he himself designed to lead the attack on the land side. Having arrived in position, he gave the signal of attack to the fleet, by sending up a rocket; but no response came from the vessels, and he had the mortification of being obliged to withdraw his troops. The troops were unable to effect a landing from the vessels, in consequence of a number of armed Spanish galleys having been drawn up inside the bar; so that no landing could be made except under a severe fire, while the galleys were protected from an attack by the ships, in consequence of the shoal water. He then prepared to reduce the town by a regular siege, with a strict blockade by sea. He hoped, by driving the inhabitants into the castle, so to encumber the governor with useless mouths, as to reduce him to the necessity of a surrender, to avoid starvation. The town was placed under the range of his heavy artillery and mortars, and soon became untenable, forcing the citizens generally to seek the shelter of the fort. Col. Vanderduysen was posted at Point Quartel; and others of the troops upon Anastasia Island, and the north beach. Three batteries were erected: one on Anastasia Island, called the Poza, which consisted of four eighteen-pounders and one nine-pounder; one on the point of the wood of the island, mounting two eighteen-pounders. The remains of the Peza battery are still to be seen, almost as distinctly marked as on the day of its creation. Four mortars and forty cohorns were employed in the siege. The siege began on the 12th June; and on the 25th June a night sortie was made from the castle against a portion of the troops under command of Col. Palmer, who were encamped at Fort Moosa, including a company of Scotch Highlanders, numbering eighty-five men, under their chief, Capt. McIntosh, all equipped in Highland dress. This attack was entirely successful, and the English sustained a severe loss, their colonel being killed, with twenty Highlanders, twenty-seven soldiers, and a number of Indians. This affair at Fort Moosa has generally been considered as a surprise, and its disastrous results as the consequence of carelessness and disobedience of the orders of Oglethorpe. Captain McIntosh, the leader of the Highlanders, was taken prisoner, and finally transferred to Spain. From his prison at St. Sebastian, under date of 20th June, 1741, he gives the following account of the matter:-- "I listed seventy men, all in Highland dress, and marched to the siege, and was ordered to scout nigh St. Augustine and molest the enemy, while the general and the rest of his little army went to an island where we could have no succor of them. I punctually obeyed my orders, until seven hundred Spaniards sallied out from the garrison, an hour before daylight. _They did not surprise us_, for we were all under arms, ready to receive them, which we did briskly, keeping a constant firing for a quarter of an hour, when they prest on with numbers; was obliged to take our swords until the most of us were shot and cut to pieces. You are to observe we had but eighty men; and the engagement was in view of the rest of our army, but they could not come to our assistance, by being in the foresaid island, under the enemy's guns. They had twenty prisoners, a few got off, the rest killed; as we were well informed by some of themselves, they had three hundred killed on the spot,[29] besides several wounded. We were all stripped naked of clothes, brought to St. Augustine, where we remained three months in close confinement."[30] This officer was Capt. John McIntosh; and his son, Brig. Gen. McIntosh, then a youth of fourteen, was present in the engagement, and escaped without injury. The family of the McIntoshes have always been conspicuous in the history of Georgia. The large number of persons collected within the walls of the castle, and under the protection of its battlements, soon gave rise to serious apprehensions on the part of the besieged, of being reduced by starvation to the necessity of a speedy surrender. The batteries of Oglethorpe were planted at so great a distance that he could produce but little effect by his shot or shells upon the castle, although he rendered the city itself untenable. The heat of the season and the exposure, to which the Provincial militia were unaccustomed, soon produced considerable sickness and discouragement in the invading force, and affected Oglethorpe himself. The Spanish governor sent most urgent messages to the governor of the island of Cuba, which were transmitted by runners along the coast, and thence by small vessels across to Havana. In one of these letters he says, "My greatest anxiety is for provisions; and if they do not come, there is no doubt of our dying by the hands of hunger." In another, he says, "I assure your Lordship, that it is impossible to express the confusion of the place; for we have no protection except the fort, and all the rest is open field. The families have abandoned their houses, and come to put themselves under the guns, which is pitiable; though nothing gives me anxiety but the want of provisions; and if your Lordship for want of competent force cannot send relief, we all must perish."[31] With the exception of the Fort Moosa affair, the hostilities were confined to the exchange of shots between the castle and the batteries. Considerable discrepancy exists between the Spanish and English accounts, as to the period when the garrison was relieved: it was the communication of the fact of relief having been received, which formed the ostensible ground of abandoning the siege by Oglethorpe; but the Spanish governor asserts that these provision vessels did not arrive until the siege was raised. The real fact, I am inclined to think, is that the provision vessels arrived at Mosquito, a harbor sixty miles below, where they were to await orders from Gov. Monteano, as to the mode of getting discharged,[32] and that the information of their arrival, being known at St. Augustine, was communicated to the English, and thus induced their raising the siege; in fact, the hope of starving out the garrison was the only hope left to Oglethorpe; his strength was insufficient for an assault, and his means inadequate to reduce the castle, which was well manned and well provided with means of defense. It was in truth a hopeless task, under the circumstances, for Oglethorpe to persevere; and it is no impeachment of his courage or his generalship, that he was unable to take a fortress of really very respectable strength. The siege continued from the 13th June to the 20th July, a period of thirty-eight days. The bombardment was kept up twenty days, but owing to the lightness of the guns and the long range, but little effect was produced on the strong walls of the castle. Its spongy, infrangible walls received the balls from the batteries like a cotton bale, or sand battery, almost without making an impression; this may be seen on examination, since the marks remain to this day, as they were left at the end of the siege, one hundred and seventeen years ago. The prosecution of the siege having become impracticable, preparations were made for retiring; and Oglethorpe, as a pardonable and characteristic protest against the assumption of his acting from any coercion, with drums beating and banners displayed, crossed over to the main land, and marched in full view of the castle, to his encampment three miles distant, situated probably at the point now known as Pass Navarro. Great credit and respect have been deservedly awarded to Governor Monteano, for the courage, skill, and perseverance with which he sustained the siege. It is well known that the English general had, in a few months, an ample opportunity of showing to his opponent that his skill in defending his own territory under the most disadvantageous circumstances, was equal to that of the accomplished Monteano himself. The defense of Frederica, and signal defeat of the Spanish forces at Fort Simons, will ever challenge for Oglethorpe the highest credit for the most sterling qualities of a good general and a great man. Two years subsequently, Oglethorpe again advanced into Florida, appeared before the gates of St. Augustine, and endeavored to induce the garrison to march out to meet him; but they kept within their walls, and Oglethorpe in one of his despatches says, in the irritation caused by their prudence, "that they were so meek there was no provoking them." As in this incursion he had no object in view but a devastation of the country, and harrassing the enemy, he shortly withdrew his forces. A committee of the South Carolina House of Commons, in a report upon the Oglethorpe expedition, thus speaks of St. Augustine, evidently smarting under the disappointment of their recent defeat. * * * * * "JULY 1ST, 1741." "St. Augustine, in the possession of the crown of Spain, is well known to be situated but little distance from hence, in latitude thirty degrees, in Florida, the next territory to us. It is maintained by his Catholic Majesty, partly to preserve his claim to Florida, and partly that it may be of service to the plate-fleets when coming through the gulf, by showing lights to them along the coast, and by being ready to give assistance when any of them are cast away there-about. The castle, by the largest account, doth not cover more than one acre of ground, but is allowed on all hands to be a place of great strength, and hath been usually garrisoned with about three or four hundred men of the King's regular troops. The town is not very large, and but indifferently fortified. The inhabitants, many of which are mulattoes of savage dispositions, are all in the king's pay; also being registered from their birth, and a severe penalty laid on any master of a vessel that shall attempt to carry any of them off. These are formed into a militia, and have been generally computed to be near about the same number as the regular troops. Thus relying wholly on the king's pay for their subsistence, their thoughts never turned to trade or even agriculture, but depending on foreign supplies for the most common necessaries of life, they spent their time in universal, perpetual idleness. From such a state, mischievous inclinations naturally spring up in such a people; and having leisure and opportunity, ever since they had a neighbor the fruits of whose industry excited their desires and envy, they have not failed to carry those inclinations into action as often as they could, without the least regard to peace or war subsisting between the two crowns of Great Britain and Spain, or to stipulations agreed upon between the two governments."[33] Among the principal grievances set forth in this report, was the carrying off and enticing and harboring their slaves, of which a number of instances are enumerated; and they attributed the negro insurrection which occurred in South Carolina, in 1739, to the connivance and agency of the Spanish authorities at St. Augustine; and they proceed in a climax of indignation to hurl their denunciation at the supposed authors of their misfortunes, in the following terms: "With indignation we looked at St. Augustine (like another Sallee!) That den of thieves and ruffians! receptacle of debtors, servants and slaves! bane of industry and society! and revolved in our minds all the injuries this province had received from thence, ever since its first settlement. That they had from first to last, in times of profoundest peace, both publickly and privately, by themselves, Indians, and Negroes, in every shape molested us, not without some instances of uncommon cruelty."[34] It is very certain there was on each side, enough supposed causes of provocation to induce a far from amiable state of feeling between these neighboring colonies. CHAPTER XV. COMPLETION OF THE CASTLE--DESCRIPTIONS OF ST. AUGUSTINE A CENTURY AGO--ENGLISH OCCUPATION OF FLORIDA. 1755--1763--1788. Don Alonzo Fernandez de Herrera was appointed governor of Florida in 1755, and completed the exterior works and finish of the fort. It is this governor who erected the tablet over its main entrance, with the Spanish coat of arms sculptured in _alto relievo_, with the following inscription beneath:-- REYNANDO EN ESPANA EL SENR DON FERNANDO SEXTO Y SIENDO GOVOR Y CAPN DE ESA CD SAN AUGN DE LA FLORIDA Y SUS PROVA. EL MARISCAL DE CAMPO DN ALONZO FERNDO HEREDA ASI CONCLUIO ESTE CASTILLO EL AN OD 1756 DIRIGENDO LAS OBRAS EL CAP. INGNRO DN PEDRO DE BROZAS Y GARAY. DON FERDINAND THE SIXTH, BEING KING OF SPAIN, AND THE FIELD MARSHAL, DON ALONZO FERNANDO HEREDA, BEING GOVERNOR AND CAPTAIN GENERAL OF THIS PLACE, ST. AUGUSTINE, OF FLORIDA, AND ITS PROVINCE. THIS FORT WAS FINISHED IN THE YEAR 1756. THE WORKS WERE DIRECTED BY THE CAPTAIN ENGINEER, DON PEDRO DE BRAZOS Y GARAY. I am not sure but that the boastful governor might with equal propriety and truth have put a similar inscription at the city gate, claiming the town also as a finished city. The first fort erected was called San Juan de Pinos, and probably the same name attached to the present fort at the commencement of its erection; when it acquired the name of St. Mark, I have not discovered. The Apalachian Indians were employed upon it for more than sixty years, and to their efforts are probably due the evidences of immense labor in the construction of the ditch, the ramparts and glacis, and the approaches; while the huge mass of stone contained in its solid walls, must have required the labor of hundreds of persons for many long years, in procuring and cutting the stone in the quarries on the island, transporting it to the water, and across the bay, and fashioning and raising them to their places. Besides the Indians employed, some labor was constantly bestowed by the garrison; and, for a considerable period, convicts were brought hither from Mexico to carry on the public works. During the works of extension and repair effected by Monteano, previous to the siege by Oglethorpe, he employed upon it one hundred and forty of these Mexican convicts. The southwestern bastion is said to have been completed by Monteano. The bastions bore the names respectively of St. Paul, St. Peter, St. James, &c. The whole work remains now as it was in 1756, with the exception of the water battery, which was reconstructed by the government of the United States in 1842-3. The complement of its guns is one hundred, and its full garrison establishment requires one thousand men. It is built upon the plan of Vauban, and is considered by military men as a very creditable work; its strength and efficiency have been well tested in the old times; for it has never been taken, although twice besieged, and several times attacked. Its frowning battlements and sepulchral vaults will long stand after we and those of our day shall be numbered with that long past, of which it is itself a memorial; of its legends connected with the dark chambers and prison vaults, the chains, the instruments of torture, the skeletons walled in, its closed and hidden recesses--of Coacouchee's escape, and many another tale, there is much to say; but it is better said within its grim walls, where the eye and the imagination can go together, in weaving a web of mystery and awe over its sad associations, to the music of the grating bolt, the echoing tread, and the clanking chain. Of the city itself, we have the following description in 1754:-- "It is built on a little bay, at the foot of a hill shaded by trees, and forms an oblong square, divided into four streets, and has two full streets, which cut each other at right angles. The houses are well built, and regular. They have only one church, which is called after the city. St. John's Fort, standing about a mile north of it, is a strong, irregular fortification, well mounted with cannon, and capable of making a long defense." I am inclined to think that the _mile_ between the fort and the city, and the _hill_ at the foot of which, he says, the city was built, existed only in the focus of the writer's spectacles. The Provinces of Florida were ceded by treaty to England in the year 1763, and the Spanish inhabitants very generally left the country, which had then been under Spanish rule for near two hundred years; and certainly in no portion of this country had less progress been made. Beyond the walls occupied by its garrison, little had been attempted or accomplished in these two hundred years. This was in part, perhaps, attributable to the circumstances of the country--the frequent hostility of the Indians, and the want of that mutual support given by neighborhoods, which in Florida are less practicable than elsewhere; but it was still more owing to the character of the Spanish inhabitants, who were more soldiers than civilians, and more townsmen than agriculturists; at all events, at the cession of Florida to Great Britain, the number of inhabitants was not over five thousand. Of the period of the English occupation of Florida, we have very full accounts. It was a primary object with the British government, to colonize and settle it; and inducements to emigrants were strongly put forth, in various publications. The work of Roberts was the first of these, and was followed in a few years by those of Bartram, Stork, and Romans. The works of both Roberts and Stork, contain plans and minute descriptions of St. Augustine. The plan of the town in Stork, represents every building, lot, garden, and flower-bed in the place, and gives a very accurate view of its general appearance. The descriptions vary somewhat. Roberts, who published his work the year of the cession, 1763, shows in connection with his plan of the town, an Indian village on the point south of the city, at the powder-house, and another just north of the city. The one to the north has a church. A negro fort is shown about a mile to the northward. Oglethorpe's landing place is shown on Anastasia Island, and a small fort on the main land south of the city. The depth of water on the bar is marked as being at low water, eight feet. Roberts describes the city as "running along the shore at the foot of a pleasant hill, adorned with trees; its form is oblong, divided by four regular streets, crossing each other at right angles; down by the sea side, about three-fourths of a mile south of the town, standeth the church, and a monastery of St. Augustine. The best built part of the town is on the north side, leading to the castle, which is called St. John's Fort. It is a square building of soft stone, fortified with whole bastions, having a rampart of twenty feet high, with a parapet nine feet high, and it is casemated. The town is fortified with bastions, and with cannon. On the north and south, without the walls of the city, are the Indian towns." The next plan we have, is in the work by Dr. Stork, the third edition of which was published in 1769. He gives a beautiful plan of the place. Shows the fort as it now exists, with its various outworks; three churches are designated, one on the public square at its southwest corner; another on St. George street, on the lot on the west side, south of Green lane, and a Dutch church near where the Roman Catholic cemetery now exists. From the size of the plan, it does not embrace the Indian village. The present United States Court-house was the governor's official residence, and is represented as having attached to it a beautiful garden. The Franciscan house or convent is shown where the barracks are now, but different in the form of the buildings. With the exception of the disappearance of a part of one street then existing, there appears very little change from the present plan of the town and buildings. He describes the fort as being finished "according to the modern taste of military architecture," and as making a very handsome appearance, and "that it might justly be deemed the prettiest fort in the king's dominion." He omits the pleasant hill from his description, and says "the town is situated near the glacis of the fort; the streets are regularly laid out, and built narrow for the purposes of shade. It is above half a mile in length, regularly fortified with bastions, half-bastions, and a ditch; that it had also several rows of the Spanish bayonet along the ditch, which formed so close a chevaux de frize, with their pointed leaves, as to be impenetrable; the southern bastions were built of stone. In the middle of the town is a spacious square, called the parade, open towards the harbor; at the bottom of the square is the governor's house, the apartments of which are spacious and suitable; suited to the climate, with high windows, a balcony in front, and galleries on both sides; to the back of the house is joined a tower, called in America a look-out, from which there is an extensive prospect towards the sea, as well as inland. There are two churches within the walls of the town, the parish church, a plain building, and another belonging to the convent of Franciscan Friars, which is converted into barracks for the garrison. The houses are built of free-stone, commonly two stories high, two rooms upon a floor, with large windows and balconies; before the entry of most of the houses, runs a portico of stone arches. The roofs are commonly flat. The Spaniards consulted convenience more than taste in their buildings. The number of houses within the town and lines, when the Spaniards left it, was about nine hundred; many of them, especially in the suburbs, being built of wood, are now gone to decay. The inhabitants were of all colors, whites, negroes, mulattoes, Indians, &c. At the evacuation of St. Augustine, the population was five thousand seven hundred, including the garrison of two thousand five hundred men. Half a mile from the town to the west, is a line with a broad ditch and bastions, running from the St. Sebastian creek to St. Marks river. A mile further is another fortified line with some redoubts, forming a second communication between a stoccata fort upon St. Sebastian river, and Fort Moosa, upon St. Marks river. "Within the first line near the town, was a small settlement of Germans, who had a church of their own. Upon the St. Marks river, within the second line, was also an Indian town, with a church built of freestone; what is very remarkable, it is in good taste, though built by the Indians." The two lines of defense here spoken of, may still be traced. The nearest one is less than one-fourth of a mile from the city gate, and the other at the well-known place called the stockades, the stakes driven to form which, still distinctly mark the place; and the ditch and embankment can be traced for a considerable distance through the grounds attached to my residence. A letter-writer, who dates at St. Augustine, May, 1774, says, "This town is now truly become a heap of ruins, a fit receptacle for the wretches of inhabitants." (Rather a dyspeptic description, in all probability.) A bridge was built across the Sebastian river by the English, "but the great depth of the water, joined to the instability of the bottom, did not suffer it to remain long, and a ferry is now established in its room; the keeper of the ferry has fifty pounds per annum allowed him, and the inhabitants pay nothing for crossing, except after dark." The English constructed large buildings for barracks, characterised by Romans "as such stupendous piles of buildings, which were large enough to contain five regiments, when it is a matter of great doubt whether there will ever be a necessity to keep one whole regiment here. The material for this great barracks was brought from New York, and far inferior to those found on the spot; yet the freight alone amounted to more than their value when landed. It makes us almost believe," says the elaborate Romans, "that all this show is in vain, or at most, that the English were so much in dread of musquitoes, that they thought a large army requisite to drive off these formidable foes. To be serious," says he, "this fort and barracks add not a little to the beauty of the prospect; but most men would think that the money spent on this useless parade, would have been better laid out on roads and fences through the province; or, if it must be in forts, why not at Pensacola?" There is a manuscript work of John Gerard Williams de Brahm, existing in the library of Harvard University, which contains some particulars of interest, relative to Florida at the period of the English occupation. He states the number of inhabitants of East Florida, which in those days meant mostly St. Augustine, from 1663 to 1771, as follows: householders, besides women, &c., two hundred and eighty-eight; imported by Mr. Turnbull from Minorca, &c., one thousand four hundred; negroes, upwards of nine hundred. Of these, white heads of families, one hundred and forty-four were married, which is just one-half; thirty-one are storekeepers and traders; three haberdashers, fifteen innkeepers, forty-five artificers and mechanics, one hundred and ten planters, four hunters, six cow-keepers, eleven overseers, twelve draftsmen in employ of government, besides mathematicians; fifty-eight had left the province; twenty-eight dead, of whom four were killed acting as constables, two hanged for pirating. Among the names of those then residing in East Florida are mentioned Sir Charles Burdett, William Drayton, Esq., planter, Chief Justice; Rev. John Forbes, parson, Judge of Admiralty and Councillor; Rev. N. Fraser, parson at Musquito; Governor James Grant, Hon. John Moultrie, planter and lieutenant Governor; William Stork, Esq., historian; Andrew Turnbull, Esq., H. M. Counselor; Bernard Romans, draftsman, &c.; William Bartram, planter; James Moultrie, Esq. He says, The light house on Anastasia Island had been constructed and built of mason-work by the Spaniards; and, in 1769, by order of General Haldimand, it was raised sixty feet higher in carpenter's work, had a cannon planted on the top, which is fired the very moment the flag is hoisted, for a signal to the town and pilots that a vessel is off. The light house has two flag-staffs, one to the south and one to the north; on either of which the flag is hoisted, viz., to the south if the vessel comes from thence, and the north if the vessel comes that way. "The town is situated in a healthy zone, is surrounded with salt water marshes, not at all prejudicial to health; their evaporations are swept away in the day time by the easterly winds, and in the night season by the westerly winds trading back to the eastward. At the time when the Spaniards left the town, all the gardens were well stocked with fruit trees, viz., figs, guavas, plantain, pomegranates, lemons, limes, citrons, shadock, bergamot, China and Seville oranges, the latter full of fruit throughout the whole winter season; and the pot-herbs, though suspended in their vegetation, were seldom destroyed by cold. The town is three-quarters of a mile in length, but not quite a quarter wide; had four churches ornamently built with stone in the Spanish taste, of which one within and one without the town still exist. One is pulled down; that is the German church, but the steeple is preserved as an ornament to the town; and the other, viz., the convent church and convent in town is taken in the body of the barracks. All houses are built of masonry; their entrances are shaded by piazzas, supported by Tuscan pillars or pilasters, against the south sun. The houses have to the east windows projecting sixteen or eighteen inches into the street, very wide, and proportionally high. On the west side, their windows are commonly very small, and no opening of any kind to the north, on which side they have double walls six or eight feet asunder, forming a kind of gallery, which answers for cellars and pantries. Before most of the entrances were arbors of vines, producing plenty and very good grapes. No house has any chimney for a fire place; the Spaniards made use of stone urns, filled them with coals left in their kitchens in the afternoon, and set them at sunset in their bed-rooms, to defend themselves against those winter seasons, which required such care. The governor's residence has both sides piazzas, viz., a double one to the south, and a single one to the north; also a Belvidere and a grand portico decorated with Doric pillars and entablatures. On the north end of the town is a casemated fort, with four bastions, a ravelin, counterscarp, and a glacis built with quarried shell-stones, and constructed according to the rudiments of Marechal de Vauban. This fort commands the road of the bay, the town, its environs, and both Tolomako stream and Mantanzas creek. The soil in the gardens and environs of the town is chiefly sandy and marshy. The Spaniards seem to have had a notion of manuring their land with shells one foot deep. "Among the three thousand who evacuated St. Augustine, the author is credibly informed, were many Spaniards near and above the age of one hundred years, (observe;) this nation, especially natives of St. Augustine, bore the reputation of great sobriety."[35] On the 3d of January, 1766, the thermometer sunk to 26° with the wind from N. W. "The ground was frozen an inch thick on the banks; this was the fatal night that destroyed the lime, citron, and banana trees in St. Augustine, and many curious evergreens up the river that were twenty years old in a flourishing state."[36] In 1774 there was a snow storm, which extended over most of the province. The ancient inhabitants still (1836) speak of it as an extraordinary white rain. It was said to have done little damage.[37] In this connection, and as it is sometimes supposed that the climate is now colder than formerly, it may be stated that the thermometer went very low in 1799. East Florida suffered from a violent frost on the 6th April, 1828. In February, 1835, the thermometer sunk to 7° above zero, wind from N. W.; and the St. Johns river was frozen several rods from the shore; all kinds of fruit trees were killed to the ground, and the wild orange trees suffered as well as the cultivated. Dr. Nicholas Turnbull, in the year 1767, associated with Sir William Duncan and other Englishmen of note, projected a colony of European emigrants, to be settled at New Smyrna. He brought from the islands of Greece, Corsica, and Minorca, some fourteen hundred persons, agreeing to convey them free of expense, find them in clothing and provisions, and, at the end of three years, to give fifty acres of land to each head of a family, and twenty-five to each child. After a long passage they arrived out, and formed the settlement. The principal article of cultivation produced by them was indigo, which commanded a high price, and was assisted by a bounty from the English government. After a few years, Turnbull, as is alleged, either from avarice or natural cruelty, assumed a control the most absolute over these colonists, and practiced cruelties the most painful upon them. An insurrection took place in 1769 among them, in consequence of severe punishments, which was speedily repressed, and the leaders of it brought to trial before the English court at St. Augustine; five of the number were convicted and sentenced to death. Gov. Grant pardoned two of the five, and a third was released upon the condition of his becoming the executioner of the other two. Nine years after the commencement of their settlement, their number had become reduced from 1,400 to 600. In 1776, proceedings were instituted on their behalf by Mr. Yonge, the attorney-general of the province, which resulted in their being exonerated from their contract with Turnbull; lands were thereupon assigned them in the northern part of the city, which was principally built up by them; and their descendants, at the present day, form the larger portion of the population of that place. Governor Grant was the first English governor, and was a gentleman of much energy; and during his term of office he projected many great and permanent improvements in the province. The public roads, known as the king's roads, from St. Augustine to New Smyrna, and from St. Augustine to Jacksonville, and thence to Coleraine, were then constructed, and remain a lasting monument of his wisdom and desire of improvement. Gov. Tonyn succeeded Gov. Grant; and a legislative council was authorized to assemble, and the pretense and forms of a constitutional government were gone through with. In August, 1775, a British vessel called the Betsey, Capt. Lofthouse, from London, with 111 barrels of powder, was captured off the bar of St. Augustine, by an American privateer from Charleston, very much to the disgust and annoyance of the British authorities. At this period, St. Augustine assumed much importance as a depot and _point d'appui_ for the British forces in their operations against the Southern States; and very considerable forces were at times assembled. In the excess of the zeal and loyalty of the garrison and inhabitants of St. Augustine, upon the receipt of the news of the American Declaration of Independence, the effigies of John Hancock and Samuel Adams were burned upon the public square, where the monument now stands. The expedition of Gen. Prevost against Savannah was organized and embarked from St. Augustine, in 1779. Sixty of the most distinguished citizens of Carolina were seized by the British in 1780, and transported to St. Augustine as prisoners of war and hostages, among whom were Arthur Middleton, Edward Rutledge, Gen. Gadsden, and Mr. Calhoun; all were put upon parole except Gen. Gadsden and Mr. Calhoun, who refused the indulgence, and were committed to the fort, where they remained many months close prisoners. Gen. Rutherford and Col. Isaacs, of North Carolina, were also transported hither, and committed to the fort. An expedition was fitted out from St. Augustine in 1783, to act against New Providence, under Col. Devereux; and, with very slender means that able officer succeeded in capturing and reducing the Bahamas, which have ever since remained under English domination. The expense of supporting the government of East Florida during the English occupation, was very considerable, amounting to the sum of £122,000. The exports of Florida, in 1778, amounted to £48,000; and in 1772, the province exported 40,000 lbs. indigo; and in 1782, 20,000 barrels of turpentine. CHAPTER XVI. RE-CESSION OF FLORIDA TO SPAIN--ERECTION OF THE PARISH CHURCH--CHANGE OF FLAGS. 1783--1821. In June, 1784, in fulfillment of the treaty between England and Spain, Florida, after twenty years of British occupation, was re-ceded to the Spanish Crown, and taken possession of by Governor Zespedez. The English residents, in general, left[38] the country, and went either to the Bahamas, Jamaica, or the United States. Those who went to the British islands were almost ruined; but those who settled in the States were more successful. In April, 1793, the present Roman Catholic church was commenced, the previous Church having been in another portion of the city.