OF
 
 ' 
 
 IV,
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT, 
 
 !| Sequel to % Stoiss Jfanulj 
 
 OR, 
 
 ADVENTURES OF AN EMIGRANT FAMILY 
 
 WIIECKKD ON AN UNKNOWN COAST OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 
 
 EtTKBSPEBSID WITH 
 
 TALES, INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL, AND ILLUSTRATIONS OF 
 NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 SUCCESSORS TO 
 
 PHILLIPS, SAMPSON AND COMPANY
 
 LITHOTTPED B T COWLES AND COMPANY 
 
 At the Office of the American Stereotype Compauy, 
 
 P.'lOiXIX BL'ILDINO. BOSTON. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BT FILBCR.N Ji MAU.OBT
 
 Annex 
 ft 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE love of adventure that characterises the youth of 
 the present day, and the growing tendency of the surplus 
 European population to seek abroad the comforts that are 
 often denied at home, gives absorbing interest to the 
 narratives of old colonists and settlers in the wonderful 
 regions of the New World. Accordingly, the work 
 known as the Swiss Family Robinson has long enjoyed a 
 well-merited popularity, and has been perused by a multi- 
 tude of readers, young and old, with profit as well as 
 pleasure. 
 
 A Swiss clergyman resolved to better his fortune by 
 emigration. In furtherance of this resolution, he embarked 
 with his wife and four sons the latter ranging from eight 
 to fifteen years of age for one of the newly-discovered 
 islands in the Pacific Ocean. As far as the coast of New 
 Guinea the voyage had been favorable, but here a violent 
 storm arose, which drove the ill-fated vessel out of its 
 course, and finally cast it a wreck upon an unknown coast. 
 The family succeeded in extricating themselves from the 
 stranded ship, and landed safely on shore ; but the 
 remaining passengers and crew all perished. For many 
 years these six individuals struggled alone against a 
 variety of trials and privations, till at length another storm
 
 IV rttEFACK. 
 
 brought the English despatch-boat Nelson within reach of 
 their signals. Such is a brief outline of the events 
 recorded in the Swiss Family Robinson. 
 
 The present volume is virtually a continuation of this 
 narrative. The careers of the four sons Frank, Ernest, 
 Fritz, and Jack are taken up where the preceding chron- 
 icler left them off. The subsequent adventures of there 
 four young men, by flood and field, are faithfully detailed. 
 With these particulars are mingled the experiences of 
 another interesting family that afterwards became dwellers 
 in the same territory ; as are also the sayings and doings 
 of a weather-beaten sailor Willis the Pilot. 
 
 The scene is laid chiefly in the South Seas, and the 
 narrative illustrates the geography and ethnology of that 
 section of the Far- West. The difficulties, dangers, and 
 hardships to be encountered in founding a new colony are 
 truthfully set forth, whilst it is shown how readily these 
 are overcome by perseverance and intelligent labor. It 
 will be seen that a liberal education has its uses, even 
 under circumstances the least likely to foster the social 
 amenities, and that, too, not only as regards the mental 
 well-being of its possessors, but also as regards augmenting 
 their material comforts. 
 
 In the Swiss FitmJy Robinson life resources of Natural 
 History have been largely, and perhaps somewhat freely, 
 drawn upon. This branch of knowledge has, therefore, 
 been left throughout the present volume comparatively 
 untouched. Nevertheless, as it is the aim of the narrator 
 to combine instruction with amusement, the more ele- 
 mentary phenomena of the Physical Sciences have been 
 blended with the current of the story thus garnishing, 
 as it were, the dry, hard facts of Owen, Liebig, and Arago, 
 with the more attractive groupings of life and action.
 
 PREFACE. V 
 
 The reader has, consequently, in hand a melange of the 
 useful and agreeable a little for the grave and a little for 
 the gay so that, should our endeavors to impart in- 
 struction prove unavailing, en revanche we may, perhaps, 
 be more successful in our efforts to amuse. 
 1*
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Pagt 
 
 The Colony Reflections on the Past Ideas of Willis the 
 Pilot Sophia Wolston 13 
 
 CHAPTER H. 
 
 To what extent Willis the Pilot had Ideas on certain Subjects 
 
 The Knights of the Ocean 23 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Wherein Willis the Pilot proves " Irrefragably " that 
 Epheraerides die of Consumption and Home-Sickness 
 The Canoe and its Young ones The Search after the 
 Sloop Found The Sword-Fish -Floating Atoms 
 Admiral Socrates . . 29 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A Landscape Sad Houses and Smiling Houses Polite- 
 ness in China Eight Soups at Dessert Wind Mer- 
 chants Another Idea of the Pilot's Susan, vice Sophia. . . .43 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Allotment of Quarters A Horse Marine Travelling 
 Plants Change of Dynasty in England A Woman's 
 Kingdom Sheep converted into Chops Resurrection 
 of the Fried Fish A Secret 53 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Queen's Doll Rockhouse to Falcon's Nest The 
 Wind Grasses Admiral Homer The Three Frogs 
 
 Oat Jelly Esquimaux Astronomy An Unknown 61
 
 VIII COXTKXTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Paje 
 
 The Search for the Unknown Three Fleets on Dry Land 
 The Indiscretions of a Sugar Cane Larboard and 
 Starboard The supposed Sensibility of Plants The 
 Fly-trap Vendetta Root and Germ Mine and 
 Countermine The Polypi Oviparous and Viviparous 
 
 A Quid pro Quo 77 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Inhabitant of the Moon, Anthropophagian or Hobgoblin ? 
 The Lacedemonian Stew of Madame Dacicr Utile Dulci 
 
 Tete-a-tete between Willis and his Pipe Tobacco 
 Tersus Birch Is it for Eating? Mosquitoes The 
 Alarm Toby The Nocturnal Expedition We've got 
 
 him 88 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Chimpan/.ee Imperfect Negro, or Perfect Ape Tho 
 Harmonies of Nature A Handful of Paws A Stone 
 Skin Seventeen Spectacles on one Nose Animalculae 
 
 Pelion on Ossa Ptolemy Copernicus to Galileo 
 Metaphysics and Cosmogonies A live Tiger 97 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Pioneers Excursion to Coromandel Hindoo Fancies 
 
 A Caged Hunter Louis XI. and Cardinal Balue 
 A Furlong of News Carnage The Baronet and his 
 seventeen Tigers Fifty-four feet of Celebrity Sterne's 
 Window Promenade of the Consciences Emulation 
 
 and Vanity 103 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 On the Watch Fecundity of Plants and Animals Latest 
 News from the Moon A Death-Knell every Second 
 The Inconveniences of being too near the Sun Narcotics 
 
 Willis contralto Hunting turned upside down 
 Electric Clouds Partialities of Lightning Bells and 
 Bellringers Conducting Rods The Return The 
 Two Sisters Toby becomes a Dragoman 121 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Man proposes, but God disposes The Choice of a Profes- 
 sion Conqueror Orator Astronomer Composer 
 Painter Poet Village Curate The Kafirs Occupa- 
 tions of Women The Alpha and Omega of the Sea ].">4
 
 CONTENTS. IX 
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 ?*C* 
 
 Herbert and Cecilia The little Angels A Catastrophe 
 The Departure Marriage of the Doge with the Adriatic 
 
 Sovereigns of the Sea Dante and Beatrix Eleonora 
 and Tasso Laura and Petrarch The Return Sur- 
 prises What one finds in Turbots A Horror The 
 Price of Crime Ballooning Philipson and the Cholera 
 
 A Metamorphosis Adventure of the Chimpanzee 
 
 Are you Kich 1 150 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The Tears of Childhood and Rain of the Ttopics Charles' 
 Wain Voluntary Enlistment A Likeness Guaranteed 
 
 The World at Peace Alas, poor Mary ! The same 
 Breath for two Beings The first Pillow The Logic of 
 the Heart How Fritz supported Grief A Grain of 
 Sand and the Himalaya 167 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 God's Government King Stanislaus The Dauphin son 
 of Louis XV. The shortest Road New Year's Day 
 A Miracle Clever Animals The Calendar Mr. Julius 
 Csesar and Pope Gregory XIII. How the day after the 
 4th of October was the 15th Olympiads Lustres 
 The Hegira A Horse made Consul Jack's Dream 177 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Separation Guelphs and Ghibelines Montagues and 
 Capulets Sadness The Reunion Jocko and his 
 Education The Entertainments of a King The Mules 
 of Nero and the Asses of Poppaea Hercules and Achilles 
 
 Liberty and' Equality Semiramis and Elizabeth 
 Christianity and the Religion of Zoroaster The Willis- 
 onian Method Moral Discipline versus Birch 19-4 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Where there's a Will there's a Way Mucius Scavola 
 What's to be done? Brutus Torquatus and Peter the 
 Great Australia, Botany Bay, and the Flying Dutchman 
 
 New Guinea and the Buccaneer Vancouver's Island 
 
 White Skins Danger of Landing on a Wave 
 Hanged or Drowned Route to Happiness Omens 206 
 
 CHAPTER XVIH. 
 
 Bacon and Biscuit Let Sleeping Dogs Lie The Paternal 
 Benediction An Apparition A. Mother not easily de-
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 ceived The Adieu The Emperor Constantine 
 hoc signo vmces The Sailor's Postscript Caesar and 
 his Fortunes Kecollections Mrs. Becker plucks Stock- 
 ings and Knits Ortolans How delightful it is to be 
 Scolded The Bodies vanish, but the Souls remain ........ 215 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Eighteen Hundred and Twelve The Mary Count 
 Ugolino The Sources of Rivers The Alps demolished 
 
 No more Pyrenees The First Ship Admiral Noah 
 
 Fleets of the Israelites The Compass Printing 
 Gunpowder Actium and Salamis Dido and .Solus 
 Steam Don Garay and Roger Bacon Melchthal, 
 Furst, and William Tell Going a-pleasuring Upset 
 versus blown up A Dead Calm The Log Willis's 
 Archipelago The Island of Sophia The Bread Fruit- 
 tree Natives of Polynesia Striped Trowsers Abduc- 
 tion of Willis Is he to be Roasted or Boiled ? When 
 
 the Wine is poured out, we must Drink it .................. 228 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Jupiter Tonans The Thunders of the Pilot Worshippers 
 of the Far West A late Breakfast Rono the Great 
 A Polynesian Legend Manners and Customs of Oceanica 
 Mr. and Mrs. Tamaidi Regal Pomp Elbow Room 
 Katzenmusik Queen Tonico and the Shaving Glass 
 Consequences of a Pinch of Snuff Disgrace of the 
 Great Rono Marius Coriolanus Hannibal Alcibi- 
 ades Cimon Aristides A Sop for the Thirsty Air 
 something else besides Oxygen and Hydrogen Maryland 
 and Whitechapel Half-way up the Cordilleras Human 
 Machines Star of the Sea, pray for us ! .......... ^ ..... 248 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Lying-to Heart and Instinct Spurrows viewed as Con- 
 sumers Migrations Posting a Letter in the Pacific 
 Cannibals Adventures of a Locket ..................... 263 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 The Utility of Adversity An Encounter The Hoboken 
 Bill alias Bob ........................................ 271 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 In which Willis shows, that the term Press-gang means 
 onwthing else besides the Gentlemen of the Press .......... 28 J
 
 CONTENTS. XI 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Pag 
 Another Idea of the Pilot's The Boudeuse.. . .295 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Delhi William of Normandy and Kin<j John Isabella of 
 Bavaria and Jean of Arc Poitiers arid Bo vines History 
 of a Ghost, a IJridiron, and a Chest of Guineas 301 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Willis falls in with the Sloop on terra firma, instead of at the 
 hottom.of the Sea, as might have been expected Admiral 
 Cicero The Defunct not yet Dead 315 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Captain Littlestone is found, and the Rev. Mr. Wolston is 
 seen for the first time 328 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 Willis proves that the only way to he free is to jret sent to 
 Prison An Escape = A Discovery Promotions 
 Somnambulism 335 
 
 Conclusion ... 348
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THB COLONY REFLECTIONS ON THE PAST IDEAS OF WILLIS 
 THE PILOT SOPHIA WOLSTON. 
 
 THE early adventures of the Swiss family, who were 
 wrecked on an unknown coast in the Pacific Ocean, have 
 already been given to the world. There are, however, 
 many interesting details in their subsequent career which 
 have not been made public. These, and the conversations 
 with which they enlivened the long, dreary days of the 
 rainy season, we are now about to lay before our readers. 
 
 Becker, his wife, and their four sons had been fifteen 
 years on this uninhabited coast, when a storm drove the 
 English despatch sloop Nelson to the same spot. Before 
 this event occurred, the family had cleared and enclosed a 
 large extent of country ; but, whether the territory was 
 part of an island or part of a continent, they had not yet 
 ascertained. The land was naturally fertile ; and, amongst 
 other things that had been obtained from the wreck of 
 their ship, were sundry packages of European seeds : the 
 produce of these, together with that of two or three heads 
 of cattle they had likewise rescued from the wreck, supplied 
 them abundantly with the necessaries of life. They had 
 erected dwellings here and there, but chiefly lived in a 
 cave near the shore, over the entrance to which they had 
 built a sort of gallery. This structure, conjointly with 
 the cave, formed a commodious habitation, to which they 
 had given the name of Rockhouse. In the vicinity, a stream 
 flowed tranquilly into the cea ; this stream they were accus- 
 tomed to call Jackal River, because, a few days after their
 
 14 WILLIS THE PHOT. 
 
 landing, they had encountered some of these animals on 
 its banks. Fronting Rockhouse the coast curved inwards, 
 the headlands on either side enclosing a portion of the 
 ocean ; to this inlet they had given the name of Safety 
 Bay, because it was here they first felt themselves secure 
 after having escaped the dangers of the storm. In the 
 centre of the bay there was a small island which they 
 called Shark's Island, to commemorate the capture of one 
 of those monsters of the deep. Safety Bay, had, a second 
 time, acquired a legitimate title to its name, for in it 
 Providence had brought the Nelson safely to anchor. 
 
 By unwearying perseverance, indefatigable industry, 
 and an untiring reliance on the goodness of God, Becker 
 and his family had surrounded themselves with abundance. 
 There was only one thing left for them to desire, and that 
 was the means of communicating with their kindred ; and 
 now this one wish of their hearts was gratified by the 
 unexpected appearance of the Nelson on their shore. The 
 fifteen years of exile they had so patiently endured was at 
 once forgotten. Every bosom was filled with boundless 
 joy ; so true it is, that man only requires a ray of sunshine 
 to change his most poignant griefs into smiles and gladness. 
 
 The first impressions of their deliverance awakened in 
 the minds of the young people a flood of projects. The 
 mute whisperings that murmured within them had divulged 
 to their understandings that they were created for a wider 
 sphere than that in which they had hitherto been confined. 
 Europe and its wonders society, with its endearing 
 interchanges of affection that vast panorama of the arts 
 and of civilization, of the trivial and the sublime, of the 
 beautiful and terrible, that is called the world came 
 vividly into their thoughts. They felt as a man would 
 feel when dazzled all at once by a spectacle, the splendor 
 of which the eyes and the mind can only withstand by 
 degrees. They had spelt life in the horn-book of true 
 and simple nature they were now about to read it 
 fluently in the gilded volume of a nature false and vitiated, 
 perhaps to regret their former tranquil ignorance. 
 
 Becker himself had, for an instant, given way to the 
 general enthusiasm, but reflection soon regained her sway;
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 15 
 
 he asked himself whether he had solid reasons for wishing 
 to return to Europe, whether it would be advisable to 
 relinquish a certain livelihood, and abandon a spot that 
 God appeared to bless beyond all others, to run after the 
 doubtful advantages of civilized society. 
 
 His wife desired nothing better than to end her days 
 there, under the beautiful sky, where, from the bosom of 
 the tempest, they had been guided by the merciful will 
 of-Him who is the source of all things. Still the solitude 
 frightened her for her children. "Might it not," she 
 asked herself, "be egotism to imprison their young lives 
 in the narrow limits of maternal affection ? " It occurred 
 to her that the dangers to which they were constantly 
 exposed might remove them from her ; to-day this one, to- 
 morrow another ; what, then, would be her own desolation, 
 when there remained to her no bosom on which to rest 
 her head no heart to beat in unison with her own no 
 kindly hand to grasp and no friendly voice to pray at 
 her pillow, when she was called away in her turn! 
 
 At length, after mature deliberation, it was resolved 
 that Becker himself, his wife, Fritz and Jack, two of their 
 sons, should remain where they were, whilst the two other 
 young men should return to Europe with a cargo of 
 cochineal, pearls, coral, nutmegs, and other articles that 
 the country produced of value in a commercial point of 
 view. It was, however, understood that one of the two 
 should return again as soon as possible, and bring back 
 with him any of his countrymen who might be induced to 
 become settlers in this land of promise, Becker hoping, by 
 this means, to found a new colony which might afterwards 
 flourish under the name of New Switzerland. The mission 
 to Europe was formally confided to Frank and Ernest, 
 the two most sedate of the family. 
 
 Besides the captain and crew, there was on board the 
 ship now riding at anchor in the bay a passenger, named 
 Wolston, with his wife and two daughters. This gentle- 
 man was on his way to join his son at the Cape of Good 
 Hope, but had been taken seriously ill previous to the 
 Nelson's arrival on the coast. He and his family were 
 invited on shore by Becker, and had taken up their
 
 16 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 quarters at Rockhouse. Wolston was an engineer by 
 profession, but his wife belonged to a highly aristocratic 
 family of the West of England ; she had been brought up 
 in a state of ease and refinement, was possessed of all the 
 accomplishments required in fashionable society, but she 
 was at the same time gifted with strong good sense, and 
 could readily accommodate herself to the circumstances in 
 which she was now placed. Her two daughters, Sopma 
 the youngest, a lively child of thirteen, and Mary the 
 eldest, a demure girl of sixteen, had been likewise carefully, 
 but somewhat elaborately, educated. Attracted no less 
 by the hearty and warm reception of the Swiss family, 
 than determined by the state of his health and the pure air 
 of the country, Wolston resolved to await there the return 
 of the sloop, the official destination of which was the Cape 
 of Good Hope, where it had to land despatches from 
 Sidney. 
 
 Captain Littlestone, of H.B.M.'s sloop Nekon, had kindly 
 consented to all these arrangements ; he agreed to convey 
 Ernest and Frank Becker and their cargo to the Cape, to 
 aid them there with his experience, and, finally, to recom- 
 mend them to some trustworthy correspondents he had at 
 Liverpool. He likewise promised to bring back young 
 Wolston with him on his return voyage. 
 
 Everything being prepared, the departure was fixed for 
 the next day : the sloop, with the blue Peter at the fore, 
 was ready, as soon as the anchor was weighed, to continue 
 her voyage. The cargo had been stowed under hatches. 
 Becker had just given the farewell dinner to Captain 
 Littlestone and Lieutenant Dunsley, his second in com- 
 mand. These two gentlemen had discreetly taken their 
 leave, not to interrupt by their presence the final embraces 
 of the family, the ties of which, after so many long years 
 of labor and hardship, were for the first time to be broken 
 asunder. 
 
 During the voyage, Wolston had formed an intimacy 
 with the boatswain of the Nelson, named Willis, and he, 
 on his side, held Wolston and his family in high esteem. 
 Willis was likewise a great favorite with his captain 
 they had served in the same ship together when boys ;
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 17 
 
 Willis was known to be a first-rate seaman ; so great, 
 indeed, was his skill in steering amongst reefs and shoals, 
 that he was familiarly styled the " Pilot," by which cogno- 
 men he was better known on board than any other. At 
 the particular request of Wolston, who had some commu- 
 nications to make to him respecting his son, Willis remained 
 on shore, the captain promising to send his gig for him 
 and his two passengers the following morning. 
 
 Whilst Wolston was busy charging the pilot with a 
 multitude of messages for his son, Mrs. Becker was 
 invoking the blessings of Heaven upon the heads of her 
 two boys ; praying that the hour might be deferred that 
 was to separate her from these idols of her soul. Becker 
 himself, upon whom his position, as head of the family, 
 imposed the obligation of exhibiting, at least outwardly, 
 more courage, instilled into their minds such principles 
 of truth and rules of conduct as the solemnity of the 
 moment was calculated to engrave on their hearts. 
 
 The dial now marked three o'clock, ti-opical time. 
 Willis, wiping, with the cuff of his jacket, a drop that 
 trickled from the corner of his eye, laid hold of his seal- 
 skin sou'-wester as a signal of immediate departure. Ernest 
 and Frank were bending their heads to receive the parting 
 benediction of their parents, when suddenly a fierce 
 torrent of wind shock the gallery of Rockhouse to its 
 foundation, and uprooted some of the bamboo columns by 
 which it was supported. 
 
 " Only a squall," said Willis quietly. 
 
 "A squall!" exclaimed Becker, "what do you call a 
 hurricane then ? " 
 
 " Oh, a hurricane, I mean a downright reefer, all square 
 and close-hauled, that is a very different affair ; but, after 
 all, this begins to look very like the real article." . 
 
 Now came a succession of gusts, each succeeding one 
 more powerful than its predecessor, till every beam of 
 the gallery bent and quivered ; dense copper-colored 
 clouds appeared in the atmosphere, rolling against each 
 other, and disengaging by their shock, the thunder and 
 lightning*. Then fell,_not the slender needles of water we 
 call rain, but veritable floods, that were to our heaviest 
 2*
 
 18 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 European showers what the cataracts of the Rhine, at 
 Staubach, or the falls of Niagara, are to the gushings of 
 a sylvan rivulet. In a few minutes the Jackal river had 
 converted the valley into a lake, in which the plantations 
 and buildings appeared to be afloat, and rendering egress 
 from Rockhouse nearly impossible. 
 
 However much of a colorist Willis might be, he could 
 not have painted a storm with the eloquence of the ele- 
 ments that had cut short his observation. 
 
 " You will not attempt to embark in weather like this?" 
 inquired Mrs. Becker anxiously. 
 
 " My duty it is to be on board," replied the Pilot. 
 
 " The craft that ventures to take you there will get 
 swamped twenty times on the way," observed Becker. 
 
 " The worst of it is, the wind is from the east, and evi- 
 dently carries waterspouts with it. These waterspouts 
 strike a ship without the slightest warning, play amongst 
 the rigging, whirl the sails about like feathers sometimes 
 carry them off bodily, or, if they do not do that, tear them 
 to shreds and shiver the masts. In either case, the con- 
 sequences are disagreeable." 
 
 " A reason for you to be thankful you are safe on shore 
 with us ! " remarked Mrs. Wolston. 
 
 "It is all very well for you, Mrs. Wolston, and you, 
 Mrs. Becker, to talk in that way ; your business in life is 
 that of wives and mothers. But what will the Lords of 
 the Admiralty say, when they hear that the sloop Nelson 
 was wrecked whilst Master Willis, the boatswain, was 
 skulking on shore like a land-rat ? " 
 
 " Oh, they would only say there was one useful man 
 more, and a victim the less," replied Fritz. 
 
 " Why, not exactly, Master Fritz ; they would say that 
 Willis was a poltroon or a deserter, whichever he likes ; 
 they would very likely condemn him to the yard-arm by 
 lefault, and carry out the operation when they get hold 
 of him. But I will not endanger any one else ; all I want 
 is the use of your canoe." 
 
 "What! brave this storm in a wretched seal-skin 
 cockle-shell like that ? " 
 
 "Would it not be offending Providence," hazarded
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 19 
 
 Mary Wolston, " for one of God's creatures to abandon 
 himself to certain death ? " 
 
 " It would, indeed." added Mrs. Wolston; " true courage 
 consists in facing danger when it is inevitable, but not in 
 uselessly imperiling one's life ; there stops courage, and 
 temerity begins." 
 
 " If it is not pride or folly. I do not mean that with 
 reference to you, Willis," hastily added Wolston ; "I know 
 that you are open as day, and that all your impulses arise 
 from the heart." 
 
 "That is all very fine but I must act; let me have 
 the canoe. I want the canoe : that is my idea." 
 
 "Having lived fifteen years cut off from society," 
 gravely observed Becker, " it may be that I have forgotten 
 some of the laws it imposes ; nevertheless, I declare upon 
 my honor and conscience " 
 
 " Let me have the canoe, otherwise I must swim to the 
 ship." 
 
 " I declare," continued Becker, " that Willis exaggerates 
 the requirements of his duty. There are stronger forces 
 to which the human will must yield. It is one thing to 
 desert one's post in the hour of danger, and another to 
 have come on shore at the express desire of a superior 
 officer, when the weather was fine, and nothing presaged 
 a storm." 
 
 "If there is danger," continued the obstinate sailor, 
 whom the united strength of the four men could scarcely 
 restrain, " I ought to share it ; that is my duty and I 
 must." 
 
 " But," said Wolston, " all the boatswains and pilots in 
 the world can do nothing against hurricanes and water- 
 spouts ; their duty consists in steering the ship clear of 
 reefs and quicksands, and not in fighting with the ele- 
 ments." 
 
 " There is one thing you forget, Mr. Wolston." 
 
 " And what is that, Willis ? " 
 
 " It is to be side by side with your comrades in the 
 hour of calamity, to aid them if you can, and to perish 
 with them if such be 4he will of Fate. At this moment, 
 poor Littlestone may be on the point of taking up his
 
 20 WILLIS THB PILOT. 
 
 winter quarters in the body of a shark. But there, if the 
 sloop is lost while I am here on shore, I will not survive 
 her ; all that you can say or do will not prevent me doing 
 myself justice." 
 
 At this moment Jack, who had disappeared during this 
 discussion, unobserved, came in saturated to the skin with 
 water, and in a state difficult to describe. Like the boots 
 of Panurge, his feet were floating in the water that flowed 
 from the rim of his cap. 
 
 " What is this ? " exclaimed his mother. " You wilful 
 boy, may I ask where, in all the world, you have been ? " 
 
 " I have just come from the bay. O father and mother! 
 O Mr. and Mrs. Wolston ! O Master Willis ! if you had 
 only seen ! The sea is furious ; sometimes the waves rise 
 to the skies and mingle with the clouds, so that it is im- 
 possible to say where the one begins and the other ends. 
 It is frightful, but it is magnificent ! " 
 
 " And the sloop ? " demanded Willis. 
 
 " She is not to be seen ; she is no longer at anchor in 
 the bay." 
 
 " Gone to the open sea, to avoid being driven ashore," 
 said Wolston. " Captain Littlestone is not the man to 
 remain in a perilous position whilst there remained a 
 means of escape ; besides, nothing that science, united 
 with courage and presence of mind, could do, would have 
 been neglected by him to save his ship." 
 
 " In addition to which," observed Becker, " if he had 
 found himself in positive danger, he would have fired a 
 gun ; and in that case, though we are not pilots, every one 
 of us would have hastened to his assistance." 
 
 " You see, Willis," said Mrs. Wolston, " God comes to 
 ease your mind ; were we to allow you to go to the sloop 
 now, the thing is simply impossible." 
 
 " I have my own idea about that," insisted Willis, whilst 
 he kept beating a tatoo on the isinglass window panes. 
 
 Whilst thus chafing like a caged lion, Wolston's youngest 
 daughter went towards him, and gently putting her hand 
 in his, said, " Sweetheart " (for so she had been accus- 
 tomed to address him), " do you remember when, during 
 the voyage, you used to look at me very closely, and that
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. ' 21 
 
 one evening I went boldly up to you and asked you why 
 you did so ? " 
 
 " Yes, Miss Sophia, I recollect." 
 " Do you remember the- answer you gave me ? " 
 " Yes, I told you that I had left in England, on her 
 mother's bosom, a little girl who would now be about your 
 own age, and that I could not observe the wind play 
 amongst the curls of your fair hair without thinking of 
 
 O J 
 
 her, and that it sometimes made my breast swell like the 
 mizen-top-sail before the breeze." 
 
 " Yes, and when I promised to keep out of your sight, 
 not to reawaken your grief, you told me it was a kind of 
 grief that did you more good than harm, and that the more 
 it made you grieve, the happier you would be." 
 
 "All true:" replied the sailor, whose excitement was 
 melting away before the soft tones of the child like hoar 
 frost in the sunshine. 
 
 " Then I promised to come and talk to you about your 
 Susan every day ; and did I not keep my word ? " 
 
 " Certainly, Miss Sophia; and it is only bare justice to 
 say that you gracefully yielded to all my fatherly whims, 
 and even went so far as to wear a brown dress oftener 
 than another, because I said that my little Susan wore 
 that color the last time I kissed her." 
 
 ' Oh, but that is a secret, Willis." 
 
 " Yes, but I am going to tell all our secrets that is an 
 idea of mine. You then went and learned Susan's mother's 
 favorite song, with which you would sometimes sing me to 
 sleep, like a great baby that- 1 am, and make me fancy 
 that I was surrounded by my wife and daughter, and was 
 comfortably smoking my pipe in my own cottage, with a 
 glass of grog at my elbow." 
 
 Willis said this so earnestly, that the smile called forth 
 by the oddness of the remark scarcely dared to show itself 
 on the lips of the listeners. 
 
 " Very well," resumed the little damsel, " if you are 
 not more reasonable, and if you keep talking of throwing 
 your life away, I will never again place my hand in yours 
 as now ; I shall not lo^e you any more, and shall find
 
 22 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 means of letting Susan's mother know that you went away 
 and killed yourself, and made her a widow." 
 
 Men ean only speak coldly and appeal to reason logic 
 is their panacea in argument. Women alone possess those 
 inspirations, those simple words without emphasis, that find 
 their way directly to the heart, and for which purpose God 
 has doubtless endowed them with those soft, mild tones, 
 whose melodies cause our most cherished resolutions to 
 vanish in the air ; like those massive stone gates we have 
 seen in some of the old castles in Germany, that resist the 
 most powerful effort to push them open, but which a spring 
 of the simplest construction causes to move gently on their 
 -formidable hinges. 
 
 Willis was silent ; but no openly-expressed submission 
 could have been more eloquent than this mute acqui- 
 escence. 
 
 In the meantime the tempest raged with increased fury, 
 the winds howled, and the water splashed ; it appeared at 
 each shock as if the elements had reached the utmost limit 
 of the terrific ; that the sea, as the poet says, had lashed 
 itself into exhaustion ! I>ut, anon, there came another 
 outburst more terrible still, to declare that, in his anger as 
 in his blessings, the Ail-Powerful has no other limit than 
 the infinite. 
 
 " If it is not in the power of human beings to aid the 
 crew of the Nelson" said Mrs. Becker kneeling, " there 
 are other means more efficacious which we are guilty in 
 not having sought before." 
 
 Every one followed this example, and it was a touching 
 scene to behold the rough sailor yield submissively to the 
 gentle violence of the child's hand, and bend his bronzed 
 and swarthy visage humbly beside her cherub head.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 TO WHAT EXTENT WILLIS THE PILOT HAD IDEAS ON CEBTAIN 
 SUBJECTS THE KNIGHTS OF THE OCEAN. 
 
 THE storm continued to rage without intermission for 
 three entire days. During this interval, not only was it 
 impossible to send the canoe or pinnace to sea, but even 
 to venture a step beyond the threshold, so completely had 
 the tempest broken up the burning soil, the thirst of which 
 the great Disposer of all things had proportioned to the 
 deluges that were destined to assuage it. 
 
 All had at length yielded to bodily fatigue and mental 
 anxiety, for the seeming eternity of these three days and 
 three nights had been passed in prayer, and in the most 
 fearful apprehensions as to the fate of the Nelson and her 
 crew. 
 
 Nothing in the horizon as yet indicated that the 
 thunders were tired of roaring, the clouds of rending 
 themselves asunder, the winds of howling, or the waves 
 of frantically beating on the cliffs. 
 
 Towards evening the ladies had retired to the sick-room 
 with a view of seeking some repose. Becker, Willis, and 
 the young men bivouacked in the hall, where some mat- 
 tresses and bear-skins had been laid down. Here it was 
 arranged that, for the common safety, each during the 
 night should watch in turn. But about two in the morn- 
 ing, Ernest had no sooner relieved Fritz than, fatigue 
 overcoming his sense of duty, the poor fellow fell com- 
 fortably asleep, and he was soon perfectly unconscious of 
 all that was passing around him. 
 
 Becker awoke first it was broad daylight. " Where 
 is Willis ? " he cried, on getting up.
 
 24 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " Holloa ! " exclaimed Fritz, running towards Lhe maga- 
 zine, " the canoe has disappeared ! " 
 
 In an instant all were on their feet. 
 
 " Some one of you has fallen asleep then," said Becker 
 to his children ; ''for when the pilot watched I watched 
 with him, and never lost sight of him for a moment." 
 
 " I am the culprit," said Ernest ; " and if any mischief 
 arises out of this imprudence, I shall never forgive myself. 
 But who could have dreamt of any one being foolhardy 
 enough to attempt the rescue of a ship in a nutshell that 
 scarcely holds two persons ? " 
 
 " I pray Heaven that your sleepy-headedness may not 
 result in the loss of human life ! You see, my son, that 
 there is no amount of duty, be it ever so trifling in im- 
 portance, that can be neglected with impunity. It is the 
 concurrent devotion of each, and the sacrifices of one for 
 another, that constitutes and secures the mutu?l security. 
 Society on a small, as on a large scale, is a chain of which 
 each individual is a link, and when one fails the whole is 
 broken." 
 
 " I will go after him," said Ernest. 
 
 " Fritz and I will go with you," added Frank. 
 
 " No," said Ernest ; " I alone am guilty, and I wish 
 alone to remedy my fault that is, as far as possible." 
 
 " I could not hide the canoe," observed Fritz," " but I 
 hid the oars, and I find them in their place." 
 
 " That, perhaps, will have prevented hire embarking," 
 remarked one of the boys. 
 
 " A man like Willis," replied Becker, " is "ot prevented 
 carrying out his intentions by such obstacles ; he will have 
 taken the first thing that came to hand ; but let us go." 
 
 " What, father, am I not then to go alon.% and so bear 
 the penalty of my own fault ? " 
 
 " No, Ernest, that would be to inflict two evils upon us 
 instead of one ; it is sufficient that you ha v shown your 
 willingness to do so. Besides, three will not be over many 
 to convince Willis, even if yet in time." 
 
 "And mother? and the ladies?" inquired FrHr.. 
 
 " I shall leave Fr,ank and Jack to see to ('>> a mere
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 25 
 
 obstinate freak, or a catastrophe, it will be time enough, 
 when over, to inform them of this new idea of the Pilot's." 
 
 " It is something more than an idea this time," remarked 
 Jack. 
 
 Just as Becker and his two sons were issuing from the 
 grotto, the report of a cannon-shot resounded through 
 the air. 
 
 Awoke and startled by the explosion, Becker's wife and 
 Mrs. Wolston came running towards them. As for the 
 girls, their guardian angel had too closely enveloped them 
 in its wings to admit of their sleep being disturbed. 
 
 " The sloop on the coast ! " said Frank ; " for the sound 
 is too distinct to come from a distance." 
 
 " Unless Willis has got upon Shark's Isl- nd," objected 
 Fritz, running towards the terrace, armed with a teles- 
 cope. " Just so ; he is there, I see him distinctly ; he is 
 recharging our four-pounder." 
 
 " God be praised ! you relieve my conscl-moe of a great 
 burden," said Ernest, placing his hand on hip breast. 
 
 " He is going to discharge it," cried Frit*; --boom. 
 Then a second shot reverberated in the air. 
 
 " If Captain Littlestone be within hearing of that signal, 
 he will be sure to reply to it" said Becker. " Listen ! " 
 
 They hushed themselves in silence, earl retaining his 
 respiration, as if their object had been to hew the sound 
 of a fly's wing rather than the report of a cannon. 
 
 " Nothing !" said Becker sadly, at the expiration of a 
 few minutes. 
 
 "Nothing!" reiterated successively all the voices. 
 
 " How in all the world did Willis contrive to fret tran- 
 sported to Shark's Island ? " inquired Mrs. Becker 
 
 " Simply, wife, by watching when asleep, whilst one of 
 oui gentlemen slept when he watched." 
 
 "Yes, mother," said Ernest," and if you wonld not 
 have me blush before Mrs. Wolston, you will not insist 
 upon an explanation of the mystery." 
 
 " Mrs. Wolston," she replied, " is not so exact""^ as 
 you seem to think, Master Ernest the only difJVe.nce 
 that her presence here should make amongst you in. tl'it 
 you have two mothers instead of one." 
 3
 
 26 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " That is" said Mrs. Wolston smiling, " if Mrs. Becker 
 has no objections to dividing the office with me." 
 
 " Shall I not have compensation in your daughters ? " 
 said Mrs. Becker, taking her by the hand. 
 
 " Still," interrupted Fritz, " I cannot yet conceive how 
 Willis managed to reach Shark's Island in a wretched 
 canoe, without oars, through waves that ought to have 
 swallowed him up over and over again." 
 
 " Bah !" exclaimed Jack ; " what use has a pilot for 
 oars ?" 
 
 " There is a question ! You, who modestly call your- 
 self the best horseman on the island, how would you do, 
 if you had nothing to ride upon ? " 
 
 "I could at least fall back upon broomsticks," retorted 
 the imperturbable Jack. " Besides, in Willis's case, the 
 canoe was the steed, the oars the saddle nothing more." 
 
 "We shall not stay here to solve the riddle," said 
 Becker ; " the storm seems disposed to abate ; and the 
 more that it was unreasonable to face certain destruction 
 in a vain endeavor to assist a problematical shipwreck, 
 the more it is incumbent upon us now to go in quest of 
 the Nelson." 
 
 " But the sea will still be very terrible !" quickly added 
 Mrs. Becker. 
 
 " If all danger were over, wife, the enterprise would do 
 us little credit. It is our duty to do the best we can, 
 according to the strength and means at our command. 
 Fritz, Ernest, and Jack, go and put on your life-preservers 
 we shall take up Willis in passing." 
 
 " I must not insist," said Mrs. Becker ; " the sacrifice 
 would, indeed, be no sacrifice, if it could be easily borne ; 
 and yet " 
 
 " Remember the time, wife, when I was obliged, in 
 order to secure the precious remains of our ship, to 
 venture with our eldest sons on a float of tubs, leaving 
 you exposed, alone with a child of seven, to the chance of 
 eternal isolation!" 
 
 " That is very true, husband : I am unjust towards 
 Providence, which has never ceased blessing us ; but I am 

 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 27 
 
 only a weak woman, and my heart often gets the better 
 of my head." 
 
 " To-day I leave Frank with you ; but, instead of your 
 being his protector, as was the case fifteen years ago, he 
 will be yours. Then there is Mrs. Wolston, her daughters, 
 and husband, quite a new world of sympathies and 
 consolations, by which our island has been so miraculously 
 peopled." 
 
 " Go then, husband, and may God bring back in safety 
 both the pinnace and the Nelson ! " 
 
 " By the way, Mrs. Wolston, how does our worthy 
 invalid get on ? We live in such a turmoil of events and 
 consternations, that I must beg a thousand pardons for not 
 having asked after him before." 
 
 " His sleep appears untroubled; and, notwithstanding all 
 the terrors of the last few days, I entertain sanguine hopes 
 of his immediate recovery." 
 
 " You will at least return before night ? " said Mrs. 
 Becker to her husband. 
 
 " Rely upon my not prolonging my stay beyond what 
 the exigencies of the expedition imperiously require." 
 
 " Good gracious ! what are these ? " exclaimed Mrs. 
 Wolston as the three brothers entered, equipped in seal- 
 gut trowsers, floating stays of the same material, and 
 Greenland caps. 
 
 "The Knights of the Ocean," replied Jack gravely, 
 " who, like the heroes of Cervantes, go forth to redress 
 the wrongs done by the tempest, and to break lances 
 oars, I mean in favor of persecuted sloops." 
 
 Mrs. Becker herself could scarcely refrain from smiling. 
 
 Such is the power of the smile that, in season or out 
 of season, it often finds its way to the most pallid lips, in 
 the midst of the greatest disasters and the deepest grief. 
 It appears as if always listening at the door ready to take 
 its place on the slightest notice. This diversion had the 
 good effect of mixing a little honey with if the expres- 
 sion may be used the bitterness of the parting adieus. 
 Becker took the lead in hiding his sorrow; the three young 
 Greenlanders tore themselves from the maternal embrace, 

 
 28 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 and affectionately kissed the hand held out to them by 
 Mrs. Wolston. 
 
 Then, between those that departed and those that 
 remained behind, there was nothing more than the ties of 
 recollection, the common sadness, and the endless links of 
 mutual affection.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 WHEREIN WILLIS THE PILOT PROVES " IRREFRAGABLY " THAT 
 
 EPHEMERIDES DIE OF CONSUMPTION AND HOME-SICKNESS 
 
 THE CANOE AND ITS YOUNG ONES THE SEARCH AFTER THB 
 
 SLOOP FOUND THE SWORD-FISH FLOATING ATOMS AD- 
 MIRAL SOCRATES. 
 
 WHEN they had come within a short distance of the 
 bay, Jack thought he saw a large black creature moving 
 in the bushes that lined the shore. 
 
 " A sea monster ! " he cried, levelling his musket ; " I 
 discovered it, and have the right to the first shot." 
 
 " No, sir," said Fritz, whose keen eye was a sort of 
 locomotive telescope, " I object to that, for I do not want 
 you to kill or wound my canoe." 
 
 " Nonsense, it moves." 
 
 " Whether it moves or not, we shall all see by and by ; 
 but do you not observe this monster's young ones gambol- 
 ling by its side ? " 
 
 " Which proves I am right, unless you mean to say 
 your canoe has been hatching," and Jack again levelled 
 his rifle. 
 
 " Don't fire, it is the hat and jacket of Willis ! " 
 
 " What ! " exclaimed Ernest, " is the Pilot a triton then, 
 that he could dispense with the canoe ? " 
 
 " Well, yes, unless the canoe has found its way back ot 
 its own accord, which would indeed make it an intelligent 
 creature." 
 
 " The Pilot has evidently reached Shark's Island by 
 swimming, in spite of surf and breakers a feat almost 
 without a parallel." 
 
 " Bah ! " said Ernest, parodying Jack's witticism about 
 the oars, " what does a pilot care about surf and breakers ? " 
 
 Strongly moored in a creek of the Jackal River, and 
 3* 29
 
 30 WTLUi TH FILOT. 
 
 protected by a bltiff, forming a screen between it and the 
 tea, the pinnace had in no way suffered from the storm. 
 
 The swell was so violent, that they had a world of 
 trouble in making the island ; as they approached, Willis, 
 who had made a speaking-trumpet by joining his hands 
 round his mouth, was roaring out alternately, " starboard," 
 ** larboard," " hard-a-port," just as if these terms had not 
 been Hebrew to the impromptu mariners. 
 
 At last, tired of holloaing, " Stop a bit," he said. " I 
 shall find a quicker way ; " with that he threw himself 
 directly into the sea, and cut through the waves towards 
 them as if his arm* had been driven by a steam engine. 
 
 Arrived on board, he gave a vigorous turn to the tiller, 
 laid hold of the sheet, let out a reef here, took in another 
 there : the pinnace was soon completely at his command, 
 and behaved admirably ; true, she pitched furioasly. and 
 the gunwale was under water at every plunge. He headed 
 along the coast tiD the point beyond which Fritz had first 
 observed the Nelson was fairly doubled ; some days before 
 this point was called Cape Deliverance, it was now. per- 
 haps, about to acquire the term of Cape Disappointment, 
 but for the moment its future designation was in embryo. 
 
 Leaping on the poop, Willis carefully scanned the horizon 
 as the boat rose upon the summit of the waves ; but seeing 
 nothing, he at last leapt down again with an expres- 
 sion of rage that, under other circumstances, would have 
 been irresistibly comic. Abandoning the direction of the 
 pinnace, he went and sat down on a bulk-head, and covered 
 his face with hia hands, in an attitude of profound 
 
 Wlffia ! Wfflis ! " cried Jack, " I shall tell Sophia." 
 
 But there was neither the soft voice there, the caressing 
 hand, nor the sweet fascination of the young girl's presence, 
 and Willis continued immovable. 
 
 Becker saw that his was one of those minds that grew 
 less calm the more they were urged, and the excitement of 
 which must be permitted to wear itself out ; he therefore 
 beckoned his sons to leave him to his own reflections. 
 
 The wind still blew a gale, and the pinnace pitched 
 fcearfly ; but the un was now beginning to break through
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 31 
 
 the masses of lurid cloud, and the air was becoming less 
 and less charged with vapor. 
 
 u I can descry nothing either," said Becker ; " and yet 
 this is the direction the storm must have driven the sloop." 
 
 u The sea is very capricious," suggested Fritz. 
 
 " True, but not to the extent of carrying a ship against 
 the wind." 
 
 u Unfortunately," said Jack, " it is not on sea as on land, 
 where the slightest indications of an object lost may lead 
 to its discovery ; a word dropped in the ear of a passer-by 
 might put you on the track, but here it is no use saying, 
 ' Sir. did you not see the Nelson pass this way ? ' * 
 
 " Fire a shot," said Ernest ; " it may perhaps be heard, 
 now that the air is less humid." 
 
 The two-pounder was ready charged ; Fritr struck a 
 light and set fire to a strip of mimosa bark, with which he 
 touched the piece, and the report boomed across the 
 waters. 
 
 Willis raised his head and listened anxiously, but soon 
 dropped it again, and resumed his former attitude of hope- 
 less despair. 
 
 It may be," said Ernest, a that the Nelson hears our 
 signal, thoush we do not hear hers." 
 
 O O 
 
 " How can that be ? " inquired Jack. 
 
 " Why, very easily. Sound increases or diminishes in 
 intensity according as the wind carries it on or retards it." 
 
 " What, then, is sound, that the wind can blow it about, 
 most learned brother ? " 
 
 It is a result of the compression of the air. that from 
 its elasticity extends and expands, and which causes a sort 
 of trembling or undulation, similar to that which is ob- 
 served in water when a stone is thrown into it" 
 
 " And you may add," said Becker, " that bodies striking 
 the air excite sonorous vibrations in this fluid ; thus it 
 rings under the lash that strikes it with violence, and 
 whistles under the rapid impulsion of a switch : it like- 
 wise becomes sonorous when it strikes itself with force 
 against any solid body, as tie wind when it blows against 
 the cordage of ships, houses, trees, and generally every 
 object with which it comes in contact."
 
 82 WILLIS THB PILOT. 
 
 " I can understand," replied Jack, " how this sonoroua 
 effect is produced on the particles of air in immediate con- 
 tact with the object struck ; but how this sound is propa- 
 gated, I do not see." 
 
 " Very likely ; but still it travels from particle to par- 
 ticle, in a circle, at the rate of three hundred and forty 
 yards in a second." 
 
 " Three hundred and forty yards in a second !" said 
 Willis, who was beginning by degrees to recover his self- 
 possession. "Well, that is what I should call going a- 
 head." 
 
 "And by what sort of compasses has this speed been 
 measured, Master Ernest?" 
 
 " The first accurate measurement, Master Jack, was 
 made at Paris in 1738. There are there two tolerably 
 elevated points, namely, Montmartre and Montlhery the 
 distance between these, in a direct line, is 14,636 toises. 
 Cannons were fired during the night, and the engineers 
 on one of the elevations observed that an interval of 
 eighty-six seconds and a half elapsed between the flash 
 and the report of a cannon fired on the other." 
 
 " That half-second is very amusing," said Jack laugh- 
 ing ; " if there had been only eighty or eighty-six net, one 
 might still be permitted to entertain some doubts ; but 
 eighty-six and a half admits nothing of the kind. But 
 why not three-quarters or six-eighths, they would do as 
 well ? " 
 
 " What is more natural than to reckon the fraction, if 
 we are desirous of obtaining absolute precision ? Is six 
 months of your time of no value ? Are thirty minutes 
 more or less on the dial of your watch of no signification 
 to you?" 
 
 " Your brother is perfectly right, Jack ; you are not 
 always successful in your jokes." 
 
 " Other experiments have been made since then," con- 
 tinued Ernest, "and the results have always been the 
 same, making .allowances for the wind, and a slight 
 variation that is ascribed to temperature." 
 
 " To confirm the accuracy of this statement, the speed 
 pf light would have to be taken into consideration."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 83 
 
 " True ; but the velocity of light is BO great, that the 
 instant a cannon is fired the flash is seen." 
 
 ' Whatever the distance ? " 
 
 '' Yes, whatever the distance. Bear in mind that the 
 rays of the sun only require eight minutes to traverse the 
 thirty-four millions of leagues that extend between us and 
 that body. Hence it follows that the time light takes to 
 travel from one point to another on the earth may be 
 regarded as nil." 
 
 " That is something like distance and speed," remarked 
 Willis, " and may be all right as regards the sun, but I 
 should not be disposed to admit that there are any other 
 instances of the same kind." 
 
 " Very good, Master Willis ; and yet the sun is only a 
 step from us in comparison to the distance of some stars 
 that we see very distinctly, but which are, nevertheless, 
 so remote, that their rays, travelling at the same rate as 
 those of the sun, are several years in reaching us." 
 
 Willis rose abruptly, whistling " the Mariner's March," 
 and went to join Fritz, who wa steering the pinnace. 
 
 At this naive mark of disapprobation on the part of the 
 Pilot, Becker, Ernest, and Jack burst involuntarily into a 
 violent peal of laughter. 
 
 " Laugh away, laugh away," said Willis ; " I will not 
 admit your calculations for all that." 
 
 The sky had now assumed an opal or azure tint, the 
 wind had gradually died away into a gentle breeze, the 
 waves were now swelling gently and regularly, like the 
 movements of the infant's cradle that is being rocked 
 asleep. Never had a day, opening in the convulsions of 
 a tempest, more suddenly lapsed into sunshine and smiles: 
 it was like the fairies of Perrault's Tales, who, at first 
 wrapped in sorry rags, begging and borne down with age, 
 throw off their chrysalis and appear sparkling with youth, 
 gaiety, and beauty, their wallet converted into a basket of 
 flowers, and their crutch to a magic wand. 
 
 "Father" inquired Fritz, "shall we go any farther?" 
 
 Since the weather had calmed down, and there was no 
 longer any necessity for exertion, the expedition had lost 
 its charm for the young man.
 
 34 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " I Ihink it is useless ; what say you, Willis ?" 
 
 " Ah," said the latter, taking Becker by the hand, " in 
 consideration of the eight days' friendship that connects 
 you even more intimately with Captain Littlestone than 
 my affection for him of twenty years' standing, keep still 
 a few miles to the east." 
 
 "If the sloop has been driven to a distance by the storm, 
 and is returning towards us, which is very likely, I do not 
 see that we can be of much use." 
 
 " But if dismasted and leaky ?" 
 
 " That would alter the case, only I am afraid the ladies 
 will be uneasy about us." 
 
 " But they were half prepared, father." 
 
 "Jack is right," added Fritz, whose energies were 
 again called into play by the thought of the Nelson in 
 distress ; " let us go on." 
 
 " Besides, on the word of a pilot, the sea will be very 
 calm and gentle for some time to come : there is not the 
 slightest danger." 
 
 " And what if there were ?" replied Fritz. 
 
 " Well, Willis, I shall give up the pinnace to you till 
 dark," said Becker, " and may God guide us ; we shall 
 return to-night, so as to arrive at Rockhouse early in the 
 morning." 
 
 " Hurrah for the captain !" cried Willis, throwing a cap 
 into the air. 
 
 The evolutions of a cap, thrown up towards the sky or 
 down upon the ground, were very usual modes with Willis 
 of expressing his joy or sorrow. 
 
 This homage rendered to Becker, he hastened to let a 
 reef out of the sheet, and -the pinnace, for a moment at 
 rest, redoubled its speed, like post-horses starting from the 
 inn-door under the combined influence of a cheer from the 
 postillion and a flourish of the whip. 
 
 " There is a cockle-shell that skips along pretty fairly," 
 said Willis ; " but it wants two very important things." 
 
 "What things?" 
 
 " A caboose and a nigger." 
 
 " A caboose and a nigger ?" 
 
 " Yes, I mean a pantry and a cook ; a gale for breakfast
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 35 
 
 is all very well, one gets used to it, it is light and easily 
 digested ; but the same for dinner is rather too much of a 
 good thing in one day." 
 
 " I observed your thoughtful mother hang a sack on one 
 of your shoulders, which appeared tolerably well filled 
 where is it?" 
 
 "Here it is," said Jack, issuing frcm the hatchway; 
 " here are our stores : a ham, two Dutch cheeses, two 
 callabashes full of Rockhouse malaga, and there is plenty 
 of fresh water in the gourds ; with these, we have where- 
 withal to defy hunger till to-morrow." 
 
 " Capital !" said Willis. 
 
 This time, however, a cap did not appear in the air, as 
 the last one had not been seen since the former ovation. 
 
 " Let us lay the table," said Jack, arranging the coils 
 of rope that crowded the deck. " Well, you see, Willis, 
 we want for nothing on board the pinnace, not even a 
 what-do-you-call-it ?" 
 
 " A caboose, Master Jack." 
 
 " Well, not even a caboose." 
 
 "Quite true; and if the Nelson were in the offing, I 
 would not exchange my pilot's badge for the epaulettes of 
 a commodore ; but, alas ! she is not there." 
 
 "Cheer up, Willis, cheer up; one is either a man or one 
 is not. What is the good of useless regrets?" 
 
 " Very little, but it is hard to be yard-armed while 
 absent at my time of life and afterwards your health, 
 Mr. Becker." 
 
 "That would be hard at any age, Willis; but I rather 
 think it has not come to that yet." 
 
 " When it has come to it, there will be very little time 
 left to talk it over." 
 
 " Did you not say, brother, that the Nelson might hear 
 our signals without our hearing hers ? If so, there is a 
 chance for Willis yet." 
 
 " Certainly, Jack, because she has the wind in her 
 favor to act as a speaking-trumpet, whilst we had it 
 against us acting as a deafener." 
 
 "Is there any other influence that affects sound besides 
 the wind?"
 
 36 WILLIS mii PILOT. 
 
 "Yes, I have already mentioned that temperature has 
 something to do with it. Sound varies in intensity 
 according to the state of the atmosphere. If, for example, 
 we ring a small bell in a closed vessel filled with air, it 
 has been observed that, as the air is withdrawn by the 
 pump, the sound gradually grows less and less distinct." 
 
 " And if a vacuum be formed ? " 
 
 " Then the sound is totally extinguished." 
 
 " So, then," objected Willis, " if two persons were to 
 talk in what you call a vacuum, they would not hear each 
 other ? " 
 
 " Two persons could not talk in a vacuum," replied 
 Ernest. 
 
 " Why not ? " 
 
 " Because they would die as soon as they opened their 
 mouths." 
 
 "Ah, that alters the case." 
 
 " If, on the contrary, a quantity of air or gas were com- 
 pressed into a space beyond what it habitually held, then 
 the sound," continued Ernest, "would be more intense 
 than if the air were free." 
 
 " In that case a whisper would be equal to a howl ! " 
 
 " You think I am joking, Willis ; but on the tops of 
 high mountains, such as the Himalaya and Mont Blanc, 
 where the air is much rarified, voices are not heard at the 
 distance of two paces." 
 
 "Awkward for deaf people!" 
 
 ''Whilst, on the icy plains of the frozen regions, where 
 the air is condensed by the severe cold, a conversation, 
 held in the ordinary tone, may be easily carried on at the 
 distance of half a league." 
 
 "Awkward for secrets ! " 
 
 " And how does sound operate with regard to solid 
 bodies ? " inquired Jack. 
 
 '* According to the degree of elasticity possessed by their 
 veins or fibres." 
 
 " Explain yourself." 
 
 " That is, solid bodies, whose structure is such that the 
 vibration communicated to some of their atoms circulates 
 through the mass, are susceptible of conveying sound."
 
 WILLIS THIS PILOT. 37 
 
 " Give us an instance." 
 
 " Apply your ear to one end of a long beam, and you 
 will hear distinctly the stroke of a pin's head on the other; 
 whilst the same stroke will scarcely be heard through the 
 breadth of the wood." 
 
 " So that, in the first case, the sound runs along the lon- 
 gitudinal fibres where the contiguity of parts is closer, than 
 when the body is taken transversely?" 
 
 " Just so." 
 
 "And across water?" 
 
 " It is heard, but more feebly." 
 
 For some time Fritz had been closely observing with 
 the telescope a particular part of the horizon, when all at 
 once he cried, " This time I see him distinctly ; he is bear- 
 ing down upon us." 
 
 " Who ? the sloop ? " cried "Willis, starting up and let- 
 ting fall the glass he had in his hand. 
 
 " What an extraordinary pace ! he bounds into the air, 
 then plumps into the water, then leaps up again, just like 
 an India-rubber ball, that touches the ground only to take 
 a fresh spring ! " 
 
 " Impossible, Master Fritz ; the Nelson tops the waves 
 honestly and gallantly ; but as to leaping into the air, she 
 is a little too bulky for that." 
 
 " Ah, poor Willis, it is not the Nelson that is under my 
 glass at present, but an enormous fish, ten or twelve feet 
 in length." 
 
 " Oh, how you startled me ! " 
 
 " Father ! Ernest ! prepare to fire ! Jack, the harpoon ! 
 he is coming this way." 
 
 Fritz stood at the stern of the pinnace, his rifle levelled, 
 following with his eyes the movements of the monster ; 
 when within reach, he fired with so much success and 
 address that he hit the creature on the head. It then 
 changed its course, leaving behind a train of blood. 
 
 " Let us after him, Willis ; quick ! " 
 
 The Pilot turned the head of the pinnace, and Jack im- 
 mediately threw his harpoon. 
 
 " Struck ! " cried he joyfully. 
 
 By the hissing of the line, and then the rapid impulsion 
 4
 
 38 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 of the pinnace, it was felt that the monster had more 
 strength than the craft and its crew together. 
 
 Ernest and fus father fired at the same time ; the ball 
 of the former was lost in the animal's flesh, that of the 
 latter rebounded off a horny protuberance that armed the 
 monster's upper lip. 
 
 Fritz had time to recharge his rifle ; he levelled it a 
 second time, and the ball went to join the former ; but, 
 for all that, the pinnace continued to cleave the water at a 
 furious rate. 
 
 Becker seized an axe and cut the rope. 
 
 " Oh, father, what a pity ! such a splendid capture for 
 our museum of natural history ! " 
 
 " It is a sword-fish, children ; a monster of a dangerous 
 species, and of extreme voracity. If, by way of reciproc- 
 ity, the fish have a museum at the bottom of the sea, they 
 will have some fine specimens of the human race that have 
 become the prey of this creature ; and it may be that we 
 were on the way to join the collection." 
 
 " Did you observe the formidable dentilated horn ? " 
 
 " It is by means of this horn or sword, from which it 
 takes its name, that it wages a continual war with the 
 whale, whose only mode of escape is by flourishing its 
 enormous tail ; but the sword-fish, being very agile, easily 
 avoids this, bounds into the air as Fritz saw it doing just 
 now, then, falling down upon its huge adversary, pierces 
 him with its sword." 
 
 " By the way, talking about the whale," said Jack, " all 
 naturalists seem agreed, and we ourselves are convinced 
 from our own observation, that its throat is very narrow, 
 and that it can only swallow molluscs, or very small fishes 
 what, in that case, becomes of the history of Jonah? " 
 
 " It is rather unfortunate," replied Becker, " that the 
 whale has been associated with this miracle. There i.s 
 now no possibility of separating the whale from Jonah, or 
 Jonah from the whale ; yet, in the Greek translation of the 
 Chaldean text, there is Ketos in the Latin, there is Cete 
 and both these words were understood by the ancients 
 to signify a fish of enormous size, but not the whale in
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 89 
 
 particular. The shark, for example, can swallow a man, 
 and even a horse, without mangling it." 
 
 " I have heard," said Jack, " of navigators who have 
 landed on the back of a whale, and walked about on it, 
 supposing it a small island." 
 
 "There is nothing impossible about that," observed 
 Willis. 
 
 " One thing is certain, that we had just now within reach 
 a sea monster who has carried off four leaden bullets in 
 his body without seeming to be in the least inconvenienced 
 by them ; on the contrary, he seemed to move all the 
 quicker for the dose." 
 
 " Life is a very different thing with those fellows than 
 with us. The carp is said to live two hundred years, and 
 it is supposed that a whale might live for ten centuries if 
 the harpoon did not come in the way to shorten the period." 
 
 "Ah !" exclaimed Willis, with a sigh that might have 
 moved a train of waggons, " these fellows have no cares." 
 
 " And the ephemeride, that dies an instant after its birth, 
 do you suppose that it dies of grief?" 
 
 " Who knows, Master Jack ?" 
 
 " The ephemeride does not die so quickly as you think," 
 said Becker ; " it commences by living three years under 
 water in the form of a maggot. It afterwards becomes 
 amphibious, when it has a horny covering, on which the 
 rudiments of wings may be observed. Then, four or five 
 months after this first metamorphosis, generally in the 
 month of August, it issues from its skin, almost as rapidly 
 as we throw off a jacket ; attached to the rejected skin are 
 the teeth, lips, horns, and all the apparatus that the crea- 
 ture required as a water insect ; then it is no sooner 
 winged, gay, and beautiful, than, as you observe, it dies 
 hence it is called the day-fly, its existence being termi- 
 nated by the shades of night." 
 
 " I was certain of it," said Willis. 
 
 " Certain of what ? " 
 
 " That it died of grief at being on land. When one has 
 been accustomed to the water, you see, under such circum- 
 stances life is not worth the having." 
 
 "The day-fly," continued Becker, "is an epitome of
 
 40 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 those men who spend a life-time hunting after wealth and 
 glory, and who perish themselves at the moment they 
 reach the pinnacle of their ambitious desires. Whence I 
 conclude, my dear children, that there are nothing but 
 beginnings and endings of unhappiness in this world, and 
 that true felicity is only to be hoped for in another sphere." 
 
 " What a curious series of transformations ! First an 
 aquatic insect, next amphibious, then throwing away the 
 organs for which it has no further use, and becoming pro- 
 Tided with those suited to its new state ! " 
 
 " Yes, my dear Fritz ; and yet those complicated and 
 beautiful operations of Nature have not prevented philo- 
 sophers from asserting that the world resulted from floating 
 atoms, which, by force of combination, and after an infinity 
 of blind movements, conglomerate into plants, animals, 
 men, heaven, and earth." 
 
 " I am only a plain sailor," said Willis " yet the eye of 
 a worm teaches me more than these philosophers seem to 
 have imagined in their philosophy." 
 
 " Such a system could only have originated in Bedlam 
 or Charenton." 
 
 " No, Ernest, it is the system of Epicurus and Lucretius. 
 Without going so far back, there are a thousand others 
 quite as ridiculous, with which it is unnecessary to charge 
 your young heads." 
 
 " All madmen are not in confinement, and it may be 
 that Epicurus and Lucretius had arrived at those limits of 
 human reason, where genius begins in some and folly in 
 others." 
 
 " It is not that, Fritz ; but if men, says Malebranche 
 somewhere,* are interested in having the sides of an 
 equilateral triangle, unequal, and that false geometry was 
 as agreeable to them as false philosophy, they would make 
 the problems equally false in geometry as in morality, for. 
 this simple reason, that their errors afford them gratifica- 
 tion, whilst truth would only hurt and annoy them." 
 
 " Very good," observed Willis ; " this Malebranche, as 
 you call him, must have been an admiral ? " 
 
 * " Se<arch after Truth," book ix.
 
 WILLIS XHB PILOT. 41 
 
 ' No, Willis, nothing more than a simple philosopher, 
 but one of good faith, like Socrates, who admitted that 
 what he knew best was, that he knew nothing." 
 
 The sun had gradually disappeared in the midst of 
 purple tinged clouds, leaving along the horizon at first a 
 fringe of gold, then a simple thread, and finally nothing 
 but the reflection of his rays, sent to the earth by the 
 layers of atmosphere,* like the adieu we receive at the 
 turning of a road from a friend who is leaving us. 
 
 There was a festival in the sky that night ; the firma- 
 ment brought out, one by one, her circlet of diamonds, till 
 the whole were sparkling like a blaze of light ; the pinnace 
 also left a fiery train in her wake, caused partly by elec- 
 tricity and partly by the phosphorescent animalcuke that 
 people the ocean. 
 
 " Willis," said Becker, " I leave it entirely to you to 
 decide the instant of our return." 
 
 The Pilot changed at once the course of the boat, with- 
 out attempting to utter a word, so heavy was his heart at 
 this unsuccessful termination of the expedition. 
 
 " It will be curious," observed Frkz, " if we find the 
 Nelson, on our return, snugly at anchor in Safety Bay." 
 
 " I have a presentiment," said Jack ; " and you will see 
 that we have been playing at hide-and-seek with the 
 Nelson" 
 
 Willis shook his head. 
 
 " Are there not a thousand accidents to cause a ship to 
 deviate from her route ? " 
 
 " Yes, Master Ernest, there are typhoons, and the water- 
 spouts of which I spoke to you before. In such cases, 
 ships often deviate from their route, but generally by going 
 to the bottom." 
 
 Willis concluded this sentence with a gesture that defies 
 description, implying annihilation. 
 
 " Remember Admiral Socrates, Willis," said Jack ; 
 " what I know best is, that I know nothing, and avow that 
 God has other means of accomplishing his decrees besides 
 typhoons and waterspouts/' 
 
 * ^'i* twilight is entirely owing to this.
 
 42 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " My excellent young friends, I know you want to in- 
 spire me with hope, as they give a toy to a child to keep 
 it from crying, and I thank you for your good intentions. 
 Now, for three days you have, so to speak, had no rest, 
 and I insist on your profiting by this night to take some 
 repose ; and you also, Mr. Becker ; I am quite able to 
 manage the pinnace alone." 
 
 " Yes providing you do not play us some trick, like 
 that of this morning, for instance." 
 
 "All stratagems are justifiable in war. Master Ernest 
 had fair warning that I had an idea to work out. Besides, 
 a prisoner, when under hatches, has the right to escape if 
 he can : under parole, the case is quite different." 
 
 "Well, Willis, if you give me your simple promise to 
 steer straight for New Switzerland, and awake me in two 
 hours to take the bearings " 
 
 " I give it, Mr. Becker." 
 
 The three Greenlanders then descended into the hold, 
 for tropical nights are as chilly as the days are hot, and 
 Becker, rolling himself up in a sail, lay on deck. 
 
 In less than five minutes they were all fast asleep, and 
 Willis paced the deck, his arms crossed, and mechanically 
 gazing upon a star that was mirrored in the water. 
 
 " Several years to come to us, and that at the rate of 
 seventy thousand leagues a second that is a little too 
 much." 
 
 Then he went to the rudder, his head leaning upon his 
 breast, and glancing now and then with distracted eye at 
 the course of the boat, buried in a world of thought, sad 
 and confused, doubtless beholding in succession visions of 
 the Nelson, of Susan, and of Scotland.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A LANDSCAPE SAD HOUSES AND SMILING HOUSES POLITE- 
 NESS IN CHINA EIGHT SOUPS AT DESSERT WIND HER 
 
 CHANTS ANOTHER IDEA OP THE PILOT'S SUSAN, VICB 
 6OPHIA. 
 
 TOWARDS five o'clock next morning everything about 
 Rockhouse was beginning to assume life and motion 
 within, all its inhabitants were already astir without, 
 little remained of the recent storm and inundation except 
 that refreshing coolness, which, conjointly with the purified 
 air, infuses fresh vigor, not only into men, but also into 
 every living thing. The citrons, the aloes, and the Spanish 
 jasmines perfumed the landscape. The flexible palms, 
 the tall bananas, with their umbrageous canopy, the broad, 
 pendant-leaved mangoes, and all the rank but luxuriant 
 vegetation that clothed the land to the water's edge, waved 
 majestically under the gentle breeze that blew from the 
 sea. The Jackal River unfolded its silvery band through 
 the roses, bamboos, and cactii that lined its banks. The 
 sun for that luminary plays an important part in all 
 Nature's festivals darted its rays on the soil still charged 
 with vapor. Diamond drops sparkled in the cups of the 
 flowers and on the points of the leaves. In the distance, 
 pines, cedars, and richly-laden cocoa-nut trees filled up the 
 background with their dark foliage. The swans displayed 
 their brilliant plumage on the lake, the boughs of the trees 
 were alive with parroquets and other winged creatures of 
 the tropics. Add to the charms of this scene, Mrs. Becker 
 returning from the prairie with a jar of warm, frothy milk 
 Mrs. Wolston and Mary busied in a multiplicity of 
 household occupations, to which their white hands and 
 ringing voices gave elegance and grace Sophia tying a 
 rose to the neck of a Hue antelope which she had adopted
 
 44 WILLIS THK PILOT. 
 
 as a companion Frank distributing food to the ostriches 
 and large animals, and admit, if there is a paradise on 
 eai'th, it was this spot. 
 
 Compare this scene .with that presented by any of our 
 large cities at the same hour in the morning. In London 
 or Paris, our dominion rarely extends over two or three 
 dreary-looking rooms a geranium, perhaps, at one of 
 the windows to represent the fields and green lanes of the 
 country ; above, a forest of smoking chimneys vary the 
 monotony of the zig-zag roofs ; below, a thousand confused 
 noises of waggons, cabs, and the hoarse voices of the street 
 criers ; probably the lamps are just being extinguished, 
 and the dust heaps carted away, filling our rooms, and 
 perhaps our eyes, with ashes; the chalk-milk, the air, and 
 the odors are scarcely required to fill up the picture. 
 
 Breakfast was spread a few paces from Mr. Wolston's 
 bed, whom the two young girls were tending with anxious 
 solicitude, and whose sickness was almost enviable, so 
 many were the cares lavished upon him. 
 
 "You are wrong, Mrs. Becker," said Mrs. Wolston, "to 
 make yourself uneasy, the sea has become as smooth as a 
 mirror since their departure." 
 
 " Ah, yes, I know that, my dear Mrs. Wolston, but 
 when one has already undergone the perils of shipwreck, 
 the impression always remains, and makes us see storms 
 in a glass of water." 
 
 "I am certain," remarked Mr. Wolston, "the cause of 
 their delay is a concession made to Willis." 
 
 " Very likely he would not consent to return, unless 
 they went as far as possible." 
 
 " By the way, madam," said Mary, " now that you have 
 got two great girls added to your establishment, I hope 
 you-are going to make them useful in some way we can 
 sew, knit, and spin." 
 
 " And know how to make preserves," added Sophia. 
 
 " Yes, and to eat them too," said her mother. 
 
 " If you can spin, my dears, we shall find plenty of 
 work for you; we have here the Nankin cotton plant, and 
 I intend to dress the whole colony with it." 
 
 " Delightful !" exclaimed Sophia, clapping her hands ;
 
 "WILLIS THE PILOT. 45 
 
 " Nankin dresses just as at the boarding-school, with a 
 straw hat and a green veil." 
 
 "To be sure, it must be woven first," reflected Mrs. 
 Becker; "but I dare say we shall be able to manage 
 that." 
 
 "By the way, girls," said Mrs. Wolston, "have you 
 forgotten your lessons in tapestry ?" 
 
 " Not at all, mamma ; and now that we think of it, we 
 shall handsomely furnish a drawing-room for you." 
 
 "But where are the tables and chairs to come from?" 
 inquired Mrs. Becker. 
 
 "Oh, the gentlemen will see to .them." 
 
 "And the room, where is that to be?" 
 
 "There is the gallery, is there not ?" 
 
 "And the wool for the carpet?" 
 
 "Have you not sheep?" 
 
 "That is true, children ; you speak as if we had only to 
 go and sit down in it." 
 
 " The piano, however, I fear will be wanting, unless we 
 can pick up an Erard in the neighboring forest." 
 
 "True, mamma, all the overtures that we have had so 
 much trouble in learning will have to go for nothing." 
 
 "But," said Mrs. Becker, "by way of compensation, 
 there is the vegetable and fruit garden, the pantry, the 
 kitchen, the dairy, and the poultry yard ; these are all my 
 charges, and you may have some of them if you like." 
 
 " Excellent, each shall have her own kingdom and 
 subjects." 
 
 " It being understood," suggested Mrs. Wolston, " that 
 you are not to eat everything up, should the fruit garden 
 or pantry come under your charge." 
 
 " That is not fair, mamma; you are making us out to be 
 a couple of cannibals." 
 
 "You see," continued Mrs. Wolston, "these young 
 people have not the slightest objection to my parading 
 their accomplishments, but the moment I touch their faults 
 they feel aggrieved." 
 
 " I am persuaded," rejoined Mrs. Becker laughing, 
 " that there are no calumniators' in the world like mothers." 
 
 " Therefore, mamma, to punish you we shall come and 
 kiss you."
 
 46 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 And accordingly Mrs. Wolston was half stifled under 
 the embraces of her two daughters. 
 
 " I am certainly not the offender," said Mrs. Becker, 
 ''but I should not object to receive a portion of the 
 punishment; these great boys pointing to Frank are 
 too heavy to hang on my neck now ; you will replace 
 them, my dears, will you not?" 
 
 " Most willingly, madam ; but not to deprive them 01 
 their places in your affection." 
 
 " In case you should lose that, Master Frank," said Mrs. 
 Wolston, " you must have recourse to mine." 
 
 " But now, my friends, what do you say to going down 
 to the shore to meet the pinnace, and perhaps the Nelson ?" 
 said Mrs. Becker. 
 
 "Ah, yes," said Sophia; "and I will stay at home to 
 wait upon father." 
 
 "No," said Mary; "I am the eldest that is my right." 
 
 " Well, my children, do not quarrel about that," said 
 Wolston; ''I feel rather better; and I dare say a walk 
 will do me good. Perhaps, when I get tired, Frank will 
 lend me his arm." 
 
 " Better than that," hastily added Frank ; " I shall 
 saddle Blinky; and lead him gently, and you will be as 
 comfortable as in an arm-chair." 
 
 " What is that you call Blinky ?" 
 
 " Oh, one of our donkeys." 
 
 " Ah, very good ; I was afraid you meant one of your 
 ostriches, and 1 candidly admit that my experiences in 
 equitation do not extend to riding a winged horse." 
 
 " In that case," said Mrs. Becker, " to keep Blinky 's 
 brother from being jealous, I shall charge him with a 
 basket of provisions; and we shall lay a cloth under the 
 mangoes, so that our ocean knights, as Jack will have it, 
 may have something to refresh themselves withal as soon 
 as they dismount." 
 
 The little caravan was soon on the march ; the two dogs 
 cleared the way, leaping, bounding, and scampering on 
 before, sniffing the bushes with their intelligent noses; 
 then, returning to their master, they read in his face what 
 was next to be done. Mary walked by the side of Blinky,
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 47 
 
 amusing her father with her prattle. Sophia, with her 
 antelope, was gambolling around them, the one rivalling 
 the other in the grace of their movements, not only with- 
 out knowing it, but rather because they did not know it. 
 The two mothers were keeping an eye on the donkey; 
 whilst Frank, with his rifle charged, was ready to bring 
 down a quail or encounter a hyena. 
 
 Some hours after the pinnace hove in sight, the voyagers 
 landed, and received the warm congratulations of those on 
 shore. When Willis had secured the boat, he took a final 
 survey of the coast, penetrating with his eyes every creek 
 and crevice. 
 
 " Is there no trace of the Nelson ?" inquired Wolston. 
 
 " None !" 
 
 " Well, I had all along thought you would find it so ; 
 the wind for four days has been blowing that it would 
 drive the Nelson to her destination. Captain Littlestone, 
 being charged with important despatches, having already 
 lost a fortnight here, has, no doubt, taken advantage of the 
 gale, and made sail for the Cape, trusting to find us all 
 alive here on his return voyage." 
 
 " Yes," said the Pilot, " I know very well that you have 
 all good hearts, and that you are desirous of giving me all 
 the consolation you can." 
 
 "Would you not have acted, under similar circum- 
 stances, precisely as we suppose Captain Littlestone to 
 have done ?" 
 
 "I admit that the thing is not only possible, but also 
 that, if alive, it is just what he would have done. I trust, 
 if it be so, that when he gets into port he will report me 
 keel-hauled ?" 
 
 " Keel-hauled?" 
 
 " Yes, I mean dead. It is a thousand times better to 
 pass for a dead man than a deserter." 
 
 " The wisest course he could pursue, it appears to me, 
 would be to hold his tongue probably you will not be 
 missed." 
 
 "Ah! you think that her Majesty's blue jackets can 
 disappear in that way, like musk-rats? But no such 
 thing. When the captain in command at the station hails 
 on board, every man and boy of the crew, from the
 
 48 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 powder-monkey to the first-lieutenant, are mustered in 
 pipe-clay on the quarter-deck, and there, with the ship's 
 commission in his hand, every one must report himself as 
 he calls over the names. 
 
 " Then the captain will tell the simple truth." 
 
 " Well, you see, truth has nothing at all to do with the 
 rules of the service, the- questions printed in the orderly- 
 book only will be asked, and he may not have an oppor- 
 tunity of stating the facts of the case ; besides, discipline 
 on board a ship in commission could not be maintained if 
 irregularities could be patched up by a few words from the 
 captain. "When it is found that 1 had been left on shore, 
 the questions will be, ' Was the Nelson in want of repairs?' 
 'No.' ' Did she require water ?' 'No.' 'Provisions?' 
 'No.' 'Then Willis has deserted?' 'Yes.' And his 
 condemnation will follow as a matter of course." 
 
 " In that case, the Captain would be more to blame than 
 you are." 
 
 " So he would, and it is for that reason I hope he will 
 be able to show by the log that I was seized with cholera, 
 tied up in a sack, and duly thrown overboard with a four- 
 pound shot for ballast." 
 
 " I cannot conceive," said Becker, " that the discipline 
 of any service can be so cruelly unreasonable as you would 
 have us believe." 
 
 " No, perhaps you think that just before the anchor is 
 heaved, and the ship about to start on a long voyage, the 
 cabin boys are asked whether they have the colic that 
 lubbers, who wish to back out have only to say the word, 
 and they are free that the pilot may go a-hunting if he 
 likes, and that the officers may stay on shore and amuse 
 themselves in defiance of the rules of the service ? In that 
 case the navy would be rather jolly, but not much worth." 
 
 When Willis was once fairly started there was no stop- 
 ping him. 
 
 " Dead," he continued; "that is to say, without a berth, 
 pay, or even a name, nothing ! My wife will have the 
 right to marry again, my little Susan will have another 
 father, and I shall only be able to breathe by stealth, and 
 to consider that as more than I deserve. You must admit 
 that all this is rather a poor look-out a-head."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 49 
 
 " Really, Willis," said Mrs. Wolston, w you seem to take 
 a pride in making things worse than they are, conjuring 
 up phantoms that have no existence." 
 
 " It is true, madam, I may be going upon a wrong tack. 
 Judging from all appearances, the sloop, instead of being 
 on her way to the Cape, is tranquilly reposing at the bot- 
 tom of the sea. But it is only death for death ; hanged 
 by a court-martial or drowned with the sloop, it comes, in 
 the end, to the same thing." 
 
 " I dare say, Willis, had there really been an accident, 
 and you had been on board, you would not have felt your- 
 self entitled to escape?" 
 
 " Certainly not, madam ; unless the crew could be saved, 
 it would look anything but well for the pilot to escape alone." 
 
 Willis, however, to do him justice, seemed trying to 
 smother his grief; and, in the meanwhile, the two girls 
 had been spreading a pure white cloth on a neighboring 
 rock, cutting fruit plates out of the thick mangoe leaves, 
 cooling the Rockhouse malaga in the brook, and giving to 
 the repast an air of elegance and refinement which had the 
 effect of augmenting the appetite of the company. The 
 viands were not better than they had been on many similar 
 occasions, but they were now more artistically displayed, 
 and consequently more inviting. 
 
 Who has not remarked, in passing through a street of 
 dingy-looking houses, one of them distinguished from the 
 others by its fresh and cheerful aspect, the windows gar- 
 nished with a luxuriant screen of flowers, with curtains on 
 either side of snowy whiteness and elaborate workmanship? 
 Very likely the passer-by has asked himself, Why is this 
 house not as neglected, tattered, and dirty as its wretched 
 neighbors ? The answer is simple ; there dwells in this 
 house a young girl, blithe, frolicsome, and joyous, singing 
 with the lark, and, like a butterfly, floating from her book 
 to her work-box from her mother's cheek to her father's, 
 leaving an impress of her youthfulness and purity on what- 
 ever she touches. 
 