[39] It was constructed under the direction of Don Mariana de la Rocque and Don P. Berrio, government engineer-officers. The cost of the church was $16,650, of which about $6,000 was received from the proceeds of the materials and ornaments of the old churches, about $1,000 from the contributions of the inhabitants, and the remaining $10,000 furnished by the government. One of its four bells has the following inscription, showing it to be probably the oldest bell in this country, being now 185 years old. [Illustration: image of a cross] Sancte Joseph. Ora Pro Nobis. D 1682. Don Enrique White was for many years governor of Florida, and died in the city of St. Augustine. He is spoken of by those who knew him, in high terms, for his integrity and openness of character; and many amusing anecdotes are related connected with his eccentricities. In 1812, the American government, being apprehensive that Great Britain designed obtaining possession of Florida, sent its troops into the province, overrunning and destroying the whole country. The manner and the pretenses under which this was done, reflect but little credit on the United States government; and the transparent sham of taking possession of the country by the patriots, supported by United States troops, was as undignified as it was futile. It is for the damages occasioned by this invasion, that the "Florida claims" for "losses" of its citizens have been presented to the government of the United States. The _principal_ of the damages sustained, that is to say, the actual value of the property then destroyed, has been allowed and paid; but the interest, or damages for the detention, has been withheld upon the ground that the government does not pay interest. The treaty between the United States and Spain in reference to the cession of Florida to the United States, requires the United States to make _satisfaction_ for such claims; and the payment of the bare amount of actual loss, after a detention of thirty years, is considered by the claimants an inadequate _satisfaction_ of a just claim. In the spring of 1818, General Jackson made his celebrated incursion into Florida, and by a series of energetic movements followed the Seminoles and Creeks to their fastnesses, and forever crushed the power of those formidable tribes for offensive operations. In the latter part of 1817, a revolutionary party took possession of Amelia Island, and raised a _soi disant patriot_ flag at Fernandina, supported mainly in the enterprise by adventurers from the United States; M'Gregor was assisted by officers of the United States army. An expedition was sent from St. Augustine by the Spanish governor to eject the invaders, which failed. One Aury, an English adventurer, for a time held command there; and also a Mr. Hubbard, formerly sheriff of New York, who was the civil governor, and died there. The United States troops eventually interfered; but negotiations for the cession put a stop to further hostilities. The king of Spain, finding his possessions in Florida utterly worthless to his crown, and only an expense to sustain the garrisons, while the repeated attempts to disturb its political relations prevented any beneficial progress towards its settlement, gladly agreed, in 1819, to a transfer of Florida to the United States for five millions of dollars. An English gentleman who visited St. Augustine in 1817, gives his impressions of the place as follows: "Emerging from the solitudes and shades of the pine forests, we espied the distant yet distinct lights of the watch towers of the fortress of St. Augustine, delightful beacons to my weary pilgrimage. The clock was striking ten as I reached the foot of the drawbridge; the sentinels were passing the _alerto_, as I demanded entrance; having answered the preliminary questions, the draw-bridge was slowly lowered. The officer of the guard, having received my name and wishes, sent a communication to the governor, who issued orders for my immediate admission. On opening the gate, the guard was ready to receive me; and a file of men, with their officer, escorted me to his Excellency, who expressed his satisfaction at my revisit to Florida. I soon retired to the luxury of repose, and the following morning was greeted as an old acquaintance by the members of this little community. "I had arrived at a season of general relaxation, on the eve of the carnival, which is celebrated with much gayety in all Catholic countries. Masks, dominoes, harlequins, punchinellos, and a great variety of grotesque disguises, on horseback, in cars, gigs, and on foot, paraded the streets with guitars, violins, and other instruments; and in the evenings, the houses were open to receive masks, and balls were given in every direction. I was told that in their better days, when their pay was regularly remitted from the Havana, these amusements were admirably conducted, and the rich dresses exhibited on these occasions, were not eclipsed by their more fashionable friends in Cuba; but poverty had lessoned their spirit for enjoyment, as well as the means for procuring it; enough, however, remained to amuse an idle spectator, and I entered with alacrity into their diversions. "About thirty of the hunting warriors of the Seminoles, with their squaws, had arrived, for the purpose of selling the produce of the chase, consisting of bear, deer, tiger, and other skins, bears' grease, and other trifling articles. This savage race, once the lords of the ascendant, are the most formidable border enemies of the United States. This party had arrived, after a range of six months, for the purpose of sale and barter. After trafficking for their commodities, they were seen at various parts of the town, assembled in small groups, seated upon their haunches, like monkeys, passing round their bottles of _aque dente_ (the rum of Cuba), their repeated draughts upon which soon exhausted their contents; they then slept off the effects of intoxication, under the walls, exposed to the influence of the sun. Their appearance was extremely wretched; their skins of a dark, dirty, chocolate color, with long, straight, black hair, over which they had spread a quantity of bears' grease. In their ears, and the cartilages of the nose, were inserted rings of silver and brass, with pendants of various shapes; their features prominent and harsh, and their eyes had a wild and ferocious expression. "A torn blanket, or an ill-fashioned dirty linen jacket, is the general costume of these Indians; a triangular piece of cloth passes around the loins; the women vary in their apparel by merely wearing short petticoats, the original colors of which were not distinguishable from the various incrustations of dirt. Some of the young squaws were tolerably agreeable, and if well washed and dressed would not have been uninteresting; but the elder squaws wore the air of misery and debasement. "The garrison is composed of a detachment from the Royal regiment of Cuba, with some _black_ troops; who together form a respectable force. The fort and bastions are built of the same material as the houses of the town, _coquina_. This marine substance is superior to stone, not being liable to splinter from the effects of bombardment; it receives and imbeds the shot, which adds rather than detracts from its strength and security. "The houses and the rear of the town are intersected and covered with orange groves; their golden fruit and deep green foliage, not only render the air agreeable, but beautify the appearance of this interesting little town, in the centre of which (the square) rises a large structure dedicated to the Catholic religion. At the upper end are the remains of a very considerable house, the former residence of the governor of this settlement; but now (1817), in a state of dilapidation and decay, from age and inattention. "At the southern extremity of the town, stands a large building, formerly a monastery of Carthusian Friars, but now occupied as a barrack for the troops of the garrison. At a little distance are four stacks of chimnies, the sole remains of a beautiful range of barracks, built during the occupancy of the British, from 1763 to 1783; for three years the 29th regiment was stationed there, and in that time they did not lose a single man. The proverbial salubrity of the climate, has obtained for St. Augustine the designation of the Montpelier of Forth America; indeed, such is the general character of the Province of East Florida. "The governor (Copinger), is about forty-five years of age, of active and vigorous mind, anxious to promote by every means in his power the prosperity of the province confided to his command; his urbanity and other amiable qualities render him accessible to the meanest individual, and justice is sure to follow an appeal to his decision. His military talents are well known, and appreciated by his sovereign; and he now holds, in addition to the government of East Florida, the rank of Colonel in the Royal Regiment of Cuba. "The clergy consist of the _padre_ (priest of the parish), Father Cosby, a native of Wexford, in Ireland; a Franciscan friar, the chaplain to the garrison, and an inferior or curè. The social qualities of the _padre_, and the general tolerance of his feelings, render him an acceptable visitor to all his flock. The judge, treasurer, collector, and notary, are the principal officers of the establishment, besides a number of those devoted solely to the military occupations of the garrison. The whole of this society is extremely courteous to strangers; they form one family, and those little jealousies and animosities, so disgraceful to our small English communities, do not sully their meetings of friendly chit-chat, called as in Spain, _turtulias_. The women are deservedly celebrated for their charms; their lovely black eyes have a vast deal of expression; their complexions a clear brunette; much attention is paid to the arrangement of their hair; at mass they are always well dressed in black silk _basquinas_ (petticoats), with the little _mantilla_ (black lace veil) over their heads; the men in their military costumes; good order and temperance are their characteristic virtues; but the vice of gambling too often profanes their social haunts, from which even the fair sex are not excluded. Two days following our arrival, a ball was given by some of the inhabitants, to which I was invited. The elder couples opened it with minuets, succeeded by the younger couples displaying their handsome light figures in Spanish dances."[40] The old inhabitants still speak in terms of fond regret of the place when embowered in its orange groves, and the pleasantness of its old customs and usages. Dancing formed one of their most common amusements, as it does now. The posey dance, now become obsolete, was then of almost daily occurrence, and was introduced in the following manner: The females of the family erect in a room of their house a neat little arbor, dressed with pots and garlands of flowers, and lit up brightly with candles. This is understood by the gentleman as an invitation to drop in and admire the beauty of their decorations. In the mean time, the lady who has prepared it, selects a partner from among her visitors, and in token of her preference, honors him with a bouquet of flowers. The gentleman who receives the bouquet becomes then, for the nonce, king of the ball, and leads out the fair donor as queen of the dance; the others take partners, and the hall is thus inaugurated, and may continue several successive evenings. Should the lady's choice fall upon an unwilling swain, which seldom happened, he could be excused by assuming the expenses of the entertainment. These assemblies were always informal, and frequented by all classes, all meeting on a level; but were conducted with the utmost politeness and decorum, for which the Spanish character is so distinguished. The carnival amusements are still kept up to some extent, but with little of the taste and wit which formerly characterised them, and without which they degenerate into mere buffoonery. The graceful Spanish dance, so well suited in its slow and regular movements to the inhabitants of a warm climate, has always retained the preference with the natives of the place, who dance it with that native grace and elegance of movement which seems easy and natural for every one, but is seldom equaled by the Anglo-Saxon. CHAPTER XVII. TRANSFER OF FLORIDA TO THE UNITED STATES--AMERICAN OCCUPATION--ANCIENT BUILDINGS, ETC. On the 10th day of July, in the year 1821, the standard of Spain, which had been raised two hundred and fifty-six years before over St. Augustine, was finally lowered forever from the walls over which it had so long fluttered, and the stars and stripes of the youngest of nations rose where, sooner or later, the hand of destiny would assuredly have placed them. It was intended that the change of flags should have taken place on the 4th of July; owing to a detention, this was frustrated; but the inhabitants celebrated the 4th with a handsome public ball at the governor's house. The Spanish garrison, and officers connected with it, returned to Cuba, and some of the Spanish families; but the larger portion of the inhabitants remained. A considerable influx of inhabitants from the adjoining States took place, and the town speedily assumed a somewhat American character. The proportion of American population since the change of flags, has been about one-third. Most of the native inhabitants converse with equal fluency in either language. In the year 1823 the legislative council of Florida held its second session in the government house at St. Augustine. Governor W.P. Duval was the first governor after the organization of the territory. The Ralph Ringwood Sketches of Irving have given a wide celebrity to the character of our worthy and original first governor, now recently deceased. During the month of February, 1835, East Florida was visited by a frost much more severe than any before experienced. A severe northwest wind blew ten days in succession, but more violently for about three days. During this period, the mercury sunk to seven degrees above zero. The St. Johns river was frozen several rods from the shore. All kinds of fruit trees were killed to the ground; many of them never started again, even from the roots. The wild groves suffered equally with those cultivated. The orange had become the staple of Florida commerce; several millions were exported from the St. Johns and St. Augustine during the two previous years. Numerous groves had just been planted out, and extensive nurseries could hardly supply the demand for young trees. Some of the groves had, during the previous autumn, brought to their owners, one, two, and three thousand dollars; and the increasing demand for this fruit, opened in prospect mines of wealth to the inhabitants. "Then came a frost, a withering frost." Some of the orange groves in East Florida were estimated at from five to ten thousand dollars, and even more. They were at once rendered valueless. The larger part of the population at St. Augustine had been accustomed to depend on the produce of their little groves of eight or ten trees, to purchase their coffee, sugar, and other necessaries from the stores; they were left without resource. "The town of St. Augustine, that heretofore appeared like a rustic village, their white houses peeping from among the clustered boughs and golden fruit of their favorite tree, beneath whose shade the foreign invalid cooled his fevered limbs, and imbibed health from the fragrant air,--how was she fallen! Dry, unsightly poles, with ragged bark, stick up around her dwellings; and where the mocking-bird once delighted to build her nest, and tune her lovely songs, owls hoot at night, and sterile winds whistle through the leafless branches. Never was a place rendered more desolate."[41] The groves were at once replanted, and soon bid fair to yield most abundantly; when, in 1842, an insect was introduced into the country, called the _orange coccus_, which spread over the whole country with wonderful rapidity, and almost totally destroyed every tree it fastened upon. Of late, the ravages of this insect seem less destructive, and the groves have begun to resume their bearing; these add to the beauty of the residences at St. Augustine with their glossy, deep-green leaves, and golden fruit; and hopes of an entire restoration are now confidently entertained. In December, 1835, the war with the Seminole Indians broke out; and for some years St. Augustine was full of the pomp and circumstance of war. It was dangerous to venture beyond the gates; and many sad scenes of Indian massacre took place in the neighborhood of the city. During this period, great apparent prosperity prevailed; property was valuable, rents were high; speculators projected one city on the north of the town, and another on the west; a canal to the St. Johns, and also a railroad to Picolata; and great hopes of future prosperity were entertained. With the cessation of the war, the importance of St. Augustine diminished; younger communities took the lead of it, aided by superior advantages of location, and greater enterprise, and St. Augustine has subsided into the pleasant, quiet, _dolce far niente_ of to-day, living upon, its old memories, contented, peaceful, and agreeable, and likely to remain without much change for the future. Of the public buildings, it may be remarked that the extensive British barracks were destroyed by fire in 1792; and that the Franciscan Convent was occupied as it had been before, as barracks for the troops not in garrison in the fort. The appearance of these buildings has been much changed by the extensive repairs and alterations made by the United States government. It had formerly a large circular look-out upon the top, from which a beautiful view of the surrounding country was obtained. Its walls are probably the oldest foundations in the city. The present United States Court-house, now occupied by many public offices, was the residence of the Spanish governors. It has been rebuilt by the United States; and its former quaint and interesting appearance has been lost, in removing its look-out tower, and balconies, and the handsome gateway, mentioned by De Brahm, which is said to have been a fine specimen of Doric architecture.[42] Trinity Episcopal Church was commenced in 1827, and consecrated in 1833, by Bishop Bowen, of South Carolina. The Presbyterian Church was built about 1830, and the Methodist chapel about 1846. The venerable-looking building on the bay, at the corner of Green lane and Bay street, is considered the oldest building in the place, and has evidently been a fine building in its day. It was the residence of the attorney-general, in English times. The monument on the public square was erected in 1812-13, upon the information of the adoption of the Spanish constitution, as a memorial of that event, in pursuance of a royal order to that effect, directed to the public authorities of all the provincial towns. Geronimo Alvarez was the Alcalde under whose direction it was erected. The plan of it was made by Sr. Hernandez, the father of the late General Hernandez. A short time after it was put up, the Spanish constitution having had a downfall, orders were issued by the government that all the monuments erected to the constitution throughout its dominions, should be demolished. The citizens of St. Augustine were unwilling to see their monument torn down; and with the passive acquiescence of the governor, the marble tablets inscribed PLAZA DE LA CONSTITUCION being removed, the monument itself was allowed to stand; and thus it remains to this day, the only monument in existence to commemorate the farce of the constitution of 1812. In 1818, the tablets were restored without objection. The bridge and causeway are the work of the government of the United States. The present sea-wall was built between 1835 and 1842, by the United States, at an expense of one hundred thousand dollars. CHAPTER XVIII. PRESENT APPEARANCE OF ST. AUGUSTINE, AS GIVEN BY THE AUTHOR OF THANATOPSIS--ITS CLIMATE AND SALUBRITY. St. Augustine has now attained, for this side of the Atlantic, a period of most respectable antiquity. In a country like America, where States are ushered into existence in the full development of maturity, where large cities rise like magic from the rude forest, where the "oldest inhabitant" recollects the cutting down of the lofty elms which shadowed the wigwam of the red man, perchance on some spot now in the heart of a great city; an antiquity of three centuries would be esteemed as almost reaching back (compared with modern growth) to the days of the Pharaohs. The larger number of early settlements were unsuitably located, and were forced to be abandoned on account of their unhealthiness; but the Spanish settlement at St. Augustine has remained for near three hundred years where it was originally planted; and the health of its inhabitants has, for this long period, given it a deserved reputation for salubrity and exemption from disease, attributable to locality or extraneous influences or causes. The great age attained by its inhabitants was remarked by De Brahm; the number and healthfulness of the children that throng its streets, attract now, as they did then, the attention of strangers. This salubrity is easily accounted for, by the almost insular position of the city, upon a narrow neck of land nearly surrounded by salt water; the main shore, a high and healthy pine forest and sandy plains, so near the ocean as to be fanned by its constant breezes, and within the sound of its echoing waves; a situation combining more local advantages for salubrity could hardly be imagined. While it will never probably increase to any great extent in population, it will hardly be likely to decrease. Its health, easy means of support, unambitious class of inhabitants, with their strong attachments and family and local ties, will contribute to maintain St. Augustine as the time-honored ancient city, with its permanent population, and its visitors for health, for centuries perhaps yet to come. I cannot perhaps better conclude these historic notices than by giving the impressions of the author of Thanatopsis,[43] one whose poetic fame will endure as long as American literature exists. Writing from St. Augustine in April, 1843, he says: "At length we emerged upon a shrubby plain, and finally came in sight of this oldest city of the United States, seated among its trees on a sandy swell of land, where it has stood for three hundred years. I was struck with its ancient and homely aspect, even at a distance, and could not help likening it to pictures which I had seen of Dutch towns, though it wanted a wind-mill or two to make the resemblance perfect. We drove into a green square, in the midst of which was a monument erected to commemorate the Spanish constitution of 1812, and thence through the narrow streets of the city to our hotel. "I have called the streets narrow. In few places are they wide enough to allow two carriages to pass abreast. I was told that they were not originally intended for carriages; and that in the time when the town belonged to Spain, many of them were floored with an artificial stone, composed of shells and mortar, which in this climate takes and keeps the hardness of rock; and that no other vehicle than a hand-barrow was allowed to pass over them. In some places you see remnants of this ancient pavement; but for the most part it has been ground into dust under the wheels of the carts and carriages introduced by the new inhabitants. The old houses, built of a kind of stone which is seemingly a pure concretion of small shells, overhang the streets with their wooden balconies; and the gardens between the houses are fenced on the side of the street with high walls of stone. Peeping over these walls you see branches of the pomegranate, and of the orange-tree now fragrant with flowers, and rising yet higher, the leaning boughs of the fig with its broad luxuriant leaves. Occasionally you pass the ruins of houses--walls of stone with arches and stair-cases of the same material, which once belonged to stately dwellings. You meet in the streets with men of swarthy complexions and foreign physiognomy, and you hear them speaking to each other in a strange language. You are told that these are the remains of those who inhabited the country under the Spanish dominion, and that the dialect you have heard is that of the island of Minorca. "'Twelve years ago,' said an acquaintance of mine, 'when I first visited St. Augustine, it was a fine old Spanish town. A large proportion of the houses which you now see roofed like barns, were then flat-roofed; they were all of shell rock, and these modern wooden buildings were then not erected. That old fort which they are now repairing, to fit it for receiving a garrison, was a sort of ruin, for the outworks had partly fallen, and it stood unoccupied by the military, a venerable monument of the Spanish dominion. But the orange-groves were the wealth and ornament of St. Augustine, and their produce maintained the inhabitants in comfort. Orange-trees of the size and height of the pear-tree, often rising higher than the roofs of the houses, embowered the town in perpetual verdure. They stood so close in the groves that they excluded the sun; and the atmosphere was at all times aromatic with their leaves and fruit, and in spring the fragrance of the flowers was almost oppressive.' "The old fort of St. Mark, now called Fort Marion--a foolish change of name--is a noble work, frowning over the Mantanzas, which flows between St. Augustine and the island of Anastasia; and it is worth making a long journey to see. No record remains of its original construction; but it is supposed to have been erected about a hundred and fifty years since,[44] and the shell rock of which it is built is dark with time. We saw where it had been struck with cannon balls, which, instead of splitting the rock, became imbedded and clogged among the loosened fragments of shell. This rock is therefore one of the best materials for fortification in the world. We were taken into the ancient prisons of the fort-dungeons, one of which was dimly lighted by a grated window, and another entirely without light; and by the flame of a torch we were shown the half obliterated inscriptions scrawled on the walls long ago by prisoners. But in another corner of the fort, we were taken to look at the secret cells, which were discovered a few years since in consequence of the sinking of the earth over a narrow apartment between them. These cells are deep under ground, vaulted over-head, and without windows. In one of them a wooden machine was found, which some supposed might have been a rack, and in the other a quantity of human bones. The doors of these cells had been walled up and concealed with stucco, before the fort passed into the hands of the Americans. "You cannot be in St. Augustine a day without hearing some of its inhabitants speak of its agreeable climate. During the sixteen days of my residence here, the weather has certainly been as delightful as I could imagine. We have the temperature of early June as June is known in New York. The mornings are sometimes a little sultry; but after two or three hours a fresh breeze comes in from the sea sweeping through the broad piazzas, and breathing in at the windows. At this season it comes laden with the fragrance of the flowers of the Pride of India, and sometimes of the orange tree, and sometimes brings the scent of roses, now in bloom. The nights are gratefully cool; and I have been told by a person who has lived here many years, that there are very few nights in summer when you can sleep without a blanket. "An acquaintance of mine, an invalid, who has tried various climates, and has kept up a kind of running fight with death for many years, retreating from country to country as he pursued, declares to me that the winter climate of St. Augustine is to be preferred to that of any part of Europe, even that of Sicily, and that it is better than the climate of the West Indies. He finds it genial and equable, at the same time that it is not enfeebling. The summer heats are prevented from being intense by the sea-breeze, of which I have spoken. I have looked over the work of Dr. Forry on the climate of the United States, and have been surprised to see the uniformity of climate which he ascribes to Key West. As appears by the observations he has collected, the seasons at that place glide into each other by the softest gradations; and the heat never, even in midsummer, reaches that extreme which is felt in the higher latitudes of the American continent. The climate of Florida is, in fact, an insular climate: the Atlantic on the east, and the Gulf of Mexico on the west, temper the airs that blow over it, making them cooler in summer and warmer in winter. I do not wonder, therefore, that it is so much the resort of invalids; it would be more so if the softness of its atmosphere, and the beauty and serenity of its seasons were generally known. Nor should it be supposed that accommodations for persons in delicate health are wanting; they are, in fact, becoming better with every year, as the demand for them increases. Among the acquaintances whom I have made here, I remember many who having come hither for the benefit of their health, are detained for life by the amenity of the climate. 'It seems to me,' said an intelligent gentleman of this class, the other day, 'as if I could not exist out of Florida. When I go to the north, I feel most sensibly the severe extremes of the weather; the climate of Charleston itself appears harsh to me.' "The negroes of St. Augustine are a good-looking specimen of the race, and have the appearance of being very well treated. You rarely see a negro in ragged clothing; and the colored children, though slaves, are often dressed with great neatness. In the colored people whom I saw in the Catholic church, I remarked a more agreeable, open, and gentle physiognomy than I have been accustomed to see in that class. "Some old customs which the Minorcans brought with them from their native country, are still kept up. On the evening before Easter Sunday, about eleven o'clock, I heard the sound of a serenade in the streets. Going out, I found a party of young men with instruments of music, grouped about the window of one of the dwellings, singing a hymn in honor of the Virgin,[45] in the Mahonese dialect. They began, as I was told, with tapping on the shutter. An answering knock within had told them that their visit was welcome, and they immediately began the serenade. If no reply had been heard, they would have passed on to another dwelling. I give the hymn as it was kindly taken down for me in writing, by a native of St. Augustine. I presume this is the first time that it has been put in print; but I fear the copy has several corruptions, occasioned by the unskillfulness of the copyist. The letter _e_, which I have put in italics, represents the guttural French _e_, or, perhaps, more nearly the sound of the _u_ in the word but. The _sh_ of our language is represented by _sc_ followed by an _i_ or an _e_; the _g_, both hard and soft, has the same sound as in our language. "'Disciar_e_m lu dol Cantar_e_m aub' alagria Y n'arem a da Las pascuas a Maria O Maria! "'Sant Grabiel, Qui portaba la ambasciado Des nostro rey del cel, Estaran vos prenada Ya omitiada Tu o vais aqui surventa Fia del Dieu contenta Para fe lo que el vol Disciar_e_m lu dol, &c. "'Y a milla nit Pariguero vos regina A un Dieu infinit, Dintra una establina. Y a milla dia, Que los angles von cantant Pau y abondant De la gloria de Dieu sol Disciar_e_m lu dol, &c. "'Y a Libalam, Alla la terra santa Nus nat Jesus Aub' alagria tanta Infant petit Que tot lu mon salvaria Y ningu y bastaria Nu mes un Dieu tot sul Disciar_e_m lu dol, &c. "'Cuant de Orion lus Tres reys la stralla veran Dieu omnipotent Adora lo vingaran Un present inferan De mil _e_ncens y or A lu beneit seno Que conesce cual se vol Disciar_e_m lu dol, &c. "'Tot fu gayant Para cumple la prumas Y lu Esperit sant De un angel fau gramas Gran foc ences, Que crama lu curagia Dieu nos da lenguagia Para fe lo que Dieu vol Disciar_e_m lu dol, &c. "'Cuant trespasa De quest mon nostra Senora Al cel s' empugia Sun fil la matescia ora O! Emperadora Que del cel san eligida Lu rosa florida Me resplenden que un sol Disciar_e_m lu dol, &c. "'Y el tercer giorn Que Jesus resunta Dieu y Aboroma Que la mort triumfa De alli se balla Para perldra Lucife An tot a sen penda Que de nostro ser el sol Disciar_e_m lu dol, &c. "After this hymn, the following stanzas, soliciting the customary gift of cakes or eggs, are sung:-- "'Ce set que vam cantant, Regina celestial! Damos pan y alagria Y bonas festas tingan Y vos da sus bonas festas Danos dines de sus nous Sempre tar_e_m lus neans Uestas Para recibi un grapat de nes, Y el giorn de pascua florida Alagramos y giuntament As qui _e_s mort par dar nos vida Y via glorosiamente, A questa casa esta empedrada Bien halla que la empedro; San amo de aquesta casa Baldria duna un do Formagiado o empanada Cucutta a flao; Cual se val casa rue grada, Sol que no rue digas que no.' "The shutters are then opened by the people within, and a supply of cheese, cakes or other pastry, or eggs, is dropped into a bag carried by one of the party; who acknowledge the gift in the following lines, and then depart:-- "'Aquesta casa reta empedrada Empedrada de cuatro vens; Sun amo de aquesta casa Es omo de compliment.' "If nothing is given, the last line reads thus:-- "'No es homo de compliment.'" CHAPTER XIX. ST. AUGUSTINE IN ITS OLD AGE.--1565-1868. Three hundred and three years have now passed over the walls of this venerable city. Ten generations of men and women have passed away since this ancient city had an existence and a name. One can look back to 1565 and picture to the mind the galleons of Spain anchored off its harbor; see the gallant Adelantado Menendez, clad in mail, preceded by the standards of Spain, and followed by his men at arms, his bowmen and his cavaliers, taking possession of the country in the name of his sovereign. The waves roll in upon the same shores now as they did then; the green, grassy marshes and oyster-clad banks present to our eyes the same appearance as they did to theirs; the white sandy beach which received the impress of the iron-clad heel of the cavalier, now yields to the pressure of your foot; the rustling pines along the shore cast their pleasant shadows over you as they did over them, and perchance the same eager thoughts of gain pervade your breast as you pass beneath them, as filled the hearts and souls of those who long ago came seeking gold and wealth unmeasured upon those shores. Three hundred years ago, and St. Augustine stood the solitary settlement of the white race north of the Gulf of Mexico in all that great expanse which now boasts of its thirty-four States, its three hundred cities, and its thirty millions of people. Then the Province of Florida extended northward to the pole, and westward to the Pacific. At a later period, after the voyages of the French and English, its boundaries were limited to the shores of the Chesapeake and the Mississippi river, and were subsequently gradually contracted to their present limits, so that Florida once represented upon the maps all of the United States. The life of St. Augustine runs parallel with that of Spain. For a long period Spain was at the head of European monarchies; its rulers held sway over more vast possessions than had ever belonged to any single crown since the days of the Cæsars; wealth flowed into its coffers from the New World in boundless profusion, and corruption, venality and effeminacy followed in its train. The whole continent of America was claimed as its dominion. Its fleets anchored upon every shore for conquest or exploration, and its banners were unfurled by its generals, and the cross was planted by its priests, upon every headland. From all this grandeur and eminence the Spanish monarchy has been cast down. Driven from land to land, it has receded from the main land of America, and has exchanged its dominion over a continent to the islands of the sea, which it holds with a precarious grasp, and it now remains in a dry old age a fourth-rate power where once it stood foremost. The first planted of all the cities of the United States, St. Augustine, now ranks among the least. Ten years have been added to the longevity of the ancient city since the first publication of this work. Ten years do not make their mark upon the aged man as they do upon the youth launching forth into manhood, or as they do upon him who in the full measure of his matured strength is battling with life. On the nation at large, these ten years have left almost ineffaceable scars and bruises; ten years, the most important, the weightiest and the gravest of any since the throes of the great revolution which gave birth to the nation. This long sad period has left no mark upon its walls--grey and mouldy with the weight of years, and have scarcely added a tinge the more of age and sorrow--and yet the inner life of the old city has sustained a great shock. The system of servitude, which has now been swept away, was the sole dependence of many aged persons, of many poor widows and orphan children. Servants in St. Augustine were treated with paternal kindness; they had grown up in the family of the indulgent master, had been his play-mate in infancy, and rendered willing service. They had their holidays and their balls, and were ever found in the background at all festive gatherings, enjoying, upon a privileged footing, the pleasures of the hour, looking on and commenting with pride upon the graceful movements in the dance of their young mistresses, and anon whirling each other around to the music, in the corridors, with the unrestrained exuberance of their simple and unalloyed happiness. All this has passed away, their homes are broken up, the poor widow and the orphan children have been brought to want, the sound of music and dancing no longer resound in the old streets, the privileged house-maid and man-servant no longer do their easy tasks with cheerful song and merry laugh. The naval forces of the United States took possession of St. Augustine in 1862. Batteries had been mounted at the fort, and a small garrison of Confederate troops were in military occupation of the place, but too few in numbers to offer any resistance, and the city was surrendered by the civil authorities upon the demand of Captain Dupont. The 4th New Hampshire regiment first garrisoned the city. The old fort was brushed up and repaired, the earth-works strengthened, and barracks built on the platform. Occasionally reconnoitering parties of Confederates approached the town, and on one occasion a festive party of officers, who had gone out to Mr. Solanas, near Picolata, to attend a dance, were captured, with their music and ambulance, by Captain Dickinson, celebrated for many daring exploits. It was even believed that this daring partisan had ridden through the city at night in the guise of a Federal cavalry officer. On another occasion, the commanding officer of the garrison at St. Augustine was captured on the road from Jacksonville by a Confederate picket. The inhabitants, isolated from all means of obtaining supplies from without the lines, were reduced to great straits. The only condition upon which they were allowed to purchase, was the acceptance of an oath of loyalty. Sympathizing strongly with the South, they were placed in an unfortunate position, and many doubtless suffered greatly. At one period, those of the citizens who had relatives in the Confederate service were ordered to leave the city. Then ensued a scene which beggars description. Men, women and children were huddled on board a vessel, and, homeless and helpless, were carried along the coast and disembarked, shelterless, on the banks of the Nassau river, to make their way to food and shelter as best they could--hardships which hardly seemed called for by any military necessity. Many of the young men of the city went into the Confederate service and served through the war with distinction, but many fell victims on the battlefield, in the hospitals, or from exposure to the rigorous climate of Virginia and Tennessee, to which they were unaccustomed. To these misfortunes succeeded to all, sales and forcible deprivation of property, under the most rigorous construction of most rigorous laws--the unsettling of titles and the loss of mean have combined to lessen the ability of the people to do more than try to live, without much effort to improve their homes and the appearance of the city. Some changes have taken place in the suburbs of the city. Macariz, the site of the old Indian town, belonging to the late Judge Douglas, with its beautiful groves of forest trees, has been utterly destroyed; and a once pleasant cottage home, near the stockades, dear to the writer, cared for and embellished with many things pleasant to the eye, fragrant with the ever blooming roses and honeysuckles, has, under the rude hand of war, been utterly destroyed, with its library, its furniture, and all its pleasant surroundings. But while man's work has been to destroy, Nature has done much within these few years to restore one of its former sources of prosperity, the cultivation of the orange, which, having been at one period almost utterly destroyed by the cold, and then by the coccus insect, is now fast regaining its pristine vigor and productiveness, and promises in a few years to furnish to the city more permanent and abundant sources of prosperity than it has ever had. With the infusion of Northern energy and capital, much could be done to further the prosperity of the old city, by building up first-class hotels and boarding-houses for visitors during the winter, by rebuilding the Picolata railway, thus facilitating access to the city, and thus a means of support could be given to its inhabitants. I am sure that no one will feel otherwise than that its old age shall be tranquil and serene, and that its name may ever be associated with pleasant memories. [Illustration: decoration] * * * * * FOOTNOTES: [1] The fountain of youth is a very ancient fable; and the reader will be reminded of the amusing story of the accomplishment of this miracle, told in Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales, and of the marvelous effects produced by imbibing this celebrated spring water. [2] Barcia Ensayo, Cron. 66. [3] The galleon spoken of was Menendez's own flag ship, the El Pelayo, the largest vessel in his fleet, fitted out at his own expense, and which had brought four hundred men. He had put on board of her a lieutenant and some soldiers, besides fifteen Lutherans as prisoners, whom he was sending home to the Inquisition at Seville. The orders to his officers were to go as speedily as possible to the island of Hispaniola, to bring provisions and additional forces. Upon the passage, the Lutheran prisoners, with some Levantine sailors, rose upon the Spaniards, killed the commander, and carried the vessel into Denmark. Menendez was much chagrined when he ascertained the fate of his favorite galleon, a long period afterwards. [4] A low palm, bearing an oily berry. [5] Ternaux Compans. [6] Hakluyt. [7] Brevis Narratio. [8] W. Gilmore Simms, Esq. [9] Laudonnière says, "_joignant la montagne_." [10] Canaveral, where Ribault was wrecked, must have been some point north of Mosquito Inlet, and not the cape now bearing that name, as he could not have crossed Mosquito Inlet in his march to Matanzas. [11] Barcia, p. 87. [12] Barcia, p. 89. [13] Barcia, p. 89. [14] Barcia, p. 89. [15] Such was the understanding of those who then wrote in reference to the transaction, as Barcia admits. [16] Ensay. Cron. 110. [17] Ensayo: Cron. 115. [18] Pensacola Bay was also so called. [19] Ensayo: Cron. 133. [20] Ternaux Compans, p. 357. [21] This old chest, which remained in one of the western vaults of the fort, up to the late war, was broken up for relics, and is no longer there. [22] I do not find any account of this expedition and capture of St. Augustine in the Ensayo Cronologica. [23] Carroll's S. C., Vol. 1, p. 62. [24] Rivers' S. C. Hist. Coll. p. 143. Do. Appendix, 426. Carroll's Coll., 2d vol., 350. [25] There must be an error, of course, in this statement of an 82-gun ship entering St. Augustine, as the depth of water would never admit a vessel of over 300 tons: probably 82 should read 12 tons. G. R. F. [26] Carroll's Hist. Coll., vol. 2, p. 352. [27] Rivers' Hist. Sketches, S. C., app. 458. [28] State Papers of Georgia. Ga. Hist. Soc. [29] This statement is unsupported by either Spanish or English authority. The writer of the letter, through want of familiarity with their language, misunderstood his informants, in all probability, as to the extent of their loss. [30] MSS, in Geo. Hist. Soc. Library. [31] Monteano, MSS., Archives St. Augustine. [32] Monteano, MS. Letter of, 28th July, 1740. [33] Report upon Expedition to St. Augustine. Carroll's Coll. 2d vol., p. 354. [34] Carroll's Hist. Coll. S. C. p. 359. [35] De Brahm MS., p. 192. [36] Stork, p. 11. [37] Williams' Florida, p. 17. [38] Among the families remaining were the Fatios, Flemings, and a few others. [39] The old parish church was on St. George street, on west side of the street. [40] Voyage to Spanish Main. London, 1819. Page 116, _et seq._ [41] Williams' Florida, pp. 18, _et seq._ [42] It is said to have been taken down by the contractor, to form the foundation of his kitchen. [43] Bryant. [44] It is much more ancient. [45] This song is usually called the _Fromajardis_. 
37909	----	produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.) [Illustration: THE BOBBSEYS AND OTHERS WERE ROWED TO THE SHORE.] THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON THE DEEP BLUE SEA BY LAURA LEE HOPE AUTHOR OF "THE BOBBSEY TWINS," "THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES," "THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES," ETC. ILLUSTRATED NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS Made in the United States of America Copyright, 1918, by Grosset & Dunlap CONTENTS: CHAPTER I--ON THE RAFT CHAPTER II--TO THE RESCUE CHAPTER III--STRANGE NEWS CHAPTER IV--GETTING READY CHAPTER V--OFF FOR FLORIDA CHAPTER VI--IN A PIPE CHAPTER VII--THE SHARK CHAPTER VIII--THE FIGHT IN THE BOAT CHAPTER IX--IN ST. AUGUSTINE CHAPTER X--COUSIN JASPER'S STORY CHAPTER XI--THE MOTOR BOAT CHAPTER XII--THE DEEP BLUE SEA CHAPTER XIII--FLOSSIE'S DOLL CHAPTER XIV--FREDDIE'S FISH CHAPTER XV--"LAND HO!" CHAPTER XVI--UNDER THE PALMS CHAPTER XVII--A QUEER NEST CHAPTER XVIII--THE "SWALLOW" IS GONE CHAPTER XIX--AWAY AGAIN CHAPTER XX--ORANGE ISLAND CHAPTER XXI--LOOKING FOR JACK CHAPTER XXII--FOUND AT LAST CHAPTER I ON THE RAFT "Flossie! Flossie! Look at me! I'm having a steamboat ride! Oh, look!" "I am looking, Freddie Bobbsey!" "No, you're not! You're playing with your doll! Look at me splash, Flossie!" A little boy with blue eyes and light, curling hair was standing on a raft in the middle of a shallow pond of water left in a green meadow after a heavy rain. In his hand he held a long pole with which he was beating the water, making a shower of drops that sparkled in the sun. On the shore of the pond, not far away, and sitting under an apple tree, was a little girl with the same sort of light hair and blue eyes as those which made the little boy such a pretty picture. Both children were fat and chubby, and you would have needed but one look to tell that they were twins. "Now I'm going to sail away across the ocean!" cried Freddie Bobbsey, the little boy on the raft, which he and his sister Flossie had made that morning by piling a lot of old boards and fence rails together. "Don't you want to sail across the ocean, Flossie?" "I'm afraid I'll fall off!" answered Flossie, who was holding her doll off at arm's length to see how pretty her new blue dress looked. "I might fall in the water and get my feet wet." "Take off your shoes and stockings like I did, Flossie," said the little boy. "Is it very deep?" Flossie wanted to know, as she laid aside her doll. After all she could play with her doll any day, but it was not always that she could have a ride on a raft with Freddie. "No," answered the little blue-eyed boy. "It isn't deep at all. That is, I don't guess it is, but I didn't fall in yet." "I don't want to fall in," said Flossie. "Well, I won't let you," promised her brother, though how he was going to manage that he did not say. "I'll come back and get you on the steamboat," he went on, "and then I'll give you a ride all across the ocean," and he began pushing the raft, which he pretended was a steamboat, back toward the shore where his sister sat. Flossie was now taking off her shoes and stockings, which Freddie had done before he got on the raft; and it was a good thing, too, for the water splashed up over it as far as his ankles, and his shoes would surely have been wet had he kept them on. "Whoa, there! Stop!" cried Flossie, as she came down to the edge of the pond, after having placed her doll, in its new blue dress, safely in the shade under a big burdock plant. "Whoa, there, steamboat! Whoa!" "You mustn't say 'whoa' to a boat!" objected Freddie, as he pushed the raft close to the bank, so his sister could get on. "You only say 'whoa' to a horse or a pony." "Can't you say it to a goat?" demanded Flossie. "Yes, maybe you could say it to a goat," Freddie agreed, after thinking about it for a little while. "But you can't say it to a boat." "Well, I wanted you to stop, so you wouldn't bump into the shore," said the little girl. "That's why I said 'whoa.'" "But you mustn't say it to a boat, and this raft is the same as a boat," insisted Freddie. "What must I say, then, when I want it to stop?" Freddie thought about this for a moment or two while he paddled his bare foot in the water. Then he said: "Well, you could say 'Halt!' maybe." "Pooh! 'Halt' is what you say to soldiers," declared Flossie. "We said that when we had a snow fort, and played have a snowball fight in the winter. 'Halt' is only for soldiers." "Oh, well, come on and have a ride," went on Freddie. "I forget what you say when you want a boat to stop." "Oh, I know!" cried Flossie, clapping her hands. "What?" "You just blow a whistle. You don't say anything. You just go 'Toot! Toot!' and the boat stops." "All right," agreed Freddie, glad that this part was settled. "When you want this boat to stop, you just whistle." "I will," said Flossie. Then she stepped on the edge of the raft nearest the shore. The boards and rails tilted to one side. "Oh! Oh!" screamed the little girl. "It's sinking!" "No it isn't," Freddie said. "It always does that when you first get on. Come on out in the middle and it will be all right." "But it feels so--so funny on my toes!" said Flossie, with a little shiver. "It's tickly like." "That's the way it was with me at first," Freddie answered. "But I like it now." Flossie wiggled her little pink toes in the water that washed up over the top of the raft, and then she said: "Well, I--I guess I like it too, now. But it felt sort of--sort of--squiggily at first." "Squiggily" was a word Flossie and Freddie sometimes used when they didn't know else to say. The little girl moved over to the middle of the raft and Freddie began to push it out from shore. The rain-water pond was quite a large one, and was deep in places, but the children did not know this. When they were both in the center of the raft the water came only a little way over their feet. Indeed there were so many boards, planks and rails in the make-believe steamboat that it would easily have held more than the two smaller Bobbsey twins. For there was a double set of twins, as I shall very soon tell you. "Isn't this nice?" asked Freddie, as he pushed the pretend boat farther out toward the middle of the pond. "Awful nice--I like it," said Flossie. "I'm glad I helped you make this raft." "It's a steamboat," said Freddie. "It isn't a raft." "Well, steamboat, then," agreed Flossie. Then she suddenly went: "Toot! Toot!" "Here! what you blowin' the whistle now for?" asked Freddie. "We don't want to stop here, right in the middle of the ocean." "I--I was only just trying my whistle to see if it would toot," explained the little girl. "I don't want to stop now." Flossie walked around the middle of the raft, making the water splash with her bare feet, and Freddie kept on pushing it farther and farther from shore. Yet Flossie was not afraid. Perhaps she felt that Freddie would take care of her. The little Bobbsey twins were having lots of fun, pretending they were on a steamboat, when they heard some one shouting to them from the shore. "Hi there! Come and get us!" someone was calling to them. "Who is it?" asked Freddie. "It's Bert; and Nan is with him," answered Flossie, as she saw a larger boy and girl standing on the bank, near the tree under which she had left her doll. "I guess they want a ride. Is the raft big enough for them too, Freddie?" "Yes, I guess so," he answered. "You stop the steamboat, Flossie--and stop calling it a raft--and I'll go back and get them. We'll pretend they're passengers. Stop the boat!" "How can I stop the boat?" the little girl demanded. "Toot the whistle! Toot the whistle!" answered her brother. "Don't you 'member, Flossie Bobbsey?" "Oh," said Flossie. Then she went on: "Toot! Toot!" "Toot! Toot!" answered Freddie. He began pushing the other way on the pole and the raft started back toward the shore they had left. "What are you doing?" asked Bert Bobbsey, as the mass of boards and rails came closer to him. "What are you two playing?" "Steamboat," Freddie answered. "If you want us to stop for you, why, you've got to toot." "Toot what?" asked Bert. "Toot your whistle," Freddie replied. "This is a regular steamboat. Toot if you want me to stop." He kept on pushing with the pole until Bert, with a laugh, made the tooting sound as Flossie had done. Then Freddie let the raft stop near his older brother and sister. "Oh, Bert!" exclaimed Nan Bobbsey, "are you going to get on?" "Sure I am," he answered, as he began taking off his shoes and stockings. "It's big enough for the four of us. Where'd you get it, Freddie?" "It was partly made--I guess some of the boys from town must have started it. Flossie and I put more boards and rails on it, and we're having a ride." "I should say you were!" laughed Nan. "Come on," said Bert to his older sister, as he tossed his shoes over to where Flossie's and Freddie's were set on a flat stone. "I'll help you push, Freddie." Nan, who, like Bert, had dark hair and brown eyes, began to take off her shoes and stockings, and soon all four of them were on the raft--or steamboat, as Freddie called it. Now you have met the two sets of the Bobbsey twins--two pairs of them as it were. Flossie and Freddie, the light-haired and blue-eyed ones, were the younger set, and Bert and Nan, whose hair was a dark brown, matching their eyes, were the older. "This is a dandy raft--I mean steamboat," said Bert, quickly changing the word as he saw Freddie looking at him. "It holds the four of us easy." Indeed the mass of boards, planks and rails from the fence did not sink very deep in the water even with all the Bobbsey twins on it. Of course, if they had worn shoes and stockings they would have been wet, for now the water came up over the ankles of all of them. But it was a warm summer day, and going barefoot especially while wading in the pond, was fun. Bert and Freddie pushed the raft about with long poles, and Flossie and Nan stood together in the middle watching the boys and making believe they were passengers taking a voyage across the ocean. Back and forth across the pond went the raft-steamboat when, all of a sudden, it stopped with a jerk in the middle of the stretch of water. "Oh!" cried Flossie, catching hold of Nan to keep herself from falling. "Oh, what's the matter?" "Are we sinking?" asked Nan. "No, we're only stuck in the mud," Bert answered. "You just stay there, Flossie and Nan, and you, too, Freddie, and I'll jump off and push the boat out of the mud. It's just stuck, that's all." "Oh, don't jump in--it's deep!" cried Nan. But she was too late. Bert, quickly rolling his trousers up as far as they would go, had leaped off the raft, making a big splash of water. CHAPTER II TO THE RESCUE "Bert! Bert! You'll be drowned!" cried Flossie, as she clung to Nan in the middle of the raft. "Come back, you'll be drowned!" "Oh, I'm all right," Bert answered, for he felt himself quite a big boy beside Freddie. "Are you sure, Bert, it isn't too deep?" asked Nan. "Look! It doesn't come up to my knees, hardly," Bert said, as he waded around to the side of the raft, having jumped off one end to give it a push to get it loose from the bank of mud on which it had run aground. And, really, the water was not very deep where Bert had leaped in. Some water had splashed on his short trousers, but he did not mind that, as they were the old ones his mother made him put on in which to play. "Maybe we can get loose without your pushing us," said Freddie, as he moved about on the raft, tilting it a little, first this way and then the other. Once before that day, when on the "boat" alone, it had become stuck on a hidden bank of mud, and the little twin had managed to get it loose himself. "No, I guess it's stuck fast," Bert said, as he pushed on the mass of boards without being able to send them adrift. "I'll have to shove good and hard, and maybe you'll have to get in here and help me, Freddie." "Oh, yes, I can do that!" the little fellow said. "I'll come and help you now, Bert." "No, you mustn't," ordered Nan, who felt that she had to be a little mother to the smaller twins. "Don't go!" "Why not?" Freddie wanted to know. "Because it's too deep for you," answered Nan. "The water is only up to Bert's knees, but it will be over yours, and you'll get your clothes all wet. You stay here!" "But I want to help Bert push the steamboat loose!" "I guess I can do it alone," Bert said. "Wait until I get around to the front end. I'll push it off backward." He waded around the raft, which it really was, though the Bobbsey twins pretended it was a steamboat, and then, reaching the front, or what would be the bow if the raft had really been a boat, Bert got ready to push. "Push, Bert!" yelled Freddie. But a strange thing happened. Suddenly a queer look came over Bert's face. He made a quick grab for the side of the raft and then he sank down so that the water came over his knees, wetting his trousers. "Oh, Bert! what's the matter?" cried Nan. "I--I'm sinking in the mud!" gasped Bert. "Oh, I can't get my feet loose! I'm stuck! Maybe I'm in a quicksand and I'll never get loose! Holler for somebody! Holler loud!" And the other three Bobbsey twins "hollered," as loudly as they could. "Mother! Mother!" cried Nan. "Come and get Bert!" added Freddie. "Oh, Dinah! Dinah!" screamed Flossie, for the fat, good-natured colored cook had so often rescued Flossie that the little girl thought she would be the very best person, now, to come to Bert's aid. "Oh, I'm sinking away down deep!" cried the brown-eyed boy, as he tried to lift first one foot and then the other. But they were both stuck in the mud under the water, and Bert, afraid of sinking so deep that he would never get out, clung to the side of the raft with all his might. "Oh, you're making us sink. You're making us sink!" screamed Nan. Indeed, the raft was tipping to one side and the other children had all they could do to keep from sliding into the pond. "Oh, somebody come and help me!" called Bert. And then a welcome voice answered: "I'm coming! I'm coming!" So, while some one is coming to the rescue, I will take just a few moments to tell my new readers something about the children who are to have adventures in this story. Those of you who have read the other books of the series will remember that in the first volume, called "The Bobbsey Twins," I told you of Flossie and Freddie, and Bert and Nan Bobbsey, who lived with their father and mother in the eastern city of Lakeport, near Lake Metoka. Mr. Richard Bobbsey owned a large lumberyard, where the children were wont often to play. As I have mentioned, Flossie and Freddie, with their light hair and blue eyes, were one set of twins--the younger--while Nan and Bert, who were just the opposite, being dark, were the older twins. The children had many good times, about some of which I have told you in the first book. Dinah Johnson, the fat, jolly cook, always saw to it that the twins had plenty to eat, and her husband, Sam, who worked about the place, made many a toy for the children, or mended those they broke. Almost as a part of the family, as it were, I might mention Snap, the trick dog, and Snoop, the cat. The children were very fond of these pets. After having had much fun, as related in my first book, the Bobbsey twins went to the country, where Uncle Daniel Bobbsey had a big farm at Meadow Brook. Later, as you will find in the third volume, they went to visit Uncle William Minturn at the seashore. Of course, along with their good times, the children had to go to school, and you will find one of the books telling what they did there, and the fun they had. From school the Bobbsey twins went to Snow Lodge, and then they spent some time on a houseboat and later again went to Meadow Brook for a jolly stay in the woods and fields near the farm. "And now suppose we stay at home for a while," Mr. Bobbsey had said, after coming back from Meadow Brook. At first the twins thought they wouldn't like this very much, but they did, and they had as much fun and almost as many adventures as before. After that they spent some time in a great city and then they got ready for some wonderful adventures on Blueberry Island. Those adventures you will find told about in the book just before this one you are now reading. The twins spent the summer on the island, and many things happened to them, to their goat and dog, and to a queer boy. Freddie lost some of his "go-around" bugs, and there is something in the book about a cave,--but I know you would rather read it for yourself than have me tell you here. Now to get back to the children on the raft, or rather, to Flossie, Freddie and Nan, who are on that, while Bert is in the water, and stuck in the mud. "Oh, come quick! Come quick!" he cried. "I can't get loose!" "I'm coming!" answered the voice, and it was that of Mrs. Bobbsey. She had been in the kitchen, telling Dinah what to get for dinner, when she heard the children shouting from down in the meadow, where the big pond of rain water was. "I hope none of them has fallen in!" said Mrs. Bobbsey as she ran out of the door, after hearing Bert's shout. "Good land ob massy! I hopes so mahse'f!" gasped fat Dinah, and she, too, started for the pond. But, as she was very fat, she could not run as fast as could Mrs. Bobbsey. "I 'clar' to goodness I hopes none ob 'em has falled in de watah!" murmured Dinah. "Dat's whut I hopes!" Mrs. Bobbsey reached the edge of the pond. She saw three of the twins on the raft. For the moment she could not see Bert. "Where is Bert?" she cried. "Here I am, Mother!" he answered. Then Mrs. Bobbsey saw him standing in the water, which was now well over his knees. He was holding to the edge of the raft. "Oh, Bert Bobbsey!" his mother called. "What are you doing there? Come right out this instant! Why, you are all wet! Oh, my dear!" "I can't come out, Mother," said Bert, who was not so frightened, now that he saw help at hand. "You can't come out? Why not?" "'Cause I'm stuck in the mud--or maybe it's quicksand. I'm sinking in the quicksand. Or I would sink if I didn't keep hold of the raft. I dassn't let go!" "Oh, my!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "What shall I do?" "Can't you pull him out?" asked Nan. "We tried, but we can't." They had done this--she and Flossie and Freddie. But Bert's feet were too tightly held in the sticky mud, or whatever it was underneath the water. "Wait! I'll come and get you," said Mrs. Bobbsey. She was just about to wade out to get Bert, shoes, skirts and all, when along came puffing, fat Dinah, and, just ahead of her, her husband, Sam. "What's the mattah, Mrs. Bobbsey?" asked the colored man, who did odd jobs around the Bobbsey home. "It's Bert! He's fast in the mud!" answered Mrs. Bobbsey. "Oh, Sam, please hurry and get him out!" "Yas'am, I'll do dat!" cried Sam. He did not seem to be frightened. Perhaps he knew that the pond was not very deep where Bert was, and that the boy could not sink down much farther. Sam had been washing the automobile with the hose, and when he did this he always wore his rubber boots. He had them on now, and so he could easily wade out into the pond without getting wet. So out Sam waded, half running in fact, and splashing the water all about. But he did not mind that. As did Dinah, he loved the Bobbsey twins--all four of them--and he did not want anything to happen to them. "Jest you stand right fast, Bert!" said the colored man. "I'll have yo' out ob dere in 'bout two jerks ob a lamb's tail! Dat's what I will!" Bert did not know just how long it took to jerk a lamb's tail twice, even if a lamb had been there. But it did not take Sam very long to reach the small boy. "Now den, heah we go!" cried Sam. Standing beside the raft, the colored man put his arms around Bert and lifted him. Or rather, he tried to lift him, for the truth of the matter was that Bert was stuck deeper in the mud than any one knew. "Now, heah we go, _suah!_" cried Sam, as he took a tighter hold and lifted harder. And then with a jerk, Bert came loose and up out of the water he was lifted, his feet and legs dripping with black mud, some of which splashed on Sam and on the other twins. "Oh, what a sight you are!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "Oh, but good land of massy! Ain't yo' all thankful he ain't all _drown?_" asked Dinah. "Indeed I am," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Come on away from there, all of you. Get off the raft! I'm afraid it's too dangerous to play that game. And, Bert, you must get washed! Oh, how dirty you are!" Sam carried Bert to shore, and Nan helped Freddie push the raft to the edge of the pond. And then along came Mr. Bobbsey from his lumberyard. "Well, well!" exclaimed the father of the Bobbsey twins. "What has happened?" "We had a raft," explained Freddie. "And I had to toot the whistle when I wanted it to stop," added Flossie. "We were having a nice ride," said Nan. "Yes, but what happened to Bert?" asked his father, looking at his muddy son, who truly was a "sight." "Well, the raft got stuck," Bert answered, "and I got off to push it loose. Then I got stuck. It was awful sticky mud. I didn't know there was any so sticky in the whole world! First I thought it was quicksand. But I held on and then Sam came and got me out. I--I guess I got my pants a little muddy," he said. "I guess you did," agreed his father, and his eyes twinkled as they always did when he wanted to laugh but did not feel that it would be just the right thing to do. "You are wet and muddy. But get up to the house and put on dry things. Then I have something to tell you." "Something to tell us?" echoed Nan. "Oh, Daddy! are we going away again?" "Well, I'm not sure about that part--yet," replied Mr. Bobbsey. "But I have strange news for you." CHAPTER III STRANGE NEWS Bert and Nan Bobbsey looked at one another. They were a little older than Flossie and Freddie, and they saw that something must have happened to make their father come home from the lumber office so early, for on most days he did not come until dinner time. And here it was scarcely eleven o'clock yet, and Dinah was only getting ready to cook the dinner. "Is it bad news?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey of her husband. "Well, part of it is bad," he said. "But no one is hurt, or killed or anything like that." "Tell us now!" begged Bert. "Tell us the strange news, Daddy!" "Oh, I couldn't think of it while you look the way you do," said Mr. Bobbsey. "First get washed nice and clean, and put on dry clothes. Then you'll be ready for the news." "I'll hurry," promised Bert, as he ran toward the house, followed by Snap, the trick dog that had once been in a circus. Snap had come out of the barn, where he stayed a good part of the time. He wanted to see what all the noise was about when Bert had called as he found himself stuck in the mud. "Are you sure no one is hurt?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey of her husband. "Are Uncle Daniel and Aunt Sarah all right?" "Oh, yes, of course." "And Uncle William and Aunt Emily?" "Yes, they're all right, too. My news is about my cousin, Jasper Dent. You don't know him very well; but I did, when I was a boy," went on Mr Bobbsey. "There is a little bad news about him. He has been hurt and is now ill in a hospital, but he is getting well." "And is the strange news about him?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, as she walked on, with Flossie, Freddie and Nan following. "Yes, about Cousin Jasper," replied Mr. Bobbsey. "But don't get worried, even if we should have to go on a voyage." "On a voyage?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey in surprise. "Yes," and Mr. Bobbsey smiled. "Do you mean in a real ship, like we played our raft was?" asked Freddie. "Yes, my little fireman!" laughed Mr. Bobbsey, catching the little bare-footed boy up in his arms. Often Freddie was called little "fireman," for he had a toy fire engine, and he was very fond of squirting water through the hose fastened to it--a real hose that sprinkled real water. Freddie was very fond of playing he was a fireman. "And will the ship go on the ocean?" asked Flossie. "Yes, my little fat fairy!" her father replied, as he caught her up and kissed her in turn. "If your mother thinks we ought to, after I tell the strange news about Cousin Jasper, we may all take a trip on the deep blue sea." "Oh, what fun!" cried Freddie. "I hope we can go soon," murmured Nan. "But Bert mustn't get off the ship to push it; must he, Daddy?" asked Flossie. "No, indeed!" laughed her father, as he set her down in the grass. "If he does the water will come up more than above his knees. But now please don't ask me any more questions until I can sit down after dinner and tell you the whole story." The children thought the dinner never would be finished, and Bert, who had put on dry clothes, tried to hurry through with his food. "Bert, my dear, you must not eat so fast," remonstrated his mother, as she saw him hurrying. "Bert is eating like a regular steam engine," came from Flossie. At this Nan burst out laughing. "Flossie, did you ever see an engine eat?" she asked. "Well, I don't care! You know what I mean," returned the little girl. "Course engines eat!" cried Freddie. "Don't they eat piles of coal?" he went on triumphantly. "Well, not an auto engine," said Nan. "Yes, that eats up gasolene," said Bert. But they were all in a hurry to listen to what their father might have to say, and so wasted no further time in argument. And when the rice pudding was brought in Nan said: "Dinner is over now, Daddy, for this is the dessert, and when you're in a hurry to go back to the office you don't wait for that. So can't we hear the strange news now?" "Yes, I guess so," answered her father, and he drew from his pocket a letter. "This came this morning," he said, "and I thought it best to come right home and tell you about it," he said to his wife. "The letter is from my Cousin Jasper. When we were boys we lived in the same town. Jasper was always fond of the ocean, and often said, when he grew up, he would make a long voyage." "Freddie and I were having a voyage on a raft to-day," said Flossie. "And we had fun until Bert fell in." "I didn't fall in--I jumped in and I got stuck in the mud," put in Bert. "Don't interrupt, dears, if you want to hear Daddy's news," said Mrs. Bobbsey, and her husband, after looking at the letter, as if to make sure about what he was talking, went on. "Cousin Jasper Dent did become a sailor, when he grew up. But he sailed more on steamboats than on ships with sails that have to be blown by the wind. Many things happened to him, so he has told me in letters that he has written, for I have not seen him very often, of late years. And now the strangest of all has happened, so he tells me here." "What is it?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "Well, he has been shipwrecked, for one thing." "And was he cast away on a desert island, like Robinson Crusoe?" asked Bert, who was old enough to read that wonderful book. "Well, that's what I don't know," went on Mr. Bobbsey. "Cousin Jasper does not write all that happened to him. He says he has been shipwrecked and has had many adventures, and he wants me to come to him so that he may tell me more." "Where is he?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "In a hospital in St. Augustine, Florida," was the answer. "Oh, Florida!" exclaimed Flossie. "That's where the cocoanuts grow; isn't it, Daddy?" "Well, maybe a few grow there, but I guess you are thinking of oranges," her father answered with a smile. "Lots of oranges grow in Florida." "And are we going there?" asked Bert. "That's what I want to talk to your mother about," went on Mr. Bobbsey. "Cousin Jasper doesn't say just what happened to him, nor why he is so anxious to see me. But he wants me to come down to Florida to see him." "It would be a nice trip if we could go, and take the children," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Though, I suppose, this is hardly the time of year to go to such a place." "Oh, it is always nice in Florida," her husband said, "though of course when it is winter here it seems nicer there because it is so warm, and the flowers are in blossom." "And do the oranges grow then?" asked Freddie. "I guess so," his father said. "At any rate it is now early spring here, and even in Florida, where it is warmer than it is up North where we live, I think it will not be too hot for us. Besides, I don't believe Cousin Jasper intends to stay in Florida, or have us stay there." "Why not?" Mrs. Bobbsey asked. "Well, in his letter he says, after he has told me the strange news, he hopes I will go on a voyage with him to search for some one who is lost." "Some one lost!" replied Nan. "What does he mean, Daddy?" "That's what I don't know. I guess Cousin Jasper was too ill to write all he wanted to, and he would rather see me and tell me. So I came to ask if you would like to go to Florida," and Mr. Bobbsey looked at his wife and smiled. "Oh, yes! Let's go!" begged Bert. "And pick oranges!" added Flossie. "Please say you'll go, Mother!" cried Nan. "Please do!" "I want to go in big steamboat!" fairly shouted Freddie. "And I'll take my fire engine with me and put out the fire!" "Oh, children dear, do be quiet one little minute and let me think," begged Mrs. Bobbsey. "Let me see the letter, dear," she said to her husband. Mr. Bobbsey handed his wife the sheets of paper, and she read them carefully. "Well, they don't tell very much," she said as she folded them and handed them back. "Still your cousin does say something strange happened when he was shipwrecked, wherever that was. I think you had better go and see him, if you can leave the lumberyard, Dick." "Oh, yes, the lumber business will be all right," said Mr. Bobbsey, whom his wife called Dick. "And would you like to go with me?" he asked his wife. "And take the children?" "Yes, we could take them. A sail on the ocean would do them good, I think. They have been shut up pretty much all winter." "Will we go on a sailboat?" asked Bert. "No, I hardly think so. They are too slow. If we go we will, very likely, go on a steamer," Mr. Bobbsey said. "Oh, goody!" cried Freddie, while Mrs. Bobbsey smiled her consent. "Well, then, I'll call it settled," went on the twins' father, "and I'll write Cousin Jasper that we're coming to hear his strange news, though why he couldn't put it in his letter I can't see. But maybe he had a good reason. Now I'll go back to the office and see about getting ready for a trip on the deep, blue sea. And I wonder----" Just then, out in the yard, a loud noise sounded. Snap, the big dog, could be heard barking, and a child's voice cried: "No, you can't have it! You can't have it! Oh, Nan! Bert! Make your dog go 'way!" Mr. Bobbsey, pushing back his chair so hard that it fell over, rushed from the room. CHAPTER IV GETTING READY "Oh, dear!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey, "I wonder what has happened now!" "Maybe Snap is barking at a tramp," suggested Bert. "I'll go and see." "It can't be a tramp!" Nan spoke with scorn. "That sounded like a little girl crying." "It surely did," Mrs. Bobbsey said. "Wait a minute, Bert. Don't go out just yet." "But I want to see what it is, Mother!" and Bert paused, half way to the door, out of which Mr. Bobbsey had hurried a few seconds before. "Your father will do whatever needs to be done," said Bert's mother. "Perhaps it may be a strange dog, fighting with Snap, and you might get bitten." "Snap wouldn't bite me." "Nor me!" put in Nan. "No, but the strange dog might. Wait a minute." Flossie and Freddie had also started to leave the room to go out into the yard and see what was going on, but when they heard their mother speak about a strange dog they went back to their chairs by the table. Then, from the yard, came cries of: "Make him give her back to me, Mr. Bobbsey! Please make Snap give her back to me!" "Oh, that's Helen Porter!" cried Nan, as she heard the voice of a child. "It's Helen, and Snap must have taken something she had." "I see!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey, looking out the door. "It's Helen's doll. Snap has it in his mouth and he's running with it down to the end of the yard." "Has Snap really got Helen's doll?" asked Flossie. "Yes," answered her mother. "Though why he took it I don't know." "Well, if it's only Snap, and no other dog is there, can't I go out and see?" asked Bert. "Snap won't hurt me." "No, I don't believe he will," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Yes, you may all go out. I hope Snap hasn't hurt Helen." Helen Porter was a little girl who lived next door to the Bobbsey twins, and those of you who have the book about camping on Blueberry Island will remember her as the child who, at first, was thought to have been taken away by the Gypsies. "Oh, Helen! What is the matter, my dear?