 For a like reason the al fresco dinner of this day had a 
 charm that no such feast had been observed to possess 
 before. 
 
 5
 
 50 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " We are not presentable," said Fritz, referring to hie 
 seal-gut uniform. 
 
 "Ah," replied Mrs. "Wolston, " it is your costume of war, 
 brave knights ; and, for my part, I admire you more in it 
 than in the livery of Hyde Park or Bond Street." 
 
 " In that case," said Ernest, " we shall do as they do in 
 China." 
 
 " And what is that ? " 
 
 " Well, the most profound remark of respect a host can 
 pay to his guests, is to go and dress after dinner." 
 
 " Just when they are about to leave ? " 
 
 " Exactly so, madam." 
 
 " That is very decidedly a Chinese observance. Are 
 they not somewhat behind in cookery ? " 
 
 " By no means, madam ; on the contrary, they have 
 attained a very high degree of perfection in that branch 
 of the arts. It is customary, at every ceremonious dinner, 
 to serve up fifty-two distinct dishes. And when that course 
 is cleared off, what do you think is produced next ? " 
 
 " The dessert, I suppose." 
 
 " Eight kinds of soup, never either one more or one less. 
 If the number were deficient, the guests would consider 
 themselves grossly insulted, the number of dishes denoting 
 the degree of respect entertained by the host for his 
 guests." 
 
 "I beg, Mrs. Wolston," said Mrs. Becker laughing, 
 " that you will not estimate our esteem for you by the 
 dinner we offer you." 
 
 " Well," replied Mrs. Wolston in the same tone, " let 
 me see; to be treated as we ought to be, there are fifty- 
 seven dishes wanting, therefore we must go and dine at 
 home. John, call my carriage." 
 
 At this sally they all laughed heartily, and even Willis 
 chimed in with the general hilarity. 
 
 " Then, after the soups," continued Ernest, " comes the 
 tea, and with that the dessert, as also sixty square pieces 
 of silver paper to wipe the mouth. It is then that the host 
 vanishes, to reappear in a brilliant robe of gold brocade 
 and a vest of satin." 
 
 " These people ought all to perish of indigestion."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 51 
 
 " No ; they are moderate eaters, their dishes consist of 
 small saucers, each containing only a few mouthfuls of 
 meat, and, as for Europeans, the want of forks and "spoons 
 
 " What ! have they no forks ? " 
 
 " Not at table nor knives either ; but, on the other 
 hand, they are exceedingly expert in the use of two slender 
 sticks of ivory, which they hold in the first three fingers of 
 the right hand, and with which they manage to convey 
 solids, and even liquids, to their mouths." 
 
 "Ah! I see," said Jack; "the Europeans would be 
 obliged, like Mrs. Wolston, to call their carriage, in spite 
 of the fifty-two saucers of meat : it puts me in mind of the 
 stork inviting the fox to dine with her out of a long-necked 
 jar." 
 
 " We are apt to judge the Chinese by the pictures seen 
 of them on their own porcelain, and copied upon our pot- 
 tery," said Becker ; " but this conveys only a ludicrous 
 idea of them. They are the most industrious, but at the 
 same time the vainest, most stupid, and most credulous 
 people in the world ; they worship the moon, fire, fortune, 
 and a thousand other things ; people go about amongst 
 them selling wind, which they dispose of in vials of vari- 
 ous sizes." 
 
 " That is a trade that will not require an extraordinary 
 amount of capital." 
 
 " True ; and besides, as they carry on their trade in the 
 open air, they have no rent to pay." 
 
 " Their bonzes or priests," continued Becker, " to excite 
 charity, perambulate the streets in chains, sometimes with 
 some inflammable matter burning on their heads, whilst, 
 instead of attempting to purify the souls of dying sinners, 
 they put rice and gold in their mouths when the vital 
 spark has fled. They have a very cruel mode of punish- 
 ing renegade Lamas : these are pierced through the neck 
 with a red-hot iron." 
 
 " What is a Lama, father? " 
 
 *>' It is a designation of the Tartar priests." 
 
 For some time Willis had been closely examining a par- 
 ticular point in the bay with increasing anxiety ; at last he 
 ran towards the shore and leapt into the sea. Becker and
 
 52 WILLIS THB PILOT. 
 
 his four sons were on the point of starting off in pursuit 
 of him. 
 
 " Stop," said Wolston, " I have been watching "Willis's 
 movements for the last ten minutes, and I guess his pur- 
 pose let him alone." 
 
 Willis swam to some object that was floating on the 
 water, and returned in about a quarter of an hour, bring- 
 ing with him a plank. 
 
 " Well," he inquired, on landing, " was I wrong ? " 
 
 "Wrong about what?" inquired Wolston. 
 
 " The Nelson is gone." 
 
 " The proof, Willis." 
 
 " That plank." 
 
 " Well, what about the plank ? " 
 
 " I recognise it." 
 
 " How, Willis ? " 
 
 " How ! Well," replied the obstinate pilot, " fish don't 
 breed planks, and and I scarcely think this one could 
 escape from a dockyard, and float here of its own accord." 
 
 " Then, Willis, according to you, there are no ships but 
 the Nelson, no ships wrecked but the Nelson, and no planks 
 but the Nelson's. Willis, you are a fool." 
 
 " Eveiy one has his own ideas, Mr. Wolston." 
 
 Towards evening, when they were on their way back to 
 Rockhouse, Sophia confidentially called Willis aside, and 
 he cheerfully obeyed the summons. 
 
 " Pilot," said she, " I have made up my mind about one 
 thing." 
 
 " And what is that, Miss Sophia ? " 
 
 " Why, this in future, when we are alone, as just now, 
 you must call me Susan, as you used to call your own 
 little girl when at home, not Miss Susan." 
 
 "Oh, I 'cannot do that, Miss Sophia." 
 
 " But I insist upon it." 
 
 " Well, Miss Sophia, I will try." 
 
 " What did you say ? " 
 
 "MissSus " 
 
 "What?" 
 
 " Susan, I mean."^ 
 
 " There now, that will do."
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ALLOTMENT OP QUARTERS A HORSE MARINE TRAVELLING 
 
 PLANTS CHANGE OF DYNASTY IX ENGLAND A WOMAN'S 
 
 KINGDOM SHEEP CONVERTED INTO CHOPS RESURRECTION 
 OF THE FRIED FISH A SECRET. 
 
 AFTER some days more of anxious but fruitless expecta- 
 tion, it was finally concluded that either the Nelson had 
 sailed for the Cape, or, as Willis would have it, she had 
 gone to that unexplored and dread land where there were 
 neither poles nor equator, and whence no mariner was 
 ever known to return. It was necessary, therefore, to 
 make arrangements for the surplus population of the 
 colony whether for a time or for ever, it was then ini- 
 postible to say. At first sight, it might appear easy enough 
 to provide accommodation for the eleven individuals that 
 constituted the colony of New Switzerland. It is true 
 that land might have been marked off, and each person 
 made sovereign over a territory as large as some European 
 kingdoms ; but these sovereignties would have resembled 
 the republic of St. Martin there would have been no 
 subjects. What, then, would they have governed? it may 
 be asked. Themselves, might be answered ; and it is said 
 to be a far more difficult task to govern ourselves than to 
 rule others. 
 
 Though space was ample enough as regards the colony 
 in general, it was somewhat limited as regards detail. To 
 live pele-mele in Rockhouse was entirely out of the ques- 
 tion. Independently of accommodation, a thousand rea- 
 sons of propriety opposed such an arrangement. Whether 
 or not there might be another cave in the neighborhood, 
 hollowed out by Nature, was not known ; if there were, it 
 had still to be discovered. Chance would not be chance, 
 if it were undeviating, and certain in its operations. To 
 o*
 
 54 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 consign the Wolstons to Falcon's Nest or Prospect Hill, 
 and leave them there alone, even though under the pro- 
 tection of Willis, could not be thought of; they knew 
 nothing of the dangers that would surround them, and as 
 yet they were ignorant of the topography of the island. 
 It was, therefore, requisite that both families should 
 continue in proximity, so as to aid each other in moments 
 of peril, but without, at the same time, outraging propriety, 
 or shackling individual freedom of action. Under ordinary 
 circumstances, these difficulties might have been solved by 
 taking apartments on the opposite side of the street, or 
 renting a house next door. But, alas ! the blessings of 
 landlords and poor-rates had not yet been bestowed on the 
 island. 
 
 One day after dinner, when these points were under 
 consideration, "Willis, who was accustomed to disappear 
 after each meal, no one knew why or whereto, came and 
 took his place amongst them under the gallery. 
 
 " As for myself," said the Pilot, " I do not wish to live 
 anywhere. Since I am in your house, Mr. Becker, and 
 cannot get away honestly for a quarter of an hour, I must 
 of course remain ; but as for becoming a mere dependant 
 on your bounty, that I will not suffer." 
 
 " What you say there is not very complimentary to 
 me," said Mi-. Wolston. 
 
 " Your position, Mr. Wolston, is a very different thing ; 
 besides, you are an invalid and require attention, whilst I 
 am strong and healthy, for which I ought to be thankful." 
 
 " You are not in my house," replied Becker " any more 
 than I am in yours ; the place we are in is a shelter pro- 
 vided by Providence for us all, and I venture to suppose 
 that such a host is rich enough to supply all our wants. I 
 am only the humble instrument distributing the gifts that 
 have been so lavishly bestowed on this island." 
 
 " What you say is very kind and very generous," added 
 Willis, "but I mean to provide for myself that is my 
 idea." 
 
 " And not a bad one either," continued Becker ; " but 
 how ? You are welcome here to do the work for four 
 if you like ; and then, supposing you eat for two, I will bf 
 your debtor, not you mine."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 55 
 
 " Work ! and at what ? walking about with a rifle on 
 my shoulder ; airing myself, as I am doing now under 
 your gallery, in the midst of flowers, on the banks of a 
 river : or opening my mouth for quails to jump down my 
 throat ready roasted would you call that work?" 
 
 " Look there, Willis what do you see ?" 
 
 " A bear-skin." 
 
 " Well, suppose, by way of a beginning, I were to 
 introduce you to a fine live bear, with claws and tusks to 
 match, ready to spring on you, having as much right to 
 your skin as you have to his now, were I to say to you, 
 I want that animal's skin, to make a soft couch similar to 
 the one you see yonder, would you call that work ?" 
 
 " Certainly, Mr. Becker." 
 
 " Very good, then ; it is in the midst of such labors 
 that we pass our lives. Before we fell comfortably asleep 
 on feather beds, those formidable bones which you see in 
 our museum were flying in the air ; the cup which I now 
 hold in my hand was a portion of the clay on which you 
 sit ; the canoe with which you ran away the other day 
 was a live seal ; the hats that we wear, were running about 
 the fields in the form of angola rabbits. So with every- 
 thing you see about you ; for fifteen years, excepting tie 
 Sabbath, which is our day of rest and recreation as well 
 as prayer, we have never relapsed from labor, and you 
 are at liberty to adopt a similar course, if you feel so 
 disposed." 
 
 " No want of variety," said Jack ; " if you do not like 
 the saw-pit, you can have the tannery." 
 
 " Neither are very much in my line," replied Willis. 
 
 " What then do you say to pottery ?" 
 
 " I have broken a good deal in my day." 
 
 " Yes, but there is a difference between breaking it and 
 making it." 
 
 " What appears most needful," remarked Fritz, " is, 
 three or four acres of fresh land, to double our agricultural 
 produce." 
 
 " Is land dear in these parts ?" inquired Mrs. Wolston, 
 smiling. 
 
 " It is not to be had for nothing, madam ; there is the 
 trouble of selecting it."
 
 56 WILLIS THli PILOT. 
 
 " And the labor of rendering it proluctive," added 
 Ernest. 
 
 " But how do you manage for a lawyer to convey it ? " 
 
 " I was advising Ernest to adopt that profession," said 
 Mrs. Becker ; " wills and contracts would be in harmony 
 with his studious temperament." 
 
 " At present, the question before us," said Becker, " is 
 the allotment of quarters ; in the meantime, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Wolston, with the young ladies, will continue to occupy 
 our room." 
 
 " No, no," said Wolston " that would be downright ex- 
 propriation." 
 
 " In that case the matter comes within the sphere of our 
 lawyer, and I therefore request his advice." 
 
 To this Ernest replied, by slowly examining his pockets; 
 after this operation was deliberately performed, he said, in 
 a nisi prius tone, " That he had forgotten his spectacles, 
 and consequently that it was impossible for him to look 
 into the case in the way its importance demanded, other- 
 wise he was quite of the same opinion as his learned 
 brother his father, he meant." 
 
 " And what if we refuse ? " said Mrs. Wolston. 
 
 " If you refuse, Mrs. Wolston, there is only one other 
 course to adopt." 
 
 " And what is that, Master Frank ? " 
 
 " Why, simply this," and rising, he cried out lustily, 
 " John, call M rs. Wolston's carriage." 
 
 " Ah, to such an argument as that, there can be no 
 reply ; so I see you must be permitted to do what you 
 like with us." 
 
 " Very good," continued Becker ; " then there is one 
 point decided : my wife and I will occupy the children's 
 apartment." 
 
 " And the children," said Jack, " will occupy the open 
 air. For my own part, I have no objection : that is a 
 bedroom exactly to my taste." 
 
 " Spacious," remarked Ernest. 
 
 " Well-aired," suggested Fritz. 
 
 " Hangings of blue, inlaid with stars of gold," observed 
 Frank.
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 57 
 
 " Any thing else ? " inquired Becker. 
 
 " No, father, I believe the extent of accommodation does 
 not go beyond that." 
 
 " Therefore I have decided upon something less vast, 
 but more comfortable for you ; you will go every night to 
 our villa of Falcon's Nest." 
 
 " On foot ? " 
 
 " On horseback, if you like and under the direction of 
 Willis, whom I name commander-in-chief of the cavalry." 
 
 " Of the cavalry ! " cried the sailor ; " what ! a pilot on 
 horseback ? " 
 
 " Do not be uneasy, Willis," replied Jack, " we have no 
 horses." 
 
 " Ah, well, that alters the case." 
 
 " But then we have zebras and ostriches." 
 
 " Ostriches ! worse and worse." 
 
 " Say not so, good Willis ; when once you have tried 
 Lightfoot or Flyaway, you would never wish to travel 
 otherwise : they run so fast that the wind is fairly 
 distanced, and scarcely give us time to breathe it is 
 delightful." 
 
 " Thank you, but I would rather tiy and get the canoe 
 to travel on land." 
 
 "Ah, Willis," said Fritz, "that would be an achievement 
 that would do you infinite credit if you only succeed." 
 
 " Will you allow me to make a request, Mrs. Becker?" 
 
 " Listen to Willis," said Jack, " he has an idea." 
 
 " The request I have to urge is, that you will permit 
 me to encamp on Shark's Island, and there establish a 
 lighthouse for the guidance of the Nelson, in case she 
 should return." 
 
 " What ! the commander-in-chief ol: ".avalry on an 
 island?" 
 
 " No, not of the cavalry, but of the fleet ; it is only 
 necessary for Mr. Becker to change my position into that 
 of an admiral, which will not give him much extra 
 trouble." 
 
 " I shall do so with pleasure, Willie." 
 
 " In that case, since I am an admiral, the first thing I 
 shall do, is to pardon myself for the faults I committed 
 whilst I was a pilot."
 
 58 WILLIS THE PILOT 
 
 " Capital ! " said Ernest, " that puts me in mind of Louis 
 XII., who, on ascending the throne,, said that it was not 
 for the King of France to revenge the wrongs of the 
 Duke of Orleans." 
 
 " "What, then, is to become of the boys ? I intended to 
 make you their compass on land, of course." 
 
 " The boys," cried the latter, "are willing 'to enlist as 
 seamen, and accompany the admiral on his cruise." 
 
 " You will spin yarns for us, Willis, will you not ? " 
 
 " Well, my lads, if you want a sleeping dose, I will 
 undertake to do that." 
 
 " But there are objections to this arrangement," Mrs. 
 Becker hastily added. 
 
 " What are they, mother ? " 
 
 " In the first place, a storm might arise some fine night 
 one of those dreadful hurricanes that continue several 
 days, like the one that terrified us so much lately and 
 then all communication would be cut off between us." 
 
 " You could always see one another." 
 
 " How so, Willis ? " 
 
 "From a distance with the telescope." 
 
 " Then," continued Mrs. Becker, " you would be a prey 
 to famine, for though the telescope, good Master Willis, 
 might enable you to see our dinner from a distance I 
 doubt whether that would prevent you dying of starvation." 
 
 " We might easily guard against that, by taking over a 
 sufficient quantity of provisions with us every night, and 
 bringing them back next morning." 
 
 " But could you carry over my kisses, Willis, and dis- 
 tribute them amongst my children every morning and 
 evening, like rations of rice ? " 
 
 " If the arrangement will really make you uneasy, Mrs 
 Becker, I give it up," said Willis, polishing with his arm 
 the surface of his oil-skin sou'-wester. 
 
 "Not at all, Willis. It is for me to give up my objec- 
 tions. Besides, I observe Miss Sophia staring at me with 
 her great eyes ; she will never forgive me for tormenting 
 her sweetheart." 
 
 " Ah ! since I have been staring at you, I have only 
 now to eat you up like the wolf in Little Red Riding-
 
 WILLIS THB PILOT. 59 
 
 hood," and in a moment her slender arms wer clasped 
 round Mrs. Becker's neck. 
 
 " Good," said Becker, " there is another point settled 
 temporarily." 
 
 " In Europe," observed Wolston, " there is nothing so 
 durable as the temporary." 
 
 " In Europe, yes, but not here. To-morrow morning 
 we shall select a tree near Falcon's Nest, and in eight days 
 you shall be permanently housed in an aerial tenement 
 close to ours, so that we may chat to each other from our 
 respective balconies." 
 
 " That will be a castle in the air a little more real than 
 those I have built in Spain." 
 
 " Then you have been in Spain, papa ? " 
 
 " Every one has been less or more in the Spain I refer 
 to, Sophy it is the land of dreams." 
 
 " And of castanets," remarked Jack. 
 
 " Then my sweetheart will be alone on his island, like 
 an exile ? " 
 
 " No, Miss Sophia, we are incapable of such ingratitude. 
 After enjoying the hospitality of Willis in Shark's Island, 
 he will surely deign to accept ours at Falcon's Nest ; so, 
 whether here or there, he shall always have four devoted 
 followers to keep him company." 
 
 The Pilot shook Fritz by the hand, at the same time 
 nearly dislocating his arm. 
 
 " I wonder why God, who is so good, has not made 
 houses grow of themselves, like pumpkins and melons?" 
 said Ernest. 
 
 " Rather a lazy idea that," said his father ; " our great 
 Parent has clearly designed that we should do something 
 for ourselves ; he has given us the acorn whence we may 
 obtain the oak." 
 
 " Nevertheless, there are uninhabited countries which 
 are gorged with vegetation the tarritory we are in, for 
 example." 
 
 " True ; but still no plant has ever sprung up anywhere 
 without a seed has been planted, either by the will of God 
 or by the hands of man. With regard, however, to the 
 distribution of vegetation in a natural state, that depends 
 more upon the soil and climate than anything else ;
 
 60 WILLIS THE JMLOT. 
 
 wherever there is a fertile soil and moist air, there seeds 
 will find their way." 
 
 " But how ?" 
 
 " The seeds of a great many plants are furnished with 
 downy filaments, which act as wings ; these are taken up 
 by the wind and carried immense distances ; others are 
 inclosed in an elastic shell, from which, when ripe, they 
 are ejected with considerable force." 
 
 " The propagation of plants that have wings or elastic 
 shells may, in that way, be accounted for ; but there are 
 some seeds that fall, by their own weight, exactly at the 
 foot of the vegetable kingdom that produce's them."*. 
 
 " It is often these that make the longest voyages." 
 
 " By what conveyance, then ?" 
 
 " Well, my son, for a philosopher, I cannot say that 
 your knowledge is very profound ; seeds that have no 
 wings borrow them." 
 
 " Not from the ant, I presume ?" 
 
 " No, not exactly ; but from the quail, the woodcock, 
 the swallow, and a thousand others, that are apparently 
 more generous than the poor ant, to which JEsop has 
 given a reputation for avarice that it will have some 
 trouble to shake off. The birds swallow the seeds, many 
 of which are covered with a hard, horny skin, that often 
 resists digestion ; these are carried by the inhabitants of 
 the air across rivers, seas, and lakes, and are deposited by 
 them in the neighborhood of their nests it may be on 
 the top of a mountain, or in the crevice of a rock." 
 
 "True, I never thought of that." 
 
 " There are a great many philosophers who know more 
 about the motions of stars than these humbler operations 
 of Nature." 
 
 " You are caught there," said Jack. 
 
 " There are philosophers, too, who can do nothing but 
 ridicule the knowledge of others." 
 
 " Caught you there," retaliated Ernest. 
 
 " It was in this way that a bird of the Moluccas has 
 restored the clove tree to the islands of this archipelago, 
 in spite of the Dutch, who destroyed them everywhere, in 
 order that they might enjoy the monopoly of the trade."
 
 WILLIS THK PILOT. 61 
 
 
 
 " Still, I must fall back upon my original idea ; by 
 sowing a brick, we ought to reap a wall." 
 
 ' And if a wall, a house," suggested another of the 
 young men. 
 
 " Or if a turret, a castle," proposed a third. 
 
 "'Or a hall to produce a palace," remarked the fourth. 
 
 "There are four wishes worthy. of the four heads that 
 produced them ! What do you think of those four great 
 boys, Mrs. Wolston ?" 
 
 " Well, madam, as they are wishing, at any rate they 
 may as well wish that chinchillas and marmots wore their 
 fur in the form of boas and muffs, that turkeys produced 
 perigord pies, and that the fish were drawn out of the sea 
 ready roasted or boiled." 
 
 " Or that the sheep walked about in the form of nicely 
 grilled chops," suggested Becker. 
 
 "And you, young ladies, what would you wish?" 
 
 Mary, who was now beyond the age of dolls, and was 
 fast approaching the period of young womanhood, felt that 
 it was a duty incumbent upon her to be more reserved 
 than her sister, and rarely took part in the conversation, 
 unless she was directly addressed, ceased plying her needle, 
 and replied, smiling, 
 
 "I wish I could make some potent elixir in the same 
 way as gooseberry wine, that would restore sick people to 
 health, then I would give a few drops to my father, and 
 make him strong and well, as he used to be." 
 
 " Thank you for the intention, my dear child." 
 
 " And you, Miss Sophia ? It is your turn." 
 
 " I wish that all the little children were collected 
 together, and that every papa and mamma could pick out 
 their own from amongst them." 
 
 Here Willis took out his pocket-handkerchief and 
 appeared to be blowing his nose, it being an idea of his 
 that a sailor ought not to be caught with a tear in his eye. 
 
 " Now then, Willis, we must have a wish from you." 
 
 " I wish three things : that there had not been a 
 hurricane lately, that canoes could be converted into three 
 masters, and that Miss Sophia may be Queen of Eng- 
 land." 
 
 6
 
 62 \TILLI8 THE PILOT. 
 
 " Granted," cried Jack. 
 
 And laying hold of a wreath of violets that the young 
 girl had been braiding, he solemnly placed it on her head. 
 
 " You will make her too vain," said Mrs. Wolston. 
 
 "Ah mamma, do not scold," and gracefully taking the 
 crown from her own fair curls, she placed it on the silvery 
 locks of her mother ; " I abdicate in your favor, and, 
 sweetheart, I thank you for placing our dynasty on the 
 throne. Mary, you are a princess." 
 
 " Yes," she replied, and here is my sceptre," holding up 
 her spindle. 
 
 " Well answered, my daughter, that is a woman's best 
 sceptre, and her kingdom is her house." 
 
 " Our conversation," said Becker, " is like those small 
 threads of water which, flowing humbly from the hollow 
 of a rock, swell into brooks, then become rivers, and, 
 finally, lose themselves in the ocean." 
 
 " It was Ernest that led us on." 
 
 " Well, it is time now to get back to your starting-point 
 again. God has said that we shall earn our bread by the 
 sweat of our brow, and consequently that our enjoyments 
 should be the result of our own industry ; that is the 
 reason that venison is given to us in the form of the swift 
 stag, and palaces in the form of clay ; man is endowed 
 with reason, and may, by labor, convert all these blessings 
 to his use." 
 
 " Your notion," said Mr. Wolston, " of drawing the 
 fish out of the sea ready cooked, puts me in mind of an 
 incident of college life which, with your permission, I will 
 relate." 
 
 " Oh yes, papa, a story !" 
 
 " There was at Cambridge, when I was there, a young 
 man, who, instead of study and sleep, spent his days 
 and nights in pistol practice and playing on the French 
 horn, much to the annoyance of an elderly maiden lady, 
 who occupied the apartments that were immediately under 
 his own." 
 
 " These are inconveniences that need not be dreaded 
 here." 
 
 " Our police are too strict."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 63 
 
 " And our young men too well-bred," added Mrs. 
 Wolston. 
 
 " Not only that," continued Mr. Wolston, " this young 
 student, who never thought of study, had a huge, shaggy 
 Newfoundland dog, and the old lady possessed a chubby 
 little pug, which she was intensely fond of; now, when 
 these two brutes happened to meet on the stairs, the large 
 one, by some accident or other, invariably sent the little 
 one rolling head over heels to the bottom ; and, much to 
 the horror of the old lady, her favorite, that commenced* 
 its journey down stairs with four legs, had sometimes to 
 make its way up again with three." 
 
 " I always understood that dogs were generous animals, 
 and would not take advantage of an animal weaker than 
 themselves ; our dogs would not have acted so." 
 
 " Well, perhaps the dog was not quite so much to blame 
 in these affairs as its master ; besides, in making advances 
 to its little friend, it might not have calculated its own 
 force." 
 
 " Yes, and perhaps might have been sorry afterwards 
 for the mischief it had done." 
 
 "Very likely; still the point was never clearly ex- 
 plained, and, whether or no, the elderly lady could not 
 put up with this sort of thing any longer ; she complained 
 so often and so vigorously, that her troublesome neighbor 
 was served in due form with a notice to quit. The young 
 scapegrace was determined to be revenged in some way 
 on the party who was the cause of his being so summarily 
 ejected from his quarters. Now, right under his window 
 there was a globe belonging to the old lady, well filled 
 with good-sized gold fish. His eye by chance having 
 fallen upon this, and spying at the same time his fishing- 
 rod in a corner, the coincidence of vision was fatal to the 
 gold-fish ; they were very soon hooked up, rolled in 
 flour, fried, and gently let down again one by one inlo. 
 the globe." 
 
 " I should like to have seen the old lady when she first 
 became aware of this transformation ! " 
 
 " Well, one of the fish had escaped, and was floating
 
 64 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 about, evidently lamenting the fate of its finny com- 
 panions." 
 
 " It was very cruel," observed Mary. 
 
 " Elderly ladies who have no family and live alone are 
 very apt to bestow upon animals the love and affection 
 that is inherent in us all." 
 
 " Which is very much to be deprecated." 
 
 "Why so, Master Frank?" 
 
 "Are there not always plenty of poor and helpless 
 human beings upon whom to bestow their love ? are there 
 not orphans and homeless creatures whom they might 
 adopt ? " 
 
 " There are ; but it requires wealth for such benevo- 
 lences, and the goddess Fortune is very capricious; whilst 
 one must be very poor indeed that cannot spare a few 
 crumbs of bread once a day. Besides, admitting that this 
 mania is blamable when carried to excess, still it must be 
 respected, for it behoves us to reverence age even in its 
 foibles." 
 
 Frank, whose nature was so very susceptible, that a 
 single grain of good seed soon ripened into a complete 
 virtue, bent his head in token of acquiescence. 
 
 " Now the old lady loved these gold-fish as the apples 
 of her eyes, and her astonishment and grief, in beholding 
 the state they were in, was indescribable." 
 
 " And yet it was a loss that might have been easily 
 repaired." 
 
 " Ah, you think so, Jack, do you ? If you were to 
 lose Knips, would the first monkey that came in your way 
 replace him in your affections ? " 
 
 " That is a very different thing I brought Knips up." 
 
 " No ; it is precisely the same thing. She had the fish 
 when they were very small, had seen them grow, spoke to 
 them, gave each of them a name, and believed them to be 
 ..endowed with a supernatural intelligence." 
 
 " Therefore, I contend the student was a savage." 
 
 " Not he, my friend, he was one of the best-hearted 
 fellows in the world : hasty, ardent, inconsiderate, lie re- 
 sisted commands and threats, but yielded readily to a tear
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 65 
 
 or a prayer. As soon as he saw the sorrowful look of the 
 old woman, lie regretted what he had done, and undertook 
 to restore the inhabitants of the globe to life." 
 
 " With what sort of magic wand did he propose to do 
 that ? " 
 
 " All the inhabitants of the house had collected round 
 the old lady and her globe, endeavoring to console her, 
 and at the same time trying to account for the pheno- 
 menon ; some ascribed the transformation to lightning, 
 others went so far as to suggest witchcraft. Our scapegrace 
 now joined the throng, took the globe in his hands, gravely 
 examined his victims, and declared, with the utmost cool- 
 ness that they were not dead. ' Not dead, sir ! are you 
 sure ? ' ' Confident, madam ; it is only a lethargy, a kind 
 of coma or temporary transformation, that will be gradually 
 shaken off; I have seen many cases of the same kind, and, 
 if proper care be taken as to air, repose, and diet, particu- 
 larly as regards the latter, your fish will be quite well 
 again to-morrow,' " 
 
 " Did she believe that ? " 
 
 " One readily believes what one wishes to be true ; be- 
 sides, in twenty-four hours, all doubt on the subject would 
 be at an end ; added to which, the young man was osten- 
 sibly a student of medicine, and had the credit in the house 
 of having cured the washerwoman's canary of a sore 
 throat." 
 
 " Well, how did he manage about the fish ? " 
 
 " Very simply ; he went and bought some exactly the 
 same size that were not in a lethargy ; he then, at the risk 
 of breaking his neck or being taken for a burglar, scaled 
 the balcony, and substituted them for the defunct. Next 
 morning, when he called to inquire after his patients, he 
 found the old lady quite joyful." 
 
 " Had she no doubts as to their identity ? " 
 
 " Well, one was a little paler and another was a trifle 
 thinner, but she was easily persuaded that this difference 
 might arise from their convalescence. The young man 
 immediately became a great favorite ; and the old lady 
 would rather have shared her own apartments with him, 
 6*
 
 6G WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 than allow him to quit the house ; he consequently re- 
 mained." 
 
 "What, then, became of the pistols and the French 
 horn ? " inquired Jack. 
 
 " From that time on there sprung up a close friendship 
 between the two ; he was induced by her to convert his 
 weapons of war into pharmacopoeas. Always, when she 
 made some nice compound of jelly and cream, he had a 
 share of it ; he, on his side, scarcely ever passed her door 
 without softening his tread ; and both himself and his dog 
 managed, eventually, to acquire the favor of the old lady's 
 pug." 
 
 " He appears to have been one of tho^e medical gentle- 
 men who profess to cure every conceivable disease by one 
 kind of medicine." 
 
 " And who generally contrive to remove both the 
 disease and the patient at the same time." 
 
 " You mistake the individual altogether ; he is now one 
 of the most esteemed physicians in London, remarkable 
 alike for his skill and benevolence. It is even strongly 
 suspected by his friends that he is not a little indebted for 
 his present eminent position to his first patients the 
 canary and the gold-fish." 
 
 It was now the usual hour for retiring to rest. After 
 the evening prayer, which Mary and Sophia said alternately 
 aloud, Willis and the four brothers prepared to start for 
 Shark's Island, to pass their first night in the store-room 
 and cattle-shed that had been erected there. Of course 
 they could not expect to be so comfortable in such quarters 
 as at Rockhouse or Falcon's Nest; but then novelty is lo 
 young people what ease is to the aged. Black bread 
 appears delicious to those who habitually eat white ; and 
 we ourselves have seen high-bred ladies delighted when 
 they found themselves compelled to dine in a wretched 
 hovel of the Tyrol true, they were certain of a luxurious 
 supper at Inspruck. So grief breaks the monotony of joy. 
 just as a rock gives repose to level plain. 
 
 Whilst the pinnace was gradually leaving the shore, 
 loaded with mattresses and other movables adapted for a
 
 WILLIS THK PILOT. 67 
 
 temporary encampment, Jack signalled a parting adieu to 
 Sophia, and, putting his fingers to his lips, seemed to enjoin 
 silence. 
 
 " All right, Master Jack," cried she. 
 
 "What is all this signalling about?" inquired Mrs. 
 Wolston. 
 
 " A secret," said the young girl, leaping with joy ; " I 
 have a secret ! " 
 
 " And with a young man ? that is very naughty, miss." 
 
 " Oh, mamma, you will know it to-morrow." 
 
 " What if I wanted to know it to-night ? " 
 
 " Then, mamma, if you insisted that is abso- 
 lutely " 
 
 " Noj no, child, I shall wait till to-morrow ; keep it till 
 then if you can." 
 
 " Sophia dear," said Mary to her sister, when their two 
 heads, enveloped in snowy caps with an embroidered 
 fringe, were reclining together on the same pillow, " you 
 know I have always shared my bon-bons with you." 
 
 "Yes, sister." 
 
 " In that case, make me a partner in your secret." 
 
 " Will you promise riot to speak of it ? " 
 
 ' Yes, I promise." 
 
 ' To no one ? " 
 
 ' To no one." 
 
 ' Not even to the paroquette Fritz gave you ? " 
 
 ' No, not even to my paroquette." 
 
 ' Well, it is very likely I shall speak about it in my 
 dreams you listen and find it out." 
 
 " Slyboots ! " 
 
 " Curiosity ! " 
 
 Like those delicate flowers that shrink when they are 
 touched, each then turned to her own side ; but it would 
 have cost both too much not to have fallen asleep as usual, 
 'with their arms round each other's necks ; consequently 
 this tin soon blew over, and, after a prolonged chat, their 
 lips finally joined in the concluding " Good-night."
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE QUEEN'S DOLL ROCKHOUSE TO FALCON'S NEST THB 
 
 WIND GRASSES ADMIRAL HOMER THE THREE FROGS 
 
 OAT JELLY ESQUIMAUX ASTRONOMY AN UNKNOWN. 
 
 NEXT morning, Sophia came running in with a sealed 
 letter in her hand, which she opened and read as follows: 
 
 " HEAD QUARTERS, SAFETY BAY, DAYBREAK. 
 " The Admiral commanding the Fleet stationed in Safety 
 
 Bay to her Most gracious Majesty Sophia, Queen of 
 
 Great Britain and Ireland. 
 " May it please your Majesty, 
 
 " The crews of your Majesty's yachts, the Elizabeth 
 and the Morse, are quite entire and in perfect health. 
 The enemy having kept at a respectful distance, we have 
 not had as yet an opportunity of proving our courage and 
 devotion. Mr, Midshipman Jack fell asleep on the car- 
 riage of a four-pounder, like Marshal Turenne before his 
 first battle ; but, in all other respects, the conduct of the 
 officers has been most exemplary, and merits the utmost 
 commendation. 
 
 " It is the admiral's intention to push out a recon- 
 naissance towards the east, in the direction of Pearl Bay, 
 which he has not yet explored. If, however, your 
 Majesty should regard- this expedition as likely to inter- 
 fere with the good understanding that subsists between 
 that government and your own, it will be only necessary 
 to fire a gun, in Avhich case we shall return to port. 
 Under other circumstances, the squadron will proceed 
 with the enterprise, and endeavor to obtain a collar for 
 your Majesty's doll." 
 
 " For my doll !" exclaimed Sophia angrily ; " when did 
 Jack find out that I had a doll ?"
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 69 
 
 " Is that, then, your secret ?*' inquired her mother. 
 
 " Yes, mamma, Master Jack took a pigeon with him for 
 the express purpose of playing me this trick." 
 
 " And what is worse, included yourself in the con- 
 spiracy. Dreadful !" 
 
 " Is it not to speak of a young person of thirteen's 
 doll?" 
 
 " Say nearer fourteen, my dear." 
 
 " Therefore, to punish your confederates, I shall fire a 
 gun, and put a stop to their excursion," said Becker, 
 turning to one of the six-pounders that flanked Rockhouse 
 in the direction of the river. 
 
 " Clemency being, one of the dearest rights of the royal 
 prerogative," replied Sophia, " I shall pardon them, and I 
 pray you not to throw any obstacle in the way of their 
 expedition." 
 
 " Very good, your Majesty ; but there are state reasons 
 which should be allowed to overrule the impulses of your 
 heart ; those gentlemen have forgotten that we were to go 
 and lay the first stone, or rather to cut, to-day, the first 
 branch of your aerial residence at Falcon's Nest." 
 
 Admiral Willis and his officers having obeyed the pre- 
 concerted signal, the whole party started on their land 
 enterprise. One of the young men was harnessed to a 
 sledge, containing saws, hatchets, a bamboo ladder that 
 had formerly done duty as a staircase to the Nest, and 
 everything else requisite for the contemplated project. 
 
 Jack had already started when Sophia called him back, 
 and he hastily obeyed the summons. 
 
 What are your Majesty's commands ?" 
 
 " Oh, nothing particular, only should you meet my doll 
 in company with your go-cart, be pleased to pay my 
 respects to them." Saying this, she made a low curtsy, 
 and turned her back upon him. 
 
 " Your Majesty's behests shall be obeyed," said Jack, 
 and he ran off to rejoin the caravan. 
 
 The sad ravages of the tempest presented themselves as 
 they proceeded ; tall chestnuts lay stretched on the ground, 
 and seemed, by their appearance, to have struggled hard 
 with the storm.
 
 70 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " After all," inquired Frank, " what is the wind ?" 
 
 " Wind is nothing more than air rushing in masses from 
 one point to another." 
 
 " And what causes this commotion in the elements ?" 
 
 " The equilibrium of the atmosphere is disturbed by a 
 variety of actions ; - the diurnal motion of the sun, whose 
 rays penetrate the air at various points ; absorption and 
 radiation, which varies according to the nature of the soil 
 and the hour of the day ; the inequality of the solar heat, 
 according to seasons and latitude ; the formation and con- 
 densation of vapor, that absorbs caloric in its formation, 
 and disengages it when being resolved into liquid." 
 
 " I never thought," remarked Willis, " that there were 
 so many mysteries in a sou'-easter. Does it blow ? is it 
 on the starboard or larboard ? was all, in fact, that I cared 
 about knowing." 
 
 "In a word, the various circumstances that change the 
 actual density of the air, making it more rarefied at one 
 point than another, produce currents, the force and direc- 
 tion of which depend upon the relative position of hot and 
 cold atmospheric beds. Again, the winds acquire the 
 temperature and characteristics of the regions they 
 traverse." 
 
 " That," observed Frank, " is like human beings ; you 
 may generally judge, by the language and manners of a 
 man, the places that he is accustomed to frequent." 
 
 " There are hot and cold winds, wet and dry ; then 
 there are the trade winds." 
 
 " Ah, yes," cried Willis, " these are the winds to talk 
 of, especially when sailing with them that is, from east 
 to west ; but when your course is different, they are rather 
 awkward affairs to get ahead of. The way to catch them 
 is to sail from Peru to the Philippines." 
 
 " Or from Mexico to China." 
 
 " Yes, either will do ; then there is no necessity for 
 tacking, you have only to rig your sails and smoke your 
 pipe, or go to sleep ; you may, in that way, run four 
 thousand leagues in three months." 
 
 " Stiff sailing that, Willis." 
 
 " Yes, Master Ernest, but it does not come up to your
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 71 
 
 yarn about the stars, you recollect, ever so many millions 
 of miles in a second !" 
 
 " The trade winds, I was going to observe," continued 
 Becker, " that blow from the west coast of Africa, carry 
 with them a stifling heat." 
 
 " That might be expected," remarked Frank, " since 
 they pass over the hot sands of the desert." 
 
 " Well, can you tell me why the same wind is cooler on 
 the east coast of America ?" 
 
 " Because it has been refreshed on crossing the ocean 
 that separates the two continents ?" 
 
 "By taking a glass of grog on the way," suggested 
 Willis. 
 
 " Yes ; and so in Europe the north wind is cold because 
 it carries, or rather consists of, air from the polar regions ; 
 and the same effect is produced by the south wind in the 
 other hemisphere." 
 
 " It is for a like reason," suggested Ernest, " that the 
 south wind in Europe, and particularly the south-west 
 wind, is humid, and generally brings rain, because it is 
 charged with vapor from the Atlantic Ocean." 
 
 " How is it, father, that the almanac makers can predict 
 changes in the weather?" 
 
 " The almanac makers can only foresee one thing with 
 absolute certainty, and that is, that there are always fools 
 to believe what they say. A few meteorological pheno- 
 mena may be predicted with tolerable accuracy ; but these 
 are few in number, and range within very narrow limits." 
 
 "Their predictions, nevertheless, sometimes turn out 
 correct." 
 
 " Yes, when they predict by chance a hard frost on a 
 particular day in January, it is just possible the prediction 
 may be verified ; out of a multitude of such prognostica- 
 tions a few may be successful, but the greater part of them 
 fail. Their few successes, however, have the effect with 
 weak minds of inspiring confidence, in defiance of the 
 failures which they do not take the trouble to observe." 
 
 " At what rate does the wind travel ?" 
 
 "The speed of the wind is very variable ; when it is 
 scarcely felt, the velocity does not exceed a foot a second ;
 
 72 W I M.I 3 THK PILOT. 
 
 but it is fur otherwise in the cases of hurricanes and 
 tornados, that sweep away trees and houses. 
 
 And sink his Majesty's ships," observed Willis. 
 
 " In those cases the wind sometimes reaches the velocity 
 of forty-five yards in a second, or about forty leagues in 
 an hour." 
 
 ' Therefore," remarked Jack, (( the wind is a blessing 
 that could very well be dispensed with." 
 
 " Your conclusions, Jack, do not always do credit to 
 your understanding. The wind re-establishes the equi- 
 librium of the temperature, and 'purifies the air by dis- 
 persing in the mass exhalations that would be pernicious 
 if they remained in one spot ; it clears away miasma, it 
 dissipates, the smoke of towns, it waters some countries by 
 driving clouds to them, it condenses vapor on the frozen 
 summits of mountains, and converts it into rivers that 
 cover the land with fruitfulness." 
 
 " It likewise fills the sails of ships and creates pilots," 
 observed Willis. 
 
 " And brings about shipwrecks," remarked Jack. 
 
 " It conveys the pollen of flowers, and, as I had occasion 
 to state the other day, sows the seeds of Nature's fields and 
 forests. It is likewise made available by man in some 
 classes of manufactures mills, for example." 
 
 " And it causes the simoon," persisted Jack, " that lifts 
 the sand of the desert and overwhelms entire caravans ; 
 how can you justify such ravages?" 
 
 " I do\iot intend to plead the cause of either hurricanes 
 or simoons ; but I contend that, if the wind sometimes 
 terrifies us by disasters, we have, on the other hand, to be 
 grateful for the infinite good it does. In it, as in all other 
 phenomena of the elements, the evils are rare and special, 
 whilst the good is universal and constant." 
 
 Fritz, as usual, with the dogs and his rifle charged, 
 acted as pioneer for the caravan, now and then bringing 
 down a bird, sometimes adding a plant to their collection, 
 and occasionally giving them some information as to the 
 state of the surrounding country. 
 
 " Father," said he, " I chased this quail into our corn- 
 field; the grain is lying on the ground as if it had been
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 78 
 
 / 
 
 passed over by a roller, but I am happy to say that it is 
 neither broken nor uprooted." 
 
 " Now, Jack, do you see how gallantly the wind behaves, 
 prostrating the strong and sparing the weak ? If you had 
 been charged with the safety of the grain, no doubt you 
 would have placed it on the tops of the highest trees." 
 
 " Very likely ; and, until taught by experience, every- 
 body else would have done precisely the same thing." 
 
 " True ; therefore in this, as in all other things, we 
 should admire the wisdom of Providence, and mistrust our 
 own." 
 
 " Whoever would have thought of trusting the staff of 
 human life to such slender support as stalks of straw ? " 
 
 " If grain had been produced by forests, these, when 
 destroyed by war, burned down by imprudence, uprooted 
 by hurricanes, or washed away by inundations, we should 
 have required ages to replace." 
 
 " Very true." 
 
 " The fruits of trees are, besides, more liable to rot than 
 those of grain ; the latter have their flowers in the form of 
 spikes, often bearded with prickly fibres, which not only 
 protect them from marauders, but likewise serve as little 
 roofs to shelter them from the rain ; and besides, as Fritz 
 has just told us, owing to the pliancy of their stalks, 
 strengthened at intervals by hard knots and the spear- 
 shaped form of their leaves, these plants escape the fury 
 of the winds." . 
 
 "That," said Willis, "is like a wretched cock-boat, 
 which often contrives to get out of a scrape when all the 
 others are swamped." 
 
 " Therefore," continued Becker, " their weakness is of 
 more service to them than the strength of the noblest trees, 
 and they are spread and multiplied by the same tempests 
 that devastate the forests. Added to this, the species to 
 which this class of plants belong the grasses are re- 
 markably varied in their characteristics, and better suited 
 than any other for universal propagation." 
 
 k ' Which was remarked by Homer," observed Ernest, 
 " who usually distinguishes a country by its peculiar fruit, 
 7
 
 74 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 but speaks of the earth generally as zeidoros, or grain- 
 bearing." 
 
 " There, Willis," exclaimed Jack, " is another great 
 admiral for you." 
 
 "An admiral, Jack?" 
 
 "It was he who led the combined fleets of Agamemnon, 
 Diomedes, and others, to the city of Troy." 
 
 "Not in our time, I suppose?" 
 
 " How old are you, Willis ? " 
 
 " Forty-seven." 
 
 " In that case it was before you entered the navy." 
 
 " I know that there is a Troy in the United States, but 
 I did not know it was a sea-port." 
 
 " There is another in France, Willis ; but the Troy I 
 mean is, or rather was, in Asia Minor, capital of Lesser 
 Phrygia, sometimes called Ilion, its citadel bearing the 
 name of Pergamos." 
 
 ' Never heard of it," said Willis. 
 
 " To return to grain," continued Becker, laughing. 
 " Nature has rendered it capable of growing in all climates, 
 from the line to the pole. There is a variety for the 
 humid soils of hot countries, as the rice of Asia ; immense 
 quantities of which are produced in the basin of the Gan- 
 ges. There is another variety for marshy and cold cli- 
 mates as a kind of oat that grows wild on the banks of 
 the North American lakes, and of which the natives gather 
 abundant harvests." 
 
 " God has amply provided for us all," said Frank. 
 
 " Other varieties grow best in hot, dry soils, as the millet 
 in Africa, and maize or Indian corn in Brazil. In Europe, 
 wheat is cultivated universally, but prefers rich lands, 
 whilst rye takes more readily to a sandy soil ; buckwheat 
 is most luxuriant where most exposed to rain; oats prefer 
 humid soils, and barley comes to perfection on rocky, 
 exposed lands, growing well on the cold, bleak plains of 
 the north. And, observe, that the grasses suffice for all 
 the wants of man." 
 
 " Yes," observed Ernest, " with the straw are fed his 
 sheep, his cows, his oxen, and his horses ; with the seeds,
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 75 
 
 he prepares his food and his drinks. In the north, grain 
 is converted into excellent beer and ale, and spirits are 
 extracted from it as strong as brandy." 
 
 " The Chinese obtain from rice a liquor that they prefer 
 to the finest wines of Spain." 
 
 " That is because they have not yet tasted our Rock- 
 house malaga." 
 
 " Then of roasted oats, perfumed with vanilla, an ex- 
 cellent jelly may be made." 
 
 "Ah ! we must get mamma to try that it will delight 
 the young ladies." 
 
 " And, no doubt, you will profit by the occasion to par- 
 take thereof yourself, Master Jack." 
 
 " Certainly ; but I would not, for all that, seek to gratify 
 my own appetite under pretence of paying a compliment 
 to our friends." 
 
 " I know an animal," said Willis, "that, for general use- 
 fulness, beats grain all to pieces." 
 
 " Good! let us hear what it is, Willis." 
 
 " It is the seal of the Esquimaux ; they live upon its 
 flesh, and they drink its blood." 
 
 " I scarcely think," said Jack, " that I should often feel 
 thirsty under such circumstances." 
 
 "The skin furnishes them with clothes, tents, and boats." 
 
 " Of which our canoe and life-preservers are a fair sam- 
 ple," said Fritz. 
 
 "The fat furnishes them with fire and candle, the 
 muscles with thread and rope, the gut with windows and 
 curtains, the bones with arrow heads and harness ; in 
 short, with everything they require." 
 
 " True, Willis, in so far as regards their degree of civi- 
 lization, which is not very great, when we consider that 
 they bury their sick whilst alive, because they are afraid 
 of corpses ; that they believe the sun, moon, and stars to 
 be dead Esquimaux, who have been translated from earth 
 to heaven." 
 
 Whilst chatting in this way, the party had impercepti- 
 bly arrived at Falcon's Nest, wherein they had not set foot 
 for a fortnight previously. 
 
 Fritz went up first, and before the others had ascended,
 
 76 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 f 
 
 came running down again as fast as his legs would carry 
 him. 
 
 " Father," he cried, in an accent of alarm, " there is a 
 fresh litter of leaves up stairs, which has been recently 
 slept upon, and I miss a knife that I left the last time we 
 were here ! "
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE SEARCH FOR THE UNKNOWN THREE FLEETS ON DRT 
 
 LAND THE INDISCRETIONS OF A SUGAR CANE LARBOARD 
 
 AND STARBOARD THE SUPPOSED SENSIBILITY OF PLANTS 
 
 THE FLY-TRAP VENDETTA ROOT AND GERM MINE AND 
 
 COUNTERMINE THE POLYPI OVIPAROUS AND VIVIPAROUS 
 
 A QUID PRO QUO. 
 
 " HAVE any of you been at Falcon's Nest lately ? " in- 
 quired Becker, when he had verified the truth of Fritz's 
 intelligence. 
 
 " None of us," unanimously replied all the boys. 
 
 " You will understand that the question I put to you is, 
 under the circumstances in which we are placed, one of 
 the greatest moment. If, therefore, there is any unseemly 
 joking, any trick, or secret project in contemplation, with 
 which this affair is connected, do not conceal it any 
 longer." 
 
 All the boys again reiterated their innocence of the 
 matter in question. 
 
 Becker then called to mind the mysterious disappear- 
 ances of Willis, and, although they were too short in 
 duration to admit of his having been at Falcon's Nest, 
 still he deemed it advisable to put the question to him 
 individually. 
 
 Willis declared that the present was the first time he 
 had been in the vicinity of the Nest, and his word was 
 known to be sacred. 
 
 " There can be no mistake then," said Becker ; " the 
 traces are self-evident. This is altogether a circumstance 
 calculated to give us serious uneasiness. Nevertheless, 
 we must view the matter calmly, and consider what steps 
 we should take to unravel the mystery." 
 
 " Let us instantly beat up the island," suggested Fritz. 
 7*
 
 78 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " It appears to me," remarked Willis, " that the Nelson 
 has been wrecked after all, and that one of the men has 
 escaped." 
 
 " That," replied Ernest, " is very unlikely. All the 
 crew knew that the island was inhabited, and consequently, 
 had any one of them been thrown on shore, he would have 
 come at once to Rockhouse, and -not stopped here." 
 
 " As regards the Captain or Lieutenant Dunsley," said 
 Willis, " who were on shore, and could easily find their 
 way, what you say is quite true ; but the men were kept 
 on board ; and if we suppose that a sailor had been thrown 
 on the opposite coast, he would not be able to determine 
 his position in fifteen days." 
 
 " Much less could he expect to find a villa in a fig-tree." 
 
 " To say nothing of the light that has been kept burning 
 recently on Shark's Island, nor of the buildings with which 
 the land is strewn, nor the fields and plantations that are 
 to be met with in all directions. For, although a swallow 
 alone is sufficient to convey the seeds of a forest from one 
 continent to another, still it requires the hand of man 
 to arrange the trees in rows and furnish them with 
 props." 
 
 " Perhaps we may have crossed each other on the way ; 
 and the stranger, after passing the night here, has steered, 
 by some circuitous route, in the direction of Safety Bay." 
 
 " May it not have been a large monkey," suggested 
 Jack, " who has resolved to play us a trick for having 
 massacred its companions at Waldeck ? " 
 
 " Monkeys," replied Ernest, " do not generally open 
 doors, and, seeing no bed prepared for them, ga down 
 stairs and collect material for a mattress. You may just 
 as well fancy that the monkey, in this case, came to pass 
 the night at Falcon's Nest with a cigar in its mouth." 
 
 " Then he must have been dreadfully annoyed to find 
 neither slippers nor a night-cap." 
 
 " There is, unquestionably, a wide field of supposition 
 open for us," said Becker ; " but that need not prevent us 
 taking active measures to arrive at the truth. Our first 
 duty is to care for the safety of the ladies ; Mr. Wolston 
 is still ailing and feeble, so that, if a stranger were sud-
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 79 
 
 denly to appear amongst them, they might be terribly 
 alarmed." 
 
 " There are six of us here," remarked Willis, " the 
 cream of our sea and land forces ; we could divide our- 
 selves into three squadrons, one of which might sail for 
 Rockhouse." 
 
 "Just so; let Fritz and Frank start for Rockhouse." 
 
 " And what shall we say to the ladies, father ? " inquired 
 the latter ; " it does not seem to me necessary to alarm our 
 mother, Mrs. Wolston, and the young ladies, until some- 
 thing more certain is ascertained." 
 
 " Your idea is good, my son, and I thank you for bring- 
 ing it forward ; it is one of those that arise from the heart 
 rather than the head." 
 
 " We have only to find a pretext for their sudden re- 
 turn," observed Ernest. 
 
 " Very well," said Jack, " they have only to say it is 
 too hot to work." 
 
 " Just as if it were not quite as hot for us as for them. 
 Your excuse, Jack, is not particularly artistic." 
 
 " Might they not as well say they had forgotten a tool 
 or a pocket handkerchief?" 
 
 " Or, better still, that they had forgotten to shut the 
 door when they left, and came back to repair the 
 omission." 
 
 " We shall say," replied Fritz, " that, finding there were 
 twelve strong arms here to do what my father accomplished 
 fifteen years ago by himself for the assistance of us 
 boys could not then be reckoned we were ashamed of 
 ourselves, and had returned to Rockhouse to make our- 
 selves useful in repairing the damage to the gallery caused 
 by the tempest." 
 
 " Well, that excuse has, at least, the merit of being 
 reasonable ; and let it be so. Fritz and Frank will return 
 to Rockhouse ; Ernest and myself will continue the work 
 in hand, and receive the friend or enemy which God has 
 sent us, should he return to resume his quarters ; Willis 
 and Jack will investigate the neighborhood." 
 
 " By land or water, Willis ? " inquired Jack. 
 
 " By land, Master Jack, for this cruise. I shall abandon
 
 80 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 the helm to you, for I know nothing of the shoals here- 
 abouts." 
 
 " If," continued Becker, " though highly improbable, 
 any thing important should have happened, or should 
 happen at Rockhouse, you will fire a cannon, and we will 
 be with you immediately. Willis and Jack will discharge 
 a rifle if threatened with danger; and we shall do the same 
 on our side, if we require assistance." 
 
 " It is a pity," remarked Jack, " that we had not two or 
 three four-pounders amongst the provisions." 
 
 " I scarcely regard this matter as altogether a subject 
 for joking," continued Becker, " and sincerely hope that 
 all our precautions may prove useless. Take each of you 
 a rifle and proceed with caution ; above all, do not go far 
 apart from each other; do not fire without taking good 
 aim, and only in case of self-defence or absolute necessity; 
 for this time it does not appear to be a question of bears 
 and hyenas, but, as far as we are able to judge, one of 
 our own species." 
 
 Two of the squadrons then hauled oflf in different direc- 
 tions, carefully examining the ground as they went, beating 
 up the thickets, and endeavoring to obtain some further 
 trace of the stranger, in order to confirm those at Falcon's 
 Nest. 
 
 The squadron of observation, in the meanwhile set dili- 
 gently to work. A tree having been selected at about 
 fifteen paces from that already existing, it was necessary, 
 as on the former occasion, to discharge an arrow carrying 
 the end of a line, and in such a way that the cord might 
 fall across some of the strongest branches ; this done, the 
 bamboo ladder was drawn up from the opposite side and 
 held fast until Ernest had ascended and fastened it with 
 nails to the top of the tree. 
 
 Ernest then commenced lopping off the branches to the 
 right and left, so as to form a space in the centre for their 
 contemplated dwelling ; whilst Becker himself below was 
 making an entrance into the trunk, taking care to avoid 
 an accident that formerly happened, by assuring himself 
 that a colony of bees had not already taken possession of 
 the ground. The gigantic fig-trees at Falcon's Nest
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 81 
 
 being for the most part hollow, and supported in a great 
 measure by the bark like the willows in Europe when 
 they reach a certain stage of their growth it was easy 
 to erect- a staircase in the interior ; still this was a work 
 of time, and Becker had resolved in the meantime to give 
 up the habitation already constructed to Wolston and his 
 family, at least until such time as an entrance was attached 
 to the new one that did not require any extraordinary 
 amount of gymnastics. 
 
 A portion of the day had been occupied in these opera- 
 tions, when Willis and Jack returned to the camp. 
 
 " We have seen no one," said the Pilot 
 
 " But," said Jack, "we are on the track of Fritz's knife." 
 
 " Be good enough to explain yourself." 
 
 " Well, father, at the entrance to the cocoa-nut tree 
 wood we stumbled upon two sugar canes completely 
 divested of their juice." 
 
 " Which proves " said Ernest ; but his remark was 
 
 cut short by Jack, who continued 
 
 " Not a bit of it ; a philosopher would have passed these 
 two worthless sugar canes just as a place-hunter passes an 
 overthrown minister, that is, as unworthy of notice." 
 
 " And what did you do ?" 
 
 " Well, T, the headless, the thoughtless, the stupid for 
 these are the epithets I am usually favored with I took 
 them up, scrutinized them carefully, and discovered " 
 
 " That they were sugar canes." 
 
 " In the first instance, yes." 
 
 " Very clever, that !" 
 
 " And then that they had not been torn up they had 
 been cut." 
 
 " Is that all ?" 
 
 " Yes, most wise and learned brother, that is all ; and I 
 leave you to draw the inferences." 
 
 " I may add," observed the sailor, " that, as we were 
 steering for the plantation, myself on the starboard and 
 Jack on the larboard " 
 
 " On the what ?" 
 
 " Master Jack on the left and myself on the right." 
 
 " That I pitched right over these canes without ever 
 noticing them."
 
 82 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " Which is not much to be wondered at ; Willis has 
 been so long at sea that he has no confidence in the solidity 
 of the land ; during our cruise he kept a look-out after 
 the wind, expecting, I suppose, that it would perform some 
 of the wonderful things you spoke of this morning." 
 
 " After all," observed Becker, "this is another link in 
 the chain of evidence, and I congratulate Jack on his 
 sagacity in tracing it." 
 
 " But the affair is as much a mystery as ever." 
 
 " True ; and the solution may probably be awaiting us 
 at Rockhouse." 
 
 The united squadrons thn started on their homeward 
 voyage, Jack thrusting his nose into every bush, and care- 
 fully scanning all the stray objects that seemed to be out 
 of their normal position. 
 
 " If these plants and bushes had tongues," said Jack, 
 " they could probably give us the information we require." 
 
 " Do you think," inquired Ernest, " that plants and 
 bushes are utterly without sensation ?" 
 
 " Faith, I can't say," replied Jack ; " perhaps they can 
 speak if they liked probably they have an idiom of their 
 own. You, that know all languages, and a great many 
 more besides, possibly can converse with them." 
 
 " I should like to know," said Becker, " why you two 
 gentlemen are always snarling at each other ; it is neither 
 amusing nor amiable." 
 
 " Ernest is continually showing me up, father, and it is 
 but fair that I should be allowed to retort now and then. 
 But to return to plants, Ernest; you say they have 
 nerves ?" 
 
 " If they have," said Willis, " they do not seem to pos- 
 sess the bottle of salts that most nervous ladies usually 
 have." 
 
 " No," replied Ernest, " they have no nerves, properly 
 so called ; but there are plants, and I may add many 
 plants, which, by their qualities I may almost say by 
 their intelligence seem to be placed much higher in 
 the scale of creation than they really are. The sensitive 
 plant, for example, shrinks when it is touched ; tulips open 
 their petals when the weather is fine, and shut them again
 
 WILLIS THB PILOT. 83 
 
 at sunset or when it rains ; wild barley, when placed on a 
 table, often moves by itself, especially when it has been 
 first warmed by the hand ; the heliotrope always turns the 
 face of its flowers to the sun." 
 
 " A still more singular instance of this kind was recently 
 discovered in Carolina," remarked Becker ; " it is called 
 the fly-trap. Its round leaves secrete a sugary fluid, and 
 are covered with a number of ridges which are extremely 
 irritable : whenever a fly touches the surface the leaf 
 immediately folds inwards, contracts, and continues this 
 process till its victim is either pierced with its spines or 
 stifled by the pressure." 
 
 "It is probably a Corsican plant," observed Jack, 
 " whose ancestors have had a misunderstanding with the 
 brotherhood of flies, and have left the Vendetta as a legacy 
 to their descendants." 
 
 " There is nothing in Nature." continued Ernest, " so 
 obstinate as a plant. Let us take one, for example, at its 
 birth, that is, to-day, at the age when animals modify or 
 acquire their instincts, and you will find that your own 
 will must yield to that of the plant." 
 
 " If you mean to say that the plant will refuse to play 
 on the flute or learn to dance, were I to wish it to do so, 
 I am entirely of your opinion." 
 
 " No, but suppose you were to plant it upside down, 
 with the plantule above and the radicle below ; do you 
 think it would grow that way ?" 
 
 " Plantule and radicle are ambitious words, my dear 
 brother; recollect that you are speaking to simple 
 mortals." 
 
 " Well, I mean root uppermost." 
 
 " Right ; I prefer that, don't you, Willis ? " 
 
 " Yes, Master Jack." 
 
 " At first the radicle or root would begin by growing 
 upwards, and the plantule or germ would descend." 
 
 " That is quite in accordance with my revolutionary 
 idiosyncracies." 
 
 " You accused me just now of using ambitious words." 
 
 "Well, I understand a revolution to mean, placing those 
 above who should be b*>low,"
 
 84 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " Nature then," continued Ernest, " very soon begins to 
 assert her rights ; the bud gradually twists itself round 
 and ascends, whilst the root obeys a similar impulse and 
 descends is not this a proof of discernment ? " 
 
 " I see nothing more in it than a proof of the wonderful 
 mechanism God has allotted to the plant, and is analogous 
 to the movements of a watch, the hands of which point 
 out the hours, minutes, and seconds of time, and are yet 
 not endowed with intelligence." 
 
 " Very good, Jack," said Becker. 
 
 " Suppose," continued Ernest, " that the ground in the 
 neighborhood of your plant was of two very opposite quali- 
 ties, that on the right, for example, damp, rich, and spongy; 
 that on the left, dry, poor, and rocky ; you would find 
 that the roots, after growing for a time up or down, as the 
 case might be, will very soon change their route, and take 
 their course towards the rich and humid soil." 
 
 " And quite right too," said Willis ; " they prefer to go 
 where they will be best fed." 
 
 " If, then, these roots stretched out to points where they 
 would withdraw the nourishment from other plants in the 
 neighborhood how could you prevent it ? " 
 
 " By digging a ditch between them and the plants they 
 threaten to impoverish." 
 
 " And do you suppose that would be sufficient?" 
 
 " Yes, unless the plant you refer to was an engineer." 
 
 " Therein lies the difficulty. Plants are engineers ; 
 they would send their roots along the bottom of the ditch, 
 or they would creep under it at all events, the roots 
 would find their way to the coveted soil in spite of you ; 
 if you dug a mine, they would countermine it, and obtain 
 supplies from the opposite territory, and revenge them- 
 selves there for the scurvy treatment to which they had 
 been subjected. What could you do then ? " 
 
 '' In that case, I should admit myself defeated." 
 
 " If," continued Ernest, " we present a sponge saturated 
 with water to the naked roots of a plant, they will slowly, 
 but steadily, direct themselves towards it ; and, turn the 
 sponge whichever way you will, they will take the same 
 direction."
 
 WrLLIS THE PILOT. 85 
 
 " It has been concluded," remarked Becker, " from these 
 incontestable facts, that plants are not devoid of sensibility; 
 and, in fact, when we behold them lying down at sunset as 
 if dead, and come to life again next morning, we are forced 
 to recognise a degree of irritability in the vegetable organs 
 which very closely resemble those of the animal economy." 
 
 " In future," said Jack, " I shall take care not to tread 
 upon a weed, lest, being hurt, it should scream." 
 
 " On the other hand, they have not been found to pos- 
 sess any other sign of this supposed sensibility. All their 
 other functions seem perfectly mechanical." 
 
 " Ah then, father," exclaimed Jack, " you are a believer 
 in my system ! " 
 
 " We make them grow and destroy them, without observ- 
 ing anything analogous to the sensation we feel in rearing, 
 wounding, or killing an animal." 
 
 " But the fly-trap, father, what of that?" 
 
 " It is no exception. The fly-trap seizes any small body 
 that touches it, as well as an insect, and with the same 
 tenacity ; hence, we may readily conclude that these ac- 
 tions, so apparently spontaneous, are in reality nothing 
 more than remarkable developments of the laws of irrita- 
 bility peculiar to plants." 
 
 " It does not, then, spring from a family feud, as Jack 
 supposed ? " remarked Willis. 
 
 " Besides," continued Becker, " if plants really existed, 
 possessing what is understood by the term sensation, they 
 would be animals." 
 
 " For a like reason, animals without sensation would be 
 plants." 
 
 "Evidently. -Moreover, the transition from vegetable 
 to animal life is almost imperceptible, so much so, that 
 polypi, such as corals and sponges, were for a long time 
 supposed to be marine plants." 
 
 "And what are they?" inquired Willis. 
 
 "Insects that live in communities that form a multitude 
 of contiguous cells ; some of these are begun at the bottom 
 of the sea and accumulated perpendicularly, one layer 
 being continually deposited over another till the surface is 
 reached."
 
 86 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " Then the coral reefs, that render navigation so perilous 
 in unknown seas, are the work of insects?" 
 
 a Exactly so, Willis." 
 
 " Might they not as well consist of multitudes of insects 
 piled heaps upon heaps?" 
 
 " It is in a great measure as you say, Willis." 
 
 "Not I I do not say it quite the contrary." 
 
 " Well, Willis, you are at liberty to believe it or not, as 
 you think proper." 
 
 " I hope so ; we shall, therefore, put the polypi with 
 Ernest's stars and Jack's admirals." 
 
 " So be it, Willis ; but to resume the subject. There is 
 a remarkable analogy in many respects between the lower 
 orders of animals and plants, the bulb is to the latter what 
 the egg is to the former. The germ does not pierce the 
 bulb till it attains a certain organization, and it remains 
 attached by fibres to the parent substance, from which, for 
 a time, it receives nourishment." 
 
 " Not unlike the young of animals," remarked Willis. 
 
 " When the germ has shot out roots and a leaf or two, 
 it then, but not till then, relinquishes the parent bulb. 
 The plant then grows by an extension and multiplication 
 of its parts, and this extension is accompanied by an in- 
 creasing induration of the fibres. The same phenomena 
 are observed as regards animals." 
 
 " Curious ! " said Willis. 
 
 " Animals, however, are sometimes oviparous." 
 
 "Oviparous?" inquired Willis. 
 
 " Yes, that is, they lay eggs ; others are viviparous, pro- 
 ducing their young alive. A few are multiplied like plants 
 by cuttings, as in the case of the polypi." 
 
 " Bother the polypi," said Willis, laughing, " since we 
 have to thank them for destroying some of his Majesty's 
 ships." 
 
 " Then again," continued Becker, " both plants and ani- 
 mals are subject to disease, decay, and death." 
 
 " But, father, if the analogies are remarkable, the dif- 
 ferences are not less marked." 
 
 " Well, Ernest, I shall leave you to point them out." 
 
 " Without reckoning the faculty of feeling, that cannot
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 87 
 
 be denied to the one nor granted to the other, the most 
 striking of these distinctions consists in the circumstance 
 that animals can change place, whilst this faculty is abso- 
 lutely refused to plants." 
 
 " If we except those," remarked Jack, " that insist upon 
 travelling to the succulent parts of the earth, and are as 
 indefatigable in digging tunnels as the renowned Brunei." 
 
 "Then plants are obliged to accept the nourishment 
 that their fixed position furnishes to them ; whilst animals, 
 on the contrary, by means of their external organs, can 
 range far and near in search of the aliments most congenial 
 to their appetites." 
 
 " Which is often very capricious," remarked Willis. 
 
 " Then, considered with regard to magnitude, the two 
 kingdoms present remarkable distinctions ; the interval 
 between a whale and a mite is greater than between the 
 moss and the oak." 
 
 " Ho ! " cried Jack, " there is Miss Sophia coming to 
 meet us, Willis." 
 
 " Perhaps they have news at the grotto." 
 
 " Well," inquired the child, " have you seen them ? " 
 
 " Good," thought Becker, " our chatterers have not been 
 able to hold their tongues ; I am surprised at that as 
 regards Frank." 
 
 " We expected to have found them at Rockhouse." 
 
 "To have found whom?" 
 
 " The sailors from the wreck." 
 
 "What wreck?" 
 
 " The Nelson." 
 
 " I sincerely hope that the Nelson has not been wrecked." 
 
 "In that case, whom do you refer to yourself, Miss 
 Sophia?" 
 
 " To your go-cart and my doll, Master Jack."
 
 , -AFTER VIII. 
 
 XHASITANT OF THE MOON, ANTHROPOPHAGIAN OR HOBGOBLIN? 
 
 THE LACEDEMONIAN STEW OF MADAME DACIER UTILE DULCI 
 
 TETE-A-TETE BETWEEN WILLIS AND HIS PIPE TOBACCO 
 
 TKRSU8 BIRCH IS IT FOR EATING? MOSQUITOES THB 
 ALARM .TOBY THE NOCTURNAL EXPEDITION WE'VE GOT 
 HIM. 
 
 SOME days passed without anything having occurred to 
 ruffle the tranquil existence of the island families. Every 
 morning the elite of the sea and land forces continued to 
 divide themselves into three squadrons of observation ; one 
 of which remained at Rockhouse on some pretext or other, 
 whilst the other two were occupied in exploring the coun- 
 try, or in carrying on the works at Falcon's Nest. 
 
 The mysterious stranger, whether shipwrecked seaman, 
 
 avage, or hobgoblin, who kept all the bearded inhabitants 
 
 f Rockhouse on the alert, had reappeared in his old 
 
 Barters, where another litter of leaves had been miracu- 
 
 no.^ly strewn exactly in the same place the former had 
 
 occupied. 
 
 Beyond this, however, and sundry gashes here and there 
 of which Fritz's knife was clearly guilty, but which 
 could not have been perpetrated without an accomplice 
 nothing had transpired to enable them to arrive at a satis- 
 factory conclusion as to who or what this personage could 
 be. 
 
 Though the hypothesis was highly improbable, still 
 Willis persisted in his theory of the shipwreck ; he only 
 doubted whether the individual on shore was a marine or 
 the cabin-boy, an officer or a foremast man, and, if the 
 latter, whether it was Bill, Tom, Bob, or Ned. 
 
 Ernest rather inclined to think that the invisible stranger 
 was an inhabitant of the moon, who, in consequence of a 
 false step, had tumbled from his own to our planet.
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 89 
 
 The warlike Fritz was impatient and irritated. He 
 would over and over again have preferred an immediate 
 solution of the affair, even were it bathed in blood, rather 
 than be kept any longer in suspense. 
 
 Frank, on the contrary, took a metaphysical view of the 
 case ; and, believing that Providence had not entirely 
 dispensed with miracles in dealing with the things of this 
 world, came to the conclusion that it was no earthly visitor 
 they had to deal with ; and he even went so far as to hint 
 that prayer was a more efficacious means of solving the 
 mystery than the methods his brothers were pursuing. 
 
 Jack, coinciding in some degree with Ernest, shifted his 
 view from an ape to an anthropophagian, and blamed the 
 latter for not coming earlier ; when he and his brothers 
 were younger, and consequently more tender, they would 
 have made a better meal, and been more easily digested. 
 
 As to what opinion Becker himself entertained, with 
 regard to the occurrence at Falcon's Nest that kept his 
 sons in a feverish state of anxiety, and had awakened all 
 the fears of the Pilot for the safety of his friends on board 
 the Nelson, nothing could be clearly ascertained ; in so far 
 as this matter was concerned he kept his own counsel ; 
 and. to use an expression of Madame de Sevigne, " had 
 thrown his tongue to the dogs." 
 
 The close of the day had, as usual, collected all the 
 members of the family round the domestic hearth ; and it 
 may be stated here that Mrs. Wolston, Mary, and Mrs. 
 Becker alternately undertook the preparations of the 
 viands for the diurnal consumption of the community. By 
 this means, uniformity, that palls the appetite, was entirely 
 banished from their dishes. One day they would have 
 the cooked, or rather half-cooked, British joints of Mrs. 
 Wolston and her daughter, varied occasionally, to the great 
 delight of Willis, with a tureen of hotch-potch or cocky- 
 leekie. The next there would be a display of the cos- 
 mopolite and somewhat picturesque cookery of Mrs. 
 Becker ; there was her famous peccary pie, with ravansara 
 sauce, followed by her delicious preserved mango and 
 seaweed jelly. Nor did she hesitate to draw upon the raw 
 'material of the colony now and then for a new hash or
 
 90 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 soup, taking care, however, to keep in view the maxim 
 that prudence is the mother of safety an adage that was 
 rather roughly handled by the renowned French linguist, 
 Madame Dacier, who, on one occasion nearly poisoned her 
 husband with a Lacedemonian stew, the receipt for which 
 she had found in Xenophon. 
 
 Luckily Becker's wife did not know Greek, consequently 
 he ran no risk of being entertained with a classic dinner ; 
 but he was often reminded by his thoughtful partner of 
 Meg Dod's celebrated receipt : before you cook your hare, 
 first catch it. 
 
 Sophia desired earnestly to have a share in the culinary 
 government ; but having shown on her first trial, too de- 
 cided a leaning towards puddings and pancakes, her 
 second essay was put off till she became more thoroughly 
 penetrated with the value of the eternal precept utile dulci, 
 which signifies that, before dessert it is requisite to have 
 something substantial. 
 
 As soon as they had finished their afternoon meal, 
 "Willis departed on one of his customary mysterious excur- 
 sions ; and Jack, who, like the 'birds that no sooner hop 
 upon one branch than they leap upon another, had also 
 disappeared. It was not long, however, before he made 
 his appearance again ; he came running in almost out of 
 breath, and cried at the top of his voice, 
 
 " I have discovered him ! " 
 
 " Whom ? " exclaimed half a dozen voices. 
 
 " The inhabitant of the moon ? " inquired Ernest. 
 
 No." 
 
 " I know," said Sophia playfully, " your go-cart and my 
 doll." 
 
 " No, I have discovered Willis' secret." 
 
 " If you have been watching him, it is very wrong." 
 
 " No, father ; seeing some thin columns of smoke rising 
 out of a thicket, I thought a bush was on fire ; but on 
 going nearer, I saw that it was only a tobacco-pipe." 
 
 " Was the pipe alone, brother ? " 
 
 1 " No, not exactly, it was in Willis' mouth ; and there 
 he sat, so completely immersed in ideas and smoke, that 
 he neither heard nor saw me."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 91 
 
 " That he does not smoke here," remarked Becker, " I 
 can easily understand ; but why conceal it ?" 
 
 " Ah," replied Mrs. Wolston, "you do not know "Willis 
 yet; beneath that rough exterior there are feelings that 
 would grace a coronet : he is, no doubt, afraid of leading 
 your sons into the habit." 
 
 " That is very thoughtful and considerate on his part." 
 
 " He was always smoking on board ship, and it must 
 have been a great sacrifice for him to leave it off to the 
 extent he has done lately." 
 
 " Then we shall not allow him to punish himself any 
 longer; and as for the danger of contagion from his 
 smoking here, that evil may perhaps be avoided." 
 
 " Do not be afraid, father ; it will not be necessary to 
 establish either a quarantine or a lazaretto on our account." 
 
 " Besides, any of the boys," said Mrs. Becker, " that 
 acquire the habit, will, by so doing, voluntarily banish 
 themselves from my levees." 
 
 " It is an extraordinary habit that, smoking," observed 
 Mrs. Wolston. 
 
 " Yes," said Becker ; " and what makes the habit more 
 singular is, that it holds out no allurements to seduce its 
 votaries. Generally, the path to vice, or to a bad habit, 
 is strewn with roses that hide their thorns, but such is not 
 the case with smoking ; in order to acquire this habit, a 
 variety of disagreeable difficulties have to be overcome, 
 and a considerable amount of disgust and sickness must be 
 borne before the stomach is tutored to withstand the 
 nauseous fumes." 
 
 " In point of fact," observed "Wolston, " if, instead of 
 being made part and parcel of the appliances of a fashion- 
 able man, cigars and meershaums were classed in the 
 pharmacopoeia with emetics and cataplasms, there is not a 
 human being but would bemoan his fate if compelled to 
 undergo a dose." 
 
 " Just so," added Becker ; " the great and sole attraction 
 of tobacco to young people consists in its being to them a 
 forbidden thing ; the apple of Eve is of all time it hangs 
 from every tree, and takes myriads of shapes. If I had 
 the honor of being principal of a college I should no
 
 92 WILLI3 THE PILOT. 
 
 more think of forbidding the pupils to use tobacco than I 
 should think of commanding them not to use the birch for 
 purposes of self-chastisement." 
 
 " Perhaps you would be quite right." 
 
 " Instead of lecturing them on the pernicious effects of 
 tobacco, I should hang up a pipe of punishment in the 
 class-room, and oblige offending pupils to inhale a fixed 
 number of whiffs proportionate to the gravity of their 
 delinquency." 
 
 " An excellent idea," observed Wolston ; " for it is often 
 only necessary to show some things in a different light in 
 order to give them a new aspect and value. This puts me 
 in mind of an illustration in point ; these two girls, when 
 children, were the parties concerned, and I will relate the 
 circumstance to you." 
 
 " In that case," said Mary, " I shall go and feed the 
 fowls." - 
 
 " And I," said Sophia, " must go and water the flowers." 
 
 "Oh, then," cried Jack laughing, "it is another doll 
 story, is it ? " 
 
 " No, Master Jack, it is not a doll story ; and, besides, 
 we girls were no bigger at the time than that." 
 
 On saying this Sophia placed her two hands about a 
 foot and a half from the floor and then the two girls 
 vanished. 
 
 " When Mary was about six years old," began Wolston, 
 " a slight rash threatened to develope itself, and the doctor 
 ordered a small blister to be applied to one of her arms. 
 Now, there was likely to be some difficulty about getting 
 her to submit quietly to this operation, so, after an instant's 
 reflection, I called both her and her sister, and told them 
 that the most diligent of the two should have a vesicatory 
 put on her arm at night. ' Oh,' cried both the girls quite 
 delighted, "it will be me, papa, I shall be so good. 
 Mamma, mamma such a treat papa has promised us 
 a vesicatory for to-night ! " 
 
 " That was simplicity itself," said Mrs. Becker, laughing 
 till the tears came into her eyes. 
 
 " The day passed, the one endeavoring to excel the 
 other in the quantity of leaves they turned over ; and,
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 93 
 
 from time to time, I heard the one asking the other in a 
 low voice, ' Have you ever seen a vesicatory ? What is 
 it made of? Is it for eating ? And each in turn regarded 
 her arms, to judge in advance the effect of the marvellous 
 ornament." 
 
 " I should like much to have seen them." 
 