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, as she hurried out into the yard, followed by Bert, Nan, Flossie and Freddie. "Did Snap bite you?" asked Nan, looking toward her father, who was running after the dog that was carrying the little girl's doll in his mouth. "No, Snap didn't bite me! But he bit my doll!" Helen answered. "It doesn't hurt dolls to bite 'em," said Bert, with a laugh. "It does so!" cried Helen, turning her tear-filled eyes on him. "It makes all their sawdust come out!" "So it does, my dear," said Mrs. Bobbsey kindly. "But we'll hope that Snap won't bite your doll as hard as that. If he does I'll sew up the holes to keep the sawdust in. But how did he come to do it?" "I--I guess maybe he liked the cookie my doll had," explained Helen, who was about as old as Flossie. "Did your doll have a cookie?" asked Nan. "Yes. I was playing she was a rich lady doll," went on the little girl from next door, "and she was taking a basket of cookies to a poor doll lady. Course I didn't have a whole basket of cookies," explained Helen. "I had only one, but I made believe it was a whole basket full." "How did you give it to your doll to carry?" asked Nan, for she had often played games this way herself, making believe different things. "How did your doll carry the cookie, Helen?" "She didn't carry it," was the answer. "I tied it to her with a piece of string so she wouldn't lose it. The cookie was tied fast around her waist." "Oh, then I see what happened," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Snap came up to you, and he smelled the cookie on your doll; didn't he?" "Yes'm," answered Helen. "And he must have thought you meant the cookie for him," went on Nan's mother. "And he tried to take it in his mouth; didn't he?" "Yes'm," Helen answered again. "And when he couldn't get the cookie loose, because you had it tied fast to your doll, he took the cookie, doll and all. That's how it was," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Never mind, Helen. Don't cry. Here comes Mr. Bobbsey now, with your doll." "But I guess Snap has the cookie," said Bert with a laugh. "I'll get you another one from Dinah," promised Nan to Helen. In the meantime Mr. Bobbsey had run down to the lower end of the yard after Snap, the big dog. "Come here, Snap, you rascal!" he cried. "Come here this minute!" But for once Snap did not mind. He was rather hungry, and perhaps that accounted for his disobedience. Instead of coming up he ran out of sight behind the little toolhouse. Mr. Bobbsey went after him, but by the time he reached the spot Snap was nowhere to be seen. "Snap! Snap!" he called out loudly. "Come here, I tell you! Where are you hiding?" Of course, the dog could not answer the question that had been put to him, and neither did he show himself. That is, not at first. But presently, as Mr. Bobbsey looked first in one corner of the toolhouse and then in another, he saw the tip end of Snap's tail waving slightly from behind a big barrel. "Ah, so there you are!" he called out, and then pushed the barrel to one side. There was Snap, and in front of him lay the doll with a short string attached to it. Whatever had been tied to the other end of the string was now missing. "Snap, you're getting to be a bad dog!" said Mr. Bobbsey sternly. "Give me that doll this instant!" The dog made no movement to keep the doll, but simply licked his mouth with his long, red tongue, as if he was still enjoying what he had eaten. "If you don't behave yourself after this I'll have to tie you up, Snap," warned Mr. Bobbsey. And then, acting as if he knew he had done wrong, the big dog slunk out of sight. "Here you are, Helen!" called Flossie's father, as he came back. "Here's your doll, all right, and she isn't hurt a bit. But the cookie is inside of Snap." "Did he like it?" Helen wanted to know. "He seemed to--very much," answered Mr. Bobbsey with a laugh. "He made about two bites of it, after he got it loose from the string by which you had tied it to the doll." Helen dried her tears on the backs of her hands, and took the doll which had been carried away by the dog. There were a few cookie crumbs sticking to her dress, and that was all that was left of the treat she had been taking to a make-believe poor lady. "Snap, what made you act so to Helen?" asked Bert, shaking his finger at his pet, when the dog came up from the end of the yard, wagging his tail. "Don't you know you were bad?" Snap did not seem to know anything of the kind. He kept on wagging his tail, and sniffed around Helen and her doll. "He's smelling to see if I've any more cookies," said the little girl. "I guess he is," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Well, come into the house, Helen, and I'll give you another cookie if you want it. But you had better not tie it to your doll, and go anywhere near Snap." "I will eat it myself," said the little girl. "One cookie a day is enough for Snap, anyhow," said Bert. The dog himself did not seem to think so, for he followed the children and Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey back to the house, as though hoping he would get another cake. "Heah's a bone fo' yo'," said Dinah to Snap, for she liked the big dog, and he liked her, I think, for he was in the kitchen as often as Dinah would allow him. Or perhaps it was the good things that the fat cook gave him which Snap liked. "When we heard you crying, out in the yard," said Mr. Bobbsey to Helen, as they were sitting in the dining-room, "we didn't know what had happened." "We were afraid it was another dog fighting with Snap," went on Nan. "Snap didn't fight me," Helen said. "But he scared me just like I was scared when the gypsy man took Mollie, my talking doll." I have told you about this in the Blueberry Island book, you remember. "Well, I must get back to the office," said Mr. Bobbsey, after a while. "From there I'll write and tell Cousin Jasper that I'll come to see him, and hear his strange story." "And we'll come too," added Bert with a laugh. "Don't forget us, Daddy." "I'll not," promised Mr. Bobbsey. The letter was sent to Mr. Dent, who was still in the hospital, and in a few days a letter came back, asking Mr. Bobbsey to come as soon as he could. "Bring the children, too," wrote Cousin Jasper. "They'll like it here, and if you will take a trip on the ocean with me they may like to come, also." "Does Cousin Jasper live on the ocean?" asked Flossie, for she called Mr. Dent "cousin" as she heard her father and mother do, though, really, he was her second, or first cousin once removed. "Well, he doesn't exactly live on the ocean," said Mr. Bobbsey. "But he lives near it, and he often takes trips in boats, I think. He once told me he had a large motor boat." "What's a motor boat?" Freddie wanted to know. "It is one that has a motor in it, like a motor in an automobile, instead of a steam engine," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Big boats and ships, except those that sail, are moved by steam engines. But a motor boat has a gasolene motor, or engine, in it." "And are we going to ride in one?" asked Flossie. "Well, we'll see what Cousin Jasper wants us to do, and hear what his strange news is," answered her father. "Are we going from here to Florida in a motor boat?" Freddie demanded. "Well, not exactly, little fireman," his father replied with a laugh. "We'll go from here to New York in a train, and from New York to Florida in a steamboat. "After that we'll see what Cousin Jasper wants us to do. Maybe he will have another boat ready to take us on a nice voyage." "That'll be fun!" cried Freddie. "I hope we see a whale." "Well, I hope it doesn't bump into us," said Flossie. "Whales are awful big, aren't they, Daddy?" "Yes, they are quite large. But I hardly think we shall see any between here and Florida, though once in a while whales are sighted along the coast." "Are there any sharks?" Bert asked. "Oh, yes, there are plenty of sharks, some large and some small," his father answered. "But they can't hurt us, and the ship will steam right on past them in the ocean," he added, seeing that Flossie and Freddie looked a bit frightened when Bert spoke of the sharks. "I wonder what Cousin Jasper really wants of you," said Mrs. Bobbsey to her husband, when the children had gone out to play. "I don't know," he answered, "but we shall hear in a few days. We'll start for Florida next week." And then the Bobbsey twins and their parents got ready for the trip. They were to have many strange adventures before they saw their home again. CHAPTER V OFF FOR FLORIDA There were many matters to be attended to at the Bobbsey home before the start could be made for Florida. Mr. Bobbsey had to leave some one in charge of his lumber business, and Mrs. Bobbsey had to plan for shutting up the house while the family were away. Sam and Dinah would go on a vacation while the others were in Florida, they said, and the pet animals, Snap and Snoop, would be taken care of by kind neighbors. "What are you doing, Freddie?" his mother asked him one day, when she heard him and Flossie hurrying about in the playroom, while Mrs. Bobbsey was sorting over clothes to take on the trip. "Oh, we're getting out some things we want to take," the little boy answered. "Our playthings, you know." "Can I take two of my dolls?" Flossie asked. "I think one will be enough," her mother said. "We can't carry much baggage, and if we go out on the deep blue sea in a motor boat we shall have very little room for any toys. Take only one doll, Flossie, and let that be a small one." "All right," Flossie answered. Mrs. Bobbsey paid little attention to the small twins for a while as she and Nan were busy packing. Bert had gone down to the lumberyard office on an errand for his father. Pretty soon there arose a cry in the playroom. "Mother, make Freddie stop!" exclaimed Flossie. "What are you doing, Freddie?" his mother called. "I'm not doing anything," he answered, as he often did when Flossie and he were having some little trouble. "He is too doing something!" Flossie went on. "He splashed a whole lot of water on my doll." "Well, it's a rubber doll and water won't hurt," Freddie answered. "Anyhow I didn't mean to." "There! He's doing it again!" cried Flossie. "Make him stop, Mother!" "Freddie, what _are_ you doing?" demanded Mrs. Bobbsey. "Nan," she went on in a lower voice, "you go and peep in. Perhaps Flossie is just too fussy." Before Nan could reach the playroom, which was down the hall from the room where Mrs. Bobbsey was sorting over the clothes in a large closet, Flossie cried again: "There! Now you got me all over wet!" "Oh, dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey, laying aside a pile of garments. "I suppose I'll have to go and see what they are doing!" Before she could reach the playroom, however, Nan came back along the hall. She was laughing, but trying to keep quiet about it, so Flossie and Freddie would not hear her. "What is it?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "What are they doing?" "Freddie is playing with his toy fire engine," Nan said. "And he must have squirted some water on Flossie, for she is wet." "Much?" "No, only a little." "Well, he mustn't do it," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I guess they are so excited about going to Florida that they really don't know what they are doing." Mrs. Bobbsey peered into the room where the two smaller twins had gone to play. Flossie was trying different dresses on a small rubber doll she had picked out to take with her. On the other side of the room was Freddie with his toy fire engine. It was one that could be wound up, and it had a small pump and a little hose that spurted out real water when a tank on the engine was filled. Freddie was very fond of playing fireman. "There, he's doing it again!" cried Flossie, just as her mother came in. "He's getting me all wet! Mother, make him stop!" Mrs. Bobbsey was just in time to see Freddie start his toy fire engine, and a little spray of water did shower over his twin sister. "Freddie, stop it!" cried his mother. "You know you mustn't do that!" "I can't help it," Freddie said. "Nonsense! You can't help it? Of course you can help squirting water on your sister!" "He can so!" pouted Flossie. "No, Mother! I can't, honest," said Freddie. "The hose of my fire engine leaks, and that makes the water squirt out on Flossie. I didn't mean to do it. I'm playing there's a big fire and I have to put it out. And the hose busts--just like it does at real fires--and everybody gets all wet. I didn't do it on purpose!" "Oh, I thought you did," said Flossie. "Well, if it's just make believe I don't mind. You can splash me some more, Freddie." "Oh, no he mustn't!" said Mrs. Bobbsey, trying not to laugh, though she wanted to very much. "It's all right to make believe you are putting out a fire, Freddie boy, but, after all, the water is really wet and Flossie is damp enough now. If you want to play you must fix your leaky hose." "All right, Mother, I will," promised the little boy. One corner of the room was his own special place to play with the toy fire engine. A piece of oil cloth had been spread down so water would not harm anything, and here Freddie had many good times. There really was a hole in the little rubber hose of his engine, and the water did come out where it was not supposed to. That was what made Flossie get wet, but it was not much. "And, anyhow, it didn't hurt her rubber doll," said Freddie. "No, she likes it," Flossie said. "And I like it too, Freddie, if it's only make believe fun." "Well, don't do it any more," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "You'll soon have water enough all around you, when you sail on the blue sea, and that ought to satisfy you. Mend the hole in your fire engine hose, Freddie dear." "All right, Mother," he answered. "Anyhow, I guess I'll play something else now. Toot! Toot! The fire's out!" he called, and Mrs. Bobbsey was glad of it. Freddie put away his engine, which he and Flossie had to do with all their toys when they were done playing with them, and then ran out to find Snap, the dog with which he wanted to have a race up and down the yard, throwing sticks for his pet to bring back to him. Flossie took her rubber doll and went over to Helen Porter's house, while Nan and Mrs. Bobbsey went back to the big closet to sort over the clothes, some of which would be taken on the Florida trip with them. "I'm going to take my fire engine with me," Freddie said, when he had come in after having had fun with Snap. "Do you mean on the ship?" asked Nan. "Yes; I'm going to take my little engine on the ship with me. But first I'm going to have the hose mended." "You won't need a fire engine on a ship," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Oh, I might," answered Freddie. "Sometimes ships get on fire, and you've got to put the fire out. I'll take it all right." "Well, we'll hope our ship doesn't catch fire," remarked his mother. When Mr. Bobbsey came home to supper that evening, and heard what had happened, he said there would be no room for Freddie's toy engine on the ship. [Illustration: THEY WENT ON BOARD THE SHIP.] "The trip we are going to take isn't like going to Meadow Brook, or to Uncle William's seashore home," said the father of the Bobbsey twins. "We can't take all the trunks and bags we would like to, for we shall have to stay in two small cabins, or staterooms, on the ship. And perhaps we shall have even less room when we get on the boat with Cousin Jasper--if we go on a boat. So we can't take fire engines and things like that." "But s'posin' the ship gets on fire?" asked Freddie. "We hope it won't," said Mr. Bobbsey. "But, if it does, there are pumps and engines already on board. They won't need yours, Freddie boy, though it is very nice of you to think of taking it." "Can't I take any toys?" "I think you won't really need them," his father said. "Once we get out on the ocean there will be so much to see that you will have enough to do without playing with the toys you use here at home. Leave everything here, I say. If you want toys we can get them in Florida, and perhaps such different ones that you will like them even better than your old ones." "Could I take my little rubber doll?" asked Flossie. "Yes, I think you might do that," her father said, with a smile at the little girl. "You can squeeze your rubber doll up smaller, if she takes up too much room." So it was arranged that way. At first Freddie felt sad about leaving his toy fire engine at home, but his father told him perhaps he might catch a fish at sea, and then Freddie began saving all the string he could find out of which to make a fish line. Finally the last trunk and valise had been packed. The railroad and steamship tickets had been bought, Sam and Dinah got ready to go and stay with friends, Snap and Snoop were sent away--not without a rather tearful parting on the part of Flossie and Freddie--and then the Bobbsey family was ready to start for Florida. They were to go to New York by train, and as nothing much happened during that part of the journey I will skip over it. I might say, though, that Freddie took from his pocket a ball of string, which he was going to use for his fishing, and the string fell into the aisle of the car. Then the conductor came along and his feet got tangled in the cord, dragging the ball boundingly after him halfway down the coach. "Hello! What's this?" the conductor cried, in surprise. "Oh, that's my fish line!" answered Freddie. "Well, you've caught something before you reached the sea," said the ticket-taker as he untangled the string from his feet, and all the other passengers laughed. After a pleasant ride the Bobbsey twins reached New York, and, after spending a night in a hotel, and going to a moving picture show, they went on board the ship the next morning. The ship was to take them down the coast to Florida, where Cousin Jasper was ill in a hospital, though Mr. Bobbsey had had a letter, just before leaving home, in which Mr. Dent said he was feeling much better. "All aboard! All aboard!" called an officer on the ship, when the Bobbseys had left their baggage in the stateroom where they were to stay during the trip. "All ashore that's going ashore!" "That means every one must get off who isn't going to Florida," said Bert, who had been on a ship once before with his father. Bells jingled, whistles blew, people hurried up and down the gangplank, or bridge from the dock to the boat, and at last the ship began to move. Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey were waving good-bye to friends on the pier, and Nan and Bert were looking at the big buildings of New York, when Mrs. Bobbsey turned, putting away the handkerchief she had been waving, and asked: "Where are Flossie and Freddie?" "Aren't they here?" asked Mr. Bobbsey quickly. "No," answered his wife. "Oh, where are they?" The two little Bobbsey twins were not in sight. CHAPTER VI IN A PIPE There was so much going on with the sailing of the ship--so many passengers hurrying to and fro, calling and waving good-bye, so much noise made by the jingling bells and the tooting whistles--that Mrs. Bobbsey could hardly hear her own voice as she called: "Flossie! Freddie! Where are you?" But the little twins did not answer, nor could they be seen on deck near Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey where they stood with Bert and Nan. "They were here a minute ago," said Bert. "I saw Flossie holding up her rubber doll to show her the Woolworth Building." This, as you know, is the highest building in New York, if not in the world. "But where is Flossie now?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, and there was a worried look on her face. "Maybe she went downstairs," said Mr. Bobbsey. "And where is Freddie?" asked his mother. "I saw him getting his ball of string ready to go fishing," laughed Bert. "I told him to put it away until we got out on the ocean. Then I saw a fat man lose his hat and run after it and I didn't watch Freddie any more." "Oh, don't laugh, Bert! Where can those children be?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "I told them not to go away, but to stay on deck near us, and now they've disappeared!" "Did they go ashore?" asked Nan. "Oh, Mother! if they did we'll have to stop the ship and go back after them!" "They didn't go ashore," said Bert. "They couldn't get there, because the gangplank was pulled in while Freddie was standing here by me, getting out his ball of string." "Then they're all right," Mr. Bobbsey said. "They are on board, and we'll soon find them. I'll ask some of the officers or the crew. The twins can't be lost." "Oh, but if they have fallen overboard!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey. "Don't worry," said her husband. "We'd have heard of it before this if anything like that had happened. They're all right." And so it proved. A little later Flossie and Freddie came walking along the deck hand in hand. Flossie was carrying her rubber doll, and Freddie had his ball of string, all ready to begin fishing as soon as the ship should get out of New York Harbor. "Where have you been?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "You children have given us such a fright! Where were you?" "We went to look at a poodle dog," explained Flossie. "A lady had him in a basket," added Freddie. "What do you mean--a poodle dog in a basket?" asked Bert. Then Freddie explained, while Mr. Bobbsey went to tell the steward, or one of the officers of the ship, that the lost children had come safely back. The smaller twins had seen one of the passengers with a pet dog in a blue silk-lined basket, and they had followed her around the deck to the other side of the ship, away from their parents, to get a better look at the poodle. It was a pretty and friendly little animal, and the children had been allowed to pat it. So they forgot what their mother had said to them about not going away. "Well, don't do it again," warned Mr. Bobbsey, and Flossie and Freddie said they would not. By this time the big ship was well on her way down New York Bay toward the Statue of Liberty, which the children looked at with wondering eyes. They took their last view of the tall buildings which cluster in the lower end of the island of Manhattan, and then they felt that they were really well started on their voyage. "Oh, I hope we have lots of fun in Florida!" said Nan. "I've always wanted to go there, _always_!" "So have I," Bert said. "But maybe we won't stay in Florida long." "Why not?" his sister asked. "Because didn't father say Cousin Jasper wanted us to take a trip with him?" "So he did," replied Nan. "I wonder where he is going." "That's part of the strange news he's going to tell," said Bert. "Anyhow we'll have a good time." "And maybe we'll get shipwrecked!" exclaimed Freddie, who, with his little sister Flossie, was listening to what the older Bobbsey twins were saying. "Shipwrecked!" cried Bert. "You wouldn't want that, would you?" "Maybe. If we could live on an island like Robinson Crusoe," Freddie answered, "that would be lots of fun." "Yes, but if we had to live on an island without anything to eat and no water to drink, that wouldn't be so much fun," said Nan. "If it was an island there'd be a lot of water all around it--that's what an island is," Flossie said. "I learned it in geogogafy at school. An island has water all around it, my geogogafy says." "Yes, but at sea the water is salty and you can't drink it," Bert said. "I don't want to be shipwrecked." "Well, maybe I don't want to, either," said Freddie, after thinking about it a little. "Anyhow we'll have some fun!" "Yes," agreed Bert, "I guess I will." "Now I'm going to fish," remarked Freddie. "You won't catch anything," Bert said. "Why not?" Freddie wanted to know, as he again took the ball of string from his pocket. "'Cause we're not out at sea yet," Bert replied. "This is only the bay, and fish don't come up here on account of too many ships that scare 'em away. You'll have to wait until we get out where the water is colored blue." "Do fish like blue water?" asked Flossie. "I guess so," answered Bert. "Anyhow, I don't s'pose you can catch any fish here, Freddie." However, the little Bobbsey twin boy had his own idea about that. He had been planning to catch some fish ever since he had heard about the trip to Florida. Freddie had been to the seashore several times, on visits to Ocean Cliff, where Uncle William Minturn lived. But this was the first time the small chap had been on a big ship. He knew that fish were caught in the sea, for he had seen the men come in with boatloads of them at Ocean Cliff. And he had caught fish himself at Blueberry Island. But that, he remembered, was not in the sea. "Come on, Flossie," said Freddie, when Bert and Nan had walked away down the deck. "Come on, I'm going to do it." "Do what, Freddie?" "I'm going to catch some fish. I've got my string all untangled now." "You haven't any fishhook," observed the little girl; "and you can't catch any fish lessen you have a hook." "I can make one out of a pin, and I've got a pin," answered Freddie. "I dassen't ever have a real hook, anyhow, all alone by myself, till I get bigger. But I can catch a fish on a pin-hook." He did have a pin fastened to his coat, and this pin he now bent into the shape of a hook and stuck it through a knot in the end of the long, dangling string. "Where are you going to fish?" asked Flossie. She and her brother were on the deck not far from the two staterooms of the Bobbsey family. Mrs. Bobbsey was sitting in a steamer chair near the door of her room, where she could watch the children. "I'm going to fish right here," Freddie said, pointing to the rail at the side of the ship. "I'm going to throw my line over here, with the hook on it, just like I fish off the bridge at home." "And I'll watch you," said Flossie. Over the railing Freddie tossed his bent-pin hook and line. He thought it would reach down to the water, but he did not know how large the boat was on which he was sailing to Florida. His little ball of string unwound as the end of it dropped over the rail, but the hook did not reach the water. Even if it had, Freddie could have caught nothing. In the first place a bent pin is not the right kind of hook, and, in the second place, Freddie had no bait on the hook. Bait is something that covers a hook and makes the fish want to bite on it. Then they are caught. But Freddie did not think of this just now, and his hook had nothing on it. Neither did it reach down to the water, and Freddie didn't know that. But, as his string was dangling over the side of the ship there came a sudden tug on it, and the little boy pulled up as hard as he could. "Oh, I've caught a fish! I've caught a fish!" he cried. "Flossie, look, I've caught a fish!" Of course Flossie could not see what was on the end of her brother's line, but it was something! She could easily tell that by the way Freddie was hauling in on the string. "Oh, what have you got?" cried the little girl. "I've got a big fish!" said Freddie. "I said I'd catch a fish, and I did!" From somewhere down below came shouts and cries. "What's that?" asked Flossie. "Them's the people hollering 'cause I caught such a big fish," answered Freddie. "Look, there it is!" Something large and black appeared above the edge of the rail. "Oh! Oh!" cried Flossie. Mrs. Bobbsey, from where she was sitting in her chair, heard the cries and came running over to the children. "What are you doing, Freddie?" she asked. "Catching a fish!" he answered. "I got one and----" The black thing on the end of his line was pulled over the rail and flapped to the deck. Flossie and Freddie stared at it with wide-open eyes. Then Flossie said: "Oh, what a funny fish!" And so it was, for it wasn't a fish at all, but a woman's big black hat, with feathers on it. Freddie's bent-pin hook had caught in the hat which was being worn by a woman standing near the rail on the deck below where the Bobbsey family had their rooms. And Freddie had pulled the hat right off the woman's head. "No wonder the lady yelled!" laughed Bert when he came to see what was happening to his smaller brother and sister. "You're a great fisherman, Freddie." "Well, next time I'll catch a real fish," declared the little boy. Bert carried the woman's hat down to her, and said Freddie was sorry for having caught it in mistake for a fish. The woman laughed heartily and said no harm had been done. "But I couldn't imagine what was pulling my hat off my head," she told her friends. "First I thought it was one of the seagulls." Freddie wound up his string, and said he would not fish any more until he could see where his hook went to, and his father told him he had better wait until they got to St. Augustine, where he could fish from the shore and see what he was catching. From the time they came on board until it was the hour to eat, the Bobbsey twins looked about the ship, seeing something new and wonderful on every side. They hardly wanted to go to bed when night came, but their mother said they must, as they would be about two days on the water, and they would have plenty of time to see everything. Bert, Freddie and their father had one stateroom and Mrs. Bobbsey and the two girls slept in the other, "next door," as you might say. The night passed quietly, the ship steaming along over the ocean, and down the coast to Florida. The next day the four children were up early to see everything there was to see. They found the ship now well out to sea, and out of sight of land. They were really on the deep ocean at last, and they liked it very much. Bert and Nan found some older children with whom to play, and Flossie and Freddie wandered off by themselves, promising not to go too far from Mrs. Bobbsey, who was on deck in her easy chair, reading. After a while Flossie came running back to her mother in great excitement. "Oh, Mother! Oh, Mother!" gasped the little girl. "He's gone!" "Who's gone?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, dropping her book as she quickly stood up. "Freddie's gone! We were playing hide-and-go-seek, and he went down a big pipe, and now I can't see him! He's gone!" CHAPTER VII THE SHARK Mrs. Bobbsey hardly knew what to do for a moment. She just stood and looked at Flossie as if she had not understood what the little girl had said. Then Freddie's mother spoke. "You say he went down a big pipe?" she asked. "Yes, Mother," answered Flossie. "We were playing hide-and-go-seek, and it was my turn to blind. I hollered 'ready or not I'm coming!' and when I opened my eyes to go to find Freddie, I saw him going down a big, round pipe." "What sort of pipe?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, thinking her little boy might have crawled in some place on deck to hide, and that to Flossie it looked like a pipe. "It was a pipe sticking up like a smokestack," Flossie went on, "and it was painted red inside." "Oh, you mean a ventilator pipe!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "If Freddie crawled down in one of those he'll have a dreadful fall! Flossie, call your father!" Flossie did not exactly know what a ventilator pipe was, but I'll tell you that it is a big iron thing, like a funnel, that lets fresh air from above down into the boiler room where the firemen have to stay to make steam to push the ship along. But, though Flossie did not quite know what a ventilator pipe was, she knew her mother was much frightened, or she would not have wanted Mr. Bobbsey to come. Flossie saw her father about halfway down the deck, talking to some other men, and, running up to him, she cried: "Freddie's down in a want-you-later pipe!" "A want-you-later pipe?" repeated Mr. Bobbsey. "What in the world do you mean, Flossie?" "Well, that's what mother said," went on the little girl. "Me and Freddie were playing hide-and-go-seek, and he hid down in a pipe painted red, and mother said it was a want-you-later. And she wants you now!" "A want-you-later pipe!" exclaimed one of the men. "Oh, she must mean a ventilator. It does sound like that to a little girl." "Yes, that's it," said Flossie. "And please come quick to mother, will you, Daddy?" Mr. Bobbsey set off on a run toward his wife, and some of the other men followed, one of them taking hold of Flossie's hand. "Oh, Dick!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey as her husband reached her, "something dreadful has happened! Freddie is down a ventilator pipe, and I don't know what to do!" Neither did Mr. Bobbsey for a moment or two, and as the men came crowding around him, one of them bringing up Flossie, a cry was heard, coming from one of the red-painted pipes not far away. It was not a loud cry, sounding in fact, as if the person calling were down in a cellar. "Come and get me out! Come and get me out!" the voice begged, and when Flossie heard it she said: "That's him! That's Freddie now. Oh, he's down in the pipe yet!" "Which pipe?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. Flossie pointed to a ventilator not far away. Mr. Bobbsey and the men ran toward it, and, as they reached it, they could hear, coming out of the big opening that was shaped somewhat like a funnel, a voice of a little boy, saying: "Come and get me out! I'm stuck!" Mr. Bobbsey put his head down inside the pipe and looked around. There he saw Freddie, doubled up into a little ball, trying to get himself loose. Flossie's brother was, indeed, stuck in the pipe, which was smaller below than it was at the opening--too small, in fact, to let the little boy slip through. So he was in no danger of falling. "Oh, Freddie! what made you get in there?" asked his father, as he reached in, and, after pulling and tugging a bit, managed to get him out. "What made you do it?" "I was hiding away from Flossie," answered the little fellow. "I crawled in the pipe, and then I waited for her to come and find me. She didn't know where I was." "Yes, I did so know where you went," declared Flossie. "I saw you crawl into the pipe, and I didn't peek, either. I just opened my eyes and I saw you go into the pipe, and I was scared and I ran and told mother." "Well, if you didn't peek it's all right," Freddie said. "It was a good place to hide. I waited and waited for you to come and find me and then I thought you were going to let me come on in home free, and I tried to get out. But I couldn't--I was stuck." "I should say you were!" laughed Mr. Bobbsey. He could laugh now, and so could Mrs. Bobbsey, though, at first, they were very much frightened, thinking Freddie might have been hurt. "Don't crawl in there again, little fireman," said one of the men with whom Mr. Bobbsey had been talking, and who knew the pet name of Flossie's brother. "This pipe wasn't big enough to let you fall through, but some of the ventilator pipes might be, and then you'd fall all the way through to the boiler room. Don't hide in any more pipes on the steamer." "I won't," Freddie promised, for he had been frightened when he found that he was stuck in the pipe and couldn't get out. "Come on, Flossie; it's your turn to hide now," he said. "I don't want to play hide-and-go-seek any more," the little girl said. "I'd rather play with my doll." "If I had my fire engine I'd play fireman," Freddie said, for he did not care much about a doll. "How would you like to go down to the engine room with me, and see where you might have fallen if the ventilator pipe hadn't been too small to let you through?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. "I'd like it," Freddie said. "I like engines." So his father took him away down into the hold, or lower part of the boat, and showed him where the firemen put coal on the fire. There Freddie saw ventilator pipes, like the one he had hid in, reaching from the boiler room up to the deck, so the firemen could breathe cool, fresh air. And there were also pipes like it in the engine room. Freddie watched the shining wheels go spinning round and he heard the hiss of steam as it turned the big propeller at the back of the ship, and pushed the vessel through the waters of the deep blue sea. "Now we'll go up on deck," said Mr. Bobbsey, when Freddie had seen all he cared to in the engine room. "It's cooler there." Freddie and his father found several women talking to Mrs. Bobbsey, who was telling them what had happened to her little boy, and Bert and Nan were also listening. "I wonder what Freddie will do next?" said Bert to his older sister. "First he catches a lady's hat for a fish, and then he nearly gets lost down a big pipe." "I hope he doesn't fall overboard," returned Nan. "So do I," agreed Bert. "And when we get on a smaller ship, if we go on a voyage with Cousin Jasper, we'll have to look after Flossie and Freddie, or they will surely fall into the water." "Are we really, truly going on a voyage with Cousin Jasper, do you think?" Nan asked. "Well, I heard father and mother talking about it, and they seemed to think maybe we'd take a trip on the ocean," went on Bert. "I hope we do!" exclaimed Nan. "I just love the water!" "So do I!" her brother said. "When I get big I'm going to have a ship of my own." "Will you take me for a sail?" asked Nan. "Course I will!" Bert quickly promised. The excitement caused by Freddie's hiding in the ventilator pipe soon passed, and then the Bobbsey family and the other passengers on the ship enjoyed the fine sail. The weather was clear and the sea was not rough, so nearly every one was out on deck. "I wonder if we'll see any shipwrecks," remarked Bert a little later, as the four Bobbsey twins were sitting in a shady place not far from Mrs. Bobbsey, who was reading her book. She had told the children to keep within her sight. "A shipwreck would be nice to see if nobody got drowned," observed Nan. "And maybe we could rescue some of the people!" "When there's a shipwreck," said Freddie, who seemed to have been thinking about it, "they have to get in the little boats, like this one," and he pointed to a lifeboat not far away. "That's an awful little boat to go on the big ocean in," said Flossie. "It's safe, though," Bert said. "It's got things in it to make it float, even if it's half full of water. It can't sink any more than our raft could sink." "Our raft nearly did sink," said Flossie. "No, it only got stuck on a mud bank," answered Bert. "I was the one that sank down in my bare feet," and he laughed as he remembered that time. "Well, anyhow, we had fun," said Freddie. "Oh, look!" suddenly cried Nan. "There's a small boat now--out there on the ocean. Maybe there's been a shipwreck, Bert!" Bert and the other Bobbsey twins looked at the object to which Nan pointed. Not far from the steamer was a small boat with three or four men in it, and they seemed to be in some sort of trouble. They were beating the water with oars and poles, and something near the boat was lashing about, making the waves turn into foam. "That isn't a shipwreck!" cried Bert. "That's a fisherman's boat!" "And something is after it!" said Nan. "Oh, Bert! maybe a whale is trying to sink the fisherman's boat!" By this time Mrs. Bobbsey and a number of other passengers were crowding to the rail, looking at the small boat. The men in it did, indeed, seem to be fighting off something in the water that was trying to damage their boat. "It's a big shark!" cried one of the steamship sailors. "The fishermen have caught a big shark and they're trying to kill it before it sinks their boat. Say, it's a great, big shark! Look at it lash the water into foam! Those men may be hurt!" "A shark! A shark!" cried the passengers, and from all over the ship they came running to where they could see what was happening to the small boat. CHAPTER VIII THE FIGHT IN THE BOAT When the Bobbsey twins first saw the small boat, and the fishermen in it trying to beat off the shark that was trying to get at them, the steamer was quite a little distance off. The big vessel, though, was headed toward the fishing boat and soon came close enough for the passengers to see plainly what was going on. That is, they could not see the shark very plainly, for it was mostly under water, but they could see a long, black shape, with big fins and a large tail, and the tail was lashing up and down, making foam on the waves. "Hi!" cried Freddie in great excitement. "That's better'n a shipwreck, isn't it?" "Almost as _bad_, I should say," remarked Mr. Bobbsey, who, with his wife and other passengers, stood near the rail with the children watching the ocean fight. "The captain ought to stop the ship and go to the rescue of those fishermen," said the man who had told Freddie not to get in the ventilator pipe again. "I guess the shark is bigger than those men thought when they tried to kill it." "Is that what they are trying to do?" asked Bert. "It looks so," replied his father. "Sometimes the fishermen catch a shark in their nets, and they kill it then, as sharks tear the nets, or eat up the fish in them. But I guess this is a larger shark than usual." "And is it going to sink the boat?" Nan wanted to know. "That I can't say," Mr. Bobbsey replied. "Perhaps the fishermen caught the shark on a big hook and line, and want to get it into the boat to bring it to shore. Or maybe the shark is tangled in their net and is trying to get loose. Perhaps it thinks the boat is a big whale, or other fish, and it wants to fight." "Whatever it is, those fishermen are having a hard time," said another passenger; and this seemed to be so, for, just as soon as the steamer came close enough to the small boat, some of the men in it waved their hands and shouted. All they said could not be heard, because of the noise made by the steamer, but a man near Mrs. Bobbsey said he heard the fisherman cry: "Come and help us!" "The captain ought to go to their help," said Flossie's mother. "It must be terrible to have to fight a big shark in a small boat." "I guess we are going to rescue them," observed Bert. "Hark! There goes the whistle! And that bell means stop the engines!" The blowing of a whistle and the ringing of a bell sounded even as he spoke, and the steamer began to move slowly. Then a mate, or one of the captain's helpers, came running along the deck with some sailors. They began to lower one of the lifeboats, and the Bobbsey twins and the other passengers watched them eagerly. Out on the sea, which, luckily, was not rough, the men in the small boat were still fighting the shark. "Are you going to help them?" asked Mr. Bobbsey of the mate who got into the boat with the sailors. "Yes, I guess they are in trouble with a big shark, or maybe there are two of them. We'll help them kill the big fish." When the mate and the sailors were in the boat it was let down over the side of the ship to the water by long ropes. Then the sailors rowed toward the fishermen. Anxiously the Bobbsey twins and the others watched to see what would happen. Over the waves went the rescuing boat, and when it got near enough the men in it, with long, sharp poles, with axes and with guns, began to help fight the shark. The waters foamed and bubbled, and the men in the boats shouted: "There goes one!" came a call after a while, and, for a moment, something long and black seemed to stick up into the air. "It's a shark!" cried Bert. "I can tell by his pointed nose. Lots of sharks have long, pointed noses, and that's one!" "Yes, I guess it is," his father said. "Then there must be two sharks," said Mrs. Bobbsey, "for the men are still fighting something in the water." "Yes, they certainly are," her husband replied. "The fishermen must have caught one shark, and its mate came to help in the fight. Look, the fishing boat nearly went over that time!" That really came near happening. One of the big fish, after it found that its mate had been killed, seemed to get desperate. It rushed at the fishermen's boat and struck it with its head, sending it far over on one side. Then the men from the steamer's boat fired some bullets from a gun into the second shark and killed it so that it sank. The waters grew quiet and the boats were no longer in danger. The mate and the sailors from the steamer stayed near the fishing boat a little while longer, the men talking among themselves, and then the sailors rowed back, and were hoisted upon deck in their craft. "Tell us what happened!" cried Mr. Bobbsey. "It was sharks," answered the mate. "The fishermen came out here to lift their lobster pots, which had drifted a long way from shore. While they were doing this one of them baited a big hook with a piece of pork and threw it overboard, for he had seen some sharks about. A shark bit on the hook and then rammed the boat. "Then another shark came along and both of them fought the fishermen, who might have been drowned if we had not helped them kill the sharks. But they are all right now--the fishermen, I mean--for the sharks are dead and on the bottom of the ocean by this time." "Were they big sharks?" asked Bert. "Quite large," the mate answered. "One was almost as long as the fishing boat, and they were both very ugly. It isn't often that such big sharks come up this far north, but I suppose they were hungry and that made them bold." "I'm glad I wasn't in that boat," said Nan. "Indeed we all may well be glad," Mrs. Bobbsey said. "Will those fishermen have to row all the way to shore?" asked Freddie, looking across the waters. No land was in sight. "No, they don't have to row," said the mate of the steamer. "They have a little gasolene engine in their boat, and the land is not so far away as it seems, only five or six miles. They can get in all right if no more sharks come after them, and I don't believe any will." The fishermen waved their hands to the passengers on the steamer, and the Bobbsey twins and the others waved back. "Good-bye!" shouted the children, as loudly as they could. Whether the others heard them or not was not certain, but they continued to wave their hands. It took some time to hoist the lifeboat up in its place on the steamer, and in this Freddie and the others were quite interested. "I'd like to own a boat like that myself," said the little boy. "What would you do with it?" questioned Flossie. "Oh, I'd have a whole lot of fun," was the ready answer. "Would you give me a ride?" "Of course I would!" At last the lifeboat was put in its proper place, and then the steamer started off again. The Bobbsey twins had plenty to talk about now, and so did the other passengers. It was not often they witnessed a rescue of that kind at sea, and Bert, who, like Freddie, had been hoping he might sight a shipwreck--that is, he wished it if no one would be drowned--was quite satisfied with the excitement of the sharks. "Only I wish they could have brought one over closer, so we could have seen how big it was," he said. "I don't," remarked Nan. "I don't like sharks." "Not even when they're dead and can't hurt you?" asked Bert. "Not even any time," Nan said. "I don't like sharks." "Neither do I," said Flossie. "Well, I'd like to see one if daddy would take hold of my hand," put in Freddie. "Then I wouldn't be afraid." "Maybe there'll be sharks when we get to Cousin Jasper's house," said Flossie. "His house isn't in the ocean, and sharks is only in the ocean," declared Freddie. "Well, maybe his house is _near_ the ocean," went on the little "fat fairy." "Cousin Jasper is in the hospital," Nan remarked; "and I guess they don't have any sharks there." "Maybe they have alligators," added Bert with a smile. "Really?" asked Nan. "Well, you know Florida is where they have lots of alligators," went on her older brother. "And we're going to Florida." "I don't like alligators any more than I like sharks," Nan said, with a little shivery sort of shake. "I just like dogs and cats and chickens." "And goats," said Flossie. "You like goats, don't you, Nan?" "Yes, I like the kind of a goat we had when we went to Blueberry Island," agreed Nan. "But look! What are the sailors doing?" She pointed to some of the men from the ship, who were going about the decks, picking up chairs and lashing fast, with ropes, things that might roll or slide about. "Maybe we're almost there, and we're getting ready to land," said Freddie. "No, we've got another night to stay on the ship," Bert said. "I'm going to ask one of the men." And he did, inquiring what the reason was for picking up the chairs and tying fast so many things. "The captain thinks we're going to run into a storm," answered the sailor, "and we're getting ready for it." "Will it be very bad?" asked Nan, who did not like storms. "Well, it's likely to be a hard one, little Miss," the sailor said. "We will soon be off Cape Hatteras, and the storms there are fierce sometimes. So we're making everything snug to get ready for the blow. But don't be afraid. This is a strong ship." However, as the Bobbsey twins saw the sailors making fast everything, and lashing loose awnings and ropes, and as they saw the sky beginning to get dark, though it was not yet night, they were all a little frightened. CHAPTER IX IN ST. AUGUSTINE The storm came up more quickly than even the captain or his sailors thought it would. The deep, blue sea, which had been such a pretty color when the sun shone on it, now turned to a dark green shade. The blue sky was covered by black and angry-looking clouds, and the wind seemed to moan as it hummed about the ship. But the steamer did not stop. On it rushed over the water, with foam in front, at the prow, or bow, and foam at the stern where the big propeller churned away. "Come, children!" called Mrs. Bobbsey to the twins, as they stood at the rail, looking first up at the gathering clouds and then down at the water, which was now quite rough. "Come! I think we had better go to our cabins." "Oh, let us stay up just a little longer," begged Bert. "I've never seen a storm at sea, and I want to." "Well, you and Nan may stay up on deck a little longer," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "But you must not go far away from daddy. I don't want any of you to fall overboard, especially when such big sharks may be in the ocean." "Oh, I'm not going to fall overboard!" exclaimed Bert. "Never!" "Nor I," added his sister. "I'll keep tight hold of the rail, and when it gets too rough we'll come down." Mr. Bobbsey and some of the men passengers were still on deck, watching the approach of the storm, and Bert and Nan moved over nearer their father, while Mrs. Bobbsey went below with Flossie and Freddie. The two smaller twins, when they found their older brother and sister were going to stay on deck, also wanted to do this, but their mother said to them: "No, it is safer for you to be down below with me. It may come on to blow hard at any moment, and then it won't be so easy to go down the stairs when the ship is standing on its head, or its ear, or whatever way ships stand in a storm." "But I want to see the storm!" complained Freddie. "You'll see all you want of it, and feel it, too, down in our stateroom, as well as up on deck, and you'll be much safer," his mother told him. The storm came up more and more quickly, and, though it was not yet four o'clock, it was as dark as it usually is at seven, for so many clouds covered the sky. The waves, too, began to get larger and larger and, pretty soon, the steamer, which had been going along smoothly, or with not more than a gentle roll from side to side, began pitching and tossing. "Oh, my! isn't it getting dark?" cried Flossie. "Say, it isn't time to go to bed yet, is it?" questioned Freddie anxiously. "Of course not!" answered his twin. "It's only about the middle of the afternoon, isn't it, Mother?" "Just about," answered Mrs. Bobbsey. In the meanwhile the others, who were still on deck, were having a decidedly lively time of it. "Come on, Nan and Bert!" called Mr. Bobbsey, to the older twins. "Better get below while you have the chance. It's getting too rough for children up here." "Are you coming too, Daddy?" asked Nan. "Yes, I'll go down with you. In fact, I think every one is going below except the sailors." This was so, for the mate was going about telling the passengers still on deck that it would be best for them to get to the shelter of the cabins and staterooms. Nan and Bert started to walk across the deck, and when they were almost at the stairs, or the "companionway" as it is called, that led to their rooms, the ship gave a lurch and roll, and Bert lost his balance. "Oh! Oh!" he cried, as he found himself sliding across the deck, which was tilted up almost like an old-fashioned cellar door, and Bert was rolling down it. "Oh, catch me, Dad!" Luckily he rolled in, and not out, or he would have rolled to the edge of the ship. Not that he could have gone overboard, for there was a railing and netting to stop that, but he would have been badly frightened if he had rolled near the edge, I think. "Look out!" cried Mr. Bobbsey, as he saw Bert sliding and slipping. "Look out, or you'll fall downstairs!" And that is just what happened. Bert rolled to the top of the companionway stairs, and right down them. Luckily he was a stout, chubby boy, and, as it happened, just then a sailor was coming up the stairs, and Bert rolled into him. The sailor was nearly knocked off his feet by the collision with Bert, but he managed to get hold of a rail and hold on. "My! My! What's this?" cried the sailor, when he got his breath, which Bert had partly knocked from him. "Is this a new way to come downstairs?" "I--I didn't mean to," Bert answered, as he managed to stand up and hold on to the man. "The ship turned upside down, I guess, and I rolled down here." "Well, as long as you're not hurt it's all right," said the sailor with a laugh. "It is certainly a rough storm. Better get below and stay there until it blows out." "Yes, sir, I'm getting," grinned Bert. "I think that is good advice," said Mr. Bobbsey to the sailor, with a smile, as he hurried after Bert, but not coming in the same fashion as his son. Nan had grabbed tightly hold of a rope and clung to it when the ship gave a lurch. She was not hurt, but her arms ached from holding on so tightly. After that one big roll and toss the steamer became steady for a little while, and Mr. Bobbsey and the two children made their way to the stateroom where Mrs. Bobbsey was sitting with Flossie and Freddie. "What happened?" asked Bert's mother, as she saw that he was rather "mussed up," from what had occurred. "Oh, I tried to come down the stairs head first," Bert answered with a laugh. "I don't like that way. I'm not going to do it again," and he told what had taken place. And then the storm burst with a shower of rain and a heavy wind that tossed and pitched the boat, and made many of the passengers wish they were safe on shore. The Bobbsey twins had often been on the water, when on visits to Uncle William at the seashore, as I have told you in that book, and they were not made ill by the pitching and tossing of the steamer. Still it was not much fun to stay below decks, which they and the others had to do all that night and most of the next day. It was too rough for any one to be out on deck, and even the sailors, used as they were to it, had trouble. One of them was nearly washed overboard, but his mates saved him. And one of the lifeboats--the same one in which the men had gone to save the fishermen from the sharks--was broken and torn away when a big wave hit it. "Is it always rough like this when you go past Cape Hatteras?" asked Bert of his father. "Very frequently, yes. You see Cape Hatteras is a point of land of North Carolina, sticking out into the ocean. In the ocean are currents of water, and when one rushes one way and one the other, and they come together, it makes a rough sea, especially when there is a strong wind, as there is now. We are in this rough part of the ocean, and in the midst of a storm, too. But we will soon be out of it." However, the steamer could not go so fast in the rough water as she could have traveled had it been smooth, and the wind, blowing against her, also held her back. So it was not until late on the second day that the storm passed away, or rather, until the ship got beyond it. Then the rain stopped, the sun came out from behind the clouds just before it was time to set, and the hard time was over. The sea was rough, and would be for another day, the sailors said. "And can we go on deck in the morning?" asked Bert, who did not like being shut up in the stateroom. "I guess so," his father answered. The next morning all was calm and peaceful, though the waves were larger than when the Bobbsey twins had left New York. Every one was glad that the storm had passed, and that nothing had happened to the steamer, except the loss of the one small boat. "Were those fishermen who fought the sharks out in all that blow in their small motor boat, Dad?" asked Bert. "Oh, no," his father told him. "They only go out from shore, take up their nets or lobster pots, and go quickly back again. Their boats are not made for staying out in all night. Though perhaps sometimes, in a fog, when they can't see to get back, they may be out a long time. But I don't believe they were out in this storm." It was peaceful traveling now, on the deep blue sea, which was a pretty color again, and the Bobbsey twins, leaning over the rail and looking at it, thought they had never come on such a fine voyage. "It's getting warmer," said Bert when they had eaten dinner and were once more on deck. "Yes, we are getting farther south, nearer to the equator, and it is always warm there," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Are we near Florida?" asked Nan. "Yes, we will be there this evening," her father told her. It was late in the afternoon when the steamer reached Jacksonville. As the arrival of the steamship had been delayed by the storm, the Bobbsey's were left no time to look about Jacksonville, but hurried at once to the railroad station, and there took the train that carried them to St. Augustine. It was about an hour before sunset when they got out of the train at this quaint, pretty old town. "Oh, what funny little streets!" cried Bert, as they started for their hotel where they were to stay until they could go to the hospital and see Cousin Jasper. "What little streets!" "Aren't they darling?" exclaimed Nan. "Yes, this is a very old city," said Mr. Bobbsey, "and some of the streets are no wider than they were made when they were laid out here over three hundred years ago." "Oh, is this city as old as that--three hundred years?" asked Nan, while Flossie and Freddie peered about at the strange sights. "Yes, and older," said Mr. Bobbsey. "St. Augustine is the oldest city in the United States. It was settled in 1565 by the Spaniards, and I suppose they built it like some of the Spanish cities they knew. That is why the streets are so narrow." And indeed the streets were very narrow. The one called St. George is only seventeen feet wide, and it is the principal street in St. Augustine. Just think of a street not much wider than a very big room. And Treasury street is even narrower, being so small that two people can stand and shake hands across it. Really, one might call it only an alley, and not a street. The Bobbseys saw many negroes about the streets, some driving little donkey carts, and others carrying fruit and other things in baskets on their heads. "Don't they ever fall off?" asked Freddie, as he watched one big, fat colored woman on whose head, covered with a bright, red handkerchief, or "bandanna," there was a large basket of fruit. "Don't they ever fall off?" "What do you mean fall off--their heads?" asked Bert with a smile. "No, I mean the things they carry," said Freddie. "Well, I guess they start in carrying things that way from the time they are children," said Mrs. Bobbsey, "and they learn to balance things on their heads as well as you children learn to balance yourselves on roller skates. I dare say the colored people here would find it as hard to roller skate as you would to carry a heavy load on your head." "Well, here we are at our hotel," said Mr. Bobbsey, as the automobile in which they had ridden up from the station came to a stop in front of a fine building. "Now we will get out and see what they have for supper." "And then will we go to Cousin Jasper and find out what his strange story is?" "I guess so," her father answered. "Say, this is a fine hotel!" exclaimed Bert as he and the others saw the beautiful palm and flower gardens, with fountains between them, in the courtyard of the place where they were to stop. "Oh, yes, St. Augustine has wonderful hotels," said his father. "This is a place where many rich people come to spend the winter that would be too cold for them in New York. Now come inside." [Illustration: THE SHIP GAVE A LURCH AND BURT LOST HIS BALANCE.] Into the beautiful hotel they went, and when Mr. Bobbsey was asking about their rooms, and seeing that the baggage was brought in, Mrs. Bobbsey glanced around to make sure the four twins were with her, for sometimes Flossie or Freddie strayed off. And that is what had happened this time. Freddie was not in sight. "Oh, where is that boy?" cried his mother. "I hope he hasn't crawled down another ventilator pipe!" "No'm," answered one of the hotel men. "He hasn't done that. I saw your little boy run back out of the front door a moment ago. But he'll be all right. Nothing can happen to him in St. Augustine." "Oh, but I must find him!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey. "Dick, Freddie is gone again!" she said to her husband. "We must find him at once!" and she hurried from the hotel. CHAPTER X COUSIN JASPER'S STORY Mr. Bobbsey, who had been talking to the clerk of the hotel at the desk, looked toward Mrs. Bobbsey, who was hurrying out the front door. "Wait a minute!" he called after her. "I'll come with you!" "No, you stay with the other children," she answered. "I'll find Freddie." "But you don't know your way about St. Augustine," said Mr. Bobbsey. "You've never been here before." "Neither have you," returned his wife with a laugh, for she was not very much alarmed about Freddie--he had slipped away too often before. "I can find my way about as well as you can, Dick," went on Mrs. Bobbsey. "You stay here and I'll get our little fat fireman." "Maybe he has gone to see a fire engine," suggested Nan. "I don't believe so," answered her father. "I didn't hear any alarm, but perhaps they don't sound one here as we do back in Lakeport." "I guess he's just gone out to look at the things in the streets here," said Bert. "They're a lot different from at home." "Indeed they are!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey. "Well, I'll stay here," he said to his wife, "and you go and look for Freddie. But if you don't soon find him come back and I'll go out." "I'll find him," she said, and one of the porters from the hotel offered to go with her to show Mrs. Bobbsey her way about the strange streets of St. Augustine--the little, narrow streets that had not been changed much in three hundred years. "Oh, what a lovely place this is," said Nan to Bert, while their father was talking with the hotel clerk. "It's like a palace." "It looks like some of the places you see in a moving picture," said Bert. And indeed the beautiful hotel, with the palms and flowers set all about, did look like some moving picture play. Only it was real, and the Bobbsey twins were to stay there until they had seen Cousin Jasper, and found out what his strange story was about. Soon after Mr. Bobbsey had finished signing his name and those of the members of his family in the hotel register book, Mrs. Bobbsey came back, leading Freddie by the hand. The little boy seemed to be all right, and he was smiling, while in one hand he held a ripe banana. "Where've you been, Freddie?" asked Flossie. "I was afraid you had gone back home." "Nope," Freddie answered, as he started to peel the banana. "I was seeing how they did it." "How who did what?" asked his father. "Carried the big baskets on their heads," Freddie answered, and by this time he had part of the skin off the yellow fruit, and was breaking off a piece for Flossie. Freddie always shared his good things with his little sister, and with Bert and Nan if there was enough. "What does he mean?" asked Bert of his mother. "Was he trying to carry something on his head?" "No," answered Mrs. Bobbsey with a laugh, "but he was following a big colored woman who had a basket of fruit on her head. I caught him halfway down the street in front of another hotel. He was walking after this woman, and he didn't hear me coming. I asked him what he was doing, and he said he was waiting to see it fall off." "What fall off?" asked Nan, coming up just then. "I thought maybe the basket would fall off her head," Freddie answered for himself. "It was an awful big basket, and it wibbled and wobbled like anything. I thought maybe it would fall, but it didn't," he added with a sigh, as though he had been cheated out of a lot of fun. "If it did had fallen," he went on, "I was going to pick up her bananas and oranges for her. That's why I kept walking after her." "Did she drop that banana?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, while several smiling persons gathered about the Bobbsey twins in the hotel lobby. "No, I bought this with a penny," Freddie answered. "The colored lady didn't drop any. But if her basket did had fallen from off her head I could have picked up the things, and then maybe she'd have given me a banana or an orange." "And when that didn't happen you had to go buy one yourself; did you?" asked Mr. Bobbsey with a laugh. "Well, that's too bad. But, after this, Freddie, don't go away by yourself. It's all right, at home, to run off and play in the fields or woods, for you know your way about. But here you are in a strange city, so you must stay with us." "Yes, sir," answered Freddie, like a good little boy. "I will, too," promised Flossie. The Bobbsey family was together once again, and when Flossie and Freddie had eaten the banana, and porters had taken charge of their baggage, they all went up to the rooms where they were to stay. "We don't know just how long we'll be here," said Mr. Bobbsey, as they were getting ready to go down to supper, as the children called it, or "dinner," as the more fashionable name has it. "Are we going out on the ocean again?" asked Nan. "Did you like it?" her father wanted to know. "Oh, lots!" she answered. "It was great!" declared Bert. "I want to see 'em catch some more sharks," Freddie said. "I like to see the blue water," added Flossie, who had got out a clean dress for her rubber doll. "Yes, the blue water is very pretty," remarked Mr. Bobbsey. "Well, we shall, very likely, sail on it again. I don't know just what Cousin Jasper wants to tell me, or what he wants me to do. But I think he is planning an ocean trip himself. I'll go to see him this evening, after we have eaten, and then I can tell you all about it." "May I come with you?" asked Bert. "Well, I think not this first trip," answered Mr. Bobbsey slowly. "I am going to the hospital where Cousin Jasper is ill, and he may not be able to see both of us. I'll take you later." "We can stay and watch the colored people carry things on their heads," put in Freddie. "That's lots of fun, and maybe some of 'em will drop off, and we can help pick 'em up, and they might give us an orange." "I guess I'd rather buy my oranges, and then I'll be sure to have what I want," said Bert with a laugh. "There are plenty of things you can look at while I'm at the hospital," said Mr. Bobbsey, and after the meal he inquired the way to the place where Cousin Jasper was getting well, while Mrs. Bobbsey took the children down to the docks, where they could see many motor boats, and fishing and oyster craft, tied up for the night. It was a beautiful evening, and the soft, balmy air of St. Augustine was warm, so that only the lightest clothing needed to be worn. "It's just like being at the seashore in the summer," said Nan. "Well, this is summer, and we are at the seashore, though it is not like Ocean Cliff," said Mrs. Bobbsey with a smile. She was glad the children liked it, and she hoped they would have more good times if they were again to go sailing on the deep, blue sea. When they got back to the hotel Mr. Bobbsey had not yet returned from the hospital, but he came before Flossie and Freddie were ready for bed, for they had been allowed to stay up a little later than usual. "Well, how is Cousin Jasper?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "Much better, I am glad to say," answered her husband. "He will be able to leave the hospital in a few days, and then he wants us to start on a trip with him." "Start on a trip so soon!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey. "Where does he want to go, and will he be well enough to travel?" "He says he will. And as to where he wants to go, that is a strange story." "Oh, tell us about it!" begged Bert. "We're going to hear Cousin Jasper's secret at last!" cried Nan. "Is it a real story, with 'once upon a time' in it?" Freddie questioned. "And has it got a fire engine in it?" he added. "Well, no, not exactly a fire engine, though it has a boat engine in the story. And I can make it start with 'once upon a time,' if you want me to." "Please do," begged Flossie. "And has it got any fairies in it?" "No, not exactly any fairies," her father said; "though we may find some when we get to the island." "Oh, are we going on an island?" exclaimed Bert. "There!" cried his father, "I've started at the wrong end. I had better begin at the beginning. And that will be to tell you how I found Cousin Jasper. "He has been quite ill, and is better now. Part of the time he was out of his head with fever, even after he wrote to me, and for a time the doctor feared he would not get well. But now he is all right, except for being weak, and he told me a queer story. "Once upon a time," went on Mr. Bobbsey, telling the tale as his littler children liked to hear it, "Cousin Jasper and a young friend of his, a boy about fifteen years old, set out to take a long trip in a motor boat. That is it had an engine in it that ran by gasolene as does an automobile. Cousin Jasper is very fond of sailing the deep, blue sea, and he took this boy along with him to help. They were to sail about for a week, visiting the different islands off the coast of Florida. "Well, everything went all right the first few days. In their big motor boat Cousin Jasper and this boy, who was named Jack Nelson, sailed about, living on their boat, cooking their meals, and now and then landing at the little islands, or keys, as they are called. "They were having a good time when one day a big storm came up. They could not manage their boat and they were blown a long way out to sea and then cast up on the shore of a small island. "Cousin Jasper was hurt and so was the boy, but they managed to get out of the water and up on land. They found a sort of cave in which they could get out of the storm, and they stayed on the island for some time." "For years?" asked Bert, who, with the other Bobbsey twins, was much interested in Cousin Jasper's strange story. "That was just like Robinson Crusoe!" Bert went on. "Why didn't they stay there always?" "They did not have enough to eat," said Mr. Bobbsey, "and it was too lonesome for them there. They were the only people on the island, as far as they knew. So they made a smudge of smoke, and on a pole they put up some pieces of canvas that had washed ashore from their motor boat. They hoped these signals would be seen by some ship or small boat that might come to take them off." "Did they get rescued?" asked Bert. Mr. Bobbsey was about to answer when the telephone, which was in the room, gave a loud ring. "Some one for us!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey. CHAPTER XI THE MOTOR BOAT Mr. Bobbsey arose to answer the telephone, which big hotels put in the rooms of their guests nowadays instead of sending a bellboy to knock and say that the traveler is wanted. "I wonder who wants us?" murmured Mr. Bobbsey. The children looked disappointed that the telling of the story had to be stopped. "Hello!" said their father into the telephone. Then he listened, and seemed quite surprised at what he heard. "Yes, I'll be down in a little while," he went on. "Tell him to wait." "What is it?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "Was that Cousin Jasper?" "Oh, no indeed!" her husband answered. "Though he is much better he is not quite well enough to leave the hospital yet and come to see us. This was an old sea captain talking from the main office of the hotel downstairs." "Is he going to take us for a trip on the ocean?" asked Bert eagerly. "Well, that's what he wants to do, or, rather, he wants me to see about a big motor boat in which to take a trip. Cousin Jasper sent him to me. But let me finish what I was saying about the island, and then I'll tell you about the sea captain." Mr. Bobbsey hung up the telephone receiver and took his seat between Flossie and Freddie where he had been resting in an easy chair, telling the story. "Cousin Jasper," went on Mr. Bobbsey, "was quite ill on the island, and so was Jack Nelson. Just how long they stayed there, waiting for a boat to come and take them off, they do not know--at least, Cousin Jasper does not know." "Doesn't that boy--Jack Nelson--know?" asked Bert. "No, for he wasn't taken off the island," said Mr. Bobbsey. "And that is the strange part of Cousin Jasper's story. He, himself, after a hard time on the island, must have fallen asleep, in a fever probably. When he awakened he was on board a small steamer, being brought back to St. Augustine. He hardly knew what happened to him, until he found himself in the hospital. "There he slowly got better until he was well enough to write and ask me to come to see him. He wanted me to do something that no one else would do." "And what is that?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "He wants me to get a big motor boat, and go with him to this island and get that boy, Jack Nelson." "Is that boy still on the island?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "Why how long ago was this?" "About three weeks," her husband answered. "Cousin Jasper does not know whether or not the boy is still there, but he is afraid he is. You see when the boat came to rescue Mr. Dent, as my cousin is called at the hospital, they did not take off with him his boy friend. The sailors of the rescue ship said they saw Cousin Jasper's canvas flag fluttering from a pole stuck up in the beach, and that brought them to the island. They found Cousin Jasper, unconscious, in a little cave-like shelter near shore, and took him away with them." "Didn't they see the boy?" asked Nan. "No, he was not in sight, the sailors afterward told Mr. Dent. They did not look for any one else, not knowing that two had been shipwrecked on the island. They thought there was only one, and so Cousin Jasper alone was saved. "When he grew better, and the fever left him, he tried to get some one to start out in a boat to go to the island and save that boy. But no one would go." "Why not?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "Because they thought Cousin Jasper was still out of his mind from fever. They said the sailors from the rescue ship had seen no one else, and if there had been a boy on the island such a person would have been near Mr. Dent. But no one was seen on the island, and so they thought it was all a dream of Cousin Jasper's." "And maybe that poor boy is there yet!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey. "That's what my cousin is afraid of," her husband said. "And that is why he sent for me, his nearest relative. He knew I would believe him, and not imagine he was dreaming. So he wants me to hire for him, as he is rich, a motor boat and go to this island to rescue the boy if he is still there. Cousin Jasper thinks he is. He thinks the boy must have wandered away and so was not in sight when the rescue ship came, or perhaps he was asleep or ill further from the shore. "At any rate that's Cousin Jasper's strange story. And now he wants us to help him see if it's true--see if the boy is still on the island waiting to be rescued." "How can you find the island?" asked Nan. "Cousin Jasper says he will go with us and show us the way. The sea captain who called me up just now from down in the office of the hotel is a man who hires out motor boats. Cousin Jasper knows him, and sent him to see me, as I am to have charge of everything, Mr. Dent not yet being strong enough to do so." "And are you going to do it?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "Oh, yes," her husband said. "I came here to help Cousin Jasper, and if he wants me to set off on a sea voyage to rescue a poor lonely boy from an island, why I'll have to do it." "May we go?" eagerly asked Bert. "Yes, I think so. Cousin Jasper says he wants me to get for him a big motor boat--one large enough for all of us. We will have quite a long trip on the deep, blue sea, and if we find that the boy has been taken off the island by some other ship, then we can have a good time sailing about. But first we must go to the rescue." "It's just like a story in a book!" cried Nan, clapping her hands. "Is they--are there oranges and bananas there?" asked Freddie. "Where?" his father asked. "On the island where the boy is?" "Well, I don't know," answered Mr. Bobbsey. "Perhaps bananas may grow there, though I doubt it. It is hardly warm enough for them." "Well, let's go anyhow," said Freddie. "We can have some fun!" "Yes," said Flossie, who always wanted to do whatever her small brother did, "we can have some fun!" "But we are not going for fun--first of all," said Mr. Bobbsey. "We are going to try to rescue this poor boy, who may be sick and alone on the island. After we get him off, or find that he has been taken care of by some one else, then we will think about good times. "And now, my dear," said Mr. Bobbsey to his wife, "the question is, would you like to go?" "Will it be dangerous?" she asked. "No, I think not. No more so than coming down on the big ship. It is now summer, and there are not many storms here then. And we shall be in a big motor boat with a good captain and crew. Cousin Jasper told me to tell you that. We shall sail for a good part of the time--or, rather, motor--around among islands, so each day we shall not be very far from some land. Would you like to go?" "Please say yes, Mother!" begged Bert. "We'd like to go!" added Nan. "Well," answered Mrs. Bobbsey slowly, "it sounds as if it would be a nice trip. That is it will be nice if we can rescue this poor boy from the lonely island. Yes," she said to her husband, "I think we ought to go. But it is strange that Cousin Jasper could not get any one from here to start out before this." "They did not believe the tale he told of the boy having been left on the island," said Mr. Bobbsey. "They thought Cousin Jasper was still out of his head, and had, perhaps, dreamed this. He was very anxious to get some one started in a boat for the island, but no one would go. So he had to send for me." "And you'll go!" exclaimed Bert. "Yes, we'll all go. Now that I have told you Cousin Jasper's strange story I'll go down and talk to the sea captain. I want to find out what sort of motor boat he has, and when we can get it." "When are we going to start for the island?" asked Bert. "And what's the name of it?" Nan questioned. "Is it where Robinson Crusoe lived?" queried Freddie. "I'll have to take turns answering your questions," said Mr. Bobbsey with a laugh. "In the first place, Bert, we'll start as soon as we can--that is as soon as Cousin Jasper is able to leave the hospital. That will be within a few days, I think, as the doctor said a sea voyage would do him good. And, too, the sooner we start the more quickly we shall know about this poor boy. "As for the name of the island, I don't know that it has any. Cousin Jasper didn't tell me, if it has. We can name it after we get there if we find it has not already been called something. And I don't believe it is the island where Robinson Crusoe used to live, Freddie. So now that I have answered all your questions, I think I'll go down and talk to the captain." Flossie and Freddie were in bed when their father came back upstairs, and Nan and Bert were getting ready for Slumberland, for it was their first day ashore after the voyage, and they were tired. "Did you get the motor boat?" asked Bert. "Not yet," his father answered with a laugh. "I am to go to look at it in the morning." "May I come?" "Yes, but go to bed now. It is getting late." Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey stayed up a little longer, talking about many things, and sending a few postcards to friends at home, telling of the safe arrival in St. Augustine. Freddie was up early the next morning, standing with his nose flattened against the front window of the hotel rooms where the Bobbseys were stopping. "I see one!" he cried. "I see one!" "What?" asked Flossie. "A motor boat?" "No, but another colored lady, and she's got an awful big basket on her head. Come and look, Flossie! Maybe it'll fall off!" But nothing like that happened, and after breakfast Mr. Bobbsey suggested that the whole family set out to see some of the sights of St. Augustine--the oldest city of the United States--and also to go to the wharf and view the motor boat. "Can't we send some postcards before we start, Mother?" questioned Nan eagerly. "Certainly," returned Mrs. Bobbsey. "I think I'll send a few to my friends," said Bert, and he and Nan spent some time picking out the postcards. Even Flossie insisted upon it that she be allowed to send several to her best friends at home. I wish I had room to tell you all the things the children saw--the queer old streets and houses, the forts and rivers, for there are two rivers near the old city. But the Bobbsey twins were as anxious as I know you must be to see the motor boat, and hear more about the trip to the island to save the lonely boy, so I will go on to that part of our story. CHAPTER XII THE DEEP BLUE SEA "Glad to see you! Glad to see you! Come right on board!" cried a hearty voice, as the Bobbsey twins and their father and mother walked down the long dock which ran out into the harbor of St. Augustine. "That's Captain Crane, with whom I was talking last night," said Mr. Bobbsey to his wife in a low voice. "And is that the boat we are to take the trip in?" she asked, for the seaman was standing on the deck of a fine motor craft, dark red in color, and with shiny brass rails. A cabin, with white curtains at the portholes, or windows, seemed to offer a good resting place. "Yes, that's the _Swallow_, as Captain Crane calls his boat," Mr. Bobbsey said. "She's a beaut!" exclaimed Bert. "Come on board! Come on board! Glad to see you!" called the old captain again, as he waved his hand to the Bobbseys. "Oh, I like him, don't you?" whispered Nan to Bert. "Yes," he replied. "He's fine; and that's a dandy boat!" Indeed the _Swallow_ was a beautiful craft. She was about eighty feet long, and wide enough to give plenty of room on board, and also to be safe in a storm. There was a big cabin "forward," as the seamen say, or in the front part of the boat, and another "aft," or at the stern, or back part. This was for the men who looked after the gasolene motor and ran the boat, while the captain and the passengers would live in the front cabin, out of which opened several little staterooms, or places where bunks were built for sleeping. The _Swallow_ was close to the dock, so one could step right on board without any trouble, and the children were soon standing on the deck, looking about them. "Oh, I like this!" cried Freddie. "It's a nicer boat than the _Sea Queen_!" This was the name of the big steamer on which they had come from New York. "Have you got a fire engine here, Captain?" asked the little Bobbsey twin. "Oh, yes, we've a pump to use in case of fire, but I hope we won't have any," the seaman said. "I don't s'pose you'd call it a fire engine, though, but we couldn't have that on a motor boat." "No, I guess not," Freddie agreed, after thinking it over a bit. "I've a little fire engine at home," he went on, "and it squirts real water." "And he squirted some on me," put in Flossie. "On me and my doll." "But I didn't mean to--an' it was only play," Freddie explained. "Yes, it was only in fun, and I didn't mind very much," went on the little girl. "My rubber doll--she likes water," she added, holding out the doll in question for Captain Crane to see. "That's good!" he said with a smile. "When we get out on the ocean you can tie a string around her waist, and let her have a swim in the waves." "Won't a shark get her?" Flossie demanded. "No, I guess sharks don't like to chew on rubber dolls," laughed Captain Crane. "Anyhow we'll try to keep out of their way. But make yourselves at home, folks. I hope you'll be with me for quite a while, and you may as well get used to the boat. Mr. Dent has sailed in her many times, and he likes the _Swallow_ first rate." "Can she go fast?" asked Bert. "Yes, she can fairly skim over the waves, and that's why I call her the _Swallow_," replied the seaman. "As soon as Mr. Dent heard I was on shore, waiting for some one to hire my boat, he told me not to sail again until you folks came, as you and he were going on a voyage together. I hope you are going?" and he looked at Mr. Bobbsey. "Yes, we have made up our minds to go," said the children's father. "We are going to look for a boy who may be all alone on one of the islands off the Florida coast. We hope we can rescue him." "I hope so, too," said Captain Crane. "I was shipwrecked on one of those islands myself, once, as your Cousin Jasper was. And it was dreadful there, and I got terribly lonesome before I was taken off." "Did you have a goat?" asked Flossie. "No, my little girl, I didn't have a goat," answered Mr. Crane. "Why do you ask that?" "Because Robinson Crusoe was on an island like that and he had a goat," Flossie went on. "When you were shipwrecked did you have to eat your shoes?" Freddie queried. "Oh, ho! No, I guess not!" laughed Captain Crane. "I see what you mean. You must have had read to you stories of sailors that got so hungry, after being shipwrecked, that they had to boil their leather shoes to make soup. Well, I wasn't quite so bad off as that. I found some oysters on my island, and I had a little food with me. And that, with a spring of water I found, kept me alive until a ship came and took me off." "Well, I hope the poor boy on the island where Cousin Jasper was is still alive, or else that he has been rescued," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I hope so, too," said the captain. "Now come and I'll show you about my boat." He was very proud of his craft, which was a beautiful one, and also strong enough to stand quite a hard storm. There was plenty of room on board for the whole Bobbsey family, as well as for Mr. Dent, besides a crew of three men and the captain. There were cute little bedrooms for the children, a larger room for Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey, one for the captain and there was even a bathroom. There was also a kitchen, called a cook's galley, and another room that could be used in turn for a parlor, a sitting-room or a dining-room. This was the main cabin, and as you know there is not room enough on a motor boat to have a lot of rooms, one has to be used for different things. "What do you call this room?" questioned Flossie, as she looked around at the tiny compartment. "Well, you can call this most anything," laughed the captain. "When you use it for company, it's a parlor; and when you use it for just sitting around in, it's a sitting-room; and when you use it to eat in, why, then what would you call it?" "Why, then you'd call it a dining-room," answered the little girl promptly. "And if I got my hair cut in it, then it would be a barber shop, wouldn't it?" cried Freddie. "Why, Freddie Bobbsey!" gasped his twin. "I'm sure I wouldn't want my dining-room to be a barber shop," she added disdainfully. "Well, some places have got to be barber shops," defended the little boy staunchly. "I don't think they have barber shops on motor boats, do they, Daddy?" "They might have if the boat was big enough," answered Mr. Bobbsey. "However, I don't believe we'll have a barber shop on this craft." "When are we going to start?" asked Bert, when they had gone all over the _Swallow_, even to the place where the crew slept and where the motors were. "We will start as soon as Cousin Jasper is ready," said Mr. Bobbsey. "It may be a week yet, I hope no longer." "So do I, for the sake of that poor boy on the island," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Tell me, has nothing been heard of him since he was shipwrecked there with Mr. Dent?" she asked Captain Crane. "Has no other vessel stopped there but the one that took off Cousin Jasper?" "I guess not," answered Captain Crane. "According to Mr. Dent's tell, this island isn't much known, being one of the smallest. It was only because the men on the ship that took him off saw his flag that they stood in and got him." "And then they didn't find the boy," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Perhaps he wasn't there," Captain Crane said. "He might have found an old boat, or made one of part of the wrecked motor boat, and have gone away by himself." "And he may be there yet, half starved and all alone," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Yes, he may be," admitted the old seaman. "But we'll soon find out. Mr. Jasper Dent is very anxious to start and look for this boy, who had worked for him about two years on his boat. So we won't lose any time in starting, I guess." "But how do you like my boat? That's what your cousin will be sure to ask you. When he heard that you were coming to see him, and heard that I was free to take a trip, he wanted you folks to see me and look over the _Swallow_. Now you've done it, how do you like it?" "Very much indeed," said Mr. Bobbsey. "We like the boat exceedingly!" "And the captain, too," added Mrs. Bobbsey, with a smile. "Thank you kindly, lady!" said the seaman, with a smile and a bow. "I hope we'll get along well together." "And I like the water pump!" exclaimed Freddie. "Please may I squirt the hose some day?" "I guess so, when it's nice and warm, and when we wash down the decks," said Captain Crane. "We use the pump for that quite a lot," he added. "We haven't had to use it for fire yet, and I hope we never have to." "That's what we all say," put in Mr. Bobbsey. But no one could tell what might happen. The Bobbsey twins went about the _Swallow_ as they pleased, having a good time picking out the rooms they wanted to sleep in. Bert said he was going to learn how to run the big gasolene motors, and Freddie said he was going to learn how to steer, as well as squirt water through the deck hose. "I want to cook in the cute little kitchen," said Nan. "And I'll help set table," offered Flossie. "We'll have a good time when we get to sea in this boat," declared Bert. "And I hope we find that boy on the island," added Nan. "Oh, yes, I hope that, too," agreed Bert. None of the crew of the _Swallow_ was on board yet, Captain Crane not having any need for the men when the boat was tied up at the dock. "But I can get 'em as soon as you say the word," he told Mrs. Bobbsey when she asked him. "And what about things to eat?" "Oh, we'll stow the victuals on board before we sail," said the seaman. "We'll take plenty to eat, even though lots of it has to be canned. Just say the word when you're ready to start, and I'll have everything ready." "And now we'll go see Cousin Jasper," suggested Mr. Bobbsey, when at last he had managed to get the children off the boat. "He will be wondering what has become of us." They went to the hospital, and found Mr. Dent much better. The coming of the Bobbseys had acted as a tonic, the doctor said. "Do you like the _Swallow_ and Captain Crane?" asked the sick man, who was now getting well. "Very much," answered Mr. Bobbsey. "And will you go with him and me to look for Jack Nelson?" "As soon as you are ready," was the answer. "Then we'll start in a few days," decided Cousin Jasper. "The sea-trip will make me entirely well, sooner than anything else." The hospital doctor thought this also, and toward the end of the week Mr. Dent was allowed to go to his own home. He lived alone, except for a housekeeper and Jack Nelson, but Jack, of course, was not with him now, being, they hoped, either on the island or safely rescued. "Though if he had been taken off," said Mr. Dent, "he would have sent me word that he was all right. So I feel he must still be on the island." "Perhaps the ship that took him off--if one did," said Mr. Bobbsey, "started to sail around the world, and it will be a long while before you hear from your friend." "Oh, he could send some word," said Cousin Jasper. "No, I feel quite sure he is still on the island." Just as soon as Mr. Bobbsey's cousin was strong enough to take the trip in the _Swallow_, the work of getting the motor boat ready for the sea went quickly on. Captain Crane got the crew on board, and they cleaned and polished until, as Mrs. Bobbsey said, you could almost see your face in the deck. Plenty of food and water was stored on board, for at sea the water is salt and cannot be used for drinking. The Bobbseys, after having seen all they wanted to in St. Augustine, moved most of their baggage to the boat, and Cousin Jasper went on board also. "Well, I guess we're all ready to start," said Captain Crane one morning. "Everything has been done that can be done, and we have enough to eat for a month or more." "Even if we are shipwrecked?" Freddie questioned. "Yes, little fat fireman," laughed the captain. "Even if we are shipwrecked. Now, all aboard!" They were all present, the crew and the Bobbseys, Captain Crane and Cousin Jasper. "All aboard!" cried the captain again. A bell jingled, a whistle tooted and the _Swallow_ began to move away from the dock. She dropped down the river and, a little later, was out on the ocean. "Once more the deep, blue sea, children!" said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Shall you like the voyage?" "Oh, very much!" cried Nan, and the others nodded their heads to agree with her. And then, as they were puffing along, one of the crew called to Captain Crane: "There's a man in that motor boat who wants to speak to you! Better wait and see what he wants!" CHAPTER XIII FLOSSIE'S DOLL Captain Crane jingled a bell that told the engineer of the motor boat to slow down. Then he steered the _Swallow_ over toward the other motor boat in which was a man waving his hand, as though he wanted the Bobbseys to stop, or at least to come closer, so that he might speak to them. The Bobbsey twins were wildly excited. "Hello, Captain Harrison!" called Captain Crane, as soon as the two boats were close enough to talk from one to the other. "Did you want to see me?" "Well, yes, I did," answered Captain Harrison, who was on the other motor boat, which was named _Sea Foam_. "I think I have some news for you." "I hope it's good news," Captain Crane made reply. "Yes, I believe it is. Are you going out to rescue a boy from an island quite a way to the south of us?" "Yes, these friends of mine are going," answered Captain Crane, pointing to the Bobbseys and to Cousin Jasper, who were sitting on the deck under the shade of an awning. "But how did you know?" "I just passed Captain Peters in his boat, and he told me about your starting off on a voyage," went on Captain Harrison. "As soon as I heard what you were going to do, I made up my mind to tell you what I saw. I passed that island, where you are going to look for a lost man----" "It's a lost boy, and not a lost man," interrupted Captain Crane. "Well, lost boy, then," went on Captain Harrison. "Anyhow, I passed that island the other day, and I'm sure I saw some one running up and down on the shore, waving a rag or something." "You did!" cried Cousin Jasper, who, with the Bobbseys, was listening to this talk. "Then why in the world didn't you go on shore and get Jack? Why didn't you do that, Captain?" "Because I couldn't," answered Captain Harrison. "A big storm was coming up, and I couldn't get near the place on account of the rocks. But I looked through my telescope, and I'm sure I saw a man--or, as you say, maybe it was a boy--running up and down on the shore of the island, waving something. "When I found I couldn't get near the place, on account of the rocks and the big waves, I made up my mind to go back as soon as I could. But the storm kept up, and part of my motor engine broke, so I had to come back here to get it fixed. "I just got in, after a lot of trouble, and the first bit of news I heard was that you were going to start off for this island to look for some one there. So I thought I'd tell you there is some one on the shore--at least there was a week ago, when I saw the place." The Bobbsey twins listened "with all their ears" to this talk, and they wondered what would happen next. "Well, if Captain Harrison saw Jack there he must be alive," said Bert to Nan. "Unless something happened to him afterward in the storm," remarked Nan. "I wish we could hurry up and get him," said Freddie. "Be quiet, children," whispered Mrs. Bobbsey. "Captain Crane wants to hear all that the other captain says." "S-sh," hissed Flossie importantly. "How long ago was this?" asked Captain Crane. "About a week," answered Captain Harrison. "I had trouble getting back, so it was a week ago. I tried to see some other boat to send to the island to take off this lost boy, but I didn't meet any until I got here. Somebody on shore told me about you. Then I thought, as long as you are going there, I'd tell you what I saw." "I'm glad you did," observed Cousin Jasper. "And I'm glad to know that Jack is well enough to be up and around--or that he was when you saw him. We must go there as fast as we can now, and rescue him." "Maybe some other boat stopped and took him off the island," said Captain Harrison. "Well, maybe one did," agreed Cousin Jasper. "If so, that's all the better. But if Jack is still there we'll get him. Thank you, Captain Harrison." Then the two motor boats started up again, one to go on to her dock at St. Augustine and the other--the one with the Bobbsey twins on board--heading for the deep blue sea which lay beyond. "Do you think you can find Jack?" asked Freddie, as he stood beside Captain Crane, who was steering the _Swallow_. "Well, yes, little fat fireman. I hope so," was the answer. "If Captain Harrison saw him running around the island, waving something for a flag, that shows he was alive, anyhow, and not sick, as he was when the folks took Mr. Dent off. So that's a good sign." "But it was more than a week ago," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Of course we all hope he can be found, but we must hurry as fast as we can." "That's right," said Cousin Jasper. "Make the boat go as fast as you can, Captain Crane." "I will," answered the seaman. "You'll see how quickly my _Swallow_ can skim over the waves." Now that they were started on their voyage over the sea the Bobbsey twins had a good chance to get better acquainted with Cousin Jasper. There had been so much to do in getting ready for the trip and in leaving the hotel that they had hardly spoken to him, or he to them. But now that they were all on board the motor boat, and there was nowhere else to go, and nothing to do, except to sit around on deck, or eat when the meal times came, there was a chance to see Cousin Jasper better and to talk with him more. "I like him," said Freddie, as the four twins sat together under an awning out of the sun, and listened to the conversation of the older folk, who were talking about the news given them by Captain Harrison. "I like Cousin Jasper!" "So do I. And he likes my rubber doll," said Flossie. "What makes you think he likes your doll?" asked Nan, with a laugh at her little sister. "'Cause when I dropped her on the floor in the cabin he picked her up for me and asked if she was hurt." "You can't hurt a rubber doll!" exclaimed Freddie. "I know you can't," said Flossie, "'ceptin' maybe when you pretend, and I wasn't doing that then. But Cousin Jasper brushed the dust off my doll, and he liked her." "That was nice of him," said Bert. "I like Captain Crane, too. He's going to let me steer the boat, maybe, when we get out where there aren't any other ships for me to knock into." "And he's going to let me run the engine--maybe," added Freddie. "Well, you'd better be careful how you run it," laughed Bert. "It's a good deal bigger than your fire engine." So the Bobbsey twins talked about Cousin Jasper and Captain Crane, and they were sure they would like both men. As for Cousin Jasper, he really loved the little folk, and had a warm place in his heart for them, though he had not seen any of them since they were small babies. On and on puffed the _Swallow_, over the deep blue sea, drawing nearer to the island where they hoped to find Jack Nelson. "But it will take us some little time to get there, even if nothing happens," said Cousin Jasper, as they all sat down to dinner in the cabin a little later. The meal was a good one, and Nan and her mother were quite surprised that so much could be cooked in the little kitchen, or "galley," as Captain Crane called it, for on a ship that is the name of the kitchen. One of the members of the crew was the cook, and he also helped about the boat, polishing the shiny brass rails, and doing other things, for there is as much work about a boat as there is about a house, as Nan's mother said to her. "Yes, Mother, I can see that there is a lot of work to do around a boat like this, especially if they wish to keep it in really nice style," said Nan. "The sailors have to work just about as hard as the servants do around a house." "Yes, my dear, and they have to work in all sorts of weather, too." "Well, we have to work in the house even in bad weather." "That's true. But the sailors on a boat often have to work outside on the deck when the weather is very rough." "And that must be awfully dangerous," put in Bert. "It does become dangerous at times, especially when there is a great storm on." "Do you think we'll run into a storm on this trip?" Nan questioned. "I'm sure I hope not!" answered the mother quickly. "To run into a big storm with such a small boat as this would be dangerous." "Maybe we'd be wrecked and become regular Robinson Crusoes," said Bert. "Oh, please, Bert! don't speak of such dreadful things!" said his mother. "But that would be fun, Mother." "Fun!" "All right. We won't be wrecked then." And Bert and his mother both laughed. After dinner the Bobbsey twins sat out on the deck, and watched the blue waves. For some little time they could look back and see the shores of Florida, and then, as the _Swallow_ flew farther and farther away, the shores were only like a misty cloud, and then, a little longer, and they could not be seen at all. "Now we are just as much at sea as when we were on the big ship coming from New York, aren't we?" Bert asked his father. "Yes, just about," answered Mr. Bobbsey. It was a little while after this that Mrs. Bobbsey, who had gone down to the staterooms, to get a book she had left there, heard Flossie crying. "What's the matter, little fairy?" asked her mother, as she came up on deck. "Oh, Mother, my nice rubber doll is gone, and Freddie took her and now he's gone," said Flossie. "Freddie gone!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "What do you mean, Flossie? Where could Freddie go?" "I don't know where he went. I guess he didn't go to look at any colored ladies with baskets on their heads, 'cause there aren't any here. But he went downstairs, where the engine is, and he took my doll with him. I saw him, and I hollered at him, but he wouldn't bring her back to me. Oh, I want my doll--my nice rubber doll!" and Flossie cried real tears. "I must find Freddie," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I wonder where that boy could have gone this time?" CHAPTER XIV FREDDIE'S FISH Although she was a little worried about Freddie, Mrs. Bobbsey felt quite sure nothing very serious could happen to him. He would not go near enough the railing of the deck to fall over, for he and Flossie, as well as Bert and Nan, had promised not to do this while they were on the _Swallow_. And if the little boy had gone "downstairs," as Flossie said, he could be in no danger there. "Even if he went to the motor room," thought Mrs. Bobbsey, "he could come to no harm, for there is a man there all the while looking after the engine. But I must find him." Flossie was still sobbing a little, and looking about the deck as if, by some chance, her doll might still be there. "Tell me how it happened, Flossie," said Mrs. Bobbsey. Her husband was down in the cabin, talking to Captain Crane and Cousin Jasper. The cook was getting things ready for supper, one of the men was steering, and another was looking after the engine. Nan and Bert were up in the bow of the boat, watching the waves and an occasional seagull flying about, and Flossie was with her mother. The only one of her family Mrs. Bobbsey did not know about was Freddie. "It happened this way," said Flossie. "I was playing up here with my rubber doll, making believe she was a princess, and I was putting a gold and diamond dress on her, when Freddie came up with a lot of string. I asked him what he was going to do, and he said he was going to fish, and he asked me if I had a piece of cookie." "What did he want of a piece of cookie?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "He wanted it to fasten on his line for bait for the fishes, he said," went on Flossie. "But I didn't have any cookie. I did have some before that, and so did Freddie. The cook gave them to us, but I did eat all my piece up and so did Freddie. So I didn't have any for his fishline." "Then what happened?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, as she started down the companionway to look for Freddie. "Well, Freddie asked me to go and get some more cookie from the cook, and I did, 'cause I was hungry and I wanted to eat more. But I couldn't find the cook, and when I came back upstairs again, and outdoors--here on deck, I mean--I saw Freddie grab up my doll, and run down the other stairs." "Oh, well, maybe he only took it in fun," said Mrs. Bobbsey, and she was not at all worried now, feeling sure Freddie was safe, though he might be in some sort of mischief. "Anyhow he took my doll," Flossie went on. "And he wouldn't bring her back to me when I told him to. Then I--I cried." "Yes, I heard you," said her mother. "But you mustn't be such a baby, Flossie. Of course it wasn't right for Freddie to take your doll, but you shouldn't have cried about a little thing like that. I'll tell him he mustn't plague you." "But, Mother! he was going to throw my doll into the ocean, I'm sure he was." "Oh, no, Flossie! Freddie wouldn't do a thing like that!" "But I saw him tying a string to her, and I'm sure he was going to throw her into the ocean." "Well, then he could pull her out again." "Yes, but I don't want my doll in the ocean. The ocean is salty, and if salty water gets in her eyes it might spoil them." Mrs. Bobbsey wanted to laugh, but she did not dare, for that would have made Flossie feel worse than ever. "What makes you think Freddie was going to toss your doll into the ocean?" asked Flossie's mother. "'Cause, before that he wanted me to do it to give her a bath. He had a long string and he said, 'let's tie it to the rubber doll and let her swim in the ocean.'" "No, he mustn't do that, of course," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "And I'll tell him so when I find him. But perhaps he didn't do it, Flossie." "Oh, yes he did!" said the little girl. "When he ran downstairs with my doll, and wouldn't come back when I hollered at him, he was tying a string on her then. Oh, dear!" "Never mind! I'll get your doll back," Mrs. Bobbsey said. "But first we must find Freddie." "He went down those stairs," said Flossie, pointing to a flight that led to the motor room, where the engine was chug-chugging away, sending the _Swallow_ over the waves. "He went down there." The engine room of the motor boat was a clean place, not like the engine room on a steamboat, filled with coal dust and a lot of machinery, and Mrs. Bobbsey knew it would be all right for her and Flossie to go down there and see what Freddie was doing. "Now don't cry any more," Flossie's mother told her, giving the little girl a handkerchief on which to dry her tears. "We'll get your doll back, and I'll have to scold Freddie a little, I think." "Maybe you can't find him," said Flossie. "Oh, yes I can," her mother declared. "You can't find him if he is hiding away." "I don't think he will dare hide if he hears me calling him." "Maybe he will if he's got my doll," pouted Flossie. "Now, Flossie, you mustn't talk that way. I don't believe Freddie meant to be naughty. He was only heedless." "Well, I want my doll!" It was no easy matter for little Flossie to get down into the engine room of the motor boat. The little iron stairway was very steep, and the steps seemed to be very far apart. "Let me help you, Flossie," said her mother. "I don't want you to fall and get yourself dirty." "Oh, Mother, it isn't a bit dirty down here!" the little girl returned. "Why, it's just as clean as it can be!" "Still, there may be some oil around." "I'll be very careful. But please let me go down all by myself," answered the little girl. She was getting at that age now when she liked to do a great many things for herself. Often when there was a muddy place to cross in the street, instead of taking hold of somebody's hand Flossie would make a leap across the muddy place by herself. Knowing how much her little girl was disturbed over the loss of her doll, Mrs. Bobbsey, at this time, allowed her to have her own way. And slowly and carefully the stout little girl lowered herself from one step of the iron ladder to the next until she stood on the floor of the engine room. "Now, I got down all right, didn't I?" she remarked triumphantly. "Yes, my dear, you came down very nicely," the mother answered. Down in the engine room a man was oiling the machinery. He looked up as Mrs. Bobbsey and Flossie came down the stairs. "Have you seen my little boy?" asked Freddie's mother. "My little girl says he came down here." "So he did," answered the engineer. "I asked him if he was coming to help me run the boat, and he said he would a little later. He had something else to do now, it seems." "What?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "Well, he said he wanted to go fishing. And as I knew you wouldn't want him leaning over the rail I showed him where he could fish out of one of the portholes of the storeroom. A porthole is one of the round windows," the engineer said, so Flossie would know what he was talking about. "I opened one of the ports for him, and said he could drop his line out of that. Then he couldn't come to any harm." "Did he have a line?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "Yes, a good, strong one. I guess he must have got it off Captain Crane. He's a fisherman himself, the captain is, and he has lots of hooks and lines on board." "Oh, I hope Freddie didn't have a hook!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "No'm," answered the engineer. "I didn't see any, and I don't think he did have any. He just had a long string, and I thought all he was going to do was to dangle it out of the porthole in the storeroom. He couldn't come to any harm there, I knew, and I could keep my eye on him once in a while." "Did he have my rubber doll?" asked Flossie. "I didn't see any doll," answered the engineer. "But he's in there now," he went on. "You can ask him yourself." Looking out of the engine room, Freddie could be seen farther back in the motor boat, in a place where boxes and barrels of food, and things for the boat, were kept. One of the side ports was open, and Freddie's head was stuck out of this, so he could not see his mother and Flossie and the engineer looking at him. "Well, I'm glad he's all right," said Mrs. Bobbsey with a sigh of relief. "Thank you for looking after him." "Oh, I like children," said the man with a smile. "I have some little ones of my own at home." Mrs. Bobbsey and Flossie went into the storeroom. Freddie did not hear them, for his head was still out of the round window. There was no danger of his falling out, for he could not have got his shoulders through, so Mrs. Bobbsey was not frightened, even though the little boy was leaning right over deep water, through which the _Swallow_ was gliding. "Oh, where is my doll?" asked Flossie, looking about and not seeing it. "I want my rubber doll!" "I'll ask Freddie," said Mrs. Bobbsey, and then, in a louder voice, she called: "Freddie! Freddie! Where is Flossie's doll? You mustn't take it away from her. I shall have to punish you for this!" For a moment it seemed as if the little boy had not heard what his mother had said. Then, when she called him again, he pulled his head in from the porthole and whispered: "Please don't make a noise, Mother! I'm fishing, and a noise always scares the fish away!" "But, Freddie, fishing or not, you mustn't take Flossie's playthings," his mother went on. Freddie did not answer for a moment. He had wound around his hand part of a heavy cord, which Mrs. Bobbsey knew was a line used to catch big fish. Freddie was really trying to catch something, it seemed. "Is there a hook on that line?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, fearing, after all, that her little boy might have found one. "Oh, no, Mother, there's no hook," Freddie answered. "I just tied on----" And then a queer look came over his face. His hand, with the line wound around it, was jerked toward the open porthole and the little boy cried: "Oh, I got a fish! I got a fish! I got a big fish!" CHAPTER XV "LAND HO!" Mrs. Bobbsey at first did not know whether Freddie was playing some of his make-believe games, or whether he really had caught a fish. Certainly something seemed to be pulling on the line he held out of the porthole, but then, his mother thought, it might have caught on something, as fishlines often do get caught. "I've caught a fish! I've caught a fish!" Freddie cried again. "Oh, please somebody come and help me pull it in!" Flossie was so excited--almost as much as was her brother--that she forgot all about her lost doll. "Have you really caught a fish?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "I really have! I guess maybe it's a shark or a whale, it's so big, and it pulls so hard!" cried Freddie. And, really, the line that was wound around his hand was pulled so tight, and stretched so hard, where it went out of the hole and down into the ocean, that Freddie could not lower his fist. "Oh, Freddie!" cried his mother. "If you have caught a fish it may cut your fingers by jerking on that line." "Well, I--I caught something!" Freddie said. "Please somebody get it off my line. And hurry, please!" By this time Nan and Bert had run down into the storeroom. They saw what was going on. "Are you sure you haven't caught another hat?" asked Bert, as he remembered what had once happened to his little brother. "It doesn't pull like a hat," Freddie answered. "It's a real fish." "I believe he has caught something," said Mr. Chase, the engineer, as he ran in from the motor room. "Yes, it's either a fish or a turtle," he added as he caught hold of the line and took some of the pull off Freddie's hand. "Unwind that cord from your fingers," he told the little boy. "I'll take care of your fish--if you really have one." "Could it be a turtle?" asked Nan. "Yes, there are lots of 'em in these waters," the engineer said. "But I never knew one of 'em to bite on just a piece of string before, without even a hook or a bit of bait on it." "Oh, I got something on my line for bait," Freddie answered. But no one paid any attention to him just then, for the engineer, gently thrusting the little boy aside, looked from the porthole himself, and what he saw made him cry: "The little lad has caught something all right. Would you mind running up on deck and telling Captain Crane your brother has caught something," said Mr. Chase to Bert. "And tell him, if he wants to get it aboard he'd better tell one of the men to stand by with a long-handled net. I think it's a turtle or a big fish, and it'll be good to eat whatever it is--unless it's a shark, and some folks eat them nowadays." "Oh, I don't want to catch a shark!" exclaimed Freddie. "It's already caught, whatever it is," said Mr. Chase, "It seems to be well hooked, too, whatever you used on the end of your line." "I tied on a----" began Freddie, but, once again, no one paid attention to what he said, for the fish, or whatever it was on the end of the line, began to squirm in the water, "squiggle" Freddie called it afterward--and the engineer had to hold tightly to the line. "Please hurry and tell the captain to reach the net overboard and pull this fish in," begged Mr. Chase of Bert. "I'd pull it in through the porthole, but I'm afraid it will get off if I try." All this while the _Swallow_ was moving slowly along through the blue waters of the deep sea, for when the engineer had run in to see what Freddie had caught he had shut down the motor so that it moved at a quarter speed. Up on deck ran Bert, to find his father and Captain Crane there talking with Cousin Jasper. "What is it, Bert?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. "Oh, will you please get out a net, Captain!" cried Nan's brother. "Freddie has caught a big fish through the porthole and the engineer--Mr. Chase--is holding it now, and he can't pull it in, and will you do it with a net?" "My! that's a funny thing to have happen!" said Mr. Bobbsey. "I'll get the net!" cried Captain Crane. "If your brother has really caught a fish or a turtle we can have it for dinner. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a turtle," said the captain to Bert's father. "There are plenty around where we are sailing now, and they'll sometimes bite on a bare hook, though they like something to eat better. What bait did Freddie use?" he asked. "I don't know," Bert answered. By this time Captain Crane had found a large net, which had a long handle fast to it, and also a rope, so that if the fish were so large that the handle should break in lifting it from the water, the rope would hold. With the net ready to dip down into the water, Captain Crane ran along the deck until he stood above the porthole, out of which ran the line. The fish, or whatever it was, was still fast to the other end of the strong cord. "Haul it up as close as you can to the side of the boat!" called the captain to the engineer, who thrust his head partly out of the round hole. "Then I'll scoop it up in the net. Watch out he doesn't get off the hook." "That's the trouble," said the engineer. "I don't believe Freddie used a hook. But we'll soon see." Up on the deck of the _Swallow_, as well as down in the storeroom, where Freddie, his mother and the others were watching, there was an anxious moment. They all wanted to see what it was the little boy had caught. "Here we go, now!" cried Captain Crane, as he lowered the long-handled net into the water near the cord. The captain held to the wooden handle, and Mr. Bobbsey had hold of the rope. Through the porthole Mr. Chase pulled on the cord until he had brought the flapping, struggling captive close to the side of the motor boat. Then, with a sudden scoop, Captain Crane slipped the net under it. "Now pull!" he cried, and both he and Mr. Bobbsey did this. Up out of the blue sea rose something in the net. And as the sun shone on the glistening sides Freddie, peering from the porthole beside the engineer, cried: "Oh, it's a fish! It's a big fish!" And indeed it was, a flapping fish, of large size, the silver scales of which shone brightly in the sun. "Pull!" cried the captain to Mr. Bobbsey, and a few seconds later the fish lay flapping on deck. Up from below came Freddie, greatly excited, followed by his mother, Nan, Flossie and Mr. Chase, Flossie chanting loudly: "Freddie caught a fish! Freddie caught a fish!" "Didn't I tell you I caught a fish?" cried the little boy, his blue eyes shining with excitement. "You certainly did," his father answered. "But how did you do it, little fat fireman?" "Well, Captain Crane gave me the fishline," Freddie answered. "Yes, I did," the captain said. "He begged me for one and I let him take it. I didn't think he could do any harm, as I didn't let him take any sharp hooks--or any hooks, in fact." "If he didn't have his line baited, or a hook on it, I don't see how he caught anything," said the engineer. "I did have something on my line," Freddie exclaimed. "I had--I had----" But just then Flossie, who had been forgotten in the excitement, burst out with: "Where's my doll, Freddie Bobbsey? Where's my nice rubber doll that you took? I want her! Where is she?" "I--I guess the fish swallowed her," Freddie answered. "The fish!" cried all the others. "Yes. You see I tied the rubber doll on the end of the line 'stid of a hook," the little boy added. "I knew I had to have something for to bait the fish, so they'd bite, so I tied Flossie's doll on. The fish couldn't hurt it much," he went on. "'Cause once Snap had your rubber doll in his mouth, Flossie, and she wasn't hurt a bit." "And is my doll in the fish now?" the little girl demanded, not quite sure whether or not she ought to cry. "I guess it swallowed the doll," returned Freddie. "Anyhow the doll was on the end of the string, and now the string is in the fish's mouth. But maybe you can get your doll back, Flossie, when the fish is cooked." Captain Crane bent over the fish, which was flopping about on deck. "It has swallowed the end of the line, and, I suppose, whatever was fast on the cord," he said. "If it was Flossie's doll, that is now inside the fish." "And can you get it out?" asked Bert. "Oh, yes, when we cut the fish open to clean it ready to cook, we can get the doll." "Is that fish good to eat?