 " Night came, and I declared gravely that the eldest 
 was fairly entitled to the prize. The latter jumped about 
 with joy, and Sophia began to cry. " Don't cry,' said 
 Mary, ' if you are good, papa will, perhaps, give you one 
 to-morrow, too.' Then the joyful patient, turning to me, 
 said, 'On which arm, papa?" and I told her that the 
 ceremony of placing it on must take place when she was 
 in bed. To bed accordingly she went, the ornament was 
 applied , she looked at it, was pleased with it, thanked me 
 for it, and fell asleep as happy as a queen. But, alas ! 
 like that of many queens, the felicity did not last long; 
 before morning, I heard her saying to her sister, in a 
 doleful tone, " Soffy, will you have my vesicatory ? ' * Oh, 
 yes, just lend it to me for a tiny moment.' At this I 
 hurried to the spot, and, as you may readily suppose, 
 opposed the transfer." 
 
 " Poor Sophia ! " 
 
 " Yes ; she was quite heart-broken, and said, sobbing, 
 ' It is always Mary that gets everything, nobody ever 
 gives anything to me.' " 
 
 Next day, Willis laid hold of his sou'-wester, and was 
 starting off on his customary pilgrimage, when Becker 
 stopped him. 
 
 " Willis," said he, " have you any objections to state 
 what the engagements are, that require you to leave us at 
 pretty much the same hour every day ? " 
 
 " I merely go for a walk, Mr. Becker." 
 
 " Ah ! " 
 
 " You see I require to take a turn just after dinner for 
 the sake of my health." 
 
 "A habit that you contracted on board ship; eh, Willis?" 
 
 " On board ship ; yes Mr. Becker, that is to say " 
 
 " Just so," observed Mrs. Wolston ; " and by the way, 
 Willis, I regret thai you do not smoke now ; they say 
 there is plenty of tobacco on the island."
 
 94. WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " Smoke ! " cried Willis, raising his ears like a war- 
 horse at the sound of the trumpet, " why so, Mrs. 
 Wolston ? " 
 
 " Because we are dreadfully tormented with those horrid 
 mosquitoes, and you might help us to get rid of them. 
 You smoked at sea, did you not?" 
 
 " Yes, madam ; but then my constitution " 
 
 " Bah ! " said Wolston, " I thought you were as strong 
 as a horse, Willis." 
 
 " Well, I have no cause to complain neither ; but then 
 they say tobacco would kill even a horse." 
 
 " Of course, Willis, your health is a most necessary 
 consideration." 
 
 " Still for all that, if the mosquitoes really do annoy 
 Mrs. Wolston, I should have no objection to take a whiff 
 now and then." 
 
 " You must not put yourself about though, on our 
 account, Willis." 
 
 " About ; no, it would not put me about." 
 
 " Very good ; then it only remains to be seen whether 
 there is a pipe in the colony." 
 
 " Ah," said Willis, feeling his pockets, " yes, exactly 
 here is one." 
 
 " Curious how things do turn up, isn't it, Willis ? " said 
 Becker ; " but the mosquitoes would not be frightened 
 away by the smoke, if applied at long intervals, so you 
 will have to repeat the dose at least two or three times 
 every day, always supposing it does not affect your 
 constitution." 
 
 " Sailors, you see," replied Willis, " are like chimneys, 
 they always smoke when you want them, and sometimes a 
 great deal more than you want them." And on turning 
 round, he beheld Sophia holding a light, and a good-sized 
 case of Maryland, which had been preserved from the 
 wreck. 
 
 Ever after that time the mosquitoes had a most per- 
 severing enemy in Willis ; and, notwithstanding his health, 
 his daily walks entirely ceased. 
 
 For some time the Pilot and the four young men passed 
 the night in a tent erected about midway between Rock- 
 house and the Jackal River. The apparent reason for this
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 95 
 
 modification of their plans was the greater facility it 
 afforded for their all meeting at daybreak, breakfasting 
 together, and setting out for Falcon's Nest before the 
 temperature reached ninety degrees in the shade, which 
 junction could not be so easily effected with one party 
 encamped at Rockhouse and the other bivouacked on 
 Shark's Island, with an arm of the sea between them. 
 
 The real motive, however, was that all might be within 
 hail of each other, and prepared for every emergency, in 
 the event of the stranger appearing in a more palpable 
 shape, and assuming a hostile attitude. We say the 
 stranger, because, judging from the indications, there was 
 only one still that did not prove that there might not be 
 several. 
 
 One night, as Fritz was lying with one eye open, he 
 observed Mary's little black terrier suddenly prick up the 
 fragments of its ears, and begin sniffing at the edge of the 
 tent. This shaggy little cur was called Toby ; it had 
 accompanied the Wolstons on their voyage, and was Mary's 
 exclusive property ; but Fritz had found the way to the 
 animal's heart as usual through its stomach, and Mary 
 was in no way jealous of his attentions to her favorite, 
 but rather the reverse. 
 
 Fritz, feeling convinced by the actions of the dog, which 
 was of the true Scotch breed, that something extraordinary 
 was passing outside the tent, seized his rifle, hastened out, 
 and was just in time to distinguish a human figure on the 
 opposite bank of the Jackal River, which, on seeing him, 
 took to its heels and disappeared in the forest. 
 
 He was soon joined by the Pilot and his brothers ; the 
 dogs leaped about them, and the alarm became general 
 throughout the encampment. Fritz re-established order, 
 enjoined silence, and said, 
 
 " I am determined this time to follow the affair up ; who 
 will accompany me ? " 
 
 " I will ! " said all the four voices at once. 
 
 " Scouting parties ought not to be numerous," said 
 Fritz ; " I will, therefore, take Willis, in case this mystifi- 
 cation has anytlving to do with the Nelson" 
 
 " And me," said Jack, " to serve as a dessert, in case the 
 individual should turn out to be an anthropophagi an."
 
 96 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " Be it so; but no more. Frank and Ernest will remain 
 to tranquilize our parents, in case we should not return 
 before they are up." 
 
 " And if so, what shall we say ? " 
 
 "Tell them the truth. We shall proceed direct to Fal- 
 con's Nest ; and if the stranger confiding in our habit 
 of sleeping during the night be there as usual, we shall 
 do ourselves the honor of helping him to get up." 
 
 " Providing he does not nightly change his quarters 
 like Oliver Cromwell not so much to avoid enemies, as 
 to calm his uneasy conscience." 
 
 " Well, we shall be no worse than before ; we shall 
 have tried to restore our wonted quietude, and, if we fail, 
 we can say, like Francis I. at Pavia, ' All is lost except 
 our honor.' " 
 
 Some minutes after this conversation, three shadows 
 might have been seen stealing through the glades in the 
 direction of Falcon's Nest. Nothing was to be heard but 
 the rustling of the leaves the deafened beating of the 
 sea upon the rocks and, to use the words of Lamartine, 
 " those unknown tongues that night and the wind whisper 
 in the air." The trees were mirrored in the rays of the 
 moon, and the ground, at intervals, seemed strewn with 
 monstrous giants; their hearts beat, not with fear, but with 
 that feverish impatience that anticipates decisive results. 
 
 When they arrived at the foot of the tree on which the 
 aerial dwelling was situated, Fritz opened the door, and 
 resolutely, but stealthily, ascended. 
 
 Willis and Jack followed him with military precision. 
 
 They reached the top of the staircase, and held the 
 latch of the door that opened into the apartment. 
 
 A train of mice, in the strictest incognito, could not 
 have performed these operations with a greater amount of 
 secretiveness. On opening the door they stood and 
 listened. 
 
 Not a sound. Jack fired off a pistol, and the fraudulent 
 occupier of the room instantly started up on his feet. 
 Fritz rushed forward, and clasped him tightly round the 
 body. 
 
 " Ho, ho, comrade," said he, " this time you do not get 
 off so easily !"
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE CHIMPANZEE IMPERFECT NEGRO, OR PERFECT APE 
 
 THE HARMONIES OF NATURE A HANDFUL OF PAWS A 
 
 BTONE SKIN SEVENTEEN THOUSAND SPECTACLES ON ONB 
 
 NOSE ANIMALCULE PELION ON OS8A PTOLEMY COPER- 
 NICUS TO GALILEO METAPHYSICS AND COSMOGONIES 
 
 ISAIAH A LIVE TIGER. 
 
 "THE chimpanze" or chimpanzee," says Buffon, the 
 French naturalist, "is much more sagacious than the 
 ourang outang, with which it has been inaccurately con- 
 founded ; it likewise bears a more marked resemblance to 
 the human being ; the height is the same, and it has the 
 same aspect, members, and strength ; it always walks on 
 two feet, with the head erect, has no tail, has calves to its 
 legs, hair on its head, a beard on its chin, a face that 
 Grimaldi would have envied, hands and nails like those 
 of men, whose manners and habits it is susceptible of 
 acquiring." 
 
 Buffon knew an individual of the species that sat de- 
 murely at table, taking his place with the other guests ; 
 like them he would spread out his napkin, and stick one 
 corner of it into his button-hole just as they did, and he 
 was exceedingly dexterous in the use of his knife, fork, 
 and spoon. Spectators were not a little surprised to see 
 him go to a bed made for him, tie up his head in a pocket- 
 handkerchief, place it sideways on a pillow, tuck himself 
 carefully in the bed-clothes, pretend to be sick, stretch out 
 his pulse to be felt, and affect to undergo the process of 
 being bled. 
 
 The naturalist adds that he is very easily taught, and 
 
 may be made a useful domestic servant, at least as regards 
 
 the humbler operations of the kitchen ; he promptly obeys 
 
 signs and the voice, whilst other species of apes only obey 
 
 9
 
 98 "WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 the stick ; he will rinse glasses, serve at table, turn t) 
 pit, grind coffee, or carry water. Add to his virtues as 
 a domestic, that he is not much addicted to chattering 
 about the family affairs, has no followers, and is very 
 accommodating in the matter of wages. 
 
 It was neither more nor less than a chimpanzee that 
 Fritz had caught in the dark at Falcon's Nest. 
 
 " Now then, old fellow," said he, " you will help us to 
 clear up this mysterious affair." 
 
 The caged stranger made no reply to this observation ; 
 Willis and Jack then questioned him, the one in Engli.>h 
 and the other in French. 
 
 Still no reply. 
 
 He did not submit, however, to be interrogated quietly ; 
 on the contrary, his struggles to get away were most 
 vigorous, so much so that Fritz adopted the precaution 
 of binding him. 
 
 <k If it had been one of our sailors," said Willis, " he 
 would have recognized my voice long ago." 
 
 " Who are you ? " asked one. 
 
 " Where do you come from ? " inquired another. 
 
 " Do not attempt to escape," said a third. 
 
 " We mean you no harm ; on the contrary, we are 
 friends, disposed to do you good if we can." 
 
 "If all his brothers and sisters are as talkative as him- 
 self," remarked Jack, " they must be a very amusing sort 
 of people." 
 
 " He can walk at all events," said Fritz giving him a 
 smart push. 
 
 The chimpanzee fell flat on the floor. 
 
 " It appears, sir, that you ai-e determined to have your 
 own way, we must therefore wait till daylight." 
 
 An hour passed in polyglot expostulations with the 
 stranger on the score of his obstinacy, but all to no pur- 
 pose ; to use a popular expression, he was as dumb as the 
 Doges. He deigned, however, to empty at a single draught 
 a calabash of Malaga that Willis gave him, but there his 
 condescension stopped. 
 
 The Pilot, who now encountered mosquitoes in all direc- 
 tions, made preparations for smoking ; the light he struck,
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 09 
 
 however, instead of clearing up the mystery, only per- 
 plexed them more and more ; there lay their new com- 
 panion, stretched ou the ground, staring at them with a 
 ludicrous grin. 
 
 If, on the one hand, it occurred to them this man was 
 an animal, on the other the animal was a man, and Buffon 
 did not happen to be there at the time to assign him 
 officially a place in the former kingdom. 
 
 The next difficulty that presented itself was, how they 
 were to get him along; when they broke in the onagra, 
 they ran a prong through his ear ; in reducing the buffalo 
 to subjection, they did not feel the slightest compunction in 
 thrusting a pin through the cartilage of his nose ; then, in 
 order to give elasticity to the legs of the ostrich, they 
 yoked him to two or three other animals, and, willing or 
 unwilling, he was compelled ultimately to yield obedience 
 to the lords of creation. But whether the creature before 
 them was a lower order of negro or a higher order of ape, 
 there was too great a resemblance between the captured 
 and the capturers to admit of any of these methods of 
 impulsion being adopted. It was, therefore, stretched on 
 a plank, like a nabob in his palanquin, that the chimpanzee 
 made his first appearance at Rockhouse. 
 
 When the cavalcade arrived there, all the family, with 
 the exception of Ernest and Frank, were still asleep. 
 The first thing they did was to clothe the creature they 
 had captured in a sailor's pantaloons and jacket, with 
 which he seemed rather pleased, and the result of this 
 operation was, that he began to assume a less ferocious 
 aspect, and behave more respectfully towards his captors. 
 All the family had sat down to breakfast, when Fritz and 
 Jack, taking him by the hands, led him gravely into the 
 gallery. A cord was attached to his legs, allowing him to 
 walk, but was so arranged that he could not run. ' 
 
 On his appearance the young girls fled at once ; and, 
 more accustomed to drawing-rooms than the rude realities 
 of savage life, Mrs. Wolston's first impulse was to do the 
 same. 
 
 " Goodness gracious ! " she cried with an air of alarm, 
 " what horror is that ? "
 
 100 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " That, madam, is precisely what we have been anxioua 
 for the last two or three hours to find out," replied Fritz. 
 
 " Does the creature speak ? " 
 
 " Up till now, madam," replied Willis, " he has only 
 opened his mouth to swallow my calabash of Malaga ; 
 beyond that, he has kept as close as a purser's locker." 
 
 When the tirst shock had passed, and the company had 
 regained their self-possession, Jack related, with his cus- 
 tomary originality, the incidents of the nocturnal expe- 
 dition, of which Fritz was the originator, leader, and hero. 
 The ladies then, for the first time, were made acquainted 
 with the doubts, fears, perplexities, and battues, which, 
 out of gallantry, they had hitherto been kept in ignorance 
 of. Becker then, having carefully investigated the creature, 
 pronounced it to be (as we already know) a full-grown 
 specimen of a kind of ape, called by the Africans " the 
 wild man of the woods," and by naturalists the jocko or 
 chimpanzee. 
 
 " It is naturally very savage," added Becker ; " but this 
 individual seems already to have received some degree of 
 education." 
 
 As a proof of this, the chimpanzee seated himself 
 amongst them very much at his ease ; he scanned the 
 faces surrounding him with an air of curiosity, and seemed 
 to search for a particular countenance that it annoyed him 
 not to find. Some fruit and nuts that were given him put 
 bam in excellent humor. 
 
 " He has, without doubt, been on board some ship, 
 wrecked on the coast," said Wolston, " for I recollect 
 having read that his kindred are only found in Western 
 Africa and the adjacent islands ; do you not recognize him, 
 Willis, to belong to the Nelson, like the plank of the other 
 day?" 
 
 "No, sir." 
 
 " So much the better." 
 
 "We do not ship such cattle on board his Majesty's 
 ships," added the Pilot. 
 
 The girls, ashamed of their fear, now came peeping in 
 at the door, and, seeing that nobody had been devoured, 
 took refuge by the Bide of their mother.
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 101 
 
 " Look here, father," said Ernest, feeling the creature's 
 crania, after having facetiously begged pardon for the 
 liberty, " its head is precisely like our own ; that is very 
 humiliating." 
 
 " Yes, my son, but his tongue and other organs are also 
 exactly like ours, yet he cannot utter a word. His head 
 is of the same form and proportion, but he does not for all 
 that possess human intelligence. Is this not a very 
 striking proof that mere matter, though perfectly organ- 
 ized, neither produces words nor thought ; and that it 
 requires a special manifestation of the Divine will to call 
 these attributes into existence ?" 
 
 " True ; but, father, some writers say that apes have 
 been observed to profit by fires lighted in the forest, and 
 have gone and warmed themselves when the travellers 
 left." 
 
 " That, my son, is instinct, nothing more ; the operation 
 of keeping up a fire, by throwing a few branches upon it, 
 is exceedingly simple, but their instinct has never been 
 known to rise to that amount of intelligence." 
 
 " You recollect, father, that heathcock we saw some 
 years ago displaying his glossy plumage to the dazzled 
 hens ; is that not a well-marked proof of coquetry ? and 
 is not this coquetry an indication of something more than 
 mere instinct ?" 
 
 " You will permit me to believe, my son, at least till 
 the contrary has been proved, that these actions to which 
 you refer have nothing at all to do with coquetry. Those 
 brilliant colors are designed for a purpose other than that 
 which you suppose ; they serve as signals to keep the 
 community together, or, in other words, they are a common 
 centre round which the hens may revolve." 
 
 "The transition from apes to heathcocks," remarked 
 Jack, " appears to me somewhat abrupt." 
 
 " Not so abrupt as you think, Master Jack," said "Wbl- 
 ston; " those who take the trouble to study Nature, observe 
 an admirable gradation and easy progression from a 
 simple to a complex organization. There is no race 01 
 species that is not connected by a perceptible link with 
 that which precedes and that which follows."
 
 102 WILLIS THK FILOT. 
 
 " What relation is there, for example," inquired Jack, 
 " between an oyster and a horse ?" 
 
 " No immediate relation certainly, but there are inter- 
 mediate links by which the two are brought together : they 
 may be regarded, however, as the opposite extremes of the 
 brotherhood the two poles in the chain of existence. A 
 horse bears even less resemblance to a turnip than to an 
 oyster ; a relationship may, nevertheless, be traced, step 
 by step, between them, dissimilar as they are. There is 
 the polypus, that singular product of Nature, which, 
 regarded in one light, performs all the functions of animal 
 life, whilst, when regarded in another, it has the ordinary 
 attributes of a plant ; does this not clearly and distinctly 
 mark the transition from the vegetable to the animal 
 kingdom ? Again, certain species of worms blend the 
 animal with the insect tribe, those which are covered with 
 a horny substance unite them with the crustacean. These 
 approach fish on the one hand, and reptiles on the other, 
 whilst reptiles in some species become moluscs." 
 
 "And what is a molusc?" inquired "Willis. 
 
 " The term molusc is applied by naturalists to creatures 
 which have no vertebra?, as for example, the cuttle fish and 
 the oyster." 
 
 " I believe you, Mr. "Wolston ; but if I had asked 
 Einiest or Jack, they would have told me that it was a 
 commodore or an admiral." 
 
 " Reptiles, I was going to say, are connected at one end 
 of. the chain with moluscs by the slug, and at the other 
 with fish by the eel. From flying-fish to birds the tran- 
 sition is by no means abrupt. The ostrich, whose legs 
 are like goat's, and runs rather than flies, connects birds 
 with quadrupeds; these again return to fish through the 
 cetacea. " 
 
 "Yes, but the interval between such creatures and man 
 is still great." 
 
 " True ; to connect the two would be a process replete 
 with insurmountable difficulties, and only possible to 
 creative power. The projecting snout would have to be 
 flattened, and the features of humanity imprinted upon it 
 that head bent upon the ground would have to be
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 103 
 
 directed upwards that narrow breast would have to be 
 flattened out those legs would have to be converted into 
 flexible arms, and those horny hoofs into nimble fingers." 
 
 " To accomplish which," remarked Frank, " God had 
 only to say, ' Let it be so.' " 
 
 " Assuredly ; and as there is nothing incongruous in 
 Nature, as everything is admirably adapted for its pur- 
 pose, as unity of design, is perceptible in all things, as 
 every effect proceeds from a cause, and becomes a cause 
 in its turn of succeeding effects, so God has willed that 
 there should be a chain of resemblance running through 
 all his works, and the link that connects man with the 
 animal kingdom the highest type of the mammiferous 
 race, and the nearest approach to humanity amongst the 
 brutes is the creature before you." 
 
 As if to illustrate this position, and prove his title to the 
 place awarded him, the chimpanzee quietly laid hold of 
 Mr. Wolston's straw hat and stuck it on his crispy head. 
 
 " He is, perhaps, afraid of catching cold," said Jack, 
 thrusting a mat under his feet. 
 
 " Compare birds with quadrupeds," continued Mr. 
 Wolston, "and you will find analogies at every step. 
 Does the powerful and kingly eagle not resemble the noble 
 and generous lion ? the cruel vulture, the ferocious 
 tiger ? the kite, buzzard, and crow preying upon carrion, 
 hyenas, jackals, and wolves ? Are not falcons, hawks, 
 and other birds used in the chase, types of foxes and dogs? 
 Is the owl, which prowls about only at night, not a type 
 of the cat? The cormorants and herons, that live upon 
 fish, are they not the otters and beavers of the air? Do 
 not peacocks, turkeys, and the common barn-door fowl 
 bear a striking affinity to oxen, cows, sheep, and other 
 ruminating animals ?" 
 
 During these remarks, Jack's monkey, Knips, had 
 found its way into the gallery, and, observing the new- 
 comer, went forward to accost him as if an old friend; 
 the latter, however, uttered a menacing cry, and was about 
 to seize Knips with evidently no amiable design, but was 
 prevented by the cords that bound his legs. Knips leaped 
 upon the back of one of the boys, and there, aa if on the
 
 104 TTILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 tower of an impregnable fortress, commenced making a 
 series of grimaces at the chimpanzee, these being the only 
 missiles within reach that ne could launch at his relation. 
 The enemy retorted, and kept up a smart fire of like 
 ammunition. 
 
 " It appears," remarked Mrs Wolston, " that apes are 
 something like men ; the great and the little do not readily 
 amalgamate." 
 
 " We must make them amalgamate," said Jack, taking 
 one of Knips's paws, whilst Ernest held that of the 
 chimpanzee ; thus they compelled them to shake hands, 
 but with what degree of cordiality we are unable to 
 state. 
 
 " You ought to oblige them now to take an oath of 
 fealty," said Mrs. Wolston 
 
 " Chimpanzee," said Jack, speaking for Knips, " I pro- 
 mise always to treat you in future with smiles, delicacies, 
 and respect." 
 
 "Knips," replied the wild man of the woods, through 
 the organs of Ernest, " I promise to have for you only the 
 most generous intentions ; to share with you the nuts I 
 may have occasion to crack, that is, by giving you the 
 shells and keeping the kernel ; I promise, moreover, not 
 to immolate you at the altar of my just rage, unless it in 
 impossible for me to avoid an outburst of temper." 
 
 "Now the embrace of peace." 
 
 " Ah, madam," said Jack, " you must excuse that cere- 
 mony, their friendship is too new for such intimacy, and 
 Knips don't much like being bitten." 
 
 " Need we other proofs," remarked Becker, when the 
 scene between the monkeys was concluded, " that every- 
 thing has been premeditated, weighed, and calculated? It 
 was necessary for that most arid country, Arabia, that we 
 should have a sober animal, susceptible of existing a long 
 time without water, and capable of treading the hot sands 
 of the desert. God has accordingly given us the camel." 
 
 " And the dromedary," remarked Ernest. 
 
 " So everywhere," continued Becker ; " and add to 
 these evidences of Divine wisdom the brilliant colors, the 
 silken furs, the golden plumage, and the ever-varying
 
 WILLI3 THE PILOT. 105 
 
 forms, yet, in all this diversity, there is unison a 
 harmony. Like the various objects which a clever artist 
 introduces into his sketch, they are placed without uni- 
 formity, but still with reference to their effect upon each 
 other, and so to the unity of the general design." 
 
 "Therefore," remarked Ernest, "we have an animal 
 whose skin is of stone, which it throws off annually to 
 assume a new one. whose flesh is its tail and in its feet 
 whose hair is found inside in its breast whose stomach 
 is in its head, which, like the skin, is renewed every year, 
 the first function of the new being to digest the old one." 
 
 Here the Pilot manifested some symptoms of incre- 
 dulity. 
 
 " That is not all, Willis," continued Ernest, " the animal 
 of which I speak carries its eggs in the interior of its body 
 till they are hatched, and then transfers them to its tail. 
 It has pebbles in its stomach, can throw off its limbs when 
 they incommode it, and replace them with others more to 
 its fancy. To finish the portrait, its eyes are placed at the 
 tip of long flexible horns." 
 
 "Do you really mean me to believe that yarn?" in- 
 quired Willis. 
 
 " Yes, Willis, unless you intend to deny the existence 
 of lobsters." 
 
 " Lobsters ! Ah ! you are talking of them, are you !" 
 
 "Have not," continued Ernest, "six thousand three 
 hundred and sixty-two eyes been counted in one beetle ? 
 sixteen thousand in a fly? and as many as thirty-four 
 thousand six hundred in a butterfly ? Of course, facets 
 understood." 
 
 " Supposing these facets myope or presbyte," observed 
 Jack, " that gives seventeen thousand three hundred and 
 twenty-five pairs of spectacles on one nose ! " 
 
 " How wonderfully varied are the forms of Nature. If, 
 from the mastodon and the fossil mammoth, to which Buf- 
 fon attributes five or six times the bulk and size of the ele- 
 phant, we descend to those animalculse, of which Leuwen- 
 hoek estimates that a thousand millions of them would not 
 occupy the place of an ordinary grain of sand." 
 
 Here Willis lost all patience and left the gallery, whist-
 
 106 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 ling as usual, under such circumstances, the " Mariner's 
 March." 
 
 "Malesieu has detected animals by the microscope 
 twenty-seven times smaller than a mite. A single drop 
 of water under this instrument assumes the aspect of a 
 lake, peopled by an infinite multitude of living creatures." 
 
 " Therefore," observed Wolston, " it is not the great 
 works of Nature, or those of which the organization is 
 most perfect, that alone presents to the mind of man the 
 unfathomable mysteries of creation ; atoms become to him 
 problems, that utterly defy the utmost efforts of his intel- 
 ligence." 
 
 " Which," suggested Becker, " does not prevent us be- 
 lieving ourselves a well of science, nor hinder us from 
 piling Pelion on Ossa to scale the skies." 
 
 " What becomes, in the presence of these facts, of the 
 metaphysics and cosmogonies that have succeeded each 
 other for two thousand years ? What of all the theories, 
 from Ptolemy to Copernicus, from Copernicus to Galileo, 
 Descartes and his zones, Leibnitz and his monads, Wolf 
 and his fire forces, Maupertuis and his intelligent elements, 
 Broussais, who, in his anatomical lectures, has oftener than 
 once shown to his pupils, on the point of his scalpel, the 
 source of thought; what, I say. becomes of all these?" 
 
 " There is less wisdom in such vain speculation than 
 in these simple words : ' / believe in God the Father, the 
 Creator of all things. 1 " 
 
 " Worlds," says Isaiah, " are, before Him, like the dew- 
 drops on a blade of grass." 
 
 " We are now, however, getting into the clouds," re- 
 marked Wolston ; " let us return to the earth by the 
 shortest route. What do you mean to do with the chim- 
 panzee?" 
 
 "Why, we must cage him in some way," replied Becker ; 
 " to let him loose again would be to create fresh uneasiness 
 for ourselves. To kill him would be almost a kind of 
 homicide." 
 
 "Can I come in now?" inquired Willis, thrusting hia 
 head into the gallery. 
 
 " Ye, with perfect safety."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 107 
 
 , " You see, when Master Ernest begins to spin, he gets 
 into the chapter of miracles, and' forgets that we have 
 ears." 
 
 " I cannot help seeing them sometimes though, "Willis ; 
 when they are a little longer than usual, it is difficult to 
 hide them altogether." 
 
 " Well," replied Willis, " I confess I am a bit of a fool, 
 and as you are at a loss what to do with our friend here, 
 I shall take him over with me to Shark's Island : there will 
 be a pair of us there then." 
 
 " If you will undertake to be his guide and instructor, 
 he is yours, Willis." 
 
 " What shall I call him?" 
 
 "Jocko." 
 
 " It shall go hard with me if I do not make a gentleman 
 of him in a month's time." 
 
 " I should like," said Frank, " if you could convert him 
 into a tiger." 
 
 A tiger?" 
 
 " Yes, we want a footman in livery to fetch Mrs. Wol- 
 ston's carriage next time she calls for it." 
 
 " I feel highly flattered by the compliment," said Mrs. 
 Wolston, " but fear you will not be able to turn him out 
 entire." 
 
 " Why so, madam ? " 
 
 " Where are the top boots to come from f "
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE PIONEERS EXCURSION TO COROMANDEL HINDOO FAN- 
 CIES A CAGED HUNTER LOUIS XI. AND CARDINAL BALUE 
 
 A FURLONG OF NEWS CARNAGE THE BARONET AND HI 8 
 
 8ETENTEEN TIGERS FIFTY-FOUR FEET OF CELEBRITT 
 
 STERNE'S WINDOW PROMENADE OF THE CONSCIENCES 
 EMULATION AND VANITY. 
 
 WHEN a country is released from the presence of an 
 enemy that annoyed and harassed them, the people feel 
 as if a weight had been taken off their shoulders ; so the 
 inhabitants of New Switzerland had breathed more freely 
 since the capture of the chimpanzee. 
 
 The works at Falcon's Nest were completed, and the 
 two families had taken possession of their aerial dwellings, 
 where they were perched like a pair of rookeries within 
 call of each other. 
 
 The confined air of towns has a tendency to plunge men 
 into lethargy and indolence, and to precipitate the deca- 
 dence of a constitution in which the seeds of disease have 
 been sown ; whilst, on the other hand, the pure air of the 
 country braces the nerves, excites a healthy action in the 
 system, and invigorates a shattered frame ; so it was with 
 Mr. Wolston under the benign influences of the genial 
 climate and the refreshing sea breeze, he gradually, but 
 steadily, recovered health and strength. 
 
 A larger breadth of land had been cleared and fitted for 
 receiving grain, which it was susceptible of reproducing a 
 hundred-fold. Such is the sublime contract God has made 
 with man, that, in exchange for his labor and skill, a single 
 grain of wheat will produce seven or eight stalks, each 
 bearing an ear containing fifty grains ; a single grain has 
 been known to yield twenty-eight ears, and Pliny states 
 that Nero received a grain bearing the enormous number
 
 WILLIS THK PILOT. 109 
 
 of three hundred and sixty ears. Strange that such a sin- 
 gular instance of fecundity should present itself during the 
 domination of a man, or rather monster, who dared to wish 
 that the Roman people had only one head, so that he 
 might cut it off at a single blow ! 
 
 Willis and the Wolstons were as yet ignorant of the 
 extent and limits of the colony ; there were two inclosed 
 and cultivated sections, named respectively Waldeck and 
 Prospect Hill, which they had not yet inspected. With a 
 view to enable them to form a more accurate conception 
 of the boundaries of the territory they inhabited, a grand 
 excursion was decided upon that would enable them 
 leisurely to investigate every nook and cranny of the 
 settlement. 
 
 The storehouse was accordingly overhauled, and the 
 ladies called in to prepare viands for the journey; they 
 were likewise invited to furnish a supply of certain 
 enchanted travelling bags, in which the gentlemen were 
 often astonished to find, during their distant expeditions, a 
 thousand and one useful things that they would nevei 
 have dreamt of bringing with them of their own accord. 
 
 Becker, Wolston, Ernest, and Frank set about the con- 
 struction of a vehicle on four wheels for the luggage and 
 the ladies ; they did not contemplate erecting a machine 
 with elastic springs and gilded panels, like the Lord 
 Mayor's state coach their object was to produce a 
 machine that would ease, without dislocating, the limbs of 
 the travellers, and that would move at least more gently 
 than a gardener's cart, loaded with hampers of greens for 
 Covent Garden Market. It may readily be supposed that 
 Ernest's Latin was not of much service in these opera- 
 tions, for even Wolston's mechanical skill was sorely tried 
 in elaborating the design. 
 
 Fritz, Willis, and Jack had already started as pioneers 
 of the expedition to examine the buildings, and to see that 
 no more apes or other piratical marauders had established 
 themselves on their premises ; and, in compliance with a 
 request made by Willis, who strongly objected to becoming 
 a bushranger, they had gone by water. It was furthei 
 arranged that, on their return, all should start together 
 10
 
 110 WILLIS THK PILOT. 
 
 the entire community in one cavalcade, like an army on 
 the march. 
 
 "The young ladies were as much pleased in anticipation 
 with this journey as if the destination of the travellers 
 had been Brighton or Ramsgate. To children of their 
 age, change is always pleasing. Often, in consequence of 
 a death, the collapse of a bank, the loss of a law-suit, or 
 some dire disaster of that sort, parents have seen them- 
 selves compelled to abandon the home of their fathers, 
 endeared to them by many gentle recollections, perhaps to 
 embark for some far distant land ; they stifle their sighs, 
 and bid a mute farewell to each stone and each tree, 
 familiar to them as household words ; they depart with 
 reluctance, and often turn to cast a lingering look behind 
 at objects so dear to their memory. Not so the children; 
 they issue from the door like a flock of caged pigeons 
 just let loose ; they sing and leap and laugh with glee ; 
 the old house has no charms for them, they are as glad to 
 depart as their elders are wishful to stay ; the trunk 
 desires to multiply its roots on the soil, but the buds 
 prefer to blow elsewhere for the latter life resolves 
 itself into the word FUTURE, and for the former into the 
 word PAST. 
 
 Leaving Wolston, Becker, and his two sons hard at 
 work on the carriage, let us turn to the pinnace which was 
 now making its way along the shore under the guidance 
 of the Pilot. 
 
 " I should like much," said Fritz, " to present Mr. and 
 Mrs. Wolston with a couple of bear, Jeopard, or tiger 
 skins." 
 
 " So should I," said Jack. 
 
 " I wish you could think of "some other sort of gift," 
 suggested Willis ; " what do you say to a couple of seal or 
 hark skins?" 
 
 14 Won't do," replied both Fritz and Jack in one voice. 
 " What objections have you to the others ? " 
 
 " Well, you are in some sort consigned to my care ; I 
 should like you to return to your parents with your own 
 skins entire." 
 
 " Then you think it is a terrific affair to kill a tiger or
 
 WILLIS THB PILOT. Ill 
 
 two ? You hare been accustomed to the sea, and fancy 
 landsmen are good for nothing but shooting crows and 
 wild-cats ; that is a mistake, however ; we are familiar 
 with larger game." 
 
 " Shiver my timbers ! do you call bears and tigers 
 game ? " 
 
 " I am afraid, Willis, you are a bit of a milksop." 
 
 " Avast heaving there, Master Fritz ! as it is, I am a 
 half-hanged man already, so death has now no terrors for 
 me ; it is the first pang that is most felt." 
 
 " Yes ; but in the case of tigers, they never give yoi- 
 time to feel a second pang ; miss your aim, and it is al 
 over with you." 
 
 " True ; and therefore I wish you would give up tht 
 project. As for myself, I would face anything with a four 
 pounder, but rifle practice on board ship is mostly con- 
 fined to the marines ; it is not that, however, I am troubled 
 about ; I am certain your worthy father would never for- 
 give me if I countenance this project." 
 
 " You need not tell him anything about it." 
 
 " Where, then, are the skins to come from ? Can you 
 say you bought them at the furrier's? You must really 
 hit upon some other fancy." 
 
 " But it is not a fancy, Willis, it is a necessity; it ia not 
 our own amusement we are consulting. Just imagine 
 yourself what will happen during the excursion now being 
 arranged. Our parents will, of course, offer their bear 
 skins to Mr. and Mrs. Wolston ; there will be refusals on 
 the one side and entreaties on the other." 
 
 " And, as is usual in these sort of discussions," added 
 Jack, " Mrs. Wolston will call her carriage." 
 
 " Yes," continued Fritz, " and my mother will most 
 certainly deprive herself of a covering that is absolutely 
 indispensable during the cold nights of this climate." 
 
 " There is reason in what you say," observed Willis, 
 scratching his ear. 
 
 " You see, Willis, the thing ought and must be done." 
 
 " As you put it, yes ; but it will take time to prepare 
 the skins." 
 
 " They will not be ready in time for this expedition
 
 112 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 certainly, and my mother must do without her skin thig 
 journey ; but it is our duty to prevent anything of the sort 
 happening in future." 
 
 "Were I to consent to this project," said Willis, "there 
 is still something more required." 
 
 What, Willis ? " 
 
 " Why, the tigers and what's-a-names ; it is necessary 
 to find the brute before you can get its skin." 
 
 " Granted ; there would be a difficulty in the case had 
 we not here quite handy a magnificent covering of wild 
 animals, all ready to kill or to be killed. Just steer a 
 point to the east, Willis ; there, that will do. Just beyond 
 that bluff you see yonder, there is a low flat plain covered 
 with brushwood and tufted with trees ; on the left, this 
 prairie is bounded by a chain of low hills, and on the right 
 a broad river, which last we have named the St. John, 
 because it bears some resemblance to a stream of that 
 name in Florida ; beyond this plain there is a swamp." 
 
 "And," added Jack, "behind this swamp there is a 
 magnificent forest of cedars, peopled with the finest furs 
 imaginable, but garnished, however, with formidable claws 
 and rows of teeth." 
 
 " I was not aware," said Willis, " that we were within 
 -each of such amiable neighbors." 
 
 " Oh, they cannot reach us ; thanks to the conformation 
 of that chain of hills you see yonder, there is only one 
 pass that opens into our settlement, and that we have 
 taken care to shut up and fortify." 
 
 " It appears then," said Willis, " that there will be no 
 difficulty in finding the animals, but " 
 
 " Come, Willis, no more buts ; you hunt in your own 
 way from morning till night, let us for once hunt in ours." 
 
 " I go a-hunting ? " 
 
 " Yes, there you are, charging your piece just now." 
 
 " Oh, my pipe you mean ; but look at the difference ; 
 mosquitoes bite human beings, they don't eat them ! " 
 
 " And, you may add, their skins don't make bed-clothes. 
 Besides, if my mother takes rheumatism or the ague, it 
 will be you that is to blame." 
 
 "I would rather face all the tigers in Bengal and all the
 
 WILLIS THK PILOT. 113 
 
 lions in Africa than incur such a responsibility. I will, 
 therefore, take a part in your cruise, and if any accident 
 happens to either of you, I shall stay in the forest till 
 nothing is left of me but my cap and my bones. In this 
 way I will escape all reproach in this world, and I may as 
 well, after all, rejoin my old commander, Captain Little- 
 stone, by this road as by any other." 
 
 In the meantime, they had reached the coast of Waldeck, 
 and having landed, they found the outhouses and sheds 
 that had been erected there in satisfactory order ; the 
 apes had not forgotten a battue that had once been got up 
 for their special behoof, as not an individual was to be seen 
 in the neighborhood. A morass of the district that had 
 been converted into a rice plantation, promised an abun- 
 dant crop ; and the cotton plants, that Frank had once 
 mistaken for flakes of snow, reared their woolly blossoms, 
 looking for all the world like the powdered heads of our 
 ancestors. After a slight repast, the pinnace was once 
 more in motion, and the party steering for Prospect Hill. 
 
 "Ah," sighed Willis, " I wish we had only Sir Marma- 
 duke Travers' cage here." 
 
 " Cage ! " cried Fritz, laughing, " what, to shut up the 
 game first and shoot it afterwards ? " 
 
 " No, quite the reverse : to shut up the hunters." 
 
 " Ah, you would serve us in the same way as Louis XI. 
 served Cardinal Balue." 
 
 " I know nothing of either Louis XL or Cardinal Balue ; 
 but the cage I speak of was an excellent invention, for all 
 that." 
 
 " Which you would like to prove to us by caging our- 
 selves, eh ? " 
 
 " Sir Marmaduke Travers," continued Willis, " was an 
 English gentleman, and he was travelling in Coromandel, 
 no one knew why or for what purpose." 
 
 " For the fun of the thing, probably," suggested Jack ; 
 " the English are said to be great oddities." 
 
 " At that time there happened to be a Hindoo widow 
 
 somewhere in those parts. This lady was very rich, very 
 
 young, very beautiful, and very fond of tormenting her 
 
 admirers. And, as fate Would have it, the travelling 
 
 10*
 
 114 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 Englishman was completely taken captive by this dark 
 beauty; and taking advantage of the hold she had 
 obtained upon his heart, she amused herself by making 
 him do all sorts of out of the way things. Sometimes she 
 would bid him let his moustache grow, then she would 
 order him to cut it off; he had to worship Brahma, adopt 
 the fashion of the Hindoos, and had even to undergo the 
 indignity of having his head tied up in a dirty pocket- 
 handkerchief." 
 
 " That is to say," remarked Jack, " that the lady, not 
 having a pug or a monkey, made Sir Mannaduke a 
 substitute for both." 
 
 " Very likely, but still Sir Marmaduke was no fool ; he 
 was on the contrary, a gentleman and a philosopher." 
 
 " I doubt that," said Jack. 
 
 " You are wrong, then. You have been brought up in 
 an out of the way part of the world, and are not familiar 
 with the usages of civilized society. "When once a man 
 has allowed the tender passion to take root in his breast, 
 it cannot afterwards be extinguished at will ; it grows and 
 grows like an oil spot, so that what might easily have been 
 mastered at first, makes us in time its devoted slave." 
 
 " I cannot admit," said Fritz, " that any sensible man 
 would allow himself to be treated in the way you state." 
 
 " The wisest and bravest have often, for all that, been 
 obliged to bend their heads to such circumstances ; In fact, 
 those only escape whose hearts have been steeled by time 
 or adversity. Well, nothing would please the lady in one 
 of her caprices short of Sir Marmaduke's going alone to 
 the jungle and killing a tiger or two for her. This caused 
 him some little uneasiness." 
 
 " I should think so," remarked Jack, " unless he had 
 been accustomed to face the animals." 
 
 " However, the widow's hand was to be the reward of 
 the achievement, and the thing must consequently be 
 done. Being, however, as I have said, a bit of a philo- 
 sopher, he considered with himself that if, by chance, he 
 should perish in the attempt, he would lose the widow all 
 the same, and that he could not think of with any thing 
 like equanimity. To extricate himself from this dilemma
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 115 
 
 he sent a despatch, to an enterprising friend of his, then 
 stationed with his regiment at Calcutta, requesting his 
 advice." 
 
 " And this friend, no doubt, sent him a couple of tigers 
 all ready trussed ? " 
 
 " No, better than that ; he sent him a strong iron cage 
 fifteen feet square, very solid. This was shipped on board 
 a cutter co'nmanded by Captain Littlestone, and I was 
 entrusted with the task of erecting it on shore, whilst an 
 express was sent off to Sir Marmaduke." 
 
 " Ah ! " said Jack, " I begin to understand now." 
 
 " Well, he rigged himself in tiger-hunting costume, went 
 and bade the lady good-bye, who coolly wished him good 
 sport, mounted a horse, and rode off to conquer a lady 
 who, as a proof of her affection, had so cavalierly consigned 
 him to the tender mercies of the wild beasts." 
 
 "Why, it was dooming him to certain destruction," said 
 Fritz. 
 
 " In the meantime the cage had been conveyed to a 
 valley surrounded with mountains, the caves of which 
 were known to shelter entire colonies of tigers. Here 
 also came Sir Marmaduke. The cage was firmly embedded 
 in the soil, the exterior was thickly studded over with 
 sharp spikes screwed into the bars ; inside were placed a 
 table and a sofa, with crimson velvet cushions." 
 
 " A lady's boudoir in the wilderness," said Jack. 
 
 " In one corner there was a case containing a dozen 
 bottles of pale ale, and as many of champagne ; in another 
 was a second case containing curry pies and a variety of 
 preserved meats ; in a third case were five and twenty 
 loaded rifles, together with a complete magazine in minia- 
 ture of powder and shot. On the table were sundry cases 
 of havannahs, a box of allumettes, the last number of the 
 Edinburgh Review, and a copy of the Times" 
 
 " What is the Times ? " inquired Jack. 
 
 " It is a furlong of paper, folded up and covered with 
 news, advertisements, and letters from the oldest inhabitant 
 of everywhere. Leaving, then, Sir Marmaduke seated in 
 the centre of his cage, we towards night returned to the 
 cutter, first scattering twc or three quarters of fresh beef 
 in the vicinity of the cage."
 
 116 WILLIS THB PILOT. 
 
 " That should have assembled all the tigers in Coro- 
 mandel," said Fritz. 
 
 " Anyhow, it brought enough. Towards midnight Sir 
 Marmaduke could count thirty noble brutes capering in 
 the moonlight and feasting upon the beef that had been 
 provided for them." 
 
 " What did the Englishman do then ? " 
 
 " He took aim at the most magnificent specimen of the 
 herd and fired. No sooner had he done this than the 
 whole pack came scampering towards the cage, thinking, 
 doubtless, they had nothing to do but scrunch the bones of 
 the solitary hunter. This was the signal for a regular 
 slaughter. Sir Marmaduke discharged his rifles point 
 blank in the noses of the animals that environed him on 
 all sides ; those who were not wounded by the balls were 
 severely injured by the spikes of the cage in their furious 
 efforts to seize their enemy. The howling, yelling, .and 
 fury was quite a new sensation for Sir Marmaduke ; he 
 rather enjoyed the thing whilst the excitement lasted. 
 However, all things must have an end ; when the sun 
 appeared on the horizon the wounded retired, leaving the 
 dead masters of the situation." 
 
 "I suppose, in the meantime," remarked Fritz, "that 
 the amiable Hindoo was considering whether or not, under 
 the circumstances, she should wear mourning for her 
 defunct cavalier." 
 
 " Be that as it may, the defunct made his appearance, 
 safe and sound, that same day, whilst the cutter stood out 
 to sea with every vestige of the cage except the dead 
 tigers. Shortly after, the widow was astonished to see an 
 army of coolies marching in procession towards her door, 
 all, like the slaves of Aladdin, heavily laden ; and she was 
 not awakened from her surprise till the master of the 
 ceremonies had placed the following letter in her hands : 
 
 " ' MADAM, With this you will receive seventeen 
 full-grown tigers, which I have had the honour of shooting 
 frr you. 
 
 " MARMADUKE TRAVEES." 
 
 "That was a choice bijou for a lady," sa'd Jack.
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 117 
 
 " Yes," added Fritz ; " and if the ladies of Coromandel 
 have stands in their drawing-rooms, to display the tributes 
 to their charms, Sir Marmaduke's present afforded abun- 
 dant material for adorning those of the widow." 
 
 "Well, the consequence was, that Sir Marmaduke's 
 name rung from one end of India to the other. The feat 
 of killing, single-handed, seventeen tigers, converted him 
 into a hero of the h'rst magnitude. No festival was com- 
 plete without him, he was courted by the fashionables and 
 worshipped by the mob ; some enthusiasts even proposed 
 to erect a tomb for him, that being the way they honor 
 their great men in eastern nations." 
 
 " Every country," remarked Fritz, " has its own pecu- 
 liarities in this respect. The memory of the illustrious 
 men of Greece and Rome was perpetuated in the intrinsic 
 merit of the works of art erected in their names. In 
 England quantity takes the place of quality ; there is said 
 to be in London a statue of a hero disguised as Achilles, 
 six yards in height, and perched upon a pedestal twelve 
 yards high." 
 
 "Making in all," remarked Jack, "exactly eighteen 
 yards of fame." 
 
 "The handsome Hindoo,'' continued Willis, "was proud 
 of the feat her charms had inspired. She gloried in show- 
 ing off the redoubtable tiger-slayer at her reunions, and 
 ended in being completely fascinated herself with her 
 former slave. The match that she had formerly sneezed 
 at she now earnestly desired, and, as Sir Marmaduke did 
 not declare himself so speedily as she desired, she deter- 
 mined to give him a little encouragement by sending one 
 of the most inviting and most odoriferous of notes." 
 
 " Sir Marmaduke must then have considered himself 
 one of the happiest of men," said Fritz. 
 
 "Well," continued Willis, "neither man nor woman 
 can, in affairs of this kind, depend upon themselves for two 
 consecutive hours. The aspirations of a whole lifetime 
 may be dispelled in five minutes, and the wishes of to-day 
 may become the detestations of to-morrow. The new sen- 
 sations awakened in Sir Marmaduke by the affair of the 
 cage his recollection of the ferocious brutes aa they clung
 
 118 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 with expiring energy to the bars of the cage, their streaked 
 skins streaming with blood, the fearful howling and terrific 
 death yells, the formidable claws that were often within an 
 inch of his face had, somehow or other, chased the pas- 
 sion he had felt for the widow completely out of his 
 breast." 
 
 "Oh, the scamp of a Travers !" said Jack, energetically. 
 
 " He began to ask himself coolly what a lady, who had 
 made such extraordinary demands upon him before mar- 
 riage, might not require him to do after ; and the result of 
 his cogitations is expressed in the following reply that he 
 sent to the now smiling widow : 
 
 " ' Sir Marmaduke Travers is highly flattered by the 
 charming note of the adorable daughter of Brahma ; he 
 shall gladly continue to bask in the sunshine of her smiles, 
 out his ambition desires and will accept nothing more.' " 
 
 " Flowery and laconic," said Fritz. 
 
 "Well," inquired Willis, "was I not right in wishing to 
 aave the cage of Sir Marmaduke here ? " 
 
 " Yes, but we cannot get it. We have no ingenious 
 iriend at Calcutta to send us such a machine, and furnish 
 it with crimson-cushioned sofas and pale ale, so we shall 
 have to rest satisfied with our own ingenuity, tact, and 
 agility." 
 
 Fritz and Jack were justified in relying upon their own 
 resources. They had been often sorely tried, and never 
 had been found wanting in cases of emergency. Since 
 the arrival of the Wolstons their courage had become 
 almost temerity ; previous to that event, they had been 
 content to meet danger bravely when it was inevitable, and 
 never went deliberately in search of it. Now, however, 
 if we apply the glass of which Sterne speaks to their 
 breasts and spy what is passing therein, we shall fu*d that 
 an imperious desire to become heroes had taken possession 
 of their inward souls a determination to make them- 
 selves conspicuous at all hazards was burning within them; 
 that, in fact, they were courting the admiration of the new 
 audience that Providence had sent to the colony, the praise 
 of which found more favor in their hearts than the pater- 
 nal admonitions.
 
 "WILLIS THE PILOT. 119 
 
 This was far from being commendable ; but, although 
 emulation and vanity have some features in common, still 
 they must not be confounded : the former consists in gener- 
 ous efforts to equal or surpass some one in something 
 praiseworthy ; the second is a kind of self-love, that seeks 
 to purchase respect or flattery at no matter what cost; 
 the one is a vice, the other a virtue. 
 
 Fritz and Jack were not actuated by vanity ; they were 
 urged on by their impulses, without weighing the circum- 
 stances that gave them rise ; and indeed they were not 
 even conscious of being more desirous of renown now than 
 they had been hitherto. 
 
 The temperament of Ernest and Frank was of another 
 kind. Their natures were much Jess excitable, and it did 
 not appear that the recent arrivals had altered their out- 
 ward demeanor in the slightest degree; they continued 
 calm, staid, and reflective, as they had ever been. 
 
 All four were a singular mixture of the child and the 
 man knowing many things that young people are igno- 
 rant of, they were yet almost totally unacquainted with the 
 ordinary attributes of social life unsophisticated and 
 naive to an extreme degree, they would have appeared in 
 a fashionable drawing-room downright fools. On the other 
 hand, they possessed great clearness of perception, pres- 
 ence of mind in danger, promptitude in action, and the 
 utmost coolness in the face of apparently insurmountable 
 obstacles qualities that would have utterly confounded 
 the young men who shine in the saloons of Europe, whose 
 chief merit often consists in their being familiar with the 
 unmeaning conventionalisms of fashionable life. 
 
 At Prospect Hill they found the outhouses and planta- 
 tions in much the same position as at Waldeck. Here the 
 crimson flowers of the caper plant, the white flowers of the 
 tea plant, and the rich blossoms of the clove tree, perfumed 
 the air and promised a fragrant harvest. This was a 
 charming caravansary, all ready with its smiles to welcome 
 the illustrious colonists as soon as they presented them- 
 selves. 
 
 These points being settled to the satisfaction of the three 
 pioneers, a sheep was taken on board the pinnace at the 
 request of Willig who seemed to have taken a violent
 
 120 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 fancy for mutton chops and they set sail towards the 
 east. 
 
 In the first instance they made for a projecting head- 
 land that seemed to bar their progress in that direction, 
 and, much to the astonishment of the Pilot, they entered 
 a cavern that formed the entrance to a natural tunnel. 
 This, besides being an interesting feature in the coast 
 scenery, was one of the treasures of the colony, for it con- 
 tained vast quantities of edible birds' nests, so much prized 
 by the Chinese. The voyagers did not, however, tarry 
 here ; these were not the objects they were now in search 
 of. Nautilus Bay and the Bay of Pearls were likewise 
 traversed unheeded, nor could the attractive banks of the 
 St. John, fringed with verdant foliage, divert them from 
 the project they had in contemplation. 
 
 Wise men, when they indulge in folly, are often more 
 foolish than real fools ; so it was with Willis : now that he 
 had joined in the scheme, he evinced more ardor in its 
 execution than the young men themselves. He said that 
 it would not be enough to capture skins for Mr. and Mrs. 
 Wolston, they must also capture one a-piece for Mary and 
 Sophia likewise, and talked as if the adventure of Sir Mar- 
 maduke and his seventeen tigers had been a bagatelle. 
 
 Some hours before dark they landed at a spot well 
 known to both Fritz and Jack ; it was a place where 
 Becker and his sons had some time before been engaged in 
 deadly conflict with a herd of lions, and where one of their 
 dogs had fallen a victim to the enraged monarchs of the 
 forest. 
 
 " My plan," said Willis, " is to kill the sheep and place 
 the quarters on the shore, just as bait is thrown into the 
 water to bring the fish within the net." 
 
 " A reminiscence of Sir Marmaduke," said Jack. 
 
 " Then," continued Willis, " we shall light a fire to take 
 the place of the sun, who is about to retire for the night 
 This done, I propose that we should return to the pinnace, 
 keep the mutton within rifle range, and riddle the skina 
 that come to feast upon it." 
 
 After some opposition on the part of Fritz and Jack, 
 who preferred to encounter their antagonists on more equal 
 terms, the proposal of Willis was ultimately agreed to.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 OX THE WATCH FECUNDITY OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS 
 
 LATEST NEWS FROM THE MOON A DEATH-KNELL EVERT 
 
 SECOND THE INCONVENIENCES OF BEINQ TOO NEAR THB 
 
 SUN NARCOTICS WILLIS CONTRALTO HUNTING TURNED 
 UPSIDE DOWN ELECTRIC CLOUDS PARTIALITIES OF LIGHT- 
 NING BELLS AND BELL-RINGERS CONDUCTING RODS THB 
 
 RETURN THE TWO SISTERS TOBT BECOMES A DRAGOMAN. 
 
 As is usual in tropical climates, a blazing hot day 
 was succeeded by an intensely dark night. The fire that 
 the hunters had made on shore cast a lurid glare on the 
 prominent objects round about. The flames, as they 
 fitfully lit up the landscape into that dim distinctness 
 termed by artists the chiar oscuro, made the bushes and 
 trunks of trees appear like monsters issuing stealthily from 
 the forest that lined the background. There seemed to be 
 some attraction, however, elsewhere for the real monsters, 
 not a single wild beast having as yet appeared on the 
 scene. 
 
 The two young men were eagerly straining their eyes 
 from the stern of the pinnace, whilst the dogs kept dili- 
 gently wagging their tails in expectation of a signal for the 
 onset. The position of Willis could be ascertained now 
 and then by an eye of fire, which opened and shut as he 
 inhaled or exhaled the fumes of his Maryland. The ripple 
 beat gently on the sea-line of the boat, which oscillated 
 with the regularity and softness of a cradle. 
 
 " It is always so," said Jack, impatiently ; " if we don't 
 want wild beasts, there are shoals of them to be seen; but 
 if we do want them, then they are all off to their dens." 
 
 " Perhaps, there are none now," suggested Willis. 
 
 " Say rather," observed Fritz, " that there ought to be 
 thousands ; for on the one hand they multiply rapidly, and 
 11
 
 122 "WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 on the other there is no one to destroy them. The 
 Spaniards once left a few cattle on St. Domingo, and they 
 increased at such a rate, that the island very soon would 
 not have been able to support them, had they not been 
 kept down by constant slaughter." 
 
 "Besides," remarked Jack, "the bovine race reproduce 
 themselves more slowly than other animals ; a single sow, 
 according to a calculation made by Vauban, if allowed 
 to live eleven years, would produce six millions of pigs." 
 
 " What a cargo of legs of pork and sides of bacon ! " 
 exclaimed Willis, laughing. 
 
 " Then fish ; there are more than a hundred and sixty 
 thousand eggs in a single carp. A sturgeon contains a 
 million four hundred and sixty-seven thousand eight hun- 
 dred and fifty, whilst in some codfish the number exceeds 
 nine millions." 
 
 "Oh, you need not favor us with the 'Mariner's March,' 
 Willis ; what my brother says is perfectly correct." 
 
 " What, then, do these shoals of creatures live upon ? " 
 
 " The big ones upon the little ones ; fish devour each 
 other." 
 
 "A beautiful harmony of Nature," remarked Fritz drily. 
 
 " Then plants," continued Jack, " are still more, prolific 
 than animals. Some trees can produce as many of their 
 kind as they have branches, or even leaves. An elm tree, 
 twelve years old, yields sometimes five hundred thousand 
 pods; and, by the way, Willis, to encourage you in carrying 
 on the war against the mosquitoes, a single stalk of tobacco 
 produces four thousand seeds." 
 
 " The leaves, however, are of more use to me than the 
 seeds," replied Willis. 
 
 " This admirable proportion between the productiveness 
 of the two kingdoms demonstrates the far-seeing wisdom 
 of Providence. If the power of multiplication in vege- 
 tables had been less considerable, the fields, gardens, and 
 prairies would have been deserts, with only a plant here 
 and there to hide the nakedness of the land. Had God 
 permitted animals to multiply in excess of plants, the 
 entire vegetation would soon have been devoured, and 
 then the animals themselves would of necessity have 
 ceased to exist."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 123 
 
 " How is it, then," inquired Willis, " with this continual 
 multiplication always going on, the inhabitants of land and 
 sea do not get over-crowded?" 
 
 "Why, as regards man, for example, if thirteen or 
 fourteen human beings are born within a given period, 
 death removes ten or eleven others; but though this leaves 
 a regular increase, still the population of the globe always 
 continues about the same." 
 
 " It may be so, Master Jack, but when I was a little boy 
 at school, I generally came in for a whipping, if I made 
 out two and two to be anything else than four." 
 
 " And served you right too, Willis ; but if the human 
 family did not continually increase, if the number of 
 deaths exceeded continually that of the births, at the end 
 of a few centuries the world would be unpeopled." 
 
 " Very good ; but if, on the other hand, there is a con- 
 tinual increase, how can the population continue the 
 same ? " 
 
 " Because the increase supposes a normal state ; that is 
 to say, the births are only estimated as compared with 
 deaths from disease or old age. But then there are ship- 
 wrecks, inundations, plagues, and war, which sometimes 
 exterminate entire communities at one fell swoop. Then 
 whole natfbns die out and give place to the redundant 
 populations of others ; phenomena now observed in the 
 cases of the aborigines of Australia and America." 
 
 " Very true." 
 
 " No signs of furs yet," cried Fritz, who was every now 
 and then levelling his rifle at the phantoms on shore. 
 
 " We need not dread," continued Jack, " ever being 
 hustled or jostled on the earth ; life will fail us before 
 space. There are now eight hundred millions of human 
 beings in existence, and, according to the most moderate 
 computation, room enough for twice that number. As it 
 is, the most fertile sections of the earth are not the most 
 populous ; there are four hundred millions in Asia, sixty 
 millions in Africa, forty in America, two hundred and 
 thirty in Europe, and only seventy millions in the islands 
 and continent of Oceanica ! " 
 
 " To which," remarked Fritz, " you may add the eleven 
 inhabitants of New Switzerland."
 
 124 WILLIS THK PILOT. 
 
 "Assuming, then, this calculation to be nearly accurate, 
 though authorities vary materially in their computations 
 of the earth's inhabitants, and regarding it in connexion 
 with the average duration of human life, a thousand 
 millions of mortals must perish in thirty-three years ; to 
 descend to detail, thirty millions every year, three thousand 
 four hundred every hour, sixty every minute, or ONE 
 
 ETEBT SECOND." 
 
 ** Aye," remarked Willis, " we are here to-day and gone 
 to-morrow." 
 
 " Suppose, then, that the population of the earth were 
 twice as great, cultivation would be extended, territories 
 that are now lying waste would be teeming with life and 
 covered with fertile fields, but the same beautiful equili- 
 brium would be maintained." 
 
 " And the inhabitants of the planets," said Fritz, " what 
 are they about ? " 
 
 a What planets do you mean ? " inquired Willis. 
 
 " WeB, all in general ; the moon, for example, in par- 
 ticular." 
 
 " The moon." replied Jack. " has, hi the first place, no 
 atmosphere. This we know, because the rays of the stars 
 panr behind her are not, in the slightest degree, 
 refracted ; and this proves that neither men. nor animals, 
 nor vegetables of any kind, are to be found hi that planet, 
 for they could not exist without air." 
 
 " That should settle the question," remarked Willis. 
 
 " Yes," remarked Fritz ; - but some theorists, never- 
 theless, insist that there may be living creatures in the 
 moon, for all that of course, differently constituted from 
 the inhabitants of our earth, and susceptible of existing 
 without air. There is, however, no evidence of any kind 
 to support such a theory ; it is a mere fancy, the dream of 
 an imaginative brain. Upon the same grounds, it may be 
 argued, that the interior of the earth is inhabited, and 
 that elves and gnomes are possible beings. Besides, the 
 telescope has been brought to so high a degree of per- 
 fection, that objects the size of a house can now be 
 detected in the moon." 
 
 " It seems, I am afraid," remarked Jack, who. like his 
 brother, was getting annoyed by the phantasmagoria on
 
 VTILLIS THE PILOT. 125 
 
 shore, " that we were about as well supplied with wild 
 beasts here as they are with men in the planets." 
 
 * In speaking of the moon, however," continued Fritz, 
 " I do not imply all the planets ; for, certain as we are that 
 the moon has no atmosphere, so we are equally certain that 
 some of the planets possess that attribute. Still there are 
 other circumstances that render the notion of their being 
 inhabited by beings like ourselves exceedingly improbable. 
 Mercury, for example, is so embarrassed by the solar rays, 
 that lead must always be in a state of fusion, and water, 
 if not reduced to a state of vapor, will be hot enough to 
 boil the fish that are in it. Uranus, at the other extremity 
 of the ?ystem, receives four hundred tunes less heat and 
 light than we do, consequently neither water nor any thing 
 else can exist there in a liquid state ; what is fluid on our 
 earth must be frozen up into a solid mass. Good, I declare 
 my brother has fallen asleep ! " 
 
 " It is very interesting however," said Willis, 
 making ineffectual efforts to smother a yawn. 
 
 " The same difficulty with comets ; there must have been 
 some very urgent necessity for human beings in order to 
 have peopled them. When they pass the perihelion " 
 
 " The what '{ " inquired Willis. 
 
 "The point where they approach nearest the sun 
 when they pass the perihelion, I was going to say. the heat 
 they endure must be terrific ; when on the other hand, at 
 their extreme distance from that body, the cold must be 
 intense. The comet of 1680 did not approach within five 
 thousand myriametres of the sun." 
 
 Friends coming within that distance of each other 
 should at least shake hands," said Willis. 
 
 u Still, even at that distance, the heat, according to 
 Xewton. must be like red-hot iron, and if constituted like 
 our earth, when heated to that degree, must take fifty 
 thousand years to cool." 
 
 Fifty thousand years ' " said Willis, yawning from ear 
 to ear. 
 
 u The central position between these extremes, which 
 would either congeal oi.r earth into a mass of ice or burn 
 it up into a heap of cinders, is therefore the mo?t 
 11*
 
 126 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 congenial to such beings as ourselves. Whence I con- 
 clude " 
 
 Here the crimson flashes of Willis's pipe, which had 
 been gradually diminishing in brilliance suddenly ceased ; 
 contralto notes issued from the profundities of his breast, 
 and it became evident to the orator that all his audience 
 were sound asleep. 
 
 " Whence I conclude," said Fritz, addressing himself, 
 " that my orations must be somewhat soporiferous." 
 
 Being thus left alone to keep a look-out on shore, his 
 thoughts gradually receded within his own breast, where 
 all was rose-colored and smiling, for at his age rust has 
 not had time to corrupt, nor moths to eat away. And it 
 was not long before he himself, like his two companions, 
 was fast locked in the arms of sleep. 
 
 How long this state of things lasted the chronicle saith 
 not ; but the three sleepers were eventually awakened by 
 a simultaneous howl of the dogs. They were instantly on 
 their feet, with their rifles levelled. 
 
 It was too late ; day had broken, and there was light 
 enough to convince them that nothing was to be seen. 
 The sheep's quarters had, however, entirely disappeared, 
 and they had the satisfaction of knowing that they had 
 politely given the denizens of the forest a feast gratis. 
 
 " Ah, they shall pay us for it yet," said Jack. 
 
 " This is a case of the hunters being caught instead of 
 the game," remarked Fritz. 
 
 " The poor sheep ! If Ernest had been here, he would 
 have erected a monument to its memory." 
 
 " I doubt that ; epitaphs are generally made rather to 
 please the living than to compliment the defunct. But, 
 Willis, we must deprive you of your office of huntsman 
 in chief I shall go into the forest and revenge this 
 insult." 
 
 " I have no objection to abdicate the office of huntsman, 
 but must retain that of admiral, in which capacity I 
 announce to you that there will be a storm presently, and 
 that we shall just have time to make Rockhouse before it 
 overtakes us." 
 
 " That is rather a reason for our remaining where we 
 are."
 
 WILLIS THB PILOT. 127 
 
 " "We have come for skins, and skins we must have." 
 
 " Besides, we are two to one, and in all constitutional 
 governments the majority rules." 
 
 "Have you both made up your minds?" inquired 
 Willis. 
 
 " Yes, we are quite decided." 
 
 " In that case," said Willis, " let us hoist the anchor and 
 be off home." 
 
 " Home ! but we are determined to have the skins first." 
 
 " No, you are not," said Willis ; " I know you better 
 than you know yourselves. You are both brave fellows, 
 but I know you would not, for all the skins in the world, 
 have your good mother suppose that you were buffeted 
 about by the waves in a storm." 
 
 " True ; up with the anchor, Willis," said Fritz. 
 
 " Be it so," said Jack, shaking his ijst menacingly at 
 the silent forest, " but we shall lose nothing by waiting." 
 
 The sailor had not erred in his calculations, for they 
 had scarcely unfurled the sail before they heard the distant 
 rumbling of the storm. As soon as the first flash of 
 lightning shot across the sky, Jack put his forefinger of 
 one hand on the wrist of the other, and began counting 
 one two three. 
 
 " Do you feel feverish ? " inquired Willis. 
 
 " No, not personally," replied Jack ; " I am feeling the 
 pulse of the storm twenty-four twenty -five twenty- 
 six it is a mile off." 
 
 " Aye ! how do you make that out ? " 
 
 " Very easily ; you recollect Ernest telling us that light 
 travelled so rapidly, that the time it occupied in passing 
 from one point to another of the earth's surface was 
 scarcely perceptible to our senses ? " 
 
 " Yes, but I thought he was spinning a yarn at the 
 time." 
 
 "You were wrong, Willis; he likewise told us that 
 sound travels at the rate of four hundred yards in a 
 eecond." 
 
 "Well, but " 
 
 " Have patience, Willis ! When the lightning flashes, 
 the electric spark is discharged, is it not ? "
 
 128 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " Well, I was never high enough aloft to see." 
 
 "But others have been; Newton and Franklin have 
 seen it. Now, if the sound reaches our ears a second 
 after the flash, it has travelled four hundred yards. If we 
 hear it twelve or thirteen seconds after, it has travelled 
 twelve or thirteen times four hundred yards, or about half 
 a mile, and so on." 
 
 " But what has that to do with your pulse ? " 
 
 " In the first place, I am in perfect health, am I not ? " 
 
 " I hope so, Master Jack." 
 
 " Then when our systems are in good order, the pulse, 
 keeping fractions out of view, beats once in every second ; 
 and consequently, though we do not always carry a watch, 
 we always have our arteries about us, and may therefore 
 always reckon time." 
 
 " Now I understand." 
 
 "Ah! then we are to escape this time without the 
 ' Mariner's March.' " 
 
 " It appears, Master Jack, that you have turned philo- 
 sopher as well as your brothers. Can you tell me what 
 causes lightning ? " 
 
 " Yes, I can, Willis. You must know, in the first place, 
 that all the layers of the atmosphere are, more or less, 
 charged with electricity." 
 
 " Ask him how," said Fritz drily. 
 
 " Ah, you hope to puzzle me," replied Jack, " but thanks 
 to Mr. Wolston, I am too well up in physics to be easily 
 driven off my perch, and therefore may safely take my 
 turn in philosophising." 
 
 " Well, we are listening." 
 
 " The air, by means of the vapor it contains, absorbs 
 electricity from terrestrial bodies, and so becomes a sort of 
 reservoir of this invisible fluid. All chemical combinations 
 evolve electricity, the air collects it and stores it up in the 
 clouds. There, worshipful brother, your question is 
 answered." 
 
 " Good, go on." 
 
 " Well, Willis, you must know, in the second place, the 
 clouds are very good fellows, and share with each other 
 the good things they possess. When one cloud meets
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 129 
 
 another, the one over-supplied with this fluid and the 
 other in its normal state, there is an immediate interchange 
 of courtesies, the negative electricity 'of the one is 
 exchanged for the positive of the other." 
 
 " There does not appear, however, to be much gene- 
 rosity in this transaction, since the surcharged cloud 
 does not cede its superfluous abundance without a con- 
 sideration." 
 
 " It is very rarely that philanthropy amongst us goes 
 much further," remarked Fritz. 
 
 "No, everybody is not like Willis," rejoined Jack, "who 
 acts like a prince, and gives legs of mutton gratis to 
 hyenas and tigers. The discharges of electricity from one 
 cloud to another are the flashes of lightning, and it is to 
 be observed that the thunder is nothing more than the 
 noise made by the fluid rushing through the air." 
 
 " What, then, is the thunderbolt ? " 
 
 "There is no such thing as what is popularly understood 
 by the term thunderbolt. The lightning itself, however, 
 often does mischief. This happens when the discharge, 
 instead of being between two clouds in the air, takes place 
 between a cloud and the ground a cloud surcharged 
 with electricity understood. Then all intervening objects 
 are struck by the fluid." 
 
 " There, however, you re wrong," said Fritz. " All 
 objects are not struck ; on the contrary, the fluid avoids 
 some things and searches out others, even moving in a 
 zig-zag direction to manifest these caprices ; it often dis- 
 charges itself on or into hard substances, and passes by 
 those which are soft or feeble." 
 
 " I might say this arose from a sentiment of generosity," 
 added Jack, " but I have other reasons to assign." 
 
 " So much the better," said Fritz, " as I should scarcely 
 be satisfied with the first." 
 
 " Well," continued Jack, " lightning has its likings and 
 dislikings." 
 
 " Like men and women," suggested Willis. 
 
 " It has a partiality for metal." 
 
 " An affection that is not returned, however," observed 
 Fritz.
 
 130 TflLLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " If the fluid enters a room, for example, it runs along 
 the bell wires, inspects the works of the clock, and some- 
 times" has the audacity to pounce upon the money in your 
 purse, even though a policeman should happen to be in 
 the kitchen at the time." 
 
 "Perhaps," remarked Willis, "it is Socialist or Red 
 Republican in its notions." - 
 
 " It does not, however, patronise war," replied Jack ; 
 " I once heard of it having melted a sword and left the 
 scabbard intact." 
 
 " That, to say the least of it, is improbable," remarked 
 Fritz. " The hilt, or even the point, might have been 
 fused ; but even supposing the electric fluid to have been 
 capable of such flagrant preference, the scabbard could 
 not have held molten metal without being itself consumed." 
 
 "Aye," remarked Willis, "there are plenty of non- 
 sensical stories of that kind in circulation, because nobody 
 takes the trouble to test their truth. Still, according to 
 your own account, a man or woman runs no danger from 
 the lightning." 
 
 " I beg your pardon there, Willis ; the electric fluid 
 does not go out of its way to attack a human being, but if 
 one should happen to be in its way, it does not take time 
 to request that individual to stand aside, it simply passes 
 through him, and leaves him 'or her, as the case may be, 
 a coagulated mass of inanimate tissues." 
 
 " What a variety of ways there are of getting out of the 
 world!" said WiHis lugubriously. 
 
 " Again," continued Jack, " anything that happens to 
 be in the vicinity of the clouds when this interchange of 
 courtesies is going on, is apt to draw the storm upon itself, 
 hence the continual war that is carried on between the 
 lightning and the steeples." 
 
 "Something like an individual coming within range ol 
 a cloud of mosquitoes," suggested Willis. 
 
 " A learned German one of us," said the scapegrace, 
 laughing, " calculated, in 1 783, that in the space of thirty- 
 three years there had been, to his own knowledge, three 
 hundred and eighty-six spires struck, and a hundred and
 
 WILLI3 THB PILOT. 131 
 
 twenty bell-ringers killed by lightning, without reckoning 
 a much larger number wounded." 
 
 "And yet," remarked Willis, "I never heard of an 
 insurance against accidents by lightning." 
 
 " There are plenty of them, however, in Roman Catholic 
 countries," said Fritz. " Every village has one, and the 
 charge is almost nominal." 
 
 " How, then, do these companies make it pay?" 
 
 "They find it answer somehow, and they never collapse." 
 
 " Then everybody ought to insure." 
 
 " Yes, but there are some obstinate people who do not 
 see the good of it." 
 
 "If my life had not already been forfeited, I should 
 insure it. But how is it done ? " 
 
 " Well, you have only to go into a church, fall down on 
 your knees before the priest, he will make you invulnerable 
 by a sign of the cross ; then, come storms that pulverize 
 the body or crush the mind, you are perfectly safe." 
 
 " Ah ! that is the way you insure your lives, is it, 
 trusting to the priests rather than to Providence ? For my 
 own part, I should prefer a policy of insurance that is 
 to say, if my life were of any value." 
 
 " Next to steeples," continued Jack, " come tall tres, 
 such as poplars and pines. Should you ever be caught by 
 a storm in the open country, Willis, never take shelter 
 under a tree ; face the storm bravely, and submit to be 
 deluged by the rain. Dread even bushes, if they are 
 isolated. An entire forest is less dangerous than a single 
 reed when it stands alone." 
 
 " But you forget, brother, that when a man stands alone 
 he is quite as prominent an object as the trunk of a tree 
 four or five feet high, particularly in an open plain." 
 
 " Quite so. It is therefore advisable, when severe 
 storms are close upon us, to lie down flat on the ground." 
 
 " Suppose," remarked Fritz, smiling, "a brigade of 
 soldiers on the march suddenly to collapse in this way, as 
 if before a discharge of grape," 
 
 " And why not ? If it is done in the case of grape-shot, 
 why may it not be done when the artillery is a thousand 
 times more effective ? "
 
 132 WILLIS THB PILOT. 
 
 "Well, I suspect it would rather astonish, the com- 
 manding officer, that is all." 
 
 "Then, Willis, continued Jack, "you must not run 
 during a storm, because the air you put in motion by so 
 doing may draw the electricity into the current." 
 
 " Do the conductors not prevent the lightning from 
 doing harm ? " , 
 
 " Yes, but you cannot carry one of them on your hat. 
 These rods are only useful in protecting buildings, and 
 then to nothing more than double the area of their length ; 
 it is for this last reason that roofs of public buildings have 
 them projecting in all directions." 
 
 " They are a sort of trap set for the lightning, are they 
 not?" 
 
 " Yes, and into which it is pretty sure to fall. Franklin, 
 of whom I spoke just now, was the first to suggest that 
 bars of steel would draw lightning out of a cloud sur- 
 charged with electricity." 
 
 " What becomes of it when it is caught ? " 
 
 " Keeping in view its partiality for bell-pulls, a wire is 
 attached to the rod down which the unconscious fluid 
 glides." 
 
 " Like a powder-monkey from the main-top." 
 
 " Exactly ; till it enters a well, and there it is left at the 
 bottom in company with Truth." 
 
 A practical storm had begun to mix itself up with the 
 theory as developed by Jack, but not before they had very 
 nearly reached their destination, where they were waited 
 for with the greatest anxiety. 
 
 No sooner had they landed than Sophia ran to meet 
 Willis, who was advancing with Jack. 
 
 " Ah, sweetheart," she said, " Susan has been so uneasy 
 about you." 
 
 " You are a good girl, Miss Soph Susan." 
 
 " Oh, if you only knew how frightened we have been ! " 
 
 " What, do you admit fear to be one of your accom- 
 plishments, Miss Sophia ? " inquired Jack. 
 
 " Certainly, when others are concerned, Master Jack. 
 But, by the way, do you recollect the chimpanzee?" 
 
 " Yes, what about the rascal ? "
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 133 
 
 " Oh, I must not tell you, mamma would call me a chat- 
 terbox ; you will know by-and-by." 
 
 In the meanwhile Mary, on her side, was congratulating 
 Toby, who kept scampering between herself and Fritz, at 
 one moment receiving the caresses of the one and at the 
 next of the other, with every demonstration of joy. This 
 had become an established mode of communication between 
 the young people when Fritz arrived from a lengthened 
 ramble ; the intelligent brute, in point of fact, had assumed 
 the office of dragoman. 
 
 " Ah, ah, Becker, glad to see you again," said Willis. 
 "Your sons are fountains of knowledge, whilst I am " 
 
 "A very worthy fellow, Willis, and I know it," replied 
 Becker, shaking him heartily by the haad. 
 12
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 MAN PROPOSES, BUT GOD DISPOSES THB CHOICE OF A PROFES- 
 SION CONQUEEOK ORATOR ASTRONOMER COMPOSER 
 
 PAINTER POKT VILLAGE CURATE THE KAFIRS OCCUPA- 
 TIONS OF WOMEN THE ALPHA AND OMEGA OF THE SEA. 
 
 To the storm succeeded one of those diluvian showers 
 that have already been described. Rain being merely a 
 result of evaporation, it was evident that sea and land in 
 those climates must perspire at an enormous rate to effect 
 such cataclysms. In consequence of this deluge, the pro- 
 posed excursion was indefinitely postponed. The pro- 
 visions, the marvellous kits, the waggon, were all ready ; 
 but Nature, as often happens under such circumstances, 
 had assumed a menacing attitude, and for the present for- 
 bade the execution of the project. 
 
 A sort of vague sadness, that generally accompanies a 
 gloomy atmosphere, weighed upon the spirits of the colo- 
 nists. Recollections of the Nelson and her sudden disap- 
 pearance thrust themselves more vividly than ever upon 
 their memory ; and Willis was observed to throw his sou'- 
 wester unconsciously on the ground a proof that remem- 
 brances of the past occupied his thoughts. 
 
 One of the ladies was occupied in the needful domestic 
 operations of the household, whilst the other sat with a 
 stocking on her left arm, busily occupied in repairing the 
 ravages of tear and wear upon that useful though humble 
 garment. The two young ladies spun, as used to do the 
 great ladies of the court of King Alfred, and as Hercules 
 himself is said to have done when he changed his club and 
 lion's skin for a spindle and distaff with the Queen of 
 Lybia ; Jack was apparently sketching, Fritz had a collec- 
 tion of hunting apparatus before him, and the other two
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 135 
 
 yonng men, each with a book, were deeply immersed in 
 study. 
 
 This state of things was by no means cheerful, and 
 Wolston determined to break up the monotony by intro- 
 ducing a subject of conversation likely to interest them all, 
 the old as well as the young. 
 
 " By the way, gentlemen," said he, " it occurs to me that 
 you have not yet thought of selecting a profession ; your 
 future career seems at present somewhat obscure." 
 
 " What would you have ? " inquired Jack ; " there is no 
 use for lawyers and judges in our colony, except to try 
 plundering monkeys or protect jackal orphans." 
 
 " True ; but suppose you were to find yourselves, by 
 some chance, again in the great world, there it is necessary 
 to possess a qualification of some kind ; a blacksmith or a 
 carpenter, expert in his handicraft, has a better chance of 
 acquiring wealth and position than a man without a pro- 
 fession, however great his talents may be ; an idler is a 
 mere clog in the social machine, and is often thrust aside 
 to browse in a corner with monks and donkeys." 
 
 " But to acquire a profession, is not instruction and 
 practice necessary?" 
 
 " Certainly ; it is impossible to become a proficient in 
 any art or science by mere study alone ; but before sowing 
 a field, what is done?" 
 
 " It is ploughed and manured." 
 
 "And should there be only a few seeds?" 
 
 " We can sow what we have, and reserve the harvest 
 till next season. By economising each crop in this way, 
 we shall soon have seeds enough to cover any extent of 
 land." 
 
 " May I request you, Master Ernest, to draw a conclu- 
 sion from that as regards sowing the seeds of a future 
 career ? " 
 
 " I would infer, from your suggestion, that we might 
 adapt ourselves for such and such a profession by prepar- 
 ing our minds to receive instruction in it, and we might 
 also avail ourselves in the meantime of such sources of 
 information regarding it as are at present open to us. Th
 
 ]36 "WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 physician in prospective, for example, might make himself 
 familiar with the medical properties of such plants as are 
 within his reach ; he might likewise examine the bones of 
 an ape, and thus, by analogy, become acquainted with the 
 framework of the human body. The would-be lawyer 
 might, in the same way, avail himself of the library to 
 obtain an insight into those social mysteries that bind men 
 in communities and necessitate human laws for the pre- 
 servation of peace and order. Thus, by directing our 
 thoughts into one line of study, we may form a basis upon 
 v/hich the superstructure may be easily erected, and the 
 necessary academical degrees or sanction of the university 
 obtained." 
 
 " And, when you see this, why not adopt so commend- 
 able a course ?" 
 
 "Because we may probably be destined to remain here, 
 where, according to Jack, the learned professions, at least, 
 are not likely to be much in demand." 
 
 u The study of a particular science or art has charms in 
 itself, which amply compensate the student for his labor. 
 But, even admitting you do not return to the Old World, 
 you forget that it is your intention to colonise this terri- 
 tory." 
 
 " It seems, however, that God has willed it otherwise." 
 
 " What God does not will in one way, he may bring 
 about in another. What reason have you for supposing 
 that the Nelson may not return with colonists ? " 
 
 " It will be from the other world then," said Willis. 
 
 " Yes, from the other world," replied Jack, " but not in 
 the sense you imply." 
 
 " Besides, should the Nelson not reappear, that is no 
 reason why another accident may not drive another ship 
 upon the coast that will be more fortunate; what has hap- 
 pened to-day may surely happen again to-morrow. And 
 in the event of colonists arriving, will there not be sick to 
 cure, boundaries to determine, differences of opinion to 
 decide, and opposing claims to adjudge." 
 
 " Certainly, Mr. Wolston." 
 
 " Well, admitting these necessities, what profession will 
 each of you select? Let us begin with you, Master Fritz."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 137 
 
 " The career," replied Fritz, " that would be most con- 
 genial to my taste is that of a conqueror." 
 
 " A conqueror ! " 
 
 " Yes ; Alexander, Scipio, Timour the Tartar, and Gen- 
 gis Khan are the sort of men I should like to resemble. 
 They have made a tolerable figure in the world, and I 
 should have no objection to follow in their footsteps." 
 
 " But you forget that their footstep^ are marked with 
 tears, disasters, terror, and bloodshed." 
 
 " These are indispensable." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Once, when a great commander was asked the same 
 question, he replied, that you cannot make omelets without 
 breaking eggs." 
 
 " Yes," remarked Becker, " but if you had read the 
 anecdote entire, you would have seen that he was asked in 
 return, ' What use there was for so many omelets.' " 
 
 " Added to which," continued Wolston, " that is not a 
 normal career ; there is no diploma required for it ; it is 
 an accident arising out of adventitious circumstances, 
 sometimes fostered by ambition, but no course of study 
 can produce a conqueror." 
 
 " What, then, is the use of military schools ? " 
 
 " They are, to the best of my knowledge, instituted for 
 rearing defenders for one's country, and not with a view 
 to the subjugation of another's." 
 
 " My poor Fritz," said Mrs. Becker laughing, " I hope 
 when you conquer half the world, you will find an occu- 
 pation for your mother more in consonance with your 
 dignity than mending your stockings." 
 
 " Then, again," continued Wolston, " war cannot be 
 waged by a single individual." 
 
 "There must be an enemy somewhere," suggested Willis. 
 
 "The difficulty does not, however, lie there," observed 
 Jack ; " for, if we have no enemies, it is easy enough to 
 make them." 
 
 " There must, at all events, be armies, magazines, and 
 a treasury or eggs, as the great commander in question 
 hinted." 
 
 " True," replied Fritz ; " but there is the same difficulty
 
 138 . "WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 as regards all professions ; there can be no barristers 
 without briefs, no physicians without patients." 
 
 " You will admit, however, that clients and patients are 
 not so rare as hundreds of thousands of armed men and 
 millions of money." 
 
 " Brother," said Jack, " your cavalry are routed and 
 your infantry outflanked." 
 
 " If you are determined to be a conqueror, let it be by 
 the pen rather than by the sword or, what do you say 
 to oratory ? It is not easier, perhaps, but, at all events, 
 eloquence is not denied to ordinary mortals. You will not 
 then, to be sure, rank with the Hannibals, the Tamerlanes, 
 or the Ca^ars ; but you may attain a place with Demos- 
 thenes, who was more dreaded by Philip of Macedon than 
 an army of soldiers." 
 
 " Or Cicero," remarked Becker, " who preserved his 
 country from the rapacity of Cataline." 
 
 " Or Peter the Hermit," remarked Frank, " who by 
 his eloquence roused Europe against the Saracens." 
 
 " Or Bossuet," added Wolston, " and then you may 
 venture to assert in the face of kings that God alone is 
 Great, should they, like Louis XIV., assume the sun a? an 
 emblem, and adopt such a silly scroll as ' Nee pluribus 
 
 Bossuet, Peter the Hermit, Cicero, and Demosthenes, 
 are not so bad, after all, as a last resource," remarked 
 Mrs. Wolston, " and I would recommend you to enrol 
 yourself in that list of conquerors, Master Fritz." 
 
 " The more especially," observed Jack, " as you have no 
 impediment in your voice, and would not have to undergo 
 a course of pebbles like Demosthenes." 
 
 " So far as that goes, Jack," replied Fritz, " you would 
 possess a like advantage for the profession as myself; but 
 I will take time to reflect." Then, turning towards his 
 mother, he said, " Conqueror or Jack Pudding, mother, 
 you shall always find me a dutiful son." 
 
 His mother was more gratified by this expression of 
 attachment than she would have been had he laid at her 
 feet the fouf thousand golden spurs found, in 1302, on the 
 field of Courtray.
 
 "WILLIS THE PILOT. 139 
 
 " And now. Ernest, what profession do you intend tc 
 adopt ? what is your dream of the future ? " 
 
 " I, Mr. Wolston ! Well, having no taste for artillery, 
 brilliant charges, blood-stained ruins, and the other 
 agremens of war, I cannot be a hero. Do you know when 
 I feel most happy ? " 
 
 " No, let us hear." 
 
 " It is towards evening, when I am reposing tranquilly 
 on the banks of the Jackal." 
 
 " Ah, 1 thought so," cried Jack ; " no position so con- 
 genial to the true philosopher as the horizontal." 
 
 "When the sun," continued Ernest, gravely, "is retiring 
 behind the forest of cedars that bounds the horizon; when 
 the palms, the mangoes, and guin trees, mass their verdure 
 in distinct and isolated groups ; when nature is making 
 herself heard in a thousand melodious voices ; when the 
 hum of the insect is ringing in my ears, and the breeze is 
 gently murmuring through the foliage ; when thousands 
 of birds are fluttering from grove to grove, sometimes 
 breaking with their wings the smooth surface of the river; 
 when the fish, leaping out of their own element, reflect for 
 an instant from their silvery scales the departing rays of 
 the sun ; when the sea, stretching away like a vast plain 
 of boundless space, loses itself in the distance, then my 
 eyes and thoughts are sometimes turned upwards towards 
 the azure of the firmament, and sometimes towards the 
 objects around me, and I feel as if niy mind were in search 
 of something which has hitherto eluded its grasp, but which 
 it is sure of eventually finding. Under these circumstances, 
 I assure you, I would not exchange the moss on which I 
 sat for the greatest throne in Christendom." 
 
 " But surely you do not call such a poetical exordium a 
 profession ? " remarked Becker. 
 
 " It must be admitted," said Wolston, " that the sun and 
 trees have their uses, especially when the one protects us 
 from the other; the sun, for example, dries up the moisture 
 that falls from the trees, and the trees shelter us from the 
 burning rays of the sun. Still, I am at a loss myself to 
 connect these things with a profession in a social point of 
 view."
 
 140 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " What would you have thought," inquired Ernest, " if 
 you had seen Newton and Kepler gazing at the sky, before 
 the one had determined the movements of the celestial 
 bodies, and the other the laws of gravitation ? What 
 would you have thought of Parmentier passing hours and 
 days in manipulating a rough-looking bulb, that possessed 
 no kind of value in the eyes of the vulgar, but which 
 afterwards, as the potato, became the chief food of two- 
 thirds of the population of Europe? What would you 
 think of Jenner, with his finger on his brow, searching for 
 a means of preserving humanity from the scourge of the 
 small -pox ? " 
 
 " But these men had an object in view." 
 
 " Jenner, yes ; but not the other two. They thought, 
 studied, contemplated, and reflected, satisfied that one day 
 their thoughts, calculations, and reflections would aid in 
 disclosing some mystery of Nature ; but it would have 
 perplexed them sorely to have named beforehand the 
 nature and scope of their discoveries." 
 
 " According to you, then," said Jack, " there could not 
 be a more dignified profession than that of the scarecrow. 
 The greatest dunderhead in Christendom might simply, by 
 going a star-gazing, pass himself off as an adept in the 
 occult sciences, and claim the right of being a benefactor 
 of mankind in embryo." 
 
 " At all events," replied Ernest, " you will admit that, 
 so long as I am ready to bear my share of the common 
 burdens, and take my part in providing for the common 
 wants, and in warding of the common dangers, it is im- 
 material whether I occupy my leisure hours in reflection 
 or in rifle practice." 
 
 " Well," said Jack, " when you have made some dis- 
 covery that will enrol your name with Descartes, Huygens, 
 Cassini, and such gentlemen, you will do us the honor of 
 letting us know." 
 
 " With the greatest pleasure." 
 
 " It is a pity that Herschell has invented the telescope : 
 he might have left you a chance for the glory of that in- 
 vention."
 
 TVILLI3 THE PILOT. 141 
 
 '< If I have not discovered a new star, brother, I dis- 
 covered long ago that you would never be one." 
 
 " Well, I hope not ; their temperature is too unequal for 
 me they are either freezing or boiling: at least, so said 
 
 Fritz the other day, whilst we were ah, what were we 
 
 doing, Willis ? " 
 
 " We were supposed to be hunting." 
 
 " Ah, so we were." 
 
 " Now, Master Jack, it is your turn to enlighten us as 
 to your future career." 
 
 " It is quite clear, Mr. Wolston, that, since my brothers 
 are to be so illustrious, I cannot be an ordinary mortal ; 
 the honor of the family is concerned, and must be con- 
 sulted. I am, therefore, resolved to become either a great 
 composer, like Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven; a renowned 
 painter, like Titian, Carrache, or Veronese ; or a go-eat 
 poet, like Homer, Virgil, Shakspeare, Dante, Milton, 
 Goethe, and Racine." 
 
 " That is to say," remarked Mrs. Wolston, " that you 
 are resolved to be a great something or other." 
 
 " Decidedly, madam ; on reflection, however, as I value 
 my eyesight, I must except Homer and Milton." 
 
 " But have you not determined to which of the muses 
 you will throw the handkerchief? " 
 
 " I thought of music at first. It must be a grand thing, 
 said I to myself, that can charm, delight, and draw tears 
 from the eyes of the multitude that can inspire faith, 
 courage, patriotism, devotion and energy, and that, too, by 
 means of little black dots with tails, interspersed with 
 quavers, crotchets, sharps and flats." 
 
 " Have you composed a sonata yet ? " 
 
 " No, madam ; I was going to do so, but it occurred to 
 me that I should require an orchestra to play it." 
 
 "And not having that, you abandoned the idea?" 
 
 " Exactly, madam. I then turned to poetry. That is 
 an art fit for the gods ; it puts you on a level with kings, 
 and makes you in history even more illustrious than them. 
 You ascend the capitol, and there you are crowned with 
 laurel, like the hero of a hundred fights."
 
 142 WILLIS THB PILOT. 
 
 " What is the subject of your principal work in this 
 line ? " 
 
 "Well, madam, I once finished a verse, and was going 
 on with a second, but, somehow or other, I could not get 
 the words to rhyme." 
 
 " Then it occurred to you that you had neither a printer 
 nor readers, and you broke your lyre ? " 
 
 " I was about to reproach you, Master Jack," said 
 Wolston, " for undertaking too many things at once ; but 
 I see the ranks are beginning to thin." 
 
 " Beautiful as poetry may be," continued Jack, " one 
 gets tired of reading and re-reading one's own effusions." 
 
 " It is even often intensely insipid the very first time," 
 remarked Mrs. Wolston. 
 
 " There still remains painting," continued Jack. " Paint- 
 ing is vastly superior to either music or poetry. In the 
 first place, it requires no interpreter between itself and 
 the public ; what, for example, remains of a melody after 
 a concert? nothing but the recollection. Poe.sy may excite 
 admiration in the retirement of one's chamber ; your 
 nostrils are, as it were, reposing on the bouquet, though 
 often you have still a difficulty in smelling anything. But 
 if once you give life to canvas, it is eternal." 
 
 " Eternal is scarcely the proper word," remarked Wols- 
 ton : " the celebrated fresco of Leonardo da Vinci, in the 
 refectory of the Dominicans at Milan, is nothing but a 
 confused mass of colors and figures." 
 
 " I answer that by saying that the painting in question 
 is only a fresco. Besides, I use the word eternal in a 
 modified or relative sense. A painting is preserved from 
 generation to generation, whilst its successive races of 
 admirers are mingled with the dust. Then suppose a 
 painter in his studio ; he cannot look around him without 
 awakening some memory of the past. He can associate 
 with those he loves when they are absent, nay, even when 
 they are dead, and they always remain young and 
 beautiful as when he first delineated them." 
 
 " Take care," cried Ernest, pushing back his seat, " if 
 you go on at that rate you will take fire."
 
 WILLIS THB PILOT: 143 
 
 u No fear of that, brother, unless you have a star or a 
 comet in your pocket, in which case you are not far 
 enough away yet." 
 
 These occasional bickerings between Ernest and Jack 
 were always given and taken in good part, and had only 
 the effect of raising a good-humored laugh. 
 
 " Let the painter," he continued, " fall in with a spot 
 that pleases him, he can take it with him and have it 
 always before his eyes. The hand of God or of man may 
 alter the original, the forest may lose its trees, the old 
 castle may be destroyed by fire or time, the green meadow 
 may be converted into a dismal swamp, but to him the 
 landscape always retains its pristine freshness, the same 
 butterfly still flutters about the same bush, the same bee 
 still sucks at the same flower." 
 
 " Really," said Mrs. Wolston, "it is a pity, after all, 
 that you did not achieve your second verse." 
 
 "And yet," continued Jack, "that is only a copy. How 
 much more sublime when we regard the painter as a 
 creator ! If there is in the past or present a heroic deed 
 if there is in the infinity of his life one moment more 
 blessed than another, like Pygmalion he breathes into it 
 the breath of life, and it becomes imperishable. Who 
 would think a century or two hence of the victories of 
 Fritz, unless the skill of the painter be called in to 
 immortalize them ! " 
 
 " I agree with you in thinking that the arts you name 
 are the source of beautiful and legitimate emotions. But 
 generally it is better to view them as a recreation or pas- 
 time, rather than a profession. They have doubtless made 
 a few men live in posterity, but, on the other hand, they 
 have embittered and shortened the lives of thousands." 
 
 "You will never guess what led me to adopt this art in 
 preference to the two others. It was the discovery, that 
 we made some years ago, of a gum tree, the name of 
 which I do not recollect." 
 
 " The myrica cerifera," said Ernest. 
 
 " From the gum of this tree the varnish may be made. 
 Now, like my brother, who, when he sees the sun over- 
 head, considers he ought to profit by the circumstance
 
 144 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 and become a discoverer, so I said to myself: You have 
 varnish, all you want, therefore, to produce a magnificent 
 painting is canvas, colors, and talent ; consequently, you 
 must not allow such an opportunity to pass it would be 
 unpardonable. Accordingly, I set to work with an energy 
 never before equalled ; and," added he, showing the design 
 he had just finished, " here are two eyes and a nose, that 
 I do not think want expression." 
 
 " Capital ! " said Mrs. Wolston ; " your painting will be 
 in admirable keeping with the hangings my daughters 
 have promised to work for your mamma." 
 
 " Nobody can deny," continued Jack, laughing, " that 
 the colony is advancing in civilization ; it already possesses 
 a conqueror, a member of the Royal Society minus the 
 diploma, and an Apelles in embryo." 
 
 " It is now your turn, Frank." 
 
 " I," replied Frank, in his mild but penetrating voice, 
 " if I may be allowed to liken the flowers of the garden to 
 the occupations of human life, I should prefer the part of 
 the violet." 
 
 " It hides itself," said Mrs. Wolston, " but its presence 
 is not the less felt." 
 
 " When I have allowed myself to indulge in dreams of 
 the future, I have pictured myself dwelling in a modest 
 cottage, partially shrouded in ivy, not very far from the 
 village church. My coat is a little threadbare." 
 
 "Why threadbare?" inquired Sophia. 
 
 " Because there are a number of very poor people all 
 round me, and I cannot make up my mind to lay out 
 money on myself when it is wanted by them." 
 
 " Such a coat would be sacred in our eyes," said Mrs. 
 Wolston. 
 
 " In the morning I take a walk in my little garden ; I 
 inspect the flowers one after the other ; chide my dog, who 
 is not much of a florist; then, perhaps, I retire to my 
 study, where I am always ready to receive those who may 
 require my aid, my advice, or my personal services." 
 
 Here Mrs. Wolston shook Fr,ank very warmly by the 
 hand. 
 
 "Sometimes I go amongst the laborers in the fields,
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 145 
 
 talk to them of the rain, of the fine weather, and of HIM 
 who gives both. I enter the home of the artizan, cheer 
 him in his labors, and interest myself in the affairs of his 
 family ; I call the children by their names, caress them, 
 and make them my friends. ' I talk to them of our 
 Redeemer, and thus, in familiarly conversing with the 
 young, I find means of instructing the old. They, perhaps, 
 tell me of a sick neighbor ; I direct my steps there, and 
 endeavor to mitigate the pangs of disease by words of 
 consolation and hope ; I strive to pour balm on the 
 wounded spirit, and, if the mind has been led away by the 
 temptations of the world, I urge repentance as a means of 
 grace. If death should step in, then I kneel with those 
 around, and join them in soliciting a place amongst the 
 blessed for the departed soul." 
 
 " We shall all gladly aid you in such labors of love," 
 said Mrs. Wolston. 
 
 " When death has deprived a family of its chief sup- 
 port, then I appeal to those whom God has blessed with 
 the things of this world for the means of assisting the 
 widow and the fatherless. To one I say, " You regret 
 having no children, or bemoan those you have lost ; here 
 are some that God has sent you.' I say to another, ' You 
 have only one child, whilst you have the means of sup- 
 porting ten ; you can at least charge yourself with two.' 
 Thus I excite the charity of some and the pity of others, 
 till the bereaved family is provided for. I obtain work 
 for those that are desirous of earning an honest living, I 
 bring back to the fold the sheep that are straying, and 
 rescue those that are tottering on the brink of infidelity." 
 
 Here the girls came forward and volunteered to assist 
 Frank in such works of mercy. 
 
 " I accept your proffered aid, my dear girls, but, as yet, 
 I am only picturing a future career for myself. After a 
 day devoted to such labors as these, I return to my home, 
 perhaps to be welcomed by a little circle of my own, for 
 I hope to be received as a minister of the Protestant 
 Church, and, as such, may look forward to a partner in my 
 joys and troubles. Should Providence, however, shape my 
 13
 
 146 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 destiny otherwise, I shall have the poor and afflicted 
 always a numerous family to bestow my affections upon. 
 But, whilst much of my time is thus passed amongst the 
 sorrowing and the sick, still there are hours of gaiety 
 amongst the gloom there are weddings, christenings, and 
 merrymakings there are happy faces to greet me as well 
 as sad ones and I am no ascetic. I take part in all the 
 innocent amusements that are not inconsistent with my 
 years or the gravity of my profession but you seem 
 sad, Mrs. Wolston." 
 
 " Yes, Frank ; you have recalled my absent son, Richard, 
 so vividly to my memory, that I cannot help shedding a 
 tear." 
 
 " Is your son in orders then, madam ? " 
 
 " He is precisely what you have pictured yourself to be, 
 a minister of the gospel, and a most exemplary young 
 man." 
 
 " If," remarked Becker, " we have hitherto refrained 
 from inquiring after your son, madam, it was because we 
 had no wish to recal to your mind the distance that sepa- 
 rated you from him, and we should be glad to know his 
 history." 
 
 " There is little to relate ; he is very young yet, and as 
 soon as he had obtained his ordination, he was offered a 
 mission to Oregon, which he accepted ; but the ship 
 having been detained at the Cape of Good Hope, he re- 
 garded the accident as a divine message, to convert the 
 heathen of Kafraria, where he now is." 
 
 u It is no sinecure to live amongst these copper-colored 
 rascals," said Willis ; " they are constantly stealing the 
 cattle of the Dutch settlers in their neighborhood. About 
 twelve years ago, our ship was stationed at the Cape, and 
 I was sent with a party of blue jackets into the interior, 
 as far as Fort Wiltshire, on the Krieskamma, the most 
 remote point of the British possessions in South Africa. 
 There we dispersed a cloud of them that had been for 
 weeks living upon other people's property. They are tall, 
 wiry fellows, as hardy as a pine tree, and as daring as buc- 
 caneers. The chief of the kraals, or huts, wear leopard
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 147 
 
 or panther skins, and profess to have the power of causing 
 rain to fall, besides an endless number of other miraculous 
 attributes. Amongst them, a wife of the ordinary class 
 costs eight head of cattle, but the price of a young lady 
 of the higher ranks runs as high as twenty cows. When 
 a Kafir is suspected of a crime, his tongue is touched 
 seven times with hot iron, and if it is not burnt he is 
 declared innocent." 
 
 " I am afraid," said Jack, " if they were all subjected 
 to that test, they would be found to be a very bad lot. 
 But now, since we have all decided upon a profession, let 
 us hear what the young ladies intend doing with them- 
 selves ; let them consult their imagination for a beautiful 
 future gilded with sunshine, and embroidered with gold." 
 
 " There is only one occupation for women," said Mrs. 
 Becker, " and that is too well defined to admit of specula- 
 tion, and too important to admit of fanciful embellish- 
 ments." 
 
 " Well, then, mother, let us hear what it is." 
 
 "It is to nurse you, and rear you, when you are unable 
 to help yourselves ; to guide your first steps, and teach 
 you to lisp your first syllables. For this purpose, God has 
 given her qualities that attract sympathy and engender 
 love. She is so constituted as to impart a charm to your 
 lives, to share in your labors, to soothe you when you are 
 ruffled, to smooth your pillow when you are in pain, and 
 to cherish you in old age ; bestowing upon you, to your 
 last hour, cares that no other love could yield. These, 
 gentlemen, are the duties and occupations of women ; and 
 you must admit, that if it is not our province to com- 
 mand armies, or to add new planets to the galaxy of the 
 firmament ; that if we have not produced an Iliad or an" 
 TEnead, a Jerusalem Delivered, or a Paradise Lost, an 1 
 Oratorio of the Creation, a Transfiguration, or a Laocoon, 
 we have not the less our modest utility." 
 
 " I should think so, mother," replied Jack ; " it would 
 take no end of philosophers to do the work of one of 
 you." 
 
 " It surprises me," said Willis, " that not one of you
 
 148 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 has selected the finest profession in the world that of a 
 sailor." 
 
 " The finest profession of the sea, you mean, Willis. 
 There is no doubt of its being the finest that can be exer- 
 cised on the ocean, since it is the only one. If it is the 
 best, Willis, it is also the worst." 
 
 " It has also produced great men," continued Willis ; 
 " there are Columbus, Vasco de Gama, and Captain Cook, 
 to whom you are indebted for a new world." 
 
 " No thanks to them for that," said Jack ; " if they had 
 not discovered a new world we should have been in an old 
 one." 
 
 " That does not follow," remarked Ernest ; " the new 
 world would have existed even if it had not been discov- 
 ered, and you might have found your way there all the 
 same." 
 
 " Not very likely," replied Jack, " unless one of the 
 stars you intend to discover had shown us the way ; other- 
 wise it would only have existed in conjecture ; and as 
 nobody under such circumstances would have dreamt of 
 settling in it, they would not have been shipwrecked during 
 the voyage." 
 
 " Very true," remarked Fritz ; " if we had not been 
 here we should, very probably, have been somewhere else, 
 and perhaps in a much worse plight. Let me ask if there 
 is any one here who regrets his present position ? " 
 
 Willis was about to reply to this question, but Sophia 
 observing that there was something wrong with the hand- 
 kerchief that he wore round his neck, hastened towards 
 him to put it to rights, and he was silent. 
 
 The hour had now arrived when the families separated 
 for the night. Mary was preparing as usual to recite the 
 evening prayer, but before doing so she whispered a few 
 words in her mother's ear. 
 
 " Yes, my child ; " and, turning to Frank, she added, 
 " Since .you are determined to adopt the ministry as a 
 profession, it is but right that we should for the future 
 entrust ourselves to your prayers." 
 
 The two families were now located in their respective
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 149 
 
 eyries ; and Jack, whilst escorting the Wolstons to the 
 foot of their tree, said to Sophia, 
 
 " I thought the chimpanzee had been playing some 
 prank." 
 
 " So he has. Has nobody told you of it ? " 
 
 " No, not a soul." 
 
 " Then I will be as discreet as my neighbors ; good 
 night, Master Jack." 
 13*
 
 CHAPTER XHI. 
 
 HUBERT AND CECILIA THE LITTLE ANGELS A CATASTROPHE 
 
 THE DEPART JRE MARRIAGE OF THE DOGE WITH THE 
 
 ADRIATIC- -SOVEVUGNS OF THE SEA DANTE AND BEATRIX 
 
 ELEONORA AND 1 4SSO LAURA AND PETRARCH THE RE- 
 TURN SURPRISES-- WHAT ONE FINDS IN TURBOTS A HOR- 
 ROR THE PRIC^ C* CRIME BALLOONING PHILIPSON AND 
 
 THE "CHOLERA A .METAMORPHOSIS ADVENTURE OF TUB 
 CHIMPANZEE ARE ^H T RICH? 
 
 NEXT day the sky was shrouded in dense masses of 
 l oud, some grey as lead, some livid as copper, and some 
 -jluck as ink. Towards evening the two families, as usual, 
 themselves into a talking party, and Wolston, 
 g them to listen, began as follows : 
 
 "TL re were two rich IL.U chants in Bristol, between 
 whom <* eiy close" intimacy Lad for a long time existed. 
 One of lLu,"i, whom I shall call Henry Foster, had a 
 daughter; aid the other, Nicholas Philipson, had a son, 
 and the two fathers had destined ti'ese children for one 
 another. The boy was a little older than the girl, and 
 their tastes, habits, and dispositions Deemed to fit them 
 admirably for each other, and so to ra^fy the decision of 
 the parents. Little Herbert and Cecilia were almost con- 
 stantly together. They had a purse in common, into 
 which they put all the pieces of bright gold they received 
 as presents on birthdays and other festive occasions. In 
 summer, when the two families retired to a retreat that one 
 of them had in the country, the children were permitted to 
 visit the cottagers, and to assist the distressed, if they 
 chose, out of their own funds a permission which they 
 availed themselves of so liberally that they were called by 
 the country people the two little angels." 
 
 " What a pity there are no poor people \?re ! " said 
 Sophia, dolefully.
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 151 
 
 " Why?" inquired her mother. 
 
 " Because we might assist them, mamma." 
 
 " It is much better, however, as it is, my child ; our 
 assistance might mitigate the evils of poverty, but might 
 not be sufficient to remove them." 
 
 This reasoning did not seem conclusive to Sophia, who 
 shook her head and commenced plying her wheel with 
 ^doubled energy. 
 
 When Herbert Philipson was twelve years of age he 
 was sent off to school, and Cecilia was confided to the care 
 of a governess, who, under the direction of Mrs. Foster, 
 was to undertake her education. But neither music nor 
 drawing, needlework, grammars nor exercises, could make 
 little Cecilia forget her absent companion. Absence, that 
 cools older friendships, had a contrary effect on her heart ; 
 the months, weeks, days, and hours that were to elapse 
 before Herbert returned for the holidays, were counted 
 and recounted. When that period so anxiously desired 
 at length arrived, there was no end of rejoicing : she 
 told Herbert of all the little boys and little girls she had 
 clothed and fed, of the old people she had relieved, of the 
 tears she had shed over tales of woe and misery, how she 
 had carried every week a little basket covered with a white 
 napkin to widow Robson, how often she had gone into the 
 damp and dismal cottage of the dying miner, and how 
 happy she always made his wife and their nine pitiful 
 looking children." 
 
 " That is a way of conquering human hearts," remarked 
 Mrs. Becker, " often more effective than those referred to 
 the other day." 
 
 " Once, when Herbert was at home for the holidays, he 
 accompanied Cecilia on her charitable visits, and was 
 greatly surprised to find that blessings were showered 
 upon his own head wherever they went ; people, whom he 
 had never seen before, insisted upon his being their bene- 
 factor. This he could not make out. At last, by an 
 accident, he discovered the secret Cecilia had been dis- 
 tributing her gifts in his name ! He remonstrated warmly 
 against this, declaring that he had ro wish to be praised 
 and blessed for doin^ things that he had no hand in,
 
 152 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 Finding that his protestations were of no avail, he deter- 
 mined, on the eve of his returning to school, to have his 
 revenge." 
 
 " He did not buy Cecilia a doll, did he?" inquired Jack. 
 
 " No ; he collected all the eatables, clothing, blankets, 
 and money he could obtain 4 went amongst the poorest of 
 the cottages, and distributed the whole in Cecilia's name." 
 
 "Ah," remarked Mrs. Becker, " it is a pity we could not 
 all remain at the age of these children, with the same 
 purity, the same innocence, and the same freshness of sen- 
 sation ; the world would then be a veritable Paradise." 
 
 " For some years this state of things continued, the 
 affection between the young people strengthened as they 
 grew older, the occasional holiday time was always the 
 happiest of their lives. Herbert, in due course, was trans- 
 ferred from school to college, where he obtained a degree, 
 and rapidly verged into manhood. Cecilia from the girl 
 at length bloomed into the young lady. A day was finally 
 fixed when they were to be bound together by the holy 
 ties of the church; everything was prepared for their 
 union, when the commercial world was startled by the 
 announcement that Philipson was a ruined man. A ship 
 in which he had embarked a valuable freight had been 
 wrecked, and an agent to whom he had entrusted a large 
 sum of money had suddenly disappeared." 
 
 " How deplorable ! " cried Fritz. 
 
 " Not so very unfortunate, after all," remarked Mary. 
 
 " What makes you think so?" 
 
 " Because nothing had occurred to interrupt the mar- 
 riage ; only one of the families was ruined, and there was 
 still enough left for both." 
 
 " But," said Fritz, '' even admitting that the friendship 
 between the two families continued uninterrupted, and 
 that the father of Cecilia was willing to share his property 
 with the father of Herbert, still the young man, in the 
 parlance of society, was a beggar ; and it is always hard 
 ibr a man to owe his position to a woman, and to become, 
 as it were, the protege of her whom he ought rather to 
 protect." 
 
 " If that is the view you take, Master Fritz, then I agree
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 153 
 
 with you that the misfortune was deplorable," said Mary ; 
 bending at the same time to hide her blushes, under pre- 
 tence of mending a broken thread. 
 
 "And what if Cecilia's father had been ruined instead 
 of Herbert's ? " inquired Jack. 
 
 "I should say," replied Sophia, "that we have as much 
 right to be proud and dignified as you have." 
 
 " The best way in such a case," observed Willis, laugh- 
 ing, " would be for both parties to get ruined together." 
 
 " Herbert," continued Wolston, " was a youth of reso- 
 lution and energy. He entertained the same opinion as 
 Fritz ; and instead of wasting his time in idle despondency, 
 got together some articles of merchandise, and sailed for 
 the Indian Archipelago, promising his friends that he 
 would return to his native land in two years." 
 
 "Two years is a long time," remarked Mary; "but 
 sometimes it passes away very quickly." 
 
 " Ah ! " observed Sophia, " Cecilia, in the meantime, 
 would redouble her charities and her prayers." 
 
 " The two years passed away, then a third, and then a 
 fourth, but not a single word had either been heard of or 
 from the absentee. Cecilia was rich, and her hand was 
 sought by many* wealthy suitors, but hitherto she had 
 rejected them all." 
 
 " The dear, good Cecilia," cried Sophia. 
 
 " Up till this period the family had permitted her to have 
 her own way. But as it is necessary for authority to pre- 
 vent excesses of all kinds, they thought it time now to 
 interfere ; they could not allow her to sacrifice her whole 
 life for a shadow. Her parents, therefore, insisted upon 
 her making a choice of one or other of the suitors for her 
 hand. She requested grace for one year more, which was 
 granted." 
 
 " Come back, truant, quick ; come back, Master Her- 
 bert ! " cried Sophia. 
 
 " There now, Willis," cried Jack, " you see the effect of 
 your new world ; people go away there, and never come 
 back again." 
 
 " Oh, but you must bring him back in time, father; you 
 must indeed," urged Sophia.
 
 151 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " If it were only a romance I were relating to you, 
 Sophia, I could very easily bring him back ; but the narra- 
 tive I am giving you is a matter of fact, which I cannot 
 alter at wifl. There would be no difficulty in bringing a 
 richly-laden East Indiaman, commanded by Captain 
 Philipson, into the Severn, and making Herbert and Ce- 
 cilia conclude the story in each other's arms, but it would 
 not be true." 
 
 " Then if I had been Cecilia, I should have become a 
 nun," said Mary, timidly. 
 
 " Exaggeration, my daughter, is an enemy to truth. It 
 is easy to say, ' I would become a nun,' and in Roman 
 Catholic countries it is quite as easy to become one ; but, 
 though it may be sublime to retire in this way from the 
 world, it is frightful when a woman has afterwards to 
 regret the inconsiderate step she has taken, and which is 
 often the case with these poor creatures." 
 
 " As you said of myself," remarked Willis, " it is a 
 crime to go down with a sinking ship so long as there is a 
 straw to cling to." 
 
 " I presume," continued Wolston, " that during this year 
 poor Cecilia prayed fervently for the return of her old 
 playfellow ; but her prayers were all ' in vain, the year 
 expired, and still no news of the young man ; at last she 
 despaired of ever seeing him again, and, after a severe 
 struggle with herself, she decided upon complying with 
 the desire of her parents and her friends. A few months 
 after the expiring of the year of grace, she was the affianced 
 bride of a highly respectable, well-to-do, middle-aged 
 gentleman. John Lindsey, her intended husband, could 
 not boast of his good looks ; he was little, rather stout, was 
 deeply pitted in the face with the small-pox, and had a 
 very red nose, but he was considered by the ladies of 
 Bristol as a very good match for all that." 
 
 " Oh, Cecilia, how ridiculous ! " exclaimed Sophia. 
 
 " Better, at all events, than turning nun," said Jack. 
 
 "The family this season had gone to pass the summer 
 at the sea-coast ; and one day that Cecilia and her 
 intended were taking their accustomed walk along the 
 shore "
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 155 
 
 " Holloa ! " cried Jack, " the truant is going to appear, 
 after all." 
 
 " John Lindsey, observing a ring of some value upon 
 Cecilia's finger, politely asked her if she had any objec- 
 tions to tell him its history. She replied that she had 
 none, and told him it was a gift of young Philipson's. ' I 
 am well acquainted with your story, said Lindsey, ' and do 
 not blame the constancy with which you have treasured 
 the memory of that young man ; on the contrary, I respect 
 you for it in fact, it was the knowledge of your self- 
 sacrifice to this affection and all its attendant circum- 
 stances, that led me to solicit the honor of your hand; for, 
 said I to myself, one who has evinced so much devotion 
 for a mere sentiment, is never likely to prove unfaithful 
 to sacred vows pledged at the altar/ ' Come what may, 
 you may at least rely upon that, sir,' she answered. 
 ' Then,' continued Lindsey, ' as an eternal barrier is about 
 to be placed between yourself and your past affections, 
 perhaps you will pardon my desire to separate you, as 
 much as possible, from everything that is likely to recal 
 them to your mind.' Saying that, he gently drew the 
 ring from her finger, and threw it into the sea." 
 
 It was strongly suspected that Mary shed a tear at this 
 point of the recital. 
 
 " It is all over with you now, Herbert," cried Fritz. 
 
 " You had better make a bonfire of your ships, like 
 Fernando Cortez in Mexico ; or, if you are on your way 
 home, better pray for a hurricane to swallow you up, than 
 have all your bright hopes dashed to atoms, when you 
 arrive in port." 
 
 " I am only a little girl," said Sophia ; " but I know 
 what I should have said, if the gentleman had done the 
 same thing to me." 
 
 " And what would you have said, child ? " inquired her 
 mother. 
 
 "I should have said, that I was not the Doge of Venice, 
 and had no intention of marrying the British Channel." 
 
 " Can you describe the ceremony to which you refer ? " 
 
 " Yes ; but it would interrupt papa's story, and Jack 
 would laugh at me."
 
 156 WILLIS THE FILOT. 
 
 " Never mind my story," replied her father, " there is 
 plenty of time to finish that." 
 
 " And as for me," said Jack, " though I do not wear a 
 cocked hat and knee breeches, and though, in other 
 respects, my tailor has rather neglected my outward man, 
 still I know what is due to a lady and a queen." 
 
 " There, he begins already ! " said Sophia. 
 
 " Never mind him, child ; go on with your account of 
 the marriage." 
 
 " Well," began Sophia, " for a long time, there had been 
 disputes between the states of Bologna, Ancona, and Ven- 
 ice, as to which possessed the sovereignty of the Adriatic." 
 
 " If it had been a dispute about the Sovereignty of 
 the ocean in general," remarked Willis, " there would 
 have been another competitor." 
 
 " Venice," continued Sophia, " carried the day, and 
 about 1275 or 76 she resolved to celebrate her victory by 
 an annual ceremony. For this purpose, a magnificent 
 galley was built, encrusted with gold, silver, and precious 
 stones. This floating bijou was called the ucentaure, 
 was guarded in the arsenal, whence it was removed on the 
 eve of the Ascension. Next day the Doge, the patriarch, 
 and the Council of Ten embarked, and the galley was 
 towed out to the open sea, but not far from the shore. 
 There, in the presence of the foreign ambassadors, whilst 
 the clergy chanted the marriage service, the Doge 
 advanced majestically to the front of the galley, and there 
 formally wedded the sea. " 
 
 " He might have done worse," observed Willis. 
 
 " The ceremony," continued Sophia, " consisted in the 
 Doge throwing a ring into the sea, saying, ' We wed thee, 
 O sea! to mark the real and perpetual dominion we possess 
 over thee.' " 
 
 " And it may be added," observed Becker, " that the 
 history of Venice shows how religiously the spouses of the 
 Adriatic kept their vows." 
 
 " Now," said Sophia, " that I have told my tale, let us 
 hear what became of Cecilia." 
 
 " Well, the marriage took place the morning after 
 Herbert's rin had been thrown to the fishes. Whilst t^e
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 157 
 
 bride, bridegroom, and their friends were congratulating 
 each other over the wedding breakfast, as is usual in 
 England on such occasions, Cecilia's father was called out 
 of the room." 
 
 " Too late," remarked Fritz. 
 
 " Herbert Philipson had arrived that same morning ; 
 but, as Fritz observes, he was just an hour too late. He 
 had acquired a fortune, but his long-cherished hopes of 
 happiness were completely blasted." 
 
 " Why did he stay away five years without writing ? " 
 inquired Mrs. Wolston. 
 
 t " He had written several times, but at that time no 
 regular post had been established, and his letters had never 
 reached their destination." 
 
 " When did he find out that Cecilia was married ? " 
 
 " Well, some people think it more humane to kill a man 
 by inches rather than by a single blow of the axe. Not 
 so with Herbert's friends ; the first news that greeted him 
 on landing were, that his ever-remembered Cecilia was 
 probably at that moment before the altar pledging her 
 vows to another." 
 
 " I should rather have had a chimney-pot tumble on my 
 head," remarked Willis. 
 
 " Herbert was a man in every sense of the word the 
 mode of his departure proves that. On hearing this 
 painful intelligence, he simply covered his face with his 
 hands, and, after a moment's thought, resolved to see his 
 lost bride at least once more." 
 
 " Poor Herbert ! " sighed Mary. 
 
 " Foster was thunderstruck when the stranger declared 
 himself to be the son of his old friend ; and, after cordially 
 bidding him welcome, sorrowfully asked him what he 
 meant to do. ' I should wish to see Mrs. Lindsey in pre- 
 sence of her husband,' he replied, ' providing you have no 
 objections to introduce me to the company.'" 
 
 " Bravo ! " ejaculated Willis. 
 
 " Foster could not refuse this favor to an unfortunate, 
 
 who had just been disinherited of his dearest hopes. He, 
 
 therefore, took Herbert by the hand and led him into the 
 
 room. Nobody recognized him. ' Ladies and gentlemen,' 
 
 14
 
 158 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 said he, 'permit me to introduce Mr. Herbert Philipson, 
 who has just arrived from Sumatra.' You may readily 
 conceive the dismay this unexpected announcement called 
 up into the countenances of the guests. There was only 
 one person in the room who was calm, tranquil, and 
 unmoved that person was Cecilia herself. She rose 
 courteously, bade him welcome, hoped he was well, coolly 
 asked him why he had not written to his friends, and 
 politely asked him to take a seat beside herself and hus- 
 band, just, for all the world, as if he had been some 
 country cousin or poor relation to whom she wished to 
 show a little attention." 
 
 " I would rather have been at the bottom of the sea 
 than in her place, for all that," said Mary. 
 
 " Why ? She had nothing to reproach herself with. 
 Had she not waited long enough for him ? " 
 
 "Young heads," remarked Becker, "are not always 
 stored with sense. A foolish pledge, given in a moment 
 of thoughtlessness is often obstinately adhered to in spite 
 of reason and argument. The young idea delights in 
 miraculous instances of fidelity. What more charming to 
 a young and ardent mind than the loves of Dante and 
 Beatrix, of Eleonora and Tasso, of Petrarch and Laura, 
 of Abelard and Heloise, or of Dean Swift and Stella? 
 Young people do not reflect that most of these stories are 
 apocryphal, and that the men who figure in them sought 
 to add to their renown the prestige of oi'iginality ; they 
 put on a passion as ordinary mortals put on a new dress, 
 they yielded to imagination and not to the law of the 
 heart, and almost all of them paid by a life of wretched- 
 ness the penalty of their dreams." 
 
 " That is, I presume," remarked Mrs. Wolston, " you 
 do not object to any reasonable amount of constancy, but 
 you object to its being carried to an unwarrantable excess." 
 
 " Exactly so, madam," replied Becker ; " constancy, like 
 every thing else when reasonable limits are exceeded, 
 becomes a vice." 
 
 " The merriments of the marriage breakfast," continued 
 Wolston " slightly interrupted by the arrival of the new 
 guest, were resumed. Fresh dishes were brought in, and,
 
 TTILLIS THE PILOT. 159 
 
 amongst others, a fine turbot was placed on the table. 
 The gentleman who was engaged in carving the turbot 
 struck the fish-knife against a hard substance." 
 
 " I know what ! " exclaimed two or three voices. 
 
 " I rather think not," said Wolston, drily. 
 
 "Oh, yes, the ring ! the ring ! " 
 
 " No, it was merely the bone that runs from the head to 
 tlip tail of the fish." 
 
 "Oh, father," cried Sophia, "how can you tease us so?" 
 
 " If they had found the ring," replied Wolston, laughing, 
 " I should have no motive for concealing it. Fruit was 
 afterwards placed before Herbert, and, when nobody was 
 looking, he pulled a clasped dagger out of his pocket." 
 
 Here Sophia pressed her hands closely on her ears, in 
 order to avoid hearing what followed. 
 
 " It was a very beautiful poignard," continued Wolston, 
 " and rather a bijou than a weapon ; and, as the servants 
 had neglected to hand him a fruit-knife, he made use of it 
 in paring an apple." 
 
 " Is it all over ? " inquired Sophia, removing a hand 
 from one ear. 
 
 " Alas ! yes ! " said Jack, lugubriously, " he has been 
 and done it." 
 
 " O the monster ! " 
 
 " Travelling carriages having arrived at the door for 
 the bridal party, Herbert quietly departed." 
 
 " What ! " exclaimed Sophia, " did they not arrest and 
 drag him to prison ? " 
 
 " Oh," replied Jack, " the crime was not so atrocious as 
 it appears." 
 
 " Not atrocious ! " 
 
 " No ; you must bear in mind that young Philipson had 
 passed the preceding five years of his life amongst demi- 
 savages, whose manners and customs he had, to a certain 
 extent, necessarily contracted. In some countries, what 
 we call crimes are only regarded as peccadillos. In 
 France, for example, till very lately, there existed what 
 was called the law of combette, by right of which pardon 
 might be obtained for any misdeed on payment of a cer- 
 tain sum of money. There was a fixed price for every
 
 160 WILLlg THE PILOT. 
 
 imaginable crime. A man might consequently be a Blue 
 Beard if he liked, it was only necessary to consult the 
 tariff in the first instance, and see to what extent his means 
 would enable him to indulge his fancy for horrors." 
 
 " On quitting the house," continued Wolston, " Herbert 
 Philipson bent his way to the shore, and shortly after was 
 observed to plunge into the sea." 
 
 " So much the better," exclaimed Sophia ; " it saved his 
 friends a more dreadful spectacle." 
 
 " The weather being fine and the water warm, Herbert 
 enjoyed his bath immensely ; he then returned to his hotel, 
 went early to bed, and slept soundly till next morning." 
 
 " The wretch ! " cried Sophia, " to sleep soundly after 
 assassinating his old playfellow, who had suffered so much 
 on his account." 
 
 " It is pretty certain," continued Wolston, " that, if 
 Philipson had been left entirely to himself, he would 
 always have shown the same degree of moderation he had 
 hitherto displayed." 
 
 " Oh, yes, moderation ! " said Sophia. 
 
 " But his friends began to prate to him about the 
 shameful way he had been jilted by Cecilia, and, by con- 
 stantly reiterating the same thing, they at last succeeded 
 in persuading him that he was an ill-used man. His self- 
 esteem being roused by this silly chatter, he began to 
 affect a ridiculous desolation, and to perpetrate all manner 
 of outrageous extravagances." 
 
 " Bad friends," remarked Willis, " are like sinking ships ; 
 they drag you down to their own level." 
 
 " The first absurd thing he did was to purchase a yacht, 
 and when a storm arose that forced the hardy fishermen 
 to take shelter in port, he went out to sea, and it is quite 
 a miracle that he escaped drowning. Then, if there were 
 a doubtful scheme afloat, he was sure to take shares in it. 
 Nothing delighted him more than to go up in a balloon ; 
 he would have gladly swung himself on the car outside if 
 the proprietor had allowed him." 
 
 " I have often seen balloons in the air," remarked 
 Willis, "but I could never make out their dead reckoning." 
 
 " A balloon," replied Ernest, " is nothing more than an
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 161 
 
 artificial cloud, and its power of ascension depends apon 
 the volume of air it displaces. 
 
 " Very good, Master Ernest, so far as the balloon itself 
 is concerned ; but then there is the weight of the car, 
 passengers, provisions, and apparatus to account for." 
 
 " Hydrogen gas, used in the inflation of balloons, is 
 forty times lighter than air. If a balloon is made large 
 enough, the weight of the car and all that it contains, 
 added to that of the gas, will fall considerably short of the 
 weight of the air displaced by the machine." 
 
 " I suppose it rises in the air just as an empty bottle 
 well corked rises in the water ? " 
 
 " Very nearly. Air is lighter than water ; consequently, 
 any vessel filled with the one will rise to the surface of 
 the other. So in the case of balloons. The gas, in the 
 first place, must be inclosed in an envelope through which 
 it cannot escape. Silk prepared with India-rubber is the 
 material usually employed. As the balloon rises, the gas 
 in the interior distends, because the air becomes lighter 
 the less it is condensed by its superincumbent masses ; 
 hence" it is requisite to leave a margin for this increase in 
 the volume of the gas, otherwise the balloon would burst 
 in the air." 
 
 " If a balloon were allowed to ascend without hindrance 
 where would it stop ? " 
 
 " It would continue ascending till it reached a layer of 
 air as light as the gas ; beyond that point it could not go." 
 
 " And if the voyagers do not wish to go quite so far ? " 
 
 " Then there is a valve by which the gas may be allowed 
 to escape, till the weight of the machine and its volume of 
 air are equal, when it ceases to ascend. If a little more 
 is permitted to escape, the balloon descends." 
 
 " And should it land on the roof of a house or the top 
 of a tree, the voyagers have their necks broken." 
 
 " That can only happen to bunglers ; there is not the 
 least necessity for landing where danger is to be appre- 
 hended. When the aeronaut is near the ground, and sees 
 that the spot is unfavorable for debarkation, he drops a 
 little ballast, the balloon mounts, and he comes down 
 aain somewhere else."
 
 162 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " The fellow that made the first voyage must have been 
 very daring." 
 
 "The first ascent was made by Montgolfier in 1782, 
 and he was followed by Hosiers and d'Arlandes." 
 
 " With your permission, father," said Ernest, " I will 
 claim priority in aerial travelling for Icarus, Dcedalus, and 
 Phjeton." 
 
 " Certainly ; you are justified in doing so. Gay- 
 Lussac, a philosophic Frenchman, rose, in 1804, to the 
 height of seven thousand yards." 
 
 " He mu?t have felt a little giddy," remarked Jack. 
 
 " Most of the functions of the body were affected, more 
 or less, by the extreme rarity of the air at that height. 
 Its dryness caused wet parchment to crisp. He observed 
 that the action of the magnetic needle diminished as he 
 ascended, sounds gradually ceased to reach his ear, and 
 the wind itself ceased to be felt." 
 
 " That, of course," remarked Ernest, "was when he was 
 travelling in the same direction and at the same speed." 
 
 " Well," said Jack, " we can find materials here for a 
 balloon ; the ladies have silk dresses, there is plenty of 
 India-rubber we used to make boots and shoes of it ; 
 hydrogen gas can be obtained from a variety of substances. 
 What, then, is to prevent us paying a visit to some of 
 Ernest's friends in the skies ? " 
 
 " Unfortunately for your project, Jack, no one has dis- 
 covered the art of guiding a balloon ; consequently, 
 instead of finding yourself at Cassiope, you might land at 
 Sirius, where your reception would be somewhat cool." 
 
 " But what became of Herbert ? " inquired one of the 
 ladies. 
 
 " Singularly enough, he escaped all the dangers he so 
 recklessly braved, and all the bad speculations he embarked 
 in turned out good. Somehow or other, the moment he 
 took part in a desperate scheme it became profitable." 
 
 " Ah ! " exclaimed Sophia, " his victim, like a guardian 
 angel, continued to watch over him." 
 
 " When the cholera appeared in England, he was sure 
 to be found where the cases were most numeious. He 
 followed up the pest with so much pertinacity and pub-
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 163 
 
 licity, that it was no unusual thing to find it announced in 
 the newspapers that Philipson and the cholera had arrived 
 in such and such a town." 
 
 " The bane and the antidote," remarked Jack. 
 
 "If Cecilia had been one of those women who delight, 
 in horse-racing, fox-hunting, opera-boxes, and public exe- 
 cutions, she would have been highly amused to see her 
 old friend's name constantly turning up under such extra- 
 ordinary circumstances." 
 
 " Is she not dead, then ? " inquired Sophia, with aston- 
 ishment. 
 
 " It appears that her wounds were not mortal," quietly 
 replied her mother. 
 
 " Besides," observed Jack, " there are human frames so 
 constituted that they can bear an immense amount of 
 cutting and slashing. So in the case of animals; there, 
 for instance, is the fresh-water polypus if you cut this 
 ci'eature lengthwise straight through the middle, a right 
 side will grow on the one half and a left side on the other, 
 so that there will be two polypi instead of one. The same 
 thing occurs if you cut one through the middle crosswise, 
 a head grows on the one half and a tail on the other, so 
 that you have two entire polypi either way." 
 
 " And you may add," observed Ernest, " since so inte- 
 resting a subject is on the tapis, that if two of these polypi 
 happen to quarrel over their prey, the largest generally 
 swallows the smallest, in order to get it out of the way; 
 and the latter, with the exception of being a little cramped 
 for space, is not in the slightest degree injured by the 
 operation." 
 
 " And does that state of matters continue any length of 
 time ? " 
 
 " The polypus that is inside the other may probably get 
 tired of confinement, in which case it makes its exit by the 
 same route it entered; but, if too lazy to do that, it makes 
 a hole in the body of its antagonist and gets out that way. 
 But, what is most curious of all, these processes do not 
 appear to put either of the creatures to the slightest incon- 
 venience." 
 
 "I am quite at a loss to make you all out," said Sophia.
 
 164 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 ' Well, ray child," replied her mother, " you should not 
 close up your ears in the middle of a story." 
 
 " Cecilia, or rather Mrs. Lindsey, however," continued 
 Wolston, "was a pious, painstaking, simple-minded woman, 
 who devoted her whole attention to her domestic duties. 
 Notwithstanding her fortune, she did not neglect the 
 humblest affairs of the household, and thought only of 
 making her husband pleased with his home. When she 
 was told of the vagaries of Philipson, she prayed in private 
 that he might be led from his evil ways, and could not 
 help thanking Providence that she was not the wife of 
 such a dreadful scapegrace." 
 
 " I should think so," remarked Mrs. Becker. 
 
 " At last, Herbert Philipson astonished even his own 
 companions by a crowning act of folly. There was then 
 a young woman in Bristol, of good parentage, but. an 
 unmitigated virago ; her family were thoroughly ashamed 
 of her temper and her exploits. They allowed her to 
 have her own way, simply for fear that, through contra- 
 diction, she might plunge herself into even worse courses 
 than those she now habitually followed. In short, she was 
 the talk and jest of the whole town." 
 
 " What a charming creature ! " remarked Mrs. Becker. 
 
 " No servant of her own sex could put up with her for 
 two days together ; she styled everybody that came near 
 her fools and asses, and did not hesitate to strike them if 
 they ventured to contradict her. She got on, however, 
 tolerably well with ostlers, stable-boys, cabmen, and such 
 like, because they could treat her in her own style, and 
 were not ruffled by her abuse." 
 
 *' How amiable ! " exclaimed Mrs. Wolston. 
 
 " Herbert heard of this young person, and, through a 
 fast friend of his own, obtained an introduction to her, 
 and on the very first interview he offered her his hand. 
 He was known still to be a wealthy man, so neither the 
 lady herself nor anybody connected with her made the 
 slightest objection to the match, thinking probably that, 
 if there were six of the one, there were ut least half a 
 dozen of the other." 
 
 " They ought to have gone to Bedlam, instead of to 
 church," said Willis ; " that is my idea."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 165 
 
 " Nevertheless, they went to church ; and, after the 
 marriage, Cecilia sought and obtained an introduction to 
 the lady, and, whether by entreaties or by her good 
 example, I cannot say; be this as it may, the unpromising 
 personage in question became one of the best wives and 
 the best mothers that ever graced a domestic circle in 
 this respect even excelling the pattern Cecilia herself; 
 and, what is still more to the purpose, she succeeded in 
 completely reforming her husband. When I left England 
 there was not a more prosperous merchant, nor a more 
 estimable man in the whole city of Bristol, than Herbert 
 Philipson." 
 
 " From which we may conclude," remarked Mrs. Becker, 
 " it is always advisable to have angels for friends." 
 
 " We may also conclude," remarked Mrs. Wolston, 
 " that when a stroke of adversity, or any other misfortune, 
 overturns the edifice of happiness we had erected for the 
 future, we may build a new structure with fresh material, 
 which may prove more durable than the first." 
 
 "Talking of having angels for friends," said Becker, 
 " puts me in mind of the association of Saint Louis 
 Gonzaga, at Rome. On the anniversary of this saint, the 
 young and merry phalanx forming the association march 
 in procession to one of the public gardens. In the centre 
 of this garden a magnificent altar has been previously 
 erected, on which is placed a chafing-dish filled with 
 burning coals. The procession forms itself into an immense 
 ring round the altar, broken here and there by a band of 
 music. These bands play hymns in honor of the saints, 
 and other morceaux of a sacred character. Each member 
 of the association holds a letter inclosed in an embossed 
 and highly ornamented envelope, bound round with gay- 
 colored ribbons and threads of gold. These letters are 
 messages from the young correspondents to their friends 
 in heaven, and are addressed to ' II Santo Giovane Luig: 
 Gonzaga, in Paradiso.' At a given signal, the letters, in 
 the midst of profound silence, are placed on the chafing- 
 dish. This done, the music resounds on all sides, and the 
 assembly burst out into loud acclamations, during which 
 the letters are supposed to be carried up into heaven by 
 the angeli."
 
 166 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " A curious and interesting ceremony," remarked Mrs. 
 Wolston, " and one that may possibly do good, inasmuch 
 as it may induce the young people composing the asso- 
 ciation to persevere in generous resolutions." 
 
 The two families again separated for the night. And 
 whilst the young men were escorting the Wolstons to their 
 tree, Sophia went towards Jack. " Will you tell me," 
 inquired she, "what happened whilst I had my ears closed 
 up, Jack?" 
 
 " Yes, with all my heart, if you will tell me first what 
 the chimpanzee had been about during our absence." 
 
 " Well, he got up into our tree when we were out of 
 the way. After soaping his chin, he had taken one of 
 papa's razors, and just as he was beginning to shave him- 
 self, some one entered and caught him." 
 
 " Oh, is that all ? What I have to tell you is a great 
 deal more appalling than that." 
 
 " Well, then, be quick." 
 
 " But I am afraid you will be shocked." 
 
 " Is it very dreadful ? " 
 
 " More so than you would imagine. If you dream 
 about it during the night, you will not be angry with me 
 for telling you ? " 
 
 " No, I will be courageous, and am prepared to hear 
 the worst." 
 
 " What was your father saying when you shut up your 
 ears ? " 
 
 " Herbert had just pulled out a dagger." 
 
 " And when you took your hands away ? " 
 
 " All was then over ; Herbert had done some dreadful 
 thing with the dagger, and I want to know what it was." 
 
 " He pared an apple with it," replied Jack, bursting 
 into a roar of laughter, and, running off, he left Sophia 
 to her reflections. 
 
 A few seconds after he returned. This time he had 
 almost a solemn air, the laughter had vanished from his 
 visage, like breath from polished steel. 
 
 "Miss Sophia," inquired he gravely, "are you rich?" 
 
 " I don't know, Master Jack ; are you ? " 
 
 " Well, I have not the slightest idea either."
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THI TEARS OF CHILDHOOD AND RAIN OF THE TROPICS 
 CHARLES'S WAIN VOLUNTARY ENLISTMENT A LIKENESS 
 
 GUARANTEED THE WORLD AT PEACE ALAS, POOR MART 1 . 
 
 THE SAME BREATH FOR TWO BEINGS THE FIRST PILLOW 
 
 THE LOGIC OF THE HEART HOW FRITZ SUPPORTED GRIEF 
 A GRAIN OF SAND AND THE HIMALAYA. 
 
 AT daybreak next morning, all the eyes in the colony 
 were busily engaged in scrutinizing the sky. This time 
 the operation seemed satisfactory, for immediately after- 
 wards, all the hands were, with equal diligence, occupied 
 in packing up and making other preparations for the 
 meditated excursion to the remote dependencies of New 
 Switzerland. 
 
 The dense veil that the day before had shrouded them 
 in gloom was now broken up into shreds. The azure 
 depths beyond had assumed the appearance of a blue 
 tunic bespattered with white, and the clouds suggested the 
 idea of a celestial shepherd, driving myriads of sheep to 
 the pasture. Children alone can dry up their tears with 
 the rapidity of Nature in the tropics ; perhaps we may 
 have already made the remark, and must, therefore, beg 
 pardon for repeating the simile a second time. 
 
 In a short time, the two families were assembled on the 
 lawn, in front of the domestic trees of falcon's Nest, 
 ready to start on their journey. The cow and the buffalo 
 were yoked to the carriage, which was snugly covered 
 over with a tarpauling, thrown across circular girds, like 
 the old-fashioned waggons of country carriers. Frank 
 mounted the box in front ; Mrs. Becker, Wolston, and 
 Sophia got inside ; whilst Ernest and Jack, mounted on 
 ostriches that had been trained and broken in as riding 
 horses, took up a position on each side, where the doors
 
 168 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 of the vehicle ought to have been. These dispositions 
 made, after a few lashes from the whip, this party started 
 off at a brisk rate in the direction of Waldeck. 
 
 It had been previously arranged that one half of the 
 expedition should go by land, and the other half by water, 
 and that on their return this order should be reversed, so 
 that both the interior and the coast might be inspected at 
 one and the same time. The only exception was made 
 in favor of Willis, who was permitted both to go and 
 return by sea. 
 
 The second party, consisting of Mrs. Wolston, Becker, 
 Mary, and Fritz, started on foot in the direction of the 
 coast. They had not gone far before Becker observed a 
 large broadside plastered on a tree. 
 
 " What is that ? " he inquired. 
 
 Nobody could give a satisfactory reply. 
 
 "Perhaps," suggested Mrs. Wolston, "paper grows 
 ready made on the trees of this wonderful country." 
 
 "They all approached, and, much to their astonishment, 
 read as follows : 
 
 " TAKE NOTICE. 
 
 
 
 " The renowned Professor Ernest Becker is about to 
 enlighten the benighted inhabitants of this country, by 
 giving a course of lectures on optics. The agonizing 
 doubts that have hitherto enveloped astronomical science, 
 particularly as regards the interiors of the moon and 
 the stars, have arisen from the absurd practice of looking 
 at them during the night. These doubts are about to be 
 removed for ever by the aforesaid professor, as he intends 
 to exhibit the luminaries in question in open day. He 
 will also place Charles's Wain* at the disposal of any one 
 who is desirous of taking a drive in the Milky Way. The 
 learned professor will likewise stand for an indefinite 
 period on his head ; and whilst in this position will clearly 
 demonstrate the rotundity of the earth, and the tendency 
 
 * The constellation known in astronomy as the Great Bear is in 
 some parts of England termed the Plough, and in others Charles's 
 Wain or Waggon. It may be added, that the same constellation is 
 popularly known in France as the Chariot of David
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 169 
 
 of heavy bodies to the centre of gravity. In order that 
 the prices of admission may be in accordance with the 
 intrinsic value of the lectures, nothing will be charged for 
 the boxes, the entrance to the pit will be gratis, and the 
 gallery will be thrown open for the free entry of the 
 people. The audience will be expected to assume a hori- 
 zontal position. Persons given to snoring are invited to 
 stay at home." 
 
 " I rather think I should know that style," remarked 
 Willis. 
 
 " It is a pity Ernest is not with us," observed Fritz ; 
 "but the placard will keep for a day or two." 
 
 " They say laughing is good for digestion," remarked 
 Mrs. Wolston ; "and if so, it must be confessed that Master 
 Jack is a useful member of the colony in a sanitary point 
 of view." 
 
 The party had scarcely advanced a hundred paces far- 
 ther, when Fritz called out, 
 
 " Holloa ! there is another broadside in sight." 
 
 " This one was headed by a smart conflict between two 
 ferocious looking hussars, and was couched in the following 
 terms : 
 
 " PROCLAMATION. 
 
 " All the inhabitants of this colony capable of bearing 
 arms, who are panting after glory, are invited to the Fig 
 Tree, at Falcon's Nest, there to enrol themselves in the 
 registry of Fritz Becker, who is about to undertake the 
 conquest of the world. Nobody is compelled to volunteer, 
 but those who hold back will be reckoned contumacious, 
 and will be taken into custody, and kept on raw coffee till 
 such time as they evince a serious desire to enlist. There 
 will be no objection to recruits returning home at the end 
 of the war, if they come out of it alive. Neither will there 
 be any objections to the survivors bringing back a mar- 
 shal's baton, if they can get one. The Commander-in- 
 chief will charge himself with the fruits of the victory. 
 Surgical operations will be performed at his cost, and cork 
 legs will be served out with the rations. In the event of 
 15
 
 170 WILLIS THB PILOT. 
 
 a profitable campaign, a monument will be erected to the 
 memory of the defunct, by way of a reward for their 
 heroism on the field of battle." 
 
 " Well, Fritz," said Becker, with a merry twinkle in his 
 eye, " you were sorry that Ernest was not present to hear 
 the last placard read ; fortunately, you are on the spot 
 yourself this tune." 
 
 Fritz tried to look amused, but the attempt was a de- 
 cided failure. 
 
 When the party had gone a little farther, another an- 
 nouncement met their gaze ; all were curious to know 
 whose turn was come now ; as they approached, the fol- 
 lowing interesting question, in large letters, stared them in 
 the face : 
 
 "HAVE YOU HAD TOUR PORTRAIT TAKEN YET? 
 
 " It has been reserved for the present age, and for this 
 prolific territory, so exuberant in cabbages, turnips, and 
 other potables, to produce the greatest of living artists 
 a real genius who is destined to outshine all the Michel 
 Angelos and Rubenses of former ages. Not that these 
 men were entirely devoid of talent, but because they could 
 do nothing without their palette and their paint brushes. 
 Now that illustrious maestro, Mr. Jack Becker, has both 
 genius and ingenuity, for he has succeeded in dispensing 
 with the aforementioned troublesome auxiliaries of his 
 art. His plan which has the advantage of not being 
 patented, consists in placing his subject before a mirror, 
 where he is permitted to stay till the portrait takes root in 
 the glass. By this novel method the original and the copy 
 will be subject alike to the ravages of time, so that no one, 
 on seeing a portrait, will be liable to mistake the grand- 
 mother for the grand-daughter. Likenesses guaranteed. 
 Payments, under all circumstances, to be made in advance." 
 
 " Ah, well," said Becker, laughing, " it appears that the 
 scapegrace has not spared himself." 
 
 " I hope there is not a fourth proclamation," said Mrs. 
 Wolston.
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 171 
 
 " There are no more trees on our route, at all events," 
 replied Becker. 
 
 " Glad to hear that ; Jack must respect the avocation 
 chosen by Frank, since he sees nothing in it to ridicule." 
 
 As they drew near the Jackal River, in which the pin- 
 nace was moored, Mary and Fritz were a little in advance 
 of the party. 
 
 " Are you really determined to turn the world upside 
 down, Master Fritz ? " 
 
 " At present, Miss Wolston, I am myself the sum and 
 substance of my army, in addition to which I have not yet 
 quite made up my mind." 
 
 " It is an odd fancy to entertain to say the least of it." 
 
 " Does it displease you ? " 
 
 "In order that it could do that, I must first have the 
 right to judge your projects." 
 
 " And if I gave you that right ? " 
 
 " I should find the responsibility too great to accept it. 
 Besides, a determination cannot be properly judged, with- 
 out putting one's self in the position of the person that 
 makes it. You imagine happiness consists in witnessing 
 the shock of armies, whilst I fancy enjoyment to consist in 
 the calm tranquility of one's home. You see our views 
 of felicity are widely different." 
 
 " Not so very widely different as you seem to think, 
 Miss Wolston. As yet my victories are nil; I have not 
 yet come to an issue with my allies ; to put my troops on 
 the peace establishment I have only to disembody myself, 
 and I disembody myself accordingly." 
 
 " Oh ! " exclaimed Mary, " you are very easily turned 
 from your purpose." 
 
 " Easily ! no, Miss Wolston, not easily ; you cannot 
 admit that an objection urged by yourself is a matter of. 
 no moment, or one that can be slighted with impunity." 
 
 " Ah ! here we are at the end of our journey." 
 
 " Already ! the road has never appeared so short to me 
 before." 
 
 " What ! " exclaimed Mrs. Wolston, coming up to her 
 daughter, " you appear very merry." 
 
 " Well, not without reason, mamma; I have just restored 
 peace to the world."
 
 172 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 The pinnace was soon launched, and, under the guidance 
 of Willis, was making way in the direction of Waldeck. 
 The sea had not yet recovered from the effects of the 
 recent storm ; it was still, to use an expression of "Willis, 
 " a trifle ugly." Occasionally the waves would catch the 
 frail craft amidships, and make it lurch in an uncomfort- 
 able fashion, especially as regarded the ladies, which obliged 
 Willis to keep closer in shore than was quite to his taste. 
 The briny element still bore traces of its recent rage, just 
 as anger lingers on the human face, even after it has 
 quitted the heart. 
 
 Whilst the pinnace was in the midst of a series of 
 irregular gyrations, a shrill scream suddenly rent the 
 air, and at the same instant Fritz and Willis leaped 
 overboard. 
 
 Mary had fallen into the sea. 
 
 Becker strained every nerve to stay the boat. Mrs. 
 Wolston fell on her knees with outstretched hands, but, 
 though in the attitude of prayer, not a word escaped her 
 pallid lips. 
 
 The two men floated for a moment over the spot where 
 the poor girl had sunk ; suddenly Fritz disappeared, his 
 keen eye had been of service here, for it enabled him to 
 descry the object sought. In a few seconds he rose to the 
 surface with Mary's inanimate body in his left arm. 
 Willis hastened to assist him in bearing the precious 
 burden to the boat, and Becker's powerful arms drew it on 
 deck. 
 
 The joy that all naturally would have felt when this 
 was accomplished had no time to enter their breasts, for 
 they saw that the body evinced no signs of life, and a fear 
 that the vital spark had already fled caused every frame to 
 shudder. They felt .that not a moment was to be lost ; 
 the resources of the boat were hastily put in requisition ; 
 mattresses, sheets, blankets, and dry clothes were strewn 
 upon the deck. Mrs. Wolston had- altogether lost her 
 presence of mind, and could do nothing but press the 
 dripping form of her daughter to her bosom. 
 
 " Friction must be tried instantly," cried Becker; "here, 
 take this flannel and rub her body smartly with it par- 
 ticularly her breast and back."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 173 
 
 Mrs. Wolston instinctively followed these directions. 
 
 " It is of importance to warm her feet," continued 
 Becker ; " but, unfortunately, we have no means on board 
 to make a fire." 
 
 Mrs. Wolston, in her trepidation, began breathing upon 
 them. 
 
 " I have heard," said the Pilot, " that persons rescued 
 from drowning are held up by the feet to allow the water 
 to run out." 
 
 " Nonsense, Willis ; a sure means of killing them out- 
 right. It is not from water that any danger is to be 
 apprehended, but from want of air, or, rather, the power 
 of respiration. What we have to do is to try and revive 
 this power by such means as are within our reach." 
 
 The Pilot, meantime, endeavored to introduce a few 
 drops of brandy between the lips of the patient. Fritz 
 stood trembling like an aspen leaf and deadly pale ; he 
 regarded these operations as if his own life were at stake, 
 and not the patient's. 
 
 " There remains only one other course to adopt, Mrs. 
 Wolston," said Becker, " you must endeavor to bring your 
 daughter to life by means of your own breath." 
 
 " Only tell me what to do, Mr. Becker, and, if every 
 drop of blood in my body is wanted, all is at your 
 disposal." 
 
 " You must apply your mouth to that of your daughter, 
 and, whilst her nostrils are compressed, breathe at 
 intervals into her breast, and so imitate the act of natural 
 respiration." 
 
 Stronger lungs than those of a woman might have been 
 urgent under such circumstances, but maternal love sup- 
 plied what was wanting in physical strength. 
 
 The Pilot had turned the prow of the pinnace towards 
 home; he felt that, in the present case at least, the com- 
 forts of the land were preferable to the charms of the sea. 
 
 " This time it is not my breath, but her own," said Mrs. 
 Wolston. 
 
 " Her pulse beats," said Becker ; " she lives." 
 
 " Thank God ! " exclaimed Fritz and Willis in one voice. 
 
 A quarter of an hour had scarcely yet elapsed since the 
 15*
 
 174 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 patient's first immersion in the sea ; but this brief interval 
 had been an age of agony to them all. As yet, her head 
 lay quiescent on her mother's bosom, that first pillow, 
 common alike to rich and poor, at the threshold of life. 
 
 The signs of returning animation gradually became more 
 and more evident ; at length, the patient gently raised her 
 head, and glanced vacantly from one object to another ; 
 then, her eyes were turned upon herself, and finally rested 
 upon Fritz and Willis, who still bore obvious traces of 
 their recent struggle with the waves. Here she seemed 
 to become conscious, for her body trembled, as if some ter- 
 rible thought had crossed her mind: After this paroxysm 
 had passed, she feebly inclined her head, as if to say "I 
 understand you have saved my life I thank you." 
 Then, like those jets of flame that are no sooner alight 
 than they are extinguished, she again became insensible. 
 
 As soon as they reached the shore, Fritz hastened to 
 Rockhouse, and made up a sort of palanquin of such mate- 
 rials as were at hand, into which Mary was placed, and 
 thus was conveyed, with all possible care and speed, on the 
 shoulders of the men to Falcon's Nest. A few hours after- 
 wards she returned to consciousness and found herself in a 
 warm bed, surrounded with all the comforts that maternal 
 anxiety and Becker's intelligent mind could suggest. 
 
 Fritz was unceasing in his exertions ; no amount of fa- 
 tigue seemed to wear him out. As soon as he saw that 
 everything had been done for the invalid that their united 
 skill could accomplish, he bridled an untrained ostrich, 
 and rode or rather flew off in search of the land portion 
 of the expedition. 
 
 "Mary is saved," he cried, as he came up with them. 
 
 "From what?" inquired Wolston, anxiously. 
 
 " From the sea, that was about to swallow her up." 
 
 And by whom ? " 
 
 " By Willis, myself, and us all." 
 
 The same evening, the two families were again assem- 
 bled at Falcon's Nest, and thus, for a second time, the 
 long talked-of expedition was brought to an abrupt con- 
 clusion. 
 
 "Ah," said Willis, "we must cast anchor for a bit;
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 175 
 
 yesterday it was the sky, to-day it was the sea, to-morrow 
 it will be the land, perhaps the wind is clearly against 
 us." 
 
 How often does it not happen, in our pilgrimage through 
 life, that we have the wind against us ? We make a reso- 
 lute determination, we set out on our journey, but the ob- 
 ject we seek recedes as we advance ; it is no use going 
 any farther the wind is against us. We re-commence 
 ten, twenty, a hundred times, but the result is invariably 
 the same. How is this? No one can tell. What are 
 the obstacles ? It is difficult to say. Perhaps, we meet 
 with a friend who detains us ; perhaps, a recollection that 
 our memory has called, induces us to swerve from the 
 path the blind man .that sung under our window may 
 have something to do with it perhaps, it was merely a 
 fly, less than nothing. 
 
 It is not our minor undertakings, but rather our most 
 important enterprises, that are frustrated by such trifles as 
 these; for it must be allowed that we strive less tena- 
 ciously against an obstacle that debars us from a pleasure, 
 than against one that separates us from a duty in the 
 one case we have to stem the torrent, in the other we sail 
 with the current. 
 
 When we observe some deplorable instance of a wrecked 
 career when we see a man starting in life with the most 
 brilliant prospects collapsing into a dead-weight on his 
 fellows, we are apt to suppose that some insurmountable 
 barrier must have crossed his path some Himalaya, or 
 formidable wall, like that which does not now separate 
 China from Tartary ; but no such thing. Trace the 
 cause to its source, and what think you is invariably 
 found ? A grain of sand ; the unfortunate wretch has had 
 the wind against him nothing more. 
 
 Rescued from the sea, Mary Wolston was now a prey 
 to a raging fever. Ill or well, at her age there is no me- 
 dium, either exuberant health or complete prostration ; 
 the juices then are turbulent and the blood is ardent. 
 
 Somehow or other, a good action attaches the doer to 
 the recipient ; so, in the case of Fritz, apart from the 
 brotherly affection which he had vaguely vowed to enter-
 
 176 TTILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 tain for the two young girls that had so unexpectedly ap- 
 peared amongst them, he now regarded the life of Mary 
 as identical with his own, and felt that her death would in- 
 evitably shorten his own existence ; " for," said he to him- 
 self, " should she die, I was too late in drawing her out of 
 the water." In his tribulation and irreflection, he drew 
 no line between the present and the past, but simply con- 
 cluded, that if he saved her too late, he did not save her 
 at all. Hope, nevertheless, did not altogether abandon 
 him. He would sometimes fancy her restored to her 
 wonted health, abounding in life and vigour. Then the 
 pleasing thought would cross his mind that, but for him- 
 self, that charming being, in all probability, would have 
 been a tenant of the tomb. Would that those who do evil 
 only knew the delight that sometimes wells up in the 
 breasts of those who do good ! 
 
 The first day of Mary's illness, Fritz bore up manfully. 
 On the second, he joined his father and brothers in their 
 field labors ; but, whilst driving some nails into a fence, 
 he had so effectually fixed himself to a stake that it was 
 only with some difficulty that he could be detached. The 
 third day, at sunrise, he called Mary's dog, shouldered his 
 rifle, and was about to quit the house. 
 
 " Where are you going ? " inquired Jack. 
 
 " I don't know anywhere." 
 
 " Anywhere ! Well, I am rather partial to that sort of 
 place ; I will go with you." 
 
 " But I must do something that will divert my thoughts. 
 There may be danger." 
 
 " Well I can help you to look up a difficulty." 
 
 Every day the two brothers departed at sunrise, and re- 
 turned together again in the evening. Mrs. Becker felt 
 acutely their sufferings. She watched anxiously for the 
 return of the two wanderers, and generally went a little 
 way to meet them when they appeared in the distance. 
 
 " She does not run to meet us," said Fritz, one day ; 
 " that is a bad sign." 
 
 " Not a bit of it," replied Jack. " If she had any bad 
 news to give us, she would not come at all."
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 COD'S GOVERNMENT KING STANISLAUS THE DAUPHIN SOX 
 
 OF LOUIS XV. THE SHORTEST ROAD NEW TEAR'S DAY 
 
 A MIRACLE CLEVER ANIMALS THE CALENDAR MR. JULIUS 
 
 CAESAR AND POPE GREGORY XIII. HOW THE .DAY AFTER THE 
 
 4TH OF OCTOBER WAS THE 15TH OLYMPIAD LUSTRES 
 
 THE HEGIRA A HORSE MADE CONSUL JACK'S DKEAM. 
 
 SOME men, when they regard the sinister side of events, 
 are apt to call in question the axiom, Nothing is accom- 
 plished without the will of God. Why, they ask, do the 
 wicked triumph? Why are the just oppressed? Why 
 this evil ? What is the use of that disaster ? Was it 
 necessary that Mary Wolston should be thrown into the 
 sea, and that she should afterwards die in consequence of 
 the accident ? 
 
 To these questions we reply, that God does not inter- 
 rupt the ordinary course of His works. Man is a free 
 agent in so far as regards his own actions ; were it other- 
 wise, we should not be responsible for our own crimes. 
 We might as well plunge into vice as adhere to virtue; for 
 we could not be called upon to expiate the one, nor could 
 we hope to be rewarded for the other. It is not to be ex- 
 pected that God is to perform miracles at every instant 
 for our individual benefit. It is unreasonable in us to 
 suppose that, in obedience to our wishes or desires, He 
 will alter His immutable laws. 
 
 A foot slips on the brink of a precipice, and we are 
 dashed to atoms. Our boat is upset in a squall, and we 
 are drowned. Like Stanislaus Leszinsky, King of Poland, 
 we fall asleep in the corner of a chimney, our clothes take 
 fivp, and we are burned to death. We go a hunting ; we 
 mistake a grey overcoat for the fur of a deer, and we kill 
 our friend or his ganrekeepcr, as once happened to the
 
 178 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 son of Louis XV., who in consequence almost died of 
 grief, and renounced forever a sport of which he was pas- 
 sionately fond. Did Providence will, exact, or pre-ordain 
 all these calamities? Certainly not; but our Creator has 
 seen fit to tolerate and permit them, since he did not in- 
 terpose to prevent them. 
 
 The government of God is a conception so wonderful, 
 so sublime, that none but Himself can fathom its depths. 
 Human intelligence is too finite to penetrate or compre- 
 hend a system so complex, and yet so uniform. The 
 mind of man can only form a just idea of a cause when 
 the effect has been made manifest to his understanding. 
 There might have been a reason for the death of Mary 
 Wolston who knows ? But if it were so, that reason 
 was beyond the pale of mortal ken. 
 
 Let us not, however, anticipate. Mary "Wolston is not 
 yet dead. On the contrary, when the ninth day of her 
 illness had passed, Fritz and Jack were returning from an 
 expedition, the nature of which was only known to them- 
 selves, but which, to judge from the packs that they bore 
 on their backs, had been tolerably productive. The two 
 young men observed' their mother advancing, as usual, to 
 meet them, but this time she ran. They had no need 
 to be told in words that Mary Wolston was now out of 
 danger ; the serenity of their mother's countenance was 
 more eloquent than the most elaborate discourse that ever 
 stirred human souls. 
 
 Mrs. Becker herself felt that words were superfluous, 
 so she quietly took her son's arm, and they walked gently 
 homewards, whilst Jack strode on before. On turning a 
 corner of the road, the latter stumbled upon Wolston and 
 Ernest, who, in the exuberance of their.joy, had also co'me 
 out to meet the hunters. They were, however, a little 
 behind ; but that was nothing new. These two members 
 of the colony had become quite remarkable for procras- 
 tination and absence of mind. When Wolston the 
 mechanician, and Ernest the philosopher, travelled in 
 company, it was rare that some pebble or plant, or ques- 
 tion in physics, did not induce them to deviate from their 
 route or tarry on their way. One clav they both started
 
 I 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 179 
 
 for Rockhouse to fetch provisions for the family dinner, 
 but instead of bringing back the needful supplies of beef 
 and mutton, they returned in great glee with the solution 
 of an intricate problem in geometry. All fared very 
 indifferently on that occasion, and, in consequence, Wols- 
 ton and Ernest were, from that time on, deprived of the 
 office of purveyors. 
 
 In the present instance, instead of running like Mrs. 
 Becker, they had philosophically seated themselves on the 
 trunk of a tree. At their feet was a diagram that Wolston 
 had traced with the end of his stick ; this was neither a 
 tangent nor a triangle, as might have been expected, but a 
 figure denoting how to carve one's way to a position, 
 amidst the rugged defiles of life. 
 
 * In all things," observed Wolston, " in morals as well 
 as physics, the shortest road from one point to another, ia 
 the straight line." 
 
 " Unless," objected Ernest, " the straight line were 
 encumbered with obstacles, that would require more time 
 to surmount than to go round. Two leagues of clear road 
 would be better than one only a single league in length, if 
 intersected by ditches and strewn with wild beasts." 
 
 "Bah!" cried Jack, who had just come up out of breath, 
 " you might leap the one and shoot the others." 
 
 "Your argument," replied Wolston, "is that of the 
 savage, who can imagine no obstacles that are not solid 
 and tangible. The obstacles that retard our progress in 
 life neither display yawning chasms nor rows of teeth; 
 they dwell within our own minds they are versatility, 
 disgust, ennui, thirst after the unknown, and love of 
 change. These lead us to take bye-paths and long turn- 
 ings, and fritter away the strength that should be used in 
 promoting a single aim. Hence arise a multiplicity of 
 hermaphrodite avocations and desultory studies, that ter- 
 minate in nothing but vexation of spirit. Let us sup- 
 pose, for example, that Peter has made up his mind to 
 be a lawyer." 
 
 " I do not see any particular reason why Peter should 
 not be a lawyer," said Jack. 
 
 " Nor I either ; but unfortunately when Peter has pore$
 
 180 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 a certain time over Coke upon Littleton, and other abstruse 
 legal authorities, he accidentally witnesses a review ; he 
 throws down his books, and resolves to become a soldier." 
 
 " After the manner and style of our Fritz," suggested 
 Jack. 
 
 " He changes the Pandects for Polybius, and Gray's Inn 
 for a military school. All goes well for awhile ; the idea 
 of uniform helps him over the rudiments of fortification 
 and the platoon exercise. He passes two examinations 
 creditably, but breaks down at the third, in consequence 
 of which he throws away his sword in disgust. He does 
 not like now to rejoin his old companions in the Inn, who 
 have been working steadily during the years he has lost. 
 He therefore, perhaps, adopts a middle course, and gets him- 
 self enrolled in the society of solicitors, which does not 
 exact a very elaborate diploma." 
 
 " Well, after all, the difference between a barrister and 
 a solicitor is not so great." 
 
 " True ; but the exercises to which he has been accus- 
 tomed previously unfit him for the drudgeries of his new 
 employment, and he soon abandons that, just as he 
 abandoned the other two." 
 
 " Your friend Peter is somewhat difficult to please," 
 said Jack. 
 
 " He then goes into business, a term which may mean a 
 great deal or nothing at all ; it admits of one's going about 
 idle with the appearance of being fully occupied. Then a 
 few unsuccessful speculations bring him back, at the end 
 of his days, to the point whence he started that is, zero." 
 
 " Ah, yes, I see now," cried Jack, whilst he traced a 
 diagram on the ground. " Poor Peter has always stopped 
 in the middle of each profession and gone back to the 
 starting point of another, thus passing his life in making 
 zigzags, and only moving from one zero to another." 
 
 " Exactly," added Wolston : " whilst those who per- 
 severed in following up the profession they chose at first 
 finally succeeded in attaining a position, and that simply 
 by adhering to a straight line." 
 
 Here Fritz and his mother arrived, arm in arm. 
 
 " Ha ! there you are," cried Ernest. " We were on our 
 way to meet you."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 181 
 
 " You surely do not call sitting down there being on 
 your way to meet us, do you ? " 
 
 " Well, yes, mother," suggested Jack, " on the principle 
 that two bodies coming into contact meet each other." 
 
 Like those flowers that droop during a storm, but 
 recover their brilliancy with the first rays of the sun, so a 
 few days more sufficed to restore Mary Wolston to better 
 health than she had ever enjoyed in her life before. Some 
 months now elapsed without giving rise to any event of 
 note. All the men, women, and children in the colony 
 had been busily employed from early morn to late at e'en. 
 No sooner had one field been sown than there was another 
 to plant; then came the grain harvest and its hard but 
 healthy toil ; next, much to the delight of Willis, herrings 
 appeared on the coast, followed by their attendant demons, 
 the sea-dogs ; salmon-fishing, hunting ortolans, the foun- 
 dries and manufactories, likewise exacted a portion of 
 their time. Frequently parties were occupied for weeks 
 together in the remote districts ; so that, with the excep- 
 tion of one day each week the Sabbath the two 
 families had of late been rarely assembled together in one 
 spot. 
 
 The hope of ever again beholding the Nelson had 
 gradually ceased to be entertained by anybody. Like an 
 echo that resounds from rock to rock until it is lost in the 
 distance, this hope had died away in their breasts. Willis 
 nevertheless continued to keep the beacon on Shark's 
 Island alight; but he regarded it more as a sepulchral 
 lamp in commemoration of the dead, than as a signal for 
 the living. 
 
 One morning, the break of day was announced by a 
 cannon-shot. All instantly started on their feet and gazed 
 inquiringly in each other's faces. One thing forced itself 
 upon all their thoughts daybreak generally arrives 
 without noise ; it is not accustomed to announce itself with 
 gunpowder ; like real merit, it requires no flourish of 
 trumpets to announce its advent. 
 
 " Good," said Becker ; " Fritz and Jack are not visible, 
 therefore we may easily guess who fired that shot." 
 
 " Particularly," added Wolston, " as this is the first of 
 16
 
 182 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 January. Last night I observed an unusual amount of 
 going backwards and forwards, so, I suppose, nobody need 
 be much at a loss to solve the mystery." 
 
 "Aye," sighed Willis, "New Year's Day brings pleasing 
 recollections to many, but sad ones to those who are far 
 away from their own homes." 
 
 Shortly after, the absentees arrived, each mounted on 
 his favorite ostrich. 
 
 "Mrs. "Wolston," said Fritz, spreading out a fine 
 leopard's skin, " be good enough to accept this, with the 
 compliments of the season." 
 
 " Mr. Wolston," said Jack, at the same time, " here is 
 the outer covering of a panther, who, stifling with heat, 
 commissioned me to present you with his overcoat." 
 
 " I am very proud of your gift, Master Fritz," said Mrs. 
 Wolston ; " it is really very handsome." 
 
 " It may, perhaps, be useful at all events, madam," said 
 Fritz ; " for, in the absence of universal pills and such 
 things, it is a capital preventative of coughs and colds." 
 
 " You have been over the way again, then ? " inquired 
 Willis. 
 
 " Yes ; but, as you see, we adopted a more efficacious 
 mode of operations than the one you suggested." 
 
 "Ah," replied Willis, drily, "you did not light a fire 
 this time to frighten the brutes away, and go to sleep when 
 it went out! " 
 
 Sophia then presented Willis with a handsome tobaccco 
 pouch, on which the words, " From Susan," were em- 
 broidered. 
 
 " Bless your dear little heart ! " said the sailor, whilst a 
 tear sparkled in the corner of his eye, " you make me 
 almost think I am in Old England again." 
 
 "What is the matter?" inquired Mrs. Wolston, as Mary 
 came running in. 
 
 " Oh, such a miracle, mamma ! my parrot commenced 
 talking this morning." 
 
 " And what did it say, child ? " 
 
 Here Mary blushed and hesitated ; Mrs. Wolston 
 glanced at Fritz, and thought it might be as well not to 
 inquire any further.
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. Io3 
 
 " Perhaps somebody has changed it," suggested Jack. 
 
 " Not very likely that a strange parrot could pronounce 
 my own name." 
 
 " Well, perhaps your own has been learning to spell for 
 a long time, and has just succeeded in getting into words 
 of two or more syllables. These creatures abound in 
 self-esteem ; and yours, perhaps, would not speak till it 
 could speak well." 
 
 " Odd, that it should pitch upon New Year's morning 
 to say all sorts of pretty things. They do not carry an 
 almanack in their pockets, do they ? " 
 
 " Well," remarked Willis, " parrots do say and do odd 
 things. I heard of one that once frightened away a bur- 
 glar, by screaming out, ; The Campbells are coming ; ' so, 
 Miss Wolston, perhaps yours does keep a log." 
 
 " By counting its knuckles," suggested Jack. 
 
 " Counting one's knuckles is an ingenious, but rather a 
 clumsy substitute for the calendar," remarked Wolston. 
 
 " And who invented the calendar ? " inquired Willis. 
 
 " I am not aware that the calendar was ever invented," 
 replied Wolston. " Fruit commences by being a seed, the 
 admiral springs from the cabin-boy, words and language 
 succeed naturally the babble of the infant; so, I presume, 
 the calendar has grown up spontaneously to its present 
 degree of perfection." 
 
 " Yes, Mr. Wolston, but some one must have laid the 
 first plank." 
 
 "The motions of the sun, moon, and stars would, in all 
 probability, suggest to the early inhabitants of our globe a 
 natural means of measuring time. God, in creating the 
 heavenly bodies, seems to have reflected that man would 
 require some index to regulate his labors and the acts of 
 his civil life. The primary and most elementary sub- 
 divisions of time are day and night, and it demanded no 
 great stretch of human ingenuity to divide the day into 
 two sections, called forenoon and afternoon, or into twelve 
 sections, called hours. Such subdivisions of time would 
 probably suggest themselves simultaneously to all the 
 nations of the earth. Necessity, who is the mother of all 
 invention, doubtless called the germs of our calendar into 
 existence."
 
 184. WILLIS THE I'lLOT. 
 
 " Yes, so far as the days and hours are concerned. 
 There are other divisions weeks, for example." 
 
 "The division of time into weeks is a matter that 
 belongs entirely to revelation ; the Jews keep the last day 
 of every seven as a day of rest, in accordance with the law 
 of Moses, and the Christians dedicate the first day of every 
 seven to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 
 
 " Then there are months." 
 
 " The month is another natural division. The return of 
 the moon in conjunction with the sun, was observed to 
 occur at regular intervals of twenty-nine days, twelve 
 hours, and some minutes. This interval is called the hmar 
 month, which for a long time was regarded as the radical 
 unit in the admeasurement of time." 
 
 " But the year is now the unit, is it not?" 
 
 " Yes, in course of time the moon, in this respect, gave 
 place to the sun. It was observed that the earth, in per- 
 forming her revolution round the sun, always arrived at 
 the same point of her orbit at the end of three hundred 
 and sixty-five days, five hours, fifty-eight minutes, and 
 forty-five seconds." 
 
 " Does the earth invariably pass the same point at that 
 interval ? " 
 
 " Yes, invariably ; and the interval in question is termed 
 the solar- year." 
 
 " After all," remarked Jack, " the perseverance of the 
 earth is very much to be admired. It goes on eternally, 
 always performing the same journey, never deviates from 
 its path, and is never a minute too late." 
 
 ' If the earth had performed her annual voyage in a 
 certain number of entire days, the solar year would have 
 been an exact unit of time ; but the odd fraction defied all 
 our systems of calculation. Originally, we reckoned the 
 year to consist of three hundred and sixty-five days." 
 
 "And left the fraction to shift for itself! " 
 
 " Yes, but the consequence was, that the civil year wag 
 always nearly a quarter of a day behind ; so that at the 
 end of a hundred and twenty-fine years the civil year had 
 become an entire 'month behind. The first month of 
 winter found itself in autumn, the first month of spring in 
 the middle of winter, and so on."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 185 
 
 " Rather a lubberly sort of log, that," remarked Willis. 
 
 " This confusion became, with tune, more and more 
 embarrassing. Another evil was, likewise, eventually to 
 be apprehended, for it was seen that, on the expiring of 
 fourteen hundred and sixty revolutions of the earth round 
 the sun, fourteen hundred and sixty-one civil years would 
 be counted." 
 
 " But where would have been the evil ? " 
 
 " All relations between the dates and the seasons would 
 have been obliterated, astronomical calculations would 
 have become inaccurate, and the calendar virtually useless." 
 
 " Well, Willis, you that are so fertile in ideas, what 
 would you have done in such a case?" inquired Jack. 
 
 " I ! W n/ I scarcely know perhaps run out a fresh 
 cable and commenced a new log." 
 
 " Your remedy," continued Wolston, " might, perhaps, 
 have obviated the difficulty ; but Julius Csesar thought of 
 another that answered the purpose equally well. It was 
 simply to add to every fourth civil year an additional day, 
 making it to consist of three hundred and sixty-six instead 
 of three hundred and sixty-five, This supplementary day 
 was given to the month of February." 
 
 " Why February ? " 
 
 " Because February, at that time, was reckoned the last 
 month of the year. It was^only in the reign of Charles 
 IX. of France, or .11 the second half of the sixteenth 
 century, that the civil year was made to begin on the 1st 
 of January. As the end of February was five days before 
 the 1st or kalends of March, the extra day was known by 
 the phrase bis sexto (ante) calendus martii. Hence the 
 fourth year is termed in the calendar bissextile, but is more 
 usually called by us in England leap year." 
 
 " The remedy is certainly simple ; but are your figures 
 perfectly square ? If you add a day every four years, do 
 you not overleap the earth's fraction ? " 
 
 " Yes, from ten to eleven minutes." 
 
 " And what becomes of these minutes ? Are they 
 allowed to run up another score ? " 
 
 "No, not exactly. In 1582, the civil year had got ten 
 16*
 
 186 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 clear days the start of the solar year, and Pope Gregory 
 XIII. resolved to cancel them, which he effected by call- 
 ing the day after the 4th of October the 15th." 
 
 " That manner of altering the rig and squaring the 
 yard?;," said Willi, laughing, " would make the people 
 that lived then ten days older. If it had been ten years, 
 the matter would have been serious. Had the Pope said 
 to me privately, ' Willis, you are now only forty-seven, 
 but to-morrow, my boy, you will fill your sails and steer 
 right into fifty-seven,' I should have turned 'bout ship and 
 cleared off. Few men care about being put upon a short al- 
 lowance of life, any more than we sailors on short rations 
 of rum." 
 
 " But you forget, Willis, that, though ten years were 
 added to your age, you would not have died a day sooner 
 for all that." 
 
 "Still, it is my idea that the Pope was not much smart- 
 er at taking a latitude than Mr. Julius Caesar but what 
 are you laughing at ?" 
 
 " Nothing ; only Julius Caesar is not generally hon- 
 ored with the prefix Mr. It is something like the French, 
 who insist upon talking of Sir Newton and Mr. William 
 Shakespeare ; the latter, however, by way of amends, they 
 sometimes style the immortal Williams." 
 
 " Not so bad, though, as a Frenchman I once met, who 
 firmly believed the Yankees lived on a soup made of 
 bunkum and soft-sawder. But who was Julius Caesar." 
 
 "Julius Cassar," replied Jack, sententiously, "was first 
 of all an author, having published at Rome an Easy In- 
 troduction to the Latin Language ; he afterwards turned 
 general, conquered France and England, and gave Mr. 
 Pompey a sound thrashing at the battle of Pharsalia." ' 
 
 " He must have been a clever fellow to do all that ; still, 
 my idea continues the same. When he began to caulk 
 the calendar, he ought to have finished the business in a 
 workmanlike manner." 
 
 "That, however," continued Wolston, "he left to Pope 
 Gregory, who decreed that three leap years should be 
 suppressed in four centuries. Thus, the years 1700 and 
 1800, which should have been leap years, did not reckon
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 187 
 
 the extra day ; so the years 2000 and 2400 will likewise 
 be deprived of their supplementary four-and-twenty hours." 
 
 " There is one difficulty about this mode of stowing away 
 extra days; these leap years may be. forgotten." 
 
 " Not if you keep in mind that leap years alone admit 
 of being divided by foui\" 
 
 " Did the Pope manage to get entirely rid of the frac- 
 tion ? " 
 
 "Not entirely; but the error does not exceed one day 
 in four thousand years, and is so small that it is not likely 
 to derange ordinary calculations ; and so, Willis, you now 
 know the origin of the calendar, and likewise how time 
 came to be divided into weeks, months, and years." 
 
 " You have only spoken of the Christian calendar," re- 
 marked Ernest. "There have been several other systems 
 in use. Those curious people that call themselves the 
 children of the sun and moon, possess a mode of reckoning 
 that carries them back to a period anterior to the_creation 
 of the world. Then, the Greeks computed by Olympiads, 
 or periods of four years. The Romans reckoned by lustri 
 of five years, the first of which corresponds with the 1 1 7th 
 year of the foundation of Rome." 
 
 " And when does our calendar begin ? " 
 
 " It dates only from the birth of Christ, but may be car- 
 ried back to the creation, which event, to the best of our 
 knowledge, occurred four thousand and four years before 
 the birth of our Savior. This period, added to the date of 
 the present, or any future year, gives us, as nearly as we 
 can ascertain, the interval that has elapsed since our first 
 parents found themselves in the garden o Eden." 
 
 " Our calendar," remarked Jackj " appears simple 
 enough ; it is to be regretted that there have been, and 
 are, so many other modes of reckoning extant. What 
 with the Greek Olympiads, the Roman lustres, the Ma- 
 hometan hegira, and Chinese moonshine, there is nothing 
 but perplexity and confusion." 
 
 "It is possible, however," said Becker, " to accommodate 
 all these systems with each other. Leaving the Chinese 
 out of the question, we have only to bear in mind, that the 
 Christian era begins on the first year of the 194th
 
 188 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 Olympiad, 753 years after the building of Rome, and G22 
 years' before the Mahometan hegira. These three figures 
 will serve us as flambeaux to all the dates of both ancient 
 and modern history." 
 
 The discourse was here interrupted by Toby, who en- 
 tered the room, and was gleefully frisking and bounding 
 round Mary. 
 
 " Really," observed Mrs. Becker, " Toby does seem 
 to know that this is New Year's Day, he looks so lively 
 and so smart." 
 
 The animal, in point of fact, wore a new collar, and 
 seemed conscious that he was more than usually attractive 
 that particular morning. At a sign from Mary, the intel- 
 ligent brute went and wagged his tail to Fritz. Hereup- 
 on the young man, observing the collar more closely, no- 
 ticed the following words embroidered upon ii : I belong 
 now entirely to Master Fritz, who rescued my mistress from 
 the sea. 
 
 " Ah, Miss "Wolston," said Fritz, " you forget I only 
 did my duty ; you must not allow your gratitude to over- 
 estimate the service I rendered you." 
 
 " Well, I declare," cried Mrs. Wolston, laughing " here 
 is another animal that speaks." 
 
 " The age of ^Esop revived," suggested Mrs. Becker. 
 
 " What do you say, Master Jack ? " inquired Mrs. 
 Wolston. " Do you suppose that Toby has learned em- 
 broidery in the same way that the parrot learned gram- 
 mar ? "' 
 
 " Oh, more astonishing things than that have happened ! 
 Mr. Wolston there will tell you that he has seen a wooden 
 figure playing at chess ; why, therefore, should the most 
 sagacious of all the brutes not learn knitting ? " 
 
 " 1 fear, in speaking so highly of the dog," replied Mrs. 
 Wolston, "you are doing injustice to other animals 
 Marvellous instances of sagacity, gratitude, and affection, 
 have been shown by other brutes beside the dog. A 
 horse of Caligula's was elevated to the dignified office of 
 consul." 
 
 " Yes, and talking of the affection of animals," observed 
 Ernest, " puts me in mind of an anecdote related by An-
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. l89 
 
 lus Gellius. It seems that a little boy, the son of a fisher- 
 man, who had to go from Baiae to his school at Puzzoli, 
 used to stop at the same hour each day on the brink of the 
 Lucrine lake. Here he often threw a bit of his break- 
 fast to a Dolphin that he called Simon, and if the creature 
 was not waiting for him when he arrived, he had only to 
 pronounce this name, and it instantly appeared." 
 
 " Nothing very wonderful in that," said Jack ; " the com- 
 mon gudgeon, which is the stupidest fish to be found in 
 fresh water, would do that much." 
 
 "Yes; but listen a moment. The dolphin, after having 
 received his pittance, presented his back to the boy, after 
 having tacked in all his spines and prickles as well as he 
 could, and carried him right across the lake, thus saving 
 the little fellow a long roundabout walk ; and not only 
 that, but after school hours it was waiting to carry him 
 back again. This continued almost daily for a year or 
 two; but at last the boy died, and the dolphin, after wait- 
 ing day after day for his reappearance, pined away, and 
 was found dead at the usual place of rendezvous. The 
 affectionate creature was taken out of the lake, and buried 
 beside its friend.* 
 
 "And, on the other hand," added Jack, "if animals 
 sometimes attach themselves to us, we attach ourselves to 
 them. We are told that Crassus wore mourning for a 
 dead ferret, the death of which grieved him as much as if 
 it had been his own daughter.! Augustus crucified one of 
 his slaves, who had roasted and eaten a quail, that had 
 fought and conquered in the circus.J Antonia, daughter- 
 in-law of Tiberius, fastened ear-rings to some lampreys 
 that she was passionately fond of." 
 
 " That, at all events, was attachment in one sense of the 
 word," said Mrs. Wolston. 
 
 " Without reference to the dog in particular," continued 
 Jack, " proofs of sagacity in animals are very numerous. 
 The nautilus, when he wants to take an airing, capsizes 
 his shell, and converts it into a gondola; then he hoists a 
 
 * Aulus Gellius, VII., 8. t Macrobius, Saturn, XI., 4. 
 
 t Plutarch. Pliny, IX., 53.
 
 190 TTILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 thin membrane that serves for a sail ; two of his arms are 
 "resolved into oars, and his tail performs the functions of a 
 rudder. There are insects ingenious enough to make 
 dwellings for themselves in the body of a leaf as thin as 
 paper. At the approach of a storm some spiders take in 
 a reef or two of their webs, so as to be "less at the mercy 
 of the wind. Beavers will erect walls, and construct 
 houses more skilfully than our ablest architects. Chim- 
 panzees have been known spontaneously to sit themselves 
 down, and perform the operation of shaving." 
 
 " Stop, Jack," cried Mrs. Wolston ; " I must yield to 
 such a deluge of argument, and admit that Toby may have 
 acquired the art of embroidery with or without a master, 
 only I should like to see some other specimen of his 
 skill." 
 
 " Probably you will by-and-by," replied Jack, laughing, 
 " if you keep your eyes open." 
 
 Here Sophia came into the room leading her gazelle. 
 
 "Ah, just in time," said Mrs. Wolston; "here is another 
 animal that probably has something to say." 
 
 " Wrong, mamma," replied Sophia ; " my gazelle is as 
 mute as a mermaid. Very provoking, is it not, when all 
 the other animals in the house talk ? " 
 
 " You had better apply to Muster Jack ; he may, pro- 
 bably, be able to hit upon a plan to make your gazelle 
 communicative." 
 
 " Will you, Master Jack ? " 
 
 " Certainly, Miss Sophia. The plan I would suggest is 
 very simple. Feed him for a week or two with nouns, 
 adjectives, and verbs." 
 
 Here Sophia, addressing her gazelle, said, "Master Jack 
 Becker is a goose." 
 
 Meantime Fritz was leaning on the back of Mary's 
 chair. 
 
 "Miss Wolston," said he, "did you not tell me that you 
 had brought Toby up, and that you were very fond of 
 him?" 
 
 " Yes, Fritz." 
 
 <l Then it would be unfair in me to Avithdraw his 
 allegiance from you now, and, consequently, I must refuse 
 your present."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 191 
 
 \ 
 
 " But where would have been the merit of the gift if I 
 did not hold him in some esteem? Besides, I thought you 
 were fond of Toby." 
 
 " So I am, Miss Wolston." 
 
 " Then you will not be indebted to me for anything I 
 owe you much." 
 
 " No such thing ; you owe me nothing." 
 
 " My life, then, is nothing ? " 
 
 " Oh, I did not mean that ; I must beg your pardon." ' 
 
 " Which I will only grant on condition you accept my 
 gift." 
 
 " Well, if you insist upon it, I will." 
 
 " I can see him as before ; the only difference will be 
 that you are his master, in all other respects he will 
 belong to us both." 
 
 " May I know what your knight-errant is saying to you, 
 Mary ? " inquired Mrs. Becker. 
 
 " Oh, I have been so angry with him ; he was going to 
 refuse my present." 
 
 "That was very naughty of him, certainly." 
 
 " He has, however, consented, like a dutiful squire, to 
 obey my behests." 
 
 " Yes, mother, Toby is henceforth to be divided 
 between us." 
 
 " Divided ? " 
 
 " Yes ; that is, he is to be nominally mine, but virtually 
 to belong to us both. Is it not so, Miss Wolston ? " 
 
 "Yes, Master Fritz." * 
 
 On his side, Jack had approached Miss Sophia. 
 
 "So you won't give me your gazelle ?" he whispered. 
 
 " No, certainly not, Mr. Jack, ' replied Sophia ; " if you 
 had saved my life, as Fritz saved my sister's, I should 
 then have had the right to make you a present. But you 
 know it is not my fault." 
 
 " Nor mine either," said Jack. 
 
 ' Perhaps not ; but if I had fallen into the sea, you 
 would have allowed the sharks to swallow me, wbuld 1 you 
 not?" 
 
 " I only wish we had been attacked by a hyena or a 
 bear on our way to Waldeck."
 
 192 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " God be thanked, that we were not ! " 
 
 " Well, but look here, Miss Sophia ; let me paint the 
 scene. You have fainted, as a matter of course, and 
 fallen prostrate on the ground, insensible." 
 
 " That is likely enough, if we had encountered one of 
 the animals you mention." 
 
 " Then I throw myself between you and the savage 
 brute." 
 
 " Supposing you were not half a mile off at the time." 
 
 "No fear of that he rises on his hind legs, and 
 glares." 
 
 " Is it a hyena or a bear ? " 
 
 " Oh, whichever you like he opens his jaws, and 
 growls." 
 
 " Like the wolf at Little Red Riding Hood." 
 
 " I plunge my arm down his throat and choke him." 
 
 " Clever, very ; but are you not wounded ? " 
 
 " I beg your pardon, however ; all my thoughts are 
 centred in you I think of nothing else." 
 
 " I am insensible, am I not ? " 
 
 " Yes, more than ever we all run towards you, and 
 exert ourselves to bring you back to your senses." 
 
 " Then I come to life again." 
 
 " No, stop a bit." 
 
 " But it is tiresome to be so long insensible." 
 
 '* My mother has luckily a bottle of salts, which she 
 holds to your nose I run off to the nearest brook, and 
 return with water in the crown of my cap, with which I 
 bathe your temples." 
 
 " Oh, in that case, I should open one eye at least. 
 Which eye is opened first after fainting ? " 
 
 " I really don't know." 
 
 " In that case, to avoid mistakes, I should open both." 
 
 " It is only then, when I find you are recovering, that 
 I discover the brute has severely bitten my arm." 
 
 " Then comes my turn to nurse you." 
 
 " You express your thanks in your sweetest tones, and 
 I forget my wounds." 
 
 " Sweet tones do no harm, if they are accompanied with 
 salves and ointment."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 193 
 
 u In short, I am obliged to carry my arm in a sling for 
 three months after." 
 
 " Is that not rather long ? " 
 
 " No ; because your arm, in some sort, supplies, mean- 
 time, the place of mine." 
 
 " Your picture has, at least, the merit of being poetic. 
 Is it finished ? " 
 
 " Not till next New Year's Day, when you present me 
 with an embroidered scarf, as the ladies of yore used to 
 do to the knights that defended them from dragons and 
 that sort of thing." 
 
 " What a pity all this should be only a dream ! " 
 
 "Well, I am not particularly extravagant, at all events; 
 others dream of fortune, honor, and glory." 
 
 " Whilst you confine your aspirations to a bear, a bite, 
 and a scarf." 
 
 " You see nothing was wanted but the opportunity." 
 
 "And foresight." 
 
 "Foresight?" 
 
 " Yes ; if you had previously made arrangements with 
 a bear, the whole scene might have been realized." 
 
 " You are joking, whilst I am taking the matter au 
 serieux." 
 
 " That order is usually reversed ; generally you are the 
 quiz and I am the quizzee." 
 
 " You will admit, at all events, that I would not have 
 permitted the bear to eat you." 
 
 Here Sophia burst into a peal of laughter, and 
 vanished with her gazelle. 
 17
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 KPAKAT1OW ,^TT,PHS AND GHIBELINES JIONTACUES A^ 
 
 CAPDLETS SADNESS ^ REUNION JOCKO AND HIS KL>C- 
 
 CATION THE ENTERTAINMENTS " A KIHO THE MULES 
 
 NERO AND THE ASSES OF POPP^EA HERCULES AND ACHILLES 
 
 LIBERTY AND EQUALITY 8EMIRAMIS AND ELIZABETH CHRIS- 
 TIANITY AND THE RELIGION OF ZOROASTER THE WILLIS- 
 ONIAX METHOD MORAL DISCIPLINE VERSUS BIRCH. 
 
 WINTER was now drawing near, with its storms and 
 ieluges. Becker therefore felt that it was necessary to 
 make some alterations in their domestic arrangements ; 
 and he saw that, for this season at all events, the two 
 "amilies must be separated this was to create a desert 
 within a desert; but propriety and convenience demanded 
 the sacrifice. 
 
 It was decided that Wolston and his family should be 
 quartered at Rockhouse, whilst Becker and his family 
 should pass the rainy season at Falcon's Nest, where, 
 though these aerial dwellings were but indifferently 
 adapted for winter habitations, they had passed the first 
 year of their sojourn in the colony. The rains came and 
 submerged the country between the two families, thus, 
 for a time, cutting off all communication between them. 
 The barriers that separated the Guelphs from the Ghibe- 
 lines, the Montagues from the Capnlets, the Burgundians 
 from the Arraagnacs, and the House of York from that of 
 Lancaster, could not have been more impenetrable than 
 that which now existed between the Wolstons and Beckers. 
 
 Whenever a lull occurred in the storm, or a ray of 
 sunshine shot through the mnrky clouds, all eyes were 
 mechanically turned to the window, but only to turn them 
 away again with a sigh ; so completely had the waters 
 invaded the land, that nothing short of the dove from
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 195 
 
 Noah's Ark could have performed the journey between 
 Rockhouse and Falcon's Nest. 
 
 Dulness and dreariness reigned triumphant at both 
 localities. The calm tranquility that Becker's family 
 formerly enjoyed under similar circumstances had fled. 
 They felt that happiness was no longer to be enjoyed 
 within the limits of their own circle. Study and con- 
 versation had lost their charms ; and if they laughed now, 
 the smile never extended beyond the tips of their lips. 
 The young people often wished they possessed Fortunatus's 
 cap, or Aladdin's wonderful lamp, to transport them from 
 the one dwelling to the other ; but as they could obtain 
 no such occult mode of conveyance, there was no remedy 
 for their miseries but patience. To the Wolstons this 
 interval of compulsory separation was particularly irksome, 
 as this was the fir.st time in their lives that they had been 
 entirely isolated for any length of time. 
 
 At Falcon's Nest, Ernest was the most popular member 
 of the domestic circle. His astronomical predilections 
 made him the Sir Oracle of the storm, and he was con- 
 stantly being asked for information relative to the progress 
 and probable duration of the rains. Every morning he 
 was called upon for a report as to the state of the weather; 
 but, with all his skill, he could afford them very little con- 
 solation. 
 
 But all things come to an end, as well as regards our 
 troubles as our joys. One morning, Ernest reported th#t 
 less rain had fallen during the preceding than any former 
 night of the season ; the next morning a still more favor- 
 able report was presented ; and on the third morning the 
 floods had subsided, but had left a substratum of mud that 
 obliterated all traces of the roads. Notwithstanding this, 
 and a smart shower that continued to fall, Fritz and Jack 
 determined to force a passage to Rockhouse. 
 
 Towards evening, the two young men returned, soaking 
 with wet and covered with mud, but with light hearts, for 
 they had found their companions in the enjoyment of per- 
 felt health and in the best spirits. They brought back 
 with them a missive, couched in the following terms : 
 
 " Mr. and Mrs. Wolston, greeting, desire the favor of
 
 196 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Becker's company to dinner, together with 
 their entire family, this day se'nnight, weather permitting." 
 
 Ernest was hereupon consulted, and stated that, in so 
 far as the rain was concerned, they should in eight days 
 be able to undertake the journey to Rockhouse. This 
 assurance was not, however, entirely relied upon, for 
 between this and then many an anxious eye was turned 
 skywards, as if in search of some more conclusive evidence. 
 Those who possess a garden and he who has not, were it 
 only a box of mignionette at the window will often have 
 observed, in consequence of absence or forgetfulness, that 
 their flowers have begun to droop; they hasten to sprinkle 
 them with water, then watch anxiously for signs of their 
 revival. So both families continued unceasingly during 
 these eight days to note the ever-varying modifications of 
 the clouds. 
 
 At length the much wished-for day arrived ; the morn- 
 ing broke with a blaze of sunshine, and though hidden 
 with a dense mist, the ground was sufficiently hardened to 
 bear their weight. Wolston awaited his guests at a bridge 
 of planks that had been thrown across the Jackal River, 
 where he and Willis had erected a sort of triumphal arch 
 of mangoe leaves and palm branches. Here Becker and 
 his family were welcomed, as if the one party had just 
 arrived from Tobolsk, and the other from Chandernagor, 
 after an absence of ten years. 
 
 Another warm reception awaited them at Rockhouse, 
 where an abundant repast was already spread in the 
 gallery. Mrs. Becker had often intended to work herself 
 a pair of gloves, but the increasing demand for stockings 
 had hitherto prevented her. She was pleased, therefore, 
 on sitting down to dinner, to discover a couple of pairs 
 under her plate, with her o*vn initials embroidered upon 
 them. 
 
 "Ah," said she, "I was almost afraid I had lost my 
 daughters, but I have found them again." 
 
 After dinner the girls showed her a quantity of cotton 
 they had spun, which proved that, though they might have 
 been dull, they had, at least, been industrious. 
 
 "Mary span the most of it," said Sophia; "but you 
 know, Mrs. Becker, she is the biggest."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. )J/ 
 
 " Oh, then," said Jack. " f he power of spinning depends 
 upon the bulk of the spinner?" 
 
 "Oh, Blaster Jack, I thought you had been ill, that you 
 L i not commenced quizzing u.s before." 
 
 "Never mind him, Softy," said her father; " to quote 
 Iludibras, 
 
 " There's nothing on earth hath so perfect a phiz, 
 As not to give birth to a passable quiz." 
 
 Here Willis led in the chimpanzee, who made a grimace 
 to the assembled company. 
 
 "Now, ladies and gentlemen," said Willis, "Jocko is 
 about to show you the progress he has made in splicing 
 and bracing." 
 
 " Good ! " said Becker, " you have been able to make 
 something of him, then ?" 
 
 " You will see presently. Jocko, bring me a plate." 
 
 Hereupon the chimpanzee seized a bottle of Rockbouse 
 malaga, and filled a glass. 
 
 " He has erred on the safe side there," said Jack, drily. 
 
 " Well," added Willis, laughing, " we must let that pass. 
 Jocko," said he, assuming a sententious tone, " I asked you 
 for a plate." 
 
 The chimpanzee looked at him, hesitated a moment, 
 then seized the glass, and drank the contents off at a single 
 draught. A box on the ears then sent him gibbering into 
 a corner. 
 
 " Your servant," remarked Mrs. Wolston, " has been 
 taking lessons from Dean Swift as well as yourself, Willis." 
 
 " I will serve him out for that, the swab ; he does not 
 play any of those tricks when we are atone. I must admit, 
 however, that I am generally in the habit of helping my- 
 self." 
 
 Here attention was called to the parrot, who was 
 screaming out lustily, " I love Mary, I love Sophia." 
 
 "Holloa," exclaimed Fritz, "Polly loves everybody 
 now, does she ? " 
 
 " Well, you see," replied Sophia, " I grew tired of hear- 
 17*
 
 198 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 ing him scream always that he loved my sister, so by 
 means of a little coaxing, and a good deal of sugar, I got 
 him to love me too." 
 
 The poultry were next mustered for the inspection of 
 their old masters. These did not consist of the ordinary 
 domestic fowls alone ; amongst them were a beautiful 
 flamingo, some cranes, bustards, and a variety of tame 
 tropical birds. With the fowls came the pigeons, which 
 were perching about them in all directions. 
 
 " We are now something like the court of France in the 
 fourteenth century," said Wolston. 
 
 ** How so ? " inquired Becker. 
 
 " In the reign of Charles V., they were obliged to place 
 a trellis at the windows of the Palace of St. Paul to prevent 
 the poultry from invading the dining room." 
 
 " Rural anyhow," observed Jack. 
 
 u Of course, most other features of the palace were in 
 unison with this primitive state of matters. The courtiers 
 sat on stools. There was only one chair in the palace, 
 that was the arm-chair of the king, which was covered 
 with red leather, and ornamented with silk fringes." 
 
 u So that we may console ourselves with the reflection, 
 that we are as comfortable here as kings were at that epoch 
 in Europe," remarked Ernest. 
 
 "Yes; historians report, that when Alphonso V. of 
 Portugal went to Paris to solicit the aid of Louis XI. 
 against the King of Arragon, who had taken Castile from 
 him, the French monarch received him with great honor, 
 and endeavored to make his stay as agreeable as possible." 
 
 " Reviews, I suppose, feasts, tournaments, spectacles, 
 and so forth." 
 
 " A residence was assigned him in the Rue de Prouvaires, 
 at the house of one Laurent Herbelot, a grocer." 
 
 " What ! amongst dried peas and preserved plums ? " 
 
 " Precisely ; but the house of Herbelot might then have 
 been one of the most commodious buildings in all Paris. 
 Alphonso was afterwards conducted to the palace, where 
 he pleaded his cause before the king. Next day he was 
 entertained at the archiepiscopal residence, where he wit-
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 199 
 
 nessed the induction of a doctor in theology. The day 
 after that a procession to the university was organized, 
 which passed under the grocer's windows." 
 
 "These were singular marvels to entertain a king 
 withal," said Jack. 
 
 " Such were the amusements peculiar to the epoch. It 
 must be observed that the Louis in question was somewhat 
 close-fisted, and rarely drew his purse-strings unless he 
 was certain of a good interest for his money. But courts 
 in those days were very simple and frugal. The sumptuary 
 laws of Philip le Bel (1285) had fixed supper at three 
 dishes and a lard soup. The king's own dinner was like- 
 wise limited to three dishes." 
 
 " These three dishes might, however, have yielded a 
 better repast than the fifty-two saucers of the Chinese," 
 remarked Jack. 
 
 " No one could obtain permission to give his wife four 
 dresses a year, unless he had an income of six thousand 
 francs." 
 
 " What business had the laws to interfere with these 
 things, I should like to know?" inquired Mrs. "Wblston. 
 
 " Tiiose who possessed two thousand francs income were 
 only allowed to wear one dress a year, the cloth for which 
 was not permitted to exceed tenpence a yard ; but ladies 
 of rank could go as high as fifteenpence." 
 
 " Philip le Bel must have been an old woman," insisted 
 Mrs. Wolston. 
 
 ' k No private citizen was permitted to use a carriage, 
 and such persons were likewise interdicted the use of 
 flambeaux." 
 
 " They were permitted to break their necks at all events, 
 that is something." 
 
 " In England, the same primitive simplicity prevailed ; 
 Queen Elizabeth is said to have breakfasted on a gallon of 
 ale, her dining-room floor was strewn every day with 
 fresh straw or rushes, and she had only one pair of silk 
 stockings in her entire wai-drobe." 
 
 " At the same time," observed Ernest, " these usages 
 stand in singular contradiction to those that prevailed at 
 an earlier age. The supper of Lucullus rarely cost him
 
 200 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 less than thirty thousand francs, and he could entertain five 
 and twenty thousand guests. Six citizens of Rome pos- 
 sessed a great part of Africa. Domitius had an estate in 
 France of eighty thousand acres." 
 
 " Poor fellow ! " 
 
 " When Nero went to Baise he was accompanied by a 
 thousand chariots and two thousand mules caparisoned 
 with silver. Poppaea followed him with five hundred she 
 asses to furnish milk for her bath. Cicero purchased a 
 dining-room table that cost him a million sesterces, or 
 about two hundred thousand francs. I can understand 
 the progress of civilization, and I can also understand 
 civilization remaining stationary for a given period ; but I 
 cannot understand why a citizen of ancient Rome should 
 be able to lodge twenty-five thousand men, whilst a king 
 of France could scarcely keep the ducks from waddling 
 about his apartments, and a queen of England could fare 
 no better than a ploughman." 
 
 " If," replied Frank, " there were no other criterion of 
 civilization than luxury and riches, you would have good 
 grounds for surprise ; but such is not the case. Between 
 ancient and modern times, Christianity arose, and that has 
 tended in some degree to keep down the ostentation of the 
 rich, and to augment, at the same time, the comforts of the 
 poor. In place of the heroes, Hercules and Achilles, we 
 have had the apostles Peter and Paul; so Luther and 
 Calvin have been substituted for Semiramis and Nero. 
 Pride has given place to charity, and corruption to virtue." 
 
 " Would that it were so, Frank," continued Ernest. 
 " Christianity has, doubtless, effected many beneficial 
 changes, and produced many able men ; but in this last 
 respect antiquity has not been behind. It has also its 
 sages: Thales, Socrates, and Pythagoras, for example." 
 
 " True," replied Frank, "-nntiquity has produced some 
 virtuous men, but their virtue was ideal, and their creed a 
 dream." 
 
 " And the Stoics ? " 
 
 " The Stoics despised suffering, and Christians resign 
 themselves to its chastisements; this constitutes one of 
 the lines of demarcation between ancient and modern 
 theology."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 201 
 
 " But there were many signal instances of virtue mani- 
 fested in ancient times." 
 
 " Yes ; but for the most part, it was either exaggerated 
 or false ; unyielding pride, obstinate courage, implacable 
 resentment of injuries. Errors promenaded in robes under 
 the porticos. Ambition was hono il in Alexander, suicide 
 in Cato, and assassination in Brutus." 
 
 "But what say you to Plato ? " 
 
 " The immolation of ill-formed children, and of those 
 born without the permission of the laws, prosecution of 
 strangers and slavery ; such were the ba.-< j < of his boasted 
 republic, md the gospel of his philosophy." 
 
 " Why, then, are these men held up as models for our 
 imitation?" 
 
 u Because they are distant and dead ; likewise, because 
 they were, in many respects, great and wise, considering 
 the paganism and darkness with which they were sur- 
 rounded. Life was then only sacred to the few ; the many 
 were treated as beasts of burden. The Emperor Claudian 
 even felt bound to issue an edict prohibiting slaves from 
 being slain when they were old and feeble" 
 
 " Which leaves a margin for us to suppose that they 
 might be slain when they were young and strong," observed 
 Jack. 
 
 " By the constitution of Constantine certain cases were 
 defined, where a master might suspend his slave by the 
 feet, have him torn by wild beasts, or tortured by slow 
 fire." 
 
 " Does slavery and its horrors not still exist, for example, 
 in Russia and the United States of America?" 
 
 " Slavery does exist, to the great disgrace of modern 
 civilization, in the countries you mention ; but, so far as I 
 am aware, its horrors are not recognized by the laws." 
 
 " There, Mr. Frank," said Wolston, " I am very sorry 
 to be under the ivcessity of contradicting you. I have 
 visited the slave Mates of North America, and have wit- 
 ne^ed atrocities perhaps less brutal, but not less heart- 
 rending, than tnose you mention." 
 
 " But do the laws recognize then ? " 
 
 " Yes, tacitly ; the testimony of the slaves themselves is 
 not received as evidence."
 
 202 "WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " Why do a people that call their country a refuge for 
 the down-trodden nations of Europe suffer such abomina- 
 tions ? " 
 
 " "Well, according to themselves, it is entirely a question 
 of the almighty dollar. If there were.no slaves, the swamp-; 
 and morasses of the south could not be cultivated. It has 
 been found that the negro will dance, and sing, and pfai-vc, 
 but he will not work in the fields when free. Beside-, 
 they assert, that the slaves are generally w 1 ! cared for, 
 and that it is only a few detestable masters that beat them 
 cruelly." 
 
 "Then, at all events, dollars are preferred to humanity 
 by the United States men, in spite of their vaunted 
 emblems liberty and equality." 
 
 "Quite so. In all matters of internal policy, t'e dollar 
 reigns supreme." 
 
 "Admitting," continued Frank, "that the evils of slavery 
 may exist in a section of the American Union, and amongst 
 the barbarous hordes of Russia, these evils are trifling in 
 comparison with others that stain the annals of antiquity. 
 We are told that a hundred and twenty persons applied to 
 Otho to be rewarded for killing Galba. That so many 
 men should contend for the honor of premeditated 
 murder, is sufficiently characteristic of the epoch. There 
 was then no corruption, no brutal passion, that had not 
 its temple and its high priest. In the midst of all this 
 wickedness and vice there appeared a man, poor r.nd 
 humble, who accomplished what no man ever did before, 
 and what no man will ever do again he founded a moral 
 and etei nal civilization. Judaism and the relig'on of 
 Zoroaster wore overthrown. The gods of Tyre and Car- 
 thage were destroyed. The beliefs of Miltiades and of 
 Pericles, of Scipio and Seneca, were disavowed. The 
 thousands that ilocked ainiually to worsl ' the F'eusin::i.i 
 Ceres ceased their pilgrimage. Odin ^id his disci; ! es 
 have 'all perished. The very language of Osiris, which 
 was afterwards spoken by the Ptolemies, is no longer 
 known to his descendants. The paganisms which still 
 exist in the East are rapidly yielding to the march of 
 \vc.,tern intelligence*. Christianity alone, amidst all these
 
 WII.LIS TIII; PILOT. 203 
 
 towering and fallen fabrics, retains its original vitality, for, 
 like its author, it is imperishable." 
 
 "It is a curious thing what we call conversation," 
 observed Mrs. Wolston. " No sooner is one subject 
 broached than another is introduced ; and we go on from 
 one thing to another until the original idea is lost sight of. 
 Leaving the palace of Charles V., to go with the King of 
 Portugal to a grocer's shop in some street or other of 
 Paris, we cross the Alps, the Himalaya, and the Atlantic. 
 Lucullus, Nero, Achilles, Peter, Paul, Tyre and Sidon, 
 Semiramis and Elizabeth queens, saints, and philoso- 
 phers, are all passed in review, and why? Because the 
 pigeons ^ut my husband in mind of the Palace of St. 
 Paul ! " 
 
 " No wonder," observed Jack ; " these pigeons are car- 
 riers, and naturally suggest wandering." 
 
 Once more seated round the table, Fritz, observing that 
 the misunderstanding between Willis and the chimpanzee 
 still continued, thrust a plate into the hand of the latter, 
 and pointed with his finger to Willie. This time Jocko 
 obeyed, for the language was intelligible, and he went and 
 placed the plate before his master. 
 
 " Ho, ho ! " cried Willis, " so you have come to your 
 senses at last, have you ? Well, that saves you an extra 
 lesson to-morrow, you 1 ber you." 
 
 " He takes rather long to obey your orders, though, 
 Willis ; it is rather awkward to wait an hour for anything 
 you ask for. What system do you pursue in educating 
 him he Pestalozzian or the parochial ? " 
 
 " " >llow i he system in fashion aboard ship," replied 
 Wilh,. 
 
 " And what does that consist of?" 
 
 "A rope's end." 
 
 "Oh, then, you are an advocate for the birch, are you?" 
 paid Wolston ; " it L, doubtless, a very good thing when 
 moderately and judiciously administered. That puts me 
 in mind of the missionary and the king of the Kuruman 
 negroes." 
 
 " A tribe of Southei-n Africa, is it not ? " 
 
 " Yes, the missionary and the king were great friends.
 
 204 WILLIS TUB PILOT. 
 
 The king not only permitted him to baptize his subjects, 
 but offered to whip them all into Christianity in a week. 
 This summary mode of proselytism did not, however, 
 coincide with the Englishman's ideas, and he refused the 
 oft'er, although the king insisted that it was the only kind 
 of argument that could ever reach their understanding-." 
 
 The day at length drew to a close, and, though no one 
 asked the time, yet all felt that the moment of departure 
 was approaching ; whether they were willing to go was 
 doubtful, but that they were loth to depart was certain. 
 
 " It is time to return now," said Becker, rising. 
 
 " Already ! " 
 
 " There are some clouds in the distance that bode no 
 good." 
 
 " Nothing more than a little rain at worst," said Jack. 
 
 " And your mother ? " inquired Becker. 
 
 " Oh ! we can make a palanquin for her." 
 
 " Your plan, Jack, is not particularly bright ; it puts me 
 in mind of some genius or other that took shelter in the 
 water to keep out of the wet." 
 
 " Very odd," said Jack, " we are always wishing for 
 rain, and when it comes, we do all we can to keep out of 
 its \vay." 
 
 "That is, because we are neither green pease nor 
 gooseberries," said Ernest, drily. 
 
 " True, brother ; and as the rain is your affair, perhaps 
 you will be good enough to delay it for an hour or so." 
 
 " I am sorry on my own account, as well as yours, that 
 I have not yet discovered the art of controlling the skies." 
 
 Here Fritz whispered a few word.~ in his mother's ear, 
 that called up one of those ineffable smiles that the 
 maternal heart alone can produce. 
 
 ' Well," said Mrs. Becker, "if you think so, deliver the 
 m< .ige yourself." 
 
 " Mrs. Wolston," said Fritz, * 1 am charged to invite 
 you and your family to Falcon's Nest this day week." 
 
 ' The invitation is accepted, unless my daughters have 
 any objections to urge." 
 
 " How can you fancy such a thing, mamma ? " said both
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 205 
 
 " The fact is, that my daughters have got such a dread 
 of cold water, that they dread to wet the soles of their 
 shoes, unless one or other of you gentlemen is within hail." 
 
 " Mamma does so love to tease us," said Mary ; " we are 
 afraid of nothing but putting you to inconvenience." 
 
 " Well, in that case, we shall be at Falcon's Nest on the 
 appointed day, unless the roads are positively submerged." 
 
 " In that case," said Jack, " a line of canoes will be 
 placed upon the highway, between the two localities." 
 
 As the prospect of a prize incites the young scholar to 
 increased exertion as the prospect of worldly honors 
 urges the ambitious man on in his career as the oasis 
 cheers the weary traveller on his journey through the 
 desert, and makes him forget hunger and thirst as the 
 dreams of comfort and home warm the blood of a way- 
 p arer amongst snow and ice as hope smooths the rugged- 
 aess of poverty and softens the calamities of adversity, so 
 the prospect of meeting again mitigates the regrets of 
 parting. 
 
 18
 
 CHAPTER XVH. 
 
 WHERE THERE'S A WILL THERE'S A WAT MUCIUS SCJEVOLA 
 WHAT'S TO BE DONE? BKUTUS TORQUATUS AND PETES THK 
 GREAT AUSTRALIA, BOTANY BAT, AND THE FLYING DUTCH- 
 MAN NEW GUINEA AND THE BUCCANEER VANCOUVER'S 
 ISLAND WHITE SKINS DANGER OF LANDING ON A WAVE 
 HANGED OR DROWNED ROUTE TO HAPPINESS OMENS. 
 
 THE old saw, Where there's a will there's a way, means 
 if it means anything that a great deal may be effected 
 by energy. A man without energy is a helpless character, 
 and invariably lags behind his fellow mortals in the stream 
 of life; like a:cork in an eddy, he is rebuffed here and 
 jostled there, and goes on travelling in a circle to the end 
 of the chapter. Not so the man of action ; no jostling 
 thwarts him, no rebuffs retard him ; he breaks through all 
 sorts of obstacles, and floats along with the current. 
 
 Such a man was Becker. Though surrounded with 
 dangers, and harassed by the elements, almost alone he 
 had converted a wilderness into fertile fields ; he pursued 
 the track that his judgment suggested, and followed it up 
 with invincible resolution ; he manfully resisted the sever- 
 est trials, and cheerfully bore the heaviest burdens ; his 
 reliance on Truth or Virtue and on God were unfaltering ; 
 but had he provided for every emergency? Is mortal power 
 capable of overcoming every difficulty ? We shall see. 
 
 A day or two after the entertainment at Rockhouse, 
 Becker whispered to the Pilot 
 
 " Willis, take a rifle, and come along with me ; I have 
 something to say to you." 
 
 They walked a quarter of an hour or so without utter- 
 ing a word, when Willis broke the silence. 
 
 " You seem sad, Mr. Becker." 
 
 " Yes, Willis, I am almost distracted."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 207 
 
 " Still, you seem well enough ; you are as hale and 
 hearty as if you had just been keel-hauled and got a new 
 rig." 
 
 " It is not my body that is suffering, Willis ; it is my 
 mind." 
 
 " Whatever is the matter ? " 
 
 " Willis, my wife is dying" 
 
 And so it was. For a long period Becker's wife had 
 been a prey to racking pains, which, so to speak, she hid 
 from herself, the better to conceal them from others, just 
 as if suffering had been a crime. After having resisted 
 for fourteen years the afflictions of exile, long and perilous 
 expeditions, nights passed under tents, humid winters and 
 fierce burning summers, her health had, at length, suc- 
 cumbed, not all at once, like fabrics sapped by gunpowder, 
 but little by little, like those that are demolished piece- 
 meal with the pickaxe of the workman. Day by day she 
 grew more and more feeble, without those who were con- 
 stantly by her side observing the insidious workings of 
 disease. Like Mucius Scaevola, who held his hands in a 
 burning brazier without uttering a word, she so effectually 
 hid her griefs within the recesses of her own bosom, that 
 no one even suspected her illness. 
 
 " But, Mr. Becker," said Willis, " I saw your wife this 
 morning, and she seemed as well as usual." 
 
 " Yes, seemed, Willis, that is true enough ; not to give 
 us pain, she has concealed her illness from us all. It is 
 only within the last twelve hours that I accidentally dis- 
 covered that she has been long laboring under some fear- 
 ful malady." 
 
 " Do you know the nature of the disease ?" 
 
 " No, that I have no means of ascertaining ; it may be 
 a distinct form of disease, or it may be a complication of 
 disorders, which I know not" 
 
 " It would not signify about the name if we only knew 
 a remedy." 
 
 " True ; but I dread some malady of a cancerous type, 
 which could not be eradicated without surgical skill." 
 
 " I wish I had beeii born a doctor instead of a pilot," 
 sighed Willis.
 
 208 WILLIS TI1K PILOT. 
 
 " I cannot see her perish before my eyes." 
 
 " Certainly not, Mr. Becker; it would never do to allow 
 a ship to sink if she can be saved." 
 
 "Well, what is to be done?" 
 
 " There lies the difficulty ; had it been a question of 
 anything that floats on the water, I might have suggested 
 a remedy ; but, in tlas case, I am fairly run aground." 
 
 " I know too well what must be done, Willis. In cases 
 of ordinary maladies, with care and due precaution, proper 
 nourishment and time, Nature will generally effect a cure." 
 
 " Nature has no diploma, but she accomplishes more 
 cures than those that have." 
 
 " Unfortunately this is not a malady that can be cured 
 by such means ; and, unless its progress be checked in 
 time, it may ultimately assume a form that will render a 
 cure impossible." 
 
 "Is death, then, inevitable?" 
 
 "A patient may retain a languishing life under such cir- 
 cumstances for some time ; but if the disease be cancer, a 
 cure is hopeless without instruments and scientific skill." 
 
 " I thought I was the only wretched being in the colo- 
 ny," said Willis, sighing, " but I find I am not alone." 
 
 " There are no hopes of the Nelson, are there ?". inquired 
 Becker. 
 
 " None now ; for some time Mr. Wolston and yourself 
 almost persuaded me that she had escaped ; but had she 
 reached the Cape, we should have heard of her ere now." 
 
 " The probabilities of another vessel touching here are 
 small, are they not ? " 
 
 " We are not in the direct track to anywhere; therefore, 
 unless a ship has been driven out of her course by a gale,, 
 there is not a chance." 
 
 " Unfortunate that I am ! " exclaimed Becker, covering 
 his face with his hands. " Brutus, Manlius Torquatus, 
 and Peter the Great, condemned their sons to death, but 
 they were guilty ; still the sacrifice must be made." 
 
 Here Willis stared aghast, and began to fear Becker's 
 intellect had been affected by his troubles. 
 
 " I do not exactly understand you, Mr. Becker." 
 
 " Two of my sons have gone on before us ; they were to
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 209 
 
 embark in the canoe for Shark's Island, and wait for us 
 there. I must have courage, and you also, Willis." 
 
 This exordium did not tend to alter the Pilot's impres- 
 sion. They walked on for some time in silence towards 
 the coast. 
 
 " Do you know the latitude and longitude of this coast, 
 Willis?" 
 
 " Good ! " thought the Pilot, " he has changed the sub- 
 ject." 
 
 " Yes ; we are in the South Sea, and no great distance 
 from the line." 
 
 " What continent is nearest us ? " 
 
 " We cannot be very far off the south coast of New 
 Holland, or, as it is named in some charts, Australia. You 
 know that the Nelson hailed from Botany Bay, or Sydney, 
 as the convict colony which the English Government has 
 just founded there is called." 
 
 " How far do you suppose we are from Sydney ? " 
 
 " Well, I should say, with a fair wind and a smart craft, 
 Sydney is not above two months' sail, if so much." 
 
 " Is the coast inhabited ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " What character do the inhabitants bear ? " 
 
 " According to the Dutch sailors, who have been on the 
 coast, they are the most plundering and lubberly set of 
 rascals to be met with anywhere." 
 
 " They are not acquainted with the use of fire-arms, are 
 they?" 
 
 " No, not of fire-arms ; but they have a machine of their 
 own that they call a waddy, or something of that sort, 
 which they throw like a harpoon ; but the thing takes a 
 twist in the air, and strikes behind them." 
 
 " Is the coast accessible ? " 
 
 " No ; it is fringed with reefs, and, in some places, the 
 surf runs for miles out to sea." 
 
 " The navigation along shore, then, is extremely peril- 
 ous ? " 
 
 "Whatever can he be driving at?" thought Willis. 
 
 " Yes ; such a lee shore in a gale would terrify the 
 Flying Dutchman himself."
 
 210 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 Here Becker shook his head dolefully, and they walked 
 on a little further in silence. 
 
 " What islands do you suppose are nearest us, Willis ? " 
 
 " I should say we are in or near the grou'p marked in 
 the chart Papuasia ; beyond them is the territory of New 
 Guinea, and a point to nor'ard are a whole nest of islands 
 discovered by the celebrated buccaneer, Dampiere." 
 
 " And their inhabitants ? " 
 
 " Oh, some of them are pretty fair ; but, taking them in 
 the lump, they are a bad lot." 
 
 " The islands to the west are those discovered by Cook, 
 Vancouver, and Bougainville, are they not ? " 
 
 " They are marked Polynesia in the charts." 
 
 " Do you know of any European settlements on these 
 islands ? " 
 
 " Well, there is a fort of the Hudson's Bay Company 
 on Vancouver's Island, but that is a long way north ; and, 
 I believe, a factory has recently been anchored in New 
 Zealand, but that is a long way south." 
 
 " And what are the principal islands between ? " 
 
 " There is New Caledonia, the New Hebrides, the 
 Friendly Islands, the Societies' Islands, the Marquesas, 
 Tahite, and the Pelew Islands ; but each navigator gives 
 them a new name, so that it is hard to say which is which ; 
 all you can do is to say that there is an island in latitude 
 so and so and longitude so and so, but the name is almost 
 out of the question." . 
 
 " And the natives ? " 
 
 " Some of them are remarkably tame, and trade freely 
 with strangers ; but others have strongly marked cannibal 
 propensities, and dote upon a white-skin feast when they 
 can get one," 
 
 Here Becker shuddered, and uttered an exclamation of 
 horror. 
 
 " That would be a terrible fate, Willis." 
 
 " Whatever can he mean ? " thought the Pilot. 
 
 " Willis, to reach Europe from here, what course do you 
 think would be best ? " 
 
 " Now I think I shall fix him at last," said the Pilot, 
 levelling his rifle at an imaginary bird.
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 211 
 
 "You will only waste gunpowder," said Becker; "I see 
 nothing." 
 
 " You asked me just now what course I should steer for 
 Europe, did you not ? " 
 
 Yes." 
 
 "Well, the most direct course would be to make the 
 Straits of Macassar, and then steer for Java." 
 
 " And when there ? " 
 
 " You would then, be fifteen or sixteen hundred leagues 
 from the Cape." 
 
 " So much ? " 
 
 " Yes, that is about the distance in a straight line across 
 the Indian Ocean. When at the Cape, another fifteen 
 days' sail will bring you to the line ; five or six weeks 
 after that St. Helena will heave in sight ; then you fall in 
 with the Island of Ascension ; leaving which a week or 
 two will bring you to the Straits of Gibraltar, where you 
 get the first glimpse of Europe. But if you are bound for 
 England, your daughter may commence woi'king a pair of 
 slippers for you ; they will be ready by the time you get 
 there." 
 
 They had now Arrived at the point of the Jackal River 
 where the pinnace was moored. 
 
 " What do you think of this boat ? " inquired Becker. 
 
 " The pinnace is well enough for fair weather ; but it is 
 not the sort of craft I should like to command in a storm 
 at sea." 
 
 " So that to venture to sea in it would be to incur immi- 
 nent danger ? " 
 
 " There is no denying that, Mr. Becker ; if she shipped 
 a moderately heavy sea, down she must go to the bot- 
 tom, like a four and twenty pound shot ; and if she should 
 spring a leak, you cannot land to put her to rights ; the 
 waves are by no means solid." 
 
 " Just as I thought ! " exclaimed Becker ; " I was right 
 in judging that it would be a sacrifice. It is almost cer- 
 tain death ; but they must go." 
 
 " Where ? " inquired Willis. 
 
 " To Europe if need be, if God in his mercy spares the 
 pinnace."
 
 212 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 "What for?" 
 
 " I have the means of purchasing surgical skill, and I 
 must use all the sacrifices at my command to obtain it." 
 
 " Avast heaving, Mr. Bwker," cried Willis ; " now I 
 understand; the thing is as clear as the tackle of the best 
 bower, and when a resolution is once formed, nothing like 
 paying it out at the word of command. When shall we 
 start?" 
 
 " I am not talking of either you or myself, Willis." 
 
 " Of whom then, may I ask ? " 
 
 " Fritz and Jack. Fritz knows something of naviga- 
 tion ; and if they succeed, they will have saved their mo- 
 ther ; if they perish, they will have died to save her." 
 
 " Fritz, as you say, does know something of navigation, 
 particularly as regards coasting ; but here you have a pilot, 
 accustomed to salt water, quite handy, why not engage 
 him also ? " 
 
 " Willis, you have yourself said that the undertaking 
 is perilous in the extreme, and your life is not bound up 
 like theirs in that of their mother." 
 
 " True ; but do you not see that I am sick of dry land, 
 and that I am getting rusty for the want of a little sea 
 air ? " 
 
 " I felt ashamed to ask you to share in so desperate an 
 enterprise, otherwise I would have proposed it to you, 
 Willis." 
 
 " But you might have seen that I was growing thin, ab- 
 solutely pining away, and drying up on land. There are 
 ducks that can live without water, but I am not one of 
 them." 
 
 '< Am I, then, to understand that you offer to risk your 
 life in this forlorn hope ? " 
 
 " Certainly, Mr. Becker; a man condemned to be hanged, 
 running the risk of being drowned is no great sacrifice.'' 
 
 " Willis, I accept your offer, to share in the dangers of 
 this enterprise, most gratefully. I thank you in the name 
 of my sons aad of their mother, and trust that God may 
 enable me to recompense you for your devotion to them 
 and to myself." 
 
 " You forget," added Willis, wiping a tear from the
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 213 
 
 corner of his eye, that he ascribed to a grain of dust, "you 
 forget that I was on the point of venturing out to sea in 
 the canoe, had you yourself and Mr. "Wolston not prevent- 
 ed me. There is work to be done, I admit ; and it is not 
 impossible to cross even the Indian Ocean in the pinnace. 
 But we may find a doctor, perhaps, at some of the settle- 
 ments for instance, at Manilla, in the Philippines." 
 
 " That is not to be hoped for, Willis ; there is, probably, 
 only one skilful medical man in each colony, and he will 
 be prevented leaving by Government engagements." 
 
 " True ; then we had better hoist sail for Europe direct, 
 and trust to falling in with a ship now and then." 
 
 "Alas!" vsighed Becker, "in a path so wide as the 
 ocean, it would be unwise to trust to such chances ; you 
 will have to rely, I fear, entirely upon the resources of the 
 pinnace alone." 
 
 " Well, I dare say, though we may have to put up with 
 half rations, we shall not starve on the voyage, at all 
 events." 
 
 They had unmoored the pinnace, and were on their 
 way to Shark's Island. 
 
 " You are about to announce to your sons their depar- 
 ture?" said Willis, inquiringly. 
 
 " Yes ; but my heart almost fails me." 
 
 " The iron must be struck while it is hot. Will you 
 commission me to whisper a few words in their ear ? " 
 
 " Thanks, Willis ; but what right have I to expect cour- 
 age from them, if I exhibit weakness myself? No, my 
 friend, I may shed tears in your presence, but not before 
 them." 
 
 " A man ought never to allow his feelings to get the 
 better of his courage," said Willis, in whose eyes, how- 
 ever, the dust was evidently playing sad havoc. 
 
 " These boys have almost never been absent from me. 
 I have watched them grow up from infancy to adoles- 
 cence, and from adolescence to manhood ; they have al- 
 ways been dutiful and obedient, and with gratitude I have 
 blessed them every night of their lives. But stern are 
 the decrees of Fate ; I must command them to depart 
 from me perhaps for ever ! "
 
 21 t WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " There are evils that lead to good," said Willis, " even 
 though these evils be the Straits of Magellan or the storms 
 of the Indian Ocean." 
 
 Here the pinnace reached the offing of Shark's Island, 
 where Fritz and Jack, leaning on the battery, watched the 
 progress of the boat. 
 
 " Do you observe how downcast my father looks ? " said 
 Fritz. 
 
 " Willis does not look much gayer," remarked Jack. 
 
 " Do you believe in omens, Jack ? " 
 
 - Now and then." 
 
 u Well, mark me, there is a screw loose somewhere, or 
 I am no oracle."
 
 CHAPTER XVIH. 
 
 BACON AND BISCUIT LET BLEEPING DOCS LIE THE PATERNAL 
 BENEDICTION AN APPARITION A MOTHER KOT BA8ILT 
 DECEIVED THE ADIEU THE EMPEROR CONSTANTS 15 
 HOC SIGNO VINCES THE SAILOR'S POSTSCRIPT C.ESAB AKD 
 
 HIS FORTUNES RECOLLECTIONS MRS. BECKER PLUCKS 
 
 STOCKINGS AND KNITS OKTOLANS HOW DELIGHTFUL IT IS TO 
 
 BE SCOLDED THE BODIES TANISH, BUT THE SOULS REMAIN. 
 
 ON their return from Shark's Island, Fritz and Jade 
 were deeply affected, not by the dread of the perils they 
 were destined to encounter these never gave them a 
 moment's uneasiness but by the knowledge that a mer- 
 ciless vulture was preying upon the vitals of their beloved 
 mother. 
 
 "Willis on the contrary, appeared as lively as if he had 
 just received notice of promotion ; but whether the idea 
 of again dwelling on the open sea had really elevated his 
 spirits, or whether this gaiety was only assumed to encour- 
 age Becker and his sons, was best known to himself. 
 
 It was arranged amongst them that no one, under any 
 circumstances, should be made acquainted with the design 
 they had in contemplation. By this means all opposition 
 would be vanquished, and the regrets of separation would, 
 in some degree, be avoided. Besides, if the project were 
 divulged, might not Frank and Ernest insist upon their 
 right to share its dangers ? This eventuality alcae was 
 sufficient to impress upon them all the urgency of secrecy. 
 The really strong man knows his weakness, and therefore 
 dislikes to run the risk of exposing it, so Becker dreaded 
 the tears and entreaties that this desperate undertaking 
 would inevitably exercise, were it generally known before- 
 hand to the rest of the family ; whereas, if once the pin- 
 nace were fairly at sea. it could not be recalled, and time 
 would do the rest.
 
 216 WU.LIS THE PILOT. 
 
 Since, then, all the preparations had to be made in such 
 a way as not to excite suspicion that any thing extra- 
 ordinary was on foot, the progress was necessarily slow. 
 "Willis, under pretext of amusing himself, refitted the 
 pinnace, and strengthened it so far as he could without 
 impairing its sailing efficiency. He called to mind that, 
 when Captain Cook reached Batavia, after his first voyage 
 round the world, he observed with astonishment that a 
 large portion of the sides of his famous ship the Endeavor 
 was, under the water line, no thicker than the sole of a 
 shoe. 
 
 As soon as the weather had settled, and the tropical 
 heats set in, the Wolstons resumed their abode at Falcon's 
 Nest ; whilst, under some plausible pretext or other, Willis, 
 Fritz, and Jack took up their quarters at Rockhouse. 
 This arrangement gave the destined navigators the means 
 of carrying on their operations unobserved, especially as 
 regards salting provisions and baking for the voyage. 
 
 Along with the stores, a portion of the valuables, that 
 still remained in the magazines of Roekhouse, were placed 
 on board the pinnace ; for, though gold and precious stones 
 were not of much value in New Switzerland, Becker had 
 not forgotten that such was not the case in other portions 
 of the world ; he reflected that his sons must be furnished 
 with the means of returning to the colony with comfort. 
 There was also a man of science "and education to be 
 bought, and that, he knew, could not be done without 
 as the French proverb has it, having some hay in one's 
 boots. 
 
 Storms are usually heralded by some premonitory 
 symptoms : the atmosphere becomes oppressive, the clouds 
 increase in density, the sky gradually becomes obscure 
 and large drops of rain begin to fall, then follows the 
 deluge, and the elements commence their strife. It is much 
 the same with impending misfortunes : gloom gathers on 
 the countenance, our movements become constrained, our 
 thoughts wander, and a tear lingers in the corner of the 
 eye. Fritz and Jack endeavored in vain to appear un- 
 concerned, but, in spite of their efforts, it was painfully 
 evident that their minds were burdened by some heavy
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 217 
 
 weight. They were more tender and more affectionate, 
 particularly towards their mother. Towards evening, 
 when they quitted the family circle for Rockhouse, their 
 adieus were so earnest, so warm, and so often repeated, 
 that it almost appeared as if they were laying in a stock 
 of them for their voyage, to store up and preserve with 
 the bacon and biscuits. Even the animals came in for an 
 extra share of caresses, and, if they were capable of re- 
 flection, it must have puzzled them sorely to account for 
 all the endearments that were lavished upon them by the 
 two brothers. 
 
 Becker himself was no less affected than his sons ; 
 sometimes, when the latter were busily occupied with 
 some preparation for the voyage, he would fix his eyes 
 sadly upon them, just as if every trait of these cherished 
 features had not already been deeply graven on his 
 soul. 
 
 During the preceding rainy season, the two young men 
 felt the days long and tedious, and wished in their inmost 
 hearts that they would pass away more swiftly ; now, the 
 hours seemed to fly with unaccountable rapidity, and they 
 would gladly have lengthened them if they had had the 
 power. But no one can arrest 
 
 Le temps, cette image mobile 
 De 1'immobile eternite. 
 
 And time is right in holding on the even tenor of its way ; 
 for if it once yielded to the desires of mortals, there would 
 be no end of confusion and perplexity. It takes unto 
 itself wings and flies away, say the fortunate ; it lags at a 
 snail's pace, say the unfortunate. The idler knows not 
 how to pass it away. The man of action does not observe 
 its progress. Those who are looking forward to some 
 favorite amusement exclaim, " Would that it were to- 
 morrow ! " but how many there are that might well ejacu- 
 late, from the bottom of their souls, "Would that to- 
 morrow may never arrive ! " How, then, could such 
 wishes be met in a way to satisfy all ? 
 
 A day at length arrived when everything was ready for 
 departure, and when nothing was wanted to weigh anchor 
 19
 
 218 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 but courage on the part of the voyagers. The pinnace 
 was laden to the gunwale, the compass was in its place, 
 the casks were tilled with fresh water from the Jackal 
 River, and Willis reported that both wind and sea were 
 propitious for a start. 
 
 The morning of that day was lovely in the extreme. 
 Willis, Fritz, and Jack were early at Falcon's Nest ; the 
 two families breakfasted together under the trees in the 
 open air. After breakfast an adjournment to the um- 
 brageous shade of the bananas was proposed and agreed to. 
 
 " Mother," said Fritz, taking Mrs. Becker's arm, " I 
 want you all to myself." 
 
 " I object to that, if you please," cried Jack, taking her 
 other arm. 
 
 " Why, you boys seem extravagantly fond of your 
 mother to-day," said Mrs. Becker, gaily. 
 
 " Well, you see, mother, we have the right to have an 
 idea now and then Willis has one every week." 
 
 " So long as your ideas are about myself, I have no 
 reason to object to them," said Mrs. Becker, smiling. 
 
 " We have always been dutiful sons, have we not, 
 mother ? " inquired Fritz. 
 
 " Yes, always." 
 
 " You are well pleased with us then ? " 
 
 " Yes, surely." 
 
 " We have never caused you any uneasiness, have we?" 
 inquired Jack. 
 
 " That is to say, inadvertently," added Fritz ; " design- 
 edly is out of the question." 
 
 " No, not even inadvertently," replied their mother. 
 
 " Were you very sorry when Frank and Ernest were 
 going to leave us ? " 
 
 " Yes, my children, the tears still burn my cheek." 
 
 " Nevertheless, you knew that it was for the common 
 welfare, and you felt resigned to the separation." 
 
 " But why do you ask such a question now ? " 
 
 " Well, a propos de rien, mother," replied Jack, " simply 
 because we love you, and, like misers, we treasure your 
 love." 
 
 Towards the afternoon both families were again assem-
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 219 
 
 bled under the trees at Falcon's Nest. This time it was 
 dinner that brought them together ; the repast consisted 
 of cold meats of various kinds, but the chief dish was a 
 wonderful snlad, the rich, fresh odor of which perfumed 
 the air. Wolston, Frank, and Ernest kept up a lively 
 conversation, yet, though all seemed happy and pleased, 
 there were bursting hearts at the table that day." 
 
 " I am going to take a turn in the pinnace to-morrow," 
 said Willis, quietly ; " who will go with me ? " 
 
 " I will ! " cried all the four brothers. 
 
 " I shall require you, Frank and Ernest, to take a look 
 at the rice plantation to-morrow," said Becker, " so I wish 
 you to put off the excursion till another time." 
 
 " "We are at your orders, father," replied the two young 
 men. 
 
 "Where are you going, Willis?" inquired Mrs. Wolston. 
 
 "Well, I am anxious to discover whether we inhabit an 
 island or a continent, and may, consequently, extend the 
 survey beyond the points already known ; so you must 
 not be disappointed should we not return the same night." 
 
 " But what is the good of such an expedition?" inquired 
 Mrs. Becker. 
 
 "The country may be inhabited, or there may be 
 inhabited islands in the vicinity," replied Willis. 
 
 " If there be natives anywhere near," said Mrs. Becker, 
 " they have left us at peace hitherto, and, in my opinion, 
 since the dog sleeps, it will be prudent for us to let it lie." 
 
 " It is not a question of creating any inconvenience," 
 suggested Becker, " but only to ascertain more accurately 
 our geographical position : such a knowledge can do us no 
 possible harm, but, some day, it may be of immense 
 service to us." 
 
 " What if you shauld fall in with a ship ? " inquired 
 Mrs. Wolston. 
 
 " In that case we shall give your compliments to the 
 commander," replied Jack. 
 
 " You may do that if you like, but try and bring it 
 back with you if you can." 
 
 " Do you wish to leave us ? " 
 
 "I do not mean that," hastily added Mrs. Wolston,
 
 220 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " but I am beginning to get anxious about my son, poor 
 fellow. If the Nelson has not arrived at the Cape, then 
 he will suppose we are all drowned, and I should like to 
 fall in with some means of assuring him of our safety." 
 
 " Oh yes," cried the two girls, " do try and fall in with 
 a ship ; our poor brother will be so wretched." 
 
 " You might say our brother as well," added the two 
 young men. 
 
 Here the two mothers interchanged a glance of intelli- 
 gence, which might mean very little, but which likewise 
 might signify a great deal. 
 
 A moment of intense anxiety had now arrived for 
 Becker and his two sons ; they could scarcely refrain from 
 shedding tears, but they felt that the slightest imprudence 
 of that nature would divulge everything. 
 
 " (Dome now, my lads, look alive," cried Willis, in a 
 voice which he meant to be gruff; " if you intend to take 
 a few hours' repose before we start in the morning, it is 
 time to be off." 
 
 Fritz and Jack, had it been to save their lives, could 
 not now have helped throwing more than usual energy 
 into their parting embraces that particular afternoon ; but 
 they passed through the ordeal with tolerable firmness, 
 and then with heavy hearts turned towards the door. 
 
 "I think I will walk with you as far as Rockhouse,' r 
 said Becker. 
 
 All four then departed ; and when the party were about 
 fifty yards from Falcon's Nest, Fritz and Jack turned 
 round and waved a final adieu to those loved beings 
 whom probably, they might never see again. 
 
 " It is well," said Becker. " I am satisfied witk your 
 conduct throughout this trying interval." 
 
 It was now an hour when there is something inde- 
 scribably sombre about the country ; day was declining, 
 the outlines of the larger objects in the landscape were 
 becoming less distinct, and the trees were assuming any 
 sort of fantastical shape that the mind chose to assign to 
 them. Here and there a bird rustled in the foliage, but 
 otherwise the silence was only broken by footsteps of the 
 four men.
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 221 
 
 In ordinary life children quit the parental home by easy 
 and almost imperceptible gradations. First, there is the 
 school, then college ; next, perhaps, the requirements of 
 the profession they have adopted. Thus they readily 
 abandon the domestic hearth; friends, intercourse, and 
 society divide their affection, and the separation from 
 home rarely, if ever, costs 'them a pang. Not so with 
 Becker's two sons ; their world was New Switzerland ; 
 therefore, like the rays of the sun absorbed by the mirror 
 of Archimedes, all their affections were concentrated on 
 one point. 
 
 On the former occasion when the family ties were on 
 the eve of being rent asunder, the case was very different. 
 It is true, Frank and Ernest were about to leave for an 
 indefinite period of time ; but then, every comfort that the 
 most fastidious voyager could desire was awaiting them on 
 board the Nelson ; for a well-appointed ship is like a well- 
 appointed inn on shore, all your wants are ministered to 
 with the utmost celerity. Besides, Captain Littlestone 
 had taken the young men under his special protection, and 
 had promised to see them properly introduced and cared 
 for in Europe. How dissimilar was the position of Fritz 
 and his brother ; they were about to tumble into . l he old 
 world should they be so fortunate as to reach it, much 
 as if they had dropped from the skies, without a guide and 
 without a friend. They were about to entrust themselves 
 to the ocean, separated from its treacherous floods by a 
 few wretched planks ; to be exposed for months, almost 
 unsheltered, to wind, rain, and the mercy of pitiless storms. 
 
 " If God in His mercy preserves you, my sons," said 
 Becker, breaking at last the silence, " you will find your- 
 selves launched in an ocean still more turbulent than that 
 you have escaped an ocean where falsehood and cunning 
 assume the names of policy and tact ; where results always 
 justify the means, whatever these may be r where every- 
 thing is sacrificed to personal interest and ambition ; where 
 fortune is honored as a virtue that dispenses with all 
 others, and where profligacies of the most odious kinds are 
 decorated with gay and seductive colors. It is difficult 
 
 . i 1 i 
 
 for me to foresee the various circumstances amidst which 
 19*
 
 222 WILLI3 THE PILOT. 
 
 you may be placed ; but there are certain rules of conduct 
 that provide for nearly every emergency. I have no 
 need to urge loyalty or courage these qualities are 
 inseparable from your hearts. Strive only for what is just 
 and honest. Submit to be cheated rather than be cheats 
 yourselves ; ill-gotten gains never made any one rich. Put 
 your trust in Providence. Seek aid from on high, when 
 you find yourselves surrounded with difficulties. Never 
 forget that there is no corner on the earth's surface, how- 
 ever obscure, that the eyes of the Lord are not there to 
 behold your actions. Act promptly and with energy. 
 Bear in mind that every moment lost will be to your 
 mother an age of suffering, and that her life is suspended 
 on the fragile thread of your return." 
 
 The party had now reached the banks of the Jackal 
 River, where the pinnace was moored. Fritz and Jack 
 were shedding tears unrestrainedly, and had dropped on 
 their knees at their father's feet. 
 
 " I call," said Becker, in a trembling voice, " the bene- 
 diction of Heaven upon your heads, my sons." 
 
 " Oh, but they must not go ! " cried Mrs. Becker, rush- 
 ing out from behind some tall brushwood that hid her 
 from their view ; " they shall not go ! " 
 
 Fritz and Jack were instantly inclosed within their 
 mother's arms. 
 
 " Ah ! " cried she, pushing aside the hair from their 
 brows, the better to observe their features, " you thought 
 to deceive your mother, did you ? " 
 
 " Pardon ! " exclaimed both the young men. 
 
 Here Becker thought it necessary to interfere ; and, 
 summoning all the courage he could muster to the task, 
 said 
 
 " Why should they not go ? Is this the first expedition 
 they have undertaken ? " 
 
 " No, it is not the first expedition they have under- 
 taken, but it is the first time their eyes and their looks 
 betokened an eternal adieu. It is the first time that I felt 
 they were forsaking me for ever, and it is the first time 
 you ever addressed them with the words you just now 
 uttered."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 Becker saw that it was useless to attempt to carry 
 deceit any further ; he therefore withdrew his eyes from 
 the piercing glance of his wife. Willis, caught in the 
 act, as it were, was completely thrown off his guard, and 
 had not a word to say for himself. Fritz and Jack had 
 again fallen on their knees, this time at the feet of their 
 mother. 
 
 " Ah ! I begin to understand," she screamed, as she 
 glanced around on the scared group that surrounded her, 
 like a wounded lioness whose cubs were being earned off; 
 " now the bandage begins to drop from my eyes. A 
 thousand inexplicable things dart into my mind. You are 
 sending the boys on an impracticable voyage to secure the 
 safety of their mother ; but you did not think that in order 
 to prolong my existence for a few years, you would kill 
 me instantly with grief! What right have you to impose 
 a. remedy upon me that is a thousand times worse than the 
 malady ? Have I ever complained ? May my sufferings 
 not be agreeable to me ? May I not like them ? Is pain 
 and suffering not our lot from the cradle to the tomb? 
 But I am not ill, I was never better in my life than I am 
 at this moment." 
 
 Here she was seized with a paroxysm of nervous 
 tremors that convulsed her frame most fearfully, and com- 
 pletely belied her words. Becker rushed forward and 
 held her firmly in his arms. 
 
 " God give me strength ! " he murmured. " Go, my 
 children, where your duty calls you ; go, my friend, do 
 not prolong this terrible scene an instant longer." 
 
 Not another word was spoken, the pinnace was un- 
 moored; Fritz, Jack, and Willis embarked. When at 
 some little distance from the shore, there was just light 
 enough for Fritz to notice that his father was directing the 
 feeble steps of his mother in the direction of Falcon's 
 Nest. In a few moments more all the objects on shore 
 were one confused mass of unfathomable shadow. The 
 pinnace dropped anchor at Shark's Island, where some few 
 final preparations for the voyage had to be made. Fritz 
 here took a pen and wrote :
 
 224 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " We part. We are gone. When you read this letter, 
 the sea, for some distance, will extend between us. We 
 shall live and move elsewhere, but our hearts are still with 
 you. We wish that Ernest and Frank would erect a flag- 
 staff on the spot where we last parted with our parents. 
 It may be to us what the celestial standard bearing the 
 scroll, in hoc signo vinces was to the Emperor Constantine. 
 The place is already sacred, and may be hallowed by your 
 prayers for us. Our confidence in the divine mercy is 
 boundless. Do not despair of seeing us again. We have 
 no misgivings, not one of us but anticipates confidently 
 the period when we shall return and bring with us health, 
 happiness, and prosperity to you all. 
 
 " Let me add a word," said Jack. 
 
 " The sea is calm, our hearts are firm, our enterprise is 
 under the protection of Heaven there never was an 
 undertaking commenced under more favorable auspices. 
 Farewell then, once more, farewell. All our aspirations 
 are for you. 
 
 " FRITZ. 
 
 " JACK. 
 
 "P.S. Willis was going to write a line or two when, 
 lo and behold ! a big tear rolled upon the paper. ' Ha ! ' 
 said he, ' that is enough, I will not write a word, they 
 will understand that, I think,' and he threw down the pen." 
 
 " How is the letter to be sent on shore ? " inquired 
 Fritz. 
 
 " There is a cage of pigeons on board the pinnace/' 
 replied Jack, "but I do not want them to know that, for, 
 if they should expect to hear from us, and some accident 
 happen to the pigeons, they might be dreadfully dis- 
 appointed." 
 
 " We can return on shore," observed Willis, " and place 
 it on the spot, where we embarked; they are sure to be 
 there to-morrow." 
 
 This suggestion was incontinently adopted. The letter 
 was attached to a small cross, and fixed in the ground. 
 The voyagers had all re-embarked in the pinnace, which
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 225 
 
 was destined to bear even more than Caesar and his 
 fortunes. Willis had already loosened the warp, when a 
 thought crossed the mind of Fritz. 
 
 " I must revisit Falcon's Nest once more," said he. 
 
 " What ! " cried Willis, " you are not going to get up 
 such another scene as we witnessed an hour or two ago?" 
 
 " No, Willis, I mean to go by stealth like the Indian 
 trapper, so as to be seen by no mortal eye. I wish to take 
 one more look at the old familiar trees, and endeavor to 
 ascertain whether my mother has reached home in safety." 
 
 " But the dogs? " objected Willis. 
 
 " The dogs know me too well to give the slightest alarm 
 at my approach. I shall not be long gone ; but really I 
 must go, the desire is too powerful within me to be resisted." 
 
 " I will go with you," said Jack. 
 
 Here Willis fhook his head and reflected an instant. 
 
 " You are not angry with us, WHlis, are you ? " 
 
 " Not at all," he replied, " and I think the best thing I 
 can do, under the circumstances, is to go too." 
 
 " Very well, make fast that warp again, and come along." 
 
 The party then disappeared amongst the brushwood. 
 
 " Some time ago," remarked Fritz, " we followed this 
 track about the same hour ; there was danger to be appre- 
 hended, but the enterprise was bloodless, though successful." 
 
 " You mean the chimpanzee affair," said Willis. 
 
 "Yes; this time we have only an emotion to conquer, 
 but I am afraid it is too strong for us." 
 
 " These are the trees," said Jack, as they debouched 
 upon the road, " that I stuck my proclamations upon. We 
 had very little to think of in those days." 
 
 As the party drew near Falcon's Nest, the dogs 
 approached and welcomed them with the usual canine 
 demonstrations of joy. 
 
 " I have half a mind to carry off Toby," said Fritz ; " but 
 I fear Mary would miss him." 
 
 Externally all appeared tranquil at Falcon's Nest; this 
 satisfied the young men that their mother had succeeded 
 in reaching home, at least, in safety ; a light streaming 
 through the window of Becker's dwelling, however, showed 
 that the family had not yet retired for the night.
 
 226 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " If they only knew we were so near them ! " remarked 
 Jack. 
 
 The entire party then sat down upon a rustic bench, 
 shrouded with flowering orchis and Spanish jasmine. 
 
 " How often, on returning from the fields or the chase, 
 we have seen our mother at work on this very seat," ob- 
 served Fritz. . 
 
 " Aye," added Jack ; " once I observed she had fallen 
 asleep whilst knitting stockings. I advanced on tip-toe, re- 
 moved gently her knitting apparatus, stockings, and all, 
 and placed on her lap some ortolans that I had caught and 
 strangled ; but I first plucked one of them, and scattered 
 the feathers all about, and then retreated into a thicket to 
 watch the denouement of my scheme. She awoke, put 
 down her hand to take up a stocking, and laid hold of a 
 bird. She stared, rubbed her eyes, stared again, looked 
 about, and could find nothing but the ortolan feathers. I 
 then ran forward and embraced her, looking as if I had 
 just come from unearthing turnips. 'Well, I declare,' 
 she said with a bewildered air, 'I could have sworn that 
 I was knitting just now, and here I find myself plucking 
 ortolans ; and what is more, I have not the slightest idea 
 where, in all the world, the birds have come from!' Of 
 course, I looked as innocent as possible ; so that the more 
 she stared and reflected, the less she could make the mat- 
 ter out. At last, she went on plucking the birds, and 
 when this was done she stuck them on the spit. When 
 the ortolans were roasted and ready to be served up, I 
 went into the kitchen, carried, them off, and put my mo- 
 ther's knitting apparatus on the spit. Imagine her sur- 
 prise when she beheld her worsted and stockings at the 
 fire, knowing, at the same time, that four hungry stomachs 
 were waiting for their dinners ! At last, fearing that she 
 was going to ascribe the metamorphosis to some halluci- 
 nation of her own, I went up to her, threw my arms 
 round her neck, told her the whole story, and we both of 
 us enjoyed a hearty laugh over it." 
 
 " Aye, Jack, those were laughing tunes," said Fritz, 
 sadly. 
 
 "Not only that, but our mother was always so even-
 
 + WILLIS THE PILOT. 227 
 
 tempered ; she was never ruffled in the slightest degree 
 by my nonsense ; though she often had the right to be 
 very angry, yet she never once took offence. On another 
 occasion, Mary and Sophia Wolston were working here at 
 those mysterious embroideries which they always hid 
 when we came near." 
 
 " Toby's collar, I suppose," remarked Fritz. 
 
 " My tobacco pouch," suggested Willis. 
 
 "I approached," continued Ja-< M "with the muffled 
 softness of a cat, and was just on the point of discovering 
 their secret, when my monkey, Knips, who was cracking 
 nuts at their feet, made a spring, and drew a bobbin of 
 silk after it ; this caused them to look round, and great 
 was my astonishment to find myself caught at the very 
 moment I expected to surprise them. They commenced 
 scolding me at an immense rate, but then it was so de- 
 lightful to be scolded!" 
 
 "Aye," murmured Fritz, "that is all over now." 
 
 Like a file of sheep, one recollection dragged another 
 after it, so that the whole of the past recurred to their 
 memories. Some faint streaks of light now warned them 
 that day was about to break ; the cocks began to crow one 
 after the other, and to fill the air with their shrill voices. 
 
 " Now," said Willis, " it is high time to be off." 
 
 Jack hastily gathered two bouquets of flowers, which he 
 suspended to the lintel of each dwelling. 
 
 " These," said he, " will show them that we have paid 
 them another visit." 
 
 They then bent down all three on their knees, uttered 
 a short prayer, and afterwards disappeared amidst the 
 shadows of the chestnut trees. 
 
 " Listen !" said Willis, seeing that his companions were 
 about to make a halt, " if you stop again, or speak of re- 
 turning any more, I will cease to regard you as men." 
 
 Half an hour afterwards, on the morning of the 8th 
 March, 1812, the pinnace bore out to sea, and when day 
 broke, the crew could not descry a single traee of New 
 Switzerland on any point of the horizon.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND TWELVE THE MART COUNT UGO- 
 
 LINO THE SOURCES OF RIVERS THE ALPS DEMOLISHED 
 
 NO MORE PYRENEES THE FIRST SHIP ADMIRAL NOAH 
 
 FLEETS OF THE ISRAELITES THE COMPASS PRINTING 
 
 GUNPOWDER ACTIUM AND 8ALAMIS DIDO AND TINEAS 
 
 STEAM DON GARAT AND ROGER BACON MELCHTHAL, FURST, 
 
 AND WILLIAM TKLL GOING A-PLEASURING UPSET VERSUS 
 
 BLOWN UP A DEAD CALM THE LOG WILLIS'S ARCHI- 
 PELAGO THE ISLAND OF SOPHIA THE BREAD FRUIT-TREE 
 
 NATIVES OF POLYNESIA STRIPED TROWSERS ABDUC- 
 TION OF WILLIS IS HE TO BE ROASTED OR BOILED? 
 
 WHEN THE WINE IS POURED OUT, WE MUST DRINK IT. 
 
 AT the date of the events narrated in the proceeding 
 chapter, comparatively little was known of Oceania, that 
 is, of the islands and continents that are scattered about 
 the Pacific Ocean. Most of them had been discovered, 
 named, and marked correctly enough in the charts, but 
 beyond this all was supposition, hypothesis, and mystery. 
 The mighty empire of England in the east was then only 
 in its infancy, Sutteeism and Thuggism were still ram- 
 pant on the banks of the Ganges, but the power of the de- 
 scendants of the Great Mogul was on the wane. Califor- 
 nia was only known as the hunting-ground of a savage 
 race of wild Indians. The now rich and nourishing colo- 
 nies of Australia were represented by the convict settle- 
 ment of Sydney. The Dutch had asserted that the terri- 
 tory of New Holland was utterly uninhabitable, and this 
 was still the belief of the civilized world; nor was it with- 
 out considerable opposition on the part of soi-disant phi- 
 lanthropists that the English government succeeded in es- 
 tablishing a prison depot on what at the time was consid- 
 ered the sole spot in that vast territory susceptible of cul- 
 tivation. At the present time, these formerly-despised
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 229 
 
 regions send one hundred tons of pure gold to England. 
 The political state of Europe itself had at this time as- 
 sumed a singular aspect. Napoleon had made himself 
 master of nearly all the continental states ; Spain, Portu- 
 gal, Belgium, Holland, and a part of Germany were at 
 his feet; and, by the Peace of Tilsit, he had secured the 
 cooperation of Alexander, Emperor of Russia, in his 
 schemes to ruin the trade and commerce of Great Britain. 
 England, by her'opportune seizure of the Danish fleet, 
 broke up the first great northern confederacy that was 
 formed against her. This act, though much impugned by 
 the politicians of the day, is now known not only to have 
 been perfectly justifiable, but also highly creditable to the 
 political foresight of Canning and Castlereagh, by whom it 
 was suggested, to say nothing of the daring and boldness 
 that Nelson displayed in executing the manoeuvre. When 
 new? of this event reached the Russian Emperor it threw 
 him into a paroxysm of rage, and he declared war against 
 England in violent language. He had the insolence to 
 make peace with France the sina qua non of his friend- 
 ship. At the distance of nearly half a century, the actual 
 language employed has a peculiar flavor. The emperor, 
 after detailing his grievances, declares that henceforth 
 there shall be no connection between the two countries, 
 and calls on his Britannic Majesty to dismiss his ministers, 
 and conclude a peace forthwith. The British Govern- 
 ment replied to this by ordering Nelson to set sail forth- 
 with for the mouth of the Neva. A bitter and scorching 
 manifesto was at the time forwarded to the emperor. It 
 accused him flatly of duplicity, and boldly defied him and 
 all his legions. The whole document is well worthy of 
 perusal in these lackadaisical times. It is dated Yv T est- 
 minister, December 18, 1807. It sets forth anew the 
 principles of maritime war, which England had then rig- 
 idly in force. Napoleon had declared the whole of the 
 British Islands in a state of blockade. The British Gov- 
 ernment replied by blockading de facto the whole of Eu- 
 rope. This was done by those celebrated orders in coun- 
 cil, which, more than anything else, precipitated the down- 
 fall of Napoleon. They threw the trade of the world into 
 20
 
 230 YTILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 f he hands of England. Of course, Russia was deeply af- 
 fected, so was Spain and all the other maritime states; 
 and they were all, one way or another, in open hostility 
 with this country. But England laughed all their threats 
 to scorn ; and in the whole history of the country, there 
 was not a more brilliant period in her eventful history. 
 She stood alone against the world in arms. Even the 
 blusterings of the United States were unheeded, and in no 
 degree disturbed her stern equanimity. She saw the road 
 to victory, and resolved to pursue it. But England then 
 had great statesmen, and, of them all, Lord Castlereagh 
 was the greatest, although he served a Prince Regent who 
 cared no more for England or the English people, than 
 the Irish member, who, when reproached for selling his 
 country, thanked God that he had a country to sell. 
 
 At length the ill-will of the Americans resolved itself 
 into open warfare, and the United States was numbered 
 with the overt enemies of England. This resulted in 
 British troops marching up to Washington and burning the 
 Capitol, or Congress House, about the ears of the members 
 who had stirred up the strife. Meanwhile, all the islands 
 of France in the east and west had been taken possession 
 of; the British flag waved on the Spanish island of Cuba, 
 and in the no less valuable possessions of Holland, in Java. 
 Everywhere on the ocean England held undisputed sway. 
 This state of things gave rise to one great evil the sea 
 swarmed with cruisers and privateers, English, French, 
 and American ; so that no vessel, unless sailing under con- 
 voy, heavily armed, or a very swift sailer, but ran risk of 
 capture. 
 
 The Mary for so Fritz now called the pinnace had 
 been ten days at sea, the wind had died away, and for 
 some time scarcely a zephyr had ruffled the surface of the 
 water, the sails were lazily flapping against the mast, and 
 but for the currents, the voyagers would have been almost 
 stationary. It may readily be supposed that, under such 
 circumstances, their progress was somewhat slow, and, as 
 Jack observed, to judge from their actual rate of sailing, 
 they ought to have started when very young, in order to 
 arrive at the termination of the voyage before they became 
 bald-headed old men.
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 231 
 
 They prayed for a breeze, a gale, or even a storm ; their 
 fresh water was beginning to get sour, and they reflected 
 that, if the calm continued any length of time, their pro- 
 visions would eventually run short, and the ordinary 
 resource of eating o'ne another wftuld stare them in the 
 face. Jack, being the youngest, would probably disappear 
 first, next Fritz, then Willis would be left to eat himself, 
 in order to avoid dying of hunger, just as the unfortunate 
 Count Ugolino devoured his own children to save them 
 from orphanage. 
 
 As yet, however, there were no symptoms of such a 
 dire disaster; they were in excellent health and tolerable 
 spirits; they had provisions enough to last them for six 
 month- at least, and consequently had not as yet, at all 
 events, the slightest occasion to manifest a tendency to 
 anthropophagism. 
 
 ".I can understand the sea," remarked Jack, "as I 
 understand the land and the sky; God created them, that 
 is enough ; but I cannot understand how a mighty river 
 like the Nile or the Ganges can continue eternally dis- 
 charging immense deluges of water into the sea without 
 becoming exhausted. From what fathomless reservoirs 
 do the Amazon and the Mississippi receive their endless 
 torrents ? " 
 
 " The reservoirs of the greatest rivers," replied Fritz, 
 " are nothing more than drops of water that fall from the 
 crevice of some rock on or near the summit of a hill; these 
 are collected together in a pool or hollow, from which they 
 issue in the form of a slender rivulet. At first, the 
 smallest pebble is sufficient to arrest the course of this 
 thread of water ; but it turns upon itself, gathers strength, 
 finally surmounts the obstacle, dashes over it, unites itself 
 with other rivulets, reaches the plain, scoops out a bed, 
 and goes on, as you say, for ever emptying its waters into 
 the sea." 
 
 " Yes ; but it is the source of these sources that I want 
 to know the origin of. You speak of hills, whilst we know 
 that water naturally, by reason of its weight and fluidity,, 
 seeks to secrete itself in the lowest beds of the earth." 
 
 " It is scarcely necessary for me to observe that water
 
 232 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 may come down a hill, although it never goes up. Rain, 
 snow, dew, and generally all the vapors that fall from 
 the atmosphere, furnish the enormous masses of water that 
 are constantly flowing into the sea. The vapor alone that 
 is absorbed in the air from the sea is more than sufficient 
 to feed all the rivers on the face of the earth. Mountains, 
 by their formation, arrest these vapors, collect them in a 
 hole here and in a cavern there, and permit them to filter 
 by a million of threads from rock to rock, fertilizing the 
 land and nourishing the rivers that intersect it. If, there- 
 fore, you were to suppress the Alps that rise between 
 France and Italy, you would, at the same time, extinguish 
 the Rhone and the Po." 
 
 " It would be a pity to do that," said Jack ; " there was 
 a time though when there were no Pyrenees." 
 
 " That must have been, then, at a period prior to the 
 formation of granite, which is esteemed the oldest of rocks." 
 
 " No such thing," insisted Jack ; " it was so late as 1713, 
 when, by the peace of Utrecht, the crown of Spain was 
 secured to the Duke of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV." 
 
 " Howsomever," remarked Willis, "all the mariners in 
 the French fleet could not convince me that the Pyrenean 
 mountains are only a hundred years old." 
 
 " My brother is only speaking metaphorically," said 
 Fritz ; " when the crown of Spain was assigned to the 
 Duke of Anjou, his grandfather said Qu il rfy avail plus 
 de Pyrenees. He meant by that simply, that France and 
 Spain being governed by the same prince, the moral bar- 
 rier between them existed no longer. The formidable moun- 
 tains still stood for all that, and he who removes them 
 would certainly be possessed of extraordinary power." 
 
 " I am always putting my foot in it," said Willis, " when 
 the yarn is about the land ; let us talk of the sea for a bit. 
 Who built the first ship ?" 
 
 " Well," replied Fritz, " I should say that the first ship 
 was the ark." 
 
 " Whence we may infer," added Jack, " that Noah was 
 the first admiral." 
 
 " We learn from the Scriptures," continued Fritz, " that 
 the first navigators were the children of Noah, and it
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 233 
 
 appears from profane history that the earliest attempts at 
 navigation were manifested near where the ark rested ; 
 consequently, we may fairly presume that the art of ship- 
 building arose from the traditions of the deluge and the 
 ark." 
 
 " In that case, the art in question dates very far back." 
 
 " Yes, since it dates from 2348 years before the birth of 
 Christ; but the human race degenerated, the traditions 
 were forgotten, and navigation was confined to planks, 
 rafts, bark canoes, or the trunk of a tree hollowed out by 
 fire." 
 
 " That is the sort of craft used by the inhabitants of 
 Polynesia at the present day," remarked Willis. 
 
 " It appears, however, by the Book of Job, that pirates 
 existed in those days, and that they went to sea in ships 
 and captured merchantmen, which proves, to a certain 
 extent, that there were merchantmen to conquer. We 
 know also that David and Solomon equipped large fleets, 
 and even fought battles on sea." 
 
 " Whether an ancient or modern, a Jew or a Gentile," 
 said Willis, " he must have been a brave fellow who 
 launched the first ship, and risked himself and his goods 
 at sea in it." 
 
 " True," continued Fritz ; " but when once the equili- 
 brium of a floating body was known, there would be no 
 longer any risk ; as soon as it came to be understood that 
 any solid body would float if it were lighter than its bulk 
 of water, the matter was simple enough." 
 
 "Very good," interrupted Jack ; "but the words 'when' 
 and 'as soon as' imply a great deal ; when, or as soon as, 
 we know anything, the mystery of course disappears. But 
 before ! there is the difficulty. Particles of water do not 
 cohere how is it, then, that a ship of war, that often 
 weighs two millions of pounds, does not sink through them, 
 and go to the bottom ? Individuals, like myself for exam- 
 ple, who are not members of a learned society, may be 
 pardoned for not knowing how water bears the weight of 
 a seventy-four." 
 
 " The seventy-four would, most undoubtedly, sink if it 
 20*
 
 234 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 were heavier than the weight of water it displaced ; but 
 this is not the case ; wood is generally lighter than water." 
 
 " The wood, yes ; but the cannon, the cargo, and the 
 crew?" 
 
 " You forget the cabooses, the cockpits, and the cabins, 
 that do not weigh anything. Allowing foreverything, the 
 weight of a ship, cargo and all, is much lighter than its 
 bulk of water, and consequently it cannot sink." 
 
 " But how is it, then, that the immense bulk of a 
 seventy-four moves so easily in the water ? One would 
 think that its prodigious weight would make it stick fast, 
 and continue immoveable." 
 
 " When the seventy-four in question has displaced its 
 weight of water, its own weight is substituted for the 
 water, and is in consequence virtually annihilated ; it 
 does not, in point of fact, weigh anything at all, and there- 
 fore is easily impelled by the wind." 
 
 " When there is any, understood," added Jack. 
 
 " And a yard or so of canvas." suggested Willis. 
 
 " True," continued Fritz, " a sail or two would be very 
 desirable ; these instruments of propulsion do not appear, 
 however, to have been used by the ancients. We first 
 hear of a sail being employed at the time when Isis went 
 in search of her husband Osiris, who was killed by his 
 brother Typhon, and whose quarters were scattered in the 
 Nile. This lady, it seems, took off the veil that covered 
 her head, and fastened it to an upright shaft stuck in the 
 middle of the boat, and, much to her astonishment, it 
 impelled her onwards at a marvellous speed." 
 
 "A clever young woman that," said Willis; "but I 
 doubt whether veils would answer the purpose on board a 
 seventy-four, particularly as regards the mainsail and 
 mizentops." 
 
 " The Phoenicians were the most enterprising of the 
 early navigators. They appeared to have sailed round 
 Africa without a compass, for they embarked on the Red 
 Sea and reappeared at the mouth of the Nile, and the 
 compass was not invented till the fourteenth century." 
 
 " And who was the inventor of the compass ? " inquired 
 Willis.
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 235 
 
 "According to some authorities, it was invented by a 
 Neapolitan named Jean Goya; according to others,* the 
 inventor was a certain II agues de Bercy." 
 
 "Then," said Jack, "you do not admit the claims of 
 the Chinese and Hindoos, who assert priority in the 
 discovery ? " 
 
 " I neither deny nor admit their claims, because I do 
 not know the grounds upon which they are founded ; like 
 the invention of gunpowder and printing, the discovery of 
 the compass has many rival claimants." 
 
 "I am of opinion," said Jack, "that Guttenberg is entitled 
 to the honor of discovering printing, and that Berthold 
 Schwartz invented gunpowder." 
 
 " Perhaps you are right ; but there is scarcely any 
 invention of importance that has not two or three names 
 fastened to it as inventors ; they stick to it like barnacles, 
 and there is no way to shake any of thejn off. So, in the 
 case of illustrious men, nations dispute the honor of giving 
 them birth ; there are six or seven towns in Asia Minor 
 that claim to be the birth-place of Homer. National 
 vanities justly desire to possess the largest amount of 
 genius ; hence, no sooner does anything useful make its 
 appearance in the world, than half a dozen nations or 
 individuals start up to claim it as their offspring. The 
 wisest course, under such circumstances, is to side with 
 the best accredited opinion, which I have done in the case 
 of the compass." 
 
 " It was no joke," said* Willis, " to circumnavigate 
 Africa without a compass." 
 
 " You are quite right, Willis, if you judge the naviga- 
 tion of those days by the modern standard ; but it is to be 
 borne in mind that the ancients never lost sight of the 
 coast. They steered from cape to promontory, and from 
 promontory to cape, dropping their anchor every night 
 and remaining well in-shore till morning. If by accident 
 they were driven out into the open sea, and the stars 
 happened to be hidden by fog or clouds, they were lost 
 beyond recovery, even though within a day's sail of a 
 harbor ; because, whilst supposing they were making for
 
 236 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 the coast, they might, in all probability, be steering in 
 precisely the opposite direction." 
 
 " It is certainly marvellous," said Jack, "that a piece 
 of iron stuck upon a board should be a safe and sure guide 
 to the mariner through the trackless ocean, even when the 
 stars are enveloped in obscurity and darkness ! " 
 
 "It is a symbol of faith," remarked Willis, "that 
 supplies the doubts and incertitudes of reason." 
 
 As for the ships, or rather galleys, of the ancients," 
 continued Fritz, '" with the exception of the ambitious 
 fleets of the Greeks and Romans that fought at Salamis 
 and Actitim, one of the modern ships of war could sweep 
 them all out of the sea with its rudder." 
 
 Yes," said Jack, " at the period of which you speak, 
 the, ancients possessed a great advantage over us. The 
 winds in those days were personages, and were very well 
 known ; they were called ^Eolus, Boreas, and so forth. 
 They were to be found in caves or islands, and, if treated 
 with civility, were remarkably condescending. Queen 
 Dido, through one of these potentates, obtained contrary 
 winds, to prevent ^Eneas from leaving her." 
 
 " By the way," said Willis, " there is, or at least was, in 
 one of the Scottish rivers, a ship without either oars or 
 sails." 
 
 " Yes, very likely ; but it did not move." 
 
 " It did though, and, what is more, against both wind 
 and tide." 
 
 " I wish we had your wonderful ship here just now, ii 
 is just the thing to suit us under present circumstances," 
 said Jack. 
 
 " So it would, Master Jack, for it sails against currents, 
 up rivers, and the crew care no more about the wind than 
 I do about the color of the clouds when I am lighting my 
 pipe." 
 
 " You don't happen to mean that the Flying Dutchman 
 has appeared on the Scotch coast, do you, Willis ? " 
 
 " Not a bit of it, I mean just exactly what I say. It is 
 a real ship, with a real stern and a real figure-head, but 
 manned by blacksmiths instead of mariners."
 
 TVILLIS THE PILOT. 237 
 
 " Well, but how does it move ? Does somebody go 
 behind and push it, or is it dragged in front by sea-horses 
 and water-kelpies ? " 
 
 " No, it moves by steam." 
 
 " But how ? " 
 
 "Aye, there lies the mystery. The affair < has often 
 been discussed by us sailors on board ship ; some have 
 suggested one way and some another." 
 
 " Neither of which throws much light on the subject," 
 observed Jack ; " at least, in so far as we are concerned." 
 
 " All I can tell you," said Willis, " is, that the steam is 
 obtained by boiling water in a large cauldron, and that 
 the power so obtained is very powerful.'* 
 
 " That it certainly is, if it could be controlled, for steam 
 occupies seventeen or eighteen hundred times the space of 
 the water in its liquid state ; but then, if the vessel that 
 contains the boih'ng water has no outlet, the steam will 
 burst it." 
 
 u It appears that it can be prevented doing that, 
 though," replied Willis, " even though additional heat be 
 applied to the vapor itself." 
 
 " By heating the steam, the vapor may acquire a 
 volume forty thousand times greater than that of the 
 water ; all that is well known ; but as soon as it comes in 
 contact with the air, nothing is left of it but a cloud, 
 which collapses again into a tew drops of water." 
 
 " That may be all very true, Master Fritz, if the 
 steam were allowed to escape into the air ; but it is only 
 permitted to do that after it has done duty on board ship. 
 It appears that steam is very elastic,. and may be com- 
 pressed like India-rubber, but has a tendency to resist the 
 pressure and set itself free. Imagine, for example, a 
 headstrong young man, for a long time kept in restraint 
 by parental control, suddenly let loose, and allowed scope 
 to follow the bent of his own inclinations." 
 
 " Very good, Willis ; for argument's sake, let us take 
 your headstrong young man, or rather the steam, for 
 granted, and let us admit that it is as elastic as ever you 
 please but what then ? "
 
 238 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " Then you must imagine a piston in a cylinder, forced 
 upwards when the steam is heated, and falling downwards 
 when the steam is cooled. Next fancy this upward and 
 downward motion regulated by a number of wheels and 
 cranks that turn two wheels on each side of the ship, 
 keeping up a constant jangling and clanking, the wheels 
 or paddles splashing in the water, and then you may form 
 a slight idea of the thing." 
 
 " Oh ! " cried Jack, " we invented a machine of that 
 kind for our canoe, with a turnspit. Do you recollect it, 
 Fritz ? " 
 
 " Yes, I recollect it well enough ;-" and I also recollect 
 that the canoe went much better without than with it." 
 
 "You spoke just now," continued Willis, "of rival 
 nations, who pounce like birds of prey upon every new 
 invention; and so it is with the steamship. An American, 
 named Fulton, made a trial in the Hudson with one in 
 1807 that is about five years ago and I believe the 
 Yankees, in consequence, are laying claim to the inven- 
 tion." 
 
 '.'" Now that you bring the thing to my recollection," 
 said Fritz, " the idea of applying steam in the arts is by 
 no means new, although, I must candidly admit, I never 
 heard of it being used in propelling ships before. The 
 Spaniards assert that a captain of one of their vessels, 
 named Don Bias de Garay, discovered, as early as the 
 sixteenth century, the art of making steam a motive 
 power." 
 
 " I don't belidve -that," said Jack. 
 
 "Why?" ', 
 
 " Because a real Spaniard has never less than thirty-six 
 words in his name. If you had said that the steam engine 
 was discovered by Do'n Pedrillo y Alvares y Toledo y 
 Concha y Alonzo y Martinez y Xacarillo, or something of 
 that sort, then I could believe the man to have been a 
 genuine Spaniard, but not otherwise." 
 
 " Spaniard or no Spaniard, the Spanish claim the dis- 
 covery of steam through Don Bias ; the Italians likewise 
 claim the discovery for a mechanician, named Bianca;
 
 WILLIS THE PJILOT. 23J 
 
 the Germans assign its discovery to Solomon, de Gauss 
 the French urge Denis Papin; and the English claim th- 
 invention for Roger Bacon." 
 
 " You have forgotten the Swiss," said Jack. 
 
 "The Swiss," replied Fritz, with an air of dignity, "put 
 forward no candidate : steam and vapor and smoke are not 
 much in their line. They discovered something infinitely 
 better the world is indebted to them for the invention of 
 liberty. I mean rational, intelligent, and true liberty 
 not the savagery and mob tyranny of red republicanism. 
 The three discoverers of this noble invention were 
 Melchthal, Furst, and William Tell." 
 
 " You can have no idea," continued Willis, " of the stir 
 that steam was creating in Europe the last time I was 
 there. Of course there were plenty of incredulous people 
 who said that it was no good ; that it would never be of 
 any use ; and that if it were, it would not pay for the fuel, 
 consumed. On the other hand, the enthusiasts held that, 
 eventually, it would be used for everything ; that in the 
 air we should have steam balloons ; on the sea, steam ships, 
 steam guns, and perhaps steam 'men to work them ; that 
 on land there would be steam coaches driven by steam 
 horses. Journeys, say they, will be performed in no time, 
 that is, as soon as you start for a place you arrive at it, 
 just like an arrow, that no sooner leaves the bow than you 
 see it stuck in the bull's eye." 
 
 " In that case," observed Jack, " it will be necessary to 
 do away with respiration, as well as horses." 
 
 " A Londoner will be able to say to his wife, My dear, 
 I am going to Birmingham to-day, but I will be back to 
 dinner ; and if a Parisian lights his cigar at Paris, it w ill 
 burn till he arrives at Bordeaux." 
 
 " Holloa, Willis, you have fairly converted Fritz and 
 me into marines at last." 
 
 "I am only speaking of what will be, not of what is 
 that makes all the difference you know. It is expected 
 that there will be steam coaches on every turnpike-road ; 
 so that, instead of hiring a post-chaise, you will have to 
 order a locomotive, and instead of postboys, you will have- 
 to engage an engineer and stoker."
 
 2tC Wlf-LIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " Then, instead of saying, Put the horses to," remarked 
 Jack, " we shall have to say, Get the steam up." 
 
 " Exactly ; and when you go on a pleasure excursion, 
 you will be whisked from one point to another without 
 having time to see whether you pass through a desert or a 
 flower-garden." 
 
 " What, then, is to become of adventures by the way, 
 road-side inns, and banditti?" 
 
 " All to be suppressed." 
 
 " So it appears," said Jack ; " men are to be carried 
 about from place to place like flocks of sheep ; perhaps 
 they will invent steam dogs as well to run after straggler?, 
 and bring them into the fold by the calf of the leg. Your 
 new mode of going a-pleasuring may be a very excellent 
 thing in its way, Willis ; but it would not suit my taste." 
 
 " Probably not ; nor mine either, for the matter of that, 
 Master Jack." 
 
 " At all events," said Fritz, " you would run no danger 
 of being upset on the road." 
 
 " No ; but, by way of compensation, you may be blown 
 up." 
 
 " True, I forgot that." 
 
 " This conversation has carried us along another knot," 
 said Jack, opening the log, which he had been appointed 
 to keep ; " and now, by your leave, I will read over some of 
 my entries to refresh your memories as to our proceedings. 
 
 " March 9th. Wind fair and fresh steered to north- 
 west a flock of seals under our lee bow feel rather 
 squeamish. 
 
 " 10th. No wind fall in with a largish island and four ' 
 little ones, give them the name of Willis's Archipelago. 
 
 " llth. A dead calm sea smooth as a mirror all 
 of us dull and sleepy. 
 
 " 12th. Heat 90 deg. shot a boobie, roasted and ate 
 him, rather fishy passed the night amongst some reefs. 
 
 " 13th. Same as the 12th, but no boobie. 
 
 " 14th. Same as the 13th. 
 
 " Dreadfully tiresome, is it not," said Jack ; " no wonder 
 they call this ocean the Pacific."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 241 
 
 "Alas ! " sighed Willis, thinking of the Nelson, "it does 
 not always justify the name." 
 
 " loth. Hailed a low island, surrounded with breakers, 
 named it Sophia's Island." 
 
 " But all these islands have been named half a dozen 
 times already," said Willis. 
 
 " Oh, never mind that, another name or two will not 
 break their backs." 
 
 "16th. Current bearing us rapidly to westward 
 caught a sea cow, and had it converted into pemican. 
 
 " 17th. Shot another boobie, which we put in the pot 
 to remind us that we were no worse off than the subjects 
 of Henry IV. No wind sea blazing like a furnace." 
 
 " You will have to turn over a new leaf in your log by- 
 and-by," said Willis, "or I am very much mistaken." 
 
 " Well, I hope you are not mistaken, Willis, for I am 
 tired of this sort of thing." 
 
 A red haze now began to shroud the sun, the heat of 
 the air became almost stifling, but the muffled roar of 
 distant thunder and bright flashes of light warned the 
 voyagers to prepare for a change. Willis reefed the canvas 
 close to the mast, and suggested that everything likely to 
 spoil should be put under hatches. This was scarcely done 
 before the storm had reached them, and they were soon in 
 the midst of a tropical deluge. At first, a light breeze 
 sprung up, blowing towards the south-east, which con- 
 tinued till midnight, when it chopped round. Towards 
 morning, it blew a heavy gale from east to east-south-east, 
 with a heavy sea running. In the meantime, the pinnace 
 labored heavily, and several seas broke over her. Willis 
 now saw that their only chance of safety lay in altering 
 their course. All the canvas was already braced up 
 except the jib, which, was necessary to give the craft head- 
 way, and with this sail alone they were soon after speed- 
 ing at a rapid rate in the direction of the Polynesian 
 Islands. The gale continued almost without intermission 
 for three weeks, during which period Willis considered 
 they must have been driven some hundreds, of miles to 
 the north-west. 
 31
 
 242 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 The gale at length ceased, the sea resumed its tran- 
 quility, and the wind became favorable. The pinnace 
 had, however, been a good deal battered by the storm, 
 and their fresh water was getting low, and it was decided 
 they should still keep a westerly course till they reached 
 an island where they could refit before resuming their 
 voyage. 
 
 "The gale has not done us much good," said Jack, 
 sadly ; " if it had blown the other way, we might have 
 been in the Indian Ocean by this time." 
 
 " Cheer up," said Willis, taking the glass from his eye, 
 " I see land about three miles to leeward, and the landing 
 appears easy." 
 
 " But the savages ? " inquired Jack. 
 
 " The islands of this latitude are not all inhabited," 
 replied Fritz ; " besides, under our present circumstances, 
 we have no alternative but to take our chance with them." 
 
 "Well, I do not know that," objected Jack; "it would be 
 better for us to do without fresh water than to run the 
 risk of being eaten." 
 
 " What a beautiful coast ! " cried Willis, who still kept 
 the telescope at his eye. " Near the shore the land is flat, 
 and appears cultivated ; but behind, it rises gradually, and 
 is closed in with a range of hills, covered with trees. 
 There is a beautiful bay in front of us, which appears to 
 invite us ashore. But the place is inhabited ; the shore is 
 strewn with huts, and I can see clumps of the bread-fruit 
 tree growing near them." 
 
 " What sort of vegetable is the bread-fruit ? " inquired 
 Fritz. 
 
 " It is a very excellent thing, and supplies the natives 
 with bread without the intervention of grain, flour-mills, 
 or bakers. It can be eaten either raw, or baked, or 
 boiled ; either way, it is palatable. The tree itself is like 
 our apple trees ; but the fruit is as large as a pine-apple 
 when it is ripe, it is yellow and soft. The natives, how- 
 ever, generally gather it before it is ripe; it is then cooked 
 in an oven ; the skin is burnt or peeled off the inside is 
 tender and white, like the crumb of bread or the flour of 
 the potato."
 
 WILLIS THB PILOT. 243 
 
 " Let me have the telescope an instant," said Fritz ; 
 " I should like to see what the natives are like. Ah, I 
 see a troop of them collecting on shore ; some of them 
 seem to be covered with a kind of wrought-steel armor." 
 
 " Perhaps the descendants of the Crusaders," remarked 
 Jack, " returning from the Holy Land by way of the 
 Pacific Ocean ! " 
 
 " Others wear striped pantaloons," continued Fritz. 
 
 " That is to say," observed Willis, " the whole lot of 
 them are as naked as posts. What you suppose to be 
 cuirasses and pantaloons, are their tabooed breasts and 
 legs." 
 
 " Are you sure of that, Willis ? " 
 
 " Not a doubt about it." 
 
 " Such garments are both durable and economical," 
 remarked Jack ; " but I scarcely think they are suitable 
 for stormy weather. But do you think it is safe to land 
 amongst such a set of barebacked rascals, Willis ? " 
 
 " I should not like to take the responsibility of guaran- 
 teeing our safety ; but I do not see what other course we 
 can adopt." 
 
 They had now approached within musket-shot of the 
 shore. They could see that a venerable-looking old man 
 stood a few paces in front of the group of natives. He 
 held a green branch in one hand, and pressed with the 
 other a long flowing white beard to his breast. 
 
 " According to universal grammar," said Jack, " these 
 signs should mean peace and amity." 
 
 " Yes," replied the Pilot ; " the more so that the rear- 
 guard are pouring water on their heads, which is the 
 greatest mark of courtesy the natives of Polynesia can 
 show to strangers." 
 
 " Gentlemen," cried Jack, taking off his cap and making 
 a low bow, " we are your most obedient servants." 
 
 " We must be on our guard," said Willis ; " these 
 savages are very deceitful, and sometimes let fly their 
 arrows under a show of friendship. I will go on shore 
 alone, whilst you keep at a little distance off, ready to fire 
 to cover my retreat, if need be." 
 
 The young men objected to Willis incurring danger that
 
 244 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 they did not share ; but on this point Willis was inexorable, 
 so they were obliged to suffer him to depart alone. By 
 good chance, they had shipped a small cask of glass beads 
 on board the pinnace. The Pilot took a few of these with 
 him, and, placing a cask and a couple of calabashes in the 
 canoe, he rowed ashore. 
 
 The natives were evidently in great commotion ; there 
 was an immense amount of running backwards and 
 forwards. Something important was, obviously enough, 
 going forward ; but, whether the excitement was caused 
 by curiosity or admiration, it was hard to say. They might 
 be preparing a friendly reception for the stranger, or they 
 might be preparing to eat him which of the two was an 
 interesting question that Willis did not care about probing 
 too deeply at that particular moment. 
 
 Fritz and Jack anxiously watched the operations of the 
 natives from the bay. They could not with safety abandon 
 the pinnace ; but to leave Willis to the mercy of the sinister- 
 looking people on shore was not to be thought of either. 
 The Mary was, therefore, run in as close as possible, and 
 Jack leaped on the sands a few minutes after the Pilot. 
 
 Willis marched boldly on towards the natives, and when 
 he arrived beside the old man, the crowd opened up and 
 formed an avenue through which a chief advanced, fol- 
 lowed by a number of men, seemingly priests, who carried* 
 a grotesque-looking figure that Jack presumed to be an 
 idol. The figure was made up of wicker-work was of 
 colossal height the features, which represented nothing 
 on earth beneath nor heaven above, were inconceivably 
 hideous the eyes were discs of mother-of-pearl, with a 
 nut in the centre the teeth were apparently those of a 
 shark, and the body was covered with a mantle of red 
 feathers. 
 
 At the command of the chief, some of the natives 
 advanced and placed a quantity of bananas, bread-fruits, 
 and other vegetables at the Pilot's feet ; the priests then 
 came forward and knelt down before him, and seemed to 
 worship after the fashion of the ancients when they paid 
 their devotions to the Eleusinian goddess, or the statue of 
 Apollo. Meanwhile, Jack, on his side, was likewise sur-
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 245 
 
 rounded by the natives, who was treated with much less 
 ceremony than "Willis. Instead of falling down on their 
 knees, each of them, one after the other, rubbed their 
 noses against his, and then danced round him with every 
 demonstration of savage joy. 
 
 Jack had now an opportunity of observing the per- 
 sonages about him more in detail. They were mostly tall 
 and well-formed ; their features bore some resemblance to 
 those of a negro, their nose being flat and their lips thick; 
 on the other hand, they had the high cheek-bones of the 
 North American Indian and the forehead of the Malay. 
 Nearly all of them were entirely naked, but wore a neck- 
 lace and bracelets of shells. They were armed with a sort 
 of spear and an axe of hard wood edged with stone. Their 
 skins were tattooed all over with lines and circles, and 
 painted ; these decorations, in some instances, exhibiting 
 careful execution and no inconsiderable degree of artistic 
 skill. These observations made, Jack pushed his way to 
 the spot where Willis was receiving the homage of the 
 priests. 
 
 " What ! you here ? " said the Pilot. 
 
 " Yes, Willis, I have come to see what detained you. 
 By the way, is there anything the matter with my nose ? " 
 
 "Nothing that I can see; but the natives of New Zealand 
 rub their noses against each other, and probably the same 
 usage is fashion here." 
 
 " Why, then, do they make you an exception ? " 
 
 " I have not the remotest idea." 
 
 The priests at length rose, and the chief advanced. 
 This dignitary addressed a long discourse to Willis in a 
 sing-song tone, which lasted nearly half an hour. After 
 this, he stood aside, and looked at Willis, as if he expected 
 a reply. 
 
 " Illustrious chief, king, prince, or nabob," said Willis, 
 " I am highly flattered by all the fine things you have just 
 said to me. It is true, I have not understood a single 
 word, but the fruits you have placed before me speak a 
 language that I can understand. Howsomever, most 
 mighty potentate, we are not in want of provisions ; but if 
 21*
 
 246 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 you can show us a spring of good water, you will confer 
 upon us an everlasting favor." 
 
 "You might just as well ask him to show you what 
 o'clock it is by the dial of his cathedral," said Jack. 
 
 " They would only point to the sun if I did." 
 
 " But suppose the sun invisible." 
 
 " Then they would be in the same position as we are 
 when we forget to wind up our watches. Gentlemen sav- 
 ages," he said, turning to the natives and handing them 
 the glass beads, " accept these trifles as a token of our es- 
 teem/' 
 
 The natives required no pressing, but accepted the prof- 
 fered gifts with great good-will. The dancing and singing 
 then recommenced with redoubled fury, and poor Jack's 
 nose was almost obliterated by the constant rubbing it un- 
 derwent. 
 
 Suddenly the hubbub ceased, and a profound silence 
 reigned throughout the assembly. The oldest of the 
 priests brought a mantle of red feathers, similar to the one 
 that covered the idol. This was thrown over the Pilot's 
 shoulders ; a tuft of feathers, something resembling a fu- 
 neral plume, was placed upon his head, and a large semi- 
 circular fan was thrust into his hand. Thus equipped, a 
 procession was formed, one half before and the other half 
 behind him. The cortege began to move slowly in the di- 
 rection of the interior, but the operation was disconcerted 
 by Willis, who remained stock-still. 
 
 " Thank you," he said, " I would rather not go far away 
 from the shore." 
 
 As soon as the natives saw clearly that Willis was not 
 disposed to move, the chief issued a mandate, and four 
 stout fellows immediately removed the idol from its posi- 
 tion, and Willis was placed upon the vacant pedestal. 
 
 The kind of adoration with which all these proceedings 
 were accompanied greatly perplexed the voyagers. What 
 could it all mean ? Was this a common mode of welcom- 
 ing strangers ? It occurred to Jack that the Romans were 
 accustomed to decorate with flowers the victims they de- 
 signed as sacrifices to the altars of their gods before im-
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 247 
 
 molating them. This reminiscence made his flesh creep 
 with horror, and filled him with the utmost dismay. 
 
 " Willis ! " he cried to the Pilot, whom they were now 
 leading off in triumph, " let us try the effects of our rifles 
 on this rabble ; you jump over the heads of your worship- 
 pers, and we will charge through them to shore. I will 
 shoot the first man that pursues us, and signal Fritz to 
 discharge the four-pounder amongst them." 
 
 " Impossible," replied Willis ; " we should both be stuck 
 all over with arrows and lances before we could reach the 
 pinnace. Did I not tell you not to come ashore ? " 
 
 " True, Willis, but did you suppose I had no heart ? 
 How could I look on quietly whilst you were surrounded 
 by a mob of ferocious-looking men ? " 
 
 " Well, well, Master Jack, say no more about it ; I do 
 not suppose they mean to do me any harm ; but there 
 would be danger in rousing the passions of such a multi- 
 tude of people. They seem, luckily, to direct their atten- 
 tions exclusively to me, so you had better go back and 
 look after the canoe." 
 
 " No ; I shall follow you wherever you go, Willis, even 
 into the soup-kettles of the wretches." 
 
 " In that case," said Willis, " the wine is poured out, 
 and, such as it is, we must drink it."
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 JUPITER TONAN8 THB THUNDERS OF THE PILOT WORSHIP- 
 PERS OF THE FAR WEST A LATE BREAKFAST RONO THB 
 
 GREAT A POLYNESIAN LEGEND MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF 
 
 OCEANIA MR. AND MRS. TAMAIDI REGAL POMP ELBOW 
 
 ROOM KATZENMUSIK QUEEN TONICO AND THE SHAVING 
 
 GLASS CONSEQUENCES OF A PINCH OF SNUFF DI8GRACK 
 
 OF THE GREAT RONO MARIUS CORIOLANUS HANNIBAL 
 
 ALCIBIADES CIMON ARISTIDES A SOP FOR THE 
 
 THIRSTY AIR SOMETHING ELSE BESIDES OXYGEN AND 
 
 HYDROGEN MARYLAND AND WHITECHAPEL HALF-WAY UP 
 
 THE CORDILLERAS HUMAN MACHINES STAR OF THE SEA, 
 
 PRAY FOR US ! 
 
 WAS he on his way to the Capitol or to the Gemoniae ? 
 The solution of this question became, for the moment, of 
 greater importance to Willis than the " to be or not to be " 
 of Hamlet to the State of Denmark. This incertitude 
 was all the more painful, that it was accompanied by 
 myriads of insects, created by the recent rains ; these 
 swarmed in the air to such an extent, that it was utterly 
 impossible to inhale the one without swallowing the other. 
 The sailor, notwithstanding his elevated and somewhat 
 perilous position, true to his instincts and tormented by 
 the flies, took out his pipe, filled it, and struck a light. 
 As soon as the first column of smoke issued from his 
 mouth, the cavalcade halted spontaneously, the natives fell 
 on their faces, their noses touching the ground, and in an 
 attitude of the profoundest fear and apprehension. Ju- 
 piter thundering never created such a sensation as Willis 
 smoking. The savages seemed glued to the earth with 
 terror. If the Pilot had thought it advisable to escape, 
 he might have walked over the prostrate bodies of his 
 captors, not one of whom would have been bold enough 
 to follow what appeared to be a human volcano, vomiting 
 fire and smoke, the fire of course being understood.
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 Willis, however, now saw that he possessed in his pipe 
 a ready means of awing them. Besides, it was clear that, 
 through some fortunate coincidence, the natives had mis- 
 taken him for a divinity. There was, consequently, no 
 immediate danger to be apprehended ; he therefore be- 
 came himself again, and began to enjoy the novelty of his 
 new dignity. 
 
 It was certainly a curious contrast. "Willis, seated on 
 a sort of throne, crowned with a waving plume of 
 feathers, shrouded in a fiery mantle, and surrounded by a 
 crowd of prostrate figures, was quietly puffing ribbons of 
 smoke from the tips of his lips. There he sat, for all the 
 world like a crane in a duck-pond. 
 
 From time to time the more daring of the worshippers 
 slightly raised their heads to see whether Jupiter was still 
 thundering ; but when their eye caught a whiff of smoke, 
 they speedily resumed their former posture. Some of 
 them even thrust their heads into holes, or behind stones, 
 as if more effectually to shelter themselves from the fury 
 of- the fiery furnace. At last the eruption ceased, Willis 
 knocked the ashes out of his pipe, replaced it in his 
 pocket, and the convoy resumed its route. 
 
 After half an hour's march, the procession halted near 
 a clump of plantains, in front of a structure more ambi- 
 tious than any of those in the neighborhood. A female, 
 laden with rude ornaments, was standing at the door. 
 This lady, who rivalled the celebrated Daniel Lambert 
 in dimensions, would have created quite a furore at Bar- 
 tholomew Fair ; according to Jack, she was so amazingly 
 fat, that it would have taken full five minutes to walk round 
 her. She took the Pilot respectfully by the hand, and led 
 him into the interior of the building, which was crowded 
 with images of various forms, and was evidently a temple. 
 Willis, at a sign from his conductress, seated himself in a 
 chair, raised on a dais, and surmounted by a terrific figure 
 similar to the one already described, but draped in white 
 feathers instead of red. 
 
 The fat lady, or rather the high priestess for she was 
 the reigning potentate in this magazine of idols took a 
 sucking pig that was held by one of the priests. After
 
 250 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 muttering a prayer or homily of some sort, she strangled 
 the poor animal, and returned it to the priest. By and 
 by, the pig was brought in again cooked, and presented 
 with great ceremony to Willis. There were likewise 
 sundry dishes of fruit, nuts, and several small cups con- 
 taining some kind of liquid. One of the priests cut up 
 the pig, and lifted pieces of it to Willis's mouth ; these, 
 however, he refused to eat. The fat priestess, observing 
 this, chewed one or two mouthfuls, which she afterwards 
 handed to the Pilot. This was putting the sailor's gal- 
 lantry to rather a rude test. He was equal to the emer- 
 gency, and did not refuse the offering. But he must have 
 felt at the time, that being a divinity was not entirely 
 without its attendant inconveniences. 
 
 Nor was this the only infliction of the kind he was 
 doomed to withstand. One of the priests took up a piece 
 of kava-root, put it into his mouth, chewed it, and then 
 dropped a bit into each of the cups already noticed. One 
 of these, containing this nectar, was presented to Willis by 
 the fat Hebe who presided at the feast, and he had die 
 fortitude to taste it. Another of the cups was handed to 
 Jack. 
 
 " No, I thank you," said he, shaking his head; "I break- 
 fasted rather late this morning." 
 
 Meantime, another personage had entered upon the 
 scene. After having performed an obeisance to Willis like 
 the rest, this individual backed himself to where Jack was 
 standing, by this means adroitly avoiding both the kava 
 and the nose-rubbings. He was distinguished from the 
 other natives by an ornament round his waist, which fell 
 to his knees. His skin seemed a trifle less dark, his fea- 
 tures less marked ; but his body was tattooed and stained 
 after the common fashion. 
 
 The new comer turned out to be a Portuguese deserter, 
 who had abandoned his ship twenty years before, and hud 
 married the daughter of a chief of the island on which he 
 now was. At the present moment, he filled the part <{' 
 prime minister to the king, an office he could not have 
 held in his own ungrateful country, since he could neither 
 read nor write. These accomplishments, it appeared, were
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 251 
 
 not, however, absolutely indispensable in Polynesia. It 
 has been found that when a savage is transferred to Europe, 
 he readily acquires the habits of civilized life. By a simi- 
 lar adaptation of things to circumstances, this European 
 had identified himself with the savages. He had adopted 
 their manners, their customs, and their costume. When 
 he thought of his own country, it was only to wonder why 
 he ever submitted to the constraint of a coat, or put him- 
 self to the trouble of handling a fork and spoon. 
 
 He had not, however, entirely forgotten his mother 
 tongue, and, moreover, still retained in his memory a few 
 English words. He was likewise very communicative, and 
 told Jack that they were in the Island of Hawai ; that the 
 name of the king was Toubowrai Tamaidi, who, he added, 
 intended visiting the pinnace with the queen next day, 
 to pay his respects in person to the great Rono. 
 
 " His Majesty," said the Portuguese, " would have been 
 amongst the first to throw himself at his feet, but unfortu- 
 nately the royal residence is a good way off; and though 
 both the king and the queen are on the way, running-as 
 fast as they can, it may take them some time yet to reach 
 the shore." 
 
 " But who is the great Rono ? " inquired Jack. 
 
 " Well," replied the prime minister, " you ought to know 
 best, since you arrived with him." 
 
 Jack felt that he was touching on delicate ground, and 
 saw that it was necessary to diplomatise a little. 
 
 " True," said he ; " but I am not acquainted with the 
 position that illustrious person holds in relation to Hawai." 
 
 The Portuguese then made a very long, rambling, and 
 not very lucid statement, from which Jack gleaned the 
 following details. About a hundred years before, during 
 the reign of one of the first kings, there lived a great war- 
 rior, whose name was Rono. This chief was very popular, 
 but he was very jealous. In a moment of anger he killed 
 his wife, of whom he was passionately fond. The regret 
 and grief that resulted from this act drove him out of his 
 senses: he wandered disconsolately about the island, fought 
 and quarrelled with every one that came near him. At 
 last, in a fit of despair, he embarked in a large canoe, and,
 
 252 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 after promising to return at the expiration of twelve hun- 
 dred moons, with a white face and on a floating island, he 
 put out to sea, and was never heard of more. 
 
 This tradition, it appears, had been piously handed 
 down from family to family. The natives of Hawai who 
 are not more extravagant in the matter of idols than some 
 nations who boast a larger amount of civilization, but who 
 do not destroy them so often enrolled Rono amongst the 
 list of their divinities. An image of him was set up, sacri- 
 fices were instituted in his honor. Every year the day of 
 his departure was kept sacred, and devoted to religious 
 ceremonies. The twelfth hundred moon had just set, when 
 a large boat appeared in the bay, and a man came ashore. 
 The high priest of the temple, Raou, and his daughter, On 
 La, priestess of Rono, solemnly declared that the man in 
 question was Rono himself, who had returned at the pre- 
 cise time named, and in the manner he promised. 
 
 It was, therefore, clear from this statement that Willis 
 was to be henceforward Rono the Great. 
 
 .Jack was rather pleased than otherwise to learn that he 
 was the companion of a real live divinity. It assured him, 
 in the first place, that the danger of his being converted 
 into a stew or a fricassee was not imminent. He did not 
 forget, however, that the consequences might be perilous 
 if, by any chance, the illusion ceased ; for he knew that 
 the greater the height from which a man falls, the less the 
 mercy shown to him when he is down. As soon, there- 
 fore, as the ceremonies had a little relaxed, and Willis was 
 left some freedom of action, Jack went forward, and knelt 
 before him in his turn. 
 
 " O sublime Rono," said he, " I know now why your 
 nose has escaped all the rubbings that mine has had to 
 undergo." 
 
 " Do you ? " said Willis ; " glad to hear it, for I am as 
 much in the dark as ever." 
 
 Jack then related to him the fabulous legend he had 
 just heard. 
 
 After a while, Willis shook off his entourage as gently 
 as possible, and succeeded in getting out of the temple. 
 Accompanied by Jack, he proceeded towards the shore,
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 253 
 
 receiving, as he went, the adoration of the people. The 
 route was strewn with fruit, cocoa-nuts, and pigs, and the 
 natives were highly delighted when any of their offerings 
 were accepted by the deified Rono. 
 
 The islanders appeared mild, docile, and intelligent, not- 
 withstanding the singular delusion that possessed them. 
 Living from day to day, they were, doubtless, ignorant of 
 those continual cares and calculations for the future that 
 in the old world pursue us even into the hours of sleep. 
 Were they happier in consequence ? Yes, if the child is 
 happier than the man, and if we admit that we often loose 
 in tranquillity and happiness what we gain in knowledge 
 and perfection : yes, if happiness is not exclusively attach- 
 ed to certain peoples and certain climates ; yes, if it is 
 true that, with contentment, happiness is everywhere to be 
 found. 
 
 The houses of the Hawaians are singular structures, and 
 scarcely can be called dwellings. They consist of three 
 rows of posts, two on each side and one in the middle, the 
 whole covered with a slanting roof, but without any kind 
 of wall whatever. 
 
 They do not bury their dead, but swing them up in a 
 sort of hammock, abundantly supplied with provisions. It 
 is supposed that this is done with a view to enable the 
 souls of the departed to take their flight more readily to 
 heaven. The practice, consequently, seems to indicate 
 that the natives possess a confused idea of a future state. 
 When a child dies, flowers are placed in the hammock 
 along with the provisions a touch of the nature common 
 to us all. They express deep grief by inflicting wounds 
 upon their faces with a shark's tooth ; and, when they feel 
 themselves in danger of dying, they cut off a joint of the 
 little finger to appease the anger of the Divinity. There 
 was scarcely one of the adult islanders who was not muti- 
 lated in this way. 
 
 Though the worshippers of the great Rono appeared 
 gentle and peaceable enough, there were to be seen here 
 and there a human jaw-bone, seemingly fresh, with the 
 teeth entire, suspended over the entrances to the huts. 
 These ghastly objects sent a shudder quivering through 
 22
 
 254 WILLIS THB PILOT. 
 
 Jack's frame, and made Willis aware that it would not b 
 advisable rashly to throw off his sacred character. 
 
 As it was now late, and as they knew that Fritz would 
 be uneasy about them, they put off laying in their stock 
 of water till next day. Jack told the prime minister that 
 the great Rono would be prepared to receive theii 
 majesties whenever they chose to visit him. This done, 
 Willis and his companion seated themselves in the canoe, 
 and rowed out to the pinnace. 
 
 " God be thanked, you have returned in safety ! " cried 
 Fritz ; " I never was so uneasy in the whole course of my 
 life." 
 
 " Well, brother, we have not been without our anxieties 
 as well, and had we not happened to have had a divinity 
 amongst us, we might not have come off scathless." 
 
 Jack then related their adventures, which gradually 
 brought a smile to the pale lips of Fritz. 
 
 " But the water ? " inquired Fritz, after he had heard 
 the story. 
 
 " Oh, water ; they offered us something to drink on 
 <hore that will prevent us being thirsty for a month to 
 come, but we shall see to that to-morrow." 
 
 Towards dark, some fireworks were discharged on board 
 the pinnace, by way of demonstrating that Willis's pipe 
 was not the only fiery terror the great Rono had at his 
 command. 
 
 Early next morning a flotilla of canoes were observed 
 rounding one of the points that formed the bay. The one 
 in advance was larger than the others, and was evidently 
 the trunk of a large tree hollowed out. Jack's new friend, 
 the Portuguese, hailed the pinnace, and announced the 
 King and Queen of Hawai, who thereupon scrambled into 
 the pinnace. His majesty King Toubowrai had probably 
 felt it incumbent upon himself to do honor to the illus- 
 trious Rono, for he wore an old uniform coat, very likely 
 the produce of a wreck, through the sleeves of which the 
 angular knobs of his copper-colored elbows projected. 
 He did not seem very much at his ease in this garment, 
 which contrasted oddly with the tight-fitting tattooed skin 
 that served him for pantaloons.
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 255 
 
 " His wife, Queen Tonico, princess-like was half stifled 
 in a thick blanket or mat of cocoa-nut fibre. Her ears 
 were heavily laden with teeth and ornaments of various 
 kinds, made out of bone, mother of pearl, and tortoise- 
 shell. Her nails were two or three inches long ; and, to 
 judge by the number of finger-joints that were wanting, 
 she was either trowbled with delicate nerves, or was 
 slightly hypochondriac. 
 
 The royal pair were accompanied by a band of music : 
 fortunately, this remained in the regal barge. It consisted 
 of a flute with four holes, a nondescript instrument, seem- 
 ingly made of stones ; a drum made out of the hollow 
 trunk of a tree, covered at each end with skin, of what 
 kind it is needless to inquire. The sounds emitted by this 
 orchestra were of an ear-rending nature, and of a kind 
 graphically termed by the Germans Katzenmusik. 
 
 " Illustrious Rono," cried Jack, " for goodness sake, 
 tell these gentlemen you are not a lover of sweet 
 sounds." 
 
 " Belay there ! " roared Willis. 
 
 This command, however, had no effect ; the artists con- 
 tinued thumping and blowing away as before. Willis, 
 thinking to make himself better heard, placed his hands 
 on his mouth, and roared the same order through them. 
 This action seemed to be received as a mark of approba- 
 tion, for the noise became absolutely terrific. 
 
 " No use," said Willis : " I can make nothing of them. 
 You try what you can do." 
 
 "Very good," said Jack, lighting what is technically 
 termed an artichoke, but better known as a zig-zag cracker ; 
 " if they do not understand English, perhaps they may 
 comprehend pyrotechnics." 
 
 The artichoke was thrown into the royal barge. At 
 first there was only a slight whiz, finally it gave an angry 
 bound and leaped into the midst of the musicians. 
 Startled, they tried to get out of its way ; but they were 
 no sooner at what they thought to be a safe distance, than 
 the thing was amongst them again. Their majesties, who 
 were just then engaged in kissing the Rono's feet, started 
 up in alarm ; but when they saw the danger did not
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 menace themselves, they burst into a hearty laugh at the 
 antics of their suite. 
 
 This episode over, and the orchestra silenced, the Sov- 
 ereign of Hawai proceeded to inspect the pinnace. He 
 expressed his delight every now and then by uttering 
 the syllables u ta-ta." Fritz handed one of those shaving 
 glasses to the Queen that lengthen the objects they reflect. 
 This astonished her Majesty vastly, and caused her to ta-ta 
 at a great rate. She looked behind the mirror, turned it 
 upside down, and at last, when she felt assured that it was 
 the royal person h caricatured, she commenced measuring 
 her cheeks to account for the extraordinary disproportion. 
 
 They next all sat down to a repast that was spread on 
 deck. Their Majesties observing Rono use a fork, did so 
 Kkewise; but though they stuck a piece of meat on the end 
 of it, and held it in one hand, they continued carrying the 
 viands to their mouths with the other. At the conclusion 
 of the feast, Willis took a pinch of snuff out of a canister. 
 Their Majesties insisted upon doing so likewise. Willis 
 handed them the canister, and thej filled their noses with 
 the treacherous powder. Then followed a duet of sneez- 
 ing. accompanied with facial contortions. The royal person- 
 ages thinking, probably, that they were poisoned, leaped 
 into the sea Like a couple of frog?, and swam to the royal 
 
 " HoBoa, sire." cried Jack, " where are you off to?" 
 This was answered by the barge paddling away rapidly 
 towards land. Hitherto, the whole afiair had been a farce ; 
 bat now the natives, who had collected in great numbers 
 along the shore, seeing their king and queen leap into the 
 water with a terrified air, supposed that an attempt had 
 been made to cut short their royal lives, and. under thi-- 
 iiaptraiiina, discharged a cloud of arrows at the pinnace, 
 to assume a serious aspect. 
 
 -What." 7 exclaimed Jack, u -hooting at the great 
 
 : 
 
 -That," said Fritz, "only proves they are men like 
 ourselves. He who is covered with incense one day, is 
 very often immolated the next." 
 
 - And that simply because Rono treated Mr. and Mrs.
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 257 
 
 WLat's-their-names to a pinch of snuff. Serve then right 
 to discharge the contents of the four-pounder MMiy* 
 them." 
 
 - No, no," cried Willis ; " the worthy people are, 
 perhaps, fond of their king and queen." 
 
 ~ Worthy people or not," said Fritz, drawing out an 
 arrow that had sunk into the capstan, ~ it is very likely 
 that if this dart had hit one of us, there would only hare 
 been two instead of three in the crew of the pinnace." 
 
 " Well," said Willis, - Master Jack thought the voyage 
 rather dull ; now something has turned up to relieve the 
 monotony of his log." 
 
 - We are still without fresh water though. Wiffis; I 
 wish you could say that had turned up as welL" 
 
 " It will be prudent to go in search of that somewhere 
 else now," said Willis, unfurling the sails. ** Fortunately 
 the wind is fresh, and we can make considerable headway 
 before night." 
 
 As they steered gently out of the bay a second cloud of 
 arrows was sent after them, but this time they fell short. 
 
 - The belief in Rono is about to be seriously compro- 
 mised," remarked Fritz ; u I should advise the priestess to 
 retire into private life." 
 
 " Impossible." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 u Because she is too fat to live in an ordinary house, 
 she could only breathe in a temple. But, O human 
 Yicissirudes ! " added Jack, rolling himself up in a sail after 
 the manner of the Roman senators ; ~ behold Rono the 
 Great banished from his country, and compelled to go and 
 pillow his head on a foreign sail, like Marius at Minturnus 
 like Coriolanus amongst the Volcians like Hannibal 
 at the house of Antiochus like Alcibiades at the castle 
 of Grunium in Fhrygia, give* to him out of charity by die 
 benevolent Pharnabazus, and in which he was burnt alive 
 by his countrymen like Cimon, voted into exile by ballot 
 and universal suffrage like Aristides, whom the people 
 got tired of hearing called the Just, and many others." 
 
 ~ Who are all these personages ? " inquired Willis. 
 
 ~ TLey were worthies of another %ge," replied Fritz ; 
 2-J*
 
 258 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " very excellent men in their way, and you are in no way 
 dishonored by being numbered amongst them." 
 
 " Yesterday," continued Jack, " an entire people were 
 upon their knees before you ; they offered up sacrifices, 
 and poured out incense on their altars for you ; fruit and 
 pigs were scattered in heaps, like flowers, upon your path ; 
 the crowd were prostrated by the fumes of your pipe. 
 To-day alas, the change ! a cloud of arrows, and not 
 a single glass of cold water ! " 
 
 " That gives you an opportunity of quenching your 
 thirst with the nectar offered to you yesterday," said Fritz ; 
 " as for myself, I have no such resource." 
 
 " Yes, that was a posset to quench one's thirst withal ; 
 I only wish I had a cupful to give you. I do not regret 
 having had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with 
 the people though. They have enabled me to rectify some 
 erroneous notions I formerly entertained. If, for example, 
 I were to ask you what air consists of? you would, no 
 doubt, reply that is a compound body made of oxygen and 
 hydrogen or azote, in the proportion of twenty-one of the 
 one to seventy-nine of the other." 
 
 " Yes, most undoubtedly." 
 
 ' Well, such is not the case ; there are other elements 
 in the air besides these." 
 
 " If you mean that the air accidentally, or even perma- 
 nently, holds in solution a certain quantity of water, or a 
 portion of carbonic acid gas, and possibly some particles 
 of dust arising from terrestrial bodies, then I grant your 
 premises." 
 
 " No ; what I mean is, that the air of Hawai is com- 
 posed of three distinct elements." 
 
 " Possibly ; but if so, the air in question is not known 
 to chemists." 
 
 " These three elements 'are oxygen, hydrogen, and 
 insects." 
 
 " Ah, insects ! I might have fancied you were driving 
 at some hypothesis of that sort." 
 
 " I intend to communicate this discovery to the first 
 learned society we fall in with." 
 
 " In the Pacific Ocean ? "
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 259 
 
 " Yes ; there or elsewhere." 
 
 " I always understood," observed Willis, " that air was 
 a sort of cloud, one and indivisible." 
 
 " A cloud if you like, Willis ; but do you know the 
 weight of it you carry on your shoulders ? " 
 
 " Well, it cannot be very great, otherwise I should 
 feel it." 
 
 " What do you say to a ton or so, old fellow ? " 
 
 " If you wish me to believe that, you will have to ex- 
 plain how, where, when, why, and wherefore." 
 
 " Very good, Willis ; you have bathed sometimes ?" 
 
 " Yes, certainly." 
 
 " In the sea ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Do you know what water weighs ? " 
 
 " No, but I know that it is heavy." 
 
 " Well, a square yard of air weighs two pounds and a 
 half, but a square yard of water weighs two thousand 
 pounds. Now, can you calculate the weight of the water 
 that is on your back and pressing on your sides when you 
 swim ? " 
 
 " No, I cannot." 
 
 " You are not sufficiently up in arithmetic to do that, 
 Willis ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Nor am I either, Willis ; but let me ask you how it is 
 that the waves do not carry you along with them ? " 
 
 " Because one wave neutralises the effect of another." 
 
 " Very good ; but how is it that these ponderous waves, 
 coming down upon you, do not crush you to atoms by their 
 mere weight ? " 
 
 " Well, I suppose that liquids do not operate in the same 
 way as solids : perhaps there is something in our bodies 
 that counterbalances the effect of the water." 
 
 " Very likely ; and if such be the case as regards water, 
 may it not be so also as regards air ? " 
 
 " But I do not feel air ; whereas, if I go into water, I 
 not only feel it, but taste it sometimes, and I cannot force 
 my way through it without considerable exertion."
 
 260 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 u That is because you are organized to live in air and 
 not in water. You ask the smallest sprat or sticklebakc 
 if it does not, in the same way feel the air obstruct its 
 progress." 
 
 " But would the stickleback answer me, Master Fritz?" 
 
 " Why not, if it is polite and well bred ? " 
 
 " By the way, Willis," inquired Jack, " do you ever 
 recollect having lived without breathing ? " 
 
 " Can't say I do." 
 
 " Very well, then ; had you felt the weight of the air at 
 any given moment, it must have produced an impression 
 you never felt before ; but you have not, because circum- 
 stances have never varied. A sensation supposes a con- 
 trast, whilst, ever since you existed, you have always been 
 subject to atmospheric pressure." 
 
 " Ah, now I begin to get at the gist of your argument. 
 You mean, for example, that I would never have appre- 
 ciated the delicate flavor of Maryland or Havanna, had I 
 not been accustomed to smoke the cabbage-leaf manufac- 
 tured in Whitechapel." 
 
 " Precisely so ; and take for another example the farm 
 of Antisana, which is situated about midway up the Cor- 
 dilleras, mountains of South America. When travellers, 
 arriving there from the summits which are covered with 
 perpetual snow, meet others arriving from the plain where 
 the heat is intense, those that descend are invariably 
 bathed in perspiration, whilst those that have come up are 
 shivering with cold and covered with furs. The reason 
 of this is, that we cannot feel warm till we have been 
 cold, and vice versa." 
 
 " Our bodies," resumed Fritz, " however much the ther- 
 mometer descends, never mark less than thirty-five degrees 
 above zero. In winter the skin shrinks, and becomes a 
 bad conductor of heat from without ; but, at the same time, 
 does not allow so much gas and vapor to escape from 
 within. In summer, on the contrary, the skin dilates and 
 allows perspiration to form, a process that consumes a 
 considerable amount of latent heat. Starting from this 
 principle, it has been calculated that a man, breathing 
 twenty times in a minute, generates as much heat in
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 261 
 
 twenty-four hours as would boil a bucket of water taken 
 at zero." 
 
 " If means could be found," remarked Jack, " to furnish 
 him with a boiler, by fixing a piston here and a pipe there 
 man might be converted into one of the machines we were 
 talking about the other day." 
 
 " Were I disposed to philosophize," added Fritz, " I 
 might prove to you that for a long time men have been 
 little else than mere machines." 
 
 Before night they had run about thirty miles further to 
 the north-east, without seeing any thing beyond a formid- 
 able bluff, guarded by a fringe of breakers, that would 
 soon have swallowed up the Mary had she ventured to 
 reach the land. It was necessary however to obtain fresh 
 water at any price before they resumed their voyage. 
 
 It was to be feared that all the islanders of the Pacific 
 were not in expectation of a great Rono, consequently 
 Willis suggested that it would be as well to search for an 
 uninhabited spot. The only question was, how long they 
 might have to search before they succeeded ; for they 
 knew that there were plenty of small islands in these 
 latitudes unencumbered by savages, and furnished with 
 pools and springs of water. 
 
 Night at length closed in upon them, and with it came 
 a dense mist, that enveloped the Mary as if in a triple 
 veil of muslin. 
 
 " Willis," inquired Jack, " what difference is there 
 between a mist and a cloud ? " 
 
 " None that I know of," replied the Pilot, " except that 
 a cloud which we are in is mist, and mist that we are not 
 in is a cloud. And now, my lads," he added, " you may 
 turn in, for I intend to take the first watch." 
 
 Before turning in, however, all three joined in a short 
 prayer. The young men had not yet forgotten the pious 
 precepts of their father. Prayer is beautiful everywhere, 
 but nowhere is it so beautiful as on the open sea, with 
 infinity above and an abyss beneath. Then, when all is 
 silent save the roar of the waves and the howling of the 
 winds, it is sublime to hear the humble voice of the sailor 
 murmuring, " Star of the night, pray for us ! "
 
 262 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 That night the star of the night did pray for the three 
 voyagers, for the rays of the moon burst through the dark- 
 ness and the mist, and fell upon a long line of reefs under 
 the lee of the pinnace. Had they held on their course a 
 few minutes longer, our story would have been ended.
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 LTINO TO HEART AND INSTINCT SPARROWS VIEWED AS CON- 
 SUMERS MIGRATIONS POSTING A LETTER IN THE PACIFIC 
 CANNIBALS ADVENTURES OF A LOCKET. 
 
 THE glimpse of moonshine only lasted a second, but it 
 was sufficient to light up the valley of the shadow of death. 
 All around was again enveloped in obscurity. The moon, 
 like a modest benefactor who hides himself from those to 
 whose wants he has ministered, concealed itself behind 
 its screen of blackness. 
 
 The pinnace was thrown into stays, and they resolved 
 to lie-to till daybreak. There might be rocks to windward 
 as well as to leeward ; at all events, they felt that their 
 safest course lay in maintaining, as far as possible, their 
 actual position ; and, after having returned thanks for 
 their almost miraculous escape, they made the usual ar- 
 rangements for passing the night. 
 
 Next morning they found themselves in the midst of a 
 labyrinth of rocks, from which, with the help of Provi- 
 dence, they succeeded in extricating themselves. The 
 rocks, or rather reefs, amongst which they were entangled, 
 are very common in these seas. As they are scarcely 
 visible at high water, they are extremely dangerous, and 
 often baffle the skill of the most expert navigator. 
 
 Whilst Willis steered the pinnace amongst the islands 
 and rocks of the Hawaian Archipelago, Fritz kept a look- 
 out for savages, fresh water, and eligible landing-places. 
 And Jack, after having posted up his log, set about in- 
 diting a letter for home. 
 
 " The voyage," said he, " has lately been so prolific in 
 adventure, that I scarcely know where to begin." 
 
 " Begin by saluting them all round," suggested Fritz.
 
 264 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " But, brother of mine, that is usually done at the end 
 of the letter," objected Jack. 
 
 " What then ? you can repeat the salutations at the end, 
 and you might also, for that matter, put them in the mid- 
 dle as well." 
 
 " I have written lots of letters on board ship for my 
 comrades," remarked Willis, " and I invariably com- 
 menced by saying / take a pen in my hand to let you 
 Taiow I am well, hoping you are the same." 
 
 " What else could you take in your hand for such a 
 purpose, O Rono ? " inquired Jack. 
 
 "Sometimes, after this preamble, I added, 'but I am 
 afraid.' " 
 
 " I thought you old salts were never afraid of anything, 
 short of the Flying Dutchman." 
 
 " Yes ; but the letters I put that in were for young lub- 
 bers, who, instead of sending home half their pay, were 
 writing for extra supplies, and were naturally in great fear 
 that their requests would be refused." 
 
 " I scarcely think I shall adopt that style, Willis, even 
 though it were recognized by the navy regulations." 
 
 " Do you think the pigeon will find its way with the 
 letter from here to New Switzerland ? " inquired Willis. 
 
 " I have no doubt about that," replied Fritz, " it natur- 
 ally returns to its nest and its affections. If you had 
 wings, would you not fly straight off in the direction of 
 the Bass Rock or Ailsa Craig, to hunt up your old arm- 
 chair?" 
 
 " Don't speak of it ; I feel my heart go pit-pat when I 
 think of home, sweet home." 
 
 " So do the birds. When they soften the grain before 
 they throw it into the maw of their fledgelings when 
 they fly off and return laden with midges to their nests 
 when they tear the down from their breasts to protect 
 their eggs and their young, do you think their hearts do 
 not beat as well as yours ? " 
 
 " But all that is said to be instinct." 
 
 " Heart or instinct, where is the difference ? The Ab- 
 be" Spallanzani saw two swallows that were carried to
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 265 
 
 Milan return to Pavia in fifteen minutes, and the distance 
 between the two cities is seven leagues." 
 
 " That I can easily believe." 
 
 " When you see a little, insignificant bird flying back- 
 wards and forwards, perching on one branch and hopping 
 off to another, whistling, carolling, perching here and 
 there, you think that it has no cares, that it does not re- 
 flect, and that it does not love ! " 
 
 " Well, I have heard in my time a great many wonder- 
 ful stories of robin-redbreasts and jenny- wrens, but I al- 
 ways understood that they were intended only to, 'amuse 
 little boys and gir)s." 
 
 " You consider, doubtless, that a field-sparrow is not a 
 creature of much importance ; but do you know that he 
 consumes half a bushel of corn annually ? " 
 
 "If that is his only merit, the farmers, I dare say, 
 would be glad to get rid of him." 
 
 " But it is not his only merit. What do you think of 
 his killing three thousand insects a week." 
 
 " That is more to the purpose. But, to return to the 
 pigeon, supposing it is possible for it to find its way, how 
 long do you suppose it will take to get there? " 
 
 " It is estimated that birds of passage fly over two hun- 
 dred miles a day, if they keep on the wing for six hours." 
 
 " Two hundred miles in six hours is fast sailing, any- 
 how." 
 
 " Swallows have been seen in Senegal on the 9th of 
 October, that is, eight or nine days after they leave Eu- 
 rope ; and that journey they repeat every year." 
 
 "They must surely make some preparations for such a 
 lengthy excursion." 
 
 " When the period of departure approaches, they collect 
 together in troops on the chimneys or roofs of houses, and 
 on the tops of trees. During this operation, they keep up 
 an incessant cry, which brings families of them from all 
 quarters. The young ones try the strength of their wings 
 under the eyes of the parents. Finally, they make some 
 strategic dispositions, and elect a chief." 
 
 " You talk of the swallows as if they were an army pre- 
 23
 
 266 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 paring for battle, with flags flying, trumpets sounding, 
 and ready to inarch at the word of command." 
 
 " The resemblance between flocks of birds and serried 
 masses of men in martial array is striking. Wild ducks, 
 swans, and cranes fly in a kind of regimental order ; their 
 battalions assume the form of a triangle or wedge, so as to 
 cut through the air with greater facility, and diminish 
 the resistance it presents to their flight. 
 
 " But how do you know it is for that ? " 
 
 " What else could it be for ? The leader gives notice, 
 by a peculiar cry, of the route it is about to take. This 
 cry is repeated by the flock, as if to say that they will 
 follow, and keep the direction indicated. When they 
 meet with a bird of prey whose attacks they may have to 
 repulse, the ranks fall in so as to present a solid phalanx 
 to the enemy." 
 
 " If they had a commissariat in the rear and a few sap- 
 pers in front, the resemblance would be complete." 
 
 " If a storm arises," continued Fritz, without noticing 
 Willis's commentary, " they lower their flight and approach 
 the ground." 
 
 " Forgotten their umbrellas, perhaps." 
 
 " When they make a halt, outposts are established to 
 keep a look out while the troop sleeps." 
 
 " And, in cases of alarm, the outposts fire and fall in as 
 a matter of course." 
 
 " Great Rono," said Jack, " you are become a downright 
 quiz. I have finished my letter whilst you have been dis- 
 cussing the poultry," he added, handing the pen to his 
 brother, " and it only waits your postscriptum." Fritz 
 having added a few lines, the epistle was sealed, and was 
 then attached to one of the pigeons, which, after hovering 
 a short time round the pinnace, took a flight upwards and 
 disappeared in the clouds. 
 
 They were now in sight of a large island, which bore no 
 traces of habitation. There was a heavy surf beating on 
 the shore, but the case was urgent, so Willis and Jack 
 embarked in the canoe, and, after a hard fight with the 
 waves, landed on the beach. 
 
 Each of them were armed with a double-barrelled rifle,
 
 WILLJS THE PILOT. 2G7 
 
 and furnished with a boatswain's whistle. The whistle 
 was to signal the discovery of water, and a rifle shot was 
 to bring them together in case of danger. These arrange- 
 ments being made, Jack proceeded in the direction of a 
 thicket, which stood at the distance of some hundred yards 
 from the shore. He had no sooner reached the cover in 
 the vicinity of the trees than he was pounced upon by two 
 ferocious-looking savages. They gave him no time to level 
 his rifle or to draw a knife. One of his captors held his 
 hands firmly behind his back, whilst the other dragged him 
 towardsMhe wood. At this moment the Pilot's whistle 
 rang sharply through the air. This put an end to any 
 hopes that Jack might have entertained of being rescued 
 through that means. Had he sounded the whistle, it would 
 only have led Willis to suppose that he had heard the sig- 
 nal, and was on his way to join him. 
 
 Poor Jack judged, from the aspect of the men who held 
 him, that they were cannibals, and consequently that his 
 fate was sealed, for if his surmises were correct, there was 
 little chance of the wretches relinquishing tlieir prey. 
 Jack had often amused himself at the expense of the 
 anthropophagi, but here he was actually within their grasp. 
 Though death terminates the sorrows and the sufferings of 
 man, and though the result is the same in whatever shape 
 it comes, yet there are circumstances which cause its 
 approach to be regarded with terror and dismay. In one's 
 bed, exhausted by old age or disease, the lips only open to 
 give utterance to a sigh of pain ; life, then, is a burden 
 that is laid down without reluctance ; we glide impercep- 
 tibly and almost voluntarily into eternity. 
 
 At twenty years of age, however, when we are full of 
 health and ardor, the case is very different. Then we are 
 at the'threshold of hope and happiness ; our illusions have 
 not had time to fade, the future is a brilliant meteor 
 sparkling in sunshine. At that age our seas are always 
 calm, and the rocks and shoals are all concealed. Our 
 barks glide jauntily along, the sailors sing merrily, the 
 perils are shrouded in romance, and the flag flutters gaily 
 in the breeze. Then life is not abandoned without a tear 
 of regret.
 
 26* 
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 To die in the midst of one's friends is not to quit them 
 entirely. They come to see us through the marble or 
 stone in which we are shrouded. It is another thing to 
 have no other sepulchre than the esophagus of a cannibal. 
 How the recollections of the past darted into Jack's mind ! 
 He felt that he loved those whom he was on the point of 
 leaving a thousand times more than he did before. What 
 would he not have given for the power to bid them one 
 last adieu ? The idea of quitting life thus was horrible. 
 
 It was in vain that he tried to shake off his assailants ; 
 his adolescent strength was as nothing in the arms of steel 
 that bound him. He saw that he was powerless in their 
 hands, and at length ceased making any further attempts 
 to escape. 
 
 The savages, finding that he had relaxed his struggles, 
 commenced to rifle and strip him. They tore off his 
 upper garments, and discovered a small locket, containing 
 a medallion of his mother, which the unfortunate youth 
 wore round his neck. This prize, which the savages no 
 doubt regarded as a talisman of some sort, they both 
 desired to possess. They quarrelled about it, and com- 
 menced fighting over it. Jack's hands were left at liberty. 
 In an instant he had seized his rifle. He ran a few paces 
 back, turned, took deliberate aim at the most powerful of 
 his adversaries, who, with a shriek, fell to the ground. 
 The other savage, scared by the report of the shot and its 
 effects upon his companion, took to flight, but he carried 
 off the locket with him. 
 
 Jack had now regained his courage. lie felt, like 
 Telemachus in the midst of his battles, that God was with 
 him, and he flew, perhaps imprudently, after the fugitive. 
 Seeing, however, that he had no chance with him as 
 regards speed, he discharged his second rifle. The shot 
 did not take effect, but the report brought the savage to 
 his knees. The frightened wretch pressed his hands to- 
 gether in an attitude of supplication. Jack stopped at a 
 little distance, and, by an imperious gesture, gave him to 
 understand that he wanted the locket. The sign was com- 
 prehended, for the savage laid the talisman on the ground.
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 269 
 
 Now," said Jack, " in the name of my mother I give 
 you your life." 
 
 By another sign, he signified to the man that he was at 
 liberty, which he no sooner understood than he vanished 
 like an arrow. 
 
 Great was the consternation of Fritz when he heard the 
 reports ; he feared that the whole island was in commo- 
 tion, and that both his brother and the Pilot were sur- 
 rounded by a legion of copper-colored devils. From the 
 conformation of the coast he could see nothing, and, like 
 Sisiphus on his rock, he was tied by imperious necessity 
 to his post. 
 
 The Pilot, on hearing the first shot, ran to the spot, and 
 both he and Jack arrived at the same instant, where the 
 savage lay bleeding on the ground. 
 
 " You are safe and sound, I hope ? " said Willis, 
 anxiously. 
 
 " With the exception of some slight contusions, and the 
 loss of my clothes, thank God, I am all right, Willis." 
 
 " We are born to bad luck, it seems." 
 
 " Say rather we are the spoilt children of Providence. 
 I have just passed through the eye of a needle." 
 
 " Is this the only savage you have seen ? " 
 
 " No, there were two of them ; and, to judge from their 
 actions, I verily believe the rascals intended to eat me. 
 As for this one, he is more frightened than hurt." 
 
 And so it was, he had escaped with some slugs' in his 
 shoulders ; but he seemed, by the contortions of his face, 
 to think that he was dying. 
 
 " Fortunately," said Jack, " my rifle was not loaded with 
 ball. I should be sorry to have the death of a human 
 being on my conscience." 
 
 " Well," said Willis, " I am not naturally cruel, but, be- 
 set as you have been, I should have shot both the fellows 
 without the slightest compunction." 
 
 "Still," said Jack, giving the wounded savage a mouth- 
 ful of brandy, " we ought to have mercy on the vanquished 
 they are men like ourselves, at all events." 
 
 " Yes, they have flesh and bone, arms, legs, hands, and
 
 270 "WILLIS THE PILOJ. 
 
 teeth like us ; but I doubt whether they are possessed of 
 souls and hearts." 
 
 " The chances are that they possess both, Willis ; only 
 neither the one nor the other has been trained to regard 
 the things of this world in a proper light. Their notions 
 as to diet, for example, arise from ignorance as to what 
 substances are fit and proper for human food." 
 
 " As you like," said Willis ; " but let us be off; there 
 may be more of them lurking about." 
 
 " What ! again without water ?." 
 
 " No, this time I have taken care to fill the casks ; the 
 canoe is laden with fresh water." 
 
 " Fritz must be very uneasy about us ; but this man 
 may die if we leave him so." 
 
 " Very likely," said the Pilot ; " but that is no business 
 of ours." 
 
 " Good bye," said Jack, lifting up the wounded savage, 
 and propping him against a tree ; " I may never have the 
 pleasure of seeing you again, and am sorry to leave you 
 in such a plight ; but it will be a lesson for you, and a 
 hint to be a little more hospitable for the future in your 
 reception of strangers." 
 
 The savage raised his eyes for an instant, as if to thank 
 Jack for his good offices, and then relapsed into his former 
 attitude of dejection. 
 
 Twenty minutes later the canoe was aboard the pinnace. 
 
 " Fritz," said Jack, throwing his arms round his brother's 
 neck, " I am delighted to see you again ; half an hour ago 
 I had not the shadow of a chance of ever beholding you 
 more."
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THB UTILITY OF ADVERSITY AN ENCOUNTER T11K HOBOKEX 
 
 BILL ALIAS BOB. 
 
 A LIGHT but favorable breeze carried them away from 
 land, and they were once again on the open sea. Willis, 
 after a prolonged investigation of the sun's position, taken 
 in relation to some observations he had made the day 
 before, concluded that the best course to pursue, under 
 existing circumstances, was to steer for the Marian Islands.* 
 In addition to the distance they had originally to traverse, 
 all the way lost during the storm was now before them. 
 As regards provisions, they had little to fear ; they could 
 rely upon falling in with a boobie or sea-cow occasionally, 
 and fresh fish were to be had at any time. Their supply 
 of water, however, gave them some uneasiness, for the 
 quantity was limited, and they might be retarded by calms 
 and contrary winds. The chances of meeting a European 
 ship were too slender to enter for anything into their 
 calculations. 
 
 " It appears to me," said Jack, one beautiful evening, 
 when they were some hundreds of miles from any habit- 
 able spot, " that, having escaped so many dangers, the 
 watchful eye of Providence must be guarding us from 
 evil." 
 
 " Very possibly," replied Fritz ; " one of the early 
 chroniclers of the Christian Church says that Lazarus, 
 whom our Saviour resuscitated at the gates of Jerusalem, 
 became afterwards one of the most popular preachers of 
 Christianity, and in consequence the Jews regarded him 
 with implacable hatred." 
 
 " But what, in all the world, has that to do with the 
 Pacific Ocean ? " inquired Jack. 
 
 * Sometimes called the Ladrones or Archipelago of Saint Lazanu.
 
 272 "WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " Very little with the Pacific in particular, but a great 
 deal with the ocean in general. Lazarus, his sisters, and 
 some of his friends, were thrown into prison, tried, and 
 condemned." 
 
 " And stoned or crucified," added Jack. 
 
 " No ; the high priest of the temple had a great variety 
 of punishments on hand besides these. He resolved to 
 expose them to the mercy of the waves, without provisions, 
 and without a mast, sail, or rudder." 
 
 " Thank goodness, we are not so badly off as that." 
 
 " ffe, for whom Lazarus suffered, and who is the same 
 that nourishes the birds of the air and feeds the beasts of 
 the field, watched over the forlorn craft ; under his 
 guidance, the little colony of martyrs were wafted in safety 
 to the fertile coasts of Provence. They landed, according 
 to the tradition, at Marseilles, of whom Lazarus was the 
 first bishop, and has always been the patron saint. 
 Who knows ? the same good fortune may perhaps 
 await us." 
 
 " We are not martyrs." 
 
 " True ; but Providence does not always measure its 
 favors by the merits of those upon whom they are 
 bestowed misfortune, alone, is often a sufficient claim; 
 so it is well for us to be patient under a little suffering, 
 for sweet often is the re*vard." 
 
 " A little hardship, now and then," added Jack, " is, no 
 doubt, salutary. The Italians say : ' Le awersita sono per 
 Fanimo do ch' e un temporale per Faria.' Suffering teaches 
 us to prize health and happiness ; were there no such 
 things as pain and grief, we should be apt to regard these 
 blessings as valueless, and to estimate them as our legiti- 
 mate rights. For my own part, I was never so happy in 
 my whole life as when I embraced you the other day, 
 after escaping out of the clutches of the savages." 
 
 " There are many charms in life that are almost without 
 alloy : the perfume of flowers music the singing of 
 birds the riches of art the intercourse of society the 
 delights of the family circle the treasures of imagination 
 and memory. Some of the most beneficent gifts of 
 Nature we only know the existence of when we are
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 273 
 
 deprived of them ; occasional darkness alone enables us to 
 appreciate the unspeakable blessing of light. Man has a 
 multitude of enjoyments at his command ; but so many 
 sweets would be utterly insipid without a few bitters." 
 
 u The rheumatism, for example," said Willis, rubbing 
 his shoulders. 
 
 "Many enjoyments," continued Fritz, "spring from the 
 heart alone ; the affections, benevolence, love of order, a 
 sense of the beautiful, of truth, of honesty, and of 
 justice." 
 
 " On the other hand," said Willis, " there are dishonesty, 
 injustice, disappointment, and blighted hopes ; but you are 
 too young to know much about these. When you have 
 seen as much of the world on sea and on land as I have, 
 perhaps you will be disposed to look at life from another 
 point of view. In old stagers like myself, the tender 
 emotions are all used up ; it is only when we are amongst 
 you youngsters that we forget the present in the past ; 
 when we see you struggling with difficulties, it recalls our 
 own trials to our mind, rouses in us sentiments of com- 
 miseration, and softens the asperities of our years." 
 
 " According to you, then," said Fritz, levelling his rifle 
 at a petrel, "the misfortunes of the one constitute the 
 happiness of the other?" 
 
 " Unquestionably," said Jack ; "for instance, if you miss 
 that bird, so much the worse for you, and so much the 
 better for the pctn-1." 
 
 " It is very rarely, brother, that you do not interrupt a 
 serious conversation with some nonsense." 
 
 " Keep your temper, Fritz ; I am about to propose a 
 serious question myself. How is it that the petrel you are 
 aiming at does not come and perch itself quietly on the 
 barrel of your rifle ?" 
 
 " Jack, Jack, you are incorrigible." 
 
 " Did you ever see a hare or a pheasant come and stare 
 you in the face when you were going to shoot it ? " 
 
 " Stunsails and tops ! " cried Willis, " if I do not see 
 something stranger than that staring us in the face." 
 
 " The st-a-v erpent, perhaps," said Jack. 
 
 "I thought it was a sea bird at first," said Willis,
 
 27 1 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " but they do not increase in size the longer you look ai 
 them." 
 
 " They naturally appear to increase as they approach,* 
 observed Fritz. 
 
 " Yes, but the increase must have a limit, and I never 
 saw a bird with such singular upper-works before. Just 
 take a cast of the glass yourself, Master Fritz." 
 
 " Halls of jEolus ! " cried Fritz, "these wings are sails.** 
 
 " So I thought ! " exclaimed Willis, throwing his sou'- 
 wester into the air, and uttering a loud hurrah. 
 
 " If it is the Nelson" said Jack, " it would be a singular 
 encounter." 
 
 "TheNflsonf" sighed Willis, " in the latitude of Hawai; 
 no, that is impossible." 
 
 " She is bearing down upon us," said Fritz. 
 
 "Just let me see a moment whether I can make out her 
 figure-head," said Willis. " Aye, aye ! " 
 
 " Can you make it out ? " 
 
 " No ; but, from the sheer of the hull, I think the ship 
 is British built." 
 
 " Thank God ! " exclaimed both the young men. 
 
 "Yes, you may say 'Thank God;' but, if it turns out 
 to be a man-of-war, I must report myself on board, and I 
 doubt whether my story will go down with the captain." 
 
 " But if it is the Nelson ? " insisted Jack. 
 
 " Aye, aye ; the Nelson" replied Willis, " is not going 
 to turn up here to oblige us, you may take my word for 
 that." 
 
 " I have better eyes than you, Willis ; just let me see if 
 I can make her out. No, impossible ; nothing but the 
 hull and sails." 
 
 " It is just possible," persisted Jack, " that the Nelson 
 may have been detained at the Cape, and afterwards 
 blown out of her course like ourselves." 
 
 "All I can say is," replied Willis, "that if Captain 
 Littlestone be on board that ship, it will make me the 
 happiest man that ever mixed a ration of grog. But these 
 thing; only turn up in novels, so it is no use talking." 
 
 " She has hoisted a flag at the mizzen," cried Fritz. 
 
 " Can you make it out ? "
 
 WILLIS THB PILOT. 275 
 
 * Well, let me see yes, it must be so." 
 
 " What, the Union Jack ? " cried Willis. 
 
 " No, a red ground striped with blue." 
 
 " The United States, as I am a sinner ! " cried Willis. 
 " Well, it might have been worse. We can go to America ; 
 there are surgeons there as well as in Europe at all 
 events, we can get a ship there for England. But let me 
 see, we must hoist a bit of bunting ; unfortunately, we 
 have only British colors aboard, and I am afraid they are 
 not in particularly high favor with our Yankee cousins 
 just now." 
 
 " Never mind a flag," said Fritz. 
 
 " Oh, that will never do, they have hoisted a flag and 
 are waiting a reply. But let me see," added Willis, rum- 
 maging amongst some stores, " here is one of our Shark's 
 Island signals that, I think, will puzzle the Yankee con- 
 siderably." 
 
 The Pilot's signal was answered by a gun, the report 
 of which rang through the air. The strange ship's sails 
 were thrown back and she stood still. A boat then put 
 off with a young man in uniform and six rowers on board. 
 
 " Pinnace ahoy ! " cried the officer through a speaking 
 trumpet, " who are you ? " 
 
 " Shipwrecked mariners," cried Fritz, in reply. 
 
 " What is the name of your craft ? " 
 
 "The Mary." 
 
 " What country ? " 
 
 " Switzerland." 
 
 " I was not aware that Switzerland was a naval power," 
 observed Willis. 
 
 " She has no seaport," said Jack, " but she has a fleet 
 of row boats." 
 
 " Where do you hail from ? " inquired the officer. 
 
 "New Switzerland." 
 
 " That gentleman is very curious," observed Jack. 
 
 Here a silence of some minutes ensued ; the officer 
 seemed at fault in his geography. 
 
 " Where away ? " at last resounded from the trumpet. 
 
 " Bound for Europe," replied Fritz. 
 
 This reply elicited an expression of doubt, accompanied
 
 276 WILLIS THB PILOT. 
 
 with such a tremendous exjurgation as made both Fritz 
 and Jack almost shrink into the hold. 
 
 A few minutes after the Yankee in command stepped 
 on board, and explanations were entered into that perfectly 
 satisfied the republican officer. He continued, however, 
 to eye Willis curiously. 
 
 The Hoboken, for that was the name of the strange ship, 
 was an American cruiser, carrying twelve ship guns and a 
 long paixhan. She was attached to the Chinese station, 
 but had recently obtained information that war had been 
 declared between England and the States. She was now 
 making her way to the west by a circuitous route to avoid 
 the British squadron, and, at the same time, with a view to 
 pick up an English merchantman or two. 
 
 Fritz and Jack being citizens of a sister republic, and 
 subjects of a neutral power, were received on board with 
 a hearty welcome, and with the hospitality due to their 
 interesting position. Willis also received some attention, 
 and was treated with all the courtesy that could be shown 
 to the native of an enemy's country. 
 
 The pinnace was taken in tow till the young men made 
 up their minds as to the course they would adopt. A free 
 passage to the States was kindly offered to them, and even 
 pressed upon their acceptance ; but the captain left the 
 matter entirely to their own option. 
 
 Fritz and Jack were delighted with the warmth of their 
 reception ; and, after being so long cooped up in the narrow 
 quarters of the pinnace, looked upon the Yankee cruiser, 
 with its men and officers in uniform, as a sort of floating 
 palace. The Nelson having been only a despatch-boat, it 
 had given them but an indifferent idea of a man-of-war. 
 On board the Yankee everything was kept in apple-pie 
 order. Discipline was maintained with martinet strictness. 
 The fittings shone like a mirror. The brass cappings 
 glistened in the sun. Complicated rolls of cable were 
 profusely scattered about, but without confusion. The 
 deck always seemed as fresh as if it had been planked the 
 day before. The sails overhead seemed to obey the word 
 of command of their own accord. The boatswain's whistle 
 seemed to act upon the men like electricity. The seamen's
 
 WLLLIS THE PILOT. 277 
 
 cabins, six feet long by six feet broad, in which a hammock, 
 locker, and washing apparatus were conveniently stowed, 
 were something very different from the accommodation on 
 board the pinnace. These things were regarded by Fritz 
 and Jack with great interest ; and nowhere is the genius 
 of man so brilliantly displayed as on board a well-appointed 
 ship of war. 
 
 The young men, however, when they sat down to dinner 
 in the captain's cabin, and beheld a long table flanked with 
 cushioned seats, commanded at each end by arm-chairs, 
 the side-board plentifully garnished with plate and crystal 
 of various kinds, fastened with copper nails to prevent 
 damage from the ship's pitching, they did not reflect that 
 they were in the crater of a volcano, and that two paces 
 from where they sat there was powder enough to blow the 
 ship and all its crew up into the air. 
 
 They were likewise highly amused by the perpetual 
 " guessing," " calculating," " reckoning," and inexhaustible 
 curiosity of the crew ; but their admiration of the ship, her 
 guns, her stores, and her tackle, were boundless ; they felt 
 that their pinnace was a mere toy in comparison. The 
 urbanity of the officers also was a source of much grati- 
 fication to them ; Jack even declared that all the civilization 
 of Europe had. been shipped on board the Jloboken, and 
 in so far as that was concerned, they had no occasion to 
 go on much further. 
 
 The object of this expedition, however, was a surgeon. 
 There was one on board. . Would he go to New Switzer- 
 land ? Jack determined to try, and accordingly he walked 
 straight off to the personage in question. 
 
 " Doctor," said he, " would you do myself and my 
 brother a great favor ? " 
 
 " Certainly ; and, if it is in my power, you may consider 
 it done." 
 
 "Well, will you embark with us for New Switzerland?" 
 
 "For what purpose, my friend ? " 
 
 " My mother is laboring under a malady, which there is 
 every reason to fear is cancer." 
 
 " And suppose a fuver was to break out in this ship, 
 24
 
 278 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 whilst I am absent, what do you imagine is to become of 
 the officers and crew ? " 
 
 " There are no symptoms of disease on board ; but my 
 mother is dying." 
 
 " You forget, young man, that disease may make its ap- 
 pearance at any moment. There are many sons on board 
 whose lives are as dear to their mothers as your mother's 
 is to you, and for every one of these lives I am officially 
 accountable." 
 
 Jack hung down his head and was silent. 
 
 " No, my good friend, it is impossible for me to grant 
 such a request ; but, from what I know of your history, 
 and the means at your command, you may be able to ob- 
 tain the services of a competent medical man. I would, 
 therefore, recommend you to abandon your boat, and pro- 
 ceed with us to our destination." 
 
 After a lengthy consultation, the two brothers and Wil- 
 lis determined to adopt this course. The cargo of the 
 pinnace was accordingly transferred to the hold of the 
 Hoboiken. A short summary of their history was written, 
 corked up in a bottle, and fastened to the mast of the 
 Mary, which was then cut adrift. A tear gathered on the 
 cheeks of the young men as they saw their old friend in 
 adversity dropping slowly behind, and they did not with- 
 draw their eyes from it till every vestige of its hull was 
 lost in the shadows of the waters. 
 
 As Fritz and Jack were thus engaged in gazing listless- 
 ly on the ocean, and reflecting upon their altered pros- 
 pects, and perhaps trying to penetrate the veil of the fu- 
 ture, Willis came towards them rubbing his breast, as if 
 he had been seized with a violent internal spasm. 
 
 " Hilloa," cried Jack, " the Pilot is sea-sick ! Shall I 
 run for some brandy, Willis ? " 
 
 " No, stop a bit ; we were in hopes of falling in with 
 Captain Littlestone, were we not ? " 
 
 " Yes ; but what then ? " 
 
 " We were disappointed, were we not ? : ' 
 
 " Yes. That has not made you ill, has it ? " 
 
 " No ; somebody else has turned up ; there is one of the 
 Nelson's crew on board this ship."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 279 
 
 " One of the Nelson 's crew ? " 
 
 " Aye, and if you only knew how my heart beat when 
 I saw him." 
 
 a I can easily conceive your feelings," said Jack, " for 
 my own heart has almost leaped into my mouth." 
 
 "And I am thunderstruck," added Fritz. 
 
 "I went towards my old friend," continued Willis, 
 " with tears in my eyes, threw my arms round him, and 
 gave him a hearty but affectionate hug." 
 
 " And what did he say ? " 
 
 " Nothing, at first ; but, as soon as I left his arms at 
 liberty, he gave me such a punch in the ribs as almost 
 doubled me in two ; it was enough to knock the in'arda 
 out of a rhinoceros ugh ! " 
 
 "A blow in earnest?" exclaimed Fritz in astonishment. 
 
 " Yes ; there was no mistake about it ; it was a real, 
 good, earnest John Bull knock-down thump ; it put me in 
 mind of Portsmouth on a pay day ugh ! " 
 
 " Extremely touching," said Jack, smiling. 
 
 " Then, when I called him by his name Bill Stubbs, 
 and asked what had become of the sloop, he said that he 
 knew nothing at all about the sloop, and swore that he had 
 never set his eyes on my figure-head before, the varmint 
 ugh!" 
 
 " Odd," remarked Jack. 
 
 " Are yon sure of your man ? " inquired Fritz. 
 
 " But you say his name is Bill, whilst he declares his 
 name is Bob." 
 
 " Aye, he has evidently been up to some mischief, and 
 changed his ticket." 
 
 " Then what conclusion do you draw from the affair." 
 
 " I am completely bewildered, and scarcely know what 
 to think ; perhaps the crew has mutinied, and turned Cap- 
 tain Littlestone adrift on a desert island. That is some- 
 times done. Perhaps " 
 
 "It is no use perhapsing those sort of melancholy 
 things," said Fritz ; " we may as well suppose, for the 
 present, that Captain Littlestone is safe, and that your 
 friend has been put on shore for some misdemeanour." 
 
 " May be, may be, Master Fritz ; and I hope and trust
 
 280 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 it is so. But to have an old comrade amongst us, who 
 could give us all the information we want, and yet not to 
 be able to get a single thing out of him " 
 
 " Except a punch in the ribs," suggested Jack. 
 
 " Exactly ; and a punch that will not let me forget the 
 lubber in a hurry," added Willis, clenching his fist ; " but 
 I intend, in the meantime, to keep my weather eye open." 
 
 A few weeks after this episode the Hoboken was slowly 
 wending her way along the bights of the Bahamas. Fritz, 
 Jack, and Willis were walking and chatting on the quarter- 
 deck." The sky was of a deep azure. The sea was cov- 
 ered with herbs and flowers as far as the eye could reach 
 sometimes in compact masses of several miles in extent, 
 and at other times in long straight ribbons, as regular as 
 if they had been spread by some West Indian Le Notre. 
 The ship seemed merely displaying her graces in the sun- 
 shine, so gentle was she moving in the water. The air 
 was laden 'with perfumes, and a soft dreamy languor stole 
 over the friends, which they were trying in vain to shake 
 off. In one direction rose the misty heights of St. Domin- 
 go, and in another the cloud-capped summits of Cuba. 
 Sometimes the highest peaks of the latter pierced the veil 
 that enveloped them, and seemed like islands floating in 
 the sky, or heads of a race of giants. 
 
 " The air here is almost as balmy and fragant as that of 
 New Switzerland," remarked Fritz. 
 
 "Aye, aye," said the Pilot ; " but it is not all gold that 
 glitters : in these sweet smells a nasty fever is concealed, 
 with which I have no wish to renew my acquaintance." 
 
 " By the way, talking about acquaintances, Willis, have 
 you obtained any farther intelligence from your friend Bill, 
 alias Bob ? " inquired Jack. 
 
 " No, not a syllable ; the viper is as cunning as a fox, 
 and keeps his mouth as close as a mouse-trap." 
 
 " He seems as obstinate as a mule, and as obdurate as a 
 Chinaman into the bargain." 
 
 "All thtit, and more than that; but," added Willis, "I 
 have found out from the mate that he was pressed on 
 board this ship at New Orleans." 
 
 " Pressed on board 'i " said Fritz, inquiringly.
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 281 
 
 "Yes ; that is a mode of recruiting for the navy pecu- 
 liar to England and the United States. Would you like 
 to hear something about how the system is carried out ? " 
 
 " Yes, Willis, very much." 
 
 " The transactions, however, fhat I shall have to relate 
 are in no way creditable, either to myself or anybody else 
 connected with them ; and I am afraid, when you hear the 
 particulars, you will be ready to turn round and say, your 
 friend the Pilot is no good after all." 
 
 " Have you, then, been desperately wicked, Willis?" 
 
 " Well, that depends entirely upon the view you take 
 of what I am to tell you. Listen." 
 24*
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 IN WHICH WILLIS SHOWS, THAT THE TERM PRESS-GANG MEANS 
 SOMETHING ELSE BESIDES THE GENTLEMK\ OF THE PRESS. 
 
 " WHEN I was a youngster, about a year or two older 
 than you are now, Master Fritz, I shipped on board the 
 brig Norfolk as boatswain's mate. The ship at the time 
 was short of hands, so there was no immediate probability 
 of her weighing anchor ; but on the same day I scratched 
 my name on the books a despatch arrived, in consequence 
 of which we left the harbor, and proceeded out to sea under 
 sealed orders. One day, when off the Irish coast, I was 
 called aft by the first lieutenant. 
 
 " ' You know something of Cork, my man, I believe ? ' 
 said he. 
 
 " ' Yes, your honor, I have been ashore there once or 
 twice,' said I. 
 
 " ' Very good,' said he ; ' get ready to go ashore there 
 again as quick as you like.' 
 
 " Leave to go on shore is always agreeable to a sailor. 
 He prefers the sea, but likes to stretch himself on land 
 now and then, just to enjoy a change of air, and look about 
 him a bit; so it was with all possible expedition that I 
 made the requisite preparations. 
 
 " When I re-appeared, I found a party of twenty men 
 mustered on deck in pipe-clay order. A full ration of 
 small arms was served out to them, and, under the com- 
 mand of the lieutenant, we embarked in the long-boat and 
 rowed ashore. We landed at a point of the coast some 
 miles distant from Cork, and it was dark before we reached 
 the military barracks of that town, which, for the present, 
 appeared to be our destination. 
 
 " I had not the slightest idea of what we were to do on 
 shore. From our being s?o heavily armed, I knew it was
 
 "WILLIS THE PILOT. 283 
 
 no mere escort or parade duty that was in question, and 
 began to think there was work of some kind on hand. 
 This gave me no kind of uneasiness. I only wondered 
 whatever it could be, for there was clearly a mystery of 
 some kind or other. Were we going to besiege Paddy, in 
 his own peaceable city of Cork ? Had some of the peep- 
 o'-day boys been burning down farmer Magrath's ricks 
 again ? or was there a private still to be routed out and 
 demolished ? I could not tell. 
 
 " Half an hour after our arrival, I was called into a pri- 
 vate room by the lieutenant, who was seated at a table 
 with a package of clothes beside him. The first lieutenant 
 of the Norfolk, I must remark, was a bit of an original. 
 He had won his way up to the rank he then held from 
 before the mast. His build was rather squat, and his face 
 was garnished with a pair of fiery red whiskers, so he was 
 no beauty, added to which he was reckoned one of the 
 most rigid martinets in the service ; yet, for all that, his 
 crew liked him, for they knew his heart was in the right 
 place. 
 
 " ' See, my man,' said he, ' take this package, and rig 
 yourself out in the toggery it contains.' 
 
 "I obeyed this order, and soon after stood before him, 
 in a pair of jack -boots, with a slouching sort of tarpauling 
 hat on my head, so that I might either have passed for a 
 mariner out of luck or a dustman. 
 
 " ' Well,' said the lieutenant, laughing, ' now you have 
 quite the air of the hulks about you.' 
 
 " This remark not being very complimentary, I did not 
 feel called upon to make any reply. 
 
 " ' You know,' he continued, ' that the brig is short about 
 a dozen hands, and I want you to pick up a few likely lads 
 here. I understand there are a number of able-bodied 
 seamen skulking about the public-houses, where they will 
 likely remain as long as their money lasts. I should like 
 to secure as many of them as possible, and then capture a 
 few stout landsmen to make up the number ; but, in the 
 first place, I want you to go and find out the best place to 
 make a razzia.' 
 
 " I stared when I found myself all at once promoted to
 
 284 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 the post of pioneer for a party of kidnappers, and muttered 
 something or other about honor. 
 
 " ' Honor, sir ! ' roared the lieutenant, ' what has honor 
 to do with it, sir ? It is duty, sir. It is the laws of the 
 service, sir, and you must obey them, sir.' 
 
 " ' But it is hard, your honor,' said I, ' that the laws 
 of the service should force men to do what they think is 
 wrong.' 
 
 " 'And what right, sir, have you to think it is wrong, or 
 to judge the acts of your superiors ? If the laws of the 
 service order you fifty lashes at the yard-arm to-morrow, 
 you will find that you will get them. Do you want to be 
 handed over to the drummer, and to cultivate an acquaint- 
 ance with the cat?' 
 
 '" ' No, your honor,' said I, laughing. 
 
 " The lieutenant's face by this time was as red as his 
 whiskers, and, though he was in a towering rage, he 
 quickly calmed down again, like boiling milk when it is 
 taken off the fire. 
 
 " ' Then,' said he, quietly, ' am I to understand you 
 refuse ? ' 
 
 " ' No, your honor,' said I. ' If it is my duty, I must 
 obey ; but you will pardon the liberty, when I say that it 
 is hard to be forced to drag away a lot of poor fellows 
 against their wills.' 
 
 " ' Look ye,' replied the lieutenant, ' I tolerate your free- 
 dom of speech for two reasons the first, because we are 
 here alone, and no harm is done ; the second, because I 
 entertain the same opinion myself; but, mind you, we are 
 both bound by the regulations of the service, and it is 
 mutiny for either of us to disobey.' 
 
 " According to the moral law, the mission with which I 
 was charged could scarcely be considered honorable ; but, 
 according to the laws of the land, or rather of the sea, it 
 was perfectly unexceptionable. Amongst the seamen, a 
 foray amongst the landlubbers was regarded more in the 
 light of a spree than anything else. If, indeed, it were 
 possible to pick up the lazy and idle amongst the popula- 
 tion, this mode of enlistment might be useful ; but often the 
 industrious head of a family was seized, whilst the idle
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 2-S5 
 
 escaped. It was rare, however, that a ship's crew were 
 employed in this sort of duty; men were more usually 
 obtained through the crimps on shore, who often fearfully 
 abused the authority with which they were invested for 
 the purpose. As for myself, the lieutenant's arguments 
 removed all my scruples, if I ever had any. 
 
 "I then suggested a plan of operations, which was ap- 
 proved. The men were to be kept ready for action, and 
 the lieutenant himself was to await my report at the 
 * Green Dragon,' one of the hotels in the town. 
 
 "At that time there was in the outskirts of Cork a sort 
 of tavern and lodging-house, called the 'Molly Bawn.' 
 This establishment was frequented by the lowest class of 
 seamen and ' tramps.' Thither I wended my way. It was 
 late when I arrived in front of the place ; and whilst hesi- 
 tating whether I should venture into such a precious me- 
 nagerie, 3 happened to look round, and, by the light of a 
 dim lamp that burned at the corner of the street, I caught 
 a glimpse of the lieutenant leaning against the wall, quietly 
 smoking an Irish dudeen." 
 
 " Like Rono the Great in the island of Hawai," sug- 
 gested Jack. 
 
 " Something. This, however, cut short my deliberations. 
 I walked in. There was a crowd of men and women 
 drinking and smoking about the bar. These, however, 
 were not the people I sought. The regular tenants of the 
 house were not amongst that lot. and it was essential for 
 me to find out in what part of the premises they were 
 stowed. I commenced proceedings by ordering a noggin 
 of whisky, and making love to the damsel that brought it 
 in. After having formally made her an offer of marriage, 
 I asked after the landlord. She told me he was engaged 
 with some customers, but offered to take a message to him. 
 
 "'Then,' said I, 'just tell him that a friend of One-eyed 
 Dick's would like to have a parley with him.' " 
 
 "And who was One-eyed Dick ?" inquired Fritz. 
 
 " One of the crew of a piratical craft captured by one 
 of our cruisers a few months before, and who at that time 
 was safely lodged in Portsmouth jail. 
 
 " The girl soon returned. She told me fo walk with
 
 286 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 her, and led me through some narrow passages into what 
 appeared to be another house. She knocked at a door 
 that was strongly barred and fastened inside. A slight 
 glance at these precautions made me aware that there was 
 no chance of making a capture here without creating a 
 great disturbance. So, after reflecting an instant, I decided 
 upon adopting some other course. 
 
 " When the door was opened I could see nothing dis- 
 tinctly ; there was a turf-fire throwing a red glare out of 
 the chimney, a dim oil-lamp hung from the roof, but 
 everything was hidden in a dense cloud of tobacco smoke, 
 through which the light was not sufficiently powerful to 
 penetrate." 
 
 " The atmosphere must have been stifling," observed 
 Fritz, 
 
 " Yes, it puts me in mind of your remark about the air, 
 which, you said, consists of let me see " 
 
 " Oxygen and hydrogen." 
 
 " Just so ; but the air a sailor breathes when he is at 
 home consists almost entirely of tobacco smoke. At last, 
 I could make out twenty or thirty rough-looking fellows 
 seated on each side of a long deal table covered with 
 bottles, glasses, and pipes. Dan Hooligan, the landlord, 
 sat at the top a fit president for such an assembly. He 
 was partly a smuggler, partly a publican, and wholly a 
 sinner. I should say that the liquor consumed at that 
 table did not much good to the revenue. How Dan 
 contrived to escape the laws, was a mystery perhaps best 
 known to the police." 
 
 " ' .50 you are a pal of One-eyed Dick's, are you ? ' 
 said he. 
 
 " ' Rather,' said I, adopting the slang of the place. 
 
 " ' Well,' said he, ' Dick has been a good customer of 
 mine, and all his pals are welcome at the ' Molly.' I have 
 not seen him lately, however how goes it with him 
 now ? ' 
 
 " ' Right as a trivet,' said I, ' and making lots of 
 rhino.' 
 
 " ' Glad to hear it ; and what latitude does he hail in 
 now?'
 
 THE PILOT. 287 
 
 ** 4 That,' said I, ' is private and confidential.' 
 
 " * Oh/ said he, ' there are no outsiders here, we are all 
 worn friends of Dick's, every mother's son of us.' 
 
 " ' Then/ said I, ' Dick is off the Cove in the schooner 
 Nancy, of Brest.' " 
 
 " Holloa, Willis," cried Jack, " there was a fib ! " 
 
 " Well, I told you to look out for something of that sort 
 when I began." 
 
 "' What !' cried the landlord, ' Dick in a schooner off 
 the Irish coast ? ' 
 
 " ' Yes/ said I ; ' and aboard that schooner there is as 
 tight a cargo of brandy and tobacco as ever you set eyes 
 upon.' 
 
 "Here the landlord pricked up his ears, and the rest of 
 the company began to listen attentively. The fellow that 
 sat next me coolly told me that both he and Dick had 
 been lagged for horse-stealing, and had subsequently 
 broken out of prison and escaped. He further told me 
 that most of the gentlemen present had been all, one way 
 or another, mixed up with Dick's doings ; from which I 
 concluded they were a rare parcel of scamps, and resolved, 
 within myself, to try and bag the whole squad. They 
 were all stout fellows enough, most of them seamen. I 
 thought they might be able to 'do the State some service/ 
 and determined to convert them into honest men, if I 
 could.' 
 
 u ' Dick cannot come ashore/ said I ; ' some one of his 
 old pals here has peached, and there is a warrant out 
 against him.' 
 
 " This information threw the assembly into a state of 
 violent commotion. They rose up, and swore terrible 
 vengeance against the head of the unfortunate culprit 
 when they caught him. The oaths rather alarmed me at 
 first, for they were of a most ferocious stamp. 
 
 " ' Yes/ continued I, ' Dick is aboard the schooner, but, 
 as there are two or three, warrants out against him, he 
 does not care about coming ashore ; so said he to me, 
 ' We want a lugger and a few hands to run the cargo 
 ashore ; and if you look in at the ' Molly/ and see my 
 old pal, Dan, perhaps you will find some lads there willing
 
 288 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 to give us a turn. The captain said, if the thing was dona 
 clean off, he would stand something handsome." 
 
 " ' Just the thing for us ! ' shouted half a dozen voices. 
 
 " ' But the lugger ? ' said I. 
 
 " ' Oh, Phil Doolan, at the Cove, has a craft that has 
 landed as many cargoes as there are planks in her hull. 
 Besides, he has stowage for a fleet of East Indiamen.' 
 
 " ' Well, gentlemen," said I, ' the chaplain, One-eyed 
 Dick, and myself, will be at Phil Doolan's to-morrow at 
 midnight ; do you agree to meet us there ? ' 
 
 " This question was answered by a universal 'Yes;' 
 and by way of clenching the affair, I ordered a couple of 
 gallons of the stiffest potheen in the house. This was 
 received with three cheers, and before I left the ' Molly ' 
 every man-jack of them had disappeared under the table. 
 Dan himself, however, kept tolerably sober, and promised, 
 on account of his friendship for One-eyed Dick, to have the 
 whole kit safe at Phil Doolan's by twelve o'clock next 
 night, and with this assurance I made my exit from the 
 premises, and steered for the ' George and Dragon.' 
 
 " The lieutenant agreed with me in thinking that it 
 would cause too much uproar to attack the ' Molly Bawn.' 
 He congratulated me on my success in laying a trap for 
 the people, and promising to meet me at the Cove, he 
 ordered a car, and drove off in the direction of the Norfolk's 
 boat. Early next morning I started to reconnoitre the 
 ground and organize my 'plan of operations. I found 
 Phil Doolan's mansion to be a mud-built tenement, 
 larger,- and standing apart from, the houses that then 
 constituted the village. It was ostensibly a sailor's lodging- 
 house and tavern for wayfarers, but, like the 'Molly 
 Bawn,' was in reality a rendezvous of smugglers, occasion- 
 ally patronized by fugitive poachers and patriots. It waa 
 known to its familiars as ' The Crib,' but was registered 
 by the authorities as the ' Father Mahony,' who was 
 represented on the sign-post by a full-length portrait of 
 James the Second. What gave me most satisfaction was 
 to observe that the building was conveniently situated for 
 a sack. 
 
 " When night set in I marched the Norfolk's men in
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 289 
 
 dose order, and as secretly as possible, to the Cove. 
 Approaching Phil Doolan's in one direction, I could just 
 catch a glimpse of the red coats of a file of marines 
 advancing in another, with the lieutenant at their head, 
 and, exactly as twelve o'clock struck on the parish clock, 
 the ' Father Mahony ' was surrounded on all sides by 
 armed men. Two or three lanterns were now lit, and 
 dispositions made to close up every avenue of escape. 
 
 " ' There he is ! ' cried Willis, interrupting himself, and 
 staring into the air. 
 
 " Who ? " inquired Jack Phil Doolan ?" 
 
 No Bill Stubbs, late of the Nelson." 
 
 "Where?" 
 
 " That squat, broad-shouldered man there, bracing the 
 maintops." 
 
 " Yes, now that you point him out, I think I have seen 
 Kim before," said Fritz. 
 
 " Holloa, Bill," cried Jack. 
 
 ' You see," said Willis, " he turned his head." 
 
 ' How d'ye do, Bill ? " added Jack. 
 
 'Are you speaking to me, sir?" inquired the sailor. 
 
 < Yes, Bill." 
 
 'Then was your honor present when I was christened? 
 I appear to have forgotten my name for the last six-and 
 thirty years." 
 
 " No use, you see," said Willis ; " he is too old a bird 
 to be caught by any of these dodges. But I have lost 
 the thread of my discourse." 
 
 "You had surrounded the cabin, and were lighting 
 lamps." 
 
 " Half a dozen men were stationed at the door, pistol in 
 hand, ready to rush in as soon as it opened. The lieu- 
 tenant and I went forward and knocked, but no one 
 answered. We knocked again, louder than before, but 
 still no answer. 
 
 " ' Open the door, in the King's name ! ' thundered the 
 lieutenant. Silence, as before. 
 
 " Calling to the marines, he ordered them to root up 
 Phil Doolan's sign-post, and use it as a battering ram 
 against the door. The first blow of thii machine nearly 
 25
 
 290 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 brought the house down, and a cracked voice was heard 
 calling on the saints inside. 
 
 " ' Blessed St. Patrick ! ' croaked the voice, ' whativer 
 are ye kicking up such a shindy out there for ? Whativer 
 d'ye want wid an old woman, and niver a livin' sowl in 
 the house 'cept meself and Kathleen in her coffin?' 
 
 " ' Kathleen is dead, then ? ' said the lieutenant with a 
 grin. 
 
 " ' Save yer honor's presence, she's off to glory, an' as 
 dead as a herrin ' replied the voice. 
 
 " ' Really ! ' said the lieutenant, ' and where is Phil 
 Doolau ? ' 
 
 " ' Och, yer honor ? he's gone to get some potheen for 
 the wake.' 
 
 " ' Well,' said the lieutenant, ' I should like to take a 
 share in waking the defunct what's her name ? ' 
 
 " ' Kathleen, yer honor.' 
 
 " ' Well, just let us in to take a last look at the worthy 
 creature.' 
 
 " The door then creaked on its rusty hinges, and we en- 
 tered. Not a soul, however, was to be seen anywhere, 
 save and except the old woman herself. The coffin con- 
 taining the remains of Kathleen, resting on two stools, 
 stood in the middle of the floor, with a plate of salt as 
 usual on the lid. I fairly thought I had been done, and 
 looked upon myself as the laughing stock of the entire 
 fleet." 
 
 " So far," remarked Jack, " you story has been all right, 
 but the last episode was rather negligently handled." 
 
 " How ? " inquired Willis. 
 
 " Why, you did not make enough of the coffin scene ; 
 your description is too meagre. You should have said, 
 that the wind blew without in fierce gusts, the weather- 
 cocks screeched on the roofs, and caused you to dread that 
 the ghost of the defunct was coming down the chimney ; 
 large flakes of snow were rushing through the half-open 
 door ; a solitary rushlight dimly lit up the chamber, and 
 cast frightful shadows upon the wall." 
 
 " Well ; but the night was fine, and there was not a 
 breath of wind."
 
 WILLIS THB PILOT. 291 
 
 " What about that ? A little wind, more or less, a 
 weathercock or so, some drops of rain, or a few flakes of 
 snow, do not materially detract from the truth, whilst they 
 heighten the color of the picture." 
 
 " And if some lightning tearing through the clouds were 
 added ?" 
 
 " Yes, that would most undoubtedly increase the effect ; 
 but go on with your story." 
 
 " I knew Phil to be an artful dodger, and was deter- 
 mined not to be foiled by a mere trick, so I laid hold of a 
 lantern and closely examined the walls and flooring. My 
 investigation was successful, for just under the coffin I de- 
 tected traces of a trap-door." 
 
 " ' Well, my good woman, what have you got down 
 there?" inquired the lieutenant. 
 
 " ' Is it under-ground, ye mane, yer honor? divil a hail's 
 there, if it isn't the rats.' 
 
 " ' Well, just remove the coffin a little aside ; we shall 
 see if we cannot pepper some of the rats for you.' 
 
 " Here the old woman appealed to a vast number of 
 saints, and protested against Kathleen's remains being dis- 
 turbed. The lieutenant, however, grew tired of this farce, 
 and ordered the coffin to be shifted. A sailor accordingly 
 laid hold of each end. 
 
 " ' Blazes ! ' said one, ' here is a body that weighs.' 
 
 " ' Perhaps,' said the other, ' the coffin is lined with 
 lead.' 
 
 " The trap-door was drawn up, and the lieutenant, 
 pistol in hand, descended alone. 
 
 " ' Now, my lads,' said he, addressing some invisible 
 personages, ' we know you are here, and I call upon you 
 to yield in the King's name resistance is useless, the 
 house is surrounded, and we are in force, so you had bet- 
 ter give in without more ado.' 
 
 " No answer was returned to this exordium ; but we 
 heard the murmuring of muffled voices, as if the rapscal- 
 lions were deliberating. I now descended with my lamp, 
 followed by some of the seamen, and beheld my friends of 
 the night before either stretched on the ground or propped 
 up against the walls, like a lot of mummies in an Egyptian 
 tomb.
 
 292 "WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " They were handcuffed one by one, pushed or hauled 
 up the stairs, and then tied to one another in a line. When 
 we had secured the whole lot of them in this way 
 
 "'Lieutenant,' said I, winking, ' will you permit me to 
 send a ball into that coffin ? ' 
 
 " ' Please yourself about that, young man,' said he. 
 
 " Here the old woman recommenced howling again, and 
 called upon all the saints in the calendar to punish mu for 
 my sacrilegious design. 
 
 " ' Shoot a dead body,' said I, ' where's the harm ? ' 
 Besides, what is that salt there for?' 
 
 " ' To keep away evil spirits,' was the reply. 
 
 " ' Very well,' said I, ' my pistol will scare them away 
 as well.' Then, cocking it with a loud clink, I presented 
 it slowly at the coffin." 
 
 " The lid all at once flew off the salt was thrown on 
 the ground with a crash the defunct suddenly returned 
 from the other world in perfeet health, and sat half upright 
 in his bier. I did not recognize the individual at first, 
 but, on closer inspection, found him to be my communica- 
 tive companion of the preceding night the hor=p-stealer 
 of the ' Molly Bawn ; ' and, being a stout young fellow, he 
 was harnessed to the others, and we commenced our march 
 to the boats." 
 
 " You do not appear to have had much trouble in ef- 
 fecting the capture," remarked Fritz. 
 
 " No ; the men were unarmed, and were nearly all in- 
 toxicated. You never saw such a troop ; scarcely one of 
 them could walk straight; they assumed all sorts of 
 figures ; the file of prisoners was just like a bar of music, 
 it was a string of quavers, crotchets, and zig-zags. Luck- 
 ily, it was late at night, else we might have had the village 
 about our ears, and, instead of flakes of snow and screech- 
 ing weathercocks, we might have had a shower of dead 
 cats and rotten eggs. Probably a rescue might have been 
 attempted ; at all events, we might have calculated on a 
 volley of brickbats on our way to the boats. There would 
 have been no end of commotion, uproar, confusion, and 
 hubbub, possibly smashed noses, blackened eyes, broken 
 heads " 
 
 "Holloa, Willis!"
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 293 
 
 " You said just now that a little colouring was neces- 
 sary."' 
 
 " Certainly ; but the privilege ought not to be abused. 
 Besides, broken heads and smashed faces are the realities, 
 and not the accessories of the picture." 
 
 " Oil, I see. If it is night, the moon should be intro- 
 duce! ; and if it is day, the sun and so on? " 
 
 u Of course ; and, if the circumstances are of a pleasing 
 nature, you must leave horrors and terrors on your pallette; 
 change gusts into zephyrs, snow into roses and violets, 
 and the weathercocks into golden vanes glittering in the 
 sunshine." 
 
 " I understand." 
 
 " You want to color a popular outbreak, do you not ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Then you should introduce a tempest howling, the 
 waves roaring, the lightning flashing, and discord raging 
 in the air as well as on the earth." 
 
 " Well, to continue my story. Although it was mid- 
 night, the disturbance began to wake up the villagers, and 
 a crowd was collecting, so we hurried oft' our prisoners to 
 the boats as speedily as we could. Some five and twenty 
 able bodied men were thus added to his Majesty's fleet. 
 The object of our visit to the Irish coast was accomplished, 
 and the Norfolk continued her voyage to the West Indies. 
 Now you know what is meant by the word pressed, and 
 likewise the nautical signification of the word press-gang" 
 
 " And you say that Bill Stubbs has been trapped on 
 board this ship by such means?" 
 
 " Yes, at New Orleans." 
 
 "According to your story, then, that does not say very 
 much in his favor ? " 
 
 "No, not a great deal ; still, that proves nothing the 
 fact of his calling himself Bob is a worse feature. A man 
 does not generally change his name without having good, 
 or rather bad, reasons for it." 
 
 " What appears to me," remarked Fritz, " as the most 
 singular feature of your press-gang adventure is, that you 
 are alive to tell it." 
 
 " Why so ? " 
 
 25*
 
 294 WILLIS THB PILOT. 
 
 " Because I think it ought to end thus : ' The victims of 
 the press-gang strangled Willis a few days after.' " 
 
 " Aye, aye, but you do not know what a sailor is ; our 
 recruits had not been a fortnight at sea before they entirely 
 forgot the trick I had played them." 
 
 Just as Willis concluded his narrative, the man at the 
 mast-head called out, " Sail ho ! " 
 
 " Where away ? " bawled the captain. 
 
 " Right a-head," replied the voice. 
 
 The Hoboken had hitherto pursued her voyage uninter- 
 ruptedly, and the Yankee captain now prepared to signalize 
 himself by a capture.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 A SEA FIGHT ANOTHER IDEA OF THE PILOT'S THE BOUDKUSK. 
 
 THE captain of the Hoboken was rather pleased than 
 otherwise when the lookout reported the strange sail to 
 show English colors. He looked rather glum, however, 
 half an hour afterwards, when the same voice bawled that 
 she was a bull-dog looking craft, schooner-rigged, and 
 pierced for sixteen guns. The Yankee had hoped to fall 
 in with a fat West Indiaraan, instead of which he had now 
 to deal with a man-of-war, carrying, perhaps, a larger 
 weight of metal than himself. 
 
 The heads of the two ships were standing in towards 
 each other, there was no wind to speak of, but every hour 
 lessened the distance that separated the antagonists. 
 
 "Pilot," said the captain, addressing Willis, "be kind 
 enough to let me know what you think of that craft." 
 
 "I think," said Willis, taking the telescope, "I have 
 had my eyes on her before. Aye, aye, just as I thought. 
 An old tub of a Spaniard converted into an English 
 cruiser, and commanded by Commodore Truncheon, I 
 shouldn't wonder. She has caught a Tartar this time, 
 however. Nothing of a sailer. If a breeze springs up, 
 you may easily give her the slip, if you like, captain." 
 
 " Give her the slip ! No, not if I can help it. My 
 cruise hitherto has not been very successful, and I must 
 send her into New York as a prize. Mr. Brill," added he, 
 addressing the officer next in command, "prepare for 
 action." 
 
 In an instant all was commotion and bustle on deck. 
 Half an hour after, the captain, now in full uniform, took 
 a hasty glance at the position of his crew. A portion of 
 the men were stationed at the guns, with lighted matches.
 
 296 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 Others were engaged in heating shot, and preparing other 
 instruments of destruction. Jack and Fritz, armed with 
 muskets, were ready to act as sharp-shooters as soon as the 
 enemy came within range, and Willis was standing beside 
 them, with his hands in his pockets, quietly smoking his 
 pipe. 
 
 " What, Pilot ! " exclaimed the captain in passing, 
 " don't you intend to take part in the skirmish ? " 
 
 " I am much your debtor, captain, but I cannot do that." 
 
 " And these young men ? " 
 
 " They are not Englishmen, and your kindness to them 
 entitles you to claim their assistance. I am sorry that 
 honor and duty prevent me giving you mine." 
 
 "No matter, captain," said Fritz, "my brother and my- 
 self will do duty for three." 
 
 " Then, Pilot, you had better go below." 
 
 " With your permission, captain, I would rather stay 
 and look on." 
 
 " But what is the use of exposing yourself here ? " 
 
 " It is an idea of mine, captain. But I shall remain 
 perfectly neutral during the engagement." 
 
 " As you like then, Pilot, as you like," said the captain, 
 as he resumed his place on the quarter-deck. 
 
 At this moment a cannon ball whistled through the air. 
 
 * Good," said Willis; "the commodore gives the signal." 
 
 " That shot," observed Jack, " passed at no great dis- 
 tance from your head, Willis. You had better take a 
 musket in self-defence. Besides, that ship is English, and 
 you are a Scotchman." 
 
 "The ship is a Spaniard by birth," replied Willis, "and 
 it is pretty well time it was converted into firewood, for 
 the matter of that. But it is the flag, my boy that is 
 neither Spanish nor English." 
 
 " What is it, then ? " inquired Fritz. 
 
 " It is the union-jack, Master Fritz. It is the ensign of 
 Scotland, England, and Ireland united under one bonnet ; 
 and as such, it is as sacred in my eyes as if it bore the 
 cross of St. Andrew." 
 
 Musket balls were now rattling pretty freely amongst 
 the shrouds. The young men levelled their muskets and 
 fired.
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 297 
 
 Soon after, the two ships were abreast of each other, 
 and almost at the same instant both discharged a deadly 
 broadside. The conflict became general. The crashing 
 of the wood-work and the roaring of the guns was deafen- 
 ing. A thick smoke enveloped the two vessels, so that 
 nothing could be seen of the one from the other ; still the 
 firing and crashing went on. The sails were torn to 
 shreds, the deck was encumbered with fragments of 
 timber; men were now and then falling, either killed or 
 wounded, and a fatigue party was constantly engaged in 
 removing the bodies. There are people who consider 
 such a spectacle magnificent ; but that is only because 
 they have never witnessed its horrors. 
 
 Already many immortal souls had returned to their 
 Maker; many sons had become orphans, and many wives 
 had been deprived of their husbands ; but as yet there 
 was nothing to indicate on which side victory was to be 
 declared. Soon, however, a cry of fire was raised, which 
 caused great confusion ; and another cry, announcing that 
 the captain had fallen, increased the disorder. 
 
 A ball crashed through the taffrail, near where Jack 
 and Fritz were standing; it passed between them, but 
 they were both severely wounded by the splinters, and 
 were conveyed by Willis to the cockpit. The doctor, 
 seeing his old friend Jack handed down the ladder, 
 hastened towards him and tore out a piece of wood from 
 the fleshy part of his arm. He next turned to Fritz, who 
 had received a severe flesh-wound on the shoulder. When 
 both wounds were bandaged, he left the care of the young 
 men to Willis, who had escaped with a few scratches, 
 which, however, were bleeding pretty freely to these he 
 did not pay the slightest attention. 
 
 " How stands the contest ? " inquired Fritz in a weak 
 voice. 
 
 " The Hoboken is done for," replied Willis ; " the com- 
 modore was preparing to board when we left the deck ; 
 but it does not make much difference; we shall go to 
 England instead of America, that is all." 
 
 " God's will be done," said Fritz. 
 
 Just then Bill Stubbs was swung down in a hammock ;
 
 298 WILLIS THJE PILOT. 
 
 both his legs had been shot off by a cannon ball. The 
 surgeon could only now attend to a tithe of his patients, so 
 numerous had the wounded become. A glance at the 
 new comer satisfied him that he was beyond all human 
 skill, and he directed his attention to the cases that pro- 
 mised some hopes of recovery. Willis, seeing that his old 
 comrade was abandoned to die almost uncared for, 
 staunched his wounds as well as he could, fetched him a 
 panniken of water, and performed a number of other little 
 acts of kindness and good will. This he did, less with a 
 view of obtaining an explanation from him at a moment 
 when no man lies, than to mitigate the pangs of his last 
 convulsions. For an instant the old mariner's body 
 appeared re-animated with life. His eyes were fixed upon 
 Willis with an ineffable expression of recognition and 
 regret. He convulsively grasped the Pilot's hand and 
 pressed it to his breast, and his lips parted as if to speak. 
 Willis bent his ear to the mouth of the dying man, but all 
 that followed was an expiring sigh. His earthly career 
 was ended. 
 
 The hardy sailor who is supposed never to shed a tear, 
 then wiped the corner of his eyes. Next he turned to the 
 children of his adoption, whose pale faces indicated the 
 amount of blood they had shed, and whose wounds, if he 
 could have transferred them to himself, would have less 
 pained his powerful muscles than they now grieved his 
 excellent heart. 
 
 A party of boarders from the enemy had taken pos- 
 session of tli,e ship. Willis reported himself to the officer 
 in command, and at his request, Fritz and Jack, together 
 with the cargo of 'the pinnace, were conveyed on board 
 the victorious schooner. Shortly after the Hoboken was 
 despatched to Bermuda as a prize, with the prisoners, the 
 wounded, and the dying. 
 
 The old tub that had gained this victory was named the 
 Arzobispo, having, as Willis supposed, been captured in 
 the Spanish Main. It was under the command of Com- 
 modore Truncheon, better known in the fleet by the 
 soubriquet of Old Flyblow. 
 
 The Arzobispo, though old and clumsy, was a stout-buil$
 
 TTILLIS THE PILOT. 299 
 
 craft ; and so thick was its hide, that the broadsides of the 
 Yankee had done the hull no damage to speak of. The 
 superstructure, ho\vever, was completely shattered ; the 
 masts and rigging hung like sweeps over the sides ; and, 
 to the unpractised eye, the ship was a complete wreck. 
 A few days, however, sufficed to put everything to rights 
 again so far as regards external appearance ; but how this 
 impromptu carpentry would stand a storm was another 
 question. 
 
 The commodore was on his way to Europe when he fell 
 in with the Yankee, and, notwithstanding the disabled 
 condition of the ship, he resolved to continue his voyage. 
 Some of the officers expostulated with him on the hazard 
 of crossing the Atlantic in so shaky a trim. He only got 
 red in the face, and said that he had crossed the herring- 
 pond hundreds of times in crafts not half so seaworthy. 
 He was like the 
 
 Froggy who would a wooing go, 
 Whether his mother would let him or no. 
 
 The consequences of this defiance of advice were fatal 
 to Old Flyblow ; for, a week or two after his victory, he 
 was pounced upon by the French corvette, Boudeuse, 
 which was fresh, heavily armed, and well manned. The 
 commodore's jury masts were knocked to pieces by the 
 first broadside, his flag went by the board, and he was 
 completely at the enemy's mercy. Willis lent a hand this 
 time with a good will ; but it was of no use, the wreck 
 would not obey the helm, and the corvette hovered about, 
 firing broadsides, and sending in discharges of musketry, 
 when and where she liked. It was only when the com- 
 modore saw clearly that there was neither mast nor sail 
 enough to yaw the ship, that he waved his cocked hat in 
 token of surrender. 
 
 Fritz and Jack were still confined below with their 
 wounds, when Willis brought them word that they would 
 have to shift themselves and their cargo once more. The 
 captain received them on board the Boudeuse with marked 
 courtesy, and informed them that he was bound direct for 
 Havre de Grace.
 
 800 WILLIS THK PILOT. 
 
 " It seems, then," said the Pilot, " that neither America 
 nor England is to be our destination after all. But never 
 mind, there are no lack of surgeons amongst the moun- 
 seers." 
 
 "If we go on this way much longer," said Jack, sighing, 
 " we shall be carried round the world without arriving 
 anywhere. Alas, my poor mother ! "
 
 CHAPTEE XXV. 
 
 DELHI WILLIAM OF NORMANDT AND KINO JOHN ISABELLA OP 
 
 BATARIA AND JOAN OF ARC POITIERS AND BOVINES HIS- 
 TORY OF A GHOST, A GRIDIRON, AND A CHEST OF GUINEAS. 
 
 AT first the three adventurers were regarded as prison- 
 ers of war; when, however, their entire history came to 
 be known, and their extraordinary migrations from ship to 
 ship authenticated, they were looked upon as guests, and 
 treated as friends. 
 
 " I thought I had only obtained possession of n English 
 cruiser," said the captain; "but I find I have also acquired 
 the right of being useful to you." 
 
 The commander of the Boudeuse was a very different 
 sort of a person from Commodore Truncheon ; t" e former 
 treated his men as if every one o. them had a itle and 
 great influence at the Admiralty, whilst the latte swore 
 at his crew as if the word of command could not b i under- 
 stood without a supplementary oath The English com- 
 modore might be the better sailor of the two, but certainly 
 the French captain carried oft" the palm as regards polite- 
 ness, urbanity, and gentlemanly bearing. 
 
 The wounds of Fritz and Jack were healing rapidly 
 under the skilful treatment of the French sjrgeon, and, 
 with a lift from Willis, they were able to w Ik a portion 
 of the day on deck. "With reviving health, heir cheerful 
 hopes of the future returned, their dorman spirits were 
 re-awakened, and their minds regained th ir wonted ani- 
 mation. 
 
 " The corvette spins along admirably, said the Pilot, 
 " and is steering straight for the Bay of Biscay." 
 
 "Ah ! " said Jack, sighing, " it is very asy to steer for a 
 place, but it is not quite so easy to get here. I am sick 
 26
 
 302 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 of your friend the sea, Willis ; and would give my largest 
 pearl for a glimpse of a town, a village, or even a street." 
 
 " If you want to see a street in all its glory, Master 
 Jack, you must try and get the captain to alter his course 
 for Delhi." 
 
 "But I should think, Willis, .that there is nothing in the 
 street-scenery of Delhi to compare with the Boulevards of 
 Paris, Regent-street in London, or the Broadway of New 
 York." 
 
 " Beg your pardon there, Master Jack ; I know every 
 shop window in Regent-street ; I have often been nearly 
 run over in the Broadway, and can easily imagine the turn 
 out on the Boulevards ; but they are solitudes in compari- 
 son with an Indian street." 
 
 " How so, Willis ? " 
 
 " Well, it is not that there are more inhabitants, nor on 
 account of the traffic, for no streets in the world will beat 
 those of London in that respect it is because the people 
 live, move, and have their being in the streets ; they eat, 
 drink, and sleep in the streets ; they sing, dance, and pray 
 in the streets ; conventions, treaties, and alliances are 
 concluded in the streets ; in short, the street is the Indians' 
 home, his club, and his temple. In Europe, transactions 
 are negotiated quietly; in India, nothing can be done 
 without roaring, screaming, and bawling." 
 
 " There must be plenty of deaf people there," observed 
 Jack. 
 
 " Possibly ; but there are no dumb people. Added to 
 the endless vociferations of the human voice, there is an 
 eternal barking of dogs, elephants snorting, cows lowing, 
 and myriads of pigs grunting. Then there is the thump, 
 thump of the tam-tam, the whistling of fifes, and the 
 screeching of a horrible instrument resembling a fiddle, 
 which can only be compared with the Belzebub music of 
 Hawai. If, amongst these discordant sounds, you throw 
 in a cloud of mosquitoes and a hurricane of dust, you will 
 have a tolerable idea of an Indian street." 
 
 " There may be animation and life enough, Willis, but I 
 should prefer the monotony of Regent-street for all that. 
 Would you like to air yourself in Paris a bit?"
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 303 
 
 " Yes, but not just now ; the less my countrymen see of 
 France, under present circumstances, the better." 
 
 " What is England and France always fightiag about, 
 Willis?" 
 
 " Well, I believe the cause this time to be a shindy the 
 mounseers got up amongst themselves in 1788. They first 
 cut off the head of their king, and then commenced to cut 
 one another's throats, and England interfered." 
 
 " That," observed Fritz, " may be the immediate origin 
 of the present war [1812]. But for the cause of the 
 animosity existing between the two nations, you must, I 
 suspect, go back as far as the eleventh century, to the time 
 of William, Duke of Normandy." 
 
 " What had he -to do with it ? " 
 
 "A great deal. He claimed a right, real or pretended, 
 to the English throne. He crossed the Channel, and, in 
 1066, defeated Harold, King of England, at the battle of 
 Hastings." 
 
 " Both William and Harold were originally Danes, were 
 they not ? " inquired Jack. 
 
 "Yes; I think Hollo, William's grandfather, was a 
 Norman adventurer, or sea-king, as these marauders were 
 sometimes called. William, after the victory of Hastings, 
 proclaimed himself King of England and Duke of Nor- 
 mandy, and assumed the designation of William the 
 Conqueror." ^ 
 
 " Then how did France get mixed up in the affair ? " 
 inquired Willis. 
 
 " William's grandfather, when he seized the dukedom of 
 Normandy, became virtually a vassal of the King of France, 
 though it is doubtful whether he ever took the trouble to 
 recognize the suzerainty of the throne. As sovereign, 
 however, the King of France claimed the right of homage, 
 which consisted, according to feudal usage, in the vassal 
 advancing, bare-headed, without sword or spurs, and kneel- 
 ing at the foot of the throne." 
 
 "Was this right ever enforced?" 
 
 " Yes, in one case at least. John Lackland or, as the 
 French called him, John Sans Terre having assassinated 
 his nephew Arthur, Duke of Brittany, in order to obtain
 
 304 WILLIS THK PILOT. 
 
 possession of his lands, was summoned by Philip Augustus, 
 King of France, to justify his crime. John did not obey 
 the summons, was declared guilty of felony, and Philip 
 took possession of Normandy. Thus the first step to hos- 
 tilities was laid down." 
 
 "The English having lost Normandy, the vassalage 
 ceased." 
 
 " Yes, so far as regards Normandy ; but, in the mean- 
 time, Louis le Jeune, King of France, unfortunately 
 divorced his wife, Elenor of Aquitaine, who afterwards 
 married an English prince, and added Guienne, another 
 French dukedom to the English crown." 
 
 " So another vassalage sprung up." 
 
 ^Exactly. All the French King insisted upon was the 
 homage ; but Edward III. of England, instead of bending 
 his knee to Philip of Valois, argued with himself in this 
 way : ' If I were King of England and France as well, 
 the claim of homage for the dukedom of Guienne would 
 be extinguished."' 
 
 " Rather cool that," said Jack, laughing. 
 
 " ' We shall then,' Edward said to himself, ' be our own 
 sovereign, and do homage to ourself, which would save a 
 deal of bother.' " 
 
 "Well, he was right there, at least," remarked the 
 Pilot. 
 
 " The King of France, however, entertained a different 
 view of the subject. Hence arose an endless succession of 
 sieges, battles, conquests, defeats, exterminations, and 
 hatreds, which, no doubt, gave rise to the ill-feeling that 
 exists at present between England and France. It is 
 curious, at the same tune, to observe what mischief indi- 
 vidual acts may occasion. If William of Normandy had 
 remained contented with his dukedom, and Louis le Jeune 
 had not divorced his wife, France would not have lost the 
 disastrous battles of Agincourt and Poitiers." 
 
 " Nor gained the brilliant victory of Bovines," suggested 
 Jack. 
 
 " Certainly not ; but she would have been spared the 
 indignity of having one of her kings marched through the 
 streets of London as a prisoner."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 305 
 
 " True ; "but, on the other hand, the captured monarch 
 would not have had an opportunity of illustrating the laws 
 of honor in his own person. He returned loyally to Eng- 
 land and resumed his chains, when he found that the 
 enormous sum demanded by England for his ransom would 
 impoverish his people: otherwise he could not have 
 given birth to the maxim, ' That though good faith be 
 banished from all the world beside, it ought still to be 
 found in the hearts of kings.'" 
 
 " One of the kings of Scotland," remarked Willis, " was 
 placed in a similar position. The Scottish army had been 
 cut to pieces at the battle of Flodden, the king was cap- 
 tured in his harness, conveyed to London, and the people 
 had to pay a great deal more to obtain his freedom than 
 he was worth. But, before that, the Scotch nearly caught, 
 one of the Edwards. This time the English army had 
 been cut to pieces ; but the king did not wait to be cap- 
 tured, he took to his heels, or rather to his horse's hoof's. 
 He was beautifully mounted, and followed by half a dozen 
 Scottish troopers ; away he went, over hill and dale, ditch 
 and river. Dick Turpin's ride from London to York was 
 nothing to it. The king proved himself to be a first-rate 
 horseman, for, after being chased this way over half the 
 country, he succeeded in baffling his pursuers. All these 
 escapades between England and Scotland are, however, 
 forgotten now, or at least ought to be ; there are, doubt- 
 less, a few thick-headed persons in both sections of the 
 empire who delight in keeping alive old prejudices, but 
 they will die out in time." 
 
 " It seems, however, they have not died away yet," said 
 Fritz, " in so far as regards France and England, since the 
 two countries are at war again. But, as I observed before, 
 had it not been for the ambition of William and the anti- 
 connubial propensities of John, the English would never 
 have been masters of Paris, and a great part of France 
 under Charles VI." 
 
 "Still, in that case," persisted Jack, "Charles YIL 
 would not have had the opportunity of liberating his 
 country." 
 
 26*
 
 306 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " Then," continued Fritz, " history would not have had 
 to record the shameless deeds of Isabella of Bavaria." 
 
 " Nor chronicle the brilliant achievements of Joan of 
 Arc," added Jack. 
 
 " Any how," observed Willis, " the mounseers are a 
 curious people. I have heard it remarked that they are 
 occupied all day long in getting themselves into scrapes, 
 and that Providence busies herself all night in getting 
 them out again." 
 
 By chatting in this way, Fritz, his brother, and the 
 Pilot contrived to relieve the monotony of the voyage, 
 and to pass away the time pleasantly enough. Each con- 
 tributed his quota to the common fund ; Fritz his judg- 
 ment, Jack his humor, and Willis his practical experience, 
 strong good sense, and vigorous, though untutored under- 
 standing. A portion of Jack's time was passed with the 
 surgeon, between whom a great intimacy had sprung up. 
 Time did not, therefore, hang heavily on the hands of the 
 young men; for even during the night their thoughts 
 were busy forming projects, or in embroidering the canvas 
 of the future with those fairy designs which youth alone 
 can create. 
 
 One morning Willis arrived on deck, pale, and with an 
 air of fatigue and lassitude altogether unusual. He gazed 
 anxiously into every nook aq,d cranny of the ship. 
 
 " Whatever is the matter, Willis ? " inquired Jack. 
 " Have you seen the Flying Dutchman ? " 
 
 ' No, Master Jack," said he in a forlorn tone ; u but I 
 have either seen the captain or his ghost." 
 
 " What ! the captain of the ffoboken ? " 
 
 " No ; the captain of the Nelson." 
 
 " In a dream ? " 
 
 " No, my eyes were as wide open as they are now ; h-- 
 looked into my cabin, and spoke to me." 
 
 " Impossible, Willis." 
 
 " I assure you it is the case though, impossible or not." 
 
 " Where is he then ? " exclaimed both the young men, 
 starting. 
 
 " That I know not; I have looked for him everywhere." 
 
 " What did he say to you ? "
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 307 
 
 " At first he said, How d'ye do, Willis ?" 
 
 " Naturally ; and what then ? " 
 
 " He asked me what I thought of the cloud that was 
 gathering in the south-west." 
 
 "Imagination, Willis." 
 
 " But look there, you can see a storm is gathering in 
 that quarter." 
 
 "The nightmare, Willis. But what did you say to him?" 
 
 " I could not answer at the moment ; my tongue clove 
 to the roof of my mouth, and I rose to take hold of his 
 hind." 
 
 " Then he disappeared, did he not ? " 
 
 " Yes, Master Jack." 
 
 " I thought so." 
 
 " But I heard the door of my cabin shut behind him, as 
 distinctly as I now hear the waves breaking on the sides 
 of the corvette at this moment." 
 
 " You ought to have run after him." 
 
 I did so." 
 
 " Well, did you catch him ? " 
 
 " No ; I was stopped by the watch, for I had nothing on 
 me but my shirt ; the officers stared, the sailors laughed, 
 and the doctor felt my pulse. But, for all that, I am 
 satisfied there is a mystery somewhere." 
 
 " But, Willis, the thing is altogether improbable." 
 
 " Well, look here ; Captain Littlestone is either dead or 
 alive, is he not ? " 
 
 " Yes," replied Jack, " there can be no medium between 
 these hypotheses." 
 
 " Then all I can say is this, that as sure as I am a living 
 sinner, I have seen him if he is alive, and, if he is dead, I 
 have seen his ghost." 
 
 " You believe in visitations from the other world then, 
 Willis ? " 
 
 " I cannot discredit the evidences of my own senses, 
 can I?" 
 
 " No, certainly not." 
 
 " Besides, this brings to my recollection a similar cir- 
 cumstance that happened to an old comrade of mine. 
 Sam Walker is as fine a fellow as ever lived, he sailed 
 with me on board the Norfolk, and I know him to be in-
 
 308 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 capable of telling a falsehood. Though his name is Sam 
 "Walker, we used to call him ' Hot Codlins.' " 
 
 ; ' Why, Willis ? " 
 
 " Because he had an old woman with a child tatooed on 
 his arm, instead of an anchor, as is usual in the navy." 
 
 " A portrait of Notre Dame de Bon Lecours, I shouldn't 
 wonder," said Jack ; " but what had that to do with hot 
 codlins : a codlin is a fish, is it not? " 
 
 "I will explain that another time," said Willis, the 
 shadow of a smile passing over his pale features. " The 
 short and the long of the story is, that Sam once saw a 
 ghost." 
 
 " Well, tell us all about it, Willis." 
 
 " But I am afraid you will not believe the story if I do." 
 
 " On the contrary, I promise to believe it in advance." 
 
 " Very well, Master Jack. Did you ever see a wind- 
 mill?" 
 
 " No, but I know what sort of things they are from de- 
 scription." 
 
 " There are none in Scotland," continued Willis ; " at 
 least I never saw one there." 
 
 " How do they manage to grind their corn then ? There 
 should be oats in the land o' cakes, at all events," said 
 Jack, with a smile. 
 
 " Well, in countries that have plenty of water, they can 
 dispense with mills on land. Though there are no wind- 
 mills in Scotland, there are some in the county of Durham, 
 on the borders of England, for it appears my mate Sam 
 was born in one of them. His father and mother died 
 when he was very young, and he, conjointly with the rats, 
 was left sole owner and occupant of the mill. Some of 
 the neighboring villagers, seeing the poor boy left in this 
 forlorn condition, got him into a charity school, whence he 
 was bound apprentice to a shipmaster engaged in the coal 
 trade, by whom he was sent to sea. The ship young Sam 
 sailed in was wrecked on the coast of France, and he fell 
 into the hands of a fisherman, who put the mark on his 
 arm we used to joke him about." 
 
 " I thought so," said Jack ; " the mark ra question rep- 
 resents the patron saint of French sailors." 
 
 " After a variety of ups and downs, Sam found himself
 
 WILLIS TUB PILOT. 309 
 
 rated as a first-class seaman on board a British man-of- 
 war. He served with myself on board the Norfolk, and 
 was wounded at the battle of Trafalgar [1806], which, I 
 dare say, you have heard of." 
 
 " Yes, Willis, it was there that your Admiral Nelson 
 covered himself with immortal renown." 
 
 " There and elsewhere, Master Fritz.'' 
 
 " It cost him his life, however, Willis, and likewise 
 shortened those of the French Admiral Villeneuve and the 
 Spanish Admiral Gravina ; that, you must admit, is too 
 many eggs for one omelet." 
 
 " As you once said yourself, great victories are not won 
 without loss, and the battle of Trafalgar was no exception 
 to the rule. Sam, having been wounded, was sent to the 
 hospital, and when his wound was healed, he was allowed 
 leave of absence to recruit his strength, so he thought he 
 would take a run to Durham and see how it fared with 
 the paternal windmill. Time had, of course, wrought 
 many changes both outside and in, but it still remained 
 perched grimly on its pedestal, but now entirely aban- 
 doned to the bats and owls. The sails were gone, and 
 the woodwork was slowly crumbling away ; but the base- 
 ment being of hewn granite, it was still in a tolerable state 
 of preservation. The place, however, was said to be 
 haunted ; exactly at twelve o'clock at night dismal howls 
 were heard by the villagers to issue from the mill. Ac- 
 cording to the blacksmith, who was a great authority in 
 such matters, Sam's father was a very avaricious old fel- 
 low, and had hid his money somewhere about the building ; 
 and you know, Master Jack, that when a man dies and 
 leaves his money concealed, there is no rest for him in his 
 grave till it is discovered." 
 
 " I really was not aware of it before," replied Jack ; 
 "but I am delighted to hear it." 
 
 " When Sam arrived, nobody disputed his title to the 
 property, except the ghost ; but Sam had seen a good deal 
 of hard service, and declared that he would not be choused 
 out of his patrimony for all the ghosts in the parish ; and, 
 in spite of the persuasions of the villagers, resolved to take 
 up his abode there forthwith. Sam accordingly laid in a
 
 310 WILLJ3 THE 1'ILOT. 
 
 supply of stores, including a month's supply of tobacco and 
 rum. He first made the place water-tight, then made a 
 fire sufficient to roast an ox, and when night arrived made 
 a jorum of grog, a little stiff, to keep away the damp. 
 This done, he lit his pipe, and began to cook a steak for 
 his supper. The old mill, for the first time since the de- 
 cease of the former proprietor, was filled with the savory 
 odor of roast beef." 
 
 " And there are worse odors than that," remarked Jack. 
 
 " Whilst the steak was frizzling, he took a swig at the 
 grog ; and, thinking one side was done, he gave the grid- 
 iron a twist, which sent the steak a little way up the 
 chimney, and, strange to say, it never came down again. 
 
 " ' Ten thousand What's-a-names,' cried Sam, ' w here's 
 my steak ? ' 
 
 '' No answer was vouchsafed to this query ; he looked 
 up the chimney, and could see "no one." 
 
 " The steak had really disappeared then ? " said Jack, 
 inquiringly. 
 
 " Yes, not a fragment remained ; but he had more beef, 
 so he cut off another ; and, as his head had got a little 
 muddled with the grog, he thought it just possible that he 
 might have capsized the gridiron into the fire, so he quiet- 
 ly recommenced the operation." 
 
 " And the second steak disappeared like the first ? " 
 
 " Yes, Master Fritz, with this difference there was a 
 dead man's thigh-bone in its place." 
 
 " An awkward transformation for a hungry man," said 
 Jack. 
 
 " ' Here's a go ! ' cried Sam, like to burst his sides with 
 laughing, 'they expect to frighten me with bones, do they? 
 they've got the wrong man been played too many tricks 
 of that kind at sea to be scared by that sort of thing. Ha, 
 ha, ha ! capital joke though.' " 
 
 " Your friend Sam must have been a merry fellow, 
 Willis." 
 
 " Yes, but he was hungry, and wanted his supper ; so 
 he continued supplying the gridiron with steaks as long as 
 the beef lasted, but only obtained human shin-bones, clavi- 
 cles and tibias.
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 311 
 
 " ' Never mind,' said Sam to himself, ' they will tire of 
 this game in course of time.' 
 
 " When the beef was done, he kept up a supply of rash- 
 ers of bacon, and threw the bones as they appeared in a 
 corner, consoling himself in the meantime with his pipe 
 and his grog." 
 
 " He must have been both patient and persevering," 
 remarked Jack. 
 
 " This went on till a skull appeared on the gridiron." 
 
 " A singular object to sup upon," observed Jack. 
 
 " ' I wonder what the deuce will come next,' said Sam 
 to himself, throwing the skull amongst the rest of the 
 bones. 
 
 " The next time, however, he took the gridiron off the 
 fire, there was his last rasher done to a turn. 
 
 " ' Now.' said Sam, ' I am jgoing to have peace and 
 quietness at last.' 
 
 " He sat down then very comfortably, and kept eating 
 and drinking, and drinking and smoking, till the village 
 clock struck twelve." 
 
 " Good ! " cried Jack. " You may come in now, ladies 
 and gentlemen ; the performance is just a-going to begin." 
 
 " Sam heard a succession of crack cracks amongst the 
 bones, and turning round he beheld a frightful-looking 
 spectre, pointing with its finger to the door." 
 
 "Was it wrapped up in a white sheet?" inquired Jack. 
 
 " Yes, I rather think it was." 
 
 " Very well, then, I believe the story ; for.spectres are 
 invariably wrapped up in white sheets." 
 
 " The bones, instead of remaining quietly piled up in 
 the corner, had joined themselves together the leg bones 
 to the feet, the ribs to the back-bone and the skull had 
 stuck itself on the top. Where the flesh came from, Sam 
 could not tell; but he strongly suspected that his own 
 steaks and bacon had something to do with it. But, be 
 that as it may, there was not half enough of fat to cover 
 the bones, and the figure was dreadfully thin. Sam stared 
 at first in astonishment, and began to doubt whether he 
 saw aright. When, however, he beheld the figure move, 
 there could be no mistake, and he knew at once that it 
 was a ghost. Anybody else would have been frightened
 
 31? V/IM.1S THK PILOT. 
 
 out of their senses, but Sam took the matter philososophi- 
 cally and went on with his supper. 
 
 " ' How d'ye do, old fellow ? ' he said to the spectre- 
 'Will you have a mouthful of grog to warm your inside? 
 Sit down, and be sociable.' 
 
 " The spectre did not make any reply, but continued 
 m;iking a sign for Sam to follow. 
 
 " ' If you prefer to stand and keep beckoning there till 
 to-morrow you may, but, if I were in your place, I would 
 come nearer the fire,' said Sam ; ' you may catch cold 
 standing there without your shirt, you know.' 
 
 " The same silence and the same gesture continued on 
 the part of the ghost, and Sam, seeing that his words pro- 
 duced no effect, recommenced eating." 
 
 " There is one thing," remarked Jack, " more astonish- 
 ing about your friend Sam than his coolness, and that is 
 his appetite," 
 
 " The spectre did not appear satisfied with the state of 
 affairs, for it assumed a threatening- attitude and strode 
 towards the fire-place. 
 
 " ' Avast heaving, old fellow,' cried Sam, ' there is one 
 thing I have got to say, which is this here : you may 
 stand and hoist signals there as long as ever you like ; but 
 if you touch me, then look out for squalls, that's all.' 
 
 " The ' old fellow,' however, paid no attention to this 
 caution. He strode right up to the fire-place, and, whilst 
 pointing to the door with one hand, grasped Sam's arm 
 with the other. Sam started up, shook off the hand that 
 held him, and pitched into the spectre right and left. 
 But, strange to say, his hands went right through its bones 
 and all, just as if it had been made of the hydrogen gas 
 you spoke of the other day. Sam saw that it was no u^e 
 laying about him in this fashion, for the spectre stood 
 grinning at him all the time, so he gave it up. 
 
 " ' I wish,' said he, ' you would be off, and go to bed, 
 and not keep bothering there.' 
 
 " Still the spectre maintained the same posture, and 
 kept pertinaciously pointing to the door. 
 
 " ' Well,' said Sam, ' since you insist upon it, let us see 
 what there is outside. Go a-head, I will follow.' 
 
 " The spectre led him into what used to be the garden
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 313 
 
 of the mill, but the enclosure was now overgrown with 
 rank and poisonous weeds. There was a path running 
 through it pared with flagstones; the spectre pointed with 
 its finger to one of them. Sara stooped down, and, much 
 to his astonishment, raised it with ease. Beneath there 
 was an iron chest, the lid of which he also opened, and 
 saw that it was filled with old spade guineas and Spanish 
 dollars. 
 
 " ' You hehold that treasure ! ' said the spectre, in a 
 hollow voice. 
 
 " ' Ha, ha, old fellow ! you can speak, can you ? Now 
 we shall understand each other. Yes, I see a box, filled 
 with what looks very like gold and silver coins.' 
 
 " ' I placed that treasure there before my death,' added 
 the spectre. 
 
 " ' Ah, so ! then you are dead ? ' said Sam. 
 
 " ' One half of that money I wish you to give to the 
 poor, and the other half you may keep to yourself, if you 
 choose.' 
 
 "' Golley!' said Sam, 'you are not much of a swab 
 after all, though you look as thin as a purser's clerk. 
 Give us a shake of your paw, my hearty.' 
 
 " Here Sam, somehow or other, stumbled over the 
 lamp, and when he got up again the spectre had vanished. 
 He laid hold of the chest, however, and groped his way 
 back to the mill. When .safe inside, he made a stiff jorum 
 of grog, and then fell comfortably asleep. That night he 
 dreamt that he was eating gold and silver, that he was his 
 own captain, that the cat-o'-nine tails was entirely abo- 
 lished in the navy, and that his ship, instead of sailing in 
 salt water was floating in rum. When he awoke, the sun 
 was streaming through all the nooks and crannies of the 
 old mill. All the marks of the preceding night's adven- 
 tures were there the gridiron, the empty rum jar, the 
 the table overturned in the melee with the ghost but the 
 chest of money was gone." 
 
 " And what did Sam conclude from that incident ? " in- 
 quired Fritz. 
 
 "Well, he supposed that he had slept rather long, and 
 27
 
 314 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 that somebody had come in before he was up and had 
 walked off with the box." 
 
 " If I had been in his place," continued Fritz, "I should 
 have said to myself that the mind often gives birth to 
 strange fancies, particularly after a heavy supper, and that 
 I had muddled my brain with rum ; consequently, that 
 all the things I imagined I had seen were only the 
 chimeras of a dream." 
 
 " But that could not be, Master Fritz, for two reasons ; 
 the first, that the mark of the ghost's hand remained on 
 his arm." 
 
 " Very likely burnt it when he grilled the bacon." 
 
 "The second, that the ghost was no more seen or heard 
 of in the mill." 
 
 " That proof is a poser for you * brother, I think," said 
 Jack. 
 
 " Did yo"u heave that sigh just now, Master Fritz ? " in- 
 quired Willis, in a low tone. 
 
 " It was not I," said Fritz, looking at his brother. 
 
 " Nor I," said J-ack, looking at Willis. 
 
 " Nor I," said Willis, looking behind him.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 TVJLLIS FALLS IN WITH THE SLOOP ON TERRA FIRMA, INSTEAD 
 OF AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, AS MIGHT HAVE BF.EN EX- 
 PECTED ADMIRAL CICERO THE DEFUNCT NOT TET DEAD. 
 
 THE corvette, notwitstaiuling the multitude of British 
 cruisers scattered about the ocean, and the other dangers 
 that beset her, held on the even tenor of her way. A gale 
 sprung up now and then, but they only tended to give a 
 filip to the common-place incidents recorded in tht log. 
 This quietude was not, however, enjoyed by all the persons 
 on board. Willia was a prey to violent emotions ; and so 
 it often happens, in the midst of the profoundest calm, 
 storms often rage in the heart of man. 
 
 Whether in reality or in a dream, Willis declared that 
 Captain Littlestone paid him a visit every night, and in- 
 variably asked him precisely the same questions. On these 
 occasions, Willis asserted that he distinctly heard the door 
 open and shut whilst a shadow glided through. That he 
 might once, or even twice, have been the dupe of his own 
 imagination, is probable enough ; but a healthy mind does 
 not permit a delusion to be indefinitely prolonged it 
 struggles with the hallucination, and eventually shakes 
 it off; providing always the mind has a shadow, and not 
 a reality, to deal with, and that the patient is not a 
 monomaniac. The dilemma was consequently reduced to 
 this position either Willis was mad, or Captain Littlestone 
 was on board the Boudeuse. 
 
 In all other respects, Willis was perfectly sane. He 
 himself searched every corner of the ship, but without 
 other result than a confirmation of his own impression that 
 there were no officers on board other than those of the 
 corvette ; and yet, notwithstanding his own conviction in
 
 316 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 daylight, he still continued to assert the reality of his 
 interviews with Captain Littlestone during the night. The 
 Italians say, La speranza e il sogno d'an uomo svegliato. 
 Was Willis also dreaming with his eyes open ? Might not 
 the wish be father to the thought, and the thought produce 
 the fancy? There is only one other supposition to be 
 hazarded could it be possible, in spite of all his re- 
 searches, that Willis did see what he maintained with so 
 much pertinacity he had seen ? 
 
 These questions are too astute to admit of answers with- 
 out due consideration and reflection ; therefore, with the 
 reader's permission, we shall leave the replies over for the 
 present. 
 
 On the 12th June a voice from the mast-head called 
 " Land ahoy ! " much to the delight of the voyagers. The 
 land in question was the island of St. Helena. This sea- 
 girt ftck had not at that time become classic ground. It 
 had not yet become the prison and mausoleum of Napoleon 
 the Great. The petulant squabbles between Sir Hudson 
 Lowe and his illustrious prisoner had not been heard of. 
 Little wotted then the proud ruler of France the fate that 
 awaited him, for, when the Boudeuse touched at the island, 
 all Europe, with the single exception of England, was 
 kneeling at his feet. 
 
 On the 30th the Island of Ascension was reached. Here, 
 in accordance with a usage peculiar to French sailors, a 
 bottle, containing a short abstract of the ship's log, was 
 committed to the deep. Willis -thought this ceremony, 
 under existing circumstances, would have been Setter 
 observed in the breach than the observance, for, said he, 
 if a British cruiser picked up that bottle within twenty-four 
 hours, she stood a chance of picking up the Boudeuse as 
 well. 
 
 On the 15th July the peak of Teneriffe hove in sight. 
 This remarkable basaltic rock rises to the extraordinary 
 height of three thousand eight hundred yards above the 
 level of the sea ; it is consequently seen at a considerable 
 distance, and constitutes a valuable landmark for navi- 
 gators in these seas. Six weeks later the Boudeus* 
 dropped anchor in the Havre roads.
 
 WILL IS THE PILOT. 317 
 
 Here the three adventurers had to encounter by far the 
 greatest misfortune that had as yet befallen them. The 
 continental system of Napoleon was then in force. The 
 importation of everything English or Indian was strictly 
 prohibited. The carga the young men had brought with 
 them from New Switzerland, which already had escaped 
 so many perils, was, therefore, declared contraband, and 
 seized by the French Jtsc an institution that rarely per- 
 mitted such a prize to quit its rapacious grasp. 
 
 Behold now our poor friends, Fritz and Jack, in a 
 strange land, deprived at once of their fortune and their 
 chance of returning home the two beacons that had 
 cheered them on their way ! All their bright hopes of the 
 future were thus annihilated at one fell swoop. Their 
 fortitude almost gave way under the severity of this blow ; 
 the excess of their distress alone saved them. Grief 
 requires leisure to give itself free vent ; but when we are 
 compelled, by absolute necessity, to earn our daily bread, 
 we cannot find time for tears ; and such was the case with 
 Willis and his two friends ; they were here without a 
 friend and without resources of any kind whatever. 
 
 If they had only known Greek and Latin ; if they had 
 only been half doctors or three-quarter barristers, or if 
 even they had been doctors and lawyers complete, it 
 would have sorely puzzled their skill to have raised a 
 single sous in hard cash. Fortunately, however, whilst 
 cultivating their minds, they had acquired the art of hand- 
 ling a saw and wielding a hammer. The blouse of the 
 workman, consequently, fitted them as well as the gown 
 of the student, and they set themselves manfully to earn a 
 living by the sweat of their brow. They were carpenters 
 and blacksmiths by turns, regulating their occupations by 
 the grand doctrines of supply and demand. 
 
 Jack alone of the three was defective in steadiness ; he 
 only joined Willis and his brother at mid-day. What he 
 did with himself during the forenoon was a profound 
 mystery. He rose before daybreak, and disappeared no 
 one knew where, or for what purpose. His companions in 
 adversity endeavored in vain to discover his secret ; he 
 tras determined to conceal his movements, and 
 27*
 
 318 WILLI3 THE PILOT. 
 
 in baffling their curiosity. To judge, however, by the 
 ardor with which he worked, he was engaged in some one 
 of those schemes that are termed follies before success, but 
 which, after success, are universally acknowledged to be 
 brilliant and praiseworthy instances of industrial enterprise. 
 
 If, after a hard day's work, when assembled together iu 
 the little room that served them for parlor, kitchen, and 
 hall, the power of regret vanquished fatigue, and sadness 
 drove away sleep, then Jack, who compared himself to 
 Peter the Great, when a voluntary exile in the shipyards 
 of Saardam, would endeavor to infuse a little mirth into 
 the lugubrious party. If all his efforts to make them 
 merry failed, all three would join together in a humble 
 prayer to their Heavenly Father, who bestowed resignation 
 upon them instead. 
 
 If Willis and his two friends were not accumulating 
 wealth, at all events they were earning the bread they ate 
 honestly and worthily. They had all three laid their 
 shoulders vigorously to the wheel and kept it jogging along 
 marvellously for a month. By that time, a detailed report 
 of the seizure of their property had been placed before 
 the director of the Doinaine Extraordinaire, who was the 
 sovereign authority in all matters pertaining to the ex- 
 chequer of the empire. He saw at once that this capture 
 was extremely harsh, and probably thought that, if it 
 became known, it would raise a storm of indignation about 
 the ears of his department. Here were two young men 
 Moseses, as it were, saved from the bulrushes. Lost in 
 the desert from the period of their birth, and ignorant of 
 the dissensions then raging in Europe, they were unques- 
 tionably beyond the ordinary operation of the law. This 
 will never do, he probably said to himself; the civilization 
 which these two young men have come through so many 
 perils to seek ought not to appear to them, the moment 
 they arrived in Europe, in the form of spoliation and 
 barbarism. 
 
 The name of this extraordinary director of Doinaine 
 Extraordinaire was M. de la Boullerie, and, when we fall 
 in with the name of a really good-hearted man, we delight 
 to record it. He felt that the two young men had been
 
 WILLIS THK PILOT. 319 
 
 hardly dealt with, but he had not the power to order a 
 restitution of the property, now that the seizure had been 
 made, and sundry perquisities, of course, deducted by the 
 excise officials. Accordingly, he referred the matter to the 
 Emperor, who commanded the goods to be immediately 
 restored intact. Napoleon, at the same time, praised the 
 functionary we have named for calling his attention to the 
 merits of the case, and thanked him for such an oppor- 
 tunity of repairing an injustice.* 
 
 There are many such instances of generosity as the 
 foregoing in the career of the great Emperor mild rays 
 of the sun in the midst of thunderstorms ; sweet flowers 
 blowing here and there, in the bosom of the gigantic pro- 
 jects of his life which many will esteem more highly 
 than his miracles of strategy and the renown of his battles. 
 As nothing that tends to elevate the soul is out of place 
 in this volume, we may be permitted to insert one or two 
 of these anecdotes. 
 
 In 1806, Napoleon was at Potsdam. The Prussians 
 were humbled to the dust, and the outrage of Rossbach 
 had been fearfully avenged. A letter was intercepted, in 
 which Prince Laatsfeld, civil governor of Berlin, secretly 
 informed the enemy of all the dispositions of the French 
 army. The crime was palpable, capital, and unpardon- 
 able. There was nothing between the life and death of 
 the prince, except the time to load half a dozen muskets, 
 point them to his breast, and cry Fire. The princess 
 flew to the palace, threw herself at the feet of the Emperor, 
 beseeched, implored, and seemed almost heart-broken. 
 " Madam," said Napoleon, " this letter is the only proof 
 that exists of your husband's guilt. Throw it into the 
 fire." The fatal paper blazed, crisped, passed from blue 
 to yellow, and the treachery of Prince Laatsfeld was 
 reduced to ashes. 
 
 Another time, a young man, named Von der Sulhn, 
 journeyed from Dresden to Paris ; unless you are told, you 
 could scarcely imagine for what purpose. There are 
 
 * This circumstance is historical, and will be found at length ia 
 the Memoirs of Napoleon, by Amedee Goubard.
 
 320 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 people who travel for amusement, for business, for a 
 change of air, or merely to be able to say they have been 
 at such and such a place. Some go abroad for instruction, 
 others, perhaps, with no other object in view than to eat 
 frogs in Paris, bouillabaisse at Marseilles, a polenta at 
 Milan, macaroni at Naples, an olla podrida in Spain, or 
 conscoussou in Africa. Von der Sulhn travelled to assas- 
 sinate the Emperor. Like Scaevola and Brutus, he, no 
 doubt, imagined the crime would hand down his name to 
 posterity. In youth, all of us have erred in judgment 
 more or less. Sulhn thought the Emperor ought to be 
 slain. Unfortunately for him, the Duke of Rovigo, the 
 then minister of police, entertained a different opinion. 
 He thought, in point of fact, that the Emperor ought not 
 to be killed: hence it was that the young Saxon found 
 himself in chains, and that the Duke went to ask the 
 Emperor what he should do with him. We ought, how- 
 ever, to mention that the young man, in his character of 
 an enlightened German, testified his regret that he had not 
 succeeded in carrying out his project, and protested that, 
 in the event of regaining his liberty, he would renew 
 the attempt. " Never mind," said the Emperor to the 
 duke, " the young man's age is his excuse. Do not make 
 the affair public, for, if it is bruited about, I must punish 
 the headstrong youth, which I have no wish to do. I 
 should be sorry to plunge a worthy family into grief by 
 immolating such a scapegrace. Send him to Viricennes 
 give him some books to read, and write to his mother." 
 In 1814, the young man obtained his liberty, his family, 
 and his Germany, and it is to be hoped that lie afterwards 
 became a respectable pater-familias, a sort of Aulic coun- 
 cillor, and that, during the troublesome times in the land 
 of Sauerkraut, he was before, and not behind, the barri- 
 cades of his darling patria. If he be dead, it is to ho 
 supposed that, instead of lying a headless trunk ignomin- 
 iously in a ditch, or in the unconsecrated cemetery of Cla- 
 mort, he is reposing entire in the paternal tomb. 
 
 On the 15th of March, 1815, the Emperor landed at 
 Cannes he had returned from the island of Elba. Oi\ 
 the beach he was joined by one man. at Antibe:- by a roisk-
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 321 
 
 pany, at Digne by a battalion, at Gap by a regiment (that 
 of Laoedoyere), at Grenoble by an army. The hearts of 
 the soldiers of France went to him like steel to the load- 
 stone first a drop, and then a torrent ; the Empire, like 
 a snowball, increased as it progressed. At Lyons, the 
 Count of Artois, the setting sun, is obliged to go out of one 
 gate the moment that Napoleon, the rising sun, comes in 
 at another. Smiles, orations, triumphal arches, and even 
 the discourses that had been prepared to welcome the 
 Bourbons, were used to congratulate their successor on his 
 return. Cockades and flags were altered to suit the occa- 
 sion, by inserting a stripe of red here and another of blue 
 there. One national guard, but only one, remained faith- 
 ful to the Bourbons ; he would neither alter his cockade 
 nor his colors, and remained true to his patrons in the 
 hour of disaster. Everybody asked, what would the Em- 
 peror do with him ? Would he be imprisoned or banished ? 
 Neither ; the Emperor sent him a cross of the order of 
 merit ! It is, no doubt, grand to have overthrown the 
 brilliant army of Murad Bey in Egypt; to have vanquished 
 Melas, Wurmser, and Davidowich in Italy; Bragation, 
 Kutusoff, and Barclay de Tolly in Russia ; Mack in Ger- 
 many ; and thus to have reduced the entire continent of 
 Europe to subjection. But it appears to us that a still 
 greater feat was the victory he gained over himself, when, 
 in the midst of the fever excited by his return, and the 
 animosity of parties, he gave this cross to the solitary ad- 
 herent of misfortune. Having made these slight digres- 
 sions into, the future, it is proper that we should return to 
 our story. 
 
 The mysterious roads of Providence do not always lead 
 to the places they seem to go ; it often happens that, when 
 we expect to be swallowed up by the breakers that sur- 
 round us, we are wafted into a harbor, and that we encoun- 
 ter success where we only anticipated disappointment. 
 The rigorous enactments of the continental system, that the 
 other day had ruined the two brothers, became all at once 
 the source of unlooked-for wealth ; for, on account of the 
 scarcity of colonial produce, a scarcity dating from the pro-
 
 522 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 hibitory laws promulgated in 1 807, the merchandise of the 
 young men had more than quadrupled in value. 
 
 From the grade of hard-working mechanics they were 
 suddenly promoted to the rank of wealthy merchants. 
 They consequently abandoned the laborious employments 
 that for a month had enabled them to live, and to keep 
 despair and misery at bay. Willis, greatly to his incon- 
 venience, found himself trunsformed into a gentleman at 
 large, which caused him to make some material alterations 
 in the manipulation and quality of his pipes. 
 
 Fritz busied himself in collecting in, the by no means 
 inconsiderable sums, which their property realised. He 
 did not value the gold for its glitter or its sound, he valued 
 it only as a means of enabling himself and his brother to 
 return promptly to their ocean home. Jack undertook the 
 task of finding a scalpel to save his mother doubtless a 
 diflicult task; for how was he to induce a surgeon of 
 standing to abandon his connexion, his family, and his 
 fame, and to undertake a perilous voyage to the antipodes, 
 for the purpose of performing an operation in a desert, 
 where there were neither newspapers to proclaim it, acade- 
 micians to discuss it, nor ribbons to reward it? As for 
 the gentlemen of the dentist and barber school, like Drs. 
 Sangrado and Fontanarose of Figaro, the remedy was even 
 worse by a great deal than the disease. But, as we have 
 said, Jack promised to find a surgeon, and the research 
 was so arduous, that he was scarcely ever seen during the 
 day by either Willis or his brother. 
 
 To Willis was confided the office of chartering a ship for 
 the homeward voyage, and there were not a few obstacles 
 to overcome in order to accomplish this. French ship- 
 masters at that time engaged in very little legitimate busi- 
 ness ; they embarked their capital in privateering, prefer- 
 ing to capture the. merchantmen of England to risking their 
 owh. One morning, Willis started as usual in search of a 
 ship, but soon returned to the inn where they had estab- 
 lished their head-quarters in a state of bewilderment; he 
 threw himself into a chair, and, before he could utter a 
 word, had to fill his pipe and light it. 

 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 823 
 
 u Well," said he, " I am completely and totally flabber- 
 gasted." 
 
 "What about?" inquired the two brothers. 
 
 " You could not guess, for the life of you, what has hap- 
 pened." 
 
 " Perhaps not, Willis, and would therefore prefer you to 
 tell us at once what it is." 
 
 " After this," continued Willis, " no one need tell me 
 that there are no miracles now-a-days." % 
 
 " Then you have stumbled upon a miracle, have you, 
 Willis?" 
 
 " I should think so. That they do not happen every day, 
 I can admit ; but I have a proof that they do come about 
 sometimes." 
 
 " Very probably, Willis." 
 
 " It is my opinion that Providence often leads us about 
 by the hands, just as little children are taken to school, lest 
 they should be tempted to play truant by the way." 
 
 "Not unlikely, Willis; but the miracle!" 
 
 " I was going along quietly, not thinking I was being 
 led anywhere in particular, when, all at once, I was hove 
 
 up by If a bullet had^hit me right in the breast, I 
 
 could not have been more staggered." 
 
 " Whatever hove you up then, Willis ? " 
 
 " I was hove up by the sloop." 
 
 "What sloop?" 
 
 " The Nelson." 
 
 "Was it taking a walk, Willis?" inquired Jack. 
 
 " Have you been to sea since we saw you last ? " asked 
 Fritz. 
 
 " If I had fallen in with the craft at sea, Master Fritz, 
 I should not have been half so much astonished. The sea 
 is the natural element of ships ; we do not find gudgeons 
 in corn fields, nor shoot hares on the ocean. But it was on 
 land that I hailed the Nelson." 
 
 " Was it going round the corner of a street that you 
 tumbled upon it, Willis ? " inquired Jack. 
 
 " Not exactly ; but to make a long story short " 
 
 " When you talk of cutting anything short, we are in for 
 a yarn," said Jack.
 
 324 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " And you are sure to interrupt him in the middle of it," 
 said Fritz. 
 
 " "Well, in two words," said Willis, knocking the ashes 
 out of his pipe, " I was cruising about the shipyards, look- 
 ing if there was a condemned craft likely to suit us some 
 of them had gun-shot wounds in their timbers, others had 
 been slewed up by a shoal and, to cut the matter 
 short " 
 
 " Another yarn," suggested Jack. 
 
 " I luffed up beside the hull of a cutter-looking craft 
 that had been completely gutted. But, changed and di- 
 lapidated as that hull is, I recognized it at once to be that 
 of the Nelson. Now do you believe in miracles ? " 
 
 " But are you sure, Willis ? " 
 
 " Suppose you met Ernest or Frank in the street to- 
 morrow, pale, meagre, and in rags, would you recognize 
 them?" 
 
 " Most assuredly." 
 
 " Well, by the same token, sailors can always recognize 
 a ship they have sailed in. They know the form of every 
 plank and the line of every bend. There are hundreds 
 of marks that get spliced in^ the memory, and are never 
 forgotten. But in the present case there is no room for 
 any doubt, a portion of the figure head is still extant, and 
 the word Nelson can be made out without spectacles." 
 
 " But how did it get there ? " 
 
 " You know, Master Fritz, it could not have told me, 
 even if I had taken the trouble to inquire." 
 
 " Very true, Willis." 
 
 " I was determined, however, to find it out some other 
 way, so I steered for a cafe near the harbor, where the 
 pilots and long-shore captains go to play at dominoes. I 
 was in hopes of picking up some stray waif of information, 
 and, sooth to say, I was not altogether disappointed." 
 
 " Another meeting, I'll be bound," said Jack. 
 
 " My falling in with the Nelson astonished you, did it 
 not?"' 
 
 " Rather." 
 
 " Then I'll bet my best pipe that this one will 8urpv!?<?
 
 WILLIS THE riLOT. 325 
 
 you still more. You recollect my comrade, Bill, alias 
 Bob, of the Hoboken ? " 
 
 " Yes, perfectly." 
 
 " Then I met him." 
 
 " What ! the man who had both his legs shot off, and 
 died in consequence of his wounds?" inquired Jack. 
 
 " The same." 
 
 " And that was afterwards thrown overboard with a 
 twenty-four pound shot tied to his feet ! " exclaimed Fritz. 
 
 " The same." 
 
 At this astonishing assertion the young men regarded 
 Willis with an air of apprehension. 
 
 " You think I am mad, no doubt, do you not ? " 
 
 " Whatever can we think, Willis ? " 
 
 " I admit that my statement looks very like it at first 
 sight, but still you are wrong, as you will see by-and-by. 
 I could scarcely believe my eyes when I saw him. * Is 
 that you, Bill Stubbs,' says I, ' at last ? ' 
 
 " ' Lor love ye ! ' says he, ' is that you, Pilot ? ' 
 
 " He then took hold of my hand, and gave it such a 
 shake as almost wrenched it off. 
 
 "* Where in all the earth did you hail from ? ' he said. 
 ' I thought you were dead and gone ? ' 
 
 " ' And I thought you were the same,' said I, ' and no 
 mistake.' 
 
 " ' Alive and hearty though, as you see, Pilot ; only a 
 little at sea amongst the mounseers.' 
 
 " ' But what about the Hoboken ? ' says I. 
 
 " ' What Hoboken ?' says he. 
 
 u ' Were you not aboard a Yanke cruiser some months 
 back?' 
 
 " ' Never was aboard a Yankee in all my life,' says 
 Bill. 
 
 " And no more he was, for he never left the Nelson till 
 she was high and dry in Havre dock-yard; so, the short 
 and the long of it is, that I must have been wrong in that 
 instance." 
 
 " So I should think," remarked Fritz. 
 
 " Yet the resemblance was very remarkable; the only 
 28
 
 326 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 difference was a carbuncle on the nose, which the real 
 Bill -has and the other has not, but which I had forgotten." 
 
 " Like Cicero," remarked Jack. 
 
 " Another Admiral ? " inquired Willis, drily. 
 
 "No, he was only an orator." 
 
 " Bill soon satisfied me that he was the very identical 
 William Stubbs, and that the other was only a very good 
 imitation." 
 
 " He did not receive you with a punch in the ribs, at all 
 events, like the apocryphal Bill," remarked Jack. 
 
 " No ; but what is more to the purpose, he told me that, 
 after having struggled with the terrible tempest off New 
 Switzerland which you recollect the Nelson found 
 herself at such a distance, that Captain Littlestone re- 
 solved to proceed on his voyage, and to return again as 
 speedily as possible. 
 
 " 'We arrived at the Cape all right,' added Bill, 'land- 
 ed the New Switzerland cargo, and sailed again with the 
 Rev. Mr. Wolston on board. A few days after leaving 
 the Cape, we were pounced upon by a French frigate; 
 the Nelson, with its crew, was sent off as a prize to Havre, 
 and here I have been ever since,' said Bill, ' a prisoner at 
 large, allowed to pick up a living as I can amongst the 
 shipping.' " 
 
 " And the remainder of the crew ? " inquired Fritz. 
 
 " Are all here prisoners of war." 
 
 " And the Rev. Mr. Wolston and the captain ? " 
 
 " Are prisoners on parole." 
 
 Where ? " 
 
 " Here." 
 
 " What ! in Havre ? " 
 
 " Yes, close at hand, in the Hotel d'Espagne." 
 
 "And we sitting here," cried Jack, snatching up his 
 hat and rushing down stairs four steps at a time. 
 
 Willis and Fritz followed as fast as they could. 
 
 When they all three reached the bottom of the stairs. 
 
 " If Captain Littlestone is here, Willis," said Jack, " he 
 could not have been on board the Boudeuse." 
 
 " That is true, Master Jack."
 
 WILLIS THE t-lLOT. 327 
 
 " In that cass, Great Rono, you must Lave been dream- 
 ing in the corvette as well as in the Yankee." 
 
 " No," insisted Willis, " it was no dream, I am certain 
 of that." 
 
 " Explain the riddle, then." 
 
 " I cannot do that just at present, but it may be cleared 
 up by-and-by, like all the mysteries and miracles that sur- 
 round us."
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 CAPTAIN LITTLEBTONE IS FOUND, AND THE REV. MR. WOLSTON 18 
 SEEN FOB THE FIRST TIME. 
 
 JACK, on arriving at the hotel, ascertained the number 
 of the room in which Captain Littlestone was located. 
 In his hurry to see his old friend, the young man did not 
 stop to knock at the door, but entered without ceremony, 
 with Fritz and Willis at his heels. They found them- 
 selves in the presence of two gentlemen, one of whom sat 
 with his face buried in his hands, the other was reading 
 what appeared to be a small bible. 
 
 The latter was a young man seemingly of about twenty- 
 four or twenty-five years of age. He had a mild but no- 
 ble bearing, and his aspect denoted habitual meditation. 
 His eyes were remarkably piercing and expressive ; in 
 short, he was one of those men at whom we are led in- 
 voluntarily to cast a glance of respect, without very well 
 knowing why ; perhaps it might be owing to the gravity 
 of his demeanour, perhaps to the peculiar decorum of his 
 deportment, or perhaps to the scrupulous propriety of his 
 "dress. He raised his eyes from the book he held in his 
 hand, and gazed tranquilly at the three figures who had so 
 abruptly interrupted his reveries. 
 
 " May I inquire," said he, " to what we owe this in- 
 trusion on our privacy, gentlemen ? " 
 
 " We have to apologise for our rudeness," said Fritz ; 
 " but are you not the Rev. Mr. Wolston ? n 
 
 " My name is Charles Wolston, and I am a minister of 
 the gospel, and missionary of the church." 
 
 " Then, sir," continued Fritz, " I am the bearer of a 
 message from your father." 
 
 " From my father ! " exclaimed the missionary, starting 
 up ; " you come then from the Pacific Ocean ? "
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 329 
 
 Here the second gentleman raised his head, and looked 
 as if he had just awakened from a dream. He gazed at 
 the speakers with a puzzled air. 
 
 " Do you know me, captain ? " said Willis. 
 
 Littlestone, for it was he, continued to gaze in mute 
 astonishment, as if the events of the past had been defiling 
 through his memory ; and he probably thought that the 
 figures before him were mere phantom creations of his 
 brain. 
 
 " Willis ! can it be possible ? " he exclaimed, taking at 
 the same time the Pilot's proffered hand. 
 
 " Yes, captain, as you see." 
 
 *' And the two young Beckers, as I live ! " cried Little- 
 stone. 
 
 " Yes," said Jaek, " and delighted to find you at last.*' 
 
 Littlestone then shook them all heartily by the hand. 
 
 " It is but a' poor welcome that I, a prisoner in the 
 enemy's country, can give you to Europe; still I am truly 
 overjoyed to see you. But where have you all come 
 from ? " 
 
 " From New Switzerland," replied Jack. 
 
 " But how ? " 
 
 " By sea." 
 
 u That, of course ; and I presume another ship an 'hored 
 in Safety Bay ? " 
 
 " No, captain. Seeing you did not return to us, we 
 embarked in the pinnace and came in search of you." 
 
 " Your pinnace was but indifferently calculated to 
 weather a gale, keeping out of view the other dangers in- 
 cidental to such a voyage." 
 
 " True, captain ; but my brother and I, with Willis for 
 a pilot and Providence for a guardian, ventured to brave 
 these perils ; and here we are, as you see." 
 
 " And your mother consented to such a dangerous pro- 
 ceeding, did she ? " 
 
 " It was for her, and yet against her will, that we em- 
 barked on the voyage." 
 
 " I do not understand." 
 
 " For her, because, when we left, she was dying." 
 
 " Dying, say you ? " 
 28*
 
 330 yriLLis THE PILOT. 
 
 " Yes, and our object in coming to Europe was chiefly 
 to obtain surgical aid." 
 
 " And have you found a surgeon ' " 
 
 " Not yet, but we are in hopes of finding one.'' 
 
 " If money is wanted, besides the value of the 'cargo I 
 landed for you at the Cape, you may command my purse.'' 
 
 " A thousand thanks, captain, but the merchandise we 
 have here is likely to be sufficient for our purpose. Un- 
 fortunately, gold is not the only thing that is requisite." 
 
 "What, then?" 
 
 " In the first place, a disinterested love of humanity is 
 needful ; there are few men of science and skill who would 
 not risk more than they would gain by accepting any offer 
 we can make. It is not easy to find the heart of a son in 
 the body of a physician." 
 
 " What, then, will you do, my poor friend ? " 
 
 " That is my secret, captain." 
 
 During this conversation, the missionary had put a 
 thousand questions to Willis and Fritz relative to his 
 father, mother, and sisters, and a smile now and then lit 
 up his features as Fritz related some of the family mishaps. 
 
 " You must have undergone some hardships in your 
 voyage from the antipodes to Havre de Grace," said Lit- 
 tlestone to Jack, " notwithstanding the skill of my friend 
 the Pilot." 
 
 " Yes, captain, a few," replied Jack. " I myself made 
 a narrow escape from being killed and eaten by a couple 
 of savages." 
 
 " And how did you escape ? " 
 
 " Providence interfered at the critical moment." 
 
 " Well, so I should imagine." 
 
 " Our friend the Pilot was more fortunate ; he was ab- 
 ducted by the natives of Hawai ; but, instead of converting 
 him into mincemeat, they transformed him into a divinity, 
 bore him along in triumph to a temple, where he was per- 
 fumed with incense, and had sacrifices oifered up to him." 
 
 " Willis must have felt himself highly honored," said 
 the captain, smiling. 
 
 " These fine things did not, however, last long, for next 
 day they were wound up with a cloud of arrows."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 331 
 
 " And another interposition of Providence ? " 
 
 " Yes, none of the arrows were winged with death." 
 
 " After that," remarked Willis, " we fell in with a 
 Yankee cruiser, were taken on board, and carried into the 
 latitude of the Bahamas, where we fell in with Old Flyblow, 
 who, after a tough set-to, sent the Yankee a prize to 
 Bermuda, and took us on board as passengers." 
 
 " And," added Jack, " whilst we were under protection 
 of the American flag, Willis fell in with a certain Bill 
 Stubbs, who was shot in the fight and died of his wounds. 
 This trifling accident did not, however, prevent Willis 
 falling in with him alive in Havre." 
 
 " You still seem to delight in paradoxes, Master Jack," 
 said the captain. 
 
 "The English cruiser," continued Jack, " was afterwards 
 captured by a French corvette, on which it appears you 
 were on boai*l incognito" 
 
 u What ! I on board ? " 
 
 " Yes ; ask Willis." 
 
 " If you were not, captain, how could you come to my 
 cabin every night and ask me questions ? " inquired the 
 latter. 
 
 At this point, a shade of anxiety crossed Littlestone's 
 features; he turned and looked at the missionary the 
 missionary looked at Fritz Fritz stared at his brother 
 Jack gazed at Willis and Willis, with a puzzled air, 
 regarded everybody in turn. 
 
 "At last," continued Jack, "after experiencing a variety 
 of both good and bad fortune, sometimes vanquished and 
 sometimes the victors, first wounded, then cured, we arrived 
 here in Havre, where, for a time, we were plunged into 
 the deepest poverty ; we were blacksmiths and carpenters 
 by turns, and thought ourselves fortunate when we had 
 a chair to mend or a horse to shoe." 
 
 " The workings of Providence," said the missionary, 
 " are very mysterious, and, perhaps, you will allow me to 
 illustrate this fact by drawing a comparison. A ship is at 
 the mercy of the waves ; it sways, like a drunken man, 
 sometimes one way and sometimes another. All on board 
 are in commotion, some are hurrying down the hatchways,
 
 332 WILLIS TUK 1'ILOT. 
 
 and others are hurrying up. The sailors are twisting the 
 sails about in every possible direction. Some of the men 
 are closing up the port-holes, others are working at the 
 pumps. The officers are issuing a multiplicity of orders 
 at once, the boatswain is constantly sounding his whistle. 
 There is no appearance of order, confusion seems to reign 
 triumphant, and there is every reason to believe that the 
 commands are issued at random." 
 
 " I have often wondered," said Jack, " how so many 
 directions issued on ship board in a gale at one and the 
 same moment could possibly be obeyed." 
 
 " Let us descend, however, to the captain's cabin," con- 
 tinued the missionary. "He is alone, collected, thoughtful, 
 and tranquil, his eye fixed upon a chart. Now he observes 
 the position of the sun, and marks the meridian ; then he 
 examines the compass, and notes the polary deviation. On 
 all sides are sextants, quadrants, and chronometers. He 
 quietly issues an order, which is echoed and repeated 
 above, and thus augments the babel on deck." 
 
 " A single order," remarked Willis, " often gives rise to 
 changes in twenty different directions." 
 
 " On deck," continued the missionary, " the crew appear 
 completely disorganized. In the captain's cabin, you find 
 that all this apparent confusion is the result of calculation, 
 and is essential to the safety of the ship." 
 
 " Still," said Jack, " it is difficult to see how this result 
 is effected by disorder." 
 
 " True ; and, therefore, we must rely upon the skill of 
 the captain ; we behold nothing but uproar, but we know 
 that all is governed by the most perfect discipline. So it 
 is with the world ; society is a ship, men and their passions 
 are the mast, sails, rigging, the anchors, quadrants, and 
 sextants of Providence. We understand nothing of the 
 combined action of these instruments ; we tremble at 
 every shock, and fear that every whirlwind is destined to 
 sweep us away. But let us penetrate into the chamber of 
 the Great Ruler. He issues his commands tranquilly ; we 
 see that He is watching over our safety ; and whatever 
 happens, our hearts beat with confidence, and our minds 
 are at rest."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 333 
 
 " Therefore," added Littlestone, " we are resigned to our 
 fate as prisoners of war ; but still we hope." 
 
 " And not without good reason," said Willis ; " for it 
 will go hard with me if I do not realize your hopes, and 
 that very shortly too." 
 
 " I do not see very well how our hopes of liberty can be 
 realized till peace is proclaimed." 
 
 " Peace ! " exclaimed Willis. " Yes, in another twenty 
 years or so, perhaps ; to wait for such an unlikely event 
 will never do ; my young friend, Master Jack Becker, is 
 in a hurry, and we must all leave this place within a 
 month at latest." 
 
 " You mean us, then, to make our escape, Willis ; but 
 that is impossible." 
 
 " I have an idea that it is not impossible, captain ; the 
 cargo Masters Fritz and Jack have here will realize a 
 large sum ; the pearls, saffron, and cochineal, are bringing 
 their weight in gold. I shall be able to charter or buy a 
 ship with the proceeds, and some dark night we shall all 
 embark ; and if a surgeon is not willing to come of his 
 own accord, I shall press the best one in the place : it 
 won't be the first time I have done such a thing, with 
 much less excuse." 
 
 " One will be willing," said Jack; "so you need not 
 introduce One-eyed Dick's schooner here, Willis." 
 
 " So far so good, then ; it only remains for us to smuggle 
 the captain, the missionary, and the crew of the Nelson on 
 board." 
 
 " But we are prisoners," said Littlestone. 
 
 " I know that well enough ; if you were not prisoners, 
 of course there would be no difficulty." 
 
 " Recollect, Willis, we are not only prisoners, but we 
 are on parole." 
 
 "True," said Willis, scratching his ear, "I did not 
 tbink of that." 
 
 "The situation," remarked Jack, ."is something like 
 that of Louis XIV. at the famous passage of the Rhine, of 
 whom Boileau said: ' His grandeur tied him to the banks.' 
 Had you been only a common sailor, captain, a parole 
 would not hav stood in the way of your escape."
 
 334 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " But," said Willis, " the parole can be given up, can it 
 not. ? " 
 
 " Not without a reasonable excuse," replied the captain. 
 
 " Well," continued Willis, " you can go with the minister 
 to the Maritime Prefect, and say: 'Sir, you know that 
 everyone's country is dear to one's heart, and you will not 
 be astonished to hear that myself and friend have an 
 ardent desire to return to ours. This desire on our part 
 is so great, that some day we may be tempted to fly, and, 
 consequently, forfeit our honor ; for, after ail, there are 
 only a few miles of sea between us and our homes. We 
 ought not to trust to our strength when we know we are 
 weak. Do us, therefore, the favor to withdraw our 
 parole ; we prefer to take up our abode in a prison, so 
 that, if we can escape, we may do so with our honor 
 intact." 
 
 " And suppose this favor granted, we shall be securely 
 shut up in a dungeon. I scarcely think that would alter 
 our position for the better, or render our escape prac- 
 ticable." 
 
 " You will, at all events, be free to try, will you not ? " 
 
 " That is a self-evident proposition, Willis, and, so far 
 as that goes, I have no objection to adopt the alternative 
 of prison fare. What say you, minister?" 
 
 " As for myself," replied the missionary, " a little addi- 
 tional hardship may do me good, for the Scriptures say : 
 Suffering purifieth the soul." 
 
 " We shall, therefore, resign our paroles, Willis ; 
 but bear in mind that it is much easier to get into 
 prison than to get out." 
 
 " Leave the getting out to me, captain ; where there's 
 * will there's always a way." 
 
 "Do you think," whispered the captain to Fritz, "that 
 Willis is all right in his upper story ? " 
 
 Fritz shook his head, which, in the ordinary acceptation 
 of the sign, means, I really do not know.
 
 CAAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 WILLIS PROVES THAT THE ONLT WAT TO BE PHEE IS TO Oil 
 SENT TO PRISON AN ESCAPE A DISCOVERY PROMO- 
 TIONS SOMNAMBULISM. 
 
 THREE weeks after the events narrated in the foregoing 
 chapter, the thrice-rescued produce of Oceania had been 
 converted into the current coin of the empire. 
 
 The greater portion of the proceeds was placed at the 
 disposal of Willis, to facilitate him in procuring the means 
 of returning to New Switzerland. He like connoisseurs 
 who buy up seemingly worthless pictures, because they 
 have detected, or fancy they have detected, some masterly 
 touches rarely found on modern canvas had bought, not 
 a ship, but the remains of what had once been one. This 
 he obtained for almost nothing, but he knew the value of 
 his purchase. The carcass was refitted under his own eye, 
 and, when it left the ship-yard, looked as if it had been 
 launched for the first time. The timbers were old ; but 
 the cabins and all the internal fittings were new ; a few 
 sheets of copper and the paint-brush accomplished the 
 rest. When the mast was fitted in, and the new sails bent, 
 the little sloop looked as jaunty as a nautilus, and, accord- 
 ing to Willis himself, was the smartest little craft that 
 ever hoisted a union-jack. 
 
 Whether the captain and the missionary still entertained 
 the belief that the Pilot's wits had gone a wool-gathering 
 or not, certain it is that they had followed his instructions, 
 in so far as to relinquish their parole, and thus to lose their 
 personal liberty. They were both securely locked up in 
 one of the rooms or cells of the old palace or castle of 
 Francois I., which was then, and perhaps is still, used as 
 the state prison of Havre de Grace. This fortalice chiefly 
 consists of a battlemented round tower, supported by strong
 
 336 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 bastions, and pierced, here and there, by small windows, 
 strongly barred. The foot of the tower is bathed by the 
 sea, which, as Willis afterwards remarked, was not only a 
 favor granted to the tower, but likewise an obligation 
 conferred upon themselves. 
 
 When the Pilot's purchase had been completely re-fitted, 
 stores shipped, papers obtained, and every requisite made 
 for the outward voyage, the departure of the three adven- 
 turers was announced, and a crowd assembled on shore to 
 see their ship leave the harbor. She was towed out to the 
 roads, where she lay tranquilly mirrored in the sea, ready 
 to start the moment her commander stepped on board. 
 Neither Fritz nor Jack, however, had yet completed their 
 preparations. For the moment, therefore, the vessel was 
 left in charge of some French seamen, whom Willis, 
 however, had taken care to engage only for a short period. 
 
 Somewhere about a week after this, Fritz and Jack, in 
 a small boat, painted perfectly black and manned by four 
 stout rowers, with muffled oars, were lurking about the 
 fortalice already mentioned. The night was pitch dark, 
 and there was no moon. The waves beat sullenly on the 
 foot of the tower and surged back upon themselves, like 
 an enraged enemy making an abortive attempt to storm 
 .the walls of a town. Not a word was uttered, and the 
 young men were intently listening, as if expecting to hear 
 some preconcerted signal. 
 
 Meanwhile, in one of the rooms or cells of the round 
 tower, about sixty feet above the level of the sea, Captain 
 Littlestone, the missionary, and the Pilot were engaged in 
 a whispered conversation, through which might be detected 
 the dull sound of an oiled file working against iron. The 
 cell was ample in size, but the stone walls were without 
 covering of any kind. It was lighted during the day by 
 one of the apertures we have already described ; the 
 thickness of the walls did not permit the rays of the sun 
 to penetrate to the interior, and at the time of which we 
 speak the apartment was perfectly dark. 
 
 " I should like to see the warder," whispered Willis, 
 " when he comes, with his bundle of keys and his night- 
 cap in his hand, to wish your honors good morning, but,
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 337 
 
 in point of fact, to see whether your honors are in afe 
 custody. How astonished the old rascal will be ! Ho, 
 ho, ho ! " 
 
 " My good fellow," said the missionary. " it is scarcely 
 time to laugh yet. It is just possible we may escape ; but 
 vain boasting is in no case deserving of approbation. It 
 is, indeed, scarcely consistent with the dignity of my cloth 
 to be engaged in breaking out of a prison ; still, I am a 
 man of peace, and not a man of war." 
 
 " No," said Willis, " you are not ; but I wish to good- 
 ness you were a seventy-four under the right colors, of 
 course." 
 
 "I was going to remark," continued the missionary, 
 " that I am a man of peace, and, consequently, do not think 
 that I am justly entitled to be treated as a prisoner of 
 war. Under these circumstances, I am, no doubt, justified 
 in shaking off my bonds in any way that is open to me ; 
 the more particularly as the apostle Paul was once rescued 
 from bondage in a similar way." 
 
 " He was let down from a window in a basket, was he 
 not ? " 
 
 " Yes ; whilst journeying in the city of Damascus, the 
 governor, whose name was Avetas resolved to arrest hin. 
 and accordingly placed sentries at all the gates. Paul, 
 however was permitted to pass through a house, the 
 windows of which overhung the walls of the town, 
 whence, as you say, he was let down in a basket, and 
 escaped." * 
 
 " I trust your reverence will be in much the same 
 position as the apostle, by-and-by only you will have to 
 dispense with the basket," said Willis. 
 
 " I have no wish to remain in bondage longer than is 
 absolutely necessary," said the minister ; " but there still 
 seem difficulties in the way." 
 
 " Yes," said Willis, plying the file with redoubled energy, 
 "this iron gives me more bother than I anticipated ; but it 
 is the nature of iron to be hard ; however, it will not be 
 long before we are all out of bondage, as .your reverence 
 calls it." 
 
 * 2nd Cor., xi., 32. 
 29
 
 338 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " May not the warder discover our escape, and raise an 
 alarm in time to retake us ? " inquired the missionary. 
 
 " No, I think not," replied the captain ; " thanks to our 
 habit of sleeping with our faces to -the wall, he will be de- 
 ceived by the dummies we have placed in the beds, for he 
 always approaches on tip-toe not to awake us." 
 
 " That may be for the first round ; but the second will 
 assuredly disclose our absence." 
 
 " Very likely," remarked Willis ; " lie will then go right 
 op to the beds, and .shake the dummies by the shoulders, 
 and say, Does your honor not know that it is ten o'clock, 
 and that your breakfast is cooling ? The dummies will, 
 
 of course, not condescend to reply, and then but what 
 
 matters ? By that time we shall have shaken out our top- 
 sail, and pursuit will be out of the question. I should like 
 to see the craft that will overtake us when once we are a 
 couple of miles ahead." 
 
 " Poor man ! " said the missionary, sighing; "our escape 
 may, perhaps, cost him his place." 
 
 " No fear of that," said Willis ; " perhaps, at first, he 
 will make an attempt to tear his hair, but, as he wears a 
 wig, that will not do much mischief." 
 
 " I shall, however, leave my purse on the table," said the 
 missionary ; " as it is tolerably well filled, that may afford 
 the poor fellow some consolation." 
 
 ' And I shall do the same," said the captain. 
 
 " If that does not console him for being deprived of the 
 pleasure of our society, I do not know what will," observed 
 Willis. 
 
 "It is now two o'clock," said the captain, feeling his 
 watch, " and the warder goes hi.s first rounds at three , we 
 have therefore just one hour for our preparations." 
 
 " I have severed one bar," said Willis, " and the other 
 is nearly through at one end, so keep your minds perfectly 
 at ease." 
 
 " Your patience and equanimity, Willis, does you infinite 
 credit," said the missionary. " Minister of the Gospel 
 though I be, I fear that I do not possess these qualities to 
 the same extent, for, to confess the truth, I feel an inward 
 -earning to be free, and yet am restless and anxious."
 
 WILLIS THli PILOT. 335 
 
 " There is no great use in being in a hurry," said the 
 Pilot ; " the more haste the less speed, you know." 
 
 'True ; but might not these bars have been sawn through 
 before ? If this had been done, our flight would have 
 been, at least, less precipitate." 
 
 " You forget, Mr. "Wolston," said the captain, "that we 
 did not know till nine o'clock the affair was to come off 
 to-night." 
 
 " And I could not come any sooner to tell you," re- 
 marked the Pilot ; " I had the greatest difficulty in the 
 \vorld to get in here ; the maritime commissary would not 
 take me into custody." 
 
 " I forgot to ask you how you contrived to get incar- 
 cerated," observed the captain ; " you were not a prisoner, 
 and could not plead your parole." 
 
 "No; and consequently I had to plead something else." 
 
 " Willis," said the missionary, " the work you are en- 
 gaged in must be very fatiguing, let me exercise my 
 strength upon the bars for a short time." 
 
 " If you like, minister, but keep the file well oiled." 
 
 " What, motive, then, did you urge, Willis?" inquired 
 Captain Littlestone. 
 
 ' ' Mr. Commissary,' said I, ' one of your frigates cap- 
 tured the English cutter Nelson some time ago, but the 
 capture was not complete.' 
 
 ' How so ?' inquired the commissary. 
 " ' Because, Mr. Commissary,' said I, ' you did not cap- 
 ture the boatswain, and a British ship without a boatswain 
 is no good ; it is like a body without a soul.' 
 
 "'Is that all you have to tell me?" said the commissary, 
 looking glum. 
 
 " ' No,' said I, ' to make the capture complete, you have 
 still to arrest the boatswain, and here he is standing before 
 you I am the man ; but having been detained by family 
 affairs in the Pacific Ocean, I could not surrender myself 
 any sooner.' 
 
 " ' And what do you want me to do with you ? ' said he. 
 
 " ' Why, what you would have done with me had I been 
 on board the Nelson, to be sure.' 
 
 " ' What ! take you prisoner ? '
 
 340 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " ' Yes, commissary.' 
 
 " ' You wish me to do so ? ' 
 
 " ' Yes, certainly.' 
 
 " ' Is it possible ? ' 
 
 " ' Then you refuse to take me into custody, Mr. Com- 
 missary ? ' said I. 
 
 " ' Yes, positively,' said he; 'we take prisoners, but we 
 do not accept them when offered.' 
 
 " ' Then you will not allow me to join my captain in his 
 adversity ? ' 
 
 " 'Your captain is as great a fool as yourself,' said he ; 
 'he need not have gone to prison unless he liked.' 
 
 " ' That was a matter of taste on his part, Mr. Commis- 
 sary, but is a matter of duty on mine.' " 
 
 " This bar is nearly through," whispered the missionary. 
 
 " There is no time to be lost," said the captain ; " the 
 warder will be round in a quarter of an hour." 
 
 " Well," continued Willis, " the commissary began to 
 get angry, he rose up, and was about to leave the room, 
 when I placed myself resolutely before him. 
 
 "' Sir,' said I, 'one word more you know the French 
 laws ; be good enough to tell me what crime will most 
 surely and most promptly send me to prison.' 
 
 " ' Oh, there are plenty of them,' said he, laughing. 
 
 " ' Well, commissary,' says I, ' suppose I knock you 
 down here on the spot, will that do ? " 
 
 " Was that not going a little too far, Willis ?" 
 
 " What could I do ? The ship was all ready, everybody 
 on board but yourselves, circumstances were pressing, and 
 you know I would have floored him as gently as possible." 
 
 At this moment the bar yielded. To the end of a piece 
 of twine, which Willis had rolled round his body, a piece 
 of stone was attached ; this he let down till it touched the 
 water, and then the caw of a crow rang through the air. 
 
 " That was a very good imitation, Willis," said the 
 captain. " You did not break any of the commissary's 
 bones, did you ? " 
 
 " No ; the threat was quite sufficient ; he would not 
 yield to my prayers, but he yielded to my impudence, and 
 ordered me into custody. At first, however, I was thrust
 
 WILLIS THK PILOT. 841 
 
 ^ 
 
 into an underground cell; but I obtained, or rather my 
 louis obtained for me, permission to chum with you ; and, 
 by the way, what a frightful staircase I had to mount ! 
 that more than any tiling else, obliges us to get down by 
 the window." 
 
 Willis, who continued to hold one end of the cord, at 
 the sound of a whistle drew it up, and found attached to 
 the other end a stout rope ladder. This he made fast to 
 the bars of the window that still remained intact. At the 
 request of the minister, all three then fell upon their 
 knees and uttered a short prayer. Immediately after, 
 Wolston went out of the window and began to descend, 
 the captain followed, and Willis brought up the rear. AH 
 three were cautiously progressing downwards, when the 
 missionary called out he had forgotten to forget his 
 purse. 
 
 " I have made the same omission," said the captain ; 
 " hand yours up, Wolston." 
 
 The missionary accordingly held up his with one hand 
 whilst he held on the ladder with the other. The captain 
 bent down to take it, but found he could not reach it with- 
 out endangering his equilibrium. They both made some 
 desperate efforts to accomplish the feat, but the thing was 
 impossible. 
 
 " I see no help for it," said the missionary, " but to 
 ascend all three again." 
 
 " That is awkward," said the captain. 
 
 " Gentlemen," said Willis, " three o'clock is striking on 
 the prison clock ; the warder will be round in two minutes." 
 
 " God sometimes permits good actions to go un- 
 rewarded" said the missionary ; "but he never punishet 
 them." 
 
 " Let us re-ascend, then," said the captain. 
 
 " So be it," said Willis, going upwards. 
 
 They had scarcely time to re-enter the cell before they 
 heard the sound of steps and the clank of keys in the cor- 
 ridor. The steps discontinued at their door, and a key 
 was thrust into the lock. 
 
 " What is the matter ? " cried the captain from his bed, 
 as the gaoler thrust his head inside the door. 
 29*
 
 342 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 I 
 
 " Why," said the warder, " I heard a noise, and thought 
 that your honor might be ill." 
 
 " Thank you for your attention, Ambroise," replied the 
 captain, in a half sleepy tone ; " but you have been 
 deceived, we are all quite well." 
 
 " Entirely so," added the missionary. 
 
 " All right old fellow ! " cried Willis, with a yawn. 
 
 This triple affirmation, which assured him, not only of 
 the health, but also of the custody of his prisoners, seemed 
 satisfactory to the gaoler. 
 
 " I am sorry to have awoke your honors," said he, as 
 he withdrew his head and relocked the door ; " it must 
 have been in the room overhead." 
 
 " Good ? " said Willis, " the old rascal expects nothing/' 
 
 Two well-lined purses were laid on the table, and in a 
 few minutes more the three men resumed their position 
 on the ladder in the same order as before. They arrived 
 safely in the boat, where they were cordially welcomed by 
 Fritz and Jack. The men were then ordered to pull for 
 their lives to the ship, which they did with a hearty will. 
 The instant they stepped on board the anchor was 
 weighed, and when morning broke not a vestige of the 
 old tower of Havre de Grace was anywhere to be seen. . 
 
 "Why," exclaimed the captain, looking about him with 
 an air of astonishment, " this is my own vessel ! " 
 
 " Yes, captain," said Willis, touching his cap, " and I 
 am its boatswain or pilot, whichever your honor chooses 
 to call me." 
 
 " But how did you obtain possession of her?" 
 
 " By right of purchase she belongs to our friends, 
 Masters Fritz and Jack, but they have agreed to waive 
 their claim, providing you proceed with them to New 
 Switzerland." 
 
 " I agree most willingly to these conditions," said 
 Captain Littlestone, addressing the two brothers, " the 
 more so that my destination was Sydney when the Nelson 
 was captured." 
 
 ",In the meantime, captain," said Fritz, "my brother 
 and I have to request that you will resume the command, 
 and treat us as passengers."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 843 
 
 " Thank you, my friends, thank you. Willis, are all the 
 old crew on board ? " 
 
 " All that were in Havre, your honor ; I commissioned 
 Bill Stubbs to pick them up, and he managed to smuggle 
 them all on board." 
 
 " Then pipe all hands on deck." 
 
 " Aye, aye, captain," said Willis, sounding his whistle. 
 
 When the men were mustered, Littlestone made a short 
 speech to them, told them that they would receive pay 
 for the time they had been in the enemy's power, and 
 inquired whether they were all willing to continue the 
 voyage under his command. This question was responded 
 to by a general assent. 
 
 " Then," he continued, turning to Willis, " the share 
 you have had in the rescue of the Nelson and its crew, 
 conjointly with my interest at the Admiralty, will, I have 
 not the slightest doubt, obtain for you the well-merited 
 rank of lieutenant of his Majesty's navy. I have, there- 
 fore, to request that you will assume that position on 
 board during the voyage, until confirmed by the arrival 
 of your commission." 
 
 <l Thank your honor," said Willis, bowing. 
 
 " And now, lieutenant, you will be kind enough to rate 
 William Stubbs on the books as boatswain." 
 
 " Aye, aye, captain," said Willis, handing his whistle to 
 Bill. 
 
 " Pipe to breakfast." said the captain. 
 
 " Aye, aye, sir," replied the new boatswain, sounding 
 the whistle. 
 
 " By the way," said Littlestone, turning to Jack, "I do 
 not see the surgeon you spoke of on board. How is this?" 
 
 " He is on board for all that," said Jack, drawing an 
 official looking document out of his pocket; "be kind 
 enough to read that." 
 
 The captain accordingly read as follows : 
 
 " Havre, \bth October, 1812. 
 
 " This is to certify that Mr. Jack Becker has, for some 
 time, been a student in the hospitals of this town, and that 
 he has auccessfully passed through a stringent examination
 
 344 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 as to his acquaintance with the diagnosis and cure of 
 various diseases; as also as to his knowledge of the prac- 
 tice of physic and surgery generally. 
 
 " He has specially directed his attention to the treat- 
 ment of cancer, and has performed several operations for 
 the eradication of that malady to the satisfaction of the 
 surgeon in chief and my own. 
 
 (Signed) " GARAY DE NEVRES, M. D., 
 
 " Inspector of the Hospitals". 
 
 This document was countersigned, sealed, and stamped 
 by the mayor, the prefect, and other authorities of the 
 department. 
 
 * 4 How have you contrived to obtain so satisfactory a 
 certificate in so short a period ? " inquired the captain. 
 
 " I was introduced to the chief surgeon by the medical 
 man on board the Boudeu-se. I stated my position to him, 
 and, probably, he threw facilities in my way of obtaining 
 the object I had in view that were, perhaps, rarely accorded 
 to others. All the cases of cancer, for example, were 
 placed under my care ; I had, therefore, an opportunity 
 of observing a great many phases and varieties of that 
 disease." 
 
 " Are you determined to follow up the profession of 
 surgery, then?" 
 
 u Yes, captain ; I have shipped a medicine chest on 
 board, a complete assortment of instruments, and a col- 
 lection of English, French, and German medical works. 
 It is my intention to make myself thoroughly familiar 
 with the theory of the science, and trust to chance for 
 practice." 
 
 " Then allow me, Mr. Becker, to rate you as surgeon of 
 the Nelson for the outward voyage. Will you accept the 
 office?" 
 
 " With pleasure, Captain ; but, at the same time, I trust 
 there will be no occasion to exercise my skill." 
 
 " No one can say what may happen ; disease turns up 
 where it is least expected. Lieutenant," he added, turning 
 to Willis, " be kind enough to rate Mr. Becker on the 
 ship's books as surgeon."
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 345 
 
 " Aye, Aye, sir." 
 
 Meantime the Nelson was making her way rapidly 
 along the French coa<t, and had already crossed the Bay of 
 Biscay. The Nelson behaved herself admirably, and took 
 to her new gear with excellent grace. All was going mer- 
 rily as a marriage bell. They did not now run very much 
 risk of cruisers, as Fritz had French papers perfectly en 
 regie, and Captain Littlestone would have had little diffi- 
 culty to prove his identity ; besides, the speed of the Nel- 
 son was sufficient to secure their safety in cases where 
 danger was to be apprehended. 
 
 One night, about four bells (ten o'clock), when Willis 
 was lazily lolling in his hammock, doubtless ruminating 
 on his newly-acquired dignity, his cabin-door gradually 
 opened, and the captain entered. Willis stared at first, 
 thinking he might have something important to communi- 
 cate, but he only muttered something about a cloud gather- 
 ing in the west. This was too much for Willis ; it resem- 
 bled his former meditations so vividly, that he leaped out 
 of his hammock, seized Littlestone by the collar, and 
 called loudly for Fritz and Jack. 
 
 " It is not very respectfull, captain, to handle you in 
 this way ; but the case is urgent, and I should like to have 
 the mystery cleared up." 
 
 The two brothers, when they entered the cabin, beheld 
 Willis holding the captain tightly in his arms. 
 
 " I have caught him at last, you see," said the Pilot. 
 
 " So it would appear," observed Jack ; " but are you 
 not aware the captain is asleep ? " 
 
 And so it was. Littlestone had walked from his own 
 cabin to that of Willis in a state of somnambulism. 
 
 "What is the matter?" inquired the latter, when he 
 became conscious of his position. 
 
 " Nothing is the matter, captain," replied Jack, " only 
 you have been walking in your sleep." 
 
 " Ah yes it must be so ! " exclaimed Littlestone, 
 gazing about him with a troubled air. " Have I not paid 
 you a visit of this kind before, Willis ? " 
 
 " Yes, often." 
 
 " Where ? "
 
 346 WILLIS THE PILOT. 
 
 " On board the Boudeuse" 
 
 "That must have been the craft I was tranferred to, 
 then, after the capture of the Nelson. Just call Mr. Wol 
 ston, and let us have the matter explained." 
 
 On comparing notes, it appeared that the captain and 
 the missionary had been on board the Boudeuse. Both 
 had been ill, and both had been closely confined to their 
 cabin during the entire voyage, partly on account of their 
 being prisoners of war, and partly on account of their ill- 
 ness. On one occasion, but on one only, the captain had 
 escaped from his cabin during the night. Willis might, 
 therefore, have seen him once, but that he had seen him 
 oftener was only a dream. 
 
 " It appears, then," said Littlestone, " that my illness 
 has left this unfortunate tendency to sleep-walking. I 
 shall, therefore, place myself in your hands, Master Jack ; 
 perhaps you may be able to chase it away." 
 
 " I will do my best, captain ; and I think I may venture 
 to promise a cure." 
 
 Willis was sorry for the captain's sleeplessness, but he 
 was glad that the mystery hanging over them both had 
 been so far cleared up. His visions and dreams had been 
 a source of constant annoyance to him ; but now that their 
 origin had been discovered, he felt that henceforward he 
 might sleep in peace. 
 
 After a rapid run, the sloop cast anchor off the Cape. 
 Here Captain Littlestone reported himself to the com- 
 mander on the station, and received fresh papers. He 
 also sent off a despatch to the Lords of the Admiralty, in 
 which he reported the capture and rescue of his ship. He 
 informed them that his own escape and that of the crew 
 was entirely owing to the tact and daring of Willis, the 
 boatswain, whom, in consequence, he had nominated his 
 second in command, vice Lieutenant Dunsford, deceased 
 the appointment subject, of course, to their lordship's ap- 
 proval. 
 
 Willis wrote a long letter to his wife, informing her of 
 his expected promotion, adding that, in a year or so after 
 the receipt of his commission, he should retire on half-pay, 
 and then emigrate to a delightful country, where he had
 
 WILLIS THE PILOT. 347 
 
 been promised a vast estate. He said that, probably, he 
 should have an entire island to himself, and possibly have 
 the command of the fleet ; but he thought it as well to say 
 nothing about tigers, sharks, and chimpanzees. 
 
 The missionary also wrote to England, relinquishing 
 his charge in South Africa, and requesting a mission 
 amongst the benighted inhabitants of the Pacific Ocean, 
 where he stated he was desirous of settling for family 
 reasons, and where besides, he said, he would have a wider 
 and equally interesting field for his labors. 
 
 The two brothers found at the Cape a large sum of 
 money at their disposal ; this, however, they had now no 
 immediate use for ; they, consequently, left it to await the 
 arrival of Frank and Ernest, who, in all probability, would 
 return with the Nelson. 
 
 The arrangements made, the Nelson was fully armed 
 and manned, an ample supply of stores and ammunition 
 was shipped, the mails in Sydney were taken on board, 
 and the sloop resumed her voyage.
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 THRKE months after leaving the Cape, the coast of New 
 Switzerland was telegraphed from the mast head by Bill 
 Stubbs. A gun was immediately fired, and towards even- 
 ing the Nehon entered Safety Bay. Fritz, Jack, Captain 
 Littlestone, the missionary, and WilUs, were all standing 
 on de*ck, eagerly scanning the shore. 
 
 " There is father!" cried Jack, "armed with a telescope ; 
 and now I see Frank and Mrs. Wolston." 
 
 " There comes Mr. Wolston and Master Ernest," cried 
 Willis, " as usual, a little behind." 
 
 " But I see nothing of my mother and the young ladies ! " 
 said Fritz. 
 
 " Very odd," said Captain Littlestone, sweeping the hori- 
 zon with his glass "I can see nothing of them either." 
 
 A horrible apprehension here glided into the hearts of 
 the young men. They knew well that, had their mother 
 been able, she would have been the first to welcome them 
 home. Perhaps, under the inspiration of despair, their 
 lips were opening to deny the mercy of that Providence 
 which had hitherto so remarkably befriended them, when 
 at a great distance, and scarcely perceptible to the naked 
 eye, they descried three figures advancing slowly towards 
 the shore. 
 
 One of these forms was Mrs. Becker, who was leaning 
 upon the arms of Mary and Sophia Wolston. 
 
 " God be thanked, we are still in time," cried Fritz and 
 Jack. 
 
 A loud cheer, led by Willis, then rent the air. Half tin 
 hour after, the two young men leaped on shore ; they did 
 not stay to shake hands with their father and brothers, but 
 ran on to where their mother stood. It was a long time 
 before they could utter a syllable ; the greeting of the
 
 WILLIS THK PILOT. 349 
 
 mother and her children was too affectionate to be ex- 
 pressed in words. 
 
 Next morning, at daybreak, preparations for a serious 
 operation were made in Mrs. Becker's room. The entire 
 colony was in a state of intense excitement, and an air of 
 anxiety was imprinted on every countenance. In the 
 room itself the wing of a fly could have Been heard, so 
 breathless was the silence that prevailed. The patient's 
 eyes had been bandaged, under pretext of concealing from 
 her sight the surgical instruments and preparations for the 
 operation. The real design, however, was to hide the 
 operator, whom Mrs. Becker supposed to be an expert 
 practitioner from Europe ; for it was not thought advisable 
 that a mother's anxieties should be superadded to the 
 patient's sufferings. 
 
 At the moment of trial the few persons present had sunk 
 on their knee> ; Jack alone remained standing at the bed- 
 side of his mother. The Jack of the past had entirely 
 disappeared ; he was somewhat pale, very grave, but 
 collected, firm, and resolute. It was, perhaps, the first 
 instance on record of a son being called upon to lacerate 
 the body of his mother. But the moment that God im- 
 posed such a task upon one of His creatures, it is God 
 himself that becomes the operator. 
 
 When, some days after, Mrs. Becker calm, radiant, 
 and saved requested to see and thank her deliverer, it 
 was Jack who presented himself. If she had known this 
 sooner, it would, most undoubtedly, have augmented her 
 terror, and increased the fever. As it was, it redoubled 
 her thankfulness, and hastened her recovery. 
 
 Frank and Ernest embarked on board the Nelson when 
 she returned to New Switzerland on her way to Europe. 
 Two years afterwards, the former returned in the capacity 
 of a minister of the Church of England, bringing with him 
 a sufficient number of men, women, and children to furnish 
 a respectable congregation ; and it was rumored, though 
 with what degree of truth I will not venture to say, that 
 one of the young lady passengers in the ship was his des- 
 tined bride. Ernest remained some years in Europts, 
 partly to consolidate relations between the colony and the 
 30
 
 350 WILLIS THB PILOT. 
 
 mother country, and partly with a view to realize his pet 
 project of establishing an observatory in New Switzerland. 
 
 Willis, instead of being suspended at the yard-arm as 
 he had insisted on prognosticating, received his lieutenancy 
 in due course, accompanied by a highly flattering letter 
 from the Lords of the Admiralty, thanking him, in the 
 name of the captain and crew of the Nelson, for his exer- 
 tions in their behalf. As soon, however, as peace was 
 proclaimed, he retired on half-pay, and, with his wife and 
 daughter, emigrated to Oceania. He assumed his old post 
 of admiral on Shark's Island, where a commodious house 
 had been erected. We must premise, at the same time, 
 that to his honorary duties as admiral, conjoined the hum- 
 bler, but not less useful, offices of lighthouse keeper, man- 
 ager of the fisheries, and harbor-master. 
 
 As a country grows rich, and advances in prosperity, it 
 rarely, if ever, happens that the sum of human life becomes 
 happier or better. It is, therefore, not without regret we 
 learn that gold has been discovered in a land so highly 
 favored by nature in other respects ; for, if such be the 
 case, then adieu to the peace and tranquillity its inhabitants 
 have hitherto enjoyed. The colony will soon be overrun 
 with Chinamen, American adventurers, and ticket-of-leave 
 convicts. Farewell to the kindliness and hospitality of the 
 community, for they will inevitably be deluged with the 
 refuse of the old, and also, alas ! of the new world. 
 
 THK END.
 
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