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "Very good indeed. It's one of our best kind," the captain said. "Freddie is a better fisherman than he knew." And the little Bobbsey twin had really caught a fish. Just why it was the fish had bit on the line baited with Flossie's rubber doll, no one knew. But Captain Crane said that sometimes the fish get so hungry they will almost bite on a bare hook, and are caught that way. This fish of Freddie's was so large that it had swallowed the doll, which was tied fast on the end of the line, and once the doll was in its stomach the fish could not get loose from the heavy cord. "But you mustn't take Flossie's doll for fish-bait again," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "No'm, I won't!" Freddie promised. "But now maybe I can have a real hook and bait." "Well, we'll see about that," said Mr. Bobbsey with a smile. The line was cut, close to the mouth of the big fish, which weighed about fifteen pounds, and then Freddie's prize was taken by the cook down to the galley, or kitchen. A little later the cook brought back Flossie's rubber doll, cleanly washed, and with the piece of string still tied around its waist. "Is she hurt?" asked Flossie, for her doll was very real to the little girl, since she often pretended she was alive. "No, she's all right--not even a pinhole in her," said Mr. Bobbsey. "There are a few marks of the teeth of the fish, where it grabbed your rubber doll, but she was swallowed whole, like Jonah and the whale, so no harm was done." "I'm glad," said the little girl, as she cuddled her plaything, so strangely given back to her. "And don't you dare take her for fish-bait again, Freddie Bobbsey." "No, Flossie, I won't," he said. "I'll use real bait after this." "But you mustn't do any more fishing without telling me or your mother," cautioned Mr. Bobbsey. "You might have been pulled overboard by this one." "Oh, no, I couldn't," Freddie declared. "Only my head could go through the porthole." "Well, don't do it again," his father warned him, and the little boy promised that he would not. The fish was cooked for supper, and very good it was, too. Flossie and Freddie ate some and Flossie pretended to feed her doll a little, though of course the doll didn't really chew. "The fish tried to eat you, and now you can eat some of the fish," Flossie said, with a laugh. The Bobbsey twins wanted to stay up late that night, and watch the moonlight on the water, but their mother, after letting them sit on deck a little while, said it would be best for them to "turn in," as the sailors call going to bed. They had been up early, and the first day of their new voyage at sea had been a long one. So down to their berths they went and were soon ready for bed. "My, we had a lot of things happen to-day!" remarked Flossie. "Well, I'm sorry I took the doll, but I'm awful glad I caught that great big fish," answered Freddy. "But you're never going to take her for fish bait again, Freddie Bobbsey!" repeated his twin. "I didn't say I was. I guess the next time I want to go fishing I'll get a regular piece of meat from the cook." "Children, children! It's time to go to sleep now," broke in their mother. "Remember, you'll want to be up bright and early to-morrow." "If I don't wake up, you call me, please," cried Freddie; and then he turned over and in a few minutes was sound asleep, and soon the others followed. The next day passed. The children had fun on board the motor boat, and the older folks read and talked, among other things, of how glad they would be to rescue Jack from the lonely island. The following day it rained hard, and the four twins had to stay in the cabin most of the time. But they found plenty to amuse them. The third morning, as they came up on deck, the sun was shining, and one of the men was looking at something through a telescope. "Does he see another fish, or maybe a whale or a shark?" asked Freddie. The sailor answered for himself, though he was really speaking to Captain Crane, who was at the steering wheel. "Land ho!" cried the sailor. "Where away?" asked the captain. "Dead ahead!" went on the sailor. That is the way they talk on board a ship and it means: "I see some land." "Where is it?" "Straight ahead." The Bobbsey twins looked, but all they could see was a faint speck, far out in the deep, blue sea. "Is that land?" asked Nan. "Yes, it's an island," answered Captain Crane. "Oh, maybe it's the island where Jack is!" Bert cried. "Perhaps," said Captain Crane. "We'll soon know, for it is not many miles away, though it looks far off on account of the fog and mist. We'll soon be there." He was just going to ring the bell, giving a signal to the engineer to make the boat go faster when, all at once, Mr. Chase, who had helped Freddie catch the fish, came hurrying up out of the motor room. "Captain!" he cried. "We'll have to slow down! One of the motors is broken! We'll have to stop!" This was bad news to the Bobbsey twins. CHAPTER XVI UNDER THE PALMS Cousin Jasper, who had been talking to Mr. Bobbsey, walked along the deck with the children's father until he stood near Captain Crane, who was now looking through the telescope, across the deep, blue sea, at the speck which, it was said, was an island. "What's the matter?" asked Mr. Dent. "Why are we stopping, Captain Crane?" "Because one of our motors is broken, Mr. Dent. But don't let that worry you. We have two, or, rather, a double motor, and if we can't go with one we can with the other. It's like a little boy or girl, when they break one of their roller skates," he went on, looking at Flossie and Freddie. "If they can't skate on two skates they can push themselves around on one skate," said the captain. "And that's what we'll have to do. But, Mr. Chase, you think you can mend the broken engine easily enough, don't you?" he asked the man who had helped Freddie hold on to the big fish. "Oh, yes," answered the engineer. "We can easily fix the broken motor. But it will take a day or so, and we ought to be in some quiet place where the waves won't rock us so hard if a storm comes up. So why not go to this island that we see over there?" and he pointed to the speck in the ocean. "Maybe there is a little bay there where the _Swallow_ can rest while my men and I fix the engine." "That's a good idea," said Captain Crane. "Can you run to the island?" "Oh, yes, if we go slowly." "What's that?" cried Cousin Jasper. "Is there an island around here?" "The sailor who was looking through his telescope just saw one," returned Captain Crane. "I was going to tell you about it when Mr. Chase spoke to me about the broken engine. There is the island; you can see it quite plainly with the glass," and he handed the spy-glass to Cousin Jasper. "Maybe it's the island where that boy is," said Flossie to her father. "Maybe," agreed Mr. Bobbsey. "I hardly think it is," said Mr. Dent, as he put the telescope to his eye. "The island where we were wrecked is farther away than this, and this one is smaller and has more trees on it than the one where poor Jack and I landed. I do not think this is the place we want, but we can go there to fix the engine, and then travel on farther." "Can we really land on the island?" asked Freddie. "Yes, you may go ashore there," the captain said. "We shall probably have to stay there two or three days." "Oh, what fun we can have, playing on the island!" cried Flossie. "We'll pretend we're Robinson Crusoe," said her little brother. "Come on, Flossie, let's go and tell Nan and Bert!" And while the two younger Bobbsey twins ran to tell their older brother and sister, Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey, Cousin Jasper and Captain Crane took turns looking through the glass at the island, which was about five miles away. "It is not the island where I was," said Cousin Jasper again. "But it looks like a good place to stay while the engines of the _Swallow_ are being mended. So we'll go there, Captain!" "All right," Captain Crane answered. "We'll have to go a little slow, but we'll be there in plenty of time." Once more the motor boat started off, not going as fast as at first, but the Bobbsey twins did not mind this a bit, as they were thinking what fun they would have on the island so far out at sea, and they stood at the rail watching it as it appeared to grow larger the nearer the boat came to it. "We're coming up pretty fast, aren't we?" remarked Freddie. "Not as fast as we might come," answered Bert. "However, we've got lots of time, just as Captain Crane said." "Is it a really and truly Robinson Crusoe place?" questioned Flossie. "I guess we'll find out about that a little later," answered her sister. "I can see the trees now!" exclaimed Freddie presently. "So can I," answered his twin. At last the anchor was dropped in a little bay, which would be sheltered from storms, and then the small boat was lowered so that those who wished might go ashore. "Oh, what lovely palm trees!" exclaimed Nan, as she saw the beautiful branches near the edge of the island, waving in the gentle breeze. "They are wonderful," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "The whole island is covered with them." "Do palm leaf fans grow on these trees, Mother?" asked Freddie as they were being rowed ashore by one of the sailors. "Well, yes, I suppose they could make palm leaf fans from some of the branches of these palm trees," Mrs. Bobbsey said. "And shall we call this Palm Island? That is, unless it has some other name?" she asked Captain Crane. "No, I hardly think it has," he answered. "I was never here before, though I have been on many of the little islands in this part of the sea. So we can call this Palm Island, if you like." "It will be a lovely place to stay," stated Nan. "I just love to sit under a tree, and look at the waves and the white sand." "I'm going in swimming!" declared Bert. "It's awful hot, and a good swim will cool me off." "Don't go in until we take a look and see if there are any sharks or big fish around," his father warned him. "Remember we are down South, where the water of the ocean is warm, and sharks like warm water. This is not like it was at Uncle William's at Ocean Cliff. So, remember, children, don't go in the water unless your mother, or some of the grown people, are with you." The children promised they would not, and a little later the rowboat grated on the sandy shore and they all got out on the beach of Palm Island. "Then this isn't the place where you were wrecked with Jack?" asked Mr. Bobbsey of Cousin Jasper. "No; it isn't the same place at all. It is a beautiful island, though; much nicer than the one where I was." "I wonder if any one lives on it," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I think not," answered Captain Crane. "Most of these islands are too small for people to live on for any length of time, though fishermen might camp out on them for a week or so. However, this will be a good place for us to stay while the engines are being fixed." "Can we sleep here at night?" asked Bert, who wanted very much to do as he had read of Robinson Crusoe doing. "Well, no, I hardly think you could sleep here at night," said Captain Crane. "We may not be here more than two days, and it wouldn't be wise to get out the camping things for such a little while. Then, too, a storm might come up, and we would have to move the boat. You can spend the days on Palm Island and sleep on the _Swallow_." "Well, that will be fun!" said Nan. "Lots of fun," agreed Bert. "And please, Daddy, can't we go in swimming?" It was a hot day, and as Captain Crane said there would be no danger from sharks if the children kept near shore, their bathing garments were brought from the boat, and soon Bert and Nan, and Flossie and Freddie, were splashing about in the warm sun-lit waters on the beach of Palm Island. Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey were sitting in the shade watching them, while the men on the boat were working at the broken engine, when suddenly Flossie, who had come out of the water to sit on the sand, set up a cry. "Oh, it's got hold of me!" she shouted. "Come quick, Daddy! Mother! It's got hold of my dress and it's pulling!" Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey jumped up and ran down the beach toward the little girl. [Illustration: FLOSSIE WAS TRYING TO PULL AWAY.] CHAPTER XVII A QUEER NEST Nan and Bert, who, with Freddie, were splashing out in the water a little way from where Flossie sat on the beach, heard the cries of the little girl and hurried to her. But Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey were the first to reach Flossie. "What is it?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. "What's the matter?" asked Flossie's mother. "Oh, he's pulling me! He's pulling me!" answered the little girl. And, surely enough, something behind her, which Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey could not see, did appear to have hold of the little short skirt of the bathing suit Flossie wore. "Can it be a little dog playing with her?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. "We'd hear him bark if it was," his wife answered. "And I don't believe there are any dogs on this island." Flossie was trying to pull away from whatever had hold of her, and the little girl was having a hard time of it. Her bare feet dug in the white sand, and she leaned forward, just as she would have done if a dog had had hold of her short skirt from behind. Mr. Bobbsey, running fast, caught Flossie in his arms, and when he saw what was behind her he gave a loud shout. "It's a turtle!" he cried. "A great, big turtle, and it took a bite out of your dress, Flossie girl!" "Will it bite me?" asked the little "fairy." "Not now!" the twins' father answered with a laugh. "There, I'll get you loose from him!" Mr. Bobbsey gave a hard pull on Flossie's bathing suit skirt. There was a sound of tearing cloth and then Mr. Bobbsey could lift his little girl high in his arms. As he did so Mrs. Bobbsey, who hurried up just then, saw on the beach behind Flossie a great, big turtle, and in its mouth, which looked something like that of a parrot, was a piece of the bathing skirt. Mr. Bobbsey had torn it loose. "Oh, if he had bitten you instead of your dress!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "Flossie, are you hurt?" "No, she isn't hurt a bit," her father said. "But of course it is a good thing that the turtle did not bite her. How did it happen, Flossie?" "Well, I was resting here, after I tried to swim," answered the little girl, for she was learning to swim; "and, all of a sudden, I wanted to get up, for Freddie called me to come and see how he could float. But I couldn't get up. This mud turkle had hold of me." "It isn't a mud turtle," said Mr. Bobbsey. "But it certainly had hold of you." Just then Cousin Jasper came along and saw the turtle crawling back toward the water. "Ha! I'll stop that and we'll have some turtle soup for dinner to-morrow!" he cried. "Not so fast, Mr. Turtle!" With that Cousin Jasper turned the turtle over on its back, and there the big creature lay, moving its flippers, which it had instead of legs. They were broad and flat. "Won't it bite you?" asked Freddie, who, with Nan and Bert, had waded ashore. "Not if I don't put my hand too near its mouth," Cousin Jasper answered. "If I did that it would take hold of me, as it took hold of Flossie's dress. But I'm not going to let it. Did the turtle scare you, little fat fairy?" "I--I guess it did," she answered. "Anyhow I hollered." "You certainly did," her father said with a laugh. "At least, you hallooed." "What are you going to do with it?" asked Bert, as he watched the big turtle, which still had hold of the piece torn from Flossie's bathing skirt. "We'll eat him--that is part of him, made into soup," answered Cousin Jasper. "Can't he get away?" Nan inquired. "Not when he's on his back," said Mr. Dent. "That's how the people down here catch turtles. They go out on the beach, and when any of the crawling creatures are seen, they are turned over as soon as possible. There they stay until they can be picked up and put into a boat to be taken to the mainland and sold." "Can they bite hard?" asked Bert. "Pretty hard, yes. See what a hold it has of Flossie's dress. I had to tear it to get it loose," returned Mr. Bobbsey. And the turtle still held in his mouth, which was like the beak of a parrot, a piece of the cloth. "He looks funny," put in Nan. "But I feel sorry for him." Bert and Freddie laughed at Nan for this. "The turtle must have been crawling along the beach, to go back into the ocean for a swim," said Cousin Jasper, "and it ran right into Flossie as she sat on the sand. Then, not knowing just what sort of danger was near, the turtle bit on the first thing it saw, which was Flossie's dress." "And it held on awful tight," said the little girl. "It was just like, sometimes, when our dog Snap takes hold of a stick and pulls it away from you. At first I thought it was Snap." "Snap couldn't swim away down here from Lakeport!" said Freddie, with some scorn. "I know he couldn't!" said his little sister. "But only at first I thought it was Snap. Are there any more turkles here, Cousin Jasper?" "Well, yes, a great many, I suppose. They come up out of the sea now and then to lie on the sand in the sun. But I don't believe any more of them will take hold of you. Just look around before you sit down, and you'll be all right." "My, he's a big one!" cried Bert, as he looked at the wiggling creature turned on its back. "Oh, that isn't half the size of some," said Cousin Jasper. "They often get to weigh many hundreds of pounds. But this one is large enough to make plenty of soup for us. I'll tell Captain Crane to send the men over to get it." A little later the turtle was taken on board the _Swallow_ in the boat, and the cook got it ready for soup. "And I think he'll make very good soup, indeed," said the cook. "He certainly ought to make good soup," answered Captain Crane. "It will be nice and fresh, if nothing else." While Mr. Chase and his men were mending the broken engine, and the cook was making turtle soup, the Bobbsey twins, with their father and mother and Cousin Jasper, stayed on Palm Island. They walked along the shore, under the shady trees, and watched the blue waves break up on the white sand. Overhead, birds wheeled and flew about, sometimes dashing down into the water with a splash to catch a fish or get something else to eat. "It's getting near dinner time," said Mr. Bobbsey, after a while. "I guess you children had better get ready to go back to the boat for a meal. You must be hungry." "I am," answered Nan. "It always makes me hungry to go in swimming." "I'm hungry anyhow, even if I don't go in swimming," Bert said. "Perhaps we could have a little lunch here, on Palm Island, without going back to the _Swallow_," Mrs. Bobbsey suggested. "Oh, that would be fun!" cried Nan. "Daddy and I'll go to the ship in the boat and get the things to eat," proposed Bert. "Then we'll bring 'em here and have a picnic." "Yes, we might do that," Mr. Bobbsey agreed. "It will save work for the cook, who must be busy with that turtle. We'll go and get the things for an island picnic." "This is almost like the time we were on Blueberry Island," said Nan, when her father and brother had rowed back to the _Swallow_. "Only there isn't any cave," Freddie said. "Maybe there is," returned Nan. "We haven't looked around yet. Maybe we might find a cave here; mightn't we, Mother?" "Oh, yes, you might. But don't go looking for one. I don't want you to get lost here. We must all stay together." In a little while Bert and Mr. Bobbsey came back with baskets filled with good things to eat. They were spread out on a cloth on the clean sand, not far from where the waves broke on the beach, and then, under the waving palms, the picnic was held, Captain Crane and Cousin Jasper having a share in it. On the _Swallow_ the men still worked to mend the broken engine. "How long shall we be here?" Mr. Bobbsey asked. "About two days more," answered Captain Crane. "It will take longer than we at first thought to fix the break." "Oh, I'm sorry about that!" exclaimed Cousin Jasper. "I wanted to get to the other island as soon as we could, and save Jack. It must be very lonesome for him there, and perhaps he is hurt, or has become ill. I wish we could get to him." "We'll go there as soon as we can," promised Captain Crane. "I am as anxious to get that poor boy as you are, Mr. Dent. At the same time I hope he has, before this, been taken off the island by some other boat that may have seen him waving to them." "I hope so, too," said Mr. Dent. "Still I would feel better if we were at the other island and had Jack safe with us." They all felt sorry for the poor boy, and wondered what he was doing just then. "I hope he has something as good to eat as we have." Nan spoke with a sigh of satisfaction. "Indeed, this is a very nice meal, for a picnic," said her mother. "We ought to be very thankful to Cousin Jasper for taking us on such a nice voyage." "I am glad you like it," returned Mr. Dent. "All the while I was in the hospital, as soon as I was able to think, my thoughts were with this poor boy. "I tried to get the hospital people to send a boat to rescue Jack; but they said he could not be on the island, or the sailors who brought me off would have seen him. Then they thought I was out of my head with illness, and paid little attention to me. "Then I thought of you, Dick, and I wrote to you. I knew you liked traveling about, and especially when it was to help some one." "Indeed I do," said the father of the Bobbsey twins. "And if all goes well we'll soon rescue Jack!" After the picnic lunch the Bobbseys and their friends sat in the shade of the palms and talked over what had so far happened on the voyage. Flossie and Freddie wandered down the beach, and the little girl was showing her brother where she sat when the turtle grabbed her dress. "Let's dig a hole in the sand," Freddie said, a little later. "We haven't any shovels," Flossie answered. "We can take shells," said Freddie. Soon the two little twins were having fun in the sand of the beach. They had not been digging very long when Freddie gave a shout. "Oh, I hope nothing more has happened!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey, starting up. "What is it, Freddie?" called Mr. Bobbsey. "Look at the funny nest we found!" answered the little boy. "It's a funny nest in the sand, and it's got a lot of chicken's eggs in it! Come and look!" CHAPTER XVIII THE "SWALLOW" IS GONE "What is the child saying?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey of her husband, for she did not hear all that Freddie said. "He's calling about having found a hen's nest," Mr. Bobbsey answered, "but he must be mistaken. There can't be any chickens on this island." "Maybe there are," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Perhaps, after all, some one lives here, on the other side where we haven't been. And they may keep chickens." "Oh, no," answered her husband. "I hardly think so," said Cousin Jasper. "But we'll go to look at what Freddie has found." Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey, with Cousin Jasper, followed by Bert and Nan, hurried down the beach to Flossie and Freddie, standing beside a hole they had dug in the sand. The children were looking down into it. "I busted one egg with my clam-shell shovel," Freddie was saying, "but there's a lot left." "They were all covered with sand," added Flossie. "And we dug 'em up! Didn't we, Freddie? We dug up the chickie's nest!" "But we didn't see any chickens," said the little boy. "And for a very good reason," stated Cousin Jasper with a laugh, as he looked down into the little sand pit. "Those are the eggs of a turtle. Perhaps the very turtle that had hold of your dress, Flossie." "Do turtles lay eggs?" asked Freddie in surprise. "Indeed they do," said Cousin Jasper. "O-o-oh!" gasped Flossie. "And the turtle's eggs are good to eat, too. They are not quite as nice as the eggs of a hen, but lots of people, especially those who live on some of these islands, like them very much," went on Mr. Dent. "Does a turkle lay its eggs in a nest like a hen?" Flossie questioned. "What made them all be covered up?" "Well," answered Cousin Jasper, as they all looked at the eggs in the sand, "a turtle lays eggs like a hen, but she cannot hover over them, and hatch them, as a hen can, because a turtle has no warm feathers. You know it takes warmth and heat to make an egg hatch. And, as a turtle isn't warm enough to do that, she lays her eggs in the warm sand, and covers them up. The heat of the sun, and the warm sand soon hatch the little turtles out of the eggs." "Would turtles come out of these eggs?" asked Nan. "Really, truly?" added Flossie. "Just as surely as little chickens come out of hen's eggs," answered Cousin Jasper. "But they must be kept warm." "Then we'd better cover 'em up again!" exclaimed Freddie. "We found the turtle's eggs when we were digging in the sand--Flossie and me. And I didn't know they were there and I busted one of the eggs. First I thought they were white stones, but when I busted one, and the white and yellow came out, I found they were eggs." "And the shells aren't hard," said Mrs. Bobbsey, as she leaned over the hole and touched the queer eggs in the sand-nest. "The shells are like the shell of a soft egg a hen sometimes lays." "Except that the shells, or rather, skins, of these eggs are thicker than those of a chicken," explained Cousin Jasper. "These egg-skins are like a piece of leather. If they were hard, like the eggs of a hen, perhaps the little turtles could not break their way out, as a turtle, though it can give a hard bite, has no pointed beak to pick a hole in the shell." "Well, you have made quite a discovery," said Mr. Bobbsey to the little twins. "Better cover the eggs up now, so the little turtles in them will not get cold and die." "Are there turtles in them now?" asked Freddie. "No, these eggs must be newly laid," Cousin Jasper said. "But if they are kept warm long enough the little turtles will come to life in them and break their way out. Would you like some to eat?" he asked Mr. Bobbsey. The father of the twins shook his head. "I don't believe I care for any," he answered. "I'm not very fond of eggs, anyhow, and I'll wait until we can find some that feathered chickens lay." "Well, I'll take a few for myself, and I know Captain Crane likes them," said Cousin Jasper. "The rest we will leave to be hatched by the warm sun." Mr. Dent took some of the eggs out in his hat, and then Flossie and Freddie covered the rest with sand again. "We'll dig in another place, so we won't burst any more turtle's eggs," said the little boy, as he walked down the beach with Flossie, each one carrying a clam shell. It was so nice on Palm Island that Mrs. Bobbsey said they would have supper there, before going back on board the _Swallow_ to spend the night. So more things to eat were brought off in the small boat, and, as the sun was sinking down in the west, turning the blue waves of the sea to a golden color, the travelers sat on the beach and ate. "Maybe we could build a little campfire here and stay for a while after dark," suggested Bert, who felt that he was getting to be quite a large boy now. "Oh, no indeed! We won't stay here after dark!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "Snakes and turtles and all sorts of things might crawl up out of the ocean and walk all around us on the beach. As soon as it gets dark we'll go back to the ship." "Yes, I think that would be best," said Mr. Bobbsey. "When we get to the other island, where we hope to find Jack, it will be time enough to camp out." "Shall we stay there long?" Bert wanted to know. "It all depends on how we find that poor boy," answered Cousin Jasper. "If he is all right, and doesn't mind staying a little longer, we can make a camp on the island. There are some tents on board and we can live in them while on shore." "Oh, that'll be almost as much fun as Blueberry Island!" cried Nan. "It'll be nicer!" Bert said. "Blueberry Island was right near shore, but this island is away out in the middle of the ocean, isn't it, Cousin Jasper?" "Well, not exactly in the middle of the ocean," was the answer. "But I think, perhaps, there is more water around it than was around your Blueberry Island." After supper, which, like their lunch, was eaten on the beach under the palm trees, the Bobbsey twins and the others went back to the _Swallow_. The men working for the engineer, Mr. Chase, had not yet gotten the engine fixed, and it would take perhaps two more days, they said, as the break was worse than they had at first thought. "Well, we'll have to stay here, that's all," said Cousin Jasper. "I did hope we would hurry to the rescue of Jack, but it seems we can't. Anyhow it would not do to go on with a broken engine. We might run into a storm at sea and then we would be wrecked. So we will wait until everything is all right before we go sailing over the sea again." "It seems like being back home," said Mrs. Bobbsey, as she sat down later in a deck chair. "Didn't you like it on the island?" asked Bert. "Yes. But after it got dark some big turtle might have come up out of the sea and pulled on you, as one did on Flossie," and Bert's mother smiled. "Well, no mud turkles can get on our ship, can they?" asked the little "fat fairy." "No turtles can get on board here, unless they climb up the anchor cable," said Captain Crane with a laugh. "Now we'll get all snug for the night, so if it comes on to blow, or storm, we shall be all right." It was a little too early to go to bed, so the Bobbsey twins and the grown folks sat on deck in the moonlight. The men of the crew, and the cook, sat on the other end of the deck, and also talked. It was very warm, for the travelers were now in southern waters, nearer the equator than they had ever been before. Even with very thin clothes on the air felt hot, though, of course, just as at Lakeport or Meadow Brook, it was cooler in the evening than during the day. "It's almost too hot to go down into the staterooms," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I wonder if we couldn't sleep out on deck?" "Yes, we could have the mattresses brought up," said Cousin Jasper. "I have often slept on the deck of my own boat." "Some of the crew are going to, they tell me," Captain Crane said. "Then we will," Mr. Bobbsey decided. "It will be more like camping out. And it certainly is very hot, even with the sun down." "We may have a thunderstorm in the night," the captain said, "but we can sleep out until then." So the mattresses and bed covers were brought up from the stateroom. "This is a new kind of camping out, isn't it?" remarked Flossie, as she viewed the bringing up of the bed things with great interest. "It's a good deal like moving, I think," answered Freddie. "Only, of course, we haven't got any moving van to load the things on to." "What would you do with a moving van out here on a boat?" demanded Bert. "I could put it on another boat--one of those flat ones, like they have down at New York, where the horses and wagons walk right on," insisted Freddie, thinking of a ferryboat. "Well, we haven't any such boats around here, so we'd better not have any moving vans either," remarked Mr. Bobbsey, with a laugh. "I don't want to move anywhere, anyway," said Flossie. "I'm too tired to do it. I'm going to stay right where I am." "Oh, so'm I going to stay!" cried Freddie quickly. "Come on--let us make our beds right over here," and he caught up one of the smaller mattresses. He struggled to cross the deck with it, but got his feet tangled up in one end, and pitched headlong. "Look out there, Freddie Bobbsey, or you'll go overboard!" cried his brother, as he rushed to the little boy's assistance. "If I went overboard, could I float on the mattress?" questioned Freddie, as he scrambled to his feet. "I don't think so," answered his father. "And, anyway, I wouldn't try it." Presently the mattresses and bedcovers were distributed to everyone's satisfaction, and then all lay down to rest. For a time, Flossie and Freddie, as well as Nan and Bert, tossed about, but at last they fell asleep. It was very quiet on the sea, the only noise being the lapping of the waves against the sides of the _Swallow_. Mrs. Bobbsey was just falling into a doze when there was a sudden splash in the water, and a loud cry. "Man overboard! Man overboard!" some one yelled. "Oh, if it should be one of the children!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. For, no matter whether it is a boy, girl or woman that falls off a ship at sea, a sailor will always call: "'Man' overboard!" I suppose that is easier and quicker to say. "Who is it? What's the matter?" cried Mr. Bobbsey, awakened suddenly from his sleep. There was more splashing in the water alongside the boat, and then Captain Crane turned on a lamp that made the deck and the water about very light. "Jim Black fell overboard," answered Mr. Chase, the engineer. "He got up to draw a bucket of water to soak his head in so he could cool off, and he reached over too far." "Is he all right?" asked Captain Crane. "Yes, I'm all right," was the answer of the sailor himself. "I feel cooler now." At this the older people laughed. He had fallen in with the clothes on, in which he had been sleeping, but as soon as he struck the water he swam up, made his way to the side of the ship, grabbed a rope that was hanging over the side, and pulled himself to the deck. "My! what a fright I had!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey. "I thought one of the children had rolled into the ocean!" "That couldn't happen," said Captain Crane. "There is a strong railing all about the deck." "Well, it's cooler now," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I think I'll take the twins and go to our regular beds." She did this and was glad of it, for a little later a thunderstorm broke, and it began to rain, driving every one below. The rest of the night the storm kept up, and though the thunder was loud and the lightning very bright, the rain did one good service--it made the next day cooler. "Well, shall we go ashore again?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, when breakfast had been eaten aboard the _Swallow_. "Oh, yes!" cried the twins. "We want to go swimming again!" "And I'm going to watch out for 'mud turkles,'" said Flossie, as she called them. Once more they went to the beach of Palm Island, and they had dinner on the shady shore. In the afternoon, leaving the engineer and his helpers on board to work away at the motor, the whole party of travelers, Captain Crane, Cousin Jasper and all, started on a walk to the other side of the island. This took them out of sight of the boat. They found many pretty things at which to look--flowers, a spring of sweet water where they got a drink, little caves and dells, and a place where hundreds of birds made their nests on a rocky cliff. The birds wheeled and soared about, making loud noises as they saw the Bobbsey twins and the others near their nests. It was along in the afternoon when they went back to the beach where they had eaten, and where they were to have supper. Bert, who had run on ahead around a curve in the woodland path, came to a stop on the beach. "Why--why!" he cried. "She's gone! The _Swallow_ is gone!" and he pointed to the little bay. The motor boat was no longer at anchor there! CHAPTER XIX AWAY AGAIN "What's that you say?" asked Captain Crane. "The _Swallow_ gone?" "She isn't there," Bert answered. "But maybe that isn't the bay where she was anchored. Maybe we're in the wrong place." "No, this is the place all right," said Cousin Jasper. "But our boat _is_ gone!" There was no doubt of it. The little bay that had held the fine, big motor boat was indeed empty. The small boat was drawn up on the sand, but that was all. "Where can it have gone?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. "Did you know the men we left on it were going away, Captain Crane?" "No, indeed, I did not! I can't believe that Mr. Chase and the others have gone, and yet the boat isn't here." Captain Crane was worried. So were Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey and Cousin Jasper. Even Flossie and Freddie, young as they were, could tell that. "Maybe a big mud turkle came and pulled the ship away," said Flossie. "Or a whale," added Freddie. Any big fish or swimming animal, the little twins thought, might do such a thing as that. "No, nothing like that happened," said Captain Crane. "And yet the _Swallow_ is gone. The men could not have thought a storm was coming up, and gone out to sea to be safe. There is no sign of a storm, and they never would have gone away, unless something happened, without blowing a whistle to tell us." "Maybe," said Bert, "they got word from Jack, on the other island, to come and get him right away, and they couldn't wait for us." Captain Crane shook his head. "That couldn't happen," he said, "unless another boat brought word from poor Jack. And if there had been another boat we'd have seen her." "Unless both boats went away together," suggested Mr. Bobbsey. "No, I think nothing like that happened," said the captain. "But what can we do?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "Shall we have to stay on this island until the _Swallow_ comes back?" "She may not be gone very long," Mr. Bobbsey said. "We can camp out here until she does come back," observed Nan. "We have lots left to eat." "There won't be much after supper," Bert said. "But we can catch some turtles, or find some more eggs, and get fish, and live that way." "I'll catch a fish," promised Freddie. "I don't understand this," said Captain Crane, with another shake of his head. "I must go out and have a look around." "How are you going?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "In the small boat. I'll row out into the bay for a little way," said the seaman. "It may be that the _Swallow_ is around some point of the island, just out of sight. I'll have a look before we get ready to camp here all night." "I'll come with you," offered Cousin Jasper. "All right, and we'll leave Mr. Bobbsey here with his family," the captain said. "Don't be afraid," he added to the children and Mrs. Bobbsey. "Even if the worst has happened, and the _Swallow_, by some mistake, has gone away without us, we can stay here for a while. And many ships pass this island, so we shall be taken off pretty soon." "We can be like Robinson Crusoe, really," Bert said. "That isn't as much fun as it seems when you're reading the book," put in his mother. "But we will make the best of it." "I think it'd be fun," murmured Freddie. Captain Crane and Cousin Jasper got in the small boat and rowed out into the bay. Anxiously the others watched them, hoping they would soon come back with word that the _Swallow_ had been blown just around "the corner," as Nan said, meaning around a sort of rocky point of the island, beyond which they could not look. "I do hope we shall not have to camp out here all night," said Mrs. Bobbsey, with a little shiver, as she looked around. "Are you afraid of the mud turkles?" asked Flossie. "No, dear. But I don't want to sleep on the beach without a bed or any covers for you children." "Perhaps we shall not have to," said Mr. Bobbsey. They waited a while longer, watching the small boat in which were Captain Crane and Cousin Jasper, until it was rowed out of sight. Bert did not seem to mind much the prospect of having to stay all night on Palm Island. Nan, however, like her mother and her father, was a bit worried. But Flossie and Freddie were having a good time digging in the sand with clam shells for shovels. The little twins did not worry about much of anything at any time, unless it was getting something to eat or having a good time. "I know what I'm going to build!" cried Freddie. "What?" demanded his twin quickly. "I'm going to build a great big sand castle." "You can't do it, Freddie Bobbsey. The sand won't stick together into a castle." "I'm going to use wet sand," asserted Freddie. "That will stick together." "You look out, Freddie Bobbsey, or you'll fall in!" cried his sister, when Freddie had gone further down near the water where the sand was wet. "Freddie! Freddie! keep away from that water!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "I don't want you to get all wet and dirty." "But I want to build a sand castle." "Well, you come up here where the sand is dry and build it," continued Mrs. Bobbsey. "All right. In a minute," answered Freddie. Mr. Bobbsey was straining his eyes, looking out toward the point of rock, around which the rowboat had gone, and his wife was standing beside him, gazing in the same direction, when Bert, who looked the other way, cried: "There she comes now! There's the _Swallow_!" And, surely enough, there she came back, as if nothing had happened. Mr. Bobbsey waved his hat and some one on the motor boat blew a whistle. And then, as if knowing that something was wrong, the boat was steered closer to shore than it had come before, and Mr. Chase cried: "What's the matter? Did anything happen?" "We thought something had happened to you!" shouted Mr. Bobbsey. "Captain Crane and Mr. Dent have gone off in the small boat to look for you." "That's too bad," said Mr. Chase. "While you were away, on the other side of the island, we finished work on the engine. We wanted to try it, so we pulled up anchor and started off. We thought we would go around to the side of the island where you were, but something went wrong, after we were out a little while, and we had to anchor in another bay, out of sight. But as soon as we could we came back, and when I saw you waving your hat I feared something might have happened." "No, nothing happened. And we are all right," said Mr. Bobbsey, "except that we were afraid we'd have to stay on the island all night. And Captain Crane has gone to look for you." "I'm sorry about that," returned the engineer. "It would have been all right, except that the motor didn't work as I wanted it to. But everything is fine now, and we can start for the other island as soon as we like. I'll blow the whistle and Captain Crane will know that we are back at our old place." Several loud toots of the air whistle were given, and, a little later, from around the point came the small boat with the captain and Cousin Jasper in it. They had rowed for some distance, but had not seen the _Swallow_, and they were beginning to get more worried, wondering what had become of her. "However, everything is all right now," said Captain Crane, when they were all once more on board the motor boat, it having been decided to have supper there instead of on Palm Island. "Aren't we coming back here any more?" asked Freddie. "Not right away," his father told him. "We stopped here only because we had to. Now we are going on again and try to find Jack Nelson." "We have been longer getting there than I hoped we'd be," said Cousin Jasper, "but it could not be helped. I guess Jack will be glad to see us when we do arrive." The things they had taken to Palm Island, when they had their meals under the trees, had been brought back on the _Swallow_. The motor boat was now ready to set forth again, and soon it was chug-chugging out of the quiet bay. "And we won't stop again until we get to where Jack is," said Mr. Dent. "Not unless we have to," said Captain Crane. The _Swallow_ appeared to go a little faster, now that the engine was fixed. The boat slipped through the blue sea, and, as the sun sank down, a golden ball of fire it seemed, the cook got the supper ready. The Bobbseys had thought they might get to eat on the beach, but they were just as glad to be moving along again. "And I hope nothing more happens," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Freddie, don't try to catch any more fish, or anything like that. There is no telling what might come of it." "I won't," promised the little fellow. "But if I had my fire engine here Flossie and I could have some fun." On and on sailed the _Swallow_. Every one was safely in bed, except one man who was steering and another who looked after the motor, when Mrs. Bobbsey, who was not a heavy sleeper, awakened her husband. It was about midnight. "Dick!" she exclaimed in a loud whisper, "I smell smoke! Do you?" Mr. Bobbsey sniffed the air. Then he jumped out of his berth. "Yes, I smell smoke!" he cried. "And I see a blaze! Wake up, everybody!" he cried, "The boat is on fire!" CHAPTER XX ORANGE ISLAND Perhaps Freddie Bobbsey had been dreaming about a fire. At any rate he must have been thinking about it, for, no sooner did Mr. Bobbsey call, after his wife spoke to him, than Freddie, hardly awake, cried: "Where's my fire engine? Where's my fire engine? I can put out the fire!" Mr. Bobbsey hurried to the berths where the children were sleeping. That is, they had been sleeping, but the call of their father, and the shouting of Freddie, awakened them. Flossie, Nan and Bert sat up, rubbing their eyes, though hardly understanding what it was all about. "What's the matter?" cried Bert. "The boat is on fire!" his mother answered. "Slip on a few clothes, take your life preserver, end get out on deck." When the Bobbseys first came aboard the _Swallow_ they were shown how to put on a life preserver, which is a jacket of canvas filled with cork. Cork is light, much lighter than wood, and it will not only float well in water, but, if a piece is large enough, as in life preservers, it will keep a person who wears it, or who clings to it, up out of the sea so they will not drown. "Get your life preservers!" cried Mr. Bobbsey; then, when he saw that his wife had one, and that the children were reaching under their berths for theirs, he took his. The smoke was getting thicker in the staterooms, and the yells and shouts of Captain Crane, Cousin Jasper and the crew could be heard. Up on deck rushed the Bobbseys. There they found the electric lights glowing, and they saw more smoke. Cousin Jasper and Captain Crane had a hose and were pointing it toward what seemed to be a hole in the back part of the boat. "Oh, see!" shouted Flossie. "Is the fire engine working?" Freddie demanded, as he saw them. "Can I help put the fire out?" "No, little fireman!" said Captain Crane with a laugh, and when Mrs. Bobbsey heard this she felt better, for she thought that there was not much danger, or the captain would not have been so jolly. "We have the fire almost out now," the captain went on. "Don't be worried, and don't any of you jump overboard," he said as he saw Mrs. Bobbsey, with the twins, standing rather close to the rail. "No, we won't do that," she said. "But I was getting ready to jump into a boat." "I guess you won't have to do that," said Cousin Jasper. "Is the _Swallow_ on fire?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. "It was," his cousin answered. "But we have put it out now. There is a good pump on board, and we pumped water on the blaze as soon as we saw it." From the hold, which was a place where canned food and other things could be stored, smoke was still pouring, and now and then little tongues of fire shot up. It was this fire which Mr. Bobbsey had seen through the open door of his stateroom. "Oh, maybe it's going to be an awful big fire!" said Freddie. "Maybe it'll burn the whole boat up!" "Freddie, Freddie! Don't say such dreadful things!" broke in his mother. "We don't want this boat to burn up." "I see where it is," said Flossie. "It's down in that great big cellar-like place where they keep all those things to eat--those boxes of corn and beans and salmon and sardines and tomatoes, and all the things like that." "Yes. And the 'densed milk!" put in Freddie. "And 'spargus. And the jam! And all those nice sweet things, too!" he added mournfully. "What shall we do if all our food is burnt up?" went on Flossie. "We can't live on the boat if we haven't anything to eat," asserted Freddie. "We'll have to go on shore and get something." "You might catch another big fish," suggested his twin. "Would you let me have your doll?" "No, I wouldn't!" was the prompt response. "You can get lots of other things for bait, and you know it, Freddie Bobbsey!" "How did the fire happen?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey of the captain, when she got the chance. "One of the electric light wires broke and set fire to some oily rags," answered Captain Crane. "Then some empty wooden boxes began to blaze. There was nothing in them--all the food having been taken out--but the wood made quite a fire and a lot of smoke. "Mr. Chase, who was on deck steering, smelled the smoke and saw the little blaze down in a storeroom. He called me and I called Mr. Dent. We hoped we could get the fire out before you folks knew about it. But I guess we didn't," said the captain. "I smelled smoke, and it woke me up," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Then I called my husband and we all came on deck." "That was the right thing to do," Captain Crane said. "And it was also good to put on the life preservers," for even Flossie and Freddie had done this. "Always get ready for the worst," the captain went on, "and then if you don't have to take to the small boats so much the better. But the fire will soon be out." "Can I see the fire engine?" asked Freddie. "I haven't seen a fire engine for a long while." At his home he was always interested in this, but, luckily, Lakeport had few fires. "It isn't exactly a fire engine," said Cousin Jasper to the little fellow. "It's just a big pump that forms part of one of the motors. I guess you can see how it works, for the fire is so nearly out now that we won't need much more water on it." So the Bobbseys took off their life preservers, which are not very comfortable things to wear, and stayed on deck, watching the flames die out and the smoke drift away. The _Swallow_ had been slowed down while the captain and the others were fighting the fire. "Everything is all right now," said Cousin Jasper, and he took Freddie to the motor room to show him the pump, while Captain Crane still played the hose on the last dying embers. The fire only burned up the oil-soaked rags and some empty boxes, not doing any damage to the motor boat, except a little scorching. The smoke made part of the _Swallow_ black, but this could be painted over. "And very lucky for us it was no worse," said Mr. Bobbsey, when they were ready to go back to their staterooms. Freddie stayed and watched the pump as long as they would let him. It could be fastened to one of the motors and it pumped water from the ocean itself on the blaze. "It's better than having a regular fire engine on land," said Freddie, telling Flossie about it afterward, "'cause in the ocean you can take all the water you like and nobody minds it. When I grow up I'm going to be a fireman on the ocean, and have lots of water." "You'll have to have a boat so you can go on the ocean," said the little girl. "Well, I like a boat, too," went on Freddie. "You can run the boat, Flossie, and I'll run the pump fire engine." "All right," agreed little Flossie. "That's what we'll do." After making sure that the last spark was out, Captain Crane shut off the water. The Bobbseys went back to bed, but neither the father nor the mother of the twins slept well the rest of the night. They were too busy thinking what might have happened if the fire had not been seen in time and plenty of water sprayed on it to put it out. "Though there would not have been much danger," Captain Crane said at the breakfast table, where they all gathered the next morning. "We could all have gotten off in the two boats, and we could have rowed to some island. The sea was smooth." "Where would we get anything to eat?" asked Nan. "Oh, we'd put that in the boats before we left the ship," said the captain. "And we'd take water, too. But still I'm glad we didn't have to do that." And the Bobbseys were glad, too. Part of the day was spent in getting out of the storeroom the burned pieces of boxes. These were thrown overboard. Then one of the crew painted over the scorched places, and, by night, except for the smell of smoke and paint, one would hardly have known where the fire had been. The weather was bright and sunny after leaving Palm Island, and the twins sat about the deck and looked across the deep, blue sea for a sight of the other island, where, it was hoped, the boy Jack would be found. "I wonder what he's doing now," remarked Bert, as he and Nan were talking about the lost one, while Flossie and Freddie were listening to a story their mother was telling. "Maybe he's walking up and down the beach looking for us to come," suggested Nan. "How could he look for us when he doesn't know we're coming?" asked Bert. "Well, maybe he _hopes_ some boat will come for him," went on Nan. "And he must know that Cousin Jasper wouldn't go away and leave him all alone." "Yes, I guess that's so," agreed Bert. "It must be pretty lonesome, all by himself on an island." "But maybe somebody else is with him, or maybe he's been taken away," went on Nan. "Anyhow we'll soon know." "How shall we?" asked Bert. "'Cause Captain Crane said we'd be at the island to-morrow if we didn't have a storm, or if nothing happened." On and on went the _Swallow_. When dinner time came there was served some of the turtle soup from the big crawler that had pulled on Flossie's dress. There was also fish, but Freddie did not catch any more. Cousin Jasper and Mr. Bobbsey fished off the side of the motor boat and caught some large ones, which the cook cleaned and got ready for the table. "Going to sea is very nice," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "You don't have to send to the store for anything to eat, and when you are hungry all you have to do is to drop your hook overboard and catch a fish." It was about noon of the next day when Bert, who was standing in the bow, or front part of the vessel, said to his father: "I see something like a black speck out there," and he pointed. "Maybe it's another boat." Mr. Bobbsey looked and said: "I think more likely that is an island. Perhaps it is the very one we are sailing for--the one where Cousin Jasper left Jack." He called to Captain Crane, who brought a powerful telescope, and through that the men looked at the speck Bert had first seen. "It's land all right," said Captain Crane. In about an hour they were so near the island that its shape could easily be made out, even without a glass. Then Cousin Jasper said: "That's it all right. Now to go ashore and find that poor boy!" On raced the _Swallow_, and soon she dropped anchor in a little bay like the one at Palm Island. In a small boat the Bobbseys and others were rowed to the shore. "Oh, look at the orange trees!" cried Nan, as she saw some in a grove near the beach. "Are they real oranges, Captain?" asked the younger girl twin. "Yes. And it looks as though some one had an orange grove here at one time, not so very long ago, though it hasn't been kept up." "Is this Orange Island?" asked Bert. "Well, we can call it that," said Cousin Jasper. "In fact it never had a name, as far as I know. We'll call it Orange Island now." "That's a good name for it, I think," remarked Nan. "And now to see if we can find Jack!" went on Nan's twin. "Let's all holler!" suddenly said Freddie. "Let's all holler as loud as we can!" "What for?" asked Cousin Jasper, smiling at the little boy. "Why do you want to halloo, Freddie?" "So maybe Jack can hear us, and he'll know we're here. Whenever me or Flossie gets lost we always holler; don't we?" he asked his little sister. "Yes," she answered. "And when Bert or Nan, or our father or mother is looking for us, even if we don't know we're lost, they always holler; don't you, Bert?" "Yes, and sometimes I have to 'holler' a lot before you answer," said Nan's brother. "Well, perhaps it would be a good thing to call now," agreed Mr. Bobbsey. "Shall we, Cousin Jasper?" "Yes," he answered. So the men, with the children to help them, began to shout. "Jack! Jack! Where are you, Jack?" The woods and the orange trees echoed the sound, but that was all. Was the missing boy still on the island? CHAPTER XXI LOOKING FOR JACK Again and again the Bobbseys and the others called the name of Jack, but the children's voices sounding loud, clear and shrill above the others. But, as at first, only the echoes answered. "That's the way we always holler when we're lost," said Freddie. "But I guess Jack doesn't hear us," added Flossie. "No, I guess not," said Cousin Jasper, in rather a sad voice. "Are you sure this is the right island?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, looking about the place where they had landed from the _Swallow_. "Oh, yes, this is the island where I was shipwrecked," said Mr. Dent, "though Jack and I did not land just here. It was on the other side, and when we go there I can show you the wreck of my motor boat--that is, if the storms have not washed it all away." "Well, then maybe Jack is on the other side of the island," said Bert. "And he couldn't hear us." "Yes, that might be so," agreed Cousin Jasper. "We'll go around there. But as it will take us some little time, and as we want to get some things ashore from the ship, we had better wait until later in the day, or, perhaps, until to-morrow, to look. Though I want to find Jack as soon as I can." "Maybe he'll find us before we find him," suggested Mr. Bobbsey. "I should think he would be on the lookout, every day, for a ship to which he could signal to be taken off." "Perhaps he is," said Cousin Jasper. "Well, I hope he comes walking along and finds us. He'll be very glad to be taken away from this place, I guess." "And yet it is lovely here," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I never thought we would find oranges growing in such a place." "I forgot to speak about them," said Cousin Jasper. "In fact I was so ill and so miserable after the wreck, that I did not take much notice of what was on the island. But there are many orange trees. It must have, at some time, been quite a grove." "I was thinking maybe we'd find cocoanuts," said Freddie. "But oranges are just as nice," put in his little sister. "Nicer," Freddie declared. "I like oranges. May we eat some, Mother?" "Why, yes, I guess so," answered Mrs. Bobbsey slowly. "Will it be all right, Cousin Jasper?" "Oh, yes, the oranges are for whomsoever wants them. Help yourselves, children, while we get the things on shore that we need from the motor boat." "Oh, goody!" shouted Flossie. "Are we going to sleep here at night?" asked Bert. "Well, I did think we might camp out here for a week or so, after we got here and found that Jack was all right," answered Cousin Jasper. "But if he is ill, and needs a doctor, we shall have to go right back to Florida. However, until we are sure of that, we will get ready to camp out." "Oh, what fun!" cried Nan. "It'll be as nice as on Blueberry Island!" Flossie exclaimed, clapping her fat little hands. "But there weren't any oranges on Blueberry Island," added Freddie. "Still the blueberries made nice pies." "Mother made the pies," said Flossie. "Well, the blueberries helped her," Freddie said, with a laugh. The Bobbsey twins gathered oranges from the trees and ate them. The men folks then began to bring things from the _Swallow_, which was anchored in a little bay, not far from shore. Two tents were to be set up, and though the crew would stay on the boat with Captain Crane, to take care of the vessel if a sudden storm came up, the Bobbseys and Cousin Jasper would camp out on Orange Island. In a little while one tent was put up, an oil-stove brought from the boat so that cooking could be done without the uncertain waiting for a campfire, and boxes and baskets of food were set out. "I want to put up the other tent," said Freddie. "I know just how it ought to be done." "All right, Freddie, you can help," was the answer from Bert. "Only, you had better not try to pound any of the pegs in the ground with the hatchet, or you may pound your fingers." "Ho! I guess I'm just as good a carpenter as you are, Bert Bobbsey!" said the little boy stoutly. He took hold of one of the poles and raised it up, but then it slipped from his grasp and one end hit Nan on the shoulder. "Oh, Freddie! do be careful!" she cried. "I didn't mean to hit you, Nan," he said contritely. "It didn't hurt, did it?" "Not very much. But I don't want to get hit again." "Freddie, you had better let the older folks set up that tent," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Here, you and Flossie can help put these boxes and baskets away. There is plenty of other work for you to do." A little later the second tent was in position, and everything about the camp was put in good shape. Then Cousin Jasper, Mr. Bobbsey and the captain, taking Bert with them, started around for the other side of the island to look and call for the missing Jack. "I want to come, too," said Freddie. "Not now," his mother told him. "It is too far for a little boy. Perhaps you and Flossie may go to-morrow. You stay and help me make the camp ready for night." This pleased Freddie and Flossie, and soon they were helping their mother, one of the sailors doing the heavy lifting. Meanwhile Bert, his father and the others walked on through the woods, around to the other side of the island. They found the place where Cousin Jasper's boat had struck the rocks and been wrecked, and Mr. Dent also showed them the place where he and Jack stayed while they were waiting for a boat to come for them. "And here is where we set up our signal," cried Mr. Bobbsey's cousin, as he found a pole which had fallen over, having been broken off close to the ground. On top was still a piece of canvas that had fluttered as a flag. "But why didn't Jack leave it flying, to call a boat to come and get him when he found you gone?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. "I don't know," said Cousin Jasper. "This is very strange. I thought surely we would find Jack as soon as we reached the island. It may be that he has been taken off by some fishermen, but I think I would have heard of it. And he was here about a week ago, for Captain Harrison saw him, you remember he told us. Well, we must look further." "And yell and yell some more," added Bert. "Maybe he can hear us now." So they shouted and called, but no one answered them, and Cousin Jasper shook his head. "I wonder what can have happened to the poor boy!" he said. They walked along the beach, and up among the palm and orange trees, looking for the missing boy. But they saw no signs of him. CHAPTER XXII FOUND AT LAST When Bert, with his father, Cousin Jasper and Captain Crane, got back to the place where Mrs. Bobbsey had been left with Nan and the two smaller twins, the camp on Orange Island was nearly finished. The tents had been put up, and the oil-stove was ready for cooking. "Didn't you find that poor boy?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "No, we saw no trace of him," her husband answered. "Oh, isn't that too bad?" "Yes, I am very sorry," sighed Cousin Jasper. "But I have not yet given up. I'll stay here until either I find him, or make sure what has happened to him. Poor Jack has no relatives, and I am his nearest friend. I feel almost as though he were my son. We will find him if he is on this island." Bert and the others who had walked around to the other side of the island, hoping that Jack might be found, were tired from their trip, and when they got back were glad to sit on the beach in the shade. A meal was soon ready, and when they had eaten they all felt better. "It is too late to do much more searching to-day," said Cousin Jasper, "but we will start early in the morning." And this they did, after a quiet night spent on the island. As soon, almost, as the sun had risen, the Bobbsey twins were up, and Bert and Nan gathered oranges for breakfast. "I wish we could live here always," said Freddie. "I'd never have to go to the store for any fruit." "But if we stayed here we couldn't have Snap or Snoop or Dinah or Sam, or anybody like that from Lakeport," put in Flossie. "Couldn't we, Mother?" asked the little boy. "Course we couldn't!" insisted Flossie. "Well, I guess it would be hard to bring from Lakeport all the friends and all the things you like there," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Well, then we'll go back home after we find Jack," decided Freddie. Breakfast over, the search for the missing boy was begun once more, Mrs. Bobbsey and the smaller twins going along. In some places, however, the way was rough and steep, and once on top of a little hill, Freddie suddenly cried: "Look out! I'm coming!" And come he did, but in a queer way. For he slipped and fell, and rolled to the bottom, bringing up with a bump against a stump. "Oh, my dear little fat fireman! Did you hurt yourself?" asked his father. Freddie did not answer at first. He slowly got to his feet, looked up the hill down which he had rolled, and then at the stump, which was covered with moss. "I--I guess I'm all right," he said. "He's so fat he didn't get hurt," said Cousin Jasper. "Fat boys and girls are just the kind to bring to a place like this. They can't get hurt easily." Freddie laughed, and so did the others, and then they went on again. They looked in different places for the missing boy, and called his name many times. But all the sounds they heard in answer were those of the waves dashing on the beach or the cries of the sea-birds. "It is very strange," said Captain Crane. "If that boy was here about a week ago, you'd think we could find some trace of him--some place where he had built a fire, or set up a signal so it would be seen by passing ships. I believe, Mr. Dent, that he must have been taken away, and when we get back to St. Augustine he'll be there waiting for us." "Well, perhaps you are right," said Cousin Jasper, "but we will make sure. We'll stay here a week, anyhow, and search every part of Orange Island." They had brought their lunch with them, so they would not have to go back to the camp when noon came, and, finding a pleasant place on the beach, near a little spring of water, they sat down to rest. Flossie and Freddie, as often happened, finished long before the others did, and soon they strolled off, hand in hand, down the sands. "Where are you going, children?" called Mrs. Bobbsey to them. "Oh, just for a walk," Freddie answered. "An' maybe we'll see Jack," added Flossie. "I only wish they would, but it is too much to hope for," said Cousin Jasper, and he looked worried. Bert, Nan and the others stayed for some little time after lunch, sitting in the shade on the beach, and talking. They were just about to get up and once more start the search; when Flossie and Freddie came running back. One look at their faces told their mother that something had happened. "What is it, children?" she asked. "We--we found a big, black cave!" answered Freddie, somewhat out of breath. "An'--an' they's a--a _giant_ in it!" added Flossie, who was also breathing hard. "A cave!" cried Mr. Bobbsey. "What do you mean by a giant in it?" asked Cousin Jasper. "Well, when you see a big black hole in the side of a hill, isn't that a cave?" asked Freddie. "It surely is," said his father. "An' when you hear somebody making a big noise like 'Boo-oo-oo-oo! Boo!' maybe that's a giant, like it is in the story," said Flossie. "Oh, I guess perhaps you heard the wind moaning in a cave," said Captain Crane. "No, there wasn't any wind blowing," Freddie said. And, surely enough, there was not. The day was clear and calm. "We heard the booing noise," Freddie said. "Are you sure it wasn't a mooing noise, such as the cows make?" asked Nan. "There aren't any cows on Orange Island; are there, Cousin Jasper?" asked Bert. "I think not. Tell me, children, just what you heard, and where it was," he said to Flossie and Freddie. Then the little twins told of walking along the hill that led up from the beach and of seeing a big hole--a regular cave. They went in a little way and then they heard the strange, moaning sound. Cousin Jasper seemed greatly excited. "I believe there may be something there," he said. "We must go and look. If they heard a noise in the cave, it may be that it was caused by some animal, or it may be that it was----" "Jack!" exclaimed Bert. "Maybe it's Jack!" "Maybe," said Cousin Jasper. "We'll go to look!" Cousin Jasper and Mr. Bobbsey walked on ahead, with Flossie and Freddie to show where they had seen the big, black hole. It was not far away, but so hidden by bushes that it could have been seen only by accident, unless some one knew where it was. Outside the entrance they all stopped. "Listen!" said Flossie. It was quiet for a moment, and then came a sound that surely was a groan, as if some one was in pain. "Who's in there?" cried Cousin Jasper. "I am," was the faint answer. "Oh, will you please come in and help me. I fell and hurt my leg and I can't walk, and----" "Are you Jack Nelson?" cried Cousin Jasper. "Yes, that's my name. A friend and I were wrecked on this island, but I can't find him and----" "But he's found you!" cried Mr. Dent. "Oh, Jack! I've found you! I've found you! I've come back to get you! Now you'll be all right!" Into the cave rushed Cousin Jasper, followed by the others. Mr. Bobbsey and Captain Crane had pocket electric flashlights, and by these they could see some one lying on a pile of moss in one corner of the cavern. It was a boy, and one look at him showed that he was ill. His face was flushed, as if from fever, and a piece of sail-cloth was tied around one leg. Near him, on the ground where he was lying, were some oranges, and a few pieces of very dry crackers, called "pilot biscuits" by the sailors. "Oh, Jack, what has happened to you? Are you hurt, and have you been in this cave all the while?" asked Mr. Dent. "No, not all the while, though I've been in here now for nearly a week, I guess, ever since I hurt my leg. I can crawl about a little but I can't climb up and down the hill, so I got in here to stay out of the storms, and I thought no one would ever come to me." "You poor boy!" softly said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Don't talk any more now. Wait until you feel better and then you can tell us all about it. Poor boy!" "Are you hungry?" asked Freddie; for that, to him, seemed about the worst thing that could happen. "No, not so very," answered Jack. "When I found I couldn't get around any more, or not so well, on my sore leg, I crawled to the trees and got some oranges. I had a box of the biscuit and some other things that washed ashore from the wreck after you went away," he said to Cousin Jasper. "Well, tell us about it later," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Now we are going to take care of you." They made a sort of little bed on poles, with pieces of the sail-cloth, and the men carried Jack to the camp. There Captain Crane, who knew something about doctoring, bound up his leg, and when the lost boy had been given some hot soup, and put in a comfortable bed, he felt much better. A little later he told what had happened to him. "After you became so sick," said Jack to Cousin Jasper, the others listening to the story, "I walked to the other end of the island to see if I could not see, from there, some ship I could signal to come and get us. I was so tired I must have fallen asleep when I sat down to rest, and when I woke up, and went back to where you had been, Mr. Dent, you weren't there. I didn't know what had happened to you and I couldn't find you." "Men came in a boat and took me away," said Cousin Jasper, "though I didn't know it at the time. When I found myself in the hospital I wondered where you were, but they all thought I was out of my head when I wanted them to come to the island and rescue you. So I had to send for Mr. Bobbsey to come." "And we found the cave, didn't we?" cried Freddie. "Yes, only for you and Flossie, just stumbling on it, as it were," said his father, "we might still be hunting for Jack." "I'm glad we found you," said Flossie. "So'm I," added Freddie. "I'm glad myself," Jack said, with a smile at the Bobbsey twins. "I was getting tired of staying on the island all alone." "What did you do all the while?" asked Bert. "Did you feel like Robinson Crusoe?" "Well a little," Jack answered. "But I didn't have as much as Robinson had from the wreck of his ship. But I managed to get enough to eat, and I had the cave to stay in. I found that other one, and went into that, as it was better than where we first were," he said to Mr. Dent. "I made smudges of smoke, and set up signals of cloth," the boy went on, "but a storm blew one of my poles down, and I guess no one saw my signals." "Yes, Captain Harrison did, but it was so stormy he couldn't get close enough to take you from the island," said Captain Crane. "And then we came on as soon as we could," added Cousin Jasper. "Oh, Jack, I'm so glad we have found you, and that you are all right! You had a hard time!" "Yes, it was sort of hard," the boy admitted. "But it's a good thing oranges grow here. I got some clams, too, and I found a nest of turtle's eggs, and roasted some of them. I didn't like them much, but they stopped me from being hungry." "Well, now we'll feed you on the best in camp," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "And I caught a turkle, once!" added Flossie. "I guess you mean the turtle caught you," said Nan with a laugh. But now Jack's troubles were over. As he was weak from not having had good food, and from being ill, it was decided to keep him at the camp for a short while. In that time the Bobbsey twins had a good time on Orange Island, and when he was able to walk about, even though he had to limp on a stick for a crutch, Jack went about with the children, showing them the different parts of the cave where he had stayed. He could not have lived there much longer alone, for his food was almost gone when Flossie and Freddie heard him groaning in the cavern. "And we thought you were a giant!" said Flossie with a laugh. They had found, by accident, what the others had been looking for so carefully but could not find. And Jack had no idea his friends were on the island until they walked into the cave with the flashing lights. "Oh, I'm glad we traveled on the deep, blue sea," said Nan, about a week after Jack had been found. "This is the nicest adventure we ever had!" These were happy days on Orange Island. Jack rapidly grew better, and would soon be able to make the trip back to St. Augustine in the motor boat. But it was so lovely on that island in the deep, blue sea that the Bobbseys stayed there nearly a month, and by that time they were all as brown as berries, including Jack, who had been pale because of his illness. So the lost and lonely boy was found, and he and Cousin Jasper were better friends than ever. And as for the Bobbsey twins, though they had had many adventures on this voyage, still others were in store for them. But now we will say "Good-bye!" for a time. THE END BOOKS BY LAURA LEE HOPE THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES THE BOBBSEY TWINS THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN A GREAT CITY THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON BLUEBERRY ISLAND THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON THE DEEP BLUE SEA THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON GRANDPA'S FARM BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE PLAYING CIRCUS BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT AUNT LU'S CITY HOME BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CAMP REST-A-WHILE BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE IN THE BIG WOODS BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON AN AUTO TOUR BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AND THEIR SHETLAND PONY THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN FLORIDA THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT OCEAN VIEW THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ON PINE ISLAND THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN ARMY SERVICE GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK