W A L T E R G II A F T O N . SEE PAGE 332. 
 The American Flag shall protect the American Seaman. 
 
SALT WATER BUBBLES; 
 
 LIFE ON THE WAVE. 
 
 HAWSER MARTINGALE. 
 
 WITH 
 
 ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS BY KILBURN & MALLORY. 
 
 1 The earth hath bubbles as the water has, 
 And these are of them." 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 BOSTON 
 WM. J. REYNOLDS & CO 
 
 X . 24 COR X HILL 
 1854 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by 
 
 WM. J. REYNOLDS & CO., 
 In the Clerk s Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 
 
 Stereotyped by 
 
 HOBART & ROBBINS, 
 
 New England Type and Stereotype F->u.W 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 PRESS OF G. C. RAND, COUNIIILL. 
 
ADDRESS TO THE READER. 
 
 THE tales of which this volume is composed were mostly writ 
 ten for publication in another form, and have appeared at different 
 times in the columns of the Boston Journal. They were received 
 with favor by the subscribers to that newspaper ; and the demand 
 is so often made for more, or for the republication of those which 
 have already been laid before the public, that the author has con 
 sented to prepare for publication a volume of these " Salt Water 
 Bubbles," carefully revised, with emendations and additions. 
 
 There is a sort of romance connected with adventures on the 
 sea, or anything pertaining to a nautical life, which, perhaps, 
 exists more in imagination than in fact ; and to this, I am aware, 
 may be attributed, to a certain extent, the popularity which 
 these tales have acquired. It was my aim, when preparing them 
 for publication, to furnish faithful pictures of nautical life, of 
 scenes on shipboard, and sketches of the character of the sailor 
 in the American merchant service during the first quarter of the 
 present century. That the nautical details relative to the scenes 
 and incidents described hi these stories are accurate, I believe will 
 not be questioned, any more than the fidelity of the pictures 
 drawn of life in the forecastle or the cabin, among those real 
 " web-footed old salts," who navigated and manned our merchant 
 ships thirty years ago. 
 
 It may be urged that the language of the sailors who figure in 
 these " Bubbles" is of a less technical, profane, and otherwise 
 objectionable character than is generally ascribed to the men 
 who pass their lives on the ocean. Many believe that every sen 
 tence uttered by a sailor when afloat smacks strongly of tar or 
 pitch ; that every third word is a puzzler to a landsman, or of a 
 character to shock his sense of propriety and decency ; and that 
 his whole dialect is so peculiar that it cannot be understood by 
 the uninitiated without the help of an elaborate vocabulary. 
 A* 
 
TI ADDRESS TO THE READER. 
 
 To this it may be replied that the character of the American 
 sailor, or the sailor in the American merchant service, is greatly 
 misunderstood. Indeed, the language attributed to sailors in 
 nearly all the popular volumes, which aim at giving a correct 
 transcript of sailor character, is too far-strained, overdone and 
 unnatural. It is not the case that a sailor cannot utter a sen 
 tence of a dozen words without interlarding it with oaths and 
 slang expressions. The language of the forecastle, although 
 often vigorous, expressive and manly, and sometimes, I regret to 
 say, objectionable in many respects, has not, necessarily, and in 
 all cases, that smack of tar and profanity about it which is 
 believed by many to be the inseparable attribute of a prime sea 
 man. Besides, it should be recollected that we often meet with 
 inmates of a ship s forecastle who are well-educated, and familiar 
 with the conventional rules of civilized society ; whose language 
 is correct in every sense, and whose modes of expression are in 
 good taste and often eloquent. The influence which such men 
 exert on a ship s company, composed of different and coarser ma 
 terials, is always great and highly salutary. 1 trust, however, 
 that an apology will hardly be necessary for the course I have 
 thought proper to adopt, in excluding from these pages aught 
 which borders on profanity or indelicacy, while giving the lan 
 guage of the forecastle. 
 
 With regard to the literary merit of this volume I have noth 
 ing to say, excepting that it has no pretension to excellence of 
 that description. It consists of tales of ocean life, told in a 
 plain, off-hand manner, by one who for years had his home in the 
 forecastle ; of sketches, sometimes drawn from the imagination, 
 but generally founded on fact ; sometimes grave, sometimes 
 humorous, and sometimes descriptive ; and all illustrating, in a 
 greater or less degree, the amusements, superstitions, perils, vices 
 and virtues of the sailor ; and sprinkled with tempests, ship 
 wrecks, hair-breadth-scapes, piracies and battles ; with occasional 
 glimpses of scenes of another sort, life in the rural districts of 
 New England. 
 
 And now, without further preface, I launch my bark upon the 
 wave. If it should sink, " why, then, good-night ! " But if it 
 should swim, the public may, in due time, have another ball of 
 sailors yarns thrust upon their attention. 
 
 J. S. S. 
 
 Roxburv< Mass.) September, 1854. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS, 
 
 I. 
 
 MOTHER CAREY S CHICKENS. 
 
 The Scilly Isles A storm A ship among the breakers The fishermen to the 
 rescue A woman saved from the wreck Her grief at the loss of her husband 
 and child Finds a home on the island Gives her protection to the Stormy 
 Petrels, which receive the name of their benefactor 1 
 
 II. 
 
 THE ALLSPICE PRIVATEER. 
 
 Fourth of July at Sea A sailor refuses his grog ! His tale of the Allspice Cap 
 tain Thunderbolt Mutiny on board A bloody affray The captain fires a 
 pistol into the magazine, and the Allspice is blown up Jim, with two of his 
 shipmates, escapes OQ a raft Encounter with sharks Dreadful sufferings They 
 reach the island of Barbadoes 14 
 
 III. 
 HARPOONING A SPANIARD. 
 
 Harbor of Havana Cassandra of Salem Case of decided felony Indignation of 
 the cook A trap set by Mr. Conroy The thief detected in the act, and punished 
 Excitement in Havana , . 29 
 
 IV. 
 
 GOLOOLOO ; OR, THE MERMAID OF THE RIDING ROCKS. 
 
 A night on the Bahama Banks Jack Robbins s adventure with Mermaids Flirta 
 tion with Oolooloo Visits the grottos beneath the Gulf Stream Falls in love with 
 Oolooloo Marries her and lives in clover Sad fate of Oolooloo Jack bids his 
 old friends farewell, fills his pockets with " rocks," and returns to his home in Ver 
 mont , . 35 
 
VIII CONTENTS. 
 
 V. 
 
 WHITE-HEADED BILL. 
 
 Queer figure-head of White-headed Bill Cause of his hoary locks Mad frolics of 
 his shipmates in Savannah His struggles with a ghost in the forecastle of brig 
 Joreph A loving hug and a terrible fight Uproar in consequence along the 
 wharves 53 
 
 YI. 
 
 THREE-FINGERED JACKS. 
 
 The Skyrocket leaving Boston Long wharf Anger of the captain on discovering 
 that three of his crew were deficient in fingers The missing fingers accounted for 
 in detail to the great satisfaction of the captain 64 
 
 VII. 
 
 WIDOW MORRISON. 
 
 The cottage in Lausanne Marriage of Captain Morrison and Helen Ogilvy Voy 
 age to the Indies The missing ship Mrs. Morrison retires into the country 
 Return of the wanderer His sufferings in Borneo Finds a happy home, and 
 affectionate wife and children 98 
 
 VIII. 
 
 JERRY MARLINSPIKE S RIDE. 
 
 The dull-sailing ship Atalanta Jerry Marlinspike s experience on shore Ventures 
 on horseback A sailor s plan to check a runaway horse Lets go the anchor, 
 and is brought up all standing ! Mournful effect produced on his phiz. . . . 117 
 
 IX. 
 
 A TALE OP THE WINTER S COAST. 
 
 Massachusetts Bay in winter Captain Chesstree, of ship Coriander A model 
 shipmaster Gale in "the Gulf" A north-wester, "but-end foremost" Suffer 
 ings from cold Cape Cod light-house A north-east snow-storm in the Bay 
 Breakers under the lee The masts cut away The anchors let go, and the ship 
 saved. . . 126 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 X. 
 
 SEA DOGS. 
 
 Troubles on board the Sylphide The dog Faithful proves a thief Grave discussion 
 relating to the character of dogs Pointed illustrations in the shape of stubborn 
 facts Melancholy fate of the unlucky Faithful 154 
 
 XI. 
 
 POPPING THE QUESTION. 
 
 Matrimony discussed in the forecastle Opinion of Dick Dallas Frank Granger tells 
 his adventures with a Yankee girl Meets with a decided rebuff, and is laughed at 
 for his pains Goes to sea 165 
 
 XIK 
 
 WHISTLING JACK. 
 
 "Waiting for the captain Narrative of a voyage with Whistling Jack Sad results 
 which follow his mournful tunes A pirate in the Gulf of Mexico Courage of 
 Margaret Calderon Self-devotion of Whistling Jack, and fate of the Pirates. . 178 
 
 XIII. 
 
 THE STUTTERING CAPTAIN. 
 
 Captain Nicholas Throgmorton His unhappy infirmity How he struck terror into 
 the hearts of the Frenchmen His dislike to do things by proxy Rebuke to his 
 mate for taking words out of his mouth Trouble with the Dutchman Thrilling 
 adventure at Gibraltar Breakers ahead, and Captain Throgmorton s agony 
 Happy expedient of the helmsman Abandons a sea-going life 202 
 
 XIY. 
 
 RUFUS ARMSTRONG; OR, PRACTICAL JOKES. 
 
 A sailor s disgust at salt water The second mate of the Orestes roused up when 
 asleep in his watrh Cruel trick played on Jerry Johnson A false step Quar- 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 rel with Chinamen in Batavia A row on Boston Common Affray with "old 
 Kead " Cure for " calking " A penalty for practical jokes A matrimonial ca 
 tastrophe 213 
 
 XV. 
 
 TOM DULANY ; OR, THE IRISHMAN TAKEN IN TOW. 
 
 Adventure in Maranham Tom s politeness to a lady, but treats her husband un 
 kindlyEscapes in the Blackbird Is frightened by an albicore Harpoons the 
 fish, who makes off, carrying Tom with him The chase, and final rescue of Du- 
 lany 234 
 
 XVI. 
 
 THE SAILOR S REVENGE. 
 
 Harry Wilder His voyage with Captain Binnacle Is ill-treated by the captain, 
 and vows to be revenged Years pass, and they meet in a snow-storm in a coun 
 try village How he keeps his vow 242 
 
 XVII. 
 
 FRANK GRANGER AND NABBY BROWN. 
 
 Frank s second love adventure He is deceived by the squire Forsakes the fair 
 Nabby, and goes to sea Hears of the marriage of Nabby and the squire Re 
 turns to Cranberry village Witnesses connubial endearments Receives a prac 
 tical lesson on the subject of interfering between man and wife Becomes an advo 
 cate of celibacy 251 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 THE CATAMARAN 
 
 Captain Cameron His voyage to Brazil in the Cunegunda The catamaran 
 Rescue of Marie de Sandoval Her story Pedro the Savage Assassination and 
 abduction Fatal combat Her sufferings The denouement , . 267 
 
CONTENTS. XI 
 
 XIX. 
 
 A THANKSGIVING STORY. 
 
 Return of Edward Willis, after an absence for years Thanksgiving day The fes 
 tival Edward s reception by his parents Old Bose Mary Wardsworth He 
 anchors in a pleasant haven for life 279 
 
 XX. 
 
 THE PIRATE IN THE OLD BAHAMA CHANNEL. 
 
 Sabbath-day at sea Ned Gasket gets a yarn on stretch The brig Horse Mackerel 
 the pirate schooner off Sugar Key The chase Mrs. Seymour Preparations 
 for a desperate fight Ginger Key The crisis Fate of the pirate schooner, and 
 escape of the Horse Mackerel 289 
 
 c? 
 
 XXI. 
 
 HOW TO RAISE A BREEZE. 
 
 A calm Ship Memphremagog off the Cape de Verdes Impatience of Captain 
 Brandt Capture of a shark and decapitation of his tail Jack Thompson tries to 
 raise a breeze Battle between two darkies A general melee ensues Captain 
 Brandt manifests striking marks of indignation The charm dissolved A heavy 
 squall bursts upon the ship, and off she goes ! 305 
 
 XXII. 
 
 WALTER GRAFTON ; OR, THE IMPRESSED AMERICAN. 
 
 An old sailor s return to his native village His home has disappeared Fourth of 
 July The American flag The victim of impressment gazes with admiration on 
 the stars and stripes, utters a loud huzza, and breathes his last sigh 323 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 CUTTING OUT WORK FOR ALL HANDS. 
 
 The stout ship Will-o -the-wisp and Captain Grampus His custom of an aftrnoon 
 
 Scudding under studding-sails in a gale Broaching to Snapping of the spars 
 
 Beautiful condition of the ship, and "work for all hands." G34 
 
XII CONTENTS. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 JACK HOPKINS : A CASE OF CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. 
 
 A night on the Bahama Bank Bob Hastings spins a yarn about an old shipmate 
 Adventure in Havana A Spaniard murdered Jack Hopkins charged with the 
 crime, tried, and garroted The real murderer discovered Apology for putting to 
 death an innocent man 341 
 
 c 
 
 XXV. 
 
 CALICO JACK. 
 
 Catching porpoises on board ship Lobster Jack Callimanco His misfortune while 
 after a dolphin A cruise on a hen-coop among the Cape de Verdes Mounts a 
 porpoise a cheval A ride for life Astonishes the natives Rejoins the Poca- 
 hontas, and is warmly welcomed on board 354 
 
 so 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 PETER THE GREAT ; OR, AN AUDIENCE IN THE MAIN-TOP. 
 
 Character of Peter His services to his country His visit to Holland Labors at 
 Saardam The English embassay Received in lofty style Perplexity of the 
 ! The difficulty overcome 367 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 CAPTURING AN INDIAMAN. 
 
 Letter of marque Wanderer Captain Wilcox and the English admiral at Whampoa 
 Falling in with an Indiaman off the Cape of Good Hope Good use of 
 "quakers" Cool and successful impudence of Wilcox Influence of a pretty 
 woman s tears A kiss Incident at the Cape of Good Hope Meeting at the 
 Isle of France 378 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 SATURDAY NIGHT REVELS. 
 
 The ship Pandolfo in Pernambuco Visitors on board Saturday night revels in 
 the cabin and the forecastle Disturbances arise A general set-to Disastrous 
 finale Poor Jack ! . . 390 
 
SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 MOTHER CAREY S CHICKEXS. 
 
 A LEGEND OF THE SCILLY ISLES. 
 
 Cleopatra. 0, Qiarmian, I will never go from hence. 
 
 Charmian. Be comforted, dear madam. 
 
 Cleopatra. No, I will not. 
 
 All strange and terrible events are welcome now, 
 But comforts I despise. 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 HE SCILLY 
 ISLES is the 
 g name given to 
 "~ the group of 
 ^islands situat 
 ed on the Eng 
 lish coast, at 
 
 the distance of about thirty miles 
 west of Land s End, on the coast of 
 Cornwall. They may be seen from 
 this point, in clear weather, like 
 broken cliffs rising out of the Atlan 
 tic. These islands cover an area of about 
 ! forty miles in circumference, and, being in the 
 direct track of vessels bound to the English 
 Channel, present a formidable impediment to 
 the safe navigation of these seas, and are not 
 unfrequently the scenes of disastrous and fatal 
 1 " 
 
SS SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 shipwrecks. Many merchant ships have been lost upon those 
 rocks, with all their crews ; and the fatal shipwreck of the 
 British ship-of-the-line Association, the flag-ship of Admiral 
 Sir Cloudesley Shovel, in 1705, and other ships of the fleet, 
 which resulted in the death of the admiral and many brave 
 officers and men, is recorded in the naval annals of Great 
 Britain. 
 
 Some of these islands are nothing more than high and crag 
 gy rocks, elevating their heads above the ocean; six of them, 
 however, are of considerable size, mostly covered with soil, 
 and inhabited. Their names are St. Mary s, Trescaw, St. 
 Martin, St. Agnes, on which a light-house is erected, Samson, 
 and Brehar. The largest of these islands is St. Mary s, 
 which is about ten miles in circumference, and a considerable 
 portion of it is susceptible of cultivation. The inhabitants 
 are not remarkable for intelligence, but are an industrious, 
 hardy race of people, engaged principally in the occupation 
 of fishing and husbandry. The little island of Brehar lies 
 on the south-western side of the cluster, and now contains up 
 wards of one hundred inhabitants. It possesses but little soil 
 capable of culture, its surface is uneven, and some of the hills 
 are high and rugged. 
 
 More than one hundred and twenty-five years have passed 
 away since an event occurred which created quite a sensation 
 among the people of the Scilly Islands, and is still talked of 
 among the aged inhabitants of Brehar, which island was the 
 theatre of the scenes I am about to relate. 
 
 It was a gloomy night. The wind blew in fearful gusts 
 from the south-west, the rain fell in torrents, and the waves 
 dashed with a loud and angry roar against the naked rocks. 
 The fishing-boats were safely moored in a little bay, or drawn 
 up on the shore, and the good women and children who dwelt 
 on the rough and barren island of Brehar, while they listened 
 
MOTHER CAREY S CHICKENS. 3 
 
 to the raging of the furious storm, devoutly thanked their 
 God that their husbands, their parents, aud their brethren, were 
 not exposed in their frail boats to the terrible hurricane. 
 
 " God help the poor sailor, now ! " exclaimed a worthy 
 dame, as she heaped some fragments of an old wreck upon 
 the fire ; for the month was October, and the weather was 
 unpleasantly chill. 
 
 " Amen ! " exclaimed her hard-featured husband, who had 
 thrown himself on the low bed in a corner of the room. " I 
 hope no vessels will be driven among these rocks on such a 
 terrible night as this ; for although a wreck would be a God 
 send to us, it would be certain death to all the poor fellows 
 on board. Hark ! I thought I heard a gun." 
 
 " It was only the scream of the wind as it swept past the 
 crag, Willy. Nay, do not arise. It was no alarm, believe 
 me. It was the sound of the wind and the waves." 
 
 " It was a gun, Alisa ! I know the sound too well to be 
 mistaken," said the fisherman, as he threw on his outer gar 
 ments, and prepared to leave his hut, ascend the crag, and 
 brave the fury of the blast. " And there is another, alarm 
 ingly nearer. Some vessel is driven by the tempest upon 
 these rocks ! Good woman, rouse out the boys I will sum 
 mon our neighbors, but am afraid it will be to no purpose. 
 What madness to venture so near the Scilly Islands on such a 
 night as this ! " 
 
 In a few minutes there stood on the edge of a cliff, peering 
 anxiously out upon the murky waters, regardless of the rain, 
 or the wind, or the salt sea spray, which, when a wave broke 
 beneath their feet, fell over them in drenching showers, a little 
 band of men, with weather-beaten features, but athletic figures 
 and warm hearts. They feared not the storm. Its howling 
 was music in their ears, to which they had been accustomed 
 from infancy. But an alarm had been given, and a mingled 
 feeling of curiosity and humanity, and, perhaps, a secret, un- 
 
4 . SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 acknowledged sense of pleasure at the prospect of a profitable 
 wreck, urged these rude and uncultivated men to mount the 
 summit of the cliff, amid the darkness of the night and the 
 conflict of the elements. 
 
 Another gun was distinctly heard. The vessel, urged by 
 the violence of the tempest, was rapidly approaching. The 
 crew were doubtless aware of their danger, and sent forth the 
 well-known summons for assistance; but no earthly power 
 could save them from shipwreck. Earnestly, but in vain, the 
 fishermen strove to penetrate the darkness, which seemed a 
 black curtain drawn around them, shutting out all objects from 
 their view. Nothing could be seen, but their imaginations 
 could picture a scene of terror. Through Fancy s magic glass 
 they witnessed struggles for life, convulsive wrestlings with 
 the waters, and death in a fearful shape ; and these visions, 
 which their reason told them would soon be realized, caused 
 their bosoms to thrill with emotion. 
 
 " Poor fellows ! It will soon be all over with them ! " ex 
 claimed, in sorrowful accents, a venerable-looking fisherman ; 
 and at that moment, as if to establish the truth of his opinion, 
 loud and prolonged shrieks reached their ears, as of beings 
 in mortal agony. 
 
 " There ! " cried the fisherman, " the ship is among the 
 breakers. She is on the rocks ! Let us hasten to assist the 
 crew, if it is not too late." And these bold men descended 
 to the craggy and surf-worn rocks, with a view to aid any of 
 the unfortunate crew who might be swept upon the shore, and 
 also to save such portions of the wreck as the waves might 
 throw upon the rocks. 
 
 By the light of lanterns, which were procured from their 
 cottages, they narrowly examined the surface of the waters, 
 and the crests of the foaming breakers, and it was not long 
 ere they descried, borne towards them on the heaving billows 
 broken spars, deal boards, pieces of railings, and other mate- 
 
MOTHER CAREY S CHICKENS. 5 
 
 rials, showing that beyond a doubt some vessel had struck 
 upon the ledge, within hail of the spot where they stood, and 
 had been dashed to pieces. At length their attention was 
 attracted by a large plank, to which, as it was lifted high on 
 the top of a foaming billow, appeared to be attached some 
 object resembling a human being. It was soon thrown upon 
 the rocks, and was eagerly seized upon by the fishermen, and 
 borne high upon the cliffs, beyond the reach of the waves. 
 It was then found that the body of a woman was lashed firmly 
 to the plank. The unfortunate being was insensible, but she 
 was with care conveyed to the nearest cottage, and means 
 were adopted for restoring her senses. 
 
 For a long time these efforts were unsuccessful, and it was 
 thought her soul had taken flight to another world. It was 
 not so ; she was preserved to linger yet for many years on 
 the stage of life, and act an humble part in the great drama 
 of existence. But she suffered much agony before she was 
 restored to consciousness, and many hours elapsed ere she was 
 able to hold converse with any one, and enlighten her kind 
 preservers on the subject of the melancholy event which had 
 taken place. In the mean time, the fishermen continued their 
 labors on the shore, and the dawn of day found them still 
 busily employed in hauling up pieces of the wreck, and bales, 
 boxes, barrels, and packages, which had drifted on shore. 
 The bodies of two men were also washed ashore, terribly 
 bruised by being dashed upon the rocks, but life was extinct. 
 As daylight opened upon them, a part of the hull of a large 
 vessel could be seen, at not more than a couple of cables 
 length distance, lodged upon a reef of rocks, and buried ever 
 and anon by the breakers. A portion of the hull, and all the 
 spars, and the greater portion of the cargo, had been forced 
 by the winds and waves upon the iron-bound shores of the 
 island. But all the crew of that ill-fated ship, and all the 
 passengers, save that one poor female, lashed to a plank, had 
 1* 
 
O SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 been hurried into eternity. They had been called suddenly and 
 unexpectedly, while, perhaps, the ties which attached them to 
 life were strong and numerous, to account for their conduct 
 at the bar of their God. 
 
 The woman who had been saved from death, on returning 
 to consciousness, and on hearing that all her companions in 
 that devoted bark were drowned, seemed overwhelmed with 
 the bitterness of woe. The empire of reason appeared to be 
 overthrown, and, in the midst of her outbreaks of grief, she 
 often spoke of her husband and child. Her destitute, lonely, 
 and mournful fate, was deeply pitied by the rough but honest 
 inhabitants of that sterile island, who were unremitting in 
 their efforts to soothe her sorrows and alleviate her woes. 
 
 It subsequently appeared that the vessel which had been 
 lost was the large ship James Moffat, which a week previous 
 had sailed from the port of Bristol for Philadelphia, with a 
 cargo of provisions, clothing, and goods of various kinds, for 
 the colonies. Among the passengers was a gentleman, with 
 his wife and child. His wife was a beautiful woman, about 
 twenty-two years of age, possessed of every grace and accom 
 plishment. And it appeared that, when the storm which we 
 have described was at its height, and when the dreadful roar 
 of breakers was heard under the lee, a sound of fearful 
 import in the ears of seamen, in that awful moment the 
 husband and father with his own hands attached his living 
 treasures to a plank, which he hoped would be the means of 
 rescuing them from death. The child was washed from the 
 plank by the force of the waves, but the mother, as I have 
 already related, reached the shore, and was succored by the 
 kind-hearted fishermen. 
 
 Some days elapsed ere she was able to give any of the par 
 ticulars of the disaster, during which time her life was in 
 imminent danger. And when she was so far recovered that 
 she could understand the questions pat to her, her replies were 
 
MOTHER CAREY S CHICKENS. 7 
 
 reluctantly given and unsatisfactory. She would furnish no 
 information respecting the place of her home, or whether she 
 was going to or returning from, the land of her nativity. She 
 merely said that her name was Carey, but whether she had 
 near connections or friends residing in Europe or America, no 
 one could tell. It was evident that all her hopes and her 
 joys were buried beneath the waters with her husband and 
 child. A dark and impassable barrier seemed to be raised 
 between her and the rest of the world ; and she looked forward 
 to death as to a friend that would pave the way for a reunion 
 with those she loved. 
 
 Some weeks passed away, and her physical strength was in 
 a great measure restored, but she evinced no desire to quit the 
 island. On the contrary, when the subject was mentioned, 
 and .she was told that means would be provided, if she wished, 
 to carry her to St. Mary s, and thence back to Bristol, she 
 exhibited dissatisfaction and alarm. 
 
 " O, do not," said she, " tear me from this sacred spot, 
 where I can behold the turbulent waves as they roll over the 
 bodies of my husband and 4 child. Pray let me remain here. 
 I promise you I will not trouble you long. Nor do I wish to 
 eat the bread of idleness. I will work ; I will assist your 
 wives in their household duties ; I will nurse you in sickness, 
 and I will be a friend and a mother to your children, and 
 instruct them in the paths of learning and in their duties to 
 their God. I will willingly submit to any privation or 
 hardship, only do not, I pray you, insist on my leaving this 
 island ! " 
 
 It was evident that misfortune had affected her reason. 
 Her words and manner excited the pity of those whom she 
 addressed, and they assured her that her presence was by no 
 means unwelcome ; that they would be pleased to have her 
 remain among them as long as she chose, and would never 
 mention the subject of her departure again, as it appeared to 
 
8 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 give her pain. The subject was never again referred to. 
 Mrs. Carey remained upon the island, and for many years 
 was an object of compassion, of admiration, of respect or fear, 
 to the inhabitants. 
 
 She was what is termed a beautiful woman. Her features 
 were regular, arid her figure was tall and majestic, yet of 
 graceful proportions. But her countenance, during life, was 
 never known to be lighted up with a smile after the death of 
 her husband and child. Her features became pale, rigid, and 
 resembled the chiselling of a marble statue. Her words were 
 few ; for, although never reluctant to impart instruction, or 
 give advice when it could be of service, she abstained from all 
 unnecessary conversation, and studiously avoided the subject 
 of her former home or connections. In the dead of night, 
 when the inmates of the humble huts were wrapped in sleep, 
 she would wander about the cliffs, or seat herself upon the 
 extreme verge of a precipice, and pass hours in gazing into 
 the depths below and indulging in gloomy reflections. And, 
 when a fierce storm arose, and the winds howled, and the rains 
 fell, and the thunder rolled over her head, and the lightning 
 hissed, and the waves dashed madly against the rocks, she 
 would ascend some lofty crag, and stand there for hours, look 
 ing like the spirit of the storm, and gazing abroad into the 
 troubled waters, seeming to enjoy the conflict of the warring 
 elements. 
 
 On a little promontory, on the south-western part of the 
 island of Brehar, were some ruins of an ancient building, 
 believed to be a temple, built of stone, by the Druids, many 
 years ago. This was a bleak and desolate spot, at a distance 
 from any habitation, and exposed to all the fury of the winds 
 and the inclemency of the weather. This spot commanded a 
 full view of the ledge of rocks on which the ship James Mof- 
 fatt had struck on that fatal night ; and it was a favorite 
 resort for the " Widow Carey," by which appellation the un- 
 
MOTHER CAREY S CHICKENS. 
 
 fortunate woman was now generally known. And here, at 
 her request, a habitation was prepared for her, among these 
 ancient ruins, a place well suited t the gloomy tone of her 
 
 mind. And here, upon this promontory, was her home ; and 
 in this dwelling, and upon the adjacent cliffs, she passed most 
 of her hours alone. Her form could often be witnessed mov 
 ing about among the crags, when the fishermen departed 
 from the shores, as the day was breaking in the east ; and 
 on their return at evening twilight, her loose garments would 
 be seen floating in the air from the summit of a high rock. 
 
 And it is not surprising that those ignorant and supersti 
 tious people were led gradually to regard her with a feeling 
 of awe, and to believe that she possessed a power which was 
 seldom confided to mortal hands. It was usual, when a party 
 
10 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 was about to embark on a distant and adventurous expedition 
 first to proceed to the residence of the Widow Carey, and asi 
 her blessing on the voyage ; and when they returned in safety 
 from a successful expedition, they would smile and wave their 
 hands as they passed the headland on which was her wild 
 abode. 
 
 The little petrels, which at certain seasons were seen in 
 great numbers around the Scilly Islands, seemed to be to her 
 an object of great interest. She appeared to have entertained 
 the idea that these birds possessed a mysterious nature ; that 
 they were, indeed, the bodies, in another form, which enshrined 
 the spirits of those unfortunate beings who had perished by 
 shipwreck or other disasters at sea. She loved to watch their 
 graceful motions, as they flew over the waters, and to listen 
 to their shrill cries, even in the midnight hour, which, it was 
 believed, predicted an approaching tempest. She would sit 
 on a rock and talk to these " stormy petrels " for hours ; and 
 often occupied herself in supplying them with food suitable to 
 their wants. It is not, therefore, remarkable that these strange 
 birds loved to frequent the waters that washed that part of the 
 island, and might be seen, at almost any hour, in large num 
 bers, flying backwards and forwards near the shore, and hov 
 ering around, or apparently resting upon, the waters which 
 bathed the Widow Carey s promontory. The inhabitants 
 believed that she held converse with these birds ; that they 
 understood her language, and replied in a language of their 
 own, intelligible only to herself; and henceforward it was con 
 sidered not only an act of wanton cruelty, but wicked and 
 unwise, to kill or injure one of those inoffensive petrels, who 
 seemed to be objects of so much interest and care to the 
 unfortunate woman, that they received the name of " THE 
 WIDOW CAREY S CHICKENS." 
 
 Many years passed away, and another generation came upon 
 the stage. The widow Carey still lived. She was unchanged 
 
MOTHER CAREYS CHICKENS. 11 
 
 in character and habits. She still made her home within the 
 ruins of the ancient Druidical temple. She still wandered at 
 midnight, in the midst of storms, and exposed to the rigors of 
 the wintry blast, among the rocks and cliffs which overhung 
 the raging sea. She still shrank from any intercourse with 
 the inhabitants of the island, and cherished her attachment to 
 the " stormy petrels." She was an object of wonder and ad 
 miration to the children, who gazed, not without some sensa 
 tion of fear, upon her gaunt figure, now bowed by age and 
 sorrow ; upon her withered cheeks, and upon her gray eye, 
 lighted up by the fires of insanity ; and the words, " MOTHER 
 CAREY," were often quoted by weak parents as a bugbear 
 to frighten delinquent children into the fulfilment of their 
 duties. 
 
 But she was never known to do harm to any one. On the 
 contrary, she had given many proofs of a kind and benevolent 
 disposition, and was regarded by the older inhabitants of the 
 island with a considerable degree of affection, mingled vtith 
 awe. Indeed, she was always treated with kindness by all 
 the inhabitants of the island. But this might be attributed, 
 in some degree, to fear as well as to affection. She was sup 
 plied by the fishermen with all the necessaries of life. In the 
 winter of her life, when she had passed at least threescore 
 years on the island, and her pilgrimage was drawing to a 
 close, she talked more frequently to herself than formerly ; 
 and was often heard to utter, in an impassioned tone, names 
 of persons which had never before been heard by the inhab 
 itants. She was often evidently wandering in other lands, 
 among other people, and witnessing other and dearer scenes. 
 But no clue was ever given to her real name, her family, or 
 even her country. 
 
 One cold and dismal morning in the month of March, as 
 
 Abel Millar, a worthy and venerable fisherman, who well 
 
 recollected the time when the wreck of the James Moffatt 
 
12 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 took place, and the widow Carey was cast upon those shores, 
 with his two sons, was passing the promontory in his boat, 
 on his course to the outer fishing-ground, he saw that extraor 
 dinary female, apparently seated in a reclining position on 
 the summit of the crag (a favorite resort with her), which 
 was nearest to, and overlooked the ledge upon which the 
 fatal shipwreck took place. This circumstance, however, elic 
 ited no surprise, as it was by no means an uncommon occur 
 rence. But when, as the sun sank beneath the horizon, and 
 the shades of night began to fall, Abel returned from his 
 expedition, and saw that she was still on the same spot, and 
 that her position appeared unchanged, he became somewhat 
 alarmed ; and, after his boat was secured, accompanied by his 
 sons and some neighbors, hastened to that barren spot of the 
 island which was regarded as the domain of the widow, or as 
 she was now generally called, " Mother Carey." 
 
 But this singular and unfortunate woman had reached the 
 goal of her sorrows at last. Her spirit had shaken off its 
 earthly tenement, and had ascended to " another and a better 
 world." A smile remained upon her features in death ; an 
 indication of happiness which had never been witnessed by 
 the inhabitants of the island during her life ! It seemed as 
 if she had died, rejoicing at the prospect of meeting those in 
 the realms of bliss, whose fate she had constantly mourned 
 for threescore years. Her withered and fleshless hand grasped 
 a miniature, richly set in gold, which was attached to her 
 neck by a golden chain. It was the portrait of an elegant- 
 looking man, in the morning of life, in the fulness of health, 
 and with a countenance beaming with hope and with joy ; 
 undoubtedly the likeness of her husband, to whom she was 
 attached by ties which time or sorrows could not destroy or 
 weaken. 
 
 But the contrast, presented to the view of the fishermen, 
 between the appearance of the two individuals, was a painful 
 
MOTHER. CAREY S CHICKENS. 13 
 
 one. The woman lay before them, bearing upon her counte 
 nance all the marks of extreme age, the thin and snow-white 
 hair, the sunken cheeks, the wrinkled forehead, and the atten 
 uated form ; and there, in her hand, was the " counterfeit pre 
 sentment " of the man, who, arrayed in all the attractions of 
 youth and beauty, won her maiden affections, and led her to 
 the nuptial altar. Such was the contrast which had been 
 wrought by the hand of time, and which produced deep and 
 unpleasant emotions in the bosoms of the bystanders ! 
 
 Such, says the legend, was the fate of " MOTHER CAREY ; " 
 and her name is still remembered by the aged Tritons, who 
 inhabit the wild and sterile spot, known as the island of 
 Brehar ; and the remains of the Temple of the Druids are still 
 pointed out, as the habitation of the " weird woman." 
 
 The stormy petrels continued for a time to visit the island, 
 and to gather in flocks around the high and bleak promontory 
 but their friend, their guardian, was gone. There was no 
 one to pamper them now, to watch their circling flights, and 
 to hold converse with them in a language with which they 
 seemed pleased, even if it could not be understood ; and the 
 fishermen thought it might be fancy that the sounds which 
 they uttered were more plaintive than before, as if they felt 
 and deplored the loss of their benefactor. But, even after 
 death, she exercised over these mysterious birds a kind of 
 protective influence ; and not only the fishermen of the Scilly 
 Islands, but the mariner on the broad blue ocean, even now, 
 views with a kind of holy horror any wanton attempts to 
 destroy or injure the inoffensive and social, but incomprehen 
 sible " MOTHER CAREY S CHICKENS." 
 
THE ALLSPICE PRIVATEER. 
 
 " Exeunt omnes ! " said Bunce, with clasped hands. 
 " There went the Fortune s Favorite, ship and crew," said Cleveland, 
 at the same instant. WALTER SCOTT. 
 
 IT was the fourth of July. The ship California, of New 
 York, was on her homeward-bound passage from Batavia, 
 and on this memorable day was in the latitude of about sev 
 enteen degrees south, running down " the trades ;" and, with a 
 cloud of sail set to catch the passing breeze, she was a gallant 
 sight. Indeed, I have often heard it remarked, by persons of 
 undoubted taste, that there is no sight more beautiful than a 
 noble ship under full sail, unless, indeed, it be the graceful 
 form and smiling features of a lovely woman. 
 
 There is probably no more delightful sailing in the world, 
 than while running down the south-east trades, in returning 
 from a voyage to India. The wind is usually fixed immova 
 bly at one point, near the south-east ; and steering to the 
 north-west, with every rag of canvas set, skysails, studding 
 sails on both sides, &c., you cross from fifteen to twenty 
 degrees of south latitude, sailing a distance of some ten or 
 twelve hundred miles, where the wind is always steady, blow 
 ing a gentle breeze, with no squalls, gales, or water-spouts, to 
 excite alarm, or give variety to the scene. The sea is as tran 
 quil as the sleep of innocence, although a long swell comes 
 now and then lazily rolling along after you. It is not unusual 
 in light winds for a vessel to sail along in this way for a fort 
 night or more, without taking in a stitch of canvas, or even 
 
THE ALLSPICE PRIVATEER. 15 
 
 starting a rope during the whole of that time. Sailors, how 
 ever, complain of the weather in these latitudes as too monot 
 onous. An occasional change of wind or of weather is 
 required to produce excitement, stir up the energies of the 
 crew, and chase away the blues, which are apt to prevail even 
 among seamen, during a long continuation of mild and pleasant 
 weather, and more especially during a calm. 
 
 In those days, grog was considered an important article 
 among the stores of a ship. It was regarded not only as a 
 luxury, which Jack dearly loved, but also as one of the neces 
 saries of life. Every ship had more or less of it on board ; it 
 was regularly meted out to the crew, and, on extraordinary 
 occasions, a double allowance was furnished. Its nature is 
 better understood now ; it is pronounced vile stuff, productive 
 of no good, but of immense harm, and is banished from all 
 well-regulated ships. It was allowed on board the California, 
 in accordance with the custom of the time. 
 
 On this day, the fourth of July, the California had the 
 American ensign proudly waving at her peak, in honor of the 
 day which gave birth to American Independence. During 
 the dog watch, in the edge of the evening, the crew, mostly 
 Englishmen and Irishmen, voted unanimously that Tom Smith 
 so said his American protection, otherwise known as Teague 
 O Connor should go aft and ask the captain for an extra pot 
 of grog, in which the crew might drink health and long life to 
 America. ( Teague acquitted himself of his commission to a 
 charm ; and the captain, with a smile, ordered the steward to 
 hand over the extra allowance. All was now mirth and jollity 
 on board ; several patriotic songs were sung, and the battles 
 of the Constitution with the Guerriere, and with the Java, 
 and with the Cyane and Levant, were rattled off in a style, 
 and with an emphasis and power, which would have elicited 
 a stare of wonder from a worshipper of Grisi, or Jenny 
 Lind. 
 
16 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 All at once Tom Smith bawled out, " Where is Jim Mc- 
 Dermott ? " And then it was seen that Jim had suddenly 
 disappeared from among his shipmates, without having tasted 
 the grog or joined in their revels ! 
 
 " What s in the wind, now ? " said Sam Delany. " Jim ! 
 halloo there below ! Come, old fellow, rouse out ! show your 
 ugly phiz among us ! " But no answer was given to the 
 summons ; and no Jim made his appearance from the fore 
 castle. 
 
 The crew now began to be alarmed, and the forecastle was 
 searched, but Jim was not to be found. At length the stew 
 ard said he had seen Jim going down into the half-deck, about 
 half an hour before, and whether he had come up or not was 
 more than he could tell. 
 
 Down into the half-deck went two or three of the jovial 
 crew ; and, sure enough, there was Jim McDermott, snugly 
 stowed away on a coil of rigging between two water-casks, 
 and looking as down in the mouth as a landsman in a hur 
 ricane. 
 
 " Halloo, Jim ! what are you doing there ? " exclaimed Tom. 
 " Come, man, lend us a hand on the forecastle to drink success 
 to American Independence. The captain has given us an 
 extra pot of grog long life to him! Come, old fellow," 
 added Tom, smacking his lips, " rouse up ! We shall have a 
 capital.time. I wish the fourth of July would come every 
 month in the year." 
 
 " Every month ? God forbid ! " replied Jim, with a falter 
 ing voice and a haggard look. " The fourth of July puts me 
 in mind of scenes which I should well like to forget, but which 
 are stamped on my memory in characters of living fire. The 
 fourth of July, a day which fills the hearts of so many with 
 gladness, is to me a day of sorrow and of mourning. No, 
 boys ! drink your grog, and sing your songs, and crack your 
 jokes, and skylark, as much as you please, but don t expect 
 
THE ALLSPICE PRIVATEER. 17 
 
 me to join you. I don t feel like it ; and would much rather 
 be by myself." 
 
 His shipmates saw that Jim was serious, and, with a del 
 icacy which would have done credit to persons who boast of 
 more refinement than is supposed to fall to the lot of a son 
 of the ocean, they abstained from cracking any jokes at Jim s 
 expense. But their curiosity was roused ; they saw that some 
 thing uncommon was the matter with their old shipmate; 
 that the remembrance of some sad event, or mishap in former 
 years, had cast a cloud over his spirits ; and they determined 
 to lose no time in getting at the bottom of his secret. 
 
 Jim saw that there was no way of evading the inquiries 
 of his shipmates, and he resigned himself to his fate with a 
 degree of fortitude which would have done honor to a martyr. 
 He reluctantly left his snug and solitary berth in the half-deck, 
 and in a few minutes was seated on the deck of the forecastle, 
 with his back supported by the bowsprit bitts. He rejected, 
 with a look of disgust, the cup of grog which was handed to 
 him by Tom Smith, alias Teague O Connor, to assist in rais 
 ing his spirits, and, after shaking his head two or three times, 
 and making some wry faces, which would have frightened 
 away the sea-serpent himself, or Davy Jones, if that respect 
 able old gentleman had been coming alongside, Jim com 
 menced, in a lackadaisacal tone, his narrative as follows : 
 
 " Well, boys, d ye see, it s a number of years ago, during 
 the war with Great Britain, I shipped on board the Allspice 
 privateer, a clipper hermaphrodite brig, of four guns and 
 sixty men, belonging to Xew York, and sailed on a cruise 
 after some of John Bull s ships. And, by the way, shipmates, 
 I must say that I think this privateering is a queer kind of 
 business. I have thought a good deal about it, and it does 
 not exactly chime in with irj ideas of justice. It is too much 
 akin to piracy." 
 
18 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 " Well, never mind that," exclaimed Bill Hodges, rather 
 tartly. " I suppose that is nothing to do with your story." 
 
 " No," resumed Jim, " but I suppose there is no harm in 
 saying what one thinks. Well, we had a curious set of chaps 
 on board the Allspice as ever you did see. The captain s 
 name was Peter Thunderbolt, and he was a quarrelsome, ill- 
 natured bully of a fellow, always drinking and swearing, and 
 cutting up his shines among the officers and men. The first 
 lieutenant s name was Harry Hardcastle. He was a short, 
 thick-set, pursy sort of a fellow, always bustling about, and in 
 everybody s mess ; of a quick temper, of an independent 
 spirit, and brave as a lion ; for he did not care for anything 
 in the shape of man or beast. He could drink as well as the 
 captain ; ay, and swear a pretty good stick too. Of course, 
 the captain and he did not set horses together very well. 
 They often quarrelled over their cups ; and I sometimes 
 thought they would fight it out on the spot. As to the other 
 officers and prize-masters, they were a jolly set, and used to 
 amuse themselves with singing songs, playing cards, counting 
 their prize-money in advance, and laying plans for spending 
 it ; for they expected to make their fortunes during the cruise. 
 They could also toss off their can of grog without flinching. 
 Indeed, I never witnessed such disgusting profanity and 
 drunkenness at sea or ashore, before or since. I often thought 
 some dreadful disaster would happen. 
 
 " Our crew was made up of all kinds of beings that ever went 
 to sea. Some were soldiers, some were mechanics, some were 
 lumpers, some were merchants, some were broken-down lawyers 
 and doctors, some were farmers, and some were sailors. The sail 
 ors were principally Englishmen, Irishmen, Danes and Swedes. 
 They were a disorderly set of fellows, and used to grumble a good 
 deal at the tyrannical conduct of the bully who had command 
 of the brig ; and he, in his turn, would quarrel with the offi 
 cers and all hands almost every day ; and such scenes of 
 
THE ALLSPICE PRIVATEER. 19 
 
 quarrelling, fighting, singing, skylarking, drinking, swearing 
 and carousing, as there were on board the Allspice have seldom 
 been witnessed, even on board a pirate. All was disorder 
 and confusion in that vessel as long as her timbers hung to 
 gether. 
 
 " One day, a few degrees to the eastward of Bermuda, we 
 fell in with an English West Indiaman, which, deeply laden, 
 had got separated from the convoy a few days before ; and, 
 after lodging a few shot in her sides, she struck. Her cap 
 tain, however, if he had known what kind of an enemy he 
 had to contend with, might easily have beaten us off. The 
 poor fellow was owner of the ship, too, and had his wife on 
 board, a very pretty woman ; and perhaps that was the rea 
 son why he did not fight. A fighting ship should never have 
 women on board. Guns and women should nevdr go together ; 
 and I wonder that Uncle Sam allows the captains of his ships 
 to take their wives and other of their female relations with 
 them under any pretence. This practice will breed some 
 trouble one of these days ; mark my words. 
 
 " Well, the poor fellow begged hard that our skipper would 
 let him go. He had a cargo of sugar and rum, which would 
 be of no use to us, and the vessel was such a dull sailer that 
 it was folly to think of sending her in. The skipper s wife, 
 too, cried like a child, and tried hard to soften Captain Thun 
 derbolt s heart ; but she might as well have tried to teach 
 pit}- to a shark when his jaws are about closing on his prey. 
 He ordered some of the traps and trinkets to be taken out, 
 and then, with a malignant grin, told Mr. Hardcastle to set 
 her on fire. I thought, at the time, that it could not be very 
 wrong to let the poor Englishman go on his way rejoicing, 
 although he was a citizen of a country at war with our own. 
 
 " It was about sunset when we set fire to the ship, which 
 was soon in a sheet of flame ; and I shall never forget the 
 distress of the owner, and the agony of his wife, as they fixed 
 
20 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 X 
 
 their eyes on the burning bark, and beheld the destruction, 
 the wanton destruction, of all their hopes. They not only 
 lamented the loss of their vessel, but found themselves at the 
 mercy of a lawless set of privateersmen, who, it would seem, 
 by the confusion, and noise, and profanity, which reigned on 
 board, would not be over-scrupulous respecting the rights of 
 man, or woman either ; especially if the man or woman 
 belonged to the enemy. 
 
 " We cruised about in these latitudes for a few weeks, and 
 captured three other vessels, two of which, after taking out 
 the crew, &c., we burnt, on the principle that it was our duty 
 to distress our enemy all in our power ; the other, being a 
 fast-sailing craft, with a cargo of coffee and cochineal on 
 board, from La Gruayra, we manned and ordered for a port in 
 the United States. We then steered off to the southward, 
 intending to run down to the West India Islands, and pick 
 up what we could get, and return to the United States ; but 
 the cruise of the Allspice was brought up with a round turn, 
 in a way that few of us expected. 
 
 "On the fourth of July, 1814, we were about two hundred 
 miles east of Barbadoes, with a light wind from the eastward, 
 and a smooth sea. I shall never forget the day. The occa 
 sion was a glorious one, the Independence of America, and we 
 resolved to celebrate it in style. Early in the morning we 
 hoisted all the bunting we could muster, and fired a salute ; 
 and a double allowance of grog was served out to all hands, 
 that we might show our patriotism by drinking success to 
 America and freedom ; as if a man s patriotism was to be 
 measured by the quantity of grog which he could carry under 
 his jacket ! W T hat with patriotism and brandy, the crew and 
 officers got pretty far over the bay. They felt happy, and 
 .ready for a fight ; and if we could have fallen in with one of 
 John Bull s ships, of double our size, I verily believe we 
 should have sunk her, or carried her by boarding, without 
 
THE ALLSPICE PRIVATEEK. 21 
 
 much ceremony. But no such luck was ours ; not a sail was 
 in sight, and for want of a regular enemy, d ye see, ship 
 mates, we fell to fighting among ourselves ! 
 
 " Captain Thunderbolt and the lieutenants had dined to 
 gether, and in the afternoon came on deck, with their skins 
 well filled with old Madeira and Sherry. Captain Thunder 
 bolt, who felt ripe for mischief, and hated to see the crew 
 look so happy, ordered every man to his station, for the pur 
 pose of exercising the guns. The men. who expected a holi 
 day, and who by this time felt pretty independent, grumbled 
 at this, and showed no disposition to obey orders. Mr. Hard- 
 castle, whose little eyes began to twinkle (a sure sign that he 
 was ready to oppose anything, from any quarter, in the shape 
 of an enemy or an argument), took side with the men, and told 
 the captain that it was sheer nonsense to go to work exercis 
 ing the guns at such a time as that ; and, in saying so, he 
 said no more than the truth. The captain bristled up at this, 
 and called the lieutenant an insolent scoundrel, and a muti 
 neer. The lieutenant retorted by knocking the captain down. 
 The rest of the officers stepped forward to have a finger in the 
 mess, and, with a portion of the crew, took different sides, 
 and as beautiful a raid was got up on board the Allspice, on 
 that memorable day, as the most thorough-going Paddy would 
 desire to see on St. Patrick s Day in the evening. 
 
 " But Captain Thunderbolt s party was far the weakest, as 
 Mr. Hardcastle had the popular side ; and the question, relat 
 ing to the right of sailors, caused the greater part of the ship s 
 company to join the lieutenant. The consequence was, that, 
 after a rough-and-tumble contest of some eight or ten min 
 utes, the captain and his party were completely routed. Thun 
 derbolt himself had his head broken ; the sword which he 
 drew in the conflict was shattered by a blow from a capstan 
 bar ; and, as he scorned to give in, he was soon secured and 
 pinioned, and required to promise better manners, under pain 
 
22 
 
 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 of being put in irons, and was superseded by Mr. Hardcastle 
 in command of the Allspice. The old fellow stormed dread 
 fully on hearing these terms proposed to him ; used the most 
 violent language, and uttered the most diabolical threats. 
 Indeed, what with the intoxicating liquor which he had drunk, 
 and the rage caused by opposition to his tyrannical orders, 
 and the excitement of the fight, he had become a complete 
 madman, and thundered forth, amid the most horrible oaths, 
 that, if he were not released immediately, he would seize the 
 first opportunity to apply a match to the magazine, and blow 
 the ship s company sky-high ! 
 
 " His looks and language terrified some of the officers, who 
 were aware of his diabolical temper, and had been accustomed 
 
THE ALLSPICE PRIVATEER. 23 
 
 to obey his commands without scruple or delay ; and they 
 finally foolishly compelled Mr. Hardcastle to relieve him from 
 all restraint, believing that it was out of his power to do mis 
 chief, and that he would soon recover the use of his reason, 
 which now seemed to be entirely overthrown. Mr. Hard- 
 castle unwillingly complied ; but no sooner was Captain Thun 
 derbolt at liberty, no sooner were his hands released, than he 
 snatched a cutlass from the hand of a prizemaster, and aimed 
 a blow at the first lieutenant, which laid open a portion of 
 his skull, and stretched him senseless on the deck. He was 
 then attacked by several of his officers, but he got his back 
 against the companion-way, so that he could be assaulted only 
 in front, and defended himself with desperation. He had 
 desperate men to contend with, however ; and soon received 
 several severe wounds. He saw that the fortune of war was 
 against him, and that the mutineers would triumph, especially 
 as none of the crew, notwithstanding his loud cries for help, 
 and his terrible menaces, came to his assistance. I never 
 shall forget the wild glare of his eye, the dark scowl and grin, 
 which his bloody features exhibited, when, tossing his cutlass 
 into the sea, he seized a boarding-pistol which was at hand, 
 and shouting at the top of his voice, I 11 be revenged on 
 you, ye rascals ; dearly shall you pay for your mutinous con 
 duct ! he rushed down into the cabin. 
 
 " Follow him, sung out Mr. Wallis, our second lieuten 
 ant, for Hardcastle lay on the deck, groaning and writhing in 
 pain, he 11 do some mischief. Take away his pistols, and 
 put him in irons, till he recovers his senses. 
 
 " Never ! burst forth in an unearthly yell from below. 
 You shall never put me in irons. Villains ! scoundrels ! 
 prepare to meet your doom, which is death, DEATH, DEATH ! 
 Fear seemed for an instant to palsy the minds of all on board 
 at these appalling words. "We felt that something dreadful 
 
24 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 was going to happen ; but what, no one could conjecture. We, 
 however, were not long in suspense. 
 
 " Seize him ! tie him ! knock him down ! shoot him ! ex 
 claimed half a dozen voices ; and down into the cabin rushed 
 a body of men, armed with cutlasses and pistols, for the pur 
 pose of cutting or shooting down Captain Thunderbolt. But 
 he had got the start of them. 
 
 " I was standing on the larboard bulwarks at the time, with 
 my hand on the main swifter, wondering what would happen 
 next, when I heard a clash of arms below ; the next moment, 
 the stifled report of a pistol met my ears. It was quickly 
 followed by a sound as loud and deafening as if the archangel 
 had blown the last trumpet, to summon the living and the 
 dead to judgment. The furious maniac had set fire to the 
 powder magazine, and the privateer was blown to atoms ! 
 
 " I was stunned by the horrid explosion ; but only for a mo 
 ment. When I came to my senses, I found myself in the 
 water. Self-preservation bade me seize a plank, which I 
 found floating near me, and then I looked round on the hor 
 rors of the scene. These I shall not attempt to describe ; 
 indeed, I could not if I would ; for it is impossible for any 
 language to convey a correct idea of the destruction which 
 was the work of that moment. Even now to think of it 
 unmans me. 
 
 " The Allspice, as I said before, was completely blown to 
 atoms ; and a shower of timbers, planks, spars and men, some 
 horribly mutilated, and all lifeless, fell around me. There 
 were no screams of agony, or shrieks of terror. The work of 
 death had been done, and all was still. The awful silence 
 which succeeded that dreadful explosion was more terrible 
 than the moans and groans of thousands of human beings. 
 The vast column of smoke, which seemed to reach the clouds, 
 was soon wafted away by the wind ; and the sea, for the 
 space, as it appeared to me, of nearly half a mile, was cov- 
 
THE ALLSPICE PRIVATEER. 25 
 
 ered with the fragments of the wreck, and with the dead and 
 the dying ! 
 
 "As soon as I could realize my situation, I tried to ascertain 
 if any besides myself of the whole ship s company had been 
 saved ; or if I was the only one who, by a merciful God, had 
 been snatched from the very jaws, as it were, of death. I 
 looked around, and saw a few of my poor, mutilated shipmates 
 struggle convulsively on the surface of the water, and then 
 sink beneath the waves to rise no more. A few minutes passed 
 away, and of all that ship s company, but a few short minutes 
 before in the full enjoyment of health, the votaries of mirth 
 and glee, only three remained alive. The rest were all sum 
 moned in a moment, without preparation, without time to say 
 one prayer, to the judgment-seat of God ! 
 
 "The boatswain of the Allspice, whose name was Ben Bunt 
 ing, was thrown into the water at a short distance from me, 
 and escaped unhurt, although his faculties were so confused 
 by the explosion and the liquor which he had freely drunk, 
 that it was some time before he knew what he was about. 
 Another man, also, called Bill Sanderson, who was in the 
 fore-topmast crosstrees when the brig blew up, was saved ; 
 but, poor fellow ! his leg was broken, and he was sadly 
 bruised besides. The boatswain and I went to work, as soon 
 as we became fully aware of our desolate situation, to prepare 
 a raft from some floating portions of the wreck, which we soon 
 accomplished. We knew there was no time to be lost, unless 
 we wished to share the fate of our shipmates. We bound our 
 raft together by pieces of rope, which we found attached to 
 the floating spars, and all three of us took possession of it 
 when finished. We also rigged a kind of mast, and prepared 
 a piece of canvas to answer the purposes of a sail. Provisions 
 we had none, and, night coming on, we thought it best to put 
 off before the wind, and endeavor to reach some of the wind 
 ward islands, if possible, or fall in with some vessel in their 
 3 
 
26 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 vicinity. This was our only hope. By means of a piece of 
 board we managed indifferently well to steer the raft ; and 
 going through the water, in our sort of a catamaran, at the 
 rate of two or three knots, we soon lost sight of the fragments 
 of the wreck of the Allspice. 
 
 " I felt anxious and unhappy, I must confess ; but the boat 
 swain kept a stiff upper lip. He was one of those men who 
 will never give up the ship as long as there is a shot in the 
 locker ; and it was pleasant to see him, at such a time, when 
 our lives depended on prudence and courage, steering our 
 slender raft, as calm as the horse latitudes, and as cool as an 
 iceberg off the coast of Spitzbergen. But poor Bill Sander 
 son was in a sad condition. His leg was dreadfully swollen, 
 and pained him much ; indeed, all his fortitude seemed to 
 forsake him. He laid on the platform of the raft, groaning 
 bitterly, and calling unconsciously on his wife and children, 
 far away. But his sorrows were soon ended. He foolishly 
 put his leg into the water alongside, declaring that there was 
 a refreshing coolness in it, which brought comfort to his soul. 
 A rascally shark had followed the raft. These scoundrels are 
 always at hand when you meet with a shipwreck or any other 
 serious disaster ; and, like some of their brethren whom I have 
 seen on the land, they are always ready to take advantage of 
 a poor sailor in distress. The monster made a grab at Bill s 
 leg before any one was aware that he was within hail. The 
 first notice we had was a terrific scream from Bill, as soon as 
 the monster s jaws closed on his trapstick ; and if Ben Bunting 
 had not seized him by the collar, and held on like the tooth 
 ache, the shark would have made a meal of Bill without cere 
 mony. As it was, we determined that, if he got Bill, he should 
 work for it. We both of us clinched our shipmate, and tugged 
 hard to free him from the jaws of the devouring monster. 
 But the shark would not let go, and a furious struggle took 
 place, Bill, all the while, shrieking like a madman. At 
 
THE ALLSPICE PRIVATEER. 27 
 
 length we found that the shark, in his own element, was alto 
 gether too strong for us. He had found a dainty morsel, and 
 he determined to eat it ; and we were reluctantly compelled 
 to let poor Bill go, or go with him, and become the prey of 
 some of the shark s relations or friends. We decided on the 
 former, for though our condition was bad enough on the raft, 
 we feared it would not be bettered in the salt water. We 
 reluctantly quitted our hpld on our wretched shipmate, and, 
 with a cry of agony and despair, which seems even now to be 
 ringing in my ears, Bill Sanderson was drawn by the ruthless 
 sea-monster beneath the waves. 
 
 "All that night we pursued our course to the westward, and 
 the next night and the following day. The sun poured its 
 fiercest rays upon us ; and our sufferings, for want of water, 
 I shall not attempt to relate. Shipmates, may you never ex 
 perience the sufferings which fell to my lot on that raft ! On 
 the fourth day after the destruction of the Allspice, I became 
 insane at times, and I verily believe should have jumped over 
 board, had I not been restrained by Ben Bunting. The land 
 of Barbadoes at length appeared in sight, the announcement 
 of which by Ben, who by this time was pretty far gone too, 
 restored me somewhat to my senses. We ran the raft upon 
 the shore, heedless of the surf, which broke high on the beach, 
 and, had it not been for the negroes belonging to the planta 
 tion on which we were thrown, we must have been drowned 
 at last. We were, however, by the will of Providence, re 
 served for other purposes. The manager of the plantation 
 treated us with kindness, and listened to our tale with interest 
 and pity. He furnished us with food, supplied us with cloth 
 ing, and, after we had recruited our health and spirits, he pro 
 cured a passage for us to St. Bartholomews, a neutral port 
 whence we found no difficulty in getting to the United States. 
 
 " But since that time," continued Jim, " the fourth of July 
 never comes along, without bringing with it the sad remem- 
 
28 
 
 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 brance of the terrible event which I have just related. And 
 when I see the cup of grog pass round, and listen to the 
 sounds of mirth and jollity, and hear the hearty laugh, or the 
 patriotic song, I see before me the mangled corpses of my 
 shipmates, and forthwith retire to some snug, secluded place, 
 where I can give loose to the agonizing feelings which rack 
 my bosom, or seek comfort by praying unto the most merci 
 ful God." 
 
HARPOONING A SPANIARD. 
 
 He seized a spit he made a pass, 
 
 And drilled a hole through Hudibras ! BUTLER. 
 
 THE harbor of Havana, on the north side of the island of 
 Cuba, is undoubtedly one of the finest in the world. The en 
 trance is narrow, hardly allowing more than two vessels to 
 pass at the same time ; but, within, it becomes more spacious, 
 and beyond that portion of the city where are located the 
 3* 
 
30 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 quay and the lancfing-place, it expands into a beautiful bay, 
 of some two or three miles in diameter, constituting a noble 
 and safe anchorage for vessels of the largest size. The harbor 
 is defended by fortifications of great extent, constructed at an 
 enormous expense, and at all times well garrisoned. The Moro 
 Castle, the frowning battlements of which look down upon the 
 vessels as they enter or leave the harbor, is a fortification of 
 such strength as to be regarded impregnable from the sea. 
 It is built on a craggy limestone cliff, and effectually com 
 mands the passage. It is here that the lighthouse is situated, 
 which can be seen at a considerable distance in the offing. 
 The view, ever-changing, new and strange, which is pre 
 sented to the eye of the stranger on entering the port, is 
 deeply interesting, and well calculated to excite his admira 
 tion. 
 
 The waters abound with fish of various kinds, which may 
 be seen in the night, as they sport, or seek their prey near 
 the surface of the water, leaving behind them a sparkling and 
 golden track ; but the natives of that city are too indolent or 
 unskilful to take them, and Havana is supplied with fresh 
 fish by the industry of the Yankees, who bring them over in 
 fishing-smacks from the Tortugas Banks, or the Florida Reefs, 
 and realize a handsome profit by their enterprise. I have 
 heard that sharks are sometimes seen in that port, but al 
 though I have often visited the place, I never saw one. There 
 is no apparent reason, however, why they should not enter the 
 harbor, and prowl about among the shipping, and pick up a 
 stray piece of beef, or a tough old sailor, if they should happen 
 to fall in their way. But to my story. 
 
 Some twenty or five-and-twenty years ago, I was never 
 an adept at dates, the ship Cassandra, of Salem, entered 
 the harbor of Havana, dropped her anchor, and in a few hours 
 was snugly moored, under the direction of " Old John," the 
 assistant harbor-master. The next morning, that important 
 
HARPOONING A SPANIARD. 31 
 
 functionary, the cook, a remarkably dark-complexioned gen 
 tleman, by the way, approached the chief mate, in a state of 
 great perturbation, his cheeks blue with astonishment, and his 
 eyes as big as saucers. He held in one hand a piece of a 
 rope, and with the other pointed to the end of it, which bore 
 the mark of having been recently submitted to the action of a 
 sharp knife. 
 
 " Massa Mate ! " said Cuffy, in tremulous voice, " is there 
 sharks in Havana ? " 
 
 " Sharks ! " exclaimed that officer, whose name was Night 
 ingale, " I don t know ; I suppose so, of course. What do 
 you ask that for, Cuffy ? " 
 
 " Why, rnassa, look here a minute ! Last night I took a 
 good large piece of salt junk from the harness cask, tied this 
 strong rope round em, with a timber hitch, well jammed, and 
 threw em over the bows to freshen. Jus now I go get em 
 to put em in the copper, and I no find em ! Shark, I sup 
 pose, bite off the rope, all same as cut it with a knife. Look 
 here, massa ! " 
 
 " Ah ! " said , Mr. Nightingale, after examining the rope, 
 " this matter must be looked to. The fellow who bit off that 
 rope had sharp teeth and long ones too. It is not pleasant 
 to have such a voracious monster cruising around the ship, 
 seeking whom he may devour. He would make nothing of 
 taking off a man s leg or an arm, if an opportunity offered. 
 We must try to catch the rascal, Cuffy, and teach him better 
 manners." 
 
 In the course of the day, Mr. Nightingale mustered the 
 harpoon and caused it to be ground. He attached to it a few 
 fathoms of rattling-stuff, and placed it on the forecastle. At 
 night he told " the doctor " to get another piece of beef and 
 tow it over the bows to freshen, which was done by the grin 
 ning cook, who viewed with delight the preparations making 
 for capturing the sea-robber. 
 
82 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 When the watch was set at eight bells, Mr. Nightingale 
 charged the men to keep a good look-out in their watch for 
 the beef, and if they should see any large fish approaching, 
 or swimming around the ship during the night, to give him 
 a call. 
 
 Now everybody who has been in Havana knows that the 
 water in that harbor is remarkably luminous, and any object 
 swimming in the water, even if the night is quite dark, may 
 be seen at a considerable distance ; as it moves along, a lumi 
 nous phosphorescent wake is left behind, resembling the tail of 
 a comet. 
 
 It was about four o clock in the morning, when the man 
 who had the watch abruptly entered the mate s state-room, 
 and informed that vigilant officer that a large fish appeared 
 to be slowly approaching the bows of the ship. 
 
 " Ah, ha ! " said the mate, " that must be Mr. Shark com 
 ing for his breakfast, without doubt. But I 11 give him a 
 meal which he will find it difficult to digest ! " He sprung 
 from his berth, and in half a minute was looking over the 
 bows in the direction indicated by the watch. And there he 
 saw a large fish, moving gently along on the very surface of the 
 water, and gradually approaching the ship on the starboard 
 bow, near the precise spot from which the piece of salt junk 
 was suspended. 
 
 Mr. Nightingale grasped the harpoon with a muscular arm, 
 as a well-tried knight in days of old would grasp his lance in 
 a deadly encounter, and, looking over the cat-head, he kept 
 his eye fixed upon the sparkling and luminous body approach 
 ing. "A little nearer," he muttered to himself, " a little 
 nearer, Don Whiskerando, and then . He is a noble fel 
 low, nine feet in length if he s an inch, and would take off 
 a man s leg quicker and cleaner than a hospital surgeon. I in 
 sure of him now. One fathom nearer, and I 11 drive the iron 
 right through his shoulders ! " 
 
HARPOONING A SPANIARD. 33 
 
 And this was no empty vaunt, for Nightingale was a stal 
 wart fellow, with the limbs and muscles of a gladiator, and 
 could throw the harpoon or grainse with unerring precision. 
 
 The uncautious object of this attack had now approached 
 within the desired distance, and his snout was within half a 
 fathom of the beef, when Nightingale, exclaiming in a voice 
 of thunder, " Now for it ! " drove the harpoon, with fatal 
 accuracy and tremendous force, into the living object beneath 
 him. 
 
 " HAUL IN, JACK ! " shouted he to the watch on deck, as 
 the instrument left his hands, " I ve got him fast ! " 
 
 But what was his astonishment, what was his horror, to 
 hear from the depths of the waters, as the harpoon sought its 
 victim, a shriek, a yell, supernaturally loud and thrilling, as 
 if giving utterance in a moment to an age of agony ! The 
 shriek ended abruptly in a guttural, stifling sound, as if it 
 was the precursor and companion of the death of a human 
 being ! 
 
 For a moment Nightingale was paralyzed with fear and 
 wonder ; but he was a resolute fellow, who seldom lost his 
 presence of mind, and being now aware of the character of 
 the animal he had harpooned, he quickly adopted a course of 
 action. He drew forth his jack-knife and severed the rope 
 which was attached to the harpoon. He bade the only wit 
 ness to the singular transaction, an honest old tar, be silent as 
 a mummy, on pain of being changed into a dog-vane, and 
 placed at the royal-mast-head. He then walked slowly aft, 
 dived below, turned in and went to sleep ! 
 
 On that day there was much conjecture afloat among the 
 crews of the ships, in relation to the terrible shriek which was 
 heard all over the harbor, and by many people on the shore ; 
 but nothing satisfactory was elicited. Some regarded it as 
 proof that a horrible crime had been committed, while others 
 supposed it was a supernatural visitation, ominous of some 
 
34 
 
 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 terrible disaster. The problem, however, was solved a few 
 days after, when the body of a swarthy Spaniard, naked, was 
 found floating on the water, with a death-dealing harpoon 
 sticking in his vitals ! 
 
 The affair made a great noise in Havana at the time, and 
 is doubtless well remembered by the old traders and residents. 
 A reward was offered by Vives, the Governor General, for the 
 apprehension of the murderer, or for any information which 
 would tend to elucidate the mystery. But as Mr. Nightingale 
 and Jack kept their own counsel, the authorities were unable 
 to ascertain the facts of the case. 
 
 
OOLOOLOO, 
 
 THE MERMAID OF THE RIDING ROCKS. 
 
 Around she pointed to a spacious cave, 
 
 Whose only portal was the keyless wave ; 
 
 A hollow archway, by the sun unseen, 
 
 Save through the billows glassy veil of green, 
 
 In some transparent ocean holiday, 
 
 When all the finny people are at play 
 
 Wiped with her hair the brine from Torquil s eye-, 
 
 And clapped her hands with joy at his surprise. 
 
 BTRON. 
 
 ONE beautiful star-light night, the ship Chorister, of New- 
 buryport, was lying to, with her main-topsail to the mast, in 
 three fathoms and a half of water, near the western edge of 
 the Great Bahama Bank, waiting for daylight, in order to be 
 able to leave the bank for the Gulf Stream, without danger of 
 being wrecked on the Orange Keys, the Riding Rocks, or other 
 dangerous reefs, which abound in that quarter, and which have 
 caused the loss of many a good and substantial vessel. The 
 water was as smooth as the surface of a secluded fresh water 
 pond, and, even in the night, owing to the smooth and firm 
 bottom, composed of fine particles of coral limestone, white 
 as the driven snow, it looked like a well-bleached damask 
 table-cloth spread over an immeasurable surface. 
 
 From twelve to four o clock, A. M., the starboard watch 
 were on deck. They had nothing to do. It was not even 
 necessary to steer the ship, as she was lying to ; and the watch 
 collected together on the forecastle, and endeavored to derive 
 
36 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 amusement from conversation on subjects interesting to seamen, 
 or in repeating strange and wondrous adventures, which they 
 averred had occurred to them in the course of their nautical 
 lives. 
 
 Some curious tales were told ; when Ben Ridgerope called 
 out with startling energy, " I say, shipmates, did any of you 
 ever see a mermaid ? " 
 
 " I never did," replied Tom Spunyarn, in a gruff voice. 
 
 " Nor I " " Nor I " " Nor I " shouted three or four 
 more rough-looking tritons. 
 
 " And what is more to the point," said Tom, " I don t be 
 lieve anybody else ever did." 
 
 " Don t be too sure of that, my hearty ! " exclaimed Ben. 
 " Mermaids have been frequently seen on the craggy shores 
 of the Riding Rocks, and the Orange Keys ay, and mer- 
 men, too." 
 
 " Give us a yarn about them, do, Ben," exclaimed Dennis 
 Mahony, who had a decided turn for the marvellous. 
 
 " Yes, Ben," remarked Tom, " spin us a yarn about them, 
 if you have got one ; we are not obliged to believe it, you 
 know. But don t be too high-flown, now. We have not, all 
 of us, been to college." 
 
 " You may do as you like about believing it," replied Ben ; 
 " but I will tell you a story as I heard it, and if it is not as 
 true as a lunar observation taken by old Captain Coffin, of 
 Nantucket, when the sun and moon are only forty-five de 
 grees apart, then I ve only to say, it s not my fault." 
 
 " Come, heave ahead, then, my hearty," said Tom, " and 
 save the tide." 
 
 Ben thrust into his capacious jaws a goodly plug of the 
 Virginia weed, slewed himself round into an easier position on 
 the windlass end, and, without further preface, commenced his 
 story. 
 
OOLOOLOO. 37 
 
 " Well, then, you must know, shipmates, that some dozen 
 or fifteen years ago, the brig Yankee Doodle, bound on a 
 voyage to Havana and Europe, was becalmed in the Gulf 
 Stream for three days, and one bright morning found herself 
 within half a mile of the Riding Rocks. There happened to 
 be no current of any consequence, at the time, and the ship 
 hardly changed her position for several hours. All at once 
 the crew saw some strange-looking creatures crawl up out of 
 the sea, as if to sun themselves on the reefs. At first, the 
 captain thought they were turtles, but, on looking through his 
 spy-glass, he declared they were seals, and ordered the stern 
 boat to be lowered, calculating to have some fine sport in 
 knocking them on the head. But after he had put off, and 
 drew towards them, he found they were not seals, for the up 
 per part of their bodies, and their faces, looked just like 
 Christian human beings ; besides which, they had long hair, 
 of a greenish color, and some of them wore beards, which had 
 a marvellous resemblance to sea-weed both in color and mate 
 rial ! 
 
 " They are mermaids, as sure as my name is Nat Nich 
 ols ! exclaimed the captain. Avast pulling, men ! Back 
 water with the starboard oars ! Give way with the larboard, 
 men ! Let us get on board again as fast as possible ! And 
 sure enough, the cowardly lubbers returned to the brig in as 
 great a hurry as if the sea-serpent himself was in chase of 
 them with his jaws wide open ! 
 
 " The second mate of the ship was as likely a young fellow 
 as ever knotted a rope-yarn. His name was Jack Robbins. 
 He feared nothing in the shape of man, or woman either, for 
 that matter ; and, more than all, he was a true-hearted Yan 
 kee, born and brought up among the green mountains of Ver 
 mont. He felt anxious to know what kind of animals those 
 were upon the reef; said he had long wanted to see a mermaid. 
 4 
 
38 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 and asked leave of the captain to scull the boat to the rocks 
 and satisfy his curiosity. 
 
 " The captain told him that if he wished to go, he should 
 not object, but advised him to stay where he was, adding, But, 
 if you persist in going, Jack, and get knocked in the head or 
 carried off by those strange and wicked-looking creatures, 
 who are real cannibals, remember the fault is your own. Do 
 not lay your misfortunes at my door. 
 
 " Jack declared that whatever might be the result, he should 
 blame nobody but himself. He refused a pair of pistols, 
 which the captain kindly offered him, and grasping a heaver, 
 which, he said, was as good a weapon as he wished, and one 
 which he knew how to use, he jumped into the boat, and 
 sculled lustily towards the rocks. 
 
 " There were about half a dozen of those queer-looking 
 creatures loafing about the reef at this time, and, as Jack 
 Bobbins drew near them, he had time to examine their ap 
 pearance, and arrange his plan of attack. He thought it best 
 to land on the rocks, at some distance from the spot which 
 they had chosen for their lounge, or promenade, or whatever 
 you may please to call it, and then advance towards them 
 cautiously, by clambering over the cliffs. He remarked, with 
 some surprise, that they looked marvellously like men and 
 women ; and one in particular, who sported a long and majes 
 tic beard, had quite a respectable appearance. I tell you 
 what it is, old fellow, said Jack to himself, I hope we shall 
 be better acquainted before we part. 
 
 " He landed on the rocks, made fast the boat s painter to a 
 projecting cliff with a couple of half-hitches, and, seizing his 
 heaver, warily approached the animals which had attracted 
 his attention. As he advanced towards them, however, they, 
 one after another, disappeared beneath the surface of the 
 ocean all but two, the "one with the venerable beard, and 
 another with a very sweet countenance, whose features and 
 
OOLOOLOO. 
 
 39 
 
 bust bore a strong resemblance to those of a young and hand 
 some female. Jack saw, at once, that this was a veritable 
 mermaid. There could be no doubt about it, for he had read 
 many authentic descriptions of the appearance and habits of 
 these interesting inhabitants of the deep. 
 
 " After a short consultation, as it appeared to Jack, between 
 the merman and the young mermaid, the old fellow rolled off 
 the rocks into the sea, and was off like a shot. The mer 
 maid, however, kept her post like a heroine, at the edge of 
 the water, and looked kindly at Jack Bobbins with a cap 
 tivating smile. He now saw it had been arranged that he 
 
 should hold a tete-a-tete with the fair daughter of the ocean, 
 and being a youth of great gallantry, and a genuine sailor 
 
40 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 into the bargain, he threw down his heaver, made a polite 
 bow, and put on his very best looks for the occasion. 
 
 " When he had reached a sort of platform, within a few 
 paces of the spot where the mermaid reclined on the rocks, 
 smiling sweetly upon him, with her head and the upper por 
 tion of her body out of water, Jack stopped, and thought it 
 was time to commence the parley. He made another bow, 
 for Jack prided himself on his politeness, touched his 
 tarpaulin, and in his blandest manner commenced the conver 
 sation. 
 
 " My dear young lady, I am happy to make your ac 
 quaintance. I hope you enjoy good health, and can express 
 yourself in good old English, without much inconvenience. 
 
 " The mermaid nodded her head gently, as much as to say 
 that she was in good health, and could speak good old English 
 without any inconvenience whatever. She seemed quite 
 pleased with the adventure, and her eyes sparkled like rubies 
 of great price, which, indeed, they somewhat resembled in 
 color. Jack s surprise may be imagined. 
 
 " * Do I understand you aright ? said he. Do you mean 
 to say that you can really understand and speak English ? 
 
 " The mermaid looked at him earnestly for a moment, and, 
 then, in a voice more musical than anything he had ever 
 heard before, replied, with an arch look, I assure you, sir, 
 upon my honor, that I can both understand and speak Eng 
 lish. 
 
 " Well, this beats everything I ever met with before ! said 
 Jack to himself. The adventure has a comical beginning, 
 any how ; and what will be the end of it I cannot even 
 guess. Then again addressing the mermaid, he said, Will 
 you be kind enough to tell me your name, if you have any ? 
 
 " * They call me Oolooloo ! she replied, with a witching 
 expression. 
 
 " < Oolooloo ! echoed Jack. < That is a singular name. I 
 
OOLOOLOO. 41 
 
 hope you will not think me impertinent, if I ask you, also, 
 where you live ? 
 
 " Live ! exclaimed the mermaid, raising one of her deli 
 cate, but well-proportioned arms, and pointing with her finger 
 to the surface of the water. Down down Oolooloo 
 lives far down among the coral caves ! 
 
 " And how came you so far away from your home ? in 
 quired the wondering sailor. 
 
 " 0, we, who dwell in the pleasant retreats, far, far beneath 
 the ocean wave, sometimes like to quit, for a time, our joyous 
 abodes, and mount upwards into the regions of air. 
 
 " Her voice was melody itself, and resembled the richest 
 notes of a flute ; this, added to a child-like simplicity of man 
 ner, and a youthful and pleasing countenance, completely 
 charmed our young sailor. He felt convinced that Oolooloo, 
 as she called herself, was as kind and gentle a creature as 
 ever sported in the waters of the ocean, and that her language 
 was the language of truth. 
 
 " I should like right well to see your habitation, said Jack. 
 You must lead a strange humdrum sort of a life away down 
 there at the bottom of the sea. 
 
 " 0, come with me, kind mariner, come with me ! said 
 Oolooloo. * I will conduct you there with despatch and safety. 
 I will gladly bear you through the depths of ocean to our coral 
 groves, and our magnificent grottos and palaces, where dwell, 
 amid gay delights and tranquil joys, the guileless children of 
 the sea. 0, come with me, kind mariner, come with me ! 
 
 " Jack Bobbins was a little startled at this invitation, so 
 earnestly given by the interesting Oolooloo. He was con 
 vinced, by actual experiment, that, although he could swim 
 like a duck, he did not possess the faculty of breathing freely 
 with his head under water. He looked at the gentle mermaid 
 as if he doubted the possibility of complying with her request. 
 Oolooloo saw his hesitation. 
 
42 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 " No harm will come to you, said she, believe me ; for, 
 in less than a minute after we leave these upper regions, we 
 shall reach the bottom of the sea, where the ocean-spirits 
 dwell. I will show you our pleasant abodes ; walk with you 
 through the forests of coral ; make you acquainted with my 
 dearest friends; regale you with our choicest viands; and 
 then, if you wish it, return you in safety to this very spot. 
 
 " When Oolooloo talked of walking with him through the 
 coral groves, he very naturally turned his eyes from her face 
 to that part of her form where the powers of locomotion are 
 usually situated. But he saw there no apparatus for walking. 
 On the contrary, her figure seemed to taper off gradually, and 
 terminated in what appeared to be the tail of a good-sized 
 shark ! 
 
 " * I cannot doubt your power to swim rapidly through the 
 water, replied Jack Bobbins, * but you will excuse me for 
 thinking that you must cut a queer figure when walking or 
 running on the land, or dancing a hornpipe. 
 
 " Oolooloo laughed heartily at Jack s remarks, and by this 
 act exposed a set of pearly teeth for which sovereignty 
 would have pawned her jewels ; and by thus indulging her 
 mirth, won Jack s confidence to a greater extent than might 
 have been the case in a conversation of an hour ; foj* Jack 
 liked a good laugh himself, and believed that there could be 
 no guile in those who freely indulged in hearty laughter. 
 
 " * 0, I will tell you all about that when you reach my 
 home, said she. You may, perhaps, find that mermaids 
 are not such monsters as you sailors believe us to be. Will 
 you go with me ? O, say yes ! If you do not like us, or our 
 dwellings, I will bring you back in a moment. 
 
 " * I have a great mind to go with you, said Jack, hesitat 
 ingly. You, surely, can have no object in deceiving me, and 
 you look the picture of innocence and truth. But, if misfor 
 tune should befall me, what would become of my poor mother ? 
 
OOLOOLOO. 4d 
 
 " * Misfortune will not befall you, I assure you, on the word 
 of a mermaid, said Oolooloo, earnestly. Come ! Come ! 
 Come ! 
 
 " I have already said that Jack Bobbins possessed a fearless 
 disposition, as well as a susceptible heart ; he was, also, fond 
 of adventure ; and there was a charm in the voice and appear 
 ance of the mermaid, which he found impossible to resist. He 
 accordingly accepted the hand which Oolooloo extended to 
 wards him ; the twain plunged beneath the surface, and darted 
 through the water at a rapid rate, nor stopped until they 
 reached the home of the mermaids, at the bottom of the Gulf 
 Stream ! 
 
 " By this time, Jack was nearly out of breath, and some 
 minutes elapsed before he could recover himself sufficiently to 
 look around him. When he did, he found that the lady 
 had kept faith with him ; he was in a beautiful palace, or 
 rather grotto, surrounded by splendors of a character superior 
 to what the mind of man can conceive. The grotto was of 
 coral, of the most beautiful description, and of various hues, 
 and it was thickly studded with precious stones, which quietly 
 reflected the soft light that penetrated through the vast waters 
 of ocean. From the roof hung, in countless numbers, clusters 
 of delicate marine animals of the simplest structure, and in 
 front of the grotto was an extensive marine forest, where trees 
 and plants, of a most fantastic character, abounded, and through 
 which were numerous paths, paved with pearls and various- 
 colored shells, forming a rich mosaic, intersecting each other 
 at right angles. Some of them led to a garden laid out with 
 much taste, which yielded fruits and flowers in great pro- 
 fuseness, and of a flavor and beauty far superior to anything 
 which Jack ever met with above water. But what surprised 
 him most, was to see animals, wonderfully resembling men 
 and women in every respect, clad in modest and becoming 
 
44 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 garments, promenading through the walks, admiring the pro 
 ductions of the garden, dancing in the grottos, or reclining in 
 the arbors which were seen at the termination of every path. 
 
 " Oolooloo witnessed Jack s astonishment with a smile, and, 
 without saying a word, floundered off with a most ungraceful 
 gait, to another apartment, and left the adventurous sailor to 
 pursue, uninterrupted, his cogitations. Jack marked her as 
 she retired, and could not help uttering aloud a regret, that 
 the fair Oolooloo partook, to such an extent, in her form and 
 proportions, of the nature of a fish ; of a fish too, to which 
 sailors have a mortal aversion a shark. He was wonder 
 ing what kind of a figure she would make in a cotillon at a 
 ball-room, or in a promenade on Boston Common, when the 
 water-nymph again entered the room. But what a change a 
 few short minutes had effected ! She was no longer half a 
 fish and half a woman. The fish had disappeared, and a 
 woman, lovely in form as well as in feature, with limbs exqui 
 sitely proportioned, with a foot and ankle which the most 
 graceful belle in Yankee land might envy, picturesquely arrayed 
 in a snow-white tunic, fabricated of a beautiful marine tissue, 
 came skipping gracefully in the room, and stood before him. 
 She was followed by her father, the old bearded gentleman, 
 whom Jack had before seen on the Riding Rocks, and a whole 
 troop of mermaids and mermen, who were introduced to Jack 
 as her relations. 
 
 " Jack professed great pleasure at making their acquaintance ; 
 and he soon learned, to his great satisfaction, that the fish- 
 like appearance, which had offended him so much, was only 
 an artificial apparatus, ingeniously manufactured from the 
 skin and tail of the deep-water shark (a fish which is well 
 known to be the mortal enemy of mermaids), to assist them in 
 swimming. Indeed, this might be called, with propriety, their 
 bathing dress. 
 
 " Jack Robbins was treated with the greatest politeness by 
 
OOLOOLOO. 45 
 
 these kind people. They seemed to vie with each other in 
 making their residence agreeable to him. They set before 
 him a delicious repast, consisting of various kinds of fish and 
 marine delicacies, the names of which he knew not; and 
 finally asked him plainly, if he were not willing to pass with 
 them the remainder of his life. 
 
 "Jack was staggered at first. He admired very much what 
 he had seen of the disposition, and habits, and modes of life, of 
 these strange people. He caught the eye of Oolooloo, too, 
 who looked as if she wished he would make up his mind to 
 remain, and was eagerly awaiting his answer. But when he 
 thought of his native country, of rough but honest New Eng 
 land; of Vermont, amid whose green hills he had passed 
 many happy hours ; and when he thought, too, of his mother, 
 old and infirm, who loved him with all a mother s tenderness, 
 and who was dependent on him for the necessaries of life, he 
 no longer hesitated, but told them, at once, that he felt exceed 
 ingly grateful for their kind invitation, but was prevented 
 from accepting it by circumstances which it was unnecessary 
 to explain, but which he could not control. 
 
 " Oolooloo seemed disappointed, and gave him a look in 
 which tenderness and reproach were mingled. She said noth 
 ing, however, to change his determination, but intimated in a 
 grave tone, not altogether void of pique, that she was ready 
 at any time to fulfil her promise of conveying him in safety 
 to the Riding Rocks, whenever he felt disposed to leave them. 
 Jack said he should like right well to pass several days among 
 them, but he feared that the brig Yankee Doodle, to which 
 vessel he belonged, would get a breeze from the eastward, and 
 be off, which would place him in a very unpleasant predica 
 ment. 
 
 " Oolooloo took the hint, and arrayed herself in her swim 
 ming costume without delay, and, grasping Jack s hand, she 
 clambered with him, awkwardly enough, a flight of steps to a 
 
46 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 large sky-light in the roof of the palace and, then, with far 
 more strength and agility than he had previously believed she 
 possessed, she sprang with him upwards into the vast bed of 
 water which rolled above the homes of the sea-nymphs, and 
 in a few moments Jack found himself and his companion 
 safely landed on the Riding Rocks ! 
 
 " Jack Robbins spouted like a whale, as dripping wet he 
 emerged from the water. He looked in the offing for the 
 Yankee Doodle, but no Yankee Doodle was to be seen. Even 
 the boat, which he had a few hours before fastened to the 
 rocks, was no longer there. A fine breeze was blowing from 
 the eastward, which led him to suppose, what was actually 
 the case, that the captain, believing him to have been devoured 
 by sea-monsters, had sent ashore and taken possession of the 
 boat, then filled the yards und made all sail to his destined 
 port. 
 
 " Jack s consternation may easily be conceived. His only 
 hope now was that some other vessel would pass that way, 
 within a day or two, and take him off. He intimated to 
 Oolooloo his intention of remaining on the rocks ; he told her 
 that he had often been in worse straits than that, and doubted 
 not he should weather the cape without any trouble. He ex 
 pressed much regret for being under the necessity of parting 
 from her who had treated him so kindly, and bade her fare 
 well. Oolooloo, who had conceived quite a strong affection 
 for the handsome and bold-hearted sailor, sighed as she^ kissed 
 her hand to him, and disappeared beneath the dark blue wave. 
 
 " Poor Jack Robbins seated himself on a high crag and 
 looked out upon the vast expanse of ocean before him, but not 
 a single sail was to be seen. The shades of evening fell, and 
 found Jack sitting there still, forlorn and dismal enough. 
 He began to think it would have been better to have remained 
 among pleasant society in the mermaid s cave, where, at all 
 events, he could have found plenty of grub. The night passed, 
 
OOLOOLOO. 47 
 
 and in the morning there were no vessels in sight. Jack felt 
 hungry, but he was on a barren rock, where there were no 
 means of satisfying either his hunger or thirst. This day, 
 and a long, solitary, and dreary one it was, also passed away ; 
 and the next morning, as, in a forlorn mood, he was leaning 
 against a cliff, looking out towards the horizon, feeling un 
 usually sad and depressed, and with good reason, he heard a 
 noise in the water near him. He turned his head, and, to his 
 great delight, recognized the pleasing features of his friend 
 Oolooloo. 
 
 " He was truly rejoiced to see her again, and she could not. 
 conceal her pleasure to find that the interesting sailor had not 
 yet been able to quit those desolate rocks. She asked him if 
 he was now willing to go back to the romantic grotto beneath 
 the sea ; and Jack, who had an insuperable aversion to hun 
 ger and solitude, acknowledged that nothing would give him 
 greater satisfaction. In less than half an hour he was par 
 taking of glorious cheer in the mermaid s cave, and at intervals 
 was laughing, and chatting, and flirting with Oolooloo. Jack 
 felt quite reconciled to his situation, for he had no longer any 
 fear of dying from hunger, or of pining away his life in soli 
 tude. He felt grateful to Oolooloo, too ; and gratitude, 
 especially when entertained towards a pretty woman, although 
 she may have ruby eyes and sea-green hair, is often akin to 
 love. In less than a fortnight after Jack Robbins became a 
 resident of the grotto, he had won from the beautiful, but 
 frank and open-hearted mermaid, her consent to become his 
 bride. They were married, and their wedding was celebrated 
 with a grand ball, on which memorable occasion Jack aston 
 ished them all with the skill and agility with which he ex 
 ecuted that difficult feat, the double shuffle. 
 
 " Weeks and months passed away, and Jack was as happy 
 as under the circumstances could have been expected. He 
 loved Oolooloo, and his affection was returned with interest 
 
48 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 He passed his time pleasantly, too, in conversing with the in 
 habitants of those regions, in joining in their sports and 
 amusements, and in wandering about gazing upon the riches, 
 and beauties, and curiosities, which were to be met with on 
 every side. His thoughts, it is true, would sometimes revert 
 to his native home, and a pang would seize his heart when he 
 thought of his mother, perhaps suffering from want, or depend 
 ent on the charity of strangers for food. But a smile from 
 Oolooloo would banish all his cares, and bring to his bosom 
 tranquillity and joy. 
 
 " Sometimes, in order to vary his amusements, he would ac 
 company his wife and some friends on an excursion to the 
 Riding Rocks, or the Orange Keys ; and, if he saw a strange 
 sail in the distance, his heart would beat quicker, and he felt 
 a sort of yearning to be once more with his own race and 
 kindred. The fact is, Jack Robbins had been used to the ups 
 and downs of life ; he was fond of adventure, and was of a 
 bold, enterprising disposition ; but there was very little variety 
 in the lives of the inhabitants of the sea, among whom he had 
 taken up his abode. They were happy, it is true, and Jack 
 often thought he was a fool not to be happy too. He had 
 everything he could wish, but he had no employment; his 
 life seemed passing away like a dull, sluggish, smooth stream, 
 as it moves quietly along towards the ocean. This sameness 
 he did not like. It reminded him of a calm at sea. He was 
 formed for the rough and tumble of life, not to rust out his 
 faculties in indolence and ease. But he knew that if he ex 
 pressed even the remotest wish to quit the society of his kind 
 friends, it would kill his wife Oolooloo s heart would break. 
 Besides, it would be a vile return for her kindness and affec 
 tion. He, therefore, summoned to his aid all the fortitude of 
 which he was master, and resolved to bear his happiness with 
 as good a grace as possible. Indeed, he had pretty much 
 made up his mind to pass the rest of his life among that kind 
 
OOLOOLOO. 49 
 
 and hospitable race of beings, when a circumstance occurred, 
 after he had been about a year and a half in his marine abode, 
 \vhich materially changed the aspect of affairs. 
 
 " I have already said that the deep-water shark is the enemy 
 of the mermaids; but these sea-nymphs move through the 
 water with such velocity, that the sharks seldom meet with an 
 opportunity to injure any of that race. One day, however, 
 as Oolooloo was convoying her husband, Jack Robbins, from 
 one of the Bahama Keys, whither they had been on a pleasure 
 excursion, a large shark was lying in wait watching for his 
 prey. Oolooloo saw him, but, in attempting to avoid this 
 voracious monster, she almost rushed into the jaws of another, 
 which was coming full speed towards her in an opposite direc 
 tion. She saw that her case was a critical one ; and, although 
 she could at once have ensured her own safety by deserting 
 her husband, she nobly preferred to remain by him, and rescue 
 him if possible, but at all events share his fate. She exerted 
 all her strength in this emergency, and, at the very moment 
 when she was about congratulating herself on having escaped 
 the threatened danger, one of these monsters made a dart 
 towards her, seized her by the shoulder, bit out a large piece 
 of the flesh, and crushed the bone. Poor Oolooloo, after a 
 severe struggle, succeeded in getting out of the jaws of the 
 shark, and by a violent effort made out to reach the coral 
 grottos, but in a bleeding and fainting condition. 
 
 "Jack Robbins felt that he was indebted to the beautiftd 
 mermaid again for his life, that she had, perhaps, sacrificed 
 herself for him. He fully appreciated her noble act, and 
 cherished a deep feeling of gratitude. He earnestly hoped 
 that she would recover, and he vowed that, if she did, he would 
 never entertain a thought for a moment which should embody 
 the possibility of a separation from his preserver. But poor 
 Oolooloo did not recover ; the wound which she received was 
 a dreadful one, and the mermaids and mermen have never 
 5 
 
50 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 been celebrated for their skill in surgery. She lingered a 
 few days in great agony, when mortification took place, and 
 the kind and affectionate creature expired in the arms of her 
 weeping husband. 
 
 " Jack lamented her death ; her tenderness and devotion to 
 him had won his affection, and he felt that he had lost a true 
 and a dear friend. But, after the death of Oolooloo, the coral 
 caves and the marine forests and gardens, lost all their charms 
 in his eyes. Even the conversation of his kind friends seemed 
 to him dull and prosy ; and one day, after he had listened to 
 a long rigmarole story from his old father-in-law, he some 
 what startled the old man, who still had two unmarried 
 daughters, both of whom were setting their caps for the 
 widowed sailor, by requesting the old gentleman to put him 
 in a way to return to his native country. 
 
 " The old merman, however, although something of a bore, 
 was a good old soul. He no sooner found that Jack was un 
 happy in that delightful place, with nothing to do, enjoying 
 good society, and surrounded with all the comforts and luxu 
 ries of life, than, although he condemned his judgment and 
 taste, he resolved to accede to his wishes. Accordingly, the 
 next day, Jack having donned the garments which he wore 
 when he was on board the Yankee Doodle, and ballasted his 
 pockets with a few lumps of gold, and precious stones, and 
 other valuables, took leave of his kind friends and companions, 
 and, submitting himself to the pilotage of the old merman, 
 soon found himself on the south-eastern point of one of the 
 Bimini islands. He looked around him, and was rejoiced to 
 see a sloop just anchoring in a small bay, but a short distance, 
 from him. He pointed out the vessel to his father-in-law, 
 shook hands with him, and bade him good-by. The old gen 
 tleman then returned to his home at the bottom of the ocean, 
 and is living there yet, for aught I know. Jack then hastened 
 towards the sloop, which proved to be a * wrecker from Key 
 
OOLOOLOO. 51 
 
 West. He told the skipper a plausible story of being ship 
 wrecked, but said nothing about the contents of his pockets, 
 which he concealed from every eye. The skipper received 
 him on board, and in a few days an opportunity offered to 
 transfer him to a ship bound from New Orleans to New York. 
 He undertook to work his passage, and in about a fortnight 
 arrived safe and sound in the city of New York. 
 
 " Jack Bobbins lost no time in depositing his treasure in a 
 safe place, reserving a little, however, for immediate use ; and 
 as soon as he had rigged himself out with a new suit, he took 
 his land tacks bn board, and started off for Vermont, 
 
 " The fruitful fields, the woocf-crowned hills, and the clear 
 streams of his native state looked beautiful in his eyes, far 
 more beautiful than they ever did before. Jack thought they 
 were a thousand times more precious than all the treasures 
 buried in the fathomless recesses of the deep. And although 
 his bosom heaved a sigh when he thought of poor, affection 
 ate Oolooloo, he could not help congratulating himself on 
 reaching his home once more, safe and sound ; but this, I sup 
 pose, is human nature. 
 
 " It was a pleasant afternoon in September when he ar 
 rived at his mother s dwelling. The good woman had wept 
 bitterly the loss of her only son. She was, beside, lamenta 
 bly deficient in worldly goods. Her furniture had been seized 
 and sold for debts which she had contracted, and she had 
 been ordered by her landlord to quit the tenement which she 
 occupied, without delay. Overcome with misfortune, and 
 almost blind with weeping, not knowing in what direction to 
 turn her footsteps next, she was sitting gloomily in a chair, 
 brooding over her sorrows. She was roused from her reverie 
 by the noise made by a person entering the room. She 
 raised her head and beheld her son, whose soul she be 
 lieved had long since passed away to. the regions of the 
 blessed. But she could not be deceived. There stood Jack 
 
52 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 Robbins, with the same healthy, happy look, and good-humored 
 countenance of former years. The good woman rushed to 
 wards him, fell on his neck, and fainted away. 
 
 " Jack Robbins soon regulated matters to his satisfaction, 
 and returned to New York to take care of his treasures. He 
 found himself a wealthy man, thanks to the mermaids, and 
 concluded to let go his sheet-anchor in a pleasant valley in 
 Vermont, where, according to all accounts, he is still snugly 
 moored, and often recurs to the pleasant times he passed with 
 his Oolooloo beneath the dark waters ; and sighs when he 
 looks upon the lock of sea-green hair, which he wears in his 
 bosom as a token of remembrance." 
 
 Such was Ben Ridgerope s story of the mermaid; and 
 when he concluded, a dispute arose among his watch-mates 
 whether such creatures as mermaids really existed or not. 
 But before the question was definitely settled, it was eight 
 bells, and the watch was relieved. When daylight broke the 
 Orange Keys were discovered, about eight or nine miles off to 
 the southward. The yards were filled away, and sail made 
 upon the ship, which passed very near the Keys to the east 
 ward. Although the crew looked hard at the rocks as they 
 sailed along, not a mermaid was to be seen. 
 
WHITE-HEADED BILL. 
 
 Now, gallant sailor, hold thine own, 
 Xo maiden s arm is round thee thrown ; 
 That desperate grasp thy frame might feel 
 Through bars of brass and triple steel. 
 
 SCOTT. 
 
 AMONG the crew of the brig Clarissa, on her voyage from 
 Salem to Maranhani, a number of years since, was a funny- 
 looking fellow by the name of Bill Somers. He was about 
 five feet two in his shoes, and rather stout-built. His 
 features were not remarkable for their comeliness, and, sailor 
 as he was, his appearance, even when rigged out in his best 
 style, with a bran-new spanker, gaff-topsail, and flying-jib, 
 never caused many heart-burnings among the belles on shore. 
 But Bill was a philosopher, and cared but little for such 
 trifles. His face was not long, but it made up in latitude 
 what it wanted in longitude ; his eyes were of a rusty lead 
 color, and one was considerably larger than the other, or, as 
 Jack Hunter used to say, one looked like a horse and the 
 other like a horse-marine ; his mouth was small and round, 
 looking for all the world like an auger-hole in his face, just 
 beneath his left nostril ; but his nose was a noble one, being 
 of the color of black walnut, and sticking straight out from 
 between his well-bleached and rough-looking cheeks, like the 
 handle of a serving-mallet ; and, to crown all, although he 
 was not apparently more than five and thirty years old, his 
 head was as white as the ocean foam, and when he wandered 
 5* 
 
54 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 about deck, without his cap, between daylight and dark, he 
 loomed up like Beaehy Head in a fog ! But Bill was a good 
 seaman, and a kind shipmate. He was well liked by every 
 man on board, notwithstanding his queer looks, and was 
 known by the name of White-headed Bill. 
 
 One pleasant, moonlight evening, during the dog-watch, as 
 the Clarissa was running smoothly along with a gentle trade 
 wind upon her quarter, the crew, all hands being on deck, 
 were engaged, some in chatting, and some in skylarking on 
 the forecastle. Bill Somers, who had been relieving the man 
 at the helm while he got his supper, came forward while they 
 were in the midst of their sport. 
 
 "Avast, shipmates; avast there!" cried Ben Harding. 
 " Here comes White-headed Bill. He promised us, the other 
 day, that, the first chance he got, he would overhaul his log 
 book, and let us know how it happened that old Time emp 
 tied a dredging-box upon his head before he had got half- 
 seas-over on the voyage of life." 
 
 " That s a bright thought, Ben," said Ned Mulliken. " All 
 hands are on deck, and there is nothing to do. There could 
 not be a better chance ; come, Bill, let s have your yarn." 
 
 " Well," said the venerable-looking seaman, " I suppose I 
 shall have to tell you some time or other, and the sooner I 
 tell you, the sooner I shall enjoy a quiet life. So bring your 
 selves to anchor, my hearties, and you shall know all about 
 it." 
 
 They gathered around him on the deck of the forecastle. 
 Bill put the forefinger of his left hand on the spot where his 
 chin should have been ; and, squinting terribly with his big 
 eye, he cast, with his other, a searching look into the regions 
 of the past. He soon, however, collected his scattered 
 thoughts, and began his narrative as follows : 
 
 " It is about ten, or, indeed, it may be twelve, years ago 
 (for I am but a poor hand at dates, and it is of little conse- 
 
WHITE-HEADED BILL. 55 
 
 quence when a thing happens, provided it happens at all), 
 that I found myself adrift in Savannah, with a few shiners in 
 my pocket. I slung my cot at Jim Hubbard s, at the sign of 
 the General Armstrong ; and there I fell in with as crazy and 
 merry a set of fellows as ever cracked a flint biscuit, or bolted 
 mahogany beef. They were always up to some fun or other, 
 or kicking up a row, and getting themselves and others into 
 trouble. I was with them one unfortunate evening, when 
 they capsized a barber s shop, while he was shaving a cus 
 tomer, in revenge for his having shaved off" the whiskers of 
 some of them rather too closely, the day before, while en 
 gaged in taking off their beards. The shop was soon on its 
 beam-ends ; but some meddlesome fellows, who lived along 
 side, and who could not understand a joke, ill-naturedly sent 
 a messenger for the city guard, and a pretty rumpus followed, 
 I assure you, as ever an old man-of-war s man would wish 
 to see. But they were too many guns for us, and the scrape 
 ended by all of us being captured and towed off to the watch- 
 house, where we were put in limbo, and, next morning, we 
 were all carried, in great state and parade, before a stern- 
 looking, iron-faced chap, who, after listening to a long yarn 
 from the captain of the guard, gave us a lecture as long as 
 the main-top bowline, and made us pay roundly for the frolic. 
 And we were lucky to get off so easily. 
 
 " Our frolicking days were soon over. No one could man 
 age better to ease a sailor of his loose cash than our landlord, 
 Jim Hubbard ; and, after our purses grew lank and con 
 sumptive, he gave us grim and surly looks, making us under 
 stand that the sooner we looked out for a ship the better. 
 
 " Well, after overhauling matters and things a little, and 
 going on board half a dozen vessels, and holding long confabs 
 with the captains and mates, for sailors were in demand in 
 those days, boys, I can tell you, and we felt our importance 
 mightily, and strutted about big as midshipmen on leave of 
 
56 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 absence, we concluded to ship on board the brig Joseph, of 
 Boston, Captain Allen, bound on a voyage to Gottenburg. 
 We got our month s pay in advance, and promised the skip 
 per that we would get our traps on board, settle all accounts 
 on shore, have a regular-built spree, and come on board on 
 the morrow steady as the south-east trades, and as sober as a 
 struck dolphin. 
 
 " And we were men of our word, as all sailors should be. 
 We never promised what we could not perform. We set our 
 selves to work to do up all our little odd jobs, that we might 
 take hold with a will on the next day, and show the skipper 
 that he had shipped an honest set of fellows, who knew what 
 was right, and had courage to do it. That s what I call 
 plane-sailing ; and foremast hands should never meddle with 
 any other kind of sailing ; they would find it better for them 
 in the long run." 
 
 " There s no doubt of that," muttered Ben Harding, with 
 a nod of approbation. 
 
 " Well, you see, I had a good deal to do. After paying 
 off all scores, I had eight or ten dollars left, and I was as 
 hard at work all the afternoon in laying that out to the best 
 advantage as a Mother Carey s chicken in a gale of wind. 
 At last, I got all the duds and knickknacks I wanted, packed 
 my chest, a dray was sent for, our chests and bedding given 
 in charge to Cuflee, and, with the rest of my shipmates, in tip 
 top spirits, we conveyed our property on board the brig, and 
 saw it snugly stowed in the forecastle. We then held a con 
 sultation, and came to the conclusion that some one ought to 
 sleep on board the brig that night, and, as I was a pretty 
 steady chap in those days, and had got enough of frolicking, 
 I volunteered to do that duty, and prepared my bunk accord 
 ingly. 
 
 " After a hearty supper at our boarding-house, the rest of 
 the lads started off on some wild spree, determined to have a 
 
WHITE-HEADED BILL. 57 
 
 real lark 1 , to wind up the last night on shore, and then to con 
 duct like decent, well-behaved men for the rest of the voyage. 
 I sat down in a corner, enjoying a good cigar, in company 
 with Bill Willis, the boatswain of the ship Casket, and a few 
 other clever fellows. We got talking about various matters, 
 and at last the boatswain undertook to spin a long yarn about 
 his love disappointment some twenty years before, which 
 almost capsized him, and was the cause of his going to sea, 
 and giving up all notion of love forever afterwards. And, to 
 tell you the truth, shipmates, I am not sure that the old fel 
 low was not more than half right ; for these gals are curious 
 critters, and sometimes make sad work with a man s upper 
 rigging before he is aware of it." 
 
 " Well, what of that ? " said Bob Jones ; " what has that to 
 do with your white head ? " 
 
 " 0, go on with your story, White-Headed Bill," said 
 Harry Handlead, " and let the gals alone. You are a pretty 
 fellow, with such a figure-head, to sneer about the gals. I 
 won t stand by and see them abused, anyhow." 
 
 " Don t be frightened, shipmates ; I an t going to abuse the 
 gals ; though, if the truth was known, / never was a favorite 
 among them. You shall have the rest of my story before the 
 cook could sing out scoldings ! So you see I staid at the 
 boarding-house until half-past ten o clock; whereas, if I had 
 gone on board the Joseph, directly after I had stowed away 
 my supper, as I ought to have done, I should have steered 
 clear of a terrible fright, and my hair, instead of looking like 
 a frizzled snowball, would now have been as black as Malay 
 Jack s there. Well, I got under way, with a fair wind, and 
 directed my course towards the brig. It was a pretty dark 
 night, but that I did not mind. I had a tinder-box in the 
 till of my chest, and I intended to strike a light as soon as I 
 got on board. I stepped on deck; all was still. I stood a 
 few minutes, leaning against the gunwale, when all at once it 
 

 58 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 entered my mind that perhaps the old brig was haunted ; and 
 a strange kind of a chill crept over me. I had often heard 
 of such things ; and, more than all that, I had often heard 
 strange and unnatural noises when I was on board the barque 
 Sobersides, on a passage to Bio, which no one on board could 
 ever account for, and which was the main reason why myself 
 and three others of the crew ran away, and left three months 
 pay and most of our duds behind a thing I 11 never do again, 
 ghost or no ghost. Well, I was thinking about these things, 
 and came to the conclusion that there would be precious little 
 fun in being alone, of a dark night, in the forecastle of a 
 haunted ship; although you know, shipmates, one and all, 
 that I fear nothing which comes in any civilized shape, whether 
 it be man or beast, so long as it abounds with flesh and blood. 
 Then again I thought I was a great fool to be frightened, 
 and that, after all, it was not likely the brig was haunted. 
 After taking two or three turns on the main deck, I put an 
 extra quid into my cheek, to inspire me with additional cour 
 age, and, wearing a stiff upper lip, pressed boldly forward 
 towards the forecastle. 
 
 " I opened the lid of the forescuttle, and was about to go 
 down, when I thought I heard a noise. I listened, and dis 
 tinctly heard a person breathing ; he was doing it in a style too, 
 as if his bellows gear was of good size, and in right tune. 
 
 " 0, ho, said I to myself, * that must be Sam Heavistarn, 
 the chuckle-headed Dutchman. He has been taking too much 
 schnapps, and has wisely come aboard to sleep it off on the 
 soft lid of a white pine chest. Accordingly, I called out at 
 the top of my voice, I say, Sam ! Halloo, Sam ! No an 
 swer. * Why, he is taking off the line finely. He is walk 
 ing off to the land of dreams like a sloop, of war scudding 
 before the wind and sea. Halloo, Sam, I say ; wake up ! 
 
 " But the only answer I received was a sort of a loud grunt 
 or growl, or a mixture of both. Thinks I to myself, I will 
 
WHITE-HEADED BILL. 59 
 
 soon rouse you out, my good fellow, or you have got more 
 grog aboard than you ever had since I knew you ; and down 
 into the forecastle I went. When I got to the bottom of the 
 ladder, I groped about to find Sam, intending to give him a 
 good shaking ; and I soon got hold of a shaggy garment, 
 which I took to be his Flushing pea-jacket. I gave it a pull ; 
 * Come, shipmate, said I, rouse and bitt. And he did 
 rouse with a vengeance ! 
 
 " The object which I took to be Sam, uttered a long, loud, 
 and hoarse growl, and sprung off the chest, amid a huge clat 
 tering of chains, and some most diabolical sounds. My heart 
 sunk within me. * It s a gone case, said I ; the brig is 
 haunted, sure enough ; and I started back to go up the lad 
 der. But this was not as easily done as said. .Before I had 
 
 placed my foot on the first step, I was clutched in the grasp 
 of some horrid monster, who hugged me in his arms, as if he 
 
60 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 was resolved that we should never part company again. His 
 breath was hot and unsavory ; his claws were long and sharp ; 
 and the garment which 1 took for a good warm pea-jacket 
 was neither more nor less than the shaggy covering of some 
 grim ghost or ferocious imp ! 
 
 " I thought he would have squeezed the breath out of my 
 body ; and for a moment I was so completely taken aback 
 that my tongue lay against the roof of my mouth as stiff as a 
 marlinspike, and it was out of my power to hail for assistance, 
 or make any signals of distress. This state of things did not 
 last long, however ; words soon came to my relief; and, ship 
 mates, you may rely upon it, I made up for lost time. My 
 lungs are none of the weakest, as you well know ; and, as soon 
 as I was able to get my jawing tacks aboard, I raised a hulla 
 baloo which was enough to astonish ghost or fiend. Mur 
 der ! murder ! bawled I at the top of my voice. Thieves ! 
 Fire! Don t squeeze so hard ! Robbers! 0, you will kill me! 
 Help, or I shall die ! Murder ! Fire ! Mercy, good ghost ; 
 have mercy on me ! 
 
 " They say that, when a man is frightened, he is robbed of 
 his strength. It was not so with me ; and I defy any man 
 to suffer more from fear than I did at that time. I thought 
 that old Davy Jones himself, with his strong arms and sharp 
 claws, had come for me ; but I was resolved to struggle for 
 life as long as I could exert a muscle ; and while the old fel 
 low was giving me a hug that I thought would crush every 
 bone in my skin, I made a tremendous effort, and got one of 
 my arms loose, doubled up my fist, and let my loving friend 
 have it, full drive, right on the side of his head. The blow 
 was a powerful one, and altogether unexpected by the shaggy, 
 affectionate, but strong-limbed demon. It astonished him so 
 much that he instantly relaxed his grasp ; upon which, by mak 
 ing an extraordinary exertion, an exertion upon which I 
 believed my life depended, I broke away from my attached 
 
WHITE-HEADED BILL. 61 
 
 companion, and, while he gave loose to his disappointment 
 and anger in a loud and savage growl, I sprang like lightning 
 up the ladder. By this time half of the citizens of Savan 
 nah were aroused, and hastening towards the vessel, to see 
 what was the meaning of the horrid bellowing and shouts for 
 assistance which rang along the wharves. 
 
 " For Heaven s sake, what s the matter ? exclaimed some 
 dozen voices, as I rushed towards the gangway, meeting full in 
 the teeth a throng of sturdy fellows hastening to my assist 
 ance. 
 
 "But I was in too great a hurry to stop to explain how mat 
 ters stood ; my only wish was to put a great distance be 
 tween the brig and me in as quick a time as possible ; besides 
 which, my tongue had got stiff again, but not my limbs. I 
 made one jump from the gunwale, and landed on the wharf; 
 then I crowded all sail, and carried on tauter and tauter, until 
 I reached the General Armstrong boarding-house. I rushed 
 into the room, which I had left not fifteen minutes before, 
 and where were now seated, smoking and drinking, several of 
 my shipmates, and among them Sam Heavistarn himself. I 
 must have cut a pretty figure ; for, as they afterwards told 
 me, my hair stood on end, like feathers on a frightened por 
 cupine, as the player man says ; my cheeks were as white as 
 a strip of bleached canvas ; my teeth chattered against each 
 other as if they were dancing the double shuffle ; my bosom 
 went up and down like a deep-loaded merchantman, lying to 
 under bare poles in The Gulf, and my eyes glared fiercely 
 and wildly, and stuck out of my head like the eyes of an 
 overgrown lobster. 
 
 " The brig is haunted ! the brig is haunted ! screamed I, 
 as I rushed into the room. I have seen OLD DAVY him 
 self, ay, and/eZ^ him too! By this time I was completely 
 done up ; I tried to bring myself to an anchor in a chair, but 
 fell fainting on the floor. 
 6 
 
62 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 " My sudden appearance and terrified looks startled them 
 not a little, as you may well suppose ; but it was some time 
 before they could bring me to my senses. This was at last 
 done, however, by Dutch Sam, who dashed a bucket of fresh 
 water right into my face and eyes. During an hour, at least, 
 I was raving away at a great rate ; for, to speak the truth, 
 shipmates," added Bill, solemnly, " I was frightened out of 
 my wits ! At last I became more calm, and was able to give 
 a clear account of the ghostly adventure that had befallen 
 me during the time that I was absent from the house. While I 
 was telling my story, I saw the rogues exchanging signal glances 
 with one another, as if they thought it was a capital joke; and 
 no sooner had I finished my tale than they, one and all, burst 
 out into a peal of laughter, so long and loud, so hearty and so 
 musical, as to arouse all hands, and attract to the General 
 Armstrong almost as many of the astonished natives as my 
 loud and furious bellowings drew towards the haunted brig 
 Joseph. 
 
 " 1 was not a little nettled at their unfeeling conduct ; for I 
 could not, for the soul of me, see any joke about it ; and it 
 was nearly half an hour before the good-for-nothing rascals 
 were able to relieve my fears by explaining the cause of the 
 appearance of Old Davy in the brig Joseph s forecastle. It 
 seems that their fondness for fun and frolic led them to do an 
 act which might have been attended with serious consequences. 
 In their wanderings about town that afternoon, they spied, in 
 a back yard, a young black bear, which was chained to a post ; 
 and they amused themselves by watching its gambols, and 
 now and then throwing it a lump of sugar, which the beast 
 eagerly devoured. He was very playful, and they thought 
 he would make a pleasant ship s companion ; and, for the 
 frolic s sake, they laid a plan to get him into their possession, 
 and stow him away safely on board the brig. Accordingly, 
 in the evening, without saying a word to me, they undertook 
 
WHITE-HEADED BILL. 
 
 63 
 
 to carry their plan into execution. "While the bear, not sus 
 pecting any harm, was busily employed in devouring a good- 
 sized lump of sugar which they threw towards him, one of the 
 men scaled the fence and unloosened his chain; then, tak 
 ing him in tow, they set off with their prize ; and, by the help 
 of a little coaxing, and urging, and threatening, in less than 
 ten minutes they had him safely moored to the bowsprit bitts 
 in the forecastle of the brig Joseph ; and, lest he should take 
 it into his noddle to inflict some injury on the person of who 
 ever should attempt to enter his habitation, they very consid 
 erately put a muzzle on his nozzle ; for which act I, for one, 
 felt exceedingly obliged to them, as it undoubtedly saved my 
 life. 
 
 " So you see," continued Bill, " all hands had a good laugh 
 at my expense ; but what, after all, was the most singular poftt 
 of this affair, in less than three days after the bear gave me 
 such a tremendous hug, my hair began to turn white, and in 
 less than one week my pow was as frosty as old John Ander 
 son s, and has continued so ever since ! " 
 
THREE-FINGERED JACKS. 
 
 * Give me your hand, Honestus ! " 
 
 " Hand, sir 1 " 
 
 " Ay, hand ! you have a hand, I trust." 
 
 " Two, sir. One for iny friends, another for my foes." 
 
 " What ! Call you this a hand ? " 
 
 OLD PLAY. 
 
 IT was a beautiful summer morning when a fine brig, called 
 the Skyrocket, might be seen hauling out from a tier of ves 
 sels to the end of Long wharf, in Boston. There was a great 
 deal of bustle on board, for the brig was outward bound, and 
 nearly ready for sea, as might be seen by the depth of water 
 she drew, by the long-boat stowed over the main hatchway, 
 the sails bent to the yards, and the appearance of half a dozen 
 seamen, active, athletic fellows, running about the decks, clad 
 in bran-new duck trousers, check shirts and tarpaulins, and 
 responding a full-mouthed " Ay, ay, sir ! " to the various 
 orders of the officers. It was evident that the Skyrocket was 
 about to be off on her voyage to the Mediterranean. 
 
 The pilot, a middle-aged, bronzed-visaged, thick-set, deter 
 mined-looking man, stepped on board, and gave orders to 
 loose the fore-topsail ; the colors were also displayed, ensign, 
 jack, pennant and all, and the steward was in great tribula 
 tion lest he should not be able to receive on board the vari 
 ous stores, trunks, boxes and packages, always detained until 
 the last moment, which the trucks and handcarts, with com 
 mendable perseverance, were bringing alongside the ship. 
 The topsails were now sheeted home, the fasts were singled, 
 
THREE-FINGERED JACKS. 65 
 
 % 
 
 the pilot stood on the quarter-deck, with a stern expression 
 on his countenance, caused by the absence of the captain, as 
 the tide had already begun to ebb, and the wind threatened 
 to die away. Indeed, he looked as if he could have bitten 
 off the but-end of a marlinspike without injury to his feel 
 ings, or blunting his ivories. He was beginning to find a 
 safety-valve for letting off his indignation, in sundry exple 
 tives and ejaculations, more remarkable for their terseness 
 and vigor than for their piety, when a heavy-moulded man 
 was seen running down the wharf with the rolling gait of a 
 true sailor, his arms filled with papers and packages, his pock 
 ets stuffed with newspapers, and hurry and anxiety imprinted 
 on his broad features. 
 
 "Hurrah, the captain s coming !" exclaimed the mate, 
 with an exulting shout. 
 
 " Fill away the main-topsail," bellowed the pilot. " Slack 
 away that bow fast. Take this stern hawser to the capstan. 
 That s it ; heave away, men ! So handsomely ! " 
 
 By this time the skipper had reached the cap-sill of the 
 wharf, and puffing and blowing with his exertions, was pass 
 ing up his bundles into the hands of Mr. Dickenson, the sec 
 ond officer, and altogether making, in the eyes of the motley 
 crowd of spectators assembled to witness the departure of the 
 Skyrocket, a most undignified appearance, of which he seemed 
 not unconscious ; for, calling to one of the men, a tall, good- 
 looking fellow, with the nerves and thewes of a Hercules, 
 who was rushing past the gangway to execute some order 
 given by the pilot, he hailed him in a peremptory tone, tell 
 ing him to lend Mr. Dickenson a hand in taking those rat- 
 traps on board. " Lay hold of this spy-glass," said he ; and, 
 as the man seized it with his left hand, the brig, at the same 
 time feeling the influence of the breeze, began to edge off 
 bodily from the wharf. " Now," continued the captain, " give 
 me your other hand, and help me on board." 
 
66 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 The sailor, as it seemed reluctantly, stretched out his right 
 hand to the captain, who seized it with a vigorous grasp, and, 
 giving a spring, stood the next instant on the gunwale of the 
 Skyrocket, and then descended on the deck. 
 
 The sailor shook off the captain s grasp as if his hand was 
 stung by an adder, and was rushing aft, with all possible 
 haste, to deposit the spy-glass in a place of safety, when 
 Captain Sinclair arrested his steps by laying hold of his 
 collar. " Stop, my good fellow," exclaimed the skipper, " and 
 tell me who you are. What s your name ? and be hanged 
 to you ! 
 
 " Jack Hathaway, sir ! " replied the sailor, in a subdued 
 and respectful tone. 
 
 " Hold out your flipper, Jack, and let me hold a survey 
 upon it. If it is seaworthy, I am mistaken, that s all." 
 
 Jack presented his left hand, and a noble hand it was, with 
 its due proportion of fingers, and a broad, flat palm, and 
 knuckles which would have done credit to a gladiator. 
 
 " Not that," said the captain, " it is the other hand I want 
 to see." And Jack, with evident reluctance and an embar 
 rassed look, held out his right hand for the inspection of his 
 commander. 
 
 " And what has become of your thumb and forefinger ? " 
 exclaimed Captain Sinclair, in a voice of thunder. 
 
 " They were bit off, sir ! " replied Jack Hathaway, in a 
 meek and gentle tone, which furnished a remarkable contrast 
 with the loud and violent language of the indignant captain. 
 
 "Bit off! And what do you mean," continued Captain 
 Sinclair, who, though ordinarily thick-headed, was sometimes 
 eloquent when his feelings were excited, " what do you 
 mean, you long-limbed, slab-sided, hickory-faced " (Jack was 
 slightly pock-marked), " hangdog-looking marine, by palming 
 yourself off upon me as an able seaman, when you are nothing 
 more nor less than a rascally impostor, a pitiful Three-fingered 
 
THREE-FINGERED JACKS. 67 
 
 Jack ? I have a great mind to let the anchor go under foot, 
 and pack you off ashore with all your traps, you contempt 
 ible, half-handed ragamuffin. But before you get back to 
 Boston, if you don t rue the day that you shipped on board 
 the Skyrocket, to play off your tricks on me, my name s not 
 Jeremiah Sinclair, that s all ! " 
 
 The concluding portion of this forcible harangue was unfor 
 tunately lost upon Jack ; for, the pilot having given orders 
 to " loose the main top-gallant sail," the poor fellow seized 
 the opportunity to escape from the terrible broadside of grape 
 and canister which the skipper was pouring into him in the 
 most merciless manner, and, before he had concluded his 
 string of affecting admonitions, the maimed sailor, who flew 
 up the rigging with all the dexterity of a magnified monkey, 
 had already cast off the yard-arm gaskets, and was ready to 
 let fall the bunt. 
 
 The breeze freshened, and the brig proceeded down the 
 harbor under full sail ; and, after having discharged the pilot, 
 they filled away the main-topsail again, and proceeded on 
 their way through the bay, urged forward by a fine westerly 
 breeze. The captain, after noting the alacrity of the crew in 
 performing their various duties, said to his first officer, " They 
 are a fine set of fellows, Mr. Sanford, stout, active, good- 
 looking men. They seem able and willing to do their work ; 
 all but one, that Jack Hathaway, as he calls himself; and he, 
 the good-for-nothing rascal, has had the impudence to ship 
 on board a vessel under my command, as an able seaman, with 
 only one hand ! " 
 
 " Only one hand ! Surely, you must be mistaken, sir. 
 Hathaway can lay aloft as quick, and pull as hard at a rope, 
 as any man on board. He s a real smart fellow, that Hath 
 away." 
 
 " That may be," replied the captain doggedly, " but he is an 
 impostor nevertheless. He has only one hand; or, what 
 
68 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 amounts to the same thing in Greek, his right hand has lost 
 the thumb and fore-finger ! " 
 
 " Indeed ! " exclaimed the mate ; " I should never have 
 supposed it. How did he lose them ? I wonder." 
 
 " He says they were bit off," said the captain. 
 
 " Bit off ? Bit off? " repeated Mr. Dickenson, musingly, 
 " I wonder how they were bit off! " 
 
 " So do I," said the captain, who had a spice of Yankee 
 curiosity, and was, moreover, at bottom, a good-hearted soul, 
 who enjoyed a good story, and more than half believed every 
 thing that was told him, " and it will go hard with him, but 
 I 11 find out. Call him aft, and I 11 inquire into the mat 
 ter." 
 
 Jack Hathaway had probably never heard the story of the 
 famous Brooks Watson, Lord Mayor of London ; at any rate, 
 it never entered his head to exact a written obligation from 
 Captain Sinclair, not to inquire into the modus operandi by 
 which he had lost his fingers ; and when the worthy skipper, 
 without any unnecessary circumlocution,* asked him how, 
 where, and when, he was deprived of those useful and orna 
 mental appendages, with all the particulars necessary to a 
 full understanding of the subject, Jack raised no objection, 
 but expressed himself ready to enlighten him on the spot ; 
 and, after hitching up his trousers, and placing himself in an 
 oratorical attitude, forthwith proceeded to tell the story of his 
 mishap in the following language : 
 
 JACK HATHA WAY S STORY. 
 
 " Why, sir," said Jack, " some nine or ten years ago, I 
 cannot recollect exactly which, when I was much younger 
 than I am now, and as green as a piece of Cape Ann moor 
 ings, I found myself on board an old craft, among the islands 
 and reefs of the Pacific, in search of that odd-looking jelly 
 fish, called becto le mer, which John Chinaman loves with 
 
THREE-PINGERED JACKS. 69 
 
 all his heart and soul when converted into soup. Well, we 
 met with indifferent success for a time, and changed our cruis 
 ing ground pretty often. One fine morning, we found our 
 selves very unexpectedly close aboard of a low island, not of 
 great extent, covered with wood, and apparently without in 
 habitants. The cocoa-nut, the plantain, and bread-fruit trees 
 seemed to grow of themselves, and, to confess the truth 
 looked very inviting. Besides, we were in want of fresh 
 water, of which, we doubted not, the shores would furnish 
 plenty. So we lowered the quarter-boat, and the chief mate, 
 with half a dozen hands, including myself (for I was always 
 ready to take the lead in anything which promised an ad 
 venture), embarked on a visit to this unknown and uninhab 
 ited island, calculating upon a good frolic and lots of fun 
 along the white sand beach, among the high grass and flow 
 ery shrubs, and beneath the shady trees of this beautiful spot, 
 which seemed to rest on the bosom of old Ocean, like an 
 emerald stone on a tunic of silver." 
 
 " Come, no flourishes, Jack," interrupted Captain Sinclair. 
 " That sounds amazingly like poetry, which I despise as un 
 worthy an honest man, or a true-hearted sailor." 
 
 " T is the truth what I say, nevertheless," resumed Jack. 
 " The mate, Mr. Dennis, took a musket with him, and a 
 couple of men armed themselves with cutlasses; for we 
 thought there might be game of some kind on the island, and 
 it was possible there also might be some four-footed creatures 
 that would prove ugly customers if we came in contact with 
 them. The captain told us not to stop long, and to stray but 
 a short distance from the beach, and, above all, not to lose 
 sight of the boat, excellent instructions, and it would have 
 been better for me if I had obeyed them. 
 
 " We shoved off, and pulled hastily towards the shore ; as 
 we approached it, we found that (as was the case with many 
 of the islands in the Pacific), an outer reef extended along 
 
70 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 the shore, distant from the beach some thirty or forty yards, 
 and between which and the beach, in moderate weather, there 
 was a smooth strip of water several fathoms deep. The sea 
 broke on the outer reef, and it was with some difficulty that 
 we managed to get the boat over. We accomplished it at 
 last, and, in a few minutes, crossing the narrow channel, ran 
 the boat ashore on the smooth, coral beach. 
 
 " Mr. Dennis ordered one man to stay in the boat, to guard 
 against accidents. He then jumped ashore, followed by the 
 rest of us, and glad enough we wer^e at the prospect of a 
 frolic beneath the trees, and a run upon the shore. 
 
 " I soon wandered away from my shipmates, and strolled 
 along the beach for a few cables length, to gather some of 
 the beautiful shells and pieces of coral which abound among 
 those islands. On passing round a point which screened me 
 from the view of persons near the boat, I spied, to my great 
 astonishment and delight, one of those huge oysters which are 
 sometimes found washed ashore, in these latitudes, after a 
 furious hurricane. This oyster was nearly half as large as a 
 scuttle-but, and, the animal being alive and the shell thick, it 
 must have weighed some sixty or eighty pounds ! In this 
 particular I can hardly be mistaken, as I had a good oppor 
 tunity for ascertaining, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that 
 this shell-fish, usually regarded as a very quiet and stupid 
 animal, was by no means what would be considered a light 
 weight, and not half so much of a fool as the unlucky fellow 
 who found him. I rejoiced in the idea of capturing such a 
 prize. I walked around it, and surveyed it carefully from 
 every side. I admired its majestic proportions, and wondered 
 how the thing would taste when delicately carved, and served 
 up in an oyster soup, a sea-pie, a stew, or a chowder, and my 
 mouth actually watered at the thought of such a delicious 
 dish. But how to get it to the boat was the next question. 
 It was too large to be carried conveniently even a short dis- 
 
THREE-FINGEKED JACKS. 
 
 71 
 
 tance, by one man ; but the boat could be brought round the 
 point to the oyster ; or, as they say in Smyrna, if the moun 
 tain could not go to Mahomet, Mahomet must goto the moun 
 tain." 
 
 " Come, heave ahead, Jack," urged the captain, who vras 
 getting rather impatient. " The less you say about Mahomet, 
 or any other of those old Pagan deities, the better ; and I 
 should like to know what connection there could be between 
 that Daniel Lambert of an oyster, the patriarch of his tribe, 
 and the loss of your fingers." 
 
 " The connection was a very close one, sir, as I soon found 
 out to my sorrow," replied Jack Hathaway, with a sigh. 
 " For, seeing one side of the oyster partly open, and urged 
 
72 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 by idle curiosity, I very foolishly thrust a portion of the fin 
 gers and thumb of my right hand between the shells, for the 
 purpose of seeing if I could tear them apart, when they dosed 
 upon my hand with A SNAP ; and, to my great embarrassment, 
 agony, and terror, I found myself caught in a spring trap, 
 and my fingers firmly fixed in a vice of forty horse-power ! 
 
 " Here was a predicament, as Dick Dennis said, when some 
 baboons on Table mountain took him for their brother, and 
 were hurrying him off to the woods ! Far away from my 
 shipmates, and out of sight of the boat, I was nabbed for my 
 crimes. The sharp edges of the shells cut to the bone, and 
 caused a degree of pain, of agony, of the most intense descrip 
 tion. I kicked, I raved, I screamed, I yelled with anguish ; 
 I vainly strove to withdraw my bleeding hand from the ani 
 mated nippers, which had so tightly closed upon them. At 
 last, exhausted with my efforts to achieve my freedom, I 
 threw myself down on the sand, perspiring at every pore, and 
 heaping anything but blessings on shell-fish of every descrip 
 tion, and consigning them, one and all, to the lowest and hot 
 test depths in the crater of Mount Etna. 
 
 " But this could not free my fingers, and I felt that some 
 thing must be done to relieve me of this horrible incubus, 
 which stuck closer to my fin than a sucker-fish to the back 
 of a shark. I sprang to my feet, and looked around for a 
 stone, or any other heavy object with which I could crush 
 the shell of my tormenting associate ; but in vain. Nor did 
 the grim, determined, but silent monster seem disposed to 
 relax, in the slightest degree, his ferocious grip. And then I 
 again shouted madly for assistance, hoping that my shipmates 
 would hear my voice and come to my relief. Nearly half an 
 hour passed while I thus experienced tortures which could 
 not be surpassed by any refinement of cruelty practised by 
 true believers of the Roman Catholic faith against those her 
 etics who espoused a different creed. 
 
THREE-FINGERED JACKS. 73 
 
 "At length, while bending my eager gaze towards the point 
 of land which intercepted my view of the boat, I was startled 
 by the report of a musket, followed by a tumultuous yell, so 
 loud, so wild and unearthly, that it made my blood curdle in 
 my veins. I then knew that some strange calamity was 
 about to visit others as well as myself, and that I ought no 
 longer to remain inactive ; and I tugged away right heartily 
 to free my fingers from the oyster s clutch : 
 
 But no 
 
 He would not let his captive go. 
 
 " As a last resource, I determined to make an attempt to 
 carry this islander, who was so strongly bent on keeping com 
 pany with me, to the boat. This was a difficult job, weak 
 ened as I was with pain and anxiety ; and I must have cut a 
 queer figure, as I was staggering slowly along the beach, 
 carefully holding the big oyster like a mammoth baby in my 
 arms, groaning with pain, and making grimaces which would 
 have made the fortune of a clown at a circus. 
 
 " But when I came in view of the boat, a sighf greeted my 
 eyes which made me almost forget my pain, and regret, if 
 possible more than before, that I carried a cumbrous and 
 unsightly jewel at my fingers ends. I saw the men running 
 down to the boat in great confusion, in a strange hurry to 
 embark ; and the edge of the woods seemed alive with natives, 
 fierce-looking, tattooed, tawny savages, who had been playing 
 possum in the woods, and who shook their spears and bran 
 dished their clubs as if they meant mischief, and every now 
 and then raised in concert a yell which, taken in connection with 
 other circumstances, was calculated to strike terror to the 
 boldest heart. 
 
 " Mr. Dennis was directing the men to embark and shove off 
 the boat, when, seeing me heave in sight, he hailed me, tell 
 ing me to throw down that useless piece of lumber, and bear 
 7 
 
74 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 a hand on board, or he should be compelled to leave me to 
 the mercy of the savages, who seemed making demonstra 
 tions towards a rush to the boat. But for reasons well 
 known to myself, but which I was unable at the time to ex 
 plain, I continued to hold on to my treasure, until, out of 
 patience with what he conceived to be my obstinacy, he called 
 out to shove off, and the next moment the boat, impelled 
 by four oars, was rapidly leaving the shore, and the Indians, 
 hurling their spears and breathing fire and fury, were rush 
 ing down to the water s edge ! " 
 
 " You were in rather a bad predicament, I must confess, 
 Jack," remarked the captain. " I would not have been in 
 your shoes for a shilling. But how did you get out of the 
 scrape ? You got out of it at last, did you not ? " 
 
 " A true Yankee sailor, sir," continued Jack Hathaway 
 with a grin, " is seldom at a loss for resources, even under 
 the most desperate circumstances. The boat was gone, the 
 sea was before me, the savages behind me. I must swim for 
 it or die. But as for swimming with a dead weight of sixty or 
 eighty pounds fastened to one hand, that was out of the question. 
 So I took my jack-knife from my pocket, opened it with my 
 teeth, and, with a single slice, divided the small portion of 
 skin which now connected my thumb and forefinger to my 
 hand, leaving them as a keepsake with my warm-hearted 
 friend, who had so long stuck to me closer than a brother, 
 and who, I hope, found them what the Frenchmen call a 
 bonne louche. I then plunged into the water, and it was 
 high time, for a spear came whizzing past my head, cutting 
 off one of my starboard love-locks ; and another, which for 
 tunately for me was not very sharp, struck me on the lar 
 board quarter ; but, instead of arresting my progress, it served 
 as a propeller, and urged me more rapidly ahead. As I 
 could swim like a fish, in a few minutes I was up with the 
 outer reef, where I was picked up by the boat, nearly ex- 
 
THREE-FINGERED JACKS. 75 
 
 - 
 
 hausted with loss of blood and the pain I had so long suf 
 fered ; and the worst of it was, when I told the mate my 
 story, instead of sympathizing with my sufferings, he roundly 
 rated me for my folly in not having sliced off my fingers 
 when I first found them caught in the trap. 
 
 "The captain dressed my wounds with care and skill as soon 
 as I got on board, and they gradually healed ; and now, sir," 
 said Jack, with emphasis and energy, " although there may 
 be some few duties on shipboard which come awkward, in con 
 sequence of the loss of my finger and thumb, yet, generally 
 speaking, I consider myself able to perform a seaman s work 
 with any man that ever knotted a backstay in a gale of wind, 
 or made a grummet strap in a calm ; and if you are not sat 
 isfied with my conduct when we arrive in Boston at the close 
 of the voyage, I 11 give you leave to kick me from the taff- 
 rail to the bowsprit-end, and stop every cent of my wages, 
 that sail." 
 
 " That s fair, Jack," exclaimed the captain with a gra 
 cious smile, " and I dare say we shall get along very well 
 together. It would have been better, though, if you had told 
 me all about it before you signed the articles. We shall 
 have to favor you sometimes, I suppose, and set you about 
 such jobs as do not require much manual dexterity. And, as 
 I see Mr. Dickenson is about setting the men to sew some 
 pieces of chafing-leather on the topmast backstays, suppose 
 you take the helm, in the mean while, and let Dick Bobus 
 mount the palm and needle." 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir," replied Jack, who stepped aft, and relieved 
 Dick from the helm, saying it was the captain s orders. 
 
 Dick Bobus was a good specimen of a genuine old salt. He 
 had reached, and perhaps passed, the meridian of life, but the 
 bronzing, hardening and sharpening effects of change of cli 
 mate, hardships, tempests, tropical suns, and hard knocks, had 
 so twisted and dyed and transmogrified his features, which 
 
76 . SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 were probably never remarkable for beauty, that he would 
 pass, without question, for an old Triton of threescore. He 
 was a clean-built little fellow, with grizzly locks, a hare lip, 
 and a cross-jack eye. Although no Adonis, he had a fund 
 of good-hunior in his disposition, and indulged a spirit of 
 practical philosophy which always kept his features on a broad 
 grin. He was never known to sigh, or indulge in unavailing 
 regrets for the past, or dismal anticipations for the future, 
 but was fond of a good hearty laugh ; and, like that funny old 
 rascal, Falstaff, he not only laughed a great deal himself, but 
 was the cause of laughter among others. 
 
 " Did you want me, sir ? " said Dick Bobus, with what he 
 intended for a respectful grin, addressing the captain. 
 
 " Yes," said the skipper. " Get your palm and needle, 
 and lend a hand to clap those chafing-leathers on the back 
 stays in the wake of the main yard." 
 
 " I was cast away last voyage, sir," said Dick, with a dep 
 recatory grin, " and lost my chest, and all my rattle-traps, 
 and my palm among them ; and I have not had a chance to 
 get one since, sir." 
 
 " Well, never mind, Mr. Dickenson will furnish you with 
 a palm, I dare say. Ask him." 
 
 " But," remarked Dick, with an expostidatory grin, " his 
 palm would hardly suit my hand ! " 
 
 " Why not ? " asked the captain, in a tone of mingled sur 
 prise and anger. 
 
 Dick for reply held out his broad right hand, while a 
 grin of doubt and embarrassment overspread the whole of his 
 convoluted countenance ; and the face of the captain grew 
 absolutely scarlet with indignation when he saw that the hand 
 was destitute, not only of that useful and ornamental append 
 age, a thumb, which fully accounted for his difficulty in wear 
 ing a palm, but of that important portion of the forefinger 
 
THREE-FIXGERED JACKS. i i 
 
 which, in the hands generally worn by able seamen, extends 
 beyond the second joint ! 
 
 " Another THREE FINGERED JACK ! as sure as there is salt 
 in the big pond ! " exclaimed Captain Sinclair. " What 
 business have you on board my brig, the Skyrocket, with a 
 flipper no better than a seal s, you cross-grained, hyena- 
 looking, grinning baboon ? I 11 teach you better than to 
 play off your tricks on an old sailor, you dog, I will, and 
 make you grin out of the wrong side of your mouth, before 
 you and I- part," continued the excited commander in a voice 
 hoarse with rage. " How came you to lose the complement 
 of your fingers, you smooth-faced and lovely-looking canni 
 bal, you ? You thrust them into somebody s mess, when they 
 should have been in your own pocket, I 11 be bound, and lost 
 them for your impertinence, and served you right, too. Why 
 don t you speak, and not stand grinning there, like the effigy 
 of a Van Tromp on the rudder-head of a Dutch galliot? 
 What has become of those missing claws ? " 
 
 " Why, sir," replied Dick Bobus, in a respectful tone, his 
 face still knotted into a broad grin, " it is so long since I 
 lost them that I sometimes forget I ever had any ; and, if I 
 had known you would have set such a value on them, I 
 should have shown you my hand when I shipped, for it is a 
 hand I never need be ashamed of, and, although it may look 
 a little awkward and one-sided, it belongs to a man who never 
 shirked his duty, or shrunk from any danger in a battle, hur 
 ricane or calm." 
 
 -Well," replied the skipper, a little mollified by Tom s 
 remarks, " that is not the question now. I ask you again, 
 Dick Bobus," raising his voice, " how you lost your fingers." 
 
 " They were bit off," said Dick, with a melancholy grin. 
 
 "Bit off? BIT OFF?" repeated Captain Sinclair, his 
 thoughts reverting to the tale he had just heard from Jack 
 
78 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 Hathaway. " Were they," continued he musingly, " bit off 
 by a clam or an oyster ? " 
 
 " Neither the one nor the other, sir," said Dick. " They 
 were bit off by an anatomy." 
 
 "An anatomy ! " exclaimed the astonished skipper. " What 
 do you mean by an anatomy ? A skeleton ? " 
 
 " It was no anatomy of a human being, sir," replied Dick, 
 " or even of a creature that has legs and arms. Indeed," 
 added he, a solemn grin resting on his countenance, "no 
 Christian would have had the heart to treat me in such an 
 inhuman manner." 
 
 "How was it? what was it?" demanded the captain ear 
 nestly, his curiosity overcoming his anger at having a three- 
 fingered Jack imposed upon him for an able seaman. " Give 
 us the yarn, my good fellow ; tell us all the particulars. How 
 did you lose your fingers ? How did it happen that they 
 were bit off? What bit them off ? " 
 
 " Why, sir," continued Dick Bobus, a roguish grin lurk 
 ing about the corners of his mouth, " they were snapped off 
 by the jaws of a shark ! " 
 
 " Indeed," said the kind-hearted skipper, in a tone of sym 
 pathy ; " poor fellow ! it was lucky for you he did not get 
 hold of your leg. But tell us all about it, my man. How 
 did it happen that he contented himself with such a tit-bit as 
 that, when he might have crushed off your arm by the shoul 
 der-blade?" 
 
 " Well, sir," replied the old tar, " I 11 tell you how it was. 
 It is a queer story, and you may believe it or not, just as you 
 like ; but it is as true, nevertheless, as the longitude by plane 
 sailing, or the compass at the north pole ; " and Dick turned 
 round, and squared himself in front of the captain, looking 
 him full in the eye, his face assuming an expression as solemn 
 as the phiz of a pill-vender when about to humbug a whole 
 community. The captain responded by a nod, which seemed 
 
TIIREE-FINGEKED JACKS. 79 
 
 to say, as plainly as a nod could say, " Heave ahead, my lad, 
 I m prepared to swallow anything you may lay before me, 
 for I have a most capacious gullet ; " and Dick, after allowing 
 his countenance to relax into its habitual grin, proceeded in 
 his narrative. 
 
 DICK BOBUS STORY. 
 
 " When I was a youngster, sir, I sailed on a voyage to 
 Buenos Ayres, on board the old ship Hurlothrumbo, and on 
 the passage out, when in sight of the island of Lobos, the 
 wind died away, and we had many kinds of fish alongside, 
 and cutting their shines around the vessel, to say nothing of 
 the seals, which showed their pug-nosed faces in great num 
 bers, and stared at us, the impudent heathens, as if they had 
 never seen a blue jacket, or even a square-rigged craft in the 
 course of their lives. During the afternoon we caught eigh 
 teen dolphins, three bonitas, and five albicores, besides making 
 fast our harpoon to a young fin-back whale, as big as the 
 quarter-deck of the Sky-rocket, which was shying about un 
 der the quarter. The whale, feeling somewhat sulky at being 
 thus tickled beneath the ribs, took leg-bail and started off 
 with a rush, carrying away not only our harpoon, but the 
 whole length of the main-topsail halliards, which the mate 
 had fastened to the iron. When last seen, he was pursuing a 
 straight course, E. N. E., at the rate of some fifteen knots, 
 and, for aught I know, he is going still in the same direction, 
 dragging the long rope after him, unless he has been brought 
 up before this by the coast of Africa ! " 
 
 " Well, well," interrupted the impatient skipper, " let him 
 goto Guinea, if he likes; what has that whale to do with 
 your mutilated paw ? " 
 
 " Not much, sir, I allow ; but you see the fin-back had no 
 sooner scudded off out of sight to the eastward, than five large 
 man-eating sharks, as if they had been waiting near by until 
 
80 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 the coast was clear, showed themselves, the rascals, sailing 
 slowly around the ship, not half a cable s length off, with their 
 back-fins and tails proudly sticking out of water, and every 
 now and then casting a sidelong glance towards the ship, to 
 see if there was any prospect of getting a piece of fresh grub, 
 in the shape of an old salt. 
 
 " Of course, sir, you know that every true sailor hates a 
 shark, which, perhaps, is somewhat strange, as the shark loves 
 a sailor dearly, and kindly takes him in out of the cold salt 
 water, and carefully stows him away in the lower hold, when 
 ever he has a chance. For my part, I have never had any 
 love for the scoundrels, since one of them confound his im 
 pudence ! took a huge slice from the thickest part of my old 
 shipmate, Ned Clueline, when he was lazily swimming on his 
 back, along side the brig Dolphin, in the roadstead of St. 
 Pierre, Martinico. Since that time I have declared bitter 
 and bloody war against sharks, and when these five hungry 
 looking fellows made their appearance, I lent a hand to cap 
 ture them, with a right good will. 
 
 " And glorious fun we had, sir, I assure you, for, with a 
 couple of pieces of salt junk, we soon tolled them alongside 
 the ship. The captain sung out for the shark-hook, to the 
 chain of which were bent the peak halliards of the spanker : 
 and a nice delicate piece of pork from tlje harness-cask being 
 fastened to the hook, and thrown over the stern, soon caught 
 the attention of our visitors, who seemed as sharp-set as a 
 green hand on half allowance. After a little shy manoeu 
 vring, two of them made a dash at the pork ; the biggest one 
 of the lot grabbed it, but, in trying to bolt it, the hook seized 
 him by the jaw, and he found himself up to the elbows in 
 trouble ! He was a heavy-moulded fellow, some ten or eleven 
 feet long, and did not at all like the fun of being taken on 
 board. He said nothing t is true, but action? sometimes speak 
 louder than words ; and the manner in which he bounced, and 
 
THREE-FINGERED JACKS. 81 
 
 flourished, and jerked, and kicked, and danced about on the 
 water, splashing it around him, and making the old ocean 
 foam again, was a sight worth crossing the equinoctial in a 
 wash-tub to behold. He threw himself into as many atti 
 tudes, and cut as many antics, as Monsieur Sauteur, a French 
 gentleman who was passenger with us from Havre last.winter 
 to Xew York, and whose brains, if he had any, they said were 
 stowed away in his heels. 
 
 " It was tough work to get him alongside the ship, although 
 all hands had hold of the rope and pulled away with a will ; 
 and the captain, fearing that the hook would straighten out or 
 tear away before we could get a bowline around him, told the 
 steward to hand up his fowling-piece, which was loaded with 
 half a dozen buck shot ; and, watching for a time when the 
 shark was comparatively quiet, the skipper let drive the whole 
 charge into his head. The old fellow felt it, without doubt, 
 for he made a leap about ten feet straight up, and came down 
 with a jerk that freed his man-trap from the fish hook, and 
 down, down he went through the water, which was discolored 
 with his blood, in spiral circles, round and round, until we 
 lost sight of him in the distance, when all hands off caps, and 
 gave three grand hurrahs." 
 
 " Well, well," muttered Captain Sinclair, who was some 
 what impatient at Tom s garrulity, " what, in the name of 
 tediousness, has this big shark, which your captain shot, to do 
 with the loss of your fingers ? " 
 
 Nothing at all, sir," replied old Bobus, with a broad grin. 
 " Lord bless you, sir, we never saw him again ! But we soon 
 coaxed another shark under the stern, and by towing a piece 
 of salt junk, real mahogany, we managed to get him into the 
 bight of a bowline. Handsomely ! Handsomely ! said the 
 mate, who was an old hand at the business. Stand by, my 
 lads, to gather in the slack. He then gently let fall the rope, 
 and shouted, Haul in, men, haul in ! and Pilgarlick was 
 
82 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 caught by the tail fairly noosed and roused alongside in 
 spite of all his flounderings and efforts to get loose, amid the 
 jokes, the jeers, the laughter, and exulting shouts, of all hands. 
 
 " We had tough work to get him on deck ; and when there, 
 safely landed on the larboard side, we wished him back into 
 the water again; for he took possession of the waist and 
 kept it for a while, and in the most ungenteel and savage 
 manner imaginable, throwing himself into every variety of 
 posture, as uneasy as a fish out of water, and snapping and 
 biting at everything within reach of his jaws. The fore sheet 
 , was severed by this furious beast in three or four places, cut 
 off as clean as it could be done by a rigger s knife. The 
 main clue-garnet was served in the same unhandsome manner ; 
 also, the fore top-gallant halliards, the larboard main bunt- 
 line, the throat halliards of the main spencer, and divers 
 other ropes which unfortunately happened to be in his way. 
 He would grind them off with his teeth, as if they were the 
 whiskers of a squid ; and, when the ropes were removed out 
 of his reach, he seized a spare top-gallant mast between his 
 teeth, and took out a piece as big as my leg, which spoiled 
 the stick forever ! 
 
 " Kill the rascal, screamed the captain, when he saw the 
 mischief the shark was doing ; cut off his tail with the cook s 
 axe beat out his brains with a handspike ! 
 
 " But the orders were more easily given than executed. The 
 second mate made a furious blow at him with the axe, but 
 missed him, and left a deep mark in the deck. And as to 
 pounding his head with a handspike, why, Lord bless you, sir, 
 it was no more use than to bombard the Rock of Gibraltar, 
 or try to shoot a flying-fish on the wing. He was in a fair 
 way of conquering all hands, and taking complete possession 
 of the decks, when I found a way to bring him to his bear 
 ings. I seized the cook s tormentors, and served him as Sin- 
 bad, that glorious old sailor, served the one-eyed and long- 
 
THREE-FINGERED JACKS. 83 
 
 eared giant, who wanted to cook and eat him for supper. 
 Watching a chance when the shark was making a dash at the 
 leg of old Joe Tompkins, I thrust one of the prongs of the 
 tormentors plump into his starboard eye ; but such a look 
 as he gave me with the other, 1 shall not soon forget. It was 
 as much as to say, If I m not revenged on you, old chap, for 
 this friendly turn, call me a lobster, that s all ; and he was 
 as good as his word ! 
 
 " I did not mind his looks at the time, but punched away at 
 him until I punched out his other eye, when he looked for all 
 the world like a green-horn of a Yankee after a rough-and- , 
 tumble fight with a Kentuckian ; and as he could not keep a 
 lookout alow or aloft, we had it all our own way and, al 
 though it was mightily against his will, John Shark was at 
 last compelled to give in. 
 
 " The captain felt^very angry at the mischief which the rogue 
 had done out of sheer spite, and ordered the head and tail to 
 be cut off, and the body to be thrown overboard ; a sentence 
 which was executed on the spot. The body flopped about a 
 good deal when we got it on the gunwale, and seemed as 
 lively as a rocket at the idea of being restored to its natural 
 element. Bill Jones cried out Watch ho, watch ! and we 
 soused it overboard. It made an awkward piece of work 
 swimming about without any rudder, and seemed sadly 
 bothered for the loss of its head, and every now and then it 
 looked up towards the ship, as if beseeching us to toss the 
 head overboard, that it might join company, and go about its 
 business ! " 
 
 " And did you not do it ? " eagerly asked Captain Sinclair, 
 who, in the interest which he felt in Dick s story about the 
 persecuted shark, forgot for the moment the missing fingers. 
 
 " Do it ? No, sir ! we knew a trick worth two of it. The 
 tail we nailed to the ship s belfry, and it is there now, for 
 what I know. As for the head, I took care of that myself, 
 
84 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 for, as the jaws were furnished with some half dozen rows of 
 remarkably fine teeth, I thought I should like to preserve 
 them as a kind of curiosity like. So I cut off the skin, and 
 as much of the flesh as I could ; but the old fellow did not 
 like the operation at all, and made a snap at my fingers 
 several times before I got through with it ; for you know, sir, 
 a shark is a monstrous long-lived creature, and is terribly 
 loath to give up the ship. But I was so fortunate as to dodge 
 him every time, and finally got him that is, the head 
 into the cook s coppers, half full of boiling water, which I 
 thought would tame him, and take the mischief out of him, 
 if anything would. And it answered the purpose pretty 
 well ; for, after boiling the head three or four hours, the jaws 
 remained quiet for a time, and I managed to scrape the bone 
 without much danger to my fingers, and soon had as pretty and 
 clean a skeleton of the jaws a real anatomy as I could 
 wish. 
 
 " I really felt proud of my success, and, for fear of accidents, 
 carefully stowed away the jaws in the bottom of my chest, 
 intending not to trouble them again until we got safe into 
 port. But it so happened that the next night I got wet 
 through, drenched from clue to earing, by a spray, while 
 twigging out the fore-top bowline, and was obliged to go below 
 at six bells and change my duds. I opened my chest in the 
 dark, and, while feeling down towards the bottom to get hold 
 of a Guernsey frock, thinking of nothing particular, except 
 ing that it was uncomfortably cold, I foolishly thrust my 
 fingers into the open jaws of the shark, I ought to have 
 known better, especially as this fellow owed me a grudge for 
 the loss of his eyes, when, presto ! in the twinkling of a 
 handspike, the two jaws came together like a steel trap, clos 
 ing on my fore-finger and thumb with a terrible noise ! " 
 
 Captain Sinclair, who had been listening with exemplary 
 attention to pick Bobus narrative, started back aghast at 
 
THREE-FINGERED JACKS. 85 
 
 I 
 
 hearing of the sad and unexpected catastrophe, and involun 
 tarily cast a look at his own broad palm, to see if it was not 
 abridged of some of its terminations, while Dick, with a coun 
 tenance as serious as a merman s when seated on a rock, 
 brushing his long beard with a porcupine fish, finished his 
 yarn, in the following style : 
 
 " I am not ashamed to confess, sir, that I was not only 
 astonished, but absolutely frightened, at this sudden assault 
 upon my fingers, for the rogue took me altogether unawares. 
 Besides, the pain was most intolerable ; thumbscrews, such as 
 were used in old times to force good men to confess their mis 
 deeds, were not a circumstance to it. And, although I can 
 stand as much pain on common occasions as most men, yet I 
 could not stand that, but actually roared for help like an al 
 ligator with the toothache ; raising a yell in my agony that 
 could have been heard in a calm night at least half a dozen 
 miles ! 
 
 " This, of course, roused all hands with a vengeance. The 
 watch below, with the cook at their head, tumbled out of 
 their berths, and the watch on deck, with the steward, chief 
 mate, second mate and captain, all tumbled down into the 
 forecastle, to see what was the cause of the terrible hullabal- 
 loo. As soon as a light was mustered, there stood I, poor 
 Dick Bobus, with my hand in the shark s mouth, the blood 
 trickling from my fingers, and screaming right lustily for 
 mercy and for help ! By the aid of a crowbar and a couple 
 of marlinspikes they managed to pry open the jaws of the 
 monster, and get my hand out of the trap. But it was too 
 late my thumb and forefinger were gone forever, or as 
 good as gone, for the bones were bit through, and they hung 
 only by a piece of the skin. The captain took his penknife, 
 severed the skin, and then tossed overboard the skeleton head 
 and my unfortunate fingers. My wounds were carefully at 
 tended to, and in three weeks were entirely healed ; and 
 8 
 
86 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 now," continued Dick, with a confident grin, " if any man 
 doubts the truth of my story, I should like to have him take 
 a look at the stumps of my fingers, that s all," and he 
 held out his mutilated hand, which was admitted by Captain 
 Sinclair, and all hands on board the Sky-rocket, to be positive 
 proof of the truth of his narrative ! 
 
 The worthy skipper of the Sky-rocket seemed much edified 
 with Dick Bobus s story. He merely remarked to the chief 
 officer, that the longer we live the more we learn, and he had 
 had no idea before that a shark, although a dreadful hard 
 creature to kill, would live so long after he was dead, or 
 after his head was cut off, which amounted to pretty much the 
 same thing ! He pondered long and deeply upon the subject, 
 and the next morning after breakfast, while making sage re 
 flections on the extraordinary coincidence that two of the sea 
 men on board should be stinted in their due proportion of 
 fingers, his attention was arrested by a trifling peculiarity in 
 the costume of the man at the wheel, Mike Mullins, a fine- 
 looking fellow and a thorough Yankee sailor. The weather 
 was moderate, for it was a pleasant morning in the month of 
 May, notwithstanding which, Mike wore a thick woollen mit 
 ten on his right hand. Captain Sinclair saw it, for he was a 
 close observer as well as a shrewd reasoner, and thought it 
 had a suspicious appearance. " Halloo, Mike ! " said he, " what s 
 the matter with your hand ? Why do you wear a mitten ? 
 Hey ! " 
 
 Mike looked rather confused. " My hand is not much 
 hurt, sir," said he in a hesitating manner, " only jammed a 
 little by rigging out the fore-topmast studding-sail boom last 
 night. It will be well enough in a day or two, I dare say." 
 
 Captain Sinclair looked sternly at Mike Mullins, and in 
 a slow but firm and decided tone, said, " Let me see your 
 hand, sir! Off with that mitten, at once ! " 
 
 Mike saw there was no means of evading or postponing 
 
THREE-FINGERED JACKS. 87 
 
 the execution of this order, and slowly pulled off the woollen 
 covering to his fingers, when not only to the unspeakable as 
 tonishment, but to the actual horror of the skipper, two of 
 the fingers of the right hand were missing ! He started 
 back as if he had grasped an electric eel, and exclaimed, in a 
 voice of thunder, " Another THREE-FINGERED JACK, by all 
 that s glorious ! " 
 
 Captain Sinclair did not fall into a passion, or storm, or 
 rave, or scold. It seemed to be his /ate to be persecuted by 
 men with missing fingers ; and, like a wise philosopher, he 
 concluded to submit to it without further struggling. Besides, 
 a laudable curiosity had some share in teaching him resigna 
 tion to his lot ; and in a tone rather mild than angry, he in 
 quired, " How did }-ou lose your fingers, Mike ? " 
 
 " They were bit off, sir ? " 
 
 "Bit off! Is it possible ?" 
 
 " Fact, sir," replied Mike. " Taken off in handsome style, 
 .00. They went into a mill, where they were ground down 
 in less time than it would take to splice the main brace." 
 
 " ; T was a hard case, Mike," said the sympathizing skipper, 
 " and the operation must have been a painful one. Tell us 
 all about it, my good fellow ! " 
 
 Thus adjured, Mike Mullins transferred something less 
 thau half a yard of pig-tail from his pocket to his mouth, 
 cocked his eye at Dick Bobus, who was standing hard by, 
 setting up the niizen top-gallant back-stays, and shot ahead 
 in the following style : 
 
 MIKE MULLIXS STORY. 
 
 " I was born in a place called Yallanibrosa, a thriving and 
 populous village on the banks of the Connecticut river; 
 and being, from a boy, of a bold and adventurous disposition, 
 with a hardy constitution, and more fond of frolic and mis 
 chief than hard work, I foolishly ran away from a comfort- 
 
88 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 able home, when only fourteen years of age, and went to sea. 
 For seven years, in succession, I followed a sailor s life, and 
 visited many parts of the globe, when the whim took me, on 
 my return from a voyage to Calcutta, to visit my native town 
 once more, pay my respects to my parents, and astonish the 
 natives by my presence. 
 
 " I can say, without vanity, that I was then a good-looking 
 young man, about five feet ten inches in stockings, clean 
 limbed, and hands somewhat hard and horny; but I had cul 
 tivated a pair of glorious black whiskers, had on hand a good 
 stock of assurance, some called it impudence, and was fully 
 sensible of the personal advantages I possessed. I rigged 
 myself out in true sailor style : a handsome blue jacket and 
 trousers, white vest, white stockings, and a pair of pumps, a 
 bandanna kerchief tied carelessly around my neck, and a neat- 
 looking, narrow-rimmed tarpaulin hat planted jauntily upon 
 my head. In this costume, fully resolved to make a sensation 
 among the girls of the village, I returned, after an absence of 
 seven years, to the place of my birth. 
 
 " I found that my mother, one of the best women that 
 ever breathed the breath of life, had been dead for three 
 years, and my father was married again to a young damsel 
 about my own age. However, he received me kindly, and 
 urged me to quit my wandering mode of life, abandon my 
 unsteady habits, and assist him in carrying on the farm. And 
 when I looked around me, and saw what a contented, com 
 fortable people inhabited that little village, and reflected that 
 they never had occasion to turn out in a gale of wind on a 
 winter s coast to reef topsails or send down top-gallant yards, 
 were never put upon short allowance, or hazed about by a 
 consequential mate, I pretty much resolved to bid farewell to 
 salt water, and anchor for life on the banks of the Connecti 
 cut. 
 
 " I lost no time in visiting our neighbors, especially those 
 
 
THREE-FINGERED JACKS. 89 
 
 who had attractive daughters, and, thanks to my personal 
 appearance and engaging manners, was treated with as much 
 cordiality and attention as I deserved perhaps more. The 
 sins of the mischievous Mike were forgotten. That little 
 urchin was transformed into Mr. MullinsJ a stranger from 
 foreign parts, who could crack a good joke, and spin a tough 
 yarn to astonish the country bumpkins. Being rather flush 
 of money, I thought I would enjoy myself for a spell before 
 I took hold of the plough and hoe, and fairly entered on my 
 farming duties. I spent my time in visiting, in getting up 
 little parties among the young folks, and in- trying to make 
 myself agreeable to the girls in the neighborhood, in which I 
 succeeded far beyond my expectations. 
 
 " It is a fact, Captain Sinclair, and I don t believe a man 
 of your appearance has lived so many years in the world with 
 out finding it out, that the girls like a sailor better than a 
 landsman " (the captain smiled, and looked at Mike as if he 
 understood him), " especially, if he is a good-looking, harum- 
 scarum sort of a fellow, well stocked with impudence, and 
 somewhat of a vagabond in his tastes and habits." (The cap 
 tain looked grave.) " I possessed all these qualifications to a 
 very enviable extent, and there was hardly a girl within five 
 miles of Vallambrosa, who would not have jumped at the 
 chance to join me in a frolic, or accompany me in a ride 
 or a walk, even with the certainty of giving mortal offence to 
 the quiet, patient, plodding, good soul, who had perhaps been 
 dangling after her for a twelvemonth, and whom she had pretty 
 much resolved to make happy with her hand. In the course 
 of the few weeks which I remained ashore, I sowed the seeds 
 of many a bitter quarrel, and have reason to believe that I 
 was the direct cause of many family feuds, dissensions and 
 heart-burnings among plighted lovers, that were not healed for 
 a twelvemonth afterwards, if ever. Mike Mull ins made a 
 decided sensation in Yallambrosa. 
 
90 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 "The prettiest girl in the parish was Harriet Pheasanton 
 a thoughtless, frolicsome, dashing sort of girl, with blooming 
 dimpled cheeks, and roguish black eyes. I had not been in 
 her company many times, before I took a particular fancy to 
 Harriet, and when I saw her cheerful, sunny face, and listened 
 to her ringing laugh, I could not help thinking that such a 
 bright being, if I could win her affections, and call her my 
 own, would be a very comfortable addition to the furniture of 
 the old farm, and help me in a wonderful degree to bear any 
 irksome and tedious duties incident to a farmer s life. Be 
 sides, Harriet was not only a lovely girl, but she had a hand 
 some little property in her own right ; a circumstance which 
 in my eyes added to her charms, and decided me to make a 
 bold push for a wife and a fortune. 
 
 " But there were obstacles in the way which would have 
 discouraged at the outset any youth of a less enterprising 
 spirit, or who had a humbler opinion of his own merits than 
 I entertained of mine. She was already partly if not wholly 
 engaged to a very excellent young man, Ralph Denison, who 
 was not only smiled upon by Harriet, but regarded with favor 
 by her uncle and guardian, Mr. Pheasanton, with whom she 
 lived. And I had reason to believe that her uncle was unable 
 to appreciate my merits, but looked upon me as a roistering, 
 dissipated young fellow, to whose care the happiness of no 
 estimable young lady should be entrusted. Indeed, he was a 
 close-fisted, sober-minded, cross-grained-looking chap, who 
 never was known to crack a joke, or even to laugh at one, in 
 the course of his life, and had no more idea of the nature 
 and strength of a tender attachment between two congenial 
 souls, than a Blue Point oyster. I may as well state here 
 that he was somewhat noted for the size and brilliancy of his 
 teeth and was known in the village by the purser s name 
 of Old Ivories. 
 
 " Despairing of gaining his favor, I resolved to lay siege 
 
THREE-FINGERED JACKS. 91 
 
 to the heart of his blooming niece, press it with vigor, and, if 
 necessary, carry it by storm. And here, thanks to my good 
 looks, my swaggering air, and my modest assurance, I found 
 less resistance than I was prepared to expect. One evening, 
 at the close of a quilting frolic at Colonel Henderson s, after 
 flirting and laughing with Harriet during the whole evening, 
 to the great surprise and anger of Ralph Denison, who had 
 looked heavers and handspikes at me for hours, I made up 
 my mind to wait upon her home. When she got rigged all 
 ready for a start, Ralph, who was standing sulkily by, stepped 
 slowly towards her and mechanically offered his arm. At 
 that moment I glided between the affectionate couple, and 
 without saying a word, thrust Harriet s arm within my own, 
 and proudly walked off with my prize in tow ! She seemed 
 surprised, but not at all offended, by my presumption, and, 
 when at a late hour we reached the dwelling-house of 4 Old 
 Ivories, for we walked along very leisurely, Ralph Denison s 
 nose was considerably out of joint. 
 
 " Ralph was not deficient in spirit, however, and chose to 
 regard my proceedings as an affront which he was determined 
 to resent ; and the next day he called upon me, and, with a 
 savage expression on his countenance, asked me for an expla 
 nation of my conduct. I saw what he would be at. Of course 
 I could give no explanation that would be satisfactory to him, 
 and thought it would be as well to settle the matter on the 
 spot. He was a strong-built, muscular fellow, but he did not 
 know how to handle his flippers, and, when we separated, he 
 looked more like a savage than ever, with two black circles 
 around his eyes, and his face ornamented with several fanciful 
 streaks of deep red ! 
 
 " The affair attracted attention, and it soon became noised 
 about that Mike Mullins and Harriet Pheasanton understood 
 each other perfectly well. Several fair damsels in the village, 
 to whom I had been very polite, and perhaps particular in my 
 
92 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 attentions, turned up their pretty noses at the news, and made 
 some disparaging remarks upon my want of taste. Mr. 
 Pheasanton, as in duty bound, he said, talked like a father to 
 Harriet on the subject, warned her against forming a connec 
 tion -with a rattle-brained sailor, who never would be able to 
 earn salt for his porridge, assured her that he would not 
 consent to such an ill-advised copartnership, and wound up by 
 telling her never to hold any intercourse with me again. But 
 Harriet was a true woman, and scorned to be dictated to in an 
 affair which concerned her affections. She met me the same 
 evening in an old apology for a summer-house, at the bottom 
 of the garden, and told me all that had passed between her 
 self and her guardian. She was evidently piqued at his con 
 duct, and began to feel a deep interest in your humble ser 
 vant, which was undoubtedly an indication of a correct taste 
 on her part. I took advantage of this state of her affections, 
 and, in the most impassioned language, described the intensity 
 of my love. I expatiated on the tyranny of her guardian, 
 and, when I had roused her feelings to the proper pitch, I em 
 ployed all a sailor s eloquence to induce her to set his author 
 ity at defiance, and accompany me to the little state of 
 Rhode Island, where the laws placed no obstacle or delay to 
 the happiness of impatient lovers. There we would fly, and, 
 in spite of the slander or envious whispers of an ill-natured 
 world, secure our own happiness for life, by making that* 
 matrimonial splice which cannot be drawn ; by tying that 
 nuptial knot which cannot be loosened by a marling-spike, or 
 severed by the sharpest jack-knife." 
 
 "That is to say, in plain English," interrupted Captain 
 Sinclair, " you tried to entice the silly girl to run away with 
 you and get married. You need not go such a round-about 
 way to get at it. So heave ahead, my lad, and save the 
 tide." 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir," resumed Mike. " The long and the short 
 
THREE-FINGERED JACKS. 93 
 
 of it was that Harriet, whom / always considered a sensible 
 girl, consented to elope with me the following night. I left 
 her, with an understanding that I would make all the neces 
 sary arrangements, and let her know the particulars in the 
 course of the afternoon, when I should be able to appoint the 
 place and the hour at which I was to meet her. 
 
 " The next day I busied myself in preparing for my intended 
 matrimonial excursion. 31 y father s horse, Old Daisy, 
 was hardly clipper enough for the occasion, and I finally suc 
 ceeded in borrowing Colonel Henderson s famous bay mare, 
 which could trot easily with a chaise at the rate of ten knots 
 an hour ; tolerably fast going, on sea or land. I accordingly 
 wrote to Harriet to be in the summer-house, at the bottom of 
 the garden, at half past ten o clock, all ready for a start. Old 
 Ivories always turned in at ten o clock precisely, and at that 
 hour, or as soon after it as possible, I would be in the adjoin 
 ing lane, with a fleet horse and chaise, to carry her oft 7 in 
 triumph, and make her mine forever. This letter I entrusted 
 to the care of a young cousin of mine, and gave him half a 
 dollar, with the express understanding that he should deliver 
 it into Harriet s own hand ; but the booby, not being able to 
 find my charmer at the moment, gave it into the hands of 
 Old Ivories himself, who, the villain, as I afterwards learned 
 to my cost, made no scruple to break the seal, and make him 
 self master of its contents. 
 
 " As the hour of my appointment drew nigh, I proceeded 
 towards Colonel Henderson s, but, to my great vexation, found 
 that his son had forgotten I had engaged the bay mare, 
 and she was still in the pasture. Before she could be caught 
 and rigged, and under way, the clock struck eleven. I took 
 my seat in the chaise, cracked the whip, and in a few minutes 
 had reached the lane in the neighborhood of the summer- 
 house at the bottom of the garden. I leaped out of the chaise, 
 and looked carefully around ; the night was not very dark 
 
94 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 although there was no moon ; but no person could be seen. I 
 then clambered over the fence, and, entering the garden, pro 
 ceeded towards the place of rendezvous, though not without 
 some misgivings that all was not right. 
 
 " As I reached the entrance of the rickety building, I heard 
 the regular breathing of some person in a deep sleep. I lis 
 tened ; the loud breathing was occasionally varied with a 
 prolonged and unmusical snore! Could this be Harriet? 
 Could she fall asleep at such a time, or could she under any 
 circumstances give utterance to such unromantic sounds? 
 But, said I to myself, if it is not Harriet, who can it be ? It 
 must beyond doubt be my charmer, who, tired of waiting for 
 my arrival, has fallen asleep on th&seat; and, bless her bright 
 black eyes and narrow windpipe, has perhaps taken cold by 
 breathing the cold, damp evening air. 
 
 " I stepped forward softly, and groped my way towards her, 
 calling in a gentle tone, twice or thrice, * Harriet ! Harriet ! 
 But her sleep was still undisturbed. My right hand fell gently 
 on a face, but the nose, a masculine Roman, was different 
 from Harriet s, which was a decided turn-up. My fingers 
 slipped from this strange nose into a capacious mouth, which 
 stood invitingly open, and from whose inner depths proceeded 
 the sounds so unlike those of an j33olian harp, which had dis 
 turbed my equanimity. In an instant the mouth closed with 
 a terrible JERK, and my two fingers were caught, nabbed, im 
 movably fixed between the well-furnished jaw-bones of Old 
 Ivories ! 
 
 " Yes, thb remorseless old rascal had fairly entrapped me in 
 a way altogether unexpected by either of us. He had been 
 waiting for my appearance, armed with a good cudgel, until 
 he had lost all patience with my slow movements, and had 
 sunk fast asleep on a seat, with his tremendous jaws extended 
 like a crocodile, when about to catch a delicious dish of flies. 
 
 " The Did fellow vindicated his claim to the nickname of 
 
THREE-FINGERED JACKS, 
 
 95 
 
 Ivories, for he nipped my fingers to the bone when he first 
 closed his jaws. And, sir, if you have never been taken in, 
 or had your fingers taken in, in this way, you can have no idea 
 of the excruciating pain which is produced by such a terrible 
 grip. I tost all ray strength in my agony, and became as 
 feeble and incapable of resistance as an infant. I could do 
 nothing but roar, and that I did right lustily. I screamed 
 Help! Help! Thieves! Fire! Robbers! Murder! with all 
 the strength of my lungs, and soon awakened all the sleepers 
 in Vallambrosa, and set the whole village in an uproar. 
 
 " In less time than it would take to pipe all hands on board 
 of a man-of-war, more than a dozen active and powerful 
 young men, armed with clubs, pitchforks, hoes, and crowbars, 
 were rushing towards the summer-house from every quarter; 
 but * Old Ivories held on like a lobster to the heel of a fisher 
 man, and my convulsive struggles to disengage my fingers 
 only caused him to nip the harder ; and by the time the fright 
 ened villagers, clad in their airy dresses, had reached the 
 Bummer-house, the old barracooter had actually bitten 
 through the bones, and I had sunk fainting to the floor ! " 
 
 " Do you mean to say, Mike, that Mr. Pheasanton bit your 
 fingers clean off ? " inquired the skipper in an eager voice, and 
 with his eyes protruding from their sockets. 
 
 "To be sure, sir. The old ragamuffin took them off as 
 clean as the cook could do it with his chopping-knife ; and 
 when his neighbors, who were strongly prejudiced against me, 
 reached the scene of action, and inquired into the cause of 
 the disturbance, he coolly justified his cruel and inhuman con 
 duct, by relating all the circumstances attending my affair 
 with Harriet, and exhibiting my letter ; and all the satisfaction 
 I got, was to hear the whole know-nothing set, and Ralph 
 Denison among them, burst out into a loud guffaw, and declare 
 that I was rightly served, and they hoped it would be a 
 solemn warning to me to behave better in future. The sneak- 
 
96 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 ing lubbers ! I only wish I was boatswain to a good ship on 
 a pepper voyage to Sumatra, and they formed a portion of 
 the crew ; that s all the harm I wish them ! 
 
 " Completely prostrated by disappointment, mortification , 
 and pain, I could not say a word in my defence, but sheered 
 off sheepishly, on my way to my father s house, leaving 
 Harriet Pheasanton, Colonel Henderson s bay mare, Ralph 
 Denison, and the fragments of my fingers, to take care of 
 themselves which I suppose they did, for I never heard of 
 them from that time to this. 
 
 " My love was effectually cured. I found there was a dark 
 as well as a bright side to these frolics with the girls. I con 
 ceived a disgust to a farmer s life ; and, as to the people who 
 lived in the humdrum, peaceful village of Yallambrosa, I have 
 ever held them in utter contempt. But, poor fellows, per 
 haps they are more to be pitied than blamed ; much ought not 
 to be expected of men who never even looked upon salt water. 
 I wish I had the ducking of em in it ! 
 
 " As soon as my hand was cured, I bade farewell to the vil 
 lage of Vallambrosa and the banks of the Connecticut, has 
 tened to the nearest seaport, and shipped on board the first 
 craft I could find bound on a foreign voyage. The loss of my 
 fingers made me rather awkward at first, but I soon got used 
 to it; and now, sir, I am not afraid to say that I can do a 
 seaman s duty with any whole-handed man that ever handled 
 a marling-spike or fitted a parrel to a topsail yard." 
 
 " I have no reason to doubt it ! " replied Captain Sinclair, 
 with a good-natured smile ; and after communing a few min 
 utes with himself, he turned to the mate and ordered him to 
 call aft all hands. In a few minutes every man on board was 
 standing around the capstan, when Captain Sinclair, like a 
 schoolmaster about to ferule a delinquent class, ordered them to 
 hold out their hands ! He then examined them carefully one 
 by one, but found no more fingers missing than he had already 
 
THREE-FINGERED JACKS. 
 
 97 
 
 discovered, with the exception of the first joint of the cook s 
 little finger, which the " doctor " said was snipped off by him 
 self one unlucky morning when he was chopping some salt 
 beef to make a mess of lobscouse. 
 
 Whether the captain rejoiced at or regretted this result 
 may be a question, although it is recorded that when he 
 ordered the men to attend to their duties again, he said to 
 Mr. Sandford in an under tone, and in accents rather serious 
 than gay, " Well, it can t be helped, but we shall have no 
 more stories this voyage from Three-fingered Jacks " 
 
THE WIDOW MORRISON. 
 
 What is thy name 
 
 Thou hast a grim appearance, and thy face 
 Bears a command in t. Tho thy tackle s torn, 
 Thou show st a noble vessel. What is thy name 1 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 ON a visit to a friend, a number of years ago, who resided 
 in a pleasant little town in the country, which I shall call 
 Lausanne, my attention was one morning attracted to a neat 
 cottage, beautifully situated in a vale, at the distance of about 
 a quarter of a mile from the main road. I passed through a 
 narrow lane, which, winding around a gentle eminence crowned 
 with majestic forest trees, led past the secluded dwelling. It 
 was in the month of June ; nature was arrayed in her holi 
 day garments, and the whole vegetable kingdom was rejoic 
 ing. 
 
 The cottage appeared like the abode of happiness. It was 
 a neat and sufficiently spacious building, with a thick forest 
 in the rear, a murmuring limpid stream in front, and cul 
 tivated grounds on either side. This humble dwelling was 
 surrounded with shrubbery ; and woodbines, climbing up and 
 clinging to the roof, a neat flower garden beneath the win 
 dows, and some geraniums in blossom on the green before the 
 door, with the atmosphere of comfort, of rural elegance, which 
 seemed to surround it, furnished convincing evidence that a 
 woman of refined taste and cultivated mind was the presiding 
 genius of the place. 
 
THE WIDOW MORRISON. 99 
 
 As I looked around, with a view to gain information, I 
 saw a man employed in trimming some rose-bushes, in the 
 adjoining garden, and I thought I would make some inqui 
 ries of him, relative to the inmates of this charming residence ; 
 but his appearance was so remarkable that I relinquished my 
 intention as soon as it was formed. His complexion was 
 brown, even to swarthiness ; his brow was wrinkled with age 
 or sorrow ; his face was seamed with scars, giving a sinister 
 expression to his countenance ; his look manifested determi 
 nation, even to fierceness, and one of his arms was maimed, 
 and hung useless at his side. 
 
 The appearance of this man did not correspond with the 
 character of the cottage, and the beautiful grounds. It was 
 not in keeping with the place, and the sight of him caused a 
 feeling of disappointment. This man seemed to be at home; 
 perhaps he was the owner of the place. But no, I whispered 
 to myself, that could hardly be. He must be a day-laborer, 
 employed for a brief period only ; but the sight of his crip 
 pled arm overthrew this hypothesis. I turned to retrace my 
 steps, and had proceeded but a few paces, when I heard the 
 sound of a guitar, and soon afterward a female, with a voice 
 of much melody and richness, sung a beautiful popular song. 
 I lingered near the cottage until the song was ended, when I 
 returned with hasty steps to the hamlet, in the midst of which 
 my friend resided. I eagerly inquired of him who were the 
 residents of the cottage in the lane. 
 
 " Cottage in the lane ? " said he ; " that is Woodbine Cot 
 tage, and the residence of the widow Morrison." 
 
 " The widow Morrison ! " I exclaimed, " and pray tell me 
 who is the widow Morrison ? " 
 
 " Did you never hear her story ? " asked my friend. 
 
 " Never." 
 
 " That s singular. Her story is well known in these parts, 
 
100 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 and has attracted much attention. I wonder that it has never 
 got into the newspapers ! " 
 
 " But who is the strange-looking man, with a face covered 
 with scars, whom I saw at work in the field, near the cot 
 tage ? " 
 
 " That," replied my friend, " is her husband, Captain Mor 
 rison." 
 
 " How ! her husband ? Did I not understand you to say 
 the widow Morrison ? If she has a husband living, she surely 
 cannot be a widow." 
 
 " You are right, my dear sir. She is no longer a widow ; 
 but I have been so long used to Calling her the widow Morri 
 son, that I cannot overcome the habit at once. 3 
 
 " You excite my curiosity," said I. " I should like much 
 to hear something of the story of the widow Morrison." 
 
 " Your wish shall be gratified," replied my friend, and he 
 proceeded forthwith with the following narrative : 
 
 " Ira Morrison was born in the good old town of Boston. 
 He was the son of Scottish parents, who emigrated to this 
 country soon after their marriage, with a view to acquire that 
 independence, and secure a degree of comfort, which was de 
 nied them in their native country. But, like thousands of 
 others, Mr. Morrison learned, from bitter experience, that 
 America was not the promised land, flowing with milk and 
 honey, which he had been taught to believe, and that to be 
 successful in business required not only industry, capacity, 
 and integrity, but, also, a knowledge of the people, of their 
 habits and customs, and usual modes of transacting business, 
 which can only be acquired by a residence among them for 
 years. 
 
 " He was disappointed, and, too late, found that he had been 
 duped by the tales of selfish and designing speculators; but, 
 entertaining hopes of improving his condition, and deterred 
 by a false pride from retrieving his error by returning imme- 
 
THE WIDOW MORRISON. 101 
 
 cliately to his native country, he proceeded into the interior, 
 and changed his residence several times, struggling with mis* 
 fortune, until the moderate funds which he had brought with 
 him were exhausted. He then became utterly discouraged, 
 and resorted to the bottle for solace. His story is soon told : 
 he died in a poor-house, and his hapless wife followed her 
 husband to the grave. Their only son, Ira, was thus thrown 
 upon the charities of the world, alone, unprotected, a friend 
 less and penniless orphan, at the early age of fourteen. 
 
 " But, thanks to the old and excellent system of free schools 
 in New England, aided by strong native talent and applica 
 tion, Ira had acquired the rudiments of an English education, 
 and was well grounded in the principles of reading, writing, 
 arithmetic, and geography. He early manifested a disposition 
 to adopt a seafaring life, and, on the death of his mother, 
 wended his way to Boston, and, after several fruitless appli 
 cations, succeeded in obtaining a place on board the ship Rosa- 
 monda, bound to the Xorth-west coast. 
 
 " Ira Morrison, by his kind disposition, his amiable feel 
 ings, his attention to his duties, and his trust-worthiness, 
 gained the good will of his officers and his shipmates. He 
 liked the occupation which he had chosen for a livelihood, and 
 determined to reach the topmost round of the ladder. At his 
 leisure hours, he applied himself to the improvement of his 
 mind, and soon found that here, as in other matters where a 
 strong inclination exists, the work is more than half accom 
 plished. In due time, he became a proficient in seamanship 
 and navigation. In a few years he was promoted to the situ 
 ation of second mate of a ship, and, ere he reached the twenty- 
 sixth year of his age, Ira Morrison was in command of a fine 
 vessel, engaged in the East India trade. 
 
 " Success now seemed to accompany Captain Morrison s 
 undertakings, as if to compensate him for his sufferings in 
 childhood. By economy, by a judicious management of his 
 9* 
 

 102 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 private affairs, he soon acquired a little property, which was 
 constantly increasing. While tarrying on shore at one time, 
 longer than usual, he met, at the house of a friend in the 
 neighborhood of Boston, a beautiful and accomplished girl, 
 named Helen Ogilvy, with whose appearance and manners he 
 was captivated. He then felt, with all the force of truth, 
 what a dreary imagination had often shadowed forth, that 
 man should not live for himself alone, and that matrimony 
 was essential to happiness in civilized society. 
 
 " With the characteristic ardor and promptness of a sailor, 
 Morrison urged his suit. It was successful, and, on his 
 return from a succeeding voyage, he claimed Helen s promise 
 to unite her fortunes with his for life. The holy ceremony 
 which crowned his wishes was performed ; and, as they stood 
 together, the smiling bridegroom and the lovely bride, before 
 the nuptial shrine, futurity seemed a pathway through a 
 flowery field, studded with enjoyments ; and, surely, the ven 
 erable clergyman, who performed the ceremony, never called 
 down the blessings of Heaven on a more deserving couple than 
 Ira Morrison and Helen Ogilvy. 
 
 " Some years passed by, and their happiness increased 
 rather than diminished. Captain Morrison purchased a neat 
 dwelling-house, pleasantly situated in the neighborhood of 
 Boston, and two lovely daughters formed additional ties to 
 unite their hearts in the holy bond of affection. There was 
 only one drawback to their happiness. Captain Morrison s 
 occupation compelled him to be absent a considerable portion 
 of time from his family, from his kojne, around which clustered 
 a thousand delightful associations. But he looked forward 
 with eagerness to the time, which he hoped was not distant, 
 when, possessed of a competence, he might bid adieu to the 
 seas for evermore, and pass the rest of his days in the 
 midst of those whom he loved with an ardent and enduring 
 affection. 
 
THE WIDOW MORRISON. 103 
 
 " About fifteen years ago, Captain Morrison embarked on 
 what he intended should be his last voyage. He hoped, if 
 fortune should prove propitious, to realize a sum which, added 
 to his previously acquired property, would be sufficient to 
 warrant his quitting a seafaring life, and enable him to settle 
 down quietly and permanently in the bosom of domestic hap 
 piness. He had, in company with his wife, once visited this 
 little village of Lausanne, where Helen formerly had some 
 relations, and they were both much pleased with its romantic 
 situation, and the beautiful scenery in its vicinity. A cottage 
 in a lonely glen attracted their especial attention ; and, indulg 
 ing a dream of romance, they declared that, when, favored by 
 fortune, they should be able to seek out a permanent resting- 
 place, they would retire from the busy scenes of life, and 
 a world to each other establish themselves in this neigh 
 borhood, breathe a rural atmosphere, and engage in rural 
 pursuits. 
 
 " Morrison took an affectionate leave of his wife and chil 
 dren ; but Helen, as if she felt a presentiment of misfortune, 
 could not conceal her tears at parting. She wept upon the 
 neck of her husband, and earnestly commended him to the 
 protection of the Almighty. 
 
 " He left Boston in the good ship Astolpho, bound on a 
 voyage to Canton, and directly back to the United States. 
 In due time, Helen received letters from her husband, con 
 taining the grateful information of his safe arrival at his 
 destined port, and a prospect of a successful voyage ; and 
 devoutly did she pour out her thanks to the Almighty, for 
 extending his protection to her husband when exposed to the 
 dangers of the ocean. Subsequent letters informed her of the 
 progress of his business, and at length she received one con 
 taining the glad news that he had completed his business in 
 Canton, and expected to sail for Boston in a few days. In 
 this letter he expressed the utmost impatience to re-visit his 
 
104 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 home ; complained of the dull, monotonous life of a sailor, 
 estranged from society for months, ay, years, at a time, and 
 deprived of those pleasures which give a zest to life. And, 
 as if he more fully realized the perils which beset the life of 
 a sailor than was wont with him, he introduced into his letter 
 a schedule of his property, with directions to his wife how to 
 proceed, should he never succeed in reaching his home. Helen 
 wept as she read this letter, it seemed ominous of evil, 
 and anxiously looked forward to the time when his return 
 might reasonably be expected. 
 
 " A week passed by, and the Astolpho had not arrived. 
 Another, and then another week, and not a word was heard 
 from her husband. Her anxiety may be imagined; and 
 hour after hour she watched for intelligence which should 
 bring solace to her heart. At length the ship Griffin arrived 
 from Canton, bringing information that Captain "Morrison had 
 sailed from that port about three weeks before the Griffin, 
 and, also, that a vessel had arrived at Canton just before the 
 Griffin sailed, which had experienced a terrible typhoon, or 
 hurricane, in the China seas, and that apprehensions were 
 there excited for the safety of the Astolpho. 
 
 " This was sad news for Mrs. Morrison. Her worst fears 
 seemed about to be realized. She would press her children 
 to her bosorn, and talk to them of their father, whose safe 
 return she hardly dared to expect. Indeed, after the lapse 
 of some months, and not a word was heard from the Astolpho, 
 it was generally believed that the ship had foundered in the 
 China seas, in the hurricane, and that all on board perished. 
 But hope at times would still whisper a flattering tale ; it was 
 possible that the ship might have received damage, and put 
 into some port to repair. After a year had elapsed, however, 
 and intelligence had been received from every port where Cap 
 tain Morrison would probably have sought an asylum, there 
 could be no longer any doubt of his fate. Helen clad herself 
 
THE WIDOW MORRISON. 105 
 
 in mourning for the loss of her husband : and her children, 
 also, wore the garb of sorrow for the death of their father. 
 
 " Mrs. Morrison now proceeded to settle the estate of her 
 late husband, and, in consequence of his methodical habits in 
 the arrangements of his business, it proved to be no difficult 
 task. She found herself in possession of a respectable prop 
 erty, a portion of which, agreeably to the advice of a friend, 
 she invested in stocks of undoubted credit, which yielded her 
 a moderate annual income. With the remainder she pur 
 chased Woodbine Cottage, in the Fairy Glen, the lovely 
 and retired spot which had so charmed her husband and her 
 self in happier days, and, bidding farewell to the busy 
 world, removed thither with her two daughters, a mourning, 
 and almost broken-hearted, widow. 
 
 " And here she resided, devoting herself to the education 
 of her children, and courting tranquillity and retirement. 
 Time, which brings a panacea for many ills, assuaged the 
 bitterness of her grief, but years elapsed before the weight of 
 sorrow could be removed from her bosom, for her thoughts 
 would be often with the husband of her youth, and she fre 
 quently indulged in melancholy conjectures respecting his 
 fate. She thought that if she knew all the circumstances 
 attending his death she should feel less unhappy ; for the 
 mystery which shrouded the loss of the ship seemed more 
 terrible than even the most thrilling details could possibly be. 
 
 " Sometimes her imagination pictured him in the midst of 
 the furious conflict of elements, with death staring him in the 
 face, seeking to console his companions in misfortune by his 
 words and his example, or calling down blessings on the 
 heads of his wife and children. Sometimes she saw him on a 
 plank, tossed about on the wild seas, and vainly struggling 
 for life ; or in a boat on the broad ocean, looking with strain 
 ing eyes around the distant horizon for succor, but in vain, 
 and slowly perishing, a prey to the pangs of starvation. 
 
106 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 Again she saw the ship forced by the tempest on some rock- 
 bound coast ; she heard the roaring of the breakers as they 
 dashed against the shore, and she felt the shock as the gallant 
 ship, urged by a resistless force, struck upon a ledge ; she 
 heard the screams of the hapless mariners, and their imploring 
 prayers for mercy to their God, and beheld the mangled corpse 
 of her husband thrown upon the rocks ! 
 
 " The widow Morrison was beloved by the people of Lau 
 sanne. She was ever kind, benevolent and hospitable. She 
 took a deep interest in the happiness of others, and in this 
 way succeeded to a very considerable extent in alleviating her 
 own sorrows. Blessed with a mind richly stored with knowl 
 edge, great purity of character, and a refined taste, she not 
 only succeeded admirably in carrying into effect her design 
 of educating her daughters, but she seemed to infuse a new 
 spirit, a thirst for improvement, into the minds of her neigh 
 bors ; and in a few years, strangers visiting Lausanne, were 
 surprised and pleased at beholding in this hamlet, even in the 
 humblest abodes, the little improvements and comforts, pleas 
 ing to the eye and tranquillizing to the mind, which have their 
 source in a perception of the beautiful, and contribute much 
 to the happiness of civilized society. 
 
 " She had more than once been urged, under circumstances 
 which, in a worldly point of view, were highly favorable, to 
 change her condition, and again embrace a married life ; but 
 she always discouraged, in the most prompt and decided man 
 ner, any advances of that description. Years thus glided 
 peaceably by. Her daughters were beautiful, virtuous and 
 accomplished, and promised to equal all their mother s hopes ; 
 and the widow Morrison herself, although sometimes a prey 
 to sad reminiscences, appeared to enjoy a larger portion of 
 that rational kind of happiness founded on a contented mind, 
 than falls to the share of most mortals. If a pensive shadow 
 darkened her brow as she gazed upon the portrait of her hus- 
 
THE WIDOW MORRISON. 107 
 
 band, and indulged in the remembrance of former sorrows, it 
 was soon dissipated by the cheerful smiles of her daughters ; 
 but when the tempest raged and the boisterous north wind 
 swept down the valley, she "listened to the wild and unearthly 
 music, as if it were a requiem of the departed spirit of her 
 husband. 
 
 " One memorable evening, it was the 21st of October, the 
 widow s family were gathered pleasantly around the fireside, 
 during the raging of a fierce easterly storm. The widow was 
 seated at the table, reading the Holy Scriptures, and her 
 daughters were engaged in plying the needle with unceasing 
 assiduity. A venerable Angola cat, in one corner, by her 
 loud purring, was expressing her satisfaction at having se 
 cured such good quarters, while a spaniel, with benignant 
 features, had taken possession of the other. The fire burned 
 brightly, and comfort reigned within, while the cold wind 
 howled mournfully without, and the rain pattered against 
 the casements. A fearful gust swept down the valley, and 
 shook the building ; the widow closed the book with a shud 
 der, and raised her eyes to the portrait of her long-lamented 
 husband, which was suspended over the mantel-piece. 
 
 " It is exactly thirteen years this day, said Mrs. Morri 
 son, addressing her daughters, since your father left his home 
 for the last time. And, as he bade me farewell, something 
 whispered to my heart that he would never return ; and too 
 truly were my sad apprehensions realized. 0, perhaps it was 
 in such a dreadful storm as this that he perished on the dis 
 tant seas ! The winds blew and the waves raged ; he was 
 exposed to all the terrors of the storm, from whose fury no 
 human force could screen him, and died a dreadful death, far 
 from those he loved. Bella, my love, sing that little plaintive 
 air which I taught you years ago, if you still remember it. 
 It is suited to my present feelings, and may well be sung by 
 a sailor s daughter. The beautiful girl arose and took her 
 
108 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 guitar. With a fine voice, although tremulous with emotion, 
 she sung the following song : 
 
 THE FATED MARINERS. 
 
 The stately ship glides o er the deep, 
 
 With treasure richly freighted ; 
 T is sweet to view her gallant crew, 
 
 Their hearts with hope elated. 
 The stars shine bright this lovely night, 
 
 The waves have ceased their motion ; 
 The gentle breeze sweeps o er the seas 
 
 There s beauty on the ocean. 
 
 * But see how soon the rising moon 
 
 Behind a cloud is stealing ; 
 The furious blast flies wildly past, 
 
 With loud and fitful wailing. 
 The mighty deep, aroused from sleep, 
 
 Appears in fierce commotion, 
 While o er these scenes the storm-king reigns 
 
 There s terror on the ocean. 
 
 T is drear and dark, while o er the bark 
 
 The thunder loudly crashes ; 
 The sea-birds scream the lightnings gleam 
 
 Yet on she madly dashes ! 
 Her fated crew, with death in view, 
 
 Now kneel in sad devotion ; 
 Beneath the waves they find their graves ! 
 
 There s death upon the ocean. 
 
 " Bella had hardly ceased her song, and the widow was 
 indulging in all the luxury of grief, when a loud knocking 
 was heard at the door ; which was opened by the youngest 
 daughter, and a person inquired, in a low, but strange voice, 
 Does Mrs. Morrison live here ? 
 
 " Yes, replied Louisa ; please to come in. 
 " The stranger entered the parlor, and the inmates were 
 startled at his uncouth, unfavorable appearance. 
 
 
THE WIDOW MORRISON. 109 
 
 " Don t be alarmed, said he, in a broken voice, as if 
 laboring under strong emotion ; I shall do you no injury ; I 
 am a poor, unfortunate man ! a sailor, destitute of friends or 
 money, and I solicit shelter for the night from the raging of 
 the tempest. 
 
 "And some assurance of his pacific intentions seemed neces 
 sary, for neither his costume nor his countenance was calcu 
 lated to impress one in his favor. He was a tall, athletic 
 man, clad in a seaman s jacket and trousers, and his garments, 
 like himself, had evidently seen better days, and were but a 
 slender protection against the wind and the rain. His feat 
 ures were bold and regular, but over his brow was an unseem 
 ly scar, an evidence of his having been engaged in bloody 
 strife. His cheeks were seamed with longitudinal scars, 
 which appeared to have been stamped there by the hand of 
 art, and gave to his countenance a singularly wild and fero 
 cious expression. Exposure to the tropical sun. and to the 
 inclement weather, had cast a swarthy shade over his features, 
 which were emaciated by suffering or disease. 
 
 " The widow Morrison gazed upon the strange figure for a 
 moment, and the apprehensions which his first appearance had 
 excited gave way to an emotion of pity, as she saw that he 
 was indeed a stranger, a seafaring man, too, and in distress. 
 She offered him a seat by the fire, rebuked Fido for uttering 
 an inhospitable growl, urged the way-worn traveller to make 
 himself comfortable and at home, and directed her daughters 
 to prepare him some refreshment. 
 
 " You seem to have travelled a long way, said she. 
 
 " Yes, replied the stranger, I left Boston this morning. 
 
 " Indeed ! exclaimed Mrs. Morrison ; in the midst of 
 such a severe,, storm, too ! Your business must have been 
 urgent. Have you lately arrived from sea ? 
 
 " Only a few days since, was the reply. I was last from 
 the East Indies, where I have lived for many years. 
 10 
 
 
110 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 " From the East Indies ! And you have ruined your 
 health, and braved all the perils of the sea, evidently for a 
 poor compensation, continued Mrs. Morrison, a tear glisten 
 ing in her eye. { My husband was also a sailor ; he sailed 
 to the East Indies, and there he perished, many years 
 ago ! 
 
 " Are you certain he perished ? inquired the sailor, in a 
 low, but distinct voice. 
 
 " No, not certain, for I never heard the exact manner of 
 his death. He bailed from Canton for Boston, and has never 
 been heard of since. The ship was old, and doubtless was lost 
 in a hurricane which swept over the China seas soon after he 
 left port. 
 
 "Perhaps he was cast away upon some island inhabited by 
 savages, and was not allowed to depart. Perhaps he may be 
 still living in some distant land, a prey to sorrow, with all his 
 hopes and thoughts centred upon his home. 
 
 "0, bless you ! bless you for those words ! cried the 
 widow, rising from her seat and seizing him by the hand. 
 Bella ! Louisa ! this stranger has recently arrived from the 
 East Indies, and he says that it is possible your father is still 
 living. 
 
 " The girls came to the side of their mother, and gazed with 
 much interest and curiosity on the sailor ; but incredulity was 
 legibly written on their features. 
 
 " If he should be still living, resumed the stranger, al 
 though broken down with sorrow and suffering, poor, friend 
 less, infirm, crippled and prematurely aged; if he should, 
 through the kindness of Providence, after the lapse of so many 
 years, again reach his native land, would you welcome your 
 husband with a smile of gladness ? 
 
 " Would I ? God knows my heart. It would be the 
 happiest moment of my life. But 0, it is cruel to conjure 
 up visions of happiness that can never be realized ! I have 
 
THE WIDOW MORRISON. 
 
 Ill 
 
 long since relinquished all hope of ever meeting my husband 
 again on this side the grave. Only a few years, and I shall 
 be with him. 
 
 " Mrs. Morrison was much moved by her conversation with 
 this weather-beaten mariner, and did not attempt to restrain 
 her tears. When she again looked upon him, she met his 
 eyes fixed upon her with a look expressing joy, tenderness and 
 
 affection. For a moment she seemed bewildered, when a well- 
 known voice uttered the single word, HELEN ! The truth 
 flashed upon her like an electric shock, and she fainted on the 
 bosom of her husband ! 
 
 " It was thus that Ira Morrison returned to his native land, 
 to his wife and his children, after an absence of many years 
 in foreign climes. 
 
 
112 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 " The narrative of his adventures is soon told. The Astol- 
 pho encountered the dreadful hurricane, a few days after 
 she left Canton, was driven on the coast of Borneo, and 
 wrecked on the north part of that island. Captain Morrison 
 and two of the crew succeeded in reaching the shore, and 
 were seized by the fierce and inhospitable natives, and sub 
 jected to the most cruel treatment. His two companions 
 sank under their afflictions, but he found means of making 
 himself serviceable, and, after a time, was treated with favor. 
 He underwent the process of tattooing, was adopted into the 
 tribe, and distinguished himself in several obstinate engage 
 ments with a neighboring tribe of savages, with whom they 
 were at war. 
 
 " Captain Morrison anxiously awaited an opportunity to 
 escape, and return to his home. But that part of the coast 
 of Borneo was not frequented by the vessels of civilized 
 nations, and it was seldom that a ship by accident came near 
 enough to be seen from the shore, and at such times he was 
 carefully watched. One morning, however, a ship was seen 
 within a few miles of the coast, and, the wind dying away, 
 the vessel was unable to get far from the land during the day, 
 and was in sight at twilight, not more than seven or eight 
 miles off. This was an opportunity not to be lost, and he 
 resolved to make a desperate attempt to escape. 
 
 " In the early part of the night he armed himself, left his 
 hut, and proceeded to the beach. He saw that he was 
 watched, and followed by one of the natives, who was ready 
 to give the alarm, as soon as he was certain that their adopted 
 brother intended to give them the slip. Morrison turned 
 upon him suddenly, when he reached the beach, and struck 
 him to the earth with his war-club, then seized one of the 
 canoes, launched it upon the waters, and, in a few minutes, 
 might be seen paddling off at a rapid rate in the direction of 
 the ship. 
 
THE WIDOW MORRISON. 113 
 
 " He knew that he should soon be missed, that the alarm 
 would be given, and that the sea would immediately be 
 covered with their canoes, seeking for him in every direction, 
 and he exerted himself to the utmost to gain a good offing 
 before his escape should be discovered, and, being possessed 
 of superior physical powers, and stimulated by a wish to pre 
 serve his life and gain his freedom, he succeeded in rapidly 
 increasing the distance between himself and his pursuers. 
 After exerting all his strength and skill, for an hour, guided 
 by a bright and particular star, he relaxed somewhat in his 
 exertions, and cautiously looked around the horizon as he 
 advanced. It was not long before he saw a dark object in the 
 distance, which he knew was the ship of which he was in 
 quest. His heart beat quicker as he drew towards her, and, 
 without reflecting on the effect which his strange and sudden 
 appearance would produce on the minds of the crew, he pad 
 dled alongside, and, seizing a rope, lightly ascended the side, 
 sprang over the gunwale, and, in a few seconds, was standing 
 on her deck. 
 
 "This ship proved to be the Laughing Belle, of Providence, 
 in the United States, from Manilla, bound to London ; and 
 the consternation of the officer, who was lazily walking the 
 quarter-deck, casting a sleepy look occasionally towards the 
 sails, as they napped heavily against the mast, may be 
 imagined at seeing a half-naked savage spring suddenly on 
 board. He screamed out lustily, Savages ! savages ! The 
 enemy is upon us ! and at the same time seized a boarding- 
 pike, which was standing against the capstan, and made a 
 ferocious thrust at poor Morrison, who appeared to have only 
 escaped the jaws of the tiger to fall into those of the lion ; 
 and then rushed aft to the companion-way, screaming at the 
 top of his lungs, Captain Watson ! Captain Watson ! the 
 Indians the bloody-minded Malays have boarded us on 
 10* 
 
r 
 
 *. 
 114 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 the starboard gangway, and are coming on board by hun 
 dreds ! 
 
 "All was tumult and confusion. The watch on deck 
 seized their cutlasses and boarding-pikes, the men tumbled up 
 from the forecastle, ready for a serious tussle. Captain Wat 
 son leaped from his berth, and dashed up the companion-way 
 with a pistol in one hand, and brandishing a cutlass in the 
 other. * Where are the rascals ? shouted he. Cut them 
 down ! Skewer them with your boarding-pikes ! Throw them 
 overboard, every mother s son ! 
 
 " Still no enemy was to be seen, and no signs of any one, 
 excepting a canoe floating lightly on the surface of the water, 
 a short distance off. But a groan was heard in the waist, 
 and, on investigation, Morrison was found lying in the lee 
 scuppers. The thrust from the boarding-pike of the second 
 mate had taken effect in his shoulder, inflicted a severe 
 wound, and stretched him fainting on the deck. The unfor 
 tunate man was carried aft, and, in a few minutes, he was 
 able to tell them who he was, and to claim their protection. 
 
 " At daybreak, several war-canoes and proas full of sav 
 ages were seen coining towards the ship, but the long wished 
 for breeze springing up at that time, they were soon left 
 astern, and the Laughing Belle proceeded on her way with 
 Morrison on board, whose wound proved to be a severe one, 
 indeed, and, for a time, his recovery was doubtful. Before 
 the ship reached the English channel, the wound was healed, 
 but his arm hung uselessly by his side, he was maimed for 
 life. 
 
 " Nor did his misfortunes end here ; the ship was cast away 
 in the channel, having run on to Beachy Head in thick and tem 
 pestuous weather. The vessel went to pieces, and the crew 
 were glad enough to get ashore alive, but lost all their clothes 
 and baggage. Morrison was thrown upon the hands of the 
 American consul at London, who sent him to his native 
 
* 
 
 THE WIDOW MORRISON. 115 
 
 country in a vessel bound to New York, where, in due time, 
 he arrived, and landed in a destitute condition, indeed, with 
 out money, clothing or friends ; and his seamed and tattooed 
 visage, and dark brown complexion, were not calculated to 
 impress strangers favorably in his behalf. After several vain 
 applications, he succeeded in persuading the master of a 
 coasting schooner to give him a passage to Boston, where he 
 found himself still a stranger. New faces met him at every 
 turn ; and his old friends and employers, from whom he hoped to 
 receive aid or information, were no longer to be found. Some 
 had died, some had removed from the city, and some had lost 
 all their property, and were almost as poor as himself. He 
 inquired for his wife, and it was not long before he accident 
 ally met a person who still resided in the neighborhood of his 
 former residence, and was able to tell him that Mrs. Morrison, 
 after the death of her husband, had removed, many years 
 before, to the village of Lausanne. But whether she still re 
 sided there, or, indeed, whether she was still in the land of 
 the living, was altogether unknown to him. 
 
 " Morrison, however, determined to proceed without delay to 
 the village of Lausanne, where he hoped to obtain some in 
 formation respecting his wife and his children. He left 
 Boston in the morning, in the midst of a furious north-east 
 storm, and the shades of evening had spread a gloom around, 
 before he reached the Double-headed Swan, a tuvern 
 located in the centre of the village. Here, with an anxious 
 heart, he inquired for widow Morrison, and received the 
 proper direction to her residence. 
 
 " And thus the wanderer returned to his native land. He 
 returned maimed and disfigured, with a broken constitution, 
 and almost worn out with pain and suffering. But, more 
 fortunate than some poor, long-absent mariners, he found 
 in his native land a home, a kind and happy home, a 
 wife, ever true, faithful and devoted, who cherished hi* re- 
 
116 
 
 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 membrance with the fondest affection, and who continued to 
 love him for auld lang syne, and for the sufferings he had 
 endured, and the eventful scenes through which he had passed, 
 and children, too, who had ever been taught to revere his 
 memory, and regard him as a father. And there, in that 
 happy home, his wanderings have ended ; he finds in domes 
 tic enjoyments, and the blessings of competence, a genial ray 
 of happiness, to illuminate the closing years of a life whose 
 meridian was gloomy and tempestuous." 
 
 
JERRY MARLINSPIKE S RIDE. 
 
 " Give a ship cable enough, and she will be sure to bring up at last! " 
 
 SAILOR S PROVERB. 
 
 THE clumsy old ship Atalanta, which deserved to be as cele 
 brated for her dull rate of sailing, as her beautiful namesake 
 was for her symmetrical proportions and swiftness in the race, 
 was, one afternoon, poking along on her way from Havana for 
 Cowes and a market, with a heavy cargo of sugar and coffee 
 on board. The wind blew hard from the south-east, and, 
 being about abeam, the yards were rounded in a little, and 
 the sheets were flowing. The topsails were double-reefed ; but 
 there was no great sea on, and the old ship made more fuss in 
 going five or six knots, than other vessels would in going ten 
 or eleven. On looking over the bows, and listening to the 
 noise she made, and seeing the tremendous big white bone 
 which she carried in her mouth, you would think she was 
 going a dozen at least. 
 
 A sailor dislikes a dull-sailing vessel. A leaky ship, a 
 brutal commander, decayed provisions, short allowance of 
 water, poor sails and rigging, &c., &c., are bad enough in all 
 conscience, but a dull-sailing vessel is the worst of all. Jack 
 can easily forgive many bad qualities in his ship, and even 
 put up with bad usage with a tolerable grace, if the vessel 
 in which his fortunes are embarked, sails fast. In his view, 
 a clear run, like charity, covers a multitude of sins, while a 
 dull-sailing vessel, although extremely comfortable in other 
 respects, is his utter aversion. 
 
118 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 On the afternoon in question, the starboard watch of the 
 Atalanta were snugly coiled away under the weather bul 
 warks, amid-ships, busily employed in knotting rope-yarns, 
 while Mr. Hopkins, the second officer, was walking the quar 
 ter-deck and watching the weather, which looked rather 
 greasy to windward. The captain was quietly taking an ob 
 servation below in his state-room. 
 
 The watch were grumbling about the slow progress they 
 made, and calculating that, if the wind held fair, in about 
 sixty days longer the Atalanta might arrive in the English Chan 
 nel. She had already been out thirty-five days. The whole 
 crew seemed exceedingly impatient and cross, and grumbled 
 away in the most approved manner, excepting one. little queer- 
 looking fellow, whom they used to call Jerry Marlinspike, 
 on account of his sharp and peaked visage. He was about 
 four feet eleven inches in height, thick-set, and spry as a cat 
 aloft. His eyes looked in half a dozen directions, apparently, 
 at the same time ; his mouth was twisted, as if he had been the 
 victim of a paralytic shock ; his face was seamed with several 
 scars, and his nose stood all askew, as if it had been knocked 
 off, and afterwards a part of it stuck on with a piece of putty, 
 but in the wrong place. Indeed, his whole visage spoke, as 
 plainly as a face could speak, of horrible encounters, of com 
 bats dire, by flood or field, either with animate or inanimate 
 objects. 
 
 Jerry listened for some time with a grim smile to the re 
 marks of his shipmates. At length, after turning over his 
 huge quid two or three times, and making some attempts to 
 pucker up his mouth in such a sort as to convey articulate 
 sounds to the ears of the listeners, he addressed his watch- 
 mates in a croaking, bull-frog kind of voice, something a/ter 
 the following fashion : 
 
 " I tell you what it is, shipmates, the old barky goes along 
 fast enough. She s a good, comfortable craft, and we are 
 
JERRY MARLINSPIKE S RIDE. 119 
 
 treated as well on board of her as we deserve, that you 11 all 
 allow ; and the more months the more dollars, you know. I 
 expect to go to sea all my life, or, until my timbers become 
 so case-hardened that I can t go aloft ; and I find myself so 
 well off, with a good ship under my foot, good provisions, and 
 plenty of them, kind officers, and a clever set of fellows for a 
 crew, that I shan t trouble myself about the end of the pas 
 sage, until it begins to grow shoal water in the harness-cask, 
 or the bread-room becomes empty. It will be time enough to 
 grumble then about long passages, according to my reckon- 
 ing." 
 
 " That s all true, Jerry," said Tom Haines ; " but then, you 
 kriDw, t is a dreadful trial to a fellow s patience to see a 
 stout ship crawl along so slowly with a fair wind, and plenty 
 of it. She puts me in mind of a seal trying to dance a horn 
 pipe, or a Gallapagos tortoise in search of a guana. I wonder 
 Captain Spriggins don t station a man on the taffrail all night 
 to keep a bright look-out astern, lest some decent sailing craft 
 should run us down. There would be more sense in that than 
 in making such a fuss about a sharp look-out on the fore 
 castle." 
 
 "Well, Tom," rejoined Jerry, "the lazy Atalanta sails fast 
 enough for me. I am sick of your clippers. I used to like 
 quick going on sea or on shore, as well as any of you, but I 
 got enough of it about five years ago (pointing to his battered 
 face), and have never wanted to go faster than four or five 
 knots an hour since, either on the land or on the ocean." 
 
 "How was it, Jerry? Tell us all about it," exclaimed 
 two or three of the watch, hoping to get a yarn on stretch, 
 of a different kind from those they were busied in knotting. 
 
 " Why, you see," said Jerry Marlinspike, " I had just 
 returned from an eighteen months voyage to Calcutta ; and, 
 being an India blade, with plenty of shiners in my pocket, I 
 thought it but right to cut up a few shines on shore, just to 
 
120 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 astonish the natives, you see. So, on the morning after I got 
 ashore, I felt all alive for a spree, and determined to have a 
 ride. That s right, said Jim Wilder ; hire a hack, and 
 I 11 go with you. 
 
 " Avast there, shipmate, said I ; I intend to go a horse 
 back. At this determination, they all laughed, and asked me 
 if I was ever on a horse in my life. I told them no, but that 
 was no reason why I should never mount one ; that it was 
 never too late to learn ; that riding on horseback was good 
 for one s health ; that I wanted exercise, and felt convinced 
 that a good rattling gallop would do me good. And away I 
 posted down to a livery stable. 
 
 " After a long confab with the stable-keeper, and deposit 
 ing a hundred dollars to pay for the horse, in case I killed him, 
 or ran away with him, the horse was brought out. He was a 
 strapping fellow, and had a sharp and roguish eye. I believe 
 the rascal knew that I was a green hand at such business. 
 I did not like his looks. The owner told me how to hold the 
 reins, and steer him, by pulling one to starboard or port, as 
 occasion might require. But, said he, he is a high-spirited 
 animal, and you must look out that he does not run away with 
 you. 1 
 
 " That would be a good joke, said I, and I should not 
 hear the last of it for six months. But I know how to put a 
 stopper on that business at once. So I led my horse down to 
 the wharf, where my old ship was discharging, and asked the 
 mate to lend me the small boat s grapnel, and a piece of rat 
 tling stuff, which he did ; for Mr. Ramsay was a clever 
 fellow, although he used to bother us a good deal in his watch 
 in trimming the sails and bracing the yards. I fastened the 
 rope around the horse s neck, then made a snug coil of the 
 rest on the bow of the saddle, and on the top of all I put my 
 anchor, ready to let go, and bring up my craft all standing, 
 if she got too much way on. But I was always as fond of 
 
 r 
 
JERRY MARLINSPIKE S RIDE. l 2l 
 
 going fast, as any of you chaps on board the Atalanta, and 
 did n t believe there was much danger. 
 
 " After getting everything ready, I was helped up to the 
 horse s back, and I never felt so queer in my life. A horse 
 knows a thing or two. The cunning creature lifted up his 
 head and gave me a look over the larboard shoulder, as if he 
 would say I 11 fix you, my lad, before we get back ; and I 
 would have given fifty dollars to have been at that time 
 standing on the Flemish horse at the end of the Montezuma s 
 main-topsail yard, reefing topsails in a gale of wind. But it 
 was too late to alter my plan, and neck or nothing was then 
 my motto ; so I determined to heave ahead, and save the 
 tide, especially as I had my anchor at the bow, all ready to 
 let go, if I found myself getting among the breakers. 
 
 " I 11 tell you what, shipmates, this riding on horseback is 
 a serious thing, unless you are used to it. Such pitching and 
 rolling I never met with before nor since, not even when 
 sending down top-gallant yards in a gale of wind off the 
 Falkland islands. They told me how to steer him, by haul 
 ing hard on the starboard rope, when I wished him to go 
 more to starboard ; and on the larboard rope, when I wished 
 him to go to port. If I wished to heave to, I must bring an 
 equal strain to bear on both the ropes, and take a strong 
 pull. 
 
 " We started off, and seemed to understand each other very 
 well for a while. The horse did not seem inclined to go fast, 
 and I managed to keep my perpendicular pretty well ; but the 
 boys shouted and the men grinned as I rode along the street, 
 and, having gathered courage, I, like a fool as I was, resolved 
 to clap on more sail, and get out of town, where I should find 
 plane sailing, and be able to crowd on every stitch of canvas. 
 Accordingly, I gave my good friend a touch with my whip, 
 and off he started with a jerk, that came near tumbling me 
 over the taffrail ; and just then sow little powder-monkeys 
 
 " 
 
122 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 bad luck to them ! set up a hideous yell, which frightened 
 him, and away he went, kicking, and sprawling, and gallop 
 ing, at the rate of fifteen or twenty knots, with poor Jerry 
 on his back ! 
 
 " I clung to him like a wet Guernsey frock to the back of 
 a sailor, and although at first rather tickled than otherwise, 
 at the idea of going at such a furious rate, I soon found I 
 could not stand it long, for my ship was mighty uneasy, and 
 plunged as if scudding against a head sea, immediately after 
 the shifting of the wind in a hurricane. Such a jolting and 
 pounding as I got has seldom fallen to the lot of a poor Jack 
 tar. My tarpaulin was soon left behind, and I felt as if 
 every timber about me would be shaken out of place. I 
 dropped the whip, grabbed the reins, and pulled with all my 
 might ; but it was of no use. I might as well have tried to 
 sway up the main-topsail by pulling upon the main-topgal 
 lant-stay. Indeed, the more I pulled, the faster the creature 
 went. 
 
 " The town I soon left far astern, and passed by fields, and 
 bushes, and pastures, and trees, and houses, and carts, and 
 men, and women, and children, who all looked on with open 
 mouths and staring eyes, as if they had never seen a horse 
 running away with a sailor before. More than once I was 
 within an ace of being pitched heels over head into the jungle 
 alongside of the road, notwithstanding I had by this time 
 dropped the bridle, and clung to the horse s mane. I grew 
 dizzy, which you know, shipmates, is a disagreeable feeling, 
 and was in hopes that my cutter would soon shorten sail, and 
 allow a fellow a little time to breathe. But no, on he went, 
 over bridges, hills, and valleys. Nothing seemed to stop him 
 or lessen his speed, and at last I came to the conclusion that 
 it would be as well to bring the ship to an anchor. 
 
 " We soon came to a spot where the bottom was muddy 
 and rocky, which I thought must prove to be good holding- 
 
JERRY MARLINSPIKES RIDE. L 26 
 
 ground. I took my rigger s knife from the sheath, although, 
 while so doing, I had like to have gone overboard, head first. 
 I cut the stops which fastened my ground tackling to the 
 saddle, and sung out, Stand by the anchor ! * Ay, ay, 
 sir. By hauling taut upon the larboard rein, I brought 
 my ship up into the wind, in true sailor fashion; but, with all 
 my seamanship, I could not manage to check the ship s way. 
 Let go the anchor ! shouted I, at the top of my lungs ; and 
 overboard it went, and made such a rattling about the heels 
 of the runaway, that he bounded faster than ever. 
 
 " Thinks I to myself, old boy, your race will be soon run ; 
 
 but I found, to my sorrow, that the cable had all run out, 
 and the holding-ground was good for nothing. The anchor 
 
124 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 dragged, and, for a time, did not check the rate of the beast 
 any more than a kedge and towline would a ship of five hun 
 dred tons, when in the outer roads of Buenos Ayres, during a 
 pampero. I began to think that it was a gone case with poor 
 Jerry, when the anchor caught behind a big rock, slewed the 
 bow of the ship right round, and brought her up all standing ! 
 I was not prepared for coming to so suddenly, and away I 
 went, like a sky-rocket, about fifteen or twenty yards further, 
 and landed among the rocks ! 
 
 " The shock was so violent that all my seven senses were 
 completely knocked out of me. When I came to, I found 
 myself lying on a bed, with my hull and upper works pretty 
 well battered, and a doctor hard at work, paying and calking 
 the seams, and repairing damages. That was no easy matter, 
 shipmates, you may rely upon it ; for three of my ribs and 
 my collar-bone were broken, and I received a severe wound 
 on the side of my head, which the doctor said would have 
 finished me, if my skull had not been uncommonly thick. My 
 face was bruised and cut, so that not even my own mother 
 would have known her darling Jerry if she had been on the 
 spot ; and my nose was completely unshipped, and lay keel 
 out on the starboard side of my face ! 
 
 " The doctor had a tough job of it, as well as myself; and 
 it was a long time before I was able to do duty on board 
 ship. My nose, and, indeed, my whole phiz, was put sadly 
 out of joint, as you see, and I have never been in a hurry 
 since ! " 
 
A TALE OF THE WINTER S COAST. 
 
 Hoarse through the cordage growled the threatening wind, 
 
 Portentous of the storm. The expanse of heaven 
 
 Upheld by murky columns, seemed convulsed 
 
 With one wide waste of elemental war. 
 
 From every point along the bounding surge 
 
 Rolled the black phalanx of electric fluid, 
 
 Borne on the pinions of the maddening blast ! 
 
 OLD PLAY. 
 
 < 
 FEW persons are aware of the hardships and perils that are 
 
 sometimes encountered by our gallarit mariners, when boii!i>l 
 to a port in Massachusetts Bay in the winter season. The 
 rock-bound coast, the thick weather and the storms which 
 prevail, the freezing temperature, and the difficulty of the 
 navigation, owing to the numerous headlands and sunken 
 dangers, all unite to make the experienced sailor dread the 
 idea of coming on the " winter s coast " of j^ew England. 
 
 Any person who is familiar with maritime adventures will 
 easily recall to his recollection many instances of melancholy 
 disaster, of fearful and prolonged suffering, of fatal ship 
 wrecks, experienced by our mariners, when bound to a north 
 ern port during the season of frost and snow-storms. It is in 
 the midst of such scenes as these that a genuine sailor often 
 manifests a firmness, an intrepidity, a presence of mind, and 
 an ingenuity in devising expedients, which, if they could be 
 appreciated by landsmen, would elicit unqualified admiration. 
 But those who are quietly reposing in the lap of luxury on 
 shore, who glide smoothly and gently down the stream of life, 
 
126 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 are too apt to consider the task of sailing and navigating a 
 ship, even in a stormy sea, or on a dangerous coast, as an 
 operation, hazardous, it may be, but altogether mechanical ; 
 that a knowledge of the rules of seamanship and navigation, 
 and some little experience, are all the requisites for a good 
 shipmaster. This is a great error. Any person who is con 
 versant with the various vicissitudes of a sailor s life, knows, 
 full well, that the situation of commander of a ship at sea, is 
 not only one of great responsibility, requiring constant care 
 and attention to manifold important duties, but that emergen 
 cies often arise, calling for the exercise of the noblest faculties 
 of a well-disciplined mind, such as a sound judgment, a quick 
 and almost intuitive perception of causes and effects, prompt 
 decision, indomitable courage, unflinching energy, and exem 
 plary fortitude in scenes of suffering and misfortune. 
 
 These, it will be acknowledged, are qualities of a high 
 order, and such as must lead to success, perhaps eminence, -in 
 any pursuit, but are, perhaps, more desirable in a commander 
 of a ship than in a person devoted to any other civil employ 
 ment. I do not mean to say that these qualities are indis 
 pensable, for I have known an excessively stupid fellow, by 
 dint of a little assurance and smartness on shore, and some 
 extra good luck at sea, acquire a happy reputation as a ship 
 master. On the other hand, I have known incidents to occur 
 on the ocean, which have elicited from those in command, 
 having charge of many lives and a great amount of property, 
 mental manifestations of a character worthy the respect and 
 admiration of their fellow-men ; and which, if they could be 
 known and appreciated, would place these bold mariners high 
 in the list of heroes who have achieved glory, not by wading 
 to empire through a sea of blood, as the poet hath it, but 
 by an exhibition of qualities which reflect honor on human 
 nature. 
 
 Disasters of a serious character sometimes occur on the 
 
A TALK OF THE WINTER S COAST. \ ll 
 
 oceau, which no human foresight can prevent, and which no 
 human wisdom can remedy. It is also true that the origin 
 of many sad, even fatal disasters, if carefully traced, will be 
 found in the incompetency, imbecility, or unfaithfulness of 
 shipmasters, although this reason is seldom alluded to in the 
 accounts of the disasters which appear in newspapers. 
 
 But enough of this. I have a story to tell, of the disasters 
 which once befell a ship, when bound to a port in Massachu 
 setts Bay, in the winter season, and which, while I hope it 
 will prove entertaining to some of my readers, while enjoy 
 ing the comforts and luxuries of home, may serve to point out 
 a few of the dangers of the " winter s coast," and illustrate 
 the importance to a shipmaster of possessing some of the high 
 qualities which I have enumerated. 
 
 It was some twenty or twenty-five years ago, that the 
 ship Coriander was on her way from Rio Janeiro, bound to 
 Boston. The crew had been absent from home for twelve or 
 fifteen months, during which time they had luxuriated in 
 warm and genial climates, and had experienced none of the 
 frosts or freezing storms, which are so often met with on the 
 northern coast of America or Europe in the winter months. 
 They shuddered at the idea of reaching Boston Bay in the 
 month of January, especially as their ship was deeply laden, 
 and had a habit, even when in ballast trim, of taking in a, 
 little water, during a strong breeze, without regard to circum 
 stances, or the comfort of any person on board. Beside this, 
 their clothing was adapted to a warm climate, and they had 
 but few garments calculated to keep them dry and warm 
 when approaching the coast. But, with a sailor s proverbial 
 philosophy, they solaced themselves with the anticipation of 
 a short passage home, a good run through the South Channel, 
 and a lucky slant of wind after getting round Cape Cod, which 
 would take them safely into Nantasket Roads. 
 
 4 - We shall have a good time, I know we shall ! " emphnti- 
 
SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 cally exclaimed Bob Haskell, as he was burrowing through a 
 miscellaneous collection of articles at the bottom of his chest, 
 in the vain hope of finding there a pair of dilapidated mittens. 
 It is not every vessel that meets with the rubbers between 
 George s Bank and the Great Brewster. It is as pleasant 
 sometimes in December off Cape Cod, as in the Bay of All 
 Saints in January ; and I have known the air as mild, when 
 fishing for halibut on Cashe s Ledge, on Christmas-day, as it 
 is in Rio Janeiro at the present date. Hurrah for Boston 
 Bay ! Who s afraid ? " 
 
 " Not I ! " growled an old Triton, known by the name of 
 Bill Stubshot. " Yet, lads, you must not believe that it is 
 always fine weather in the neighborhood of Cape Cod. I Ve 
 seen some tough times in the bay, both in going on and com 
 ing off the coast ; times that would make a man s hair stand 
 on end until it pushed his cap off ! But this is a lucky ship, 
 we have a lucky captain, and we are all a set of lucky fel 
 lows. Besides, I was once becalmed for forty-eight hours at 
 a stretch, on Christmas-day, in sight of Thacher s Island. 
 The captain declared we should have a goose for dinner on 
 that day ; and he was as good as his word, for he shot a 
 gannet, which every green-horn knows is a soland goose, 
 and we had it made into a sea-pie, and a capital mess it was, 
 too." 
 
 " That will do, Bill ! that will do ! " said the chief mate, 
 Mr. Stanchell, who had stepped forward to give some neces 
 sary order, and had overheard Bill s remarks. " That was a 
 long Christmas-day ! Forty-eight hours, hey, Bill ? A 
 long day, that ! " 
 
 And the hearty laugh which attended this exposition of 
 a discrepancy that reflected a doubt on Bill Stubshot s ve 
 racity, put an end to any further speculations for the time. 
 
 The Coriander was commanded by Captain Nicholas 
 Chestree, a man about thirty-five years of age, and a good 
 
A TALE OF THE WINTER S COAST. 129 
 
 practical seaman, for he had gradually worked his way along 
 from an uneducated cabin-boy, without friends or relations, to 
 the top of the ladder. He was a man of few words, and of a 
 very mild and unassuming deportment, especially on shore. 
 Those who did not know him, and who were apt to judge from 
 appearances, were apt to regard him as deficient in that energy 
 and spirit, which are acknowledged to be important qualifica 
 tions in a ship-master. He was of medium height, but not 
 remarkable for the excellence of his physical proportions, his 
 frame being rather slight, and his complexion pale. There 
 was nothing of the bully about him ; and many persons won 
 dered how such a sober, milk-and-water character as he ap 
 peared to be, could manage to make such short passages, and 
 successful voyages, and keep his crew in such excellent disci 
 pline, as he had the reputation of doing. 
 
 But Captain Chestree, notwithstanding his ordinary ap 
 pearance, was, so far as his head and heart were concerned, a 
 man, every inch of him. He possessed kind feelings, cher 
 ished an instinctive desire to do justice to all, and, in cases of 
 emergency, exhibited great determination of character. He 
 treated his sailors like beings possessed of the ordinary attri 
 butes of humanity. His conduct towards them was firm, 
 decided, humane and just. He exacted from them nothing 
 of an unreasonable character, and never interlarded his orders 
 with abusive or profane language, or allowed his officers to do 
 so. He gave them distinctly to understand, at the outset, that 
 certain rules and regulations must be observed, and that above 
 all things he should expect strict and prompt obedience to his 
 orders. He forbade all grumbling or growling, with or with 
 out cause ; but told his men that if they had any grievances, 
 if they were dissatisfied with their treatment or provision, or 
 wished for any .especial indulgences, to come aft upon the 
 quarter-deck, and explain the matter in plain and respectful 
 language, and it should at once be attended to. If their com- 
 
130 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 plaints were just, they should be remedied ; if their requests 
 were reasonable, they should be granted. 
 
 In a few days after leaving port, his crew would be able to 
 understand their captain thoroughly. They learned to respect 
 him for his good sense, for the knowledge which he exhibited 
 of his duties as a ship-master, and for the fidelity with which 
 he executed those duties ; and they learned to love him for 
 the kindness of his disposition, and for the interest which he 
 manifested in their welfare while under his care. They felt 
 convinced that he would dictate to them no task or labors, 
 from a feeling of caprice, or a tyrannical spirit ; and it fol 
 lowed, almost as a matter of course, that whenever an order 
 was issued to malce sail, or take in sail, every man was eager 
 to be foremost in executing the order. No such a feeling as 
 ill-humor or discontent on board his vessel, was ever mani 
 fested by the crew ; all was sunshine in the cabin and in the 
 forecastle. There were no sulky looks, insolent answers, pro 
 voking actions, revolts, or mutinies, on the one part, or op 
 pressive mandates, profane oaths, floggings and fightings, on 
 the other. Every order was cheerfully obeyed the instant it 
 was given ; and quiet, harmony, and strict discipline, prevailed 
 on board the Coriander, as well as on board every ship which 
 was commanded by Captain Chestree. 
 
 Such was the character of the man who commanded the 
 ship Coriander, on the voyage from Rio to Boston, on the 
 occasion to which I have alluded. 
 
 The Coriander sailed from Rio in the latter part of Octo 
 ber, with a full and valuable cargo. She experienced a good 
 passage and pleasant weather through the latitudes of the 
 trade winds, and until she reached the latitude of the "vexed 
 Bermoothes," better known to seamen as Bermuda, and noto 
 rious for the sudden and violent squalls that are met with in 
 that vicinity at all seasons of the year. In this latitude the 
 Coriander met with a succession of westerly gales, which 
 
A TALE OF THE WINTER S COAST. 131 
 
 lasted several days. The good ship, under close-reefed top 
 sails, and reefed courses, plunged madly along through the 
 water to the northward, scattering the spray over the decks 
 in every direction, and more resembling in character one of 
 Bushnell s submarine machines, than a good, wholesome, well- 
 educated ship, which ought to move along over the surface of 
 the water, instead of scrambling through it like a right whale 
 in a flurry ! 
 
 The crew got wet jackets, as a matter of course. This 
 they were used to, and did not mind it much. But what was 
 worse, and which disturbed their equanimity a little, the fore 
 castle sprung a leak about the timber-heads and bowsprit- 
 bits ; and, at every plunge into the head sea, streams of 
 water would rush into their berths, and saturate their mat 
 tresses and blankets with the briny fluid, placing them in a 
 hydropathic condition, that would have rejoiced the heart of 
 a Preisnitz, or any of his cold-water disciples, could they have 
 seen them. The weather, fortunately, was not very cold, for 
 the ship had not reached soundings ; but as Ned Skysail was 
 wont to say, " wet clothing on deck, and a perpetual salt-water 
 bath below, will not increase the comfort of any human being, 
 excepting a grampus or a mermaid." 
 
 Captain Chestree expected some heavy weather on the 
 coast, and took all proper precautions to guard against seri 
 ous consequences. He had the flying-jib-boom taken in, a 
 stump main top-gallant mast fitted, and the fore and mizen 
 top-gallant masts sent down. He allowed no useless studding- 
 sail booms, or top-hamper of any kind to remain aloft. He 
 gave orders to have the stoutest sails to be bent, the topsail 
 sheets and ties, the fore and main tacks and sheets, and indeed 
 all the most important of the running rigging, to be overhauled 
 and put in good condition. He caused spilling lines to be roved, 
 to aid in taking in a topsail or course, if necessary in a heavy 
 enow-storm ; the boats, spars, galley, &c., to be secured by 
 
132 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 additional lashings ; and, indeed, he omitted no precautionary 
 measure, which prudence, and his experience as a seaman, 
 would suggest. 
 
 It was on the morning of the 21st of December that the 
 ship entered the edge of the Gulf Stream, as indicated by the 
 -increased temperature of the water, in the meridian of George s 
 Bank. The wind, after shifting about for several hours, set 
 tled at south-east, and began to blow furiously, and the rain 
 came down in earnest. It was in good truth a pelting, pitiless 
 storm, and the penetrating drops, not content with saturating 
 the fibres of the stoutest garments on board, moistened the 
 skins of the wearers, and gave all hands a pretty thorough 
 soaking. Captain Chestree, during this gale, was at his post 
 on the quarter-deck, for, at any critical period, he would not 
 trust to a subordinate officer. The ship was running along at 
 the rate of some eight or nine knots before the wind, under 
 close-reefed fore and main topsails, and fore-topmast stay 
 sail. The wind, as it came in fierce pufls or squalls, moaned 
 and yelled among the rigging, and sometimes came with a 
 violence which threatened to force the sails from the bolt- 
 rope. But Chestree was sensible of the value of a fair wind 
 at that season of the year, and being almost certain that it 
 would suddenly change to the north-west, he resolved to 
 carry on as long as he thought the canvas and spars would 
 stand. 
 
 Through the whole of that day and the early part of that 
 night, Chestree kept his station on the larboard side of the 
 quarter-deck, regardless of the gale and the torrents of rain 
 which were descending from the clouds. He occasionally gave 
 a direction to the man at the wheel, and sometimes he cast a 
 look astern, and remarked with a shrug the heavy, black 
 clouds, piled upon each other, which seemed to contain within 
 themselves materials for a hurricane of a week s endurance. 
 But his gaze was most constantly fixed at the horizon in the 
 
A TALE OF THE WINTER S COAST. 133 
 
 direction of the larboard bow, or between the points of west 
 and north-west. He watched with much eagerness the ap 
 pearance of the heavens in that direction ; his experience 
 taught him to expect a sudden change of wind in those lati 
 tudes, after a heavy storm from the south, in the winter sea 
 son ; and he anxiously sought for the earliest indications of 
 the change. 
 
 About nine o clock, the fury of the storm seemed to in 
 crease. The sea was running high, and the crest of a comb 
 ing wave would occasionally break over the quarter of the 
 laboring ship, drenching with salt water, by way of a change, 
 the helmsman, officers, and any other poor fellow, who hap 
 pened to be in that vicinity. The ship was tolerably lean 
 aft, and scudded as well as could be expected ; but she was 
 deep, and, in spite of the utmost care, would broach to, two or 
 three points, at times when struck with a sudden and fitful 
 gust. The temperature of the water, by this time, had 
 changed ; it was many degrees colder than was usual iii the 
 Gulf Stream, and Captain Chestree knew from that circum 
 stance, and also from the change in the color of the water from 
 a clear blue to a dark and dirty green, that the ship was on 
 soundings off the entrance of the South Channel. As the 
 wind increased, he came to the determination to take in the 
 fore-topsail, and lay the ship to the wind, fearing that she 
 might broach to, and ship a sea in the waist that would sweep 
 the decks. But just as he was about to give the necessary 
 orders, he thought he saw, through the dark curtain of mist, 
 spoondrift and rain, an uncertain gleam, along the western 
 horizon. At this moment, the gale seemed to increase in 
 fury, as if it had reached its climax, and was resolved to bear 
 down all opposition ; but Captain Chestree, who knew that 
 this was a desperate, expiring effort, called to the chief mate, 
 who was standing near him, " 3Ir. Stanchell, let all hands be 
 called. Tell them to be lively, and muster on deck at once." 
 12 
 
134 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 The echo of the loud and sonorous call of " All hands 
 ahoy ! " had hardly ceased in the forecastle, when the star 
 board watch came tumbling up. The braces were manned, 
 and all the crew stationed, ready to act as circumstances 
 might require. 
 
 By this time the " gleam " in the north-west became more 
 marked and definite. " We shall soon catch it," said the cap 
 tain to Mr. Stanchell; "but we are well prepared." 
 
 Another fearful rush of wind threatened to split the sails 
 from clues to earings, attended with a rattling volley of rain, 
 and then the south-east wind, as if compelled to give way 
 before a stronger power, reluctantly but rapidly died away. 
 A calm ensued ; the heavy, wet sails flapped against the 
 masts as the vessel rolled heavily in the trough of the sea ; 
 and the "gleam "in the north-west constantly grew higher, 
 and extended further on each side. And now was experienced 
 that peculiar and beautiful appearance of the waves, which is 
 witnessed previous to any sudden change of the wind. Al 
 though not a breath was stirring, the water around was in the 
 most violent commotion ; it was thrown up in perpendicular 
 jets in every direction, and was hissing and spitting as if 
 lashed into an ungovernable rage. At such a time the face 
 of the ocean, when seen by the light of day, presents a most 
 singular and fantastic appearance, and reminds one of an 
 agitated and impatient spirit, vainly striving to break the 
 chains which confine it to its narrow bounds. This was another 
 certain indication of a sudden change of wind. 
 
 The calm was only of a few minutes duration. The rain 
 still fell from the dark clouds in the zenith, although the scud, 
 or low light clouds, like winged spirits, now began to fly over 
 rapidly from the north-west. The helm was put "hard-a- 
 port," but the ship had not steerage way, and still headed to 
 the northward. 
 
 " Brace round the fore yard ! " shouted Captain Chestree. 
 
A TALE OF THE WINTER S COAST. 135 
 
 " Haul in the larboard fore and fore-topsail braces. If the 
 wind catches her aback," said he to himself, "we must box her 
 off." 
 
 This order was no sooner executed than the main yard 
 was braced in the required direction. A light air was now felt 
 from the north-west, and a noise was heard as of the roaring 
 of many winds and waters. "It is coming ! " shouted Ches- 
 tree, " and but -end foremost, too ! Stand by ! " 
 
 The ship felt the force of the faint breathings from the 
 north-west, and gradually fell off a couple of point?. " Let go 
 the larboard fore-braces," cried Chestree, in a loud voice, " and 
 brace round the head yards ! " 
 
 This order was promptly executed, and just in time, too. 
 For the yards were hardly trimmed, ere the fierce wind from 
 the north-west came with a whiz, and Careened the noble 
 vessel far over on her side. Captain Chestree would have 
 taken in the fore-topsail, and hove his vessel -to, under the 
 close-reefed main-topsail, at once, but, with the mountainous 
 waves from the south-east, he dreaded his ship s falling off 
 into the trough of the sea, which would have been the case 
 had she been lying to under a single sail. But with his two 
 topsails and fore-topmast staysail, and main spencer, he was 
 able to keep steerage-way on his vessel, and she jogged along 
 slowly to the eastward, but labored and strained in the cross- 
 seas to an alarming degree. 
 
 Indeed, the Coriander was in an awful predicament. 
 What with the rushing waves from the south-east, striking 
 the ship on her starboard quarter, and occasionally leaping 
 fiercely on the deck, and the strong wind and rising sea from 
 the north-west, the ship was exceedingly uneasy, and seemed 
 like a huge giant struggling convulsively with the elements. 
 Tne hull was a great part of the time enveloped in spray, and 
 her decks were full of water ; indeed, she sometimes seemed 
 water-logged, until the bulwarks and quarter-boards were 
 
 
 
136 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 washed away, giving full sweep for the water athwart her 
 decks. 
 
 With the change of wind came also a change of tempera 
 ture. The ship was now on soundings off the south-western 
 portion of George s Bank, at the entrance of the South Chan 
 nel ; and the crew soon found the difference between a 
 southerly gale from the warm Gulf Stream, and a furious 
 hurricane from the icy hills and lakes of New England and 
 Canada. There was no longer any rain ; but the dark clouds, 
 which followed each other in quick succession, pelted the 
 shivering crew unmercifully with hail-stones, as if to chastise 
 them for their temerity in approaching the inhospitable 
 domains of the ice king. 
 
 The water, as it was thrown upon the rigging, began to 
 freeze, and before an hour had elapsed, the whole of the rig 
 ging, from the tops to the plankshear, was covered with ice ; 
 and, when daylight broke in the east, the decks and rigging 
 of that vessel presented a gloomy prospect, and the situation 
 of the poor fellows on board was unpleasant in the extreme. 
 With their garments wet and frozen, they suffered exceed 
 ingly from the cold, and the forecastle was so leaky and un 
 comfortable, that Captain Chcstree made the men come aft, 
 and take temporary lodgings in the steerage and cabin. But 
 the ship now leaked considerably, requiring the pumps to be 
 constantly tended ; and other necessary work on deck de 
 manded the presence of half the ship s company at all times, 
 and occasionally all hands. 
 
 It is in such times as these, when the hurricane is furiously 
 blowing, and cataracts of salt water are ever and anon poured 
 upon the heads of the seamen, drenching their outer and inner 
 garments ; when they are standing half the time knee-deep in 
 water on deck, and the ice is gathering on their jackets and 
 whiskers, and covering the hull of the vessel and the ropes 
 with a crystalline covering ; when the vessel labors, leaks, 
 
A TALE OF THE WINTER S COAST. 137 
 
 and apprehension whispers that she may founder at any 
 moment ; it is in such times as these that the " old salts " look 
 grim and blue, and the green hands sigh for the enjoyments of 
 home, and deplore their folly in thus abandoning such com 
 forts, and indulging a romantic desire to go to sea. 
 
 The gale from the north-west continued without inter 
 mission through the night, and at three o clock in the after 
 noon of the following day, the sky looked as if the wind 
 would not change or moderate for a week. By this time the 
 hull of the ship was loaded with ice, and the running-rigging 
 had increased enormously in size. The weight of the ice 
 made the ship less buoyant, and she lay almost like a log on 
 the water, the sea making a clean sweep across her decks ; 
 but the waves were now tolerably regular from the north 
 west ; the old sea of the morning and the night before having 
 been nearly beat down by its more powerful antagonist. 
 
 Captain Chestree now saw that he could adopt with 
 safety the course which he had sometime previously deter 
 mined on, namely, to run off to the southward, reenter the 
 Gulf Stream, the warm temperature of which would soon dis 
 encumber his vessel of the ice, and restore the exhausted 
 energies of his men. The helm was put up, and, with much 
 difficulty, owing to the ropes being stiff and the blocks choked 
 with ice, the yards were squared. The ship fell off slowly, 
 but, fortunately, without shipping a heavy sea, and was ttx>n 
 bowling it off to the south-east at a great rate. Before 
 twelve o clock that night she was in another climate, and the 
 ice soon disappeared, as if by magic, before the warm temper 
 ature of the Gulf Stream. 
 
 The wind hung on at the north-west for several days ; and 
 nearly a week elapsed before the Coriander again reached 
 soundings. She had been blown, during the prevalence of tue 
 gale, far to the eastward, and in consequence was compelled 
 to go round the eastern side of George s Shoal. The wind 
 
 
138 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 was now unsteady, but blew mostly from the westward, and 
 the ship was under short sail nearly all the time, and occa 
 sionally lying to under her close-reefed main-topsail. The 
 weather was exceedingly cold, and the ship was wet and un 
 comfortable ; but, the sea being regular, the ice did not form 
 so fast or so thick as during the memorable gale at the 
 entrance of the South Channel. 
 
 The crew exerted themselves to obey the orders of their 
 commander, but their physical energies became exhausted, 
 owing to the cold, the wet, the want of sleep, and a scanty 
 supply of provisions ; for, although there was no deficiency of 
 beef and pork on board, it was seldom that a chance offered 
 for cooking anything to eat ; the galley having been knocked 
 to pieces in the gale, and the bulwarks washed away. Still 
 it was necessary to be active in making and taking in sail, 
 according to circumstances, and thus improve to the utmost 
 every opportunity which might offer of gaining a little 
 towards their destined port. This was felt by every man on 
 board, and, without a murmur, the crew strove to perform 
 their, various duties, and by their alacrity in a great measure 
 supplied their deficiency in physical strength. But their suf 
 ferings were great. One night, while all hands were on the 
 fore-yard, handing the foresail, two youngsters, Sam Hawkins 
 and Ephraim Sawyer, found their feet so badly frozen, when 
 they came down, that they were unable to do any duty 
 afterwards. Their agony was intense ; indeed, no one 
 can conceive of the thrilling pain, for days and nights, 
 admitting of no alleviation, which is caused fry frost-bitten 
 limbs. 
 
 This unfortunate event reduced the numbers of the crew, 
 but, by dint of perseverance, and by beating and boxing about 
 for several days, encountering heavy gales from the westward, 
 followed by baffling winds, they succeeded, on the afternoon 
 of the thirty-first of December, by taking advantage of a slant 
 
A TALE OF THE WINTER S COAST. 139 
 
 of wind from the southward and westward, to run in towards 
 their destined port, until they could see, some twelve or 
 fifteen miles off, in the south-west, the lighthouse on the high 
 lands of CAPE COD. 
 
 This was a cheerful sight, and the familiar object, as it 
 stood proudly erect and majestic on the barren sand-hills, 
 looking, as it were, with a friendly eye upon the vessels in 
 the offing, warning them of their danger, or inviting them to 
 approach, was hailed by the crew of the Coriander with three 
 hearty cheers. The sight inspired them with vigor, and reno 
 vated their failing energies. They began to entertain hopes 
 that all their toils were over, and that they should soon share 
 the comforts of the landsman, and taste the fire-side enjoy 
 ments of life. 
 
 There is hardly any sight more pleasant to the sailor than 
 a well-remembered headland, when first seen, on approaching 
 home, after a long voyage, and a beacon or light-house 
 erected on the spot awakens the most interesting associations, 
 and gladdens every heart. It seems to assume the guise of a 
 dear friend, and is the bearer of joyful tidings, announcing to 
 the wanderer his approach to his native shore, and giving him 
 a hearty greeting. It is many years since I abandoned the 
 occupation of a mariner for other pursuits, but even now, 
 when, travelling on the sea-coast, I catch a glimpse of a light 
 house in the distance, my heart bounds within me, and I gaze 
 with a strange delight on the familiar object, with its coat 
 of dazzling whiteness, and its tapering, cylindrical form, with 
 the lantern on its summit, the faithful monitor to the wary 
 navigator. 
 
 When the Coriander approached the north side of Cape 
 Cod within eight or ten miles, the wind died away, but the 
 heavens looked serene, the sea was smoother than it had been 
 for weeks, and everything, apparently, promised a speedy and 
 happy termination of the voyage. Captain Chestree took 
 
140 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 advantage of this favorable opportunity to get the anchors in 
 readiness to let go, and a range of the cables overhauled ; 
 and, aware that he had not yet reached a snug harbor, and 
 that " there is many a slip between the cup and the lip," he 
 caused some repairs to be made in the running-rigging, some 
 blocks, that had been split by the ice, to be replaced, a fore- 
 topmast backstay, which was ascertained to be stranded, to 
 be knotted. Desirous, also, of being able to carry a good press 
 of canvas, if the wind should become fair, to enable him to 
 reach his port before another gale should arise, he had the 
 main-top-gallant yard sent aloft, and studding-sail booms 
 shipped on the fore-yard, so that if he should be favored with 
 a light air from the eastward, he might carry topmast and 
 lower studding-sails. 
 
 When the sun sunk down in the west that evening, the 
 sky was not obscured with a single cloud. But the heavens, 
 especially in the western horizon, exhibited that dull, yellow 
 ish, brassy appearance, which, although it ordinarily causes 
 no apprehension to the mind of the inexperienced mariner, 
 whispers to the man who has watched the signs of the weather 
 with eagerness for years, that the calm is deceitful, and the 
 elements will soon be again in wild commotion. 
 
 That evening the crew of the Coriander were seated 
 around their kid of beef, washing down their coarse fare with 
 a pot of coffee, when Bob Haskell, with a smile, remarked, 
 " Well, my hearties, we have been knocking about at a great 
 rate, for a fortnight past, and I suppose that all of us would 
 be glad to be safe-anchored in port. There s no fun in com 
 ing on the winter s coast, after all." 
 
 "Not the least," replied Jack Riddle, holding up his left 
 hand, and displaying his swollen, frost-bitten fingers. " I 
 would rather remain a week on the equinoctial line, than 
 the whole month of January in the waters which wash Cape 
 Cod." 
 
A TALE OF THE WINTER S COAST. 1-41 
 
 14 Never mind," said Silas Switchell, jumping up and cut 
 ting a pigeon-wing, "we are within forty miles of Boston light, 
 at least, and it will be a hard case if we don t get safe along 
 side Central Wharf before to-morrow night. A breeze will 
 soon spring up, boys ; and then, pack on the muslin, and hey, 
 for Boston bay ! " 
 
 Old Bill Stubshot, who had been quietly listening to these 
 remarks, shook his head. " I tell you what it is, lads, we are 
 not moored yet, and I m afraid we shall have another flurry 
 before we reach port. I never knew it fail in all my going to 
 sea, man and boy, for thirty-one years, that when I dreamed 
 of horses or women, racing about, a terrible gale was sure to 
 follow within eighteen hours." 
 
 "Well," anxiously inquired Jack Riddle, " have you dreamed 
 about any such animals to-day ? " 
 
 " In the morning watch," replied Old Bill, with all the 
 gravity of a Delphic Oracle, " I dreamed that I saw at least 
 a dozen girls, frightened out of their senses, their hair stream 
 ing behind them like a burgee signal, and running for their 
 lives, chased by a troop of wild horses, which were close upon 
 their heels ! Now, shipmates," continued Bill, " if a dream 
 about either horses or women running "about is always fol 
 lowed by bad weather within eighteen hours, what must we 
 expect when I have dreamed such a dream about horses and 
 women both ? Mark my words, lads, we are going to have a 
 real sisserara ! " 
 
 Some of these bold mariners looked thoughtfully at this 
 prediction, but Silas carelessly remarked, " Why, Bill, if it s 
 going to blow, it will blow, and we shall soon find it out. 
 But it s folly to borrow trouble ; and I pity the man who, 
 with plenty of sea-room, is ever fancying he sees breakers 
 ahead. I ve no faith in your dream, Bill. Women ! pshaw ! 
 I ve dreamed about them every night for a whole voyage, and 
 I am always glad to have such dreams. While the dear 
 
142 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 creatures are hovering around my head, even in imagination, 
 I always feel sure that no evil is impending. Your dream is 
 all nonsense, Bill. I 11 bet any man a good dinner of beef 
 steak and onions and my mouth waters at the thought of it 
 that we shall be inside of Boston light-house before eight 
 o clock to-morrow morning. Yes, perhaps before twelve o clock 
 to-night." 
 
 " Well, well, my boy," said old Bill, " the Lord send that 
 it may be so. But it s useless to talk any more about it." 
 
 While this scene was going on in the forecastle, Captain 
 Chestree was pacing the quarter-deck with hasty strides, cast 
 ing an anxious glance, ever and anon, around the horizon. He 
 felt by no means easy in regard to the weather. The new 
 moon looked strange and portentous, and was surrounded by 
 a livid halo ; his barometer also told him, in language which 
 could not be mistaken, that a very considerable change in the 
 weather would soon take place. 
 
 About eight o clock the haze began rapidly to increase ; 
 the stars, one by one, disappeared, and a strange darkness 
 overspread the whole face of heaven, like a funeral pall. 
 The clouds did not seem to rise from any particular quarter, 
 but were created, as it were, by some magic power, in oppo 
 sition to the recognized laws of nature. Not a breath of 
 wind disturbed the surface of the deep, and the light on the 
 highlands of Truro, surrounded by a lurid haze, threw its dim 
 and uncertain rays across the waters. 
 
 It was about half-past eight o clock, when a light air, 
 gentle as a zephyr, was felt from the eastward. The ship 
 was put before the wind, the sails were properly trimmed, 
 and the main top-gallant-sail set. Under ordinary circum 
 stances, it is probable that Captain Chestree would hardly 
 have ventured to run into the bay, while the weather looked 
 so threatening ; for all sailors have an involuntary dread of a 
 lee-shore in a gale of wind. But he had been a long time at 
 
A TALE OF THE WINTER S COAST. ]43 
 
 sea, his provisions were getting short, his sails were in bad 
 condition, hi* standing rigging was stranded in several places, 
 the ship leaked badly in heavy weather, two of "his crew were 
 severely frost-bitten, and unable to move about the decks, and 
 others had been dealt with very severely by the spirit of the 
 north ; all of them were nearly worn out with toil, watching 
 and suffering. He, therefore, thought himself justified in 
 risking something to reach his destined port ; and, being sure 
 of his position, when the first symptoms of a breeze were man 
 ifested, he determined to run for Boston harbor, hoping to see 
 Boston light before the storm commenced, and run into Xan- 
 tasket roads. 
 
 The wind was baffling for a time, and it seemed uncertain 
 at which point it would ultimately become fixed. But by nine 
 o clock it was blowing a stiff breeze from north-east, and the 
 Coriander, under whole sail, was running along at the rate of 
 six or seven knots an hour. The wind increased rapidly, and 
 came in squalls, as if it were in earnest, and a few flakes of 
 snow began to fall occasionally, the sure forerunner of a driv 
 ing snow-storm. 
 
 "This comes on faster than I expected," said Captain 
 Chestree to Mr. Stanchell, the chief mate. "But in one hour 
 more, unless it should prove extremely thick, we shall make 
 Boston light, and then in an hour and a half we shall be in a 
 safe anchorage. But, Mr. Stanchell, the wind increases. We 
 will furl that main top-gallant sail." 
 
 The sail was taken in, and it soon became necessary to 
 take a couple of reefs in the topsails. The main-sail was also 
 handed after a severe trial, and the spanker was reefed to be 
 ready to set in case it should become necessary to haul to the 
 wind. The gale began to come in fierce and chilly blasts, 
 and the air became thicker with the driving snow. It was a 
 critical time. Chestree realized to its full extent the respon 
 sibility of his situation ; but whatever he might have felt, he 
 
144 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 manifested by his language or demeanor, no alarm or anxiety. 
 All hands were on deck, and, having full confidence in the judg 
 ment and skill of their captain, calmly awaited the result. At 
 a few minutes past twelve o clock, one of the men froni the 
 fore-topsail yard cried out, " Light ho ! right ahead ! " 
 
 The helmsman was then steering west-north-west. " Keep 
 her up, north-west and by west," cried Captain Chestree ; and 
 he added, addressing Mr. Stanchell, " we have had a strong 
 current setting to the southward." 
 
 The light was hardly visible from the deck, and, owing to 
 the density of the atmosphere, it could not be seen then at a 
 greater distance than ten or twelve miles. But in a few min 
 utes it became totally obscured by a furious snow-squall ; the 
 wind hauled a couple of points to the northward, and rapidly 
 increased to a terrific gale, with a short and a dangerous sea. 
 The Coriander was at this time under double-reefed topsails 
 and foresail ; but Captain Chestree ordered the fore and main 
 topsail halliards to be let go, and the mizzen topsail to be 
 clued up. But before a rope could be started, the weather 
 fore-topsail sheet parted near the clue, and the sail, after a 
 few heavy flaps, was forced from the boltrope, and seen no 
 more ! 
 
 The ship, being loaded deep, was steered with some diffi 
 culty in a fresh breeze, going large ; and usually carried, at 
 such times, a strong weather helm ; but the loss of the fore- 
 topsail, and the increased violence of the wind, caused her to 
 broach to suddenly, until the sails, after being shaken with 
 tremendous violence, were nearly taken aback. It was now 
 that the want of a sufficient and active crew was felt. But 
 one thing could be done at a time, when many things were 
 required to be done immediately. The mizzen-topsail was 
 clued up with all possible despatch ; then -the fore-yard 
 was braced well up, and the ship, the helm being hard up all 
 
A TALE OF THE WINTER S COAST. 145 
 
 the while, gathered head-way and fell off, until her sails 
 were full. 
 
 The snow now fell fast and furious ; the wind howled 
 mournfully among the ropes, and the spray and the seas inun 
 dated the decks. The light, of course, could no longer be 
 seen ; nor could it, had it been within a quarter of a mile of 
 the bows of the ship ; and, in consequence of the mishap, 
 which had just occurred, the true bearing of the light was no 
 longer known. Captain Chestree now felt compelled to relin 
 quish his bold project of running for the entrance of Boston 
 bay. He felt that the risk was altogether too great, and 
 that it would be folly or madness to attempt it. In a clear 
 voice, he called to his men to be active, and summon all their 
 energies to their aid, for that their lives depended on prompt 
 obedience to his orders. His object now was to carry sail 
 on a wind, as long as possible, to keep off the lee shore. 
 
 To the double-reefed main-topsail, whole foresail, and 
 fore-topmast staysail, he added the main-spencer ; and the 
 old ship, careering to the blast, until the main-yard arm 
 nearly touched the seas, creaked and groaned as she was thus 
 driven along through the water, heading up as high as north 
 west by north, and north-north-west. But Captain Chestree 
 knew that he could not stand long on that tack ; that, if the 
 wind continued, it would soon be necessary to wear ship ; 
 that, in the mean time, she was making much lee-way, and 
 drifting rapidly to leeward. It may be interesting to con 
 sider the situation in which the Coriander was now placed. 
 
 She was in the bay, at probably about eight or nine miles 
 from Boston light-house, which edifice bore from west to west 
 by north, at this time. To the northward lay the whole iron- 
 bound coast, from Cape Ann to Baker s Island, and other 
 islands off Salem harbor, and the bold and rocky promontory 
 of Marblehead, which last was not more than ten miles off, 
 bearing nearly north-west. Still nearer, and a couple of 
 13 
 
146 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 points under the lee, were the rocky shores of Nahant, and 
 the cluster of dark and savage-looking rocks called the 
 Graves, over which, in an easterly gale, the breakers roll 
 with tremendous force. On her lee beam were the islands 
 at the mouth of Boston harbor, and the fearful shoals off 
 Point Alderton, and Nantasket beach ; and still further to 
 the southward, the sunken rocks called the Hardings. About 
 six or seven miles in a direction nearly south were the Co- 
 hasset rocks, lying some miles from the main land, and justly 
 dreaded by mariners. It will thus be seen that the Corian 
 der was, indeed, in a perilous situation. She was heading 
 directly for the land, with fearful dangers ahead and under 
 her lee, towards which she was hastening at the rate of two 
 or three knots. 
 
 Captain Chestree thought he would stand on with his 
 starboard tacks on board for a half hour longer ; for if he 
 wore ship at once, he should hardly be able to clear Oohas- 
 set rocks, on the other tack ; and he thought it not likely 
 that the wind would blow any harder ; for he had already 
 got the whole force of an old-fashioned north-east snow 
 storm. 
 
 That was a terrible night in the bay. On board the 
 Coriander, which vessel was nobly struggling with the waves, 
 as if her existence depended on her efforts, the crew were 
 grouped on the after part of the quarter-deck, shivering with 
 the cold, and feeling not altogether comfortable in other re 
 spects. " Well, my lad," said Bill Stubshot to Silas Switchell, 
 " what do you think now ? Will you believe an old sailor 
 another time, one who went to sea long before you wore 
 jacket and trousers ? Hey ! " 
 
 " You are an old Jonas," exclaimed Silas, " with your non 
 sense about women and horses, and I think it would be a good 
 plan to give you a toss overboard, for a fair wind and pleasant 
 weather ! " 
 
A TALE OF THE WINTER S COAST. 147 
 
 " Wait a bit," said old Bill, " and there will be no occasion 
 to throw me overboard. I may get there without your assist 
 ance, and find myself with some company, too." 
 
 " Come, none of that," replied Silas ; " we are in a bad 
 scrape, I allow bad enough; but the old man will bring 
 us safe out of it ; let him alone for that." 
 
 Captain Chestree now thought he would try to get the 
 ship round on the other tack. It was a dimcult undertaking, 
 and, if delayed, it would be too late there would not be room 
 to wear. But, if he should be so fortunate as to succeed in 
 the manoeuvre, and get his sails well trimmed, he should have 
 a good drift, and, if the wind should lull, might be able *o 
 weather Cohasset Rocks. He accordingly resolved to make 
 the attempt. 
 
 The main-spencer was taken in, and the helm was put 
 hard up ; the ship, however, fell off but slowly, and when 
 manning the weather main-brace to shiver the main-topsail, 
 the rope slipped from the belaying-pin, the yard was forced 
 fore-and-aft, and snapped short off in the slings ! The sail, 
 of course, after a few heavy flaps, was reduced to ribbons ! 
 The ship now fell off rapidly. When before the wind, the 
 fore clue-garnets were hauled up, and the yard braced round ; 
 but, in the act of getting down the larboard fore-tack, a 
 furious gust came and split the foresail, which, in a few min 
 utes, was in the condition of the main-topsail ! 
 
 The ship, however, was brought to the wind, but Captain 
 Chestree no longer entertained hopes of weathering the South 
 Shore, or Cohasset Hocks, for the wind was fixed between 
 north-east, and east-north-east, and now being able to carry 
 but little sail, the ship was drifting fast, almost dead to lee 
 ward. The main-spencer and spanker were set, to keep her 
 up to the wind ; but the mainsail got loose, having been blown 
 from the gaskets, and baffled all the attempts of the crew to 
 furl it. The ship was thus lying in the trough of the sea, 
 
148 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 lurching heavily ; the short and combing waves were washing 
 across her decks, and a dangerous shore was but a few miles 
 under the lee, towards which they were rapidly drifting. 
 
 " Mr. Stanchell," said Captain Chestree, " the gale blows 
 as hard as ever, and will, undoubtedly, continue through the 
 night. The attempt to keep off shore, with our sails, will be 
 useless. Unless something is done to prevent it, we shall be 
 among the breakers in less than an hour, when the lives of all 
 on board, and the vessel and cargo, will inevitably be lost. 
 Therefore we 11 go to work with a will, and cut away the 
 masts, and bring the ship to an anchor ! " 
 
 " What did you say, sir ? " inquired the mate. " Cut away 
 the masts, and bring the ship to an anchor, here in the middle 
 of the bay ? " 
 
 " To be sure ! It is our only alternative. If she rides 
 out the gale, the loss will be comparatively trifling, when we 
 take into consideration the valuable cargo, to say nothing of 
 the lives which will be saved. And if she drags her anchors, 
 and goes ashore after all, we shall be no worse off than we 
 should be without making the attempt. But we have good 
 ground-tackling, and shall now see the advantage of it. It 
 will save us from shipwreck. Get all ready to cut away the 
 masts ! " 
 
 The crew appeared utterly exhausted by their exposure 
 to the inclement weather, and their constant exertions to exe 
 cute the orders of their commander. But when they heard 
 the order issued to cut away the masts, an order never given 
 except in cases of extremity, they seemed inspired with re 
 newed vigor and energy to meet the important occasion. 
 
 When sitting in a pleasant room, warmed by a furnace, 
 or a good anthracite coal fire, with all the comforts of life 
 around us, this act of cutting away the masts of a ship, in a 
 gale of wind, appears to be a very simple and feasible opera 
 tion. This, however, is not the case. It is an operation 
 
A TALE OF THE WINTER S COAST. 149 
 
 which must be conducted with skill and courage, and is always 
 attended with great difficulty and danger. The harassed 
 crew of the Coriander, led on by their officers, undertook the 
 work, and, fortunately, accomplished it without the loss of 
 lives or limbs. 
 
 The weather laniards of the shrouds and backstays were 
 cut away, and the masts fell, one after the other, breaking off 
 just above the deck. The fore-and-aft stays and lee rigging 
 were then cut away, and the ship, which had been kept a 
 little off the wind, and was surging ahead at the time, after 
 giving the wreck a few hard thumps, fortunately got clear of 
 it, and then lay like an unresisting log in the water ! 
 
 The bower anchors were in readiness to let go, and ranges 
 of the cables overhauled. The stream cable was also bent to 
 a large stream anchor, and even the hawser was attached to 
 the kedge, for Captain Chestree was determined to get a 
 strong hold on the bottom, if possible. 
 
 The lead was now thrown, and the depth of water was 
 found to be twenty-five fathoms. " We will hold on a little, 
 until we shoalen our water," said Captain Chestree. 
 
 The situation of the men on board of that unmanageable 
 hulk during the interval between cutting away the spars and 
 letting go the anchors, was not an enviable one. They 
 were grouped together on the quarter-deck, standing knee- 
 deep in water, with the spray dashing over them, and exposed 
 to all the disagreeable effects of an old-fashioned north-east 
 snow-storm; a dangerous coast stretched along under their 
 lee, upon which, if they were cast, destruction was their inev 
 itable doom. Yet, if the countenances of those men had been 
 examined at that time, they would have exhibited no symp 
 toms of fear. Some traces of thought and of suffering might 
 be seen, but nothing of craven spirit nothing which denoted 
 an abandonment of hope. Indeed, one would have supposed, 
 from their composed feature? and their conversation with 
 
150 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 each other, and the promptness with which they executed or 
 replied to any commands of their officers, that they did not 
 realize the perils of their situation. Still, some of that little 
 gallant band may have cherished solemn thoughts at that 
 time, and have sought successfully to fortify their hearts 
 against adversity and peril, by mentally addressing a fervent 
 prayer to the Almighty. 
 
 The storm raged fiercely around them, and the conflict 
 was terrible between the winds and the waves ; but soon an 
 awful sound was heard, at a distance, above the roaring of 
 the elements, and the fearful cry of " Breakers ! " burst from 
 the lips of the crew. 
 
 " Now," exclaimed Chestree, in a voice of thunder, " cut 
 away the anchors from the bow ! " 
 
 The shank painters and stoppers were severed ; the cables 
 ran out through the hawse-holes with incredible velocity, nor 
 could they be checked by any deck-stoppers, until they were 
 brought up by a clinch around the foremast, the lower part 
 of which was still standing. The stream anchor and the 
 kedge were also let go, but the ship continued to drive towards 
 the shore, and seemed reluctant to come head to the wind ; 
 meanwhile, the sound of breakers under the lee became more 
 distinct, and was calculated to strike terror into the heart of 
 any man, except an intrepid sailor. 
 
 It was ascertained by the lead that they were in fourteen 
 fathoms of water ! " Never mind," said Captain Chestree, 
 quietly, " she will soon bring up, now ! As we shoalen our 
 water, the anchors will catch, and hold on, too." 
 
 And so it proved. In nine fathoms of water, the ship 
 swung head to the wind, and the anchors retained their hold 
 of the bottom. The gale was now regular, but although the 
 ship pitched heavily, and the seas sometimes came in over 
 the bows, and swept fore and aft the deck, yet so little sur 
 face was presented for the wind to act upon, that, albeit the 
 
A TALE OF THE WINTER S COAST. 
 
 151 
 
 holding-ground was not remarkably good, the Coriander rode 
 at her anchors in safety. And now the captain felt that he 
 had resorted to the last expedient to save the ship, that noth 
 ing more remained for him to do. He put his trust in Prov 
 idence, and, with Christian resignation, calmly awaited the 
 result. 
 
 a 
 
 It was about half-past three o clock, on the moriiiug ot 
 the first day of January, that the ship began to ride safely at 
 her anchors. The gale continued through the remainder of 
 the night, without any abatement, and it may easily be con 
 ceived that, to the crew, stiff, weary, and cold, serenaded, too, 
 by the dashing of the foaming waves on the beach, or against 
 the rocks, the hours until daylight seemed interminably long. 
 They knew that if either of the bower cables should part, or 
 
152 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 again relinquish their hold of the ground, no human power 
 could save them from destruction. But, even in this unen 
 viable situation, a portion of the crew, coiled away among 
 some trunks and barrels in the steerage, courted " tired Na 
 ture s sweet restorer," sleep ! Bill Stubshot even forgot him 
 self so far as to snore, much to the indignation of Silas 
 Switchell, who gave him a furious punch in the ribs. " You 
 unlucky old wretch ! " said Silas, " you want to be dreaming 
 again, I suppose. But, as sure as my name is Switchell, you 
 shan t have another chance to dream about horses and women, 
 if we are out six months longer ! " 
 
 Daylight now broke in the east, and gladdened the hearts 
 of the crew ; for it must be confessed that darkness adds to the 
 inconvenience of a storm at sea, and greatly increases the 
 perils of a lee shore. It is recorded of Ajax, the famous 
 Grecian warrior, that he had a great dislike to darkness; he 
 wanted to see his foe ; and many a bold seaman can well 
 appreciate his feelings, when he utters the following prayer : 
 
 Lord of Earth, and Air ! 
 
 0, King ! 0, Father ! Hear my humble prayer ; 
 Dispel this cloud, the light of Heaven restore ; 
 Give me to see, and Ajax asks no more ! 
 If Greece must perish, we thy will obey ; 
 But let us perish in the face of day." 
 
 After sunrise the wind began to moderate, and the snow 
 storm abated. The crew felt that they were saved ; but some 
 hours elapsed before they were able to see the breakers and 
 the land astern. 
 
 It was about nine o clock, when the clouds broke away, 
 the snow and the mist were no longer seen ; but the whole 
 extent of coast was visible, from Point Alderton to Cohasset, 
 against which the waves were dashing with a fury and a 
 madness which it is impossible to describe. The dismasted 
 ship was riding at anchor, about half way between the Hard- 
 
A TALE OF THE WINTER S COAST. 153 
 
 ings and Cohasset rocks. The next day, the wind hauled to 
 the southward, and the weather was pleasant. The Corian 
 der was towed into Boston in safety. 
 
 She was a good ship, although deeply laden, with clear 
 decks, not lumbered up with round-houses, hurricane-houses, 
 poops, or any incumbrances so common in these days. She 
 had an experienced and skilful captain, and an active and 
 willing crew. Her sails and rigging were in good condition, 
 and she was well found in every respect. And yet the 
 sufferings and perils which the crew of that ship encountered 
 on the " winter s coast," were of a character which might well 
 appal the stoutest heart. 
 
 The masters of our ships are generally skilful seamen, 
 and cool and collected in the moment of danger. There are 
 exceptions, however. And what must be the condition and 
 fate of vessels bound into Boston Bay, during heavy weather 
 in the winter, and we have many such, whose decks are 
 lumbered with houses and wigwams of every description, 
 whose sails and rigging are tattered and old, whose crews are 
 weak, discontented, and subject to no discipline, whose pro 
 visions and water are nearly exhausted, and whose commanders, 
 deficient in skill, courage, and energy, cannot command the 
 confidence or respect of their crews; and, perhaps, although 
 habitually temperate, resort on such a dreadful emergency to 
 the bottle, expecting to find in its contents not only a solace 
 in danger, but wisdom and courage ! 
 
 
 
SEA DOGS. 
 
 " One that I saved from drowning, when three or four of his blind 
 brothers and sisters went to it. I have taught him even as one would 
 eay precisely, Thus I would teach a dog. " SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 THE brig Sjlphide, an ungainly, clumsy-looking craft, with 
 a run like a Dutch galliot s, was once bound home from St. 
 Ubes, with a cargo of salt, in the fall of the year. Off the 
 Western Islands she encountered a severe gale, and lay to 
 under close-reefed main-topsail. She was deeply laden, and 
 was as lifeless as a log in the water, and the sea made a fair 
 
SEA DOGS. 155 
 
 breach over her. For two days there was no such thing as 
 cooking on board, although the " doctor " tried hard to boil a 
 piece of junk ; but the sea had stove in the sides of the 
 galley, and all his labors were fruitless. The lads in the 
 forecastle were consequently rather badly off for grub ; but, to 
 make up for it, they were pretty well soaked with salt water, 
 for on deck the brig was a sheet .of spray from stem to stern ; 
 and the forecastle, their home, their dwelling-place, their 
 house of refuge, their castle, resembled a shower-bath, con 
 structed on the most approved principles. This was rather 
 tough, to be sure ; but the " old salts " did not seem to mind it 
 much ; they consumed a double allowance of the " filthy 
 weed," and bore their trials like true philosophers. A young 
 fellow onboard, however, a green hand, who had never been 
 out of sight of land before that voyage, was disposed to 
 mourn over his unhappy lot, and, while the snlt water trickled 
 down his back, the salt tears trickled down his cheeks, and he 
 solemnly declared, in the bitterness of his heart, that, if Prov 
 idence would allow him to reach his home once more, he 
 would never again tempt his fate on the seas, but would rest 
 contented in his own dear home, where he could always find 
 plenty of good provision, kind friends, and pleasant weather ; 
 where there was no reefing topsails, sending down top-gallant 
 yards, or lying to in the trough of the sea in a gale of wind. 
 Poor fellow ! the " sailor was killed " within him. 
 
 On the third day, the wind abated a little, and the sea 
 became more regular, and, after a hard trial, the cook suc 
 ceeded in keeping a fire in his galley long enough to boil a 
 piece of beef for the men, and make a stew of a half-drowned 
 chicken for the cabin. In due time the beef was deposited in 
 the " kid," and the men, with eager appetites and well- 
 sharpened jack-knives, were about to fall to, when the captain, 
 who, at that unlucky moment, poked his head above the com 
 panion-way, called out to them to take a pull at the weather 
 
156 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 fore and preventer main-braces. His orders were obeyed ; 
 and after the ropes were coiled up, the famished crew were 
 about proceeding to discuss the beef, when, to their great 
 astonishment, perplexity and dismay, it had disappeared. 
 An old vagabond cur, named Faithful, who was kept on board 
 by the captain, for no earthly reason, it would appear, unless 
 for his gaunt and ugly appearance and thievish propensities, 
 had watched with looks askant the delicious morsel, and being 
 two-thirds starved, had seized the opportunity, while the kid 
 was left without a guard, to seize the beef, smoking hot, as it 
 was, and bear it in triumph away into the lee scuppers, 
 where, while the water was washing it merrily to and fro, he 
 was deeply engaged in tearing off liberal portions to satisfy 
 his craving appetite. 
 
 Before Faithful had got well engaged in this culpable and 
 ungenerous act, he was discovered, and the indignation of the 
 crew may be easily imagined. The poor dog had to suffer ; 
 handspikes, capstan-bars, billets of wood, and coils of rigging, 
 were showered upon the culprit s head, and, after a few rather 
 loud notes of anger, expostulation and pain, he relinquished 
 his prey, and retired, yelping and limping, into the darkest 
 recesses of the half deck. The men picked up the beef, which 
 bore the marks of Faithful s teeth, but it was too compact, 
 being of the color, and nearly of the consistency, of mahogany, 
 to be torn in pieces by any natural machinery. They again 
 ranged themselves around the kid, and entered seriously and 
 earnestly on their work ; and while slice after slice of this 
 main-stay of a sailor s diet disappeared, along with a propor 
 tionate quantity of sea-biscuit, which had seen its best days, 
 the conversation of the crew naturally fell upon the subject 
 of dogs, and their good or bad qualities. 
 
 " For my part," said Bob Binnacle, " I do not see what 
 Captain Soundings keeps such a whelp on board for. He s 
 just good for nothing, except to rob a fellow of his grub. 
 
SEA DOGS. 157 
 
 He s a lazy, ill-natured, know-nothing brute, neither a watch 
 dog nor a water-dog. If I had my way, I d rig a spritsail 
 yard across his bows, and give him a sea toss. If he s not 
 missing some of these dark nights, I lose my guess. I re 
 member that, when I belonged to the Aldebaran, we had a 
 dog on board that was worth his weight in gold. He was 
 honest, and well-behaved, and the crew all loved him like a 
 brother, and would have divided with him the last morsel of 
 their allowance. He was a sensible dog, too, and knew what 
 was going on as well as any man in the ship. I really believe 
 he could understand every order that was given. One day, 
 while we were crossing the Grand Bank, on a passage from 
 Liverpool to New York, Mr. Gifford, a passenger, was amus 
 ing himself in trying to catch some of the hagdens that were 
 flying around, by a line and hook, baited with a piece of pork. 
 He, very foolishly, got into the lee mizzen-chains, when the 
 ship gave a heavy lurch, and threw him souse into the water. 
 At that moment I would not have given this piece of junk for 
 his life, for the ship was running off with the wind free, eight 
 or nine knots ; and the fog was so thick that you might have 
 almost cut it with a knife. But Caesar saw Mr. Gifford fall 
 overboard, and, quick as lightning, sprang upon the quarter- 
 rail, and plunged in after him. The captain sung out Hard 
 down your helm ! back the main-topsail ! which was no 
 sooner said than done. We lowered the quarter-boat as 
 quickly as possible, and the second mate, and three men 
 beside myself, started off to try to pick the poor fellow up. 
 We pulled off in the direction of the wake of the ship, to a 
 considerable distance, but were unable to discover anything 
 that looked like man or brute. We shouted, but no answer 
 was returned. We were about going back to the ship, whose 
 position we knew by the sound of the bell, which they kept 
 ringing, when all at once we heard the stifled whine of a dog. 
 * That s Caesar, said the second mate; give way, lads, and 
 14 
 
158 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 we 11 save them yet. We did so, and after pulling about for 
 four or five minutes, guided by the sound of Caesar s voice, we 
 reached the spot where Mr. Gifford lay almost senseless on 
 the surface of the water, sustained by Caesar, who had fast 
 hold of the collar of his coat. They were both of them nearly 
 gone, but we hauled them into the boat, and, after a pretty 
 severe pull, we reached the ship. Mr. Gifford was so grate 
 ful to Caesar for saving his life, that he declared nothing 
 should part them, and offered the captain any sum which he 
 asked for the dog. The captain said that he would not sell 
 him ; but, after a while, when he found that Mr. Gifford had 
 set his heart on having Caesar, he generously made him a 
 present of him, and I ve no doubt," added Bob, "that Caesar 
 has lived ever since upon soft tack and fresh beef, and had 
 nothing to do, not even to stand a dog watch." 
 
 " Well, Bob," said Caleb Capstan, " I must say that Caesar 
 was a dog worth having ; but he was hardly equal to a dog 
 named Somno, which we had on board the brig Three Deb- 
 bies, on a voyage to Havana. He was the best watch-dog I 
 ever saw ; nobody could come alongside the ship without his 
 knowing it. In the day-time, however, Somno was quite 
 peaceable, and although he sometimes looked rather black at 
 the savage-looking Spaniards, who came on board, he showed 
 no wish to trouble any one, thinking probably that while the 
 sun was above the horizon, we could look out for ourselves. 
 But at night, when the captain went below, after having told 
 Somno to keep a good look-out, it was dangerous for strangers 
 to attempt to come on board. Somno would eye them closely 
 as they came over the gangway or the gunwale, without say 
 ing a word ; but the moment their feet reached the deck, he 
 would give one short, quick, loud, angry bark, by way of 
 alarm, and then, without offering any apology, seize the in 
 truder fiercely by the throat, throw him to the deck, and 
 there hold him until somebody came to give him a spell, or 
 
SEA DOGS. 159 
 
 until another stranger appeared entering the vessel, when he 
 would give his captive a severe grip of the windpipe, and 
 leave him, to go through with the same ceremonies with the 
 last comer. 
 
 " The captain had a quarrel with a Spanish gambler, at a 
 billiard-table, one day, and gave him a decent threshing, 
 which he undoubtedly deserved, but for which the cowardly 
 rascal threatened to take his life ; and it was owing to Sornno 
 that he was not as good as his word. The captain, when on 
 shore, was always on his guard, and accompanied by friends ; 
 and the bloody-minded villain resolved to have him assassi 
 nated in his berth, and sent off, for four successive nights, a 
 hired desperado, to do what he -shad not the courage to do 
 himself. Yes, four of these scoundrels swam on board on four 
 different nights, and were every one seized by Somno, before 
 they could do any mischief, and pinned to the deck. The 
 captain tied their hands behind them, and shoved them into 
 the run, which was as dark as a shark s mouth, and as hot as 
 the cook s galley in a calm on the equator. He meant to 
 have punished them a little in this way, by close confinement 
 and a short allowance of grub, and to have set them on shore 
 when ready for sea ; but, unfortunately for them, he did not 
 order them to be searched, and the day before we were ready 
 for sea, they managed to get their hands loose, and, of course, 
 feeling rather cross and full of fight, got quarrelling among 
 themselves, and at last fell foul of one another with their 
 knives in the dark, and a true Spanish affray was -the conse 
 quence. When the scuttle was opened, a few hours after 
 wards, to give them their scanty allowance of prog, a shocking 
 scene presented itself. Two of these miserable wretches were 
 already dead, and the others were so dreadfully mangled and 
 stabbed, that they died in a few hours. The captain was 
 dreadfully frightened lest the dons should get wind of the 
 affair. 
 
160 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 If they had, it would have been a bad case for the 
 skipper. But we sailed the next day, and the bodies were 
 thrown overboard soon after we got outside of the Moro, and 
 I dare say the sharks made a noble feast upon them." 
 
 " Somno was a good dog in his way," growled old Ben 
 Bobstay, with a voice as harsh as the croaking of a bull-frog 
 who had caught cold in the marshes ; " but the queerest four- 
 legged brute that I ever met with, was when I was with Cap 
 tain Andrews, in the ship Dulcinea, of Portland. We had a 
 dog on board that ship named Watch, and his name agreed 
 with his nature, which was something remarkable ; for he was 
 the best hand to look out that I ever saw on the deck of a 
 merchantman. He was dull and heavy through the day, 
 lying about deck, so that one who did not know him, would 
 take him to be a lazy, stupid, useless cur, not worth his salt. 
 But the moment the sun was buried in the ocean, Watch was 
 all alive ; he did not appear to be the same animal, but 
 seemed aware that the duty of looking out for strange sails 
 or land fell upon him ; and a faithful look-out he would keep 
 until after daylight the next morning. If the captain was 
 running in for land, he would never heave to in the darkest 
 night ; for he depended altogether upon Watch, and Watch 
 never deceived him. When the ship drew near the land, he 
 grew fidgety and uneasy, and when we got within six or eight 
 miles of it, he would set up a hideous howl, that could be 
 heard in every part of the ship, and this howling he would 
 keep up, with hardly any cessation, until the ship was hove 
 to, when the rascal would place his fore-paws on the gun 
 wale, and sticking out his long nose towards the land, and his 
 tail, as long and as stiff as a capstan-bar, in another direction, 
 would snuff the breeze, until daylight would show us our 
 whereabouts. 0, he was a jewel of a fellow, that dog, 
 Watch ! He was, indeed, a watch-dog ! 
 
 " Poor Watch fell overboard in the middle of the Atlantic 
 
SEA DOGS. 161 
 
 Ocean, one unlucky stormy night, when he had climbed up 
 on the gunwale, howling and barking, and trying, in every 
 way that a poor dumb beast could think on, to tell the cap 
 tain that there was danger close aboard. But it was so dark 
 you could not see your hand before you, and the captain 
 thought Watch had lost his reckoning, and was telling a cock- 
 and-a-bull story about the land, which he knew must be a 
 lie. The ship took a weather lurch, overboard went poor 
 Watch, and, before we could heave to and lower a boat, a 
 ship, under full sail, going at least seven knots, run slap into 
 our quarter, and shattered our stern in as beautiful a manner 
 as one would wish to see on a stormy night. If she had 
 struck us in the waist, we should have gone to the bottom 
 like a lump of lead. As it was, poor Watch was forgotten in 
 the hurry and confusion of the moment, and was never after 
 seen. He died nobly, like a faithful sentinel doing his duty 
 at his post. The captain cried like a child when he found 
 Watch was lost, for they had been shipmates together six 
 voyages, and I really believe he loved Watch as he would 
 have loved his own son." 
 
 " No doubt of it," said Jack Footrope, who, by the way, 
 was a great wag, and who, like some good folks I have known 
 on land, would never suffer himself to be outdone in a story. 
 A roguish grin lighted up his weather-beaten phiz, as he con 
 tinued, as follows : 
 
 " Watch was a noble dog,- and he died like a man. If I 
 had been captain of the ship, I would sooner have lost the 
 mainmast in a typhoon than have lost Watch. But the best 
 of dogs, as well as seamen, must die at last ; and, shipmates, 
 if wer are only as well prepared for it as Watch was, it will 
 go easy with us when we join a taunt ship in a future state, 
 under a commander who will give every man his due. There 
 fore we should avoid all improper conduct, and, above all, we 
 should avoid lying, or aught that looks like it, as we should a 
 
162 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 lee shore in a gale of wind. If there is anything I despise, 
 from the bottom of my heart, it is a liar. That story which 
 Caleb told us about the Spaniards, looked rather suspicious. 
 I confess I can hardly gulp it down ; but it may be true, for 
 dogs are curious creatures, and cut strange capers sometimes. 
 
 " I recollect that when, about a dozen years ago, I was on 
 a voyage to India, in the ship Burrampooter, Captain Hard- 
 alee, we had a dog on board, which we called Tom Towser. 
 He was a strange chap, and I always thought he must have 
 been an old sailor disguised ; for he not only kept a first-rate 
 look-out, at sea or in a harbor, but could do a seaman s duty 
 almost as well as any seaman on board. You stare, ship 
 mates, but t is true as the longitude by dead reckoning, for 
 all that. He was a stout, shaggy fellow, and could pull and 
 haul, cast off or belay a rope, as well as any man belonging to 
 the ship. And, more than all that, he was always on hand. 
 If a royal was to be taken in, Towser was up on the jack cross- 
 trees, ready to furl it before it was well clued up. If the 
 word was given, Ready about ! Towser was at his station at 
 the weather cross-jack braces, in a jiffey, and the moment the 
 captain would sing out, Let go and haul ! he would cast off, 
 and spring to the weather main-brace, with an alertness and 
 an energy which the captain often told us was an example to 
 all hands. When a topsail was clued down to be reefed, Tom 
 Towser would be the first man on the yard, and invariably 
 hauled out the weather earing. The knowing rascal knew 
 the compass as well as I did, and would steer his trick by 
 night and by day, unless when the wind was blowing heavy, 
 or we were near the land, at which times the captain thought 
 it was best to let a two-legged Christian take the wheel ; oth 
 erwise, if any accident should happen, the underwriters might 
 say they were not liable, and make a fuss about it, and refuse 
 to pay the policy. 
 
 " Coming round the C*bp e of Good Hope, the old ship strained 
 
SEA DOGS. 163 
 
 heavily, and leaked like a sieve, and we should have found it 
 hard work to keep her on the top of the water, if Tom Towser 
 had not taken his spell at the pump, and done noble service ; 
 for he was pretty long-winded, and could ply the pump- 
 brake twice as long as any other man on board. The only 
 things lacking about Tom Towser were these, he would 
 never drink his grog, but always kept sober and quiet, and 
 he could not talk ! With regard to the grog, we tried hard 
 to make him like it, but it was no go : the more we said grog, 
 the more he made wry faces, and we were obliged to give it 
 up as a bad job. I believe, though, that he was more than 
 half right, after all. As for talking, he showed a disposition 
 to learn, and was an apt scholar ; but he sometimes made hor 
 rible work in trying to tell what he wanted, his language 
 being something between a yell, a howl, and a bark, with a 
 little intermixture of the human voice. While lying in the 
 roads in Batavia, he frightened a Malay into fits one day, by 
 trying to tell him, in his unintelligible jargon, to cast off the 
 long-boat s painter. Poor Tom ! I verily believe we should 
 have taught him to speak English, or, at least, dog latin, tol 
 erably well, if we had not lost him on the passage home." 
 
 " How did you lose him ? " asked two or three of the crew. 
 
 " Why," continued Jack Footrope, in a solemn tone, and 
 with a woe-begone look, " one dark night, when we were a 
 few degrees to the northward and westward of the Cape, the 
 larboard watch were busy brailing up the spanker, and squar 
 ing the after yards, when eight bells came round, and the 
 mate told Towser to go forward and call the starboard watch. 
 Tom was glad of the chance ; but it was his first attempt at 
 that business, and, unfortunately, in his zeal to rouse his snor 
 ing shipmates, he thrust his snout down the scuttle, and made 
 such a hideous bellowing as would have awakened one 
 of the seven sleepers, ay, or roused a dead man to life ; 
 and Ben Block, who was blessed with a hot, ungovernable 
 
164 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 temper, jumped out of his berth, in a rage, rushed on deck, 
 and gave poor Towser, such a rap over his head with a 
 handspike, as stretched him dead upon the deck ! Ben 
 was sorry for what he had done, the moment he gave the 
 blow, and he was more sorry still a few minutes after 
 wards; for the moment the murderous act was known, there 
 was a general burst of indignation from the whole crew. For 
 my part, I could not stand it, and I fell upon Ben with my 
 two fists, which you know, shipmates, are as big as balls of 
 spunyarn, and as hard as serving-mallets, and gave him a 
 drubbing which disabled him from duty for the rest of the 
 passage, and from the effects of which, I 11 be bound, he will 
 never recover until his dying day." 
 
 All comments on Jack s story, by his admiring shipmates, 
 were prevented, and their yarns unceremoniously cut short 
 by a huge fair-weather sea, which came rolling lazily along 
 from the windward ; and, as the ship fell off from the 
 wind, it broke on the weather gangway, and inundated the 
 deck. All hands got a thorough drenching; their bread 
 and beef were washed overboard, and along with them went a 
 few scattered pieces of plank, some small spars, &c. But 
 what yielded the ill-natured fellows inconceivable delight, 
 in the midst of their petty vexation, was this : the prowl 
 ing, canine thief, Faithful, had ventured to sneak on deck, 
 while they were expatiating on the virtues of his brethren, 
 and, while slyly watching a chance to pilfer the beef, or a 
 portion of it at least, a second time, the sea fairly lifted him 
 off his legs, and carried him far away, along with the rest 
 of the useless lumber. The crew of the Sylphide, on seeing 
 this, shook the water from their shaggy pea-jackets, and 
 indulged in a hearty laugh ; then, waving their tarpaulins, 
 gave three tremendous cheers, as a parting salutation, to the 
 poor struggling Faithful, who sunk beneath the waves, and 
 was seen no more. 
 
POPPING THE QUESTION. 
 
 " The time I ve lost in wooing. 
 In watching and pursuing, 
 
 The light that lies 
 
 In woman s eyes, 
 Has been my heart undoing." MOORE. 
 
 THE good ship True Blue, heavily laden with "West India 
 produce, was wallowing along one night across the tail of the 
 Newfoundland Bank, on a passage from Boston to Antwerp. 
 The wind was blowing a stiff breeze from the south-west, and 
 the light sails were taken in. Thick clouds obscured the 
 stars ; and, at short intervals, showers of mist and fog swept 
 across the decks of the ship. It was such a night as a lands 
 man would pronounce cold, damp and dreary, and calculated 
 to conjure up a legion of " blues " to bewilder the imagi 
 nation, and destroy the comfort of any one but a light-hearted 
 sailor. 
 
 It was in the middle watch. Old Ben Tomkins was at the 
 wheel, and laboring hard to keep the head of the vessel due 
 east ; but she made a terribly crooked wake, and seemed 
 obstinately inclined to go in every direction but the right 
 one. Mr. Sheavehole, the first officer, was pacing the quarter 
 deck, and whenever a flaw struck the ship, and she seemed 
 inclined to take a broad sheer, he would gruffly admonish Ben 
 to " steer small, and not let the ship cut such queer capers, 
 like a struck dolphin, or a monkey shot through the head." 
 The remainder of the watch on deck, with their pea-jackets 
 
166 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 girt firmly around them, and old-fashioned tarpaulins or 
 south-westers, attached to their cocoa-nuts, were moving to 
 and fro on the forecastle, stamping their feet to keep them 
 warm, humming some antiquated song, wondering what kind 
 of weather would come next, or eagerly listening for the 
 word, at the expiration of each half hour, to "strike the 
 bell." 
 
 " I say, Frank Granger, were you ever married ? " abruptly 
 exclaimed Jack Dale, a fine-looking, athletic young sea 
 man, to a case-hardened, weather-beaten sailor, who was 
 leaning pensively against the windlass bits. 
 
 " Married ? No, I never was married, Jack. What put 
 that in your head ? " 
 
 " Why," said Jack, with a sigh, " sometimes I cannot help 
 thinking it must be vastly more pleasant and agreeable to be 
 living on shore, with a comfortable roof over one s head, 
 plenty of shot in the locker, and a snug little wife for a com 
 panion, than to be keeping watch on a dark, cold, rainy night 
 at sea ; or reefing topsails, or sending down top-gallant- 
 yards and masts in a gale ; or riding out a hurricane on a lee 
 shore. I have sometimes thought, if I could come athwart 
 the right kind of a girl, I should have no objection to be 
 spliced." 
 
 " Be careful what you do, my good fellow," replied Frank, 
 in a warning voice. " Do nothing rashly. Recollect there 
 are two sides to a question, and if there are advantages in 
 getting married, there is some comfort also in being a bache 
 lor. Marriage is a lottery, and it is not every man who ven 
 tures, that secures a prize. There was Dick Dallas ; we were 
 shipmates together last voyage in the Marcellus. He had 
 been married twelve years, and he told me he had repented of 
 it but once, and that was ever since the parson tied the knot. 
 He said there were more thunder-storms and rain-squalls in 
 his house than he ever met with in the Gulf Stream; and that 
 
POPPING THE QUESTION. 167 
 
 he could enjoy more peace and quiet in a good ship, tossed 
 about in the Gulf of Mexico, by a furious * norther] than 
 when snugly moored in the same harbor with his wife and 
 children, and surrounded with all the enjoyments tfhome" 
 
 " Come, come, Frank," said Jack, " that won t do. I know 
 Dick Dallas. He is a cross-grained old stick, full of whims 
 and oddities ; and his wife is a queer woman, of an uncertain 
 temper, and will have her own way. Besides, I don t believe 
 you are telling us your honest opinion. If you are, it is 
 because some girl has given you the go by, and you are 
 soured by disappointment. Tell us now, truly, did you always 
 have such a dislike to matrimony ? Did you never try to get 
 spliced ? " 
 
 " To be sure I have," replied Frank, " and more than once, 
 too ; but I was young and foolish in those days, and it was 
 lucky for me that the strands would never stick together." 
 
 " How was it ? " eagerly asked Jack. " Let us have the 
 particulars." 
 
 " Ay, ay ! " chimed in Tim Gibson ; " tell us all about 
 your matrimonial scrapes, Frank. T will do to keep our eye 
 lids apart, and may serve as a useful- lesson, you know ; for 
 I ve been told, by those who ought to know, that woman s 
 heart is a chart which it is difficult for even a practised nav 
 igator to understand." 
 
 " I don t know about that," said Frank ; " but / could never 
 understand it ; and, as far as my experience goes, the man who 
 has the least to do with it is the best off. And, lads," con 
 tinued he, in a patronizing tone, " if my experience can be of 
 any service to you, you are welcome to it, although I have got 
 nothing very strange or diverting to tell you." 
 
 " That s right, Frank," exclaimed Jack, " heave ahead, and 
 save the tide ; and, mind ye v spin nothing but a plain matter- 
 of-fact yarn." 
 
168 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 Thus conjured, the hard-visaged old tar commenced his nar 
 rative as follows : 
 
 " You must know, that although I am a rough and ungainly- 
 looking object now, having met with many hard knocks and 
 weathered many tough gales in the course of my life, I was 
 once quite a good-looking youth, and fond of the society of 
 the girls. My father was an honest farmer, who resided in 
 Cranberry village, in the interior of Massachusetts, and I was 
 the eldest son. At an early age I was instructed in all the 
 mysteries of chopping, hoeing, mowing, ploughing, taking care 
 of stock, and other duties which devolve on a farmer ; and at 
 the age of twenty-one, I was able to cut as large a swath as 
 any man within five miles ; and at the raising of Deacon 
 Jones barn, when the wrestling ring was formed, I threw 
 every man who could be brought against me. Well, a few 
 days after this, it was in the latter part of the month of No 
 vember, my good mother, one day, taking an opportunity when 
 we were alone, spoke to me something after this fashion : 
 
 " Frank, you are now grown to man s estate. You are a 
 stout, well-grown lad, of steady and industrious habits, and, 
 thanks to your father, know how to work. It is time for you 
 to be looking out for a wife, for I am growing rather infirm, 
 and work does not come so easy to me as it used to. What 
 do you say, Frank should you like to be married ? 
 
 " I was taken all aback at this plump question, and stam 
 mered out something in reply, I hardly know what. 
 
 " Well, Frank, continued my mother, I ve been thinking, 
 for some weeks, which of the girls in these parts would suit 
 you best, and have come to the conclusion that Hannah Harts 
 horn will be the very damsel. You know her father, Major 
 Hartshorn, don t you, Frank ? 
 
 " To be sure I do, mother, I replied ; and her brother 
 Tom, too. 
 
 " Well, then, you ve no objection to Hannah, of course. 
 
POPPING THE QUESTION. 169 
 
 She s the prettiest girl in the parish, and, although rather too 
 fond of fun and frolic, is a smart and good girl, and will make 
 you a capital wife. 
 
 " Xow I d often looked at Hannah s pretty face in meeting, 
 and took rather a fancy to her ; and more than once had half 
 resolved, when I saw her leaving the meeting-house in the after 
 noon for home, to offer my services to see her safely housed, 
 but I could not muster courage enough. Therefore, I was not 
 displeased with my mother s proposition ; but I did not feel 
 very confident of success, as I knew I was not the only young 
 fellow who admired her. 
 
 " * But, mother, I replied, while I could feel that my face 
 was as red as the jacket of a boiled lobster, although I may 
 have no objection to Hannah as a wife, it is by no means cer 
 tain that Hannah will have me for a husband. 
 
 " 0, fiddle faddle ! cried the good woman ; faint heart 
 never won fair lady, and, even if she should give you the 
 mitten," you d be none the worse for it. But she s not 
 such a fool as to throw away sucli a chance ; she 11 snap at 
 you as a pickerel snaps at a frog. 
 
 " * I hope she 11 not serve me in the same way, mother, 
 replied I, with a grin. 
 
 " Never you mind that, Frank ; I dare say she will make 
 a good and loving wife. And the sooner you go and see her, 
 the better. Indeed, there is no reason why you should not 
 visit her this very night, and see how the land lies. Go, put 
 yourself in decent order, and catch the old colt, and before 
 the sun goes down, be on your way to Major Hartshorn s. I 
 dare say the whole family will be glad to see you, and Han 
 nah will be quite delighted. 
 
 " But, mother, I replied, taken all aback with the bold 
 ness of the proposition, I should not know what to say. I 
 should act like a fool ; I would rather wait till next week, 
 or or next month, or or 
 15 
 
170 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 " * Pish ! nonsense ! said the old lady, impatiently. 4 The 
 sooner the matter is arranged, the better for nil parties. While 
 you are dilly-dallying, some more spirited fellow may step in, 
 and bear her off. There s many a slip between the cup and 
 the lip, and I remember that last Sabbath, Colonel Doolittle s 
 son, Hiram, cast sheep s eyes at Hannah Hartshorn, which 
 were very suspicious ; and she seemed more pleased than 
 offended. 
 
 " I found that my mother, having set her mind on this dar 
 ling object, and meeting with no serious obstacle on my part, 
 would grant no reprieve, but was resolved that I should go a- 
 courting that very night; or, as she expressed it, strike while 
 the iron is hot. I accordingly proceeded, in a state of great 
 mental agitation, to change my every-day dress for my go-to- 
 meeting clothes. I put on my pepper-and-salt pantaloons, and, 
 although I had worn them on great occasions for three years, 
 they were still almost as good as new, with the exception that 
 my legs had increased some six inches in length since the 
 pantaloons were made, which gave the garment an odd and 
 somewhat awkward appearance. I wore a stylish bandanna 
 around my neck, which concealed a portion of my enormous 
 shirt-collar, a genuine article, for dickeys were not known 
 in those days, and over my dashing, striped, swansdown 
 waistcoat, I threw my sky-blue coatee ; and after I had care 
 fully combed my hair, and smoothed it down, according to the 
 latest fashion, with a tallow candle, I looked in the glass, and 
 was tolerably well satisfied with my appearance. Thought I 
 to myself, if Hannah Hartshorn rejects a fellow about my 
 size, she is not the sensible girl I have always believed her to 
 be. She may go further and fare worse. 
 
 "The old colt was soon saddled. I shook hands with 
 mother, who bade me not be afraid, but keep up a good heart 
 and behave like a man, mounted my steed, and departed on 
 the expedition. 
 
POPPING THE QUESTION. 171 
 
 " Major Hartshorn lived at the distance of five miles, and, 
 as I rode leisurely along the road, I had abundant time to 
 reflect on the startling character of the expedition in which I 
 had so suddenly embarked ; and, the more I reflected, the more 
 I felt afraid that I should make a ninny, a complete boot-jack 
 of myself; and I would gladly have given up the project, or 
 postponed it for a time, were it not for giving offence to my 
 mother. 0, how I wished that she could go with me, and 
 take all the management of the affair off my hands, or at least 
 give me some useful advice with regard to my conduct ! She 
 had already been through the mill, and knew how the business 
 was done ; and talked about it as glibly, and as coolly, as if 
 the project was only to send me into the woods to gather a few 
 sprigs of hemlock for a broom. But it could not be. Custom 
 required me to go alone, and shape out my course as well as 
 I could by myself. 
 
 " And I tell you what it is, shipmates, it is a serious, an 
 awful thing, for a modest young man to go a-courting for the 
 first time. It is a very pretty matter to talk about, but to talk 
 and to do, are different things ; and I never felt my head so 
 light, and my heart so heavy, as when I was trotting off slowly 
 on the old colt to visit the major s Hannah. I wished my 
 self at the bottom of the frog-pond before I reached the house. 
 And when I found myself opposite the comfortable-looking old 
 mansion, which then contained within its walls my chosen one, 
 I could not summon the resolution to stop, but went forward 
 at least a couple of miles further, and then returned slowly, 
 step by step, like a thief going to the whipping-post. But by 
 the time I again reached the dwelling, I had, by a great exer 
 tion, made up my mind to go in and dare the consequences of 
 looking in the face a beautiful, high-spirited girl, and whisper 
 ing in her ear tender things. 
 
 " I hitched the colt to the horse-shoe nailed to the butter 
 nut-tree, at the end of the house, and went in, my heart, the 
 
172 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 whole time, beating in my bosom, for all the world, like a par 
 tridge drumming behind a stump. I found the family coseyly 
 seated around the fire ; the hearth was nicely swept, and 
 everything looked as neat and comfortable as wax-work. The 
 major seemed a little surprised at my entrance, but gave me 
 a cordial grasp of the hand ; and his good wife said she was 
 delighted to see me. As for Tom, he grinned, and looked 
 knowingly at Hannah, as he jocularly asked me what on airth 
 led me to visit them that time of night. 
 
 " Hannah, herself, looked a little flustered, and I thought I 
 had never seen her cheeks so rosy ; but she sat as stiff and 
 upright in her chair as a martingale ; said but little, and that 
 was addressed to the children ; and seemed as quiet and demure 
 as a cat when intent on stealing cream. The old folks, how 
 ever, were sociable enough, and I talked away as if for a wager, 
 uttering much nonsense, I dare say, about the weather, the late 
 season, the crops, the fall of stock, the rise of hay and grain, 
 &c., &c. The major and I agreed wonderfully, for whatever 
 he would say, I would repeat, and go forward on the same 
 tack. So, by the time I had been half an hour in the house, 
 I began, to feel rather comfortable, and was inclined to think 
 that it was not so terrible a thing to court Hannah Hartshorn 
 as I expected. 
 
 "But my ague returned when I saw the considerate old 
 lady making preparations for leaving us together. The younger 
 children were first sent off ; and one of them, a saucy little 
 chit, about eleven or twelve years old, as she was leaving the 
 room, threw a knowing look first at me, and then at Hannah, 
 and burst out into a laugh. The old lady frowned, Hannah 
 blushed and looked angry, and I felt more like a fool than 
 ever. Tom, after some admonitory winks from his mother, 
 also disappeared ; and the major, after muttering something 
 about being up late the night before, and having to rise bright 
 and early the next morning, shuffled out of the room, and was 
 
POPPING THE QUESTION. 
 
 173 
 
 soon after followed by his better half, who, as she left the 
 apartment, gave me an encouraging, motherly smile, and then, 
 thinking she was unobserved, slyly shook her dumpy finger at 
 her daughter. 
 
 " Thus, at last, we were fairly left alone together. I trem 
 bled in every limb, and I ve no doubt looked as pale as a 
 ghost. I felt, at the time, that I would rather have faced a 
 grisly bear in a cave on the Rocky Mountains, than have 
 remained half an hour in that room, with no one present but 
 the finest girl in the parish. I wished that my mother had 
 been engaged in better business, when she talked me into the 
 
 project of going a-courting. My first impulse, after the sound 
 of the closing of the door died away, was to start up and run 
 
174 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 off; but I seemed pinned to my chair, and could not rise; 
 and there I sat for several minutes, looking earnestly into the 
 fire, which burned clear and brightly, and, with the aid of a 
 candle made of bayberry tallow, cast a cheerful light around 
 the room. I wanted to say something, but I could find neither 
 ideas nor words. At length, by a desperate effort, I raised 
 my head slowly, and cast a sidelong glance at my charmer. 
 There she sat, about three feet off, as firm and collected as if 
 nothing extraordinary was taking place ; but I thought she 
 looked rather solemn and disappointed. I again directed my 
 look to the fire, making an inward determination to say some 
 thing soon, when we were both startled by a coal, which, with 
 a loud snap, flew from the back-log to the further corner of 
 the room. 
 
 " Hannah, affrighted, sprang from her chair with wondrous 
 agility ; but, on seeing the cause of her alarm, quietly resumed 
 her seat, remarking in rather a sarcastic tone, * Well, that 
 spark has got some life in him, anyhow. 
 
 " This hit, evidently intended for me, increased my con 
 fusion. I succeeded, however, in forcing a dismal ha ! ha ! 
 and, feeling in every limb the necessity of bringing the affair 
 to a crisis, with wonderful temerity, hitched my chair side 
 ways towards her. Ha-a-nnah, said I, in a faltering voice, 
 Ha-a-nnah, Ha-a-rtshorn ! 
 
 " Well, Mr. Granger, replied she, rather pettishly, I 
 hear you. 
 
 " This was a damper ; nevertheless, as my courage was 
 roused, and I had got fairly started, I determined to go on. 
 
 " Ha-a-nnah, I think the old folks were ve-ve-ry 
 kind to go off to to bed, Don t y-y-ou ? 
 
 " Her only reply was a stare, which seemed to send an 
 icicle, pointed with steel, right through my bosom. But as I 
 had succeeded so well in getting out a few words, I was 
 resolved to remain dumb no longer, and, putting on a tender 
 
POPPING THE QUESTION. 175 
 
 and die-away look, I continued, Wh-a-at do you-u think the 
 o-o-ld folks went off to bed, and le-e-ft us to-ge-ther for ? 
 He-e-y ! 
 
 "So far from responding in kind to my tender look and 
 manner, her beautiful brow seemed slightly wrinkled by a 
 frown, as she rapidly replied, I suppose they went to bed 
 to sleep, and I think the best thing I can do is to follow their 
 example. Hi-ho-hum ! and the provoking jade actually 
 !j;uped in my face. 
 
 " Why, Hannah, I replied, in a faint voice, for my cour 
 age was ebbing at a rapid rate, I came all the way from our 
 house, through the Green lane, on the old colt, to see you, 
 and for no other earthly reason. And, more than all that, 
 mother not only said I might come, but told me to come. 
 
 " Your mother told you so, did she ? Ha, ha, ha ! ex 
 claimed my fair one, with a scornful laugh. 0, you are a 
 good boy, and a bright one into the bargain ! You shall have 
 a wife when you get married ! 
 
 "I was thunderstruck. A fearful shudder passed over my 
 frame, for I saw that the sweet girl, whom I had chosen for 
 my bride, was actually making fun of me, and that, as my 
 mother would have said, my cake was all dough. I leaned 
 back in my chair, and, while my limbs shook, and my teeth 
 chattered, I looked her imploringly in the face, with a vk-w 
 to remonstrate against her incivility. AYhy, Ha-a-unah, 
 dear Ha-a-nnah ! said I, in a hollow and dolorous tone, and it 
 is possible that I might have said something more, when the 
 chair,^ which was old and rickety, came down, and I in it, 
 with a terrible crash. 
 
 " This unlucky incident and my wild looks frightened the 
 poor girl almost out of her wits. She jumped from her chair, 
 screaming, 0, he s in a fit ! and, seizing a large pitcher of 
 water, that was unfortunately on the table, dashed its chilling 
 
176 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 contents full in my face and bosom, and darted out of the 
 room, crying aloud for help. 
 
 " Her parents, en dishabille, rushed in at one door, crying, 
 What s the matter ? and Tom entered at another, shouting, 
 Where is the rascal ? let me come at him ! just as I 
 recovered from my consternation, and had extricated myself 
 from the wreck. I made a run for the front window, threw 
 it up, and darted through the aperture, with the nimbi eness 
 of a harlequin, mounted the old colt, who had been patiently 
 standing beneath the tree all the time, and, applying my heels 
 to his sides, accompanied by sundry thumps and jerks of the 
 bridle, soon succeeded in urging him into a gallop down the 
 Green lane ; but not before Tom, who had mistaken the cause 
 of his sister s alarm, had rushed out at the front door, and, 
 seizing a stone of goodly size, let it fly at my back, with all 
 his strength, exclaiming, There, take that, you rascal, and 
 may it teach you better manners in future ! 
 
 " I reached home without meeting with any more adven 
 tures; but what with the cold bath administered by Hannah, 
 and the rubbing down from the hands of Tom, and the ex 
 citement of the interesting occasion, combined with the dis 
 appointment of my hopes, and the mortification at my un 
 gentle treatment from the village beauty, I was attacked the 
 next day with a violent fever, which lasted for more than a 
 week, and, before I recovered, the whole affair, through the 
 malice of Tom, and perhaps of the fair maiden herself, got 
 wind. I found that there would be no longer comfort for me 
 in Cranberry Village, and, packing up a few of rny duds, I 
 started off for Boston, shipped on board the first vessel I could 
 find bound on a foreign voyage, and, with the exception of a 
 few visits to my native village some years afterwards, have 
 stuck to the blue water ever since." 
 
 " You were a lucky fellow ! " exclaimed Tim Gibson, after 
 Frank Granger had concluded his narrative, " to get quit of 
 
POPPING THE QUESTION. 
 
 177 
 
 Hannah so easily. If you had married that girl, she would 
 have led you a dance, indeed." 
 
 " I don t know that," said Jack Dale, who had exhibited a 
 deep interest in Frank s narrative. " She was a fine spirited 
 girl, and, in my opinion, served you right, old fellow. But 
 come, Frank, this is not the only courting scrape you have met 
 with. Out with it all; make a clean breast." 
 
 But before Frank could reply, the hoarse voice "of Mr. 
 Sheavehole was heard, exclaiming, " EIGHT BELLS ! CALL THE 
 WATCH!" And soon the unwelcome sound of " LARBOARD 
 WATCH, AHOY ! " was heard by the sleepers in the forecastle, 
 who were thus unceremoniously aroused from their slumbers, 
 and, in the course of some fifteen or twenty minutes, the 
 starbolins were comfortably turned in, and, in the arms of 
 Somnus and Morpheus, no longer thought of Hannah Harts 
 horn, her father the major, or her brother Tom. 
 
 
WHISTLING JACK. 
 
 " An he had been a dog that should have howled thus, they would 
 have hanged him, and I pray God his bad voice bode no mischief. I had 
 as lief have heard the night raven, come what plague could have come 
 after it." SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 IT was a dark and rainy night, when, several years ago, 
 the good ship Chimborazo was lying snugly at anchor in the 
 lower harbor of Charleston, S. C., laden with a full cargo of 
 cotton and naval stores, and bound for Liverpool. The wind 
 was unfavorable for proceeding to sea, and, soon after dark, 
 the captain ordered the yawl to be manned to convey him to 
 the city, where he could pass the evening more in accordance 
 with his taste and inclination than on shipboard, with no other 
 associate than his mates, and confined within a small cabin, 
 half filled with bales of the staple commodity of South Caro 
 lina. 
 
 The boat, manned with four stout seamen, after a long pull, 
 reached the end of Magwood s wharf, when the captain jumped 
 ashore, and, after having ordered the men to remain in the 
 boat, and not leave it on any account, as it was uncertain at 
 what time he might wish to go on board, he passed rapidly up 
 the wharf, and, without doubt, soon found a snug harbor, 
 with pleasant accommodations and attractive company, where 
 he remained, indulging in conversation, wine and cigars, hour 
 after hour, unmindful of the honest and obedient tars, who, 
 reclining on the stern seats of the boat, exposed to the peltings 
 of the storm, were haply thinking of home, or wondering how 
 
WHISTLING JACK. 17& 
 
 long the skipper would be absent, or longing for a chance to 
 change their duds, and turn in, after a hard day s work. 
 
 But the skipper came not. The rain came on thicker and 
 faster, the wind also increased, and was soon heard to whistle 
 mournfully through the rigging of the ships moored further 
 up the wharf. 
 
 " I wish the captain would come ! " exclaimed Ned Alanson, 
 impatiently. " The storm is getting troublesome ; my tar 
 paulin s leaky, and my monkey jacket wants a collar." 
 
 " Never mind that," remarked Ichabod Watson. " It will 
 be all the same a hundred years hence. But hark ! how the 
 wind howls and whistles ! It is playing a tune among the 
 standing rigging of the Hyder Ali ; a melancholy tune 
 though, which reminds me of the plaintive moan of a ship 
 mate I once sailed with, whom we used to call Whistling 
 Jack. Heaven send that the sad music bodes no evil ! " 
 
 " Whistling Jack ! " exclaimed Simon Singleton, with a 
 sepulchral yawn. " Who was Whistling Jack ? He must 
 have been a queer fellow." 
 
 " He was a queer fellow," replied Ichabod, " and, if I 
 thought I should have time enough, I would tell you about 
 the last cruise we had together." 
 
 "Time enough! " growled Ned Alanson. "We shall have 
 time enough, never fear, even if your story is as long as the 
 maintop-bowline and the flying-jib downhaul spliced together. 
 You 11 have time enough, and to spare ; so heave ahead, 
 and spin us the yarn about your cruise ; that s a good fel 
 low." 
 
 " Well," replied Ichabod, " I ve no objection, and it may 
 serve to pass away the time. As for taking a snooze on the 
 stern seats, that s out of the question. One might as well 
 try to sleep with his head in a bucket of water. So here 
 goes! 
 
 " It was somewhere about the year 1822 or 23, I don t 
 
180 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 recollect which, for I never was a good hand at dates, 
 being in this port, and my money all spent, I was a great 
 hand at spending money in those days, I shipped on board 
 the brig Priam, a neat little vessel, on a voyage to Belize in 
 Honduras. The brig was laden - with a choice variety of 
 Yankee notions, and, among other things, as I learnt after 
 wards, had a considerable quantity of gunpowder, in kegs, 
 stowed away in the run. The name of the captain was Mc 
 Gregor. He was a fine-looking man, and a thorough sailor ; 
 and, although he was a strict disciplinarian, he was no bully, 
 but treated his sailors like men, and had a noble heart in 
 his bosom, which is more than can be said of some captains I 
 have sailed with. 
 
 " Mr. Hanjmond, the mate, was a good enough sort of a 
 fellow, quiet and well-meaning; but one who would never 
 astonish the natives by his talents or genius, or set the ocean 
 on fire, as the white bear said to the iceberg. He knew how 
 to write the log, take a meridian altitude of the sun, and keep 
 a good watch ; and he could also splice the main-brace, and 
 chew tobacco with any man living. There were four men 
 before the mast beside myself, stout, able-bodied fellows, who 
 were able and willing to do their whole duty as sailors, and 
 scorned to ask a favor of any man. Three of them were natives 
 of New England, but had been knocked about the world so 
 long, and treated so roughly, that they retained but few traits 
 of the Yankee character, excepting open hands, generous 
 hearts, and a contempt of danger in whatever form it might 
 present itself. The other, whose name, according to his pro 
 tection, was John Johnson, but better known on board as 
 Whistling Jack, was a strange character. He was rather 
 advanced in life, being somewhere between forty-five and fifty 
 years of age; quite an old man, for a seafaring occupation 
 is a great shortener of life. No one knew where he was born, 
 or to what country he belonged. He had doubtless passed 
 
WHISTLING JACK. 181 
 
 through many eventful scenes ; had sailed under many flags, 
 and braved the battle as well as the storm, in different hemi 
 spheres. He was illiterate, the victim of prejudices, and ex 
 ceedingly superstitious, rather self-willed, but shrewd, good at 
 expedients, fearing nothing, ready at all times for whatever 
 might occur, and endowed with a good share of common sense, 
 fortified by experience and observation. Nothing was known 
 of Jack s history excepting that he lost his parents at a very 
 early age, and when only nine years old commenced his nau 
 tical career in the capacity of cabin-boy. Since that time, 
 he had never returned to his home ; he had been a vagabond 
 on the waters ; he had never enjoyed the sweets of domestic 
 society ; he had never known how pleasant it is to listen to 
 the voice of kindness or affection from a relation, or even a 
 friend. 
 
 " And yet Jack was not unhappy, and would have felt in 
 dignant at being regarded as an object of sympathy. His 
 home was the forecastle ; and he loved dearly to tread the 
 main or forecastle deck of a ship, while the wind was howling 
 and whistling through the rigging. At such times he experi 
 enced as much enjoyment as the enamored swain, accompa 
 nied by his lady love, wandering through flowery paths and 
 shady groves. On shore he was out of his element, and hav 
 ing no taste for rational enjoyments, and entertaining a su 
 preme contempt for land-lubbers, spent his money as quickly 
 as possible, and away to sea again. When old Jack stood on 
 the forecastle, in a dark and gloomy night, keeping a look-out 
 on the weather bow, the good craft plunging furiouslv along 
 through the waves, and scattering the spray in showers over 
 the decks, with a grim smile he would try to take a survey of 
 the world of waters around him, and exult in his good fortune 
 while he pitied the poor fellows doomed to a dull and monot 
 onous life on shore all their days. 
 
 " Old Jack was an excellent whistler. His pipe was aston- 
 16 
 
182 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 ishingly clear, and its tone as rich and musical as the voice 
 of a mermaid. This musical gift was by many supposed to 
 have been conferred by the kind act of a good-natured French 
 man, who widened his mouth some one or two inches more 
 than nature intended, by the thrust of a boarding-pike, as 
 Jack, at the head of a score of brave fellows, was climbing 
 up the side of a French vessel of war, with the praiseworthy 
 intent of carrying her by boarding. Be that as it will, the 
 slit in Jack s face, called by courtesy a mouth, was enormous 
 ly long, a little on one side, and all askew. It rather added 
 to than detracted from the generally unfavorable appearance 
 of the honest sailor s phiz. 
 
 " Jack was surnamed the Whistler ; but there was noth 
 ing frivolous, lively and cheering in his style of whistling. It 
 was of a mild and plaintive character. He did not often 
 whistle ; but when he indulged this singular gift, there was 
 no impatience, as is usual, manifested by the officers or men ; 
 all listened to his outpourings of lillebulleroo, with the 
 closest attention. When anything occurred to give a melan 
 choly tone to his reflections, Jack would whistle for an hour 
 at a time, while walking the forecastle. It was also remarked 
 by those of his shipmates who knew him well, that a furious 
 storm was never known to burst upon the heads of the ship s 
 company, unless they had been previously serenaded by Whis 
 tling Jack. Indeed, after his strange gift became familiar to 
 a ship s company, he was regarded with a sort of mysterious 
 awe by the seamen, and with interest by the captain, who lis 
 tened to his melody with misgivings, as to the unerring indica 
 tor of a tempest, or some other fearful disaster. 
 
 " On one occasion, during a voyage from New Orleans tc 
 Havre, in the months of January and February, when his fre 
 quent and prolonged bursts of melody were succeeded by ter 
 rific storms, the crew were disposed to regard him, not merely 
 as the foreteller, but the cause, the producer, of tempests, and 
 
WHISTLING JACK. 183 
 
 held a serious consultation whether it were not advisable to 
 give him, like another Jonah, a sea-toss into the briny deep ! 
 And this they would have done without ceremony, had they 
 not feared that disastrous consequences to themselves would 
 have followed the commission of such an act. 
 
 " Just as we had cast off from the wharf at Charleston, two 
 passengers came on board ; Mr. Calderon, who had been 
 established as a merchant at Belize for several years, and his 
 daughter Margaret, who had just completed her education at 
 a boarding-school in Xew England. Margaret Calderon was 
 a lovely and interesting girl, about seventeen years of age, of 
 a slight and delicate figure, and a sweet but pensive expres 
 sion of countenance. She seemed all kindness, gentleness 
 and purity ; in a word, she was a noble specimen of woman ; 
 and no one but a cold-hearted, unfeeling brute, a lands 
 man, of course, would have hesitated to risk, ay, sacrifice 
 his life to avert from her any impending evil, and contribute 
 to her happiness. Such gentle beings are out of place at sea, 
 where the comforts of life are few, where society is rough and 
 unpolished, and appalling perils are sometimes met with on 
 every side. 
 
 " Well, we sailed from Charleston. The weather was de 
 lightful, the sea was smooth, and the brig was an excellent ves 
 sel of her class. Captain McGregor, too, was kind and atten 
 tive to his passengers, and made himself particularly agreeable 
 to Margaret. Indeed, all was harmony and frolic on board. 
 Margaret Calderon was charmed to find everything so differ 
 ent from what she was prepared to expect, and, with the relish 
 which youth and innocence impart, truly enjoyed this poetry 
 of the sea. During the greater part of the quiet moonlight 
 eights she would remain on deck, watching the course of the 
 vessel as it glided almost noiselessly over the surface of the 
 ocean, or gazing with surprise and pleasure on the phospho 
 rescent track, illumined by dazzling flashes of light, surpass- 
 
184 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 ing in brilliancy the rays reflected from the purest gems of 
 the East. 
 
 " We had a favorable run to the island of Abaco, whose 
 sandy shores and wild, uncultivated soil, covered with tropical 
 shrubs, elicited the admiration of our fair passenger. We 
 passed the Hole in the Wall, a well-known natural curios 
 ity, which for ages has been a land-mark for navigators. We 
 rounded the Berry Islands, and entered upon the Great Ba 
 hama Bank, where the sea is always smooth, and the water 
 shoal, and so transparent that every object on the bottom can 
 be distinctly seen, and where, owing to the disintegrated white 
 coral limestone, which rests upon the bottom, the waters re 
 semble a vast ocean of milk, so far as the eye can reach. We 
 passed quite near the dangerous rocks on the edge of the bank, 
 known as the Orange Keys, which are much dreaded by sea 
 men, and made the Double Headed Shot Keys on the Salt 
 Key Bank, without meeting with any occurrence calculated to 
 interrupt the pleasure of the voyage. 
 
 " The night previous to our reaching the Salt Key Bank, 
 while gently gliding over the Great Bahama, the passengers 
 being on deck enjoying the tranquil scene, Whistling Jack 
 struck up one of his plaintive tunes, which attracted the at 
 tention and excited the admiration of all on board. He was 
 listened to in silence, and when he was inclined to cease with 
 his music, Captain McGregor, at the solicitation of Margaret, 
 urged him to proceed, and whistle another tune. Thinks I to 
 myself, my kind friends, if you knew as much about Whistling 
 Jack s music as I do, you would rather hear in* full chorus a 
 menagerie of wild beasts, or a glee sung by donkeys with the 
 frying-pan accompaniments, than listen to a solo at sea, per 
 formed on the whistling pipe of old Jack. 
 
 "The next morning Captain McGregor was walking the 
 quarter-deck, while I was at the helrn. Captain, said I, 
 
WHISTLING JACK. 
 
 185 
 
 we shall have trouble before we are twenty-four hours 
 older. 
 
 " Why so, my lad ? said he. 
 
 " Because I have never known old Jack to whistle as he 
 did last night in the first watch, without its being followed 
 by mischief ; and if you don t fall in with a pirate, en 
 counter a hurricane, or run the good vessel hard and fast 
 ashore before another day, then I m a false prophet, that s 
 all! 
 
 " Pooh, pooh, Ichabod ! said he ; I thought you had 
 more sense than to encourage such idle fancies. I never seek 
 to foretell evil, or to borrow trouble ; it is bad enough when 
 it comes. 
 
 " The wind was now from the south-east, blowing a fresh 
 breeze, with a brassy, hazy atmosphere. The sun shone dimly 
 through the vapors, and his rays seemed to have been dipped 
 in bronze. The wind gradually increased, as it hauled further 
 to the southward, and compelled us to brace up the yards. In 
 the afternoon it blew strong from the south-west, and we were 
 obliged to haul on a wind, furl top-gallant-sails, and take a 
 reef in the topsails. The last rays of the sun were seen through 
 an angry-looking, coppery sky ; and soon after that luminary 
 had disappeared beneath the horizon, a severe gale commenced 
 from north-north-west, and we were compelled to gather in the 
 muslin as fast as possible, until we hove to under a close- 
 reefed main-topsail. The wind increased until it became 
 a furious hurricane, a norther, as such a storm in those lati 
 tudes is called, and we could show nothing to the tempest but 
 bare poles. Our main-topsail was blown from the yard ; our 
 courses were forced from their gaskets, and torn into ribbons ; 
 the brig was blown over almost on her beam-ends, and the 
 seas were striking against her broad-side, and rushing across 
 her decks, straining every joint in the old Priam s hull, and 
 opening every seam, from the garboard streak to the plank- 
 16* 
 
186 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 shear. We eased her a little by cutting away her topmasts, 
 but still we were in danger of foundering, and knew she had 
 considerable water in the hold. We might have got her 
 before the wind, and she would have scudded along as dry 
 and as safe as a duck in a pond, but alas ! the whole northern 
 rock-bound shore of Cuba was under our lee, from which we 
 were not distant more than thirty or forty miles, and towards 
 which we were rapidly drifting ! 
 
 "The norther continued- nearly through the night without 
 abating one capfull of its violence ; and a terrible night it was 
 for all on board, but especially for the poor passengers in the 
 cabin, who had never before experienced the discomforts and 
 perils of a hurricane at sea. That beautiful girl, if she should 
 live a century, will never forget that dreadful night on the 
 coast of Cuba. 
 
 " The wind died away towards morning, and when day 
 light broke in the east, and our plight could be seen, it was 
 miserable enough. Our sails were nearly all blown away ; 
 our topmasts were lying alongside ; our decks were swept 
 fore and aft ; our bulwarks, long-boat, caboose, spare spars, 
 &c., washed overboard, and there was a large quantity of 
 water in the hold. Our men were completely exhausted and 
 worn out with the arduous duties and labors of the previous 
 twelve hours. Our vessel was thus unmanageable, and, to 
 crown our misfortunes, we could see through the morning 
 mists the breakers dashing against the rock-bound coast of 
 Cuba, at a distance of only a few miles. With a tremendous 
 sea or swell heaving directly on shore, there seemed to be 
 nothing to prevent our being shipwrecked on the reefs, in the 
 course of a few hours. But what sudden vicissitudes occur in, 
 ihc life of a sailor ! As the mists cleared away, every heart 
 was rejoiced to see under our lee the Spanish flag waving over 
 the Moro castle, the frowning fortress that commands the 
 entrance into the harbor of Havana ! 
 
WHISTLING JACK. 187 
 
 " "We were saved from destruction. The helm was put up ; 
 the yards squared, and, in a short time, instead of being 
 dashed on the rocks, we were snugly anchored in one of the 
 finest harbors in the world ! 
 
 " Some weeks passed away before the Priam was put in 
 a condition to continue the voyage. In the mean time our 
 passengers had time to recruit. But the dangers which 
 threatened our vessel during the hurricane were not easily 
 forgotten, and rumors of piracies in the Gulf of Mexico and 
 off the Isle of Pines had a tendency to awaken serious appre 
 hensions in the minds of the passengers. Mr. Calderon 
 shuddered when he looked upon his daughter, and thought of 
 her fearful fate, should she fall into the hands of the pirates, 
 and at one time concluded to send her back to the United 
 States, which project, in consequence of the remonstrances of 
 Margaret, who longed to see her mother and other members 
 of the family, from whom she had been long separated, he 
 afterwards abandoned. 
 
 " Mr. Hammond, the mate, who had got some inklings of 
 the musical foreshadowings of evil on the part of Whistling 
 Jack, and who regarded him as a doubtful character, that 
 quite likely had entered into a sort of co-partnership with his 
 cloven-footed majesty, strongly urged Captain McGregor to 
 turn him adrift. This Captain McGregor refused to do, and 
 Hammond predicted that all sorts of evils would occur during 
 the passage to Balize. He is a real Jonah, sir, said he, 
 * and if he goes with us we shall have to throw him overboard 
 before we pass Cape Antonio. 
 
 "Captain McGregor shook his head, and, with a signi 
 ficant smile, replied, Mr. Hammond, I shall turn no man 
 out of my ship, but if any one wishes to leave me, even your 
 self, sir, I shall make no objection whatever. 
 
 " The mate was silenced, bit his lips, and turned away. 
 But, on the eve of departure, he told old Jack there was to 
 
188 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 be no more whistling on board ; and, said he, with due 
 emphasis, I 11 tell you what it is, my fine fellow, if you 
 screw up that ill-looking potato-trap of yours, for the purpose 
 of whistling dismal tunes to give us all the blues, and raise 
 old Davy Jones himself from the bottom of the ocean, I 11 
 find some way to take a sheep-shank in it, which will keep 
 you from whistling again as long as you live. 
 
 " Jack replied not, but twisted his potato-trap into a 
 grin, and ogled the mate with his cross-jack eye. 
 
 " We sailed from Havana. The good old brig, as she 
 passed the Moro Castle, looked as neat and trig as a maiden 
 rigged out for a ball. We left the harbor with a fair wind, 
 and pleasantly and gracefully the gallant vessel again danced 
 and bounded over the dark blue sea. Again hope cheered 
 the bosoms of all on board; our beautiful lady passenger 
 seemed to have renewed her buoyant spirits, and proudly 
 walked the deck, supporting herself on the arm of the capti 
 vated McGregor, and rallied her father on the sad forebodings 
 in which he had indulged before leaving the port. 
 
 " Sailors may say what they please about having women on 
 board ships as passengers. It cannot be that the charming 
 creatures should always bring bad luck. It is much more 
 likely that, with their sweet smiles, their gentle dispositions 
 and pure hearts, their presence would avert threatening 
 dangers, or prepare the hardy mariners to meet them with 
 resolution and energy. And, indeed, if the worst should come 
 to the worst, I would rather sink with them than float without 
 them. 
 
 " Before we came up with the Colorado reef, the breeze 
 died away, and, for some two or three days, with a strong 
 current against us, we hardly gained any to the westward, the 
 wind being light and baffling. On the fourth night out, as I 
 lay in my berth thinking about home and my kind mother, 
 and regretting that I had been such a fool as to go to sea for 
 
WHISTLING JACK. 189 
 
 a living, which, whatever Whistling Jack might say, is really 
 but a dog s life after all, I fancied I heard Jack s musical 
 whistle on deck. I was startled at the sound, which I felt in 
 my heart portended some dreadful disaster, and sprung from 
 my berth, and hastened on deck. Sure enough, there sat the 
 old fellow, coiled up on the bowsprit, between the knight- 
 heads, and whistling away one of his most dismal tunes, as if 
 for a wager. I was irritated, and determined to put his pipe 
 out, and spoil his music for a & time at least. Accordingly, I 
 took a bucket of salt water, and walked gently forward, until 
 I got into reaching distance of this musical forerunner of 
 peril, and gave him, with a hearty good will, the contents of 
 the bucket on his distorted phiz, a fair portion of which 
 must have entered his tunnel-shaped mouth, and found its 
 way down his windpipe, for his mellifluous whistle was on 
 the instant transformed into a suffocating splutter; and while 
 he floundered off the bowsprit on deck, blowing like a gram 
 pus, I quietly dove below, grinning at the success of my 
 undertaking ! But who shall escape his destiny ? Jack s 
 whistle, interrupted as it was, involved sad consequences. 
 Although I will not undertake to dispute that the same events 
 would not have happened, if Whistling Jack had never had 
 existence. 
 
 " On the fifth day after leaving Havana, with a light 
 baffling winds and a strong current rushing through the 
 narrow strait which separates Cuba from Yucatan, we found 
 ourselves some twenty or thirty miles to the northward of 
 Cape Antonio, in the Gulf of Mexico. It was about two 
 o clock in the afternoon, when a fine breeze sprang up from 
 the east-south-east, and we crowded all sail on a wind to 
 the southward, with the expectation of soon passing the Cape, 
 already notorious for the many piracies which had been com 
 mitted in its vicinity, and, entering into the Caribbean Sea, 
 and reaching our wished-for port in the Bay of Honduras. 
 
190 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 " This prospect seemed to cheer the hearts of all on board. 
 Even Whistling Jack, by a sort of diagonal grin, manifested 
 feelings of delight, and Miss Calderon could hardly contain 
 her transports. She clapped her little hands for joy when she 
 saw the noble vessel urged rapidly on her way by a fresh 
 and delightful breeze. She would pass along the deck to the 
 bow, and watch with delight the ever- vary ing ripples con 
 stantly forming by the motion of the vessel, or sit on the 
 taffrail, and gaze at the lingering wake, 
 
 * Which, like a wounded snake, dragged its slow length along. 
 
 " Since leaving Havana, we had seen several vessels, pass 
 ing in different directions, which, at a glance, were known as 
 merchantmen engaged in errands connected with commerce. 
 The sight of a stranger on the ocean, when it conjures up 
 no fears of an enemy in war, or a pirate in peace, forms a 
 pleasant interruption to the monotony of a sea voyage, and 
 our fair passenger had derived much gratification, in gazing 
 on their snow-white sails and graceful movements, as, obedient 
 to the controlling power on their decks, they glided noiselessly 
 over the surface of the sea, towards their wished-for ports ; 
 but during the last day of the calm, no strange vessel was tb 
 be seen ; the Priam seemed alone on the ocean. 
 
 " On the memorable afternoon, on which the breeze sprung 
 up, and while we were rapidly approaching Cape Latouche, in 
 tending to keep as far from Cape Antonio as possible, I was 
 ordered aloft by Mr. Hammond to put a new seizing on the 
 Flemish horse, at the starboard foretopsail yard-arm. After 
 I had completed the job, I took a look around the horizon, 
 and, shipmates, I must confess, a chill crept over me, when I 
 saw, about four points on the weather-bow, a vessel steering 
 in a direction which would soon bring her close aboard. She 
 was a small schooner, sitting low on the water, with raking 
 
WHISTLING JACK. U l 
 
 masts, and only three fore-and-aft sails. There was nothing 
 in itself alarming or even suspicious in her appearance. 
 Indeed, she resembled a friendly pilot-boat, such as are fallen 
 in with off the Capes of the Chesapeake or Sandy Hook, and 
 are greeted with cheers of gladness by the tempest-tost mari 
 ner on approaching his native shore, after years of absence in 
 distant seas. But the appearance of such a vessel in the 
 Gulf of Mexico, carried with it associations of a different 
 character, piracy and murder, and it is probable that the 
 tone of my voice might have betrayed my apprehensions, when 
 I shouted, Sail ho ! 
 
 " I indicated the direction in which the vessel was seen, 
 and described her rig, at which, I fancied, a cloud passed 
 over the countenance of the captain. He took his spy-glass 
 with him to the fore-yard, and examined the stranger long 
 and narrowly. As we rapidly neared each other, the schooner 
 could be seen from the deck, and became an object of scrutiny 
 to every person on board. From the grave countenances 
 around, and the serious, speaking looks which were exchanged, 
 it was clear that the strange vessel was not regarded as an 
 object of welcome or delight. 
 
 " Margaret Calderon looked up in her father s face, but 
 saw there nothing to allay her rising suspicions of danger. 
 She turned to Captain McGregor, but he seemed watching the 
 motions of the schooner with fixed and eager gaze, as if he 
 was determined to penetrate the veil which concealed the 
 character of the vessel. 
 
 " Captain McGregor, said Margaret, earnestly, laying 
 her hand on his shoulder, do tell me what you think of that 
 vessel. Is there cause for alarm ? Do you think do you 
 really think 0, tell me the truth ! do you think it is a 
 pirate ? 
 
 " McGregor turned round, and with a forced smile and a 
 gentle voice, replied, * I will not conceal from you, Miss Cal- 
 
192 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 deron, that the general appearance of that vessel in these 
 seas, and the course which she is steering, combined with the 
 many rumors which were in circulation in Havana when we 
 left that port, furnish some cause for suspicion that all about 
 her is not exactly as it should be. Nevertheless, our suspi 
 cions may be unjust, and the schooner may be engaged in some 
 honest commercial undertaking. 
 
 " Perhaps, said Mr. Calderon to his daughter, she is a 
 Yankee -schooner returning to New Orleans, after supplying 
 the Cubanos with a cargo of notions. 
 
 " * Or, said McGregor, * perhaps she is running down to 
 Sisal, the bearer of important intelligence from some Ameri 
 can house in Havana. 
 
 " Whistling Jack, who, with the others of the crew, had 
 been silently listening to the conversation, shook his head, 
 and muttered as if in soliloquy, I wish it might prove so ; 
 but and he gave Margaret a look which expressed a vol 
 ume of mournful meaning. The color forsook her cheeks, and 
 from that moment she sought to prepare herself for the worst 
 which might happen. 
 
 " At all events, said Captain McGregor, with a marked 
 change in his tone and manner, I will soon ascertain his 
 true character. Ready about ! and while the men were 
 mustering to their stations, he conducted Margaret to the 
 quarter-deck. The pale girl refused to go below, but stood 
 in the companion-way, while the evolution was carried into 
 effect. 
 
 " The captain gave the necessary orders with his usual 
 decided and manly tone, and the brig was soon on the other 
 tack, steering to the north-eastward, while the course the 
 schooner was pursuing was nearly west north-west. Her dis 
 tance at this moment was about six miles in a south-east 
 direction. And now every eye was directed towards the 
 schooner, while intense anxiety was witnessed in the counte- 
 
WHISTLING JACK. 193 
 
 nance of every man on board. At length, Mr. Hammond 
 broke the silence by a boisterous < Ha, ha, ha ! I knew 
 there was no cause for alarm. That fellow is about his reg 
 ular business, and, if we let him alone, I ; 11 be bound he will 
 let us alone ; and the smile of exultation, as he concluded 
 his remarks, showed that his heart was relieved of a very 
 heavy load. 
 
 "Hardly had the remarks of Mr. Hammond escaped his 
 lips, when a movement occurred on board the schooner which 
 falsified his prediction. That vessel suddenly changed her 
 course, jibed ship, hauled her wind to the northward, and 
 steered directly for the brig. If any doubts had existed in 
 the mind of McGregor before, respecting the piratical charac 
 ter of the stranger, they were now dispelled. It is a pirate ! 
 said he, in a low, but distinct tone. 
 
 " * It is, indeed ! responded Mr. Calderon. My poor 
 Margaret ! What will become of her ? 
 
 " Don t be unnecessarily alarmed, exclaimed the captain. 
 We may yet succeed in giving her the slip, under cover of the 
 night. What man can do shall be done. At all events, if we 
 cannot escape, we can fight ; and it is better to die with arms 
 in our hands, than to surrender without a blow, and be after 
 wards slaughtered like sheep in the shambles, or strung up 
 like dogs at the yard-arm. 
 
 " And now McGregor proved that he possessed energy and 
 resolution meet for the occasion. He ordered the brig to be 
 kept off the wind some two or three points; the yards were 
 braced in, so that every sail would draw, and the main and 
 fore topmast and top-gallant studding-sails were set ; the 
 flying-jib, royals and staysails of every kind were hoisted, and 
 a careful man was placed at the helm. W r hips were prepared 
 for hoisting water aloft, and the sails, from the jack cross-trees 
 down, were kept saturated with salt water. The good vessel 
 seemed to respond to the wishes of her commander ; and, like 
 17 
 
194 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 a gallant steed, strained every nerve to distance her pursuer. 
 But the breeze seemed to die away as the sun approached the 
 horizon, and the Priam s crew were compelled to admit, though 
 reluctantly, the unwelcome fact that the schooner sailed three 
 feet to their two ! Captain McGregor, finding that escape was 
 hopeless, lost no time in making preparations for embracing 
 the only alternative remaining. There were some half-dozen 
 muskets on board, and a few cutlasses and boarding-pikes. 
 The muskets were loaded with buck-shot, and arrangements 
 were entered into for making a desperate resistance. Cap 
 tain McGregor harangued his men ; he told us, what was true 
 enough, that it was better to die like brave men, with arms in 
 our hands, nobly fighting for our lives, than to submit like 
 cowards, and afterwards be massacred in cold blood. He 
 reminded us also that there was a woman on board, whose 
 honor as well as life was at stake, and that no true Yankee 
 sailor was ever known to desert a woman in distress, or to 
 hesitate to sacrifice his life for her protection. 
 
 " He was replied to by three cheers, such as sailors only 
 know how to give ; and we, one and all, pledged ourselves to 
 stand by him so long as we were able to handle a musket or 
 wield a cutlass or a handspike. Mr. Calderon joined the 
 captain in thanking us for our devotion. He was a man of 
 courage and spirit, notwithstanding he was not much of a 
 sailor ; and it was plain that his only fear was for the fate of 
 his daughter. 
 
 " There was only one person on board who did not partici 
 pate in the general enthusiasm ; and that was Mr. Hammond, 
 the mate. In a moody, discontented tone, he addressed him 
 self to the captain, and asked him if with only eight men 
 besides the cook, all told, and no large guns, he thought of 
 resisting the pirates. 
 
 " McGregor s face grew as dark as night, and a frown 
 gathered upon his brow ; but apparently with a strong effort 
 
WHISTLING JACK. 
 
 195 
 
 he controlled his feelings, and nodded in the affirmative. But, 
 when Hammond remonstrated, in a mutinous spirit, against 
 such a desperate course, suggesting that life was dear to him, 
 at least, and he had no idea of sacrificing it for any woman 
 that ever lived, and that the only way of saving our lives 
 was to heave the brig to, at once, and make no show of re 
 sistance, the patience of the manly McGregor was overcome. 
 With one blow of his clenched fist, ,he stretched the craven- 
 hearted wretch upon the deck ; and, as this faithless officer 
 
 attempted to rise, he was greeted with derisive shouts of 
 laughter from the noble tars, and the stern tones of McGre 
 gor s voice, as he said, * You despicable scoundrel, if you wish 
 to save your worthless life, obey my orders to the letter, and 
 do your duty like a man ! If I see you flinch from those cut 
 throats, beg for quarter, or exhibit the slightest sign of fear 
 for the safety of your own miserable carcass, during the com- 
 
196 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 ing fight, I will shoot you through the head with as little re 
 morse as I would the leader of the band of pirates ! 
 
 " Margaret had gone below as soon as the true character 
 of the schooner had been ascertained, overcome with fear, as 
 Mr. McGregor and her father supposed, at the prospect of the 
 peril which was impending. But she soon appeared again on 
 deck, with a slight change in her costume, approaching to the 
 Amazonian. Her dress was somewhat abridged, and looped 
 up on one side, so as to offer no impediment to the free exer 
 cise of her limbs. Her hair, which usually fell in luxuriant 
 ringlets about her swan-like neck, was now gathered and con 
 cealed from view beneath an embroidered velvet cap, belong 
 ing to her father. She wore a dagger at her girdle, and the 
 compression of her lip, and the fire which sparkled in her 
 dark eye, proclaimed her determination to share the dangers 
 of the approaching strife, and to mingle in the combat which 
 must decide her destiny, and die rather than fall alive into 
 the hands of the pirates. 
 
 " Her appearance on deck excited the surprise of her father, 
 and the admiration of McGregor. Our hardy tars regarded 
 her with feelings of mingled delight and respect ; they vener 
 ated her as a being of a superior order ; and Whistling Jack, 
 giving Hammond a savage look, said that the man who would 
 talk of surrendering to pirates, while such an angelic spirit 
 was on board, deserved to be keel-hauled first, and afterwards 
 hanged. 
 
 " In the mean time, the wind had in a great measure died 
 away, yet the schooner, impelled by sweeps as well as the 
 gentle breeze, was rapidly coming up. As the sun was sink 
 ing beneath the horizon, the p irate vessel was not more than 
 a couple of miles off. A blood-red flag was waving at her 
 peak, and her decks were actually covered with men. A 
 gleam of satisfaction shot across the countenance of Captain 
 McGregor, as, after a careful examination through his glass, 
 
WHISTLING JACK. 197 
 
 he announced the fact that there was no large gun on the 
 deck of the schooner. * The rascals ! said he, mean to run 
 alongside, and carry us by boarding. We will keep quiet, 
 until they are huddled together for the rush upon our decks ; 
 then give them a well-directed volley from our small arms, 
 seize our cutlasses and boarding-pikes, and show how bravely 
 true-hearted men can fight when they fight for their lives. 
 
 " At this moment, Whistling Jack approached the captain, 
 and in a whisper suggested something which seemed to meet 
 his hearty concurrence. At the end of their conference he 
 seized that worthy tar by the hand, shook it heartily, and 
 exclaimed aloud, The idea is a good one, Jack. The exper 
 iment shall be tried, and, my good fellow, if we escape from 
 the peril which threatens us, and I feel confident we shall, 
 while Alexander McGregor lives, you shall never want a 
 friend. Muster this way, my lads, continued the captain, 
 addressing the crew, get tackles aloft ! Clear out the long 
 boat, and get all ready for hoisting it over the side. 
 
 " The men caught the idea, and went to work with wonder 
 ful alacrity. It seemed but a few minutes before the tackles 
 were rove and hooked on, the lashings were cut, some small 
 spars and sails, some breakers of water, and a quantity of 
 provisions, a miscellaneous collection, were deposited in the 
 boat, which was soon in a condition to be placed in the water, 
 over the larboard gunwale, at a moment s warning. 
 
 " If the wind dies away, said the captain to Mr. Cal- 
 deron and Margaret, we will take to the boat as soon as 
 it is dark, or as soon as we can place the broadside of the 
 brig between the boat and the pirate, to protect us from 
 the shower of bullets, which they will otherwise send among 
 us! 
 
 " Twilight in those latitudes is short, yet the schooner 
 approached so rapidly, that, ere the brig was enveloped in 
 17* 
 
198 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 darkness, the dip of the pirate s sweeps could be distinctly 
 heard. 
 
 " Now, said McGregor, in a low, but firm and determined 
 tone, hard down your helm, my lad ! 
 
 " The brig, which was proceeding at the rate of some three 
 or four knots, came to the wind at once ; her sails were taken 
 aback, and she lay motionless as a log on the ocean. 
 
 " * Lower away the boat ! said McGregor. The long-boat 
 which had for some time been suspended over the lee gunwale, 
 was floating in the water, almost before the words were out of 
 his mouth. 
 
 " One volley, before we go ! shouted McGregor, as he 
 seized a loaded musket. Let us leave some remembrance 
 behind us ; and his example was followed by the crew. 
 
 " The schooner was now within pistol shot, directly on our 
 starboard beam, heading towards us, and her forecastle and 
 jib-boom were full of men, ready to board as soon as she 
 struck our side, and cut down every man upon our decks. 
 They little expected the storm of bullets and buck-shot which 
 now fell among them, and which, from the fearful shrieks 
 and yelling which followed, must have done terrible execu 
 tion. But there was now no time to be lost. In, into the 
 boat, every man ! In for your lives ! and, as McGregor 
 spoke, he handed the slight form of Margaret into the hands 
 of her father. At this moment, a volley of musket balls, sent 
 by the pirates, rattled among the rigging. But no one was 
 injured, excepting the unlucky Hammond, who was shot 
 through the body, as he was passing over the gunwale, and 
 fell alongside. 
 
 " Are we all in ? cried the captain, as he leaped from the 
 gangway into the stern seats. If so, shove off! Take your 
 oars, men, and pull for your lives ! 
 
 " The boat was hardly a couple of oars lengths from the 
 brig, ere the pirate struck the brig amidships, and, amid a din 
 
WHISTLING JACK. 199 
 
 of arms, horrid oaths, and execrations, a swarm of pirates 
 sprang on board, and took possession of the deck ! 
 
 " At this critical moment, McGregor saw that another of 
 our crew, besides Hammond, was missing. Where is Whist 
 ling Jack ? he exclaimed. 
 
 " Massa, replied the cook, a stalwart negro, who was 
 already doing faithful duty at the oar, I don t know where 
 he be now, but jus before we shooted at dem rascals, he 
 asked me whereabouts in the run the gunpowder was stowed, 
 and then took a pistol, and went down the companion-way. 
 
 " Poor fellow ! I understand it all now. Faithful to the 
 last ! Give way, my good men, if you would see the light of 
 another day. 
 
 " Poor Jack ! exclaimed Margaret, whose kind feelings, 
 even in this extremity, urged her to think of others. * Can 
 nothing be done to save him ? 
 
 " But McGregor, thrusting the tiller into the hands of Mr. 
 Calderon, seized the after oar, aiding with his powerful arm 
 to force the boat through the water, and exclaimed, with 
 frantic energy, Give way, men ! A few more strokes of 
 the oar ! Give way, for your lives ! 
 
 " At this moment the pirates, having discovered the escape 
 of the crew, uttered a shout of rage and disappointment, and 
 commenced firing upon the boat, which could be dimly seen, 
 a dark object amid the surrounding darkness. A few bullets 
 whistled over the heads of the fugitives, when, suddenly, the 
 whole ocean around, and the heavens above, seemed lighted 
 up with unearthly fires, at the same instant a terrific explo 
 sion took place, which seemed to shake the waters . beneath 
 and the atmosphere around, producing upon the senses a 
 stunning and appalling effect, which was followed by a strange 
 splashing in the water, in every direction, caused by a shower 
 of fragments of plank, and timber, and human bodies, which 
 
200 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 seemed to come down from the clouds ; this was succeeded by 
 darkness and the stillness of death ! 
 
 " Whistling Jack, as soon as the brig was in possession of 
 the pirates, had flashed a pistol among the gunpowder-kegs 
 in the run, and blown both vessels into ten thousand frag 
 ments ! 
 
 " The sea around was covered with the portions of the wreck. 
 Some pieces of plank fell into the boat, but without causing 
 serious injury to any one on board. Of all that band of fero 
 cious pirates, who, a moment before, trod the decks of those 
 vessels, instigated by the most demoniacal passions, and 
 breathing curses, hatred, and vengeance, in their disappoint 
 ment of imbruing their hands in the blood of their unoffend 
 ing fellow-men, not one was left ! All, all, were cut off in 
 the midst of their horrible iniquities. 
 
 " The rest of the story is soon told. Little was said among 
 us that night. But, shipmates, there was not a man in that 
 boat, who did not, in his inmost soul, feel devoutly grateful 
 to a kind Providence for our deliverance from the power of 
 the pirates. Sailors say but little about these things, and 
 are, undoubtedly, sinful in many ways ; but, you know, in 
 the hour of danger they feel a deep reliance on the protect 
 ing hand of God. 
 
 " When, on the following morning, daylight beamed in the 
 east, many an anxious glance was directed abroad, in the 
 hope of discovering some friendly vessel to rescue us from 
 our perilous position ; and the first rays of the sun were re 
 flected from the white sails of a large American ship, which, 
 under the influence of a favorable breeze, was moving rapidly 
 towards us. A signal was made from the boat. We were 
 seen, the ship was hove to, and, in a few minutes, we were 
 alongside of the ship Daffodil, of Boston, bound to New 
 Orleans. We were received with a true sailor s welcome, and 
 Margaret Calderon was treated with all the tenderness and 
 
WHISTLING JACK. 201 
 
 respect which was due to her forlorn condition and her 
 sex." 
 
 Here Ichabod unexpectedly brought his narrative to a close ; 
 but his grumbling audience did not seem to be fully satisfied. 
 " What became of Margaret ? " demanded Ned Alanson. 
 
 " Yes, and what became of McGregor ? " muttered old 
 Simon Singleton. 
 
 " Why," replied Ichabod, " they were spliced together, of 
 course, soon after they reached New Orleans. The last time 
 I saw them, was in the neighborhood of Boston. McGregor, 
 with a countenance as happy as that of a favored lover, was 
 standing in a flower-garden, in front of a neat little cottage, 
 gathering flowers, which he was throwing into the lap of 
 Margaret, who stood by, her features illumined by the smile 
 of happiness, while two little chubby McGregors were gam 
 bolling and frolicking on the gravel walk." 
 
 Just then a loud and sonorous whistle was heard by the 
 boat s crew, in their immediate neighborhood. " There s 
 Whistling Jack, himself! " exclaimed Ned Alanson. 
 
 " Not so good a man," quietly remarked Ichabod. " It s 
 only the captain ! Ay, ay, sir, here we are, at the end of 
 the wharf." 
 
 " 0, you are there, are you, you sleepy scoundrels ! I 
 should have thought it rained hard enough to keep you 
 awake," said the captain, in a hoarse, surly, and somewhat 
 inarticulate voice. " Well, haul to the stern of the boat, and 
 spread the boat-cloak. That s it ! Shove off, and give way ! 
 Let s get on board before t is broad daylight, and before I 
 get thoroughly soaked, outside as well as in. Give way, I 
 guy." 
 
 AY, AY, SIR ! " was the obedient response of the boat s 
 crew. 
 
THE STUTTERING CAPTAIN. 
 
 " He who seldom speaks, and with one well-timed word can strike 
 dumb the loquacious, is either a genius or a hero." LAVATER. 
 
 MANY years ago, a well-known shihmaster sailed out of 
 Boston, named Nicholas Throgmorton. He was a short, 
 stout-built, broad-shouldered man, of great personal strength 
 and activity ; a good seaman, a skilful navigator, and pos 
 sessed of very respectable business qualifications. But it is 
 difficult to find perfection in any one individual, and Captain 
 Throgmorton, although he could boast of iron lungs, and vocal 
 organs of tremendous force, his voice resembling, in tone 
 and power, the roaring of a veteran alligator, was affected 
 with an unfortunate impediment in his speech, which some 
 times was the means of placing him in awkward, not to say 
 critical, situations ; " in short," as Mr. Micawber would say, 
 " he stuttered abominably ! " 
 
 Now a man living in a handsome style on shore, pursuing 
 a regular routine of occupation, may rub along through the 
 world passably well, if he should be able to talk only by jerks, 
 or even if he should not be able to talk at oil. But with a 
 shipmaster the case is different. Occasions sometimes occur, 
 when it is necessary for him not only to speak without hesita 
 tion, but to speak loud, clear, and distinctly ; his voice should 
 sound like a bugle note, and be always at command, with the 
 machinery well oiled and in order, ready for use by day or 
 by night, in storm or calms. Now it is not remarkable that 
 Captain Nicholas Throgmorton, who was of a temperament 
 
THE STUTTERING CAPTAIN. 203 
 
 somewhat excitable, and of a temper a little inclined to the 
 choleric, should sometimes suffer inconvenience from this im 
 pediment in his speech, and the many scrapes into which he 
 was plunged by his stuttering habit should serve as a warn 
 ing to those who cannot speak out promptly, like a man, in 
 difficulties and storms, and on all necessary occasions, to 
 eschew a seafaring life. 
 
 Captain Throgmorton could converse with tolerable fluency 
 upon ordinary occasions. He might now and then hesitate a 
 little, but would clap on fresh sail, or, as a landsman would 
 say, additional steam, and start ahead again, as if he had 
 met with no obstacle in his course. But when he became 
 excited, and attempted to express his feelings in emphatic, 
 language, he sometimes made terrible work, and reminded one 
 of a stately ship, scudding gallantly under close-reefed top 
 sails and foresail, being brought up all standing, by striking 
 against a rock. 
 
 It is a singular fact that any phrase which stuck in the 
 worthy captain s throat, seemed to grow in volume and in 
 sound the longer it remained there. Like gunpowder, the 
 closer it was pent up, the louder was the explosion when it 
 did take place ; and the effect which this expanded voice 
 sometimes produced was tremendous ! He once got involved 
 in an unpleasant scrape in Marseilles, and found himself sur 
 rounded by some half a dozen rowdy Frenchmen, who seemed 
 disposed to treat him with disrespect and insolence. They 
 even laughed in his face when he attempted to check their 
 impertinence ; but, at last, his anger was roused ; he raised 
 his voice, and exclaimed, in a tone which astonished his tor 
 mentors, " You are a set of frog-eating b b b b ." 
 
 But here he stuck fast ! The word was in his windpipe, 
 and obstinately refused to leave the premises, and the French 
 men, at first amused, became quite startled when they saw 
 his broad cheeks grow red as scarlet, the veins of his neck 
 
204 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 swell almost to bursting, his eyes become bloodshot, resem 
 bling coals of fire, and all his features convulsed with anger 
 and agony, while he repeated, with commendable perseverance, 
 the nether fragment of some invisible word "b b bl." 
 But when, with an extraordinary exertion, and a horrible 
 grimace, the word " BLACKGUARDS " at last bolted out, 
 and fell suddenly upon them, it was as if a bomb-shell had 
 been thrown at their feet ! For a moment they were riveted to 
 the spot the next they put in requisition their locomotive 
 powers, and scampered off with praiseworthy celerity, leaving 
 Captain Throgmorton alone in his glory ! 
 
 Whenever the captain was seized with a fit of hesitation, 
 like most other men in similar circumstances, he disliked 
 exceedingly to have any one come to his relief, by anticipat 
 ing and pronouncing the words, which, it was evident, were 
 struggling to make their exit from their narrow prison. He 
 was averse to doing things by proxy, and loved to give his 
 orders himself. A mate of his, named Tompkins, who once 
 undertook to give him assistance, when he found him hard 
 and fast upon a shoal, received a severe lesson, which he ever 
 after remembered. They were about speaking a ship at sea, 
 and Captain Throgmorton was very anxious to know the com 
 puted longitude of the stranger, who, evidently, had not been 
 long from port. The colors were hoisted, and the vessels 
 approached each other rapidly. The wind blew fresh, and 
 Captain Throgmorton backed his main-topsail, just before the 
 strange vessel came within hail. She came dashing along, 
 with a free wind, and proved to be the brig Honeysuckle, 
 Captain Huff, seven days from Norfolk, bound to Gibral 
 tar. 
 
 The questions which elicited this information were put by 
 Captain Throgmorton without any hesitation. But when he 
 was desirous of knowing their estimated longitude, his anxiety 
 caused him to stammer most outrageously. " What is your 
 
THE STUTTERING CAPTAIN. 205 
 
 11 Ion " shouted he, at the top of his voice. " What is 
 your 1 1 1 " repeated he, with frantic gestures. 
 
 In the mean time, the ship was gliding past, and the mo 
 ments were precious. Mr. Tompkins saw that the captain 
 had a snag in his throat, and that the words could not come 
 out, unless they were bowsed out with a watch-tackle, and 
 as that might prove a tough job, he clapped his hand to his 
 own mouth, and called out, with a clear and deep intonation, 
 " "What is your longitude ? " But the next moment he was 
 sprawling on the quarter-deck, having been felled by a blow 
 on his cocoa-nut, from the speaking-trumpet in the hands of 
 the indignant Captain Throgmorton ! 
 
 In the English language there are many synonymes, or 
 different words for the same thing ; and, in ordinary circum 
 stances, if a person cannot immediately think of a certain 
 word which he wishes to press into his service, he will try 
 another. But Captain Throgmorton was unwilling to avail 
 himself of an advantage of this kind, and was seldom known 
 to exchange a word which he had selected, and which had 
 got stuck in his windpipe, for one of smoother surface or infe 
 rior dimensions. Indeed, he was never but once known to 
 resort to this method of freeing himself from a difficulty, and 
 that was in a critical emergency. 
 
 He was in the ship Harold, entering the port of Havana, 
 and, as is customary on such occasions, had no pilot. With 
 a good breeze from the eastward, however, he ran the ship up 
 the harbor, under full sail ; but, as he approached the anchor 
 age, sail was gradually reduced, until he rounded the ship to, 
 in handsome style, between a Spanish Guineaman and a Yan 
 kee merchantman, intending there to let go the anchor. 
 
 But by this time our worthy friend had become somewhat 
 
 excited, and, perhaps the more so, from seeing a multitude of 
 
 people on the quay, scanning his motions, and, probably, as 
 
 usual on such occasions, criticizing his seamanship. The fore- 
 
 18 
 
206 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 topsail was hove aback, the helm was put hard a-starboard, 
 the ship came up to the wind, the topsails were clewed 
 down, and she began to gather stern-way, but still no order 
 was given " to let go the anchor." Captain Throgmorton 
 stood on the quarter-deck, vainly essaying to give the order, 
 but could go no further than " le le 1 le let," at the 
 same time stamping the deck with rage and mortification, and 
 making sundry convulsive gestures with his arms. But his 
 officers knew their captain and their duty too well to take the 
 responsibility of issuing an important order, or of acting with 
 out orders, while Captain Throgmorton was on deck, and the 
 ship would have gone, stern first, slap into the Gruiheaman, if 
 a gentleman, a passenger on board, seeing the captain cack 
 ling, but unable to produce anything more than an untelligi- 
 ble and unpleasant sound, had not suggested to him to change 
 the word ! 
 
 Captain Throgmorton eagerly caught at the hint ; he aban 
 doned to its fate the order to " let go the anchor" and bawled 
 out, with terrific energy, the brief but expressive phrase of 
 " DOWN KELLOCK ! " The anchor was released from the 
 bows in an instant, a small scope of cable was payed out, and 
 the ship was brought up handsomely, with her spanker-boom 
 just clear of the flying-jib-boom of the Guineaman ! 
 
 Captain Throgmorton once proceeded on a voyage to Am 
 sterdam. At Nieu Diep, his vessel was visited by a custom 
 house officer, whose duty, of course, was to make inquiries 
 relative to the cargo, and to examine the ship s papers. This 
 officer was quite a respectable-looking man, and could speak 
 tolerable English, but, unfortunately, he, also, had an imped 
 iment in his speech. When he came on board, Captain 
 Throgmorton was scolding the steward, and sputtering and 
 stuttering away at a great rate. As soon as he got through, 
 the officer turned to the captain, bowed politely, and, with a 
 
THE STUTTERING CAPTAIN. 207 
 
 bland expression, saluted him, " Good m m mo morning, 
 sir ; I hope you enjoy good he he health, sir." 
 
 Captain Throgmorton eyed him with a savage look. He 
 was, of course, well aware of his own infirmity, but disliked 
 to be reminded of it, and could never bear to hear it made 
 the subject of a joke by others. Indeed, he was morbidly 
 sensitive on the subject, and his choler rose at the idea of 
 being made an object of sport by a thick-headed Dutchman. 
 It is no wonder he replied to the officer rather more snap 
 pishly than strict politeness would warrant, saying, " Wh 
 wh what do you want on board of my sh sh ship ? " 
 
 The Dutchman was astonished at this reception, so differ 
 ent from what he was accustomed to from Yankee shipmasters, 
 and he, also, felt indignant at being mocked, as he believed, 
 by the captain. JS"ot being deficient in spirit, he answered, 
 in a surly tone, " AVh wh what you mean by t t talk 
 ing to me in this m m manner. I th th think that you 
 be no gen gen gen gentleman." 
 
 " You g g gin-drinking scoundrel ! do you th th 
 th think to make f f fun of me ? I 11 cl cl close your 
 potato t t trap, or my n u name s not Th Th Thr 
 Throguiorton." And, suiting the action to the word, he let 
 fly a blow with his brawny fist at the Dutchman s face, which 
 loosened some of his ivories, flattened his nose, felled him to 
 the deck, increased the impediment in his speech, and aston 
 ished the poor fellow more than ever ! 
 
 But at Gibraltar, Captain Throgmorton was once placed, 
 by reason of this infirmity, in a very awkward, not to say 
 perilous position. He was one evening detained in the city 
 on business until after sunset, and was then refused permis 
 sion by the guard to pass the gate. Being thus detained on 
 shore against his will, he thought to while away a half-hour 
 or so of the twilight by taking a ramble about the rock. But, 
 as he proceeded in the direction of the Moorish Castle, he 
 
208 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 was startled by the sudden jar of a musket, as it was brought 
 to the present, and a sentry, not a dozen feet from his path, 
 called out, in a peremptory and gruff voice, " Who goes 
 there?" 
 
 Captain Throgmorton was a brave man, in the ordinary 
 sense of the phrase ; yet, it must be acknowledged that he 
 was much startled by the challenge so suddenly given, and 
 the sight of the musket pointed directly towards him. The 
 poet Byron, and he is good authority in a case like this, says : 
 
 " It has a strange quick jar upon the ear, 
 
 That cocking of a musket, when you know 
 A moment more will bring the sight to bear 
 Upon your person, twelve feet off or so." 
 
 And so thought Captain Throgmorton, albeit he was not 
 familiar with Lord Byron s writings. Indeed, he was so 
 much fluttered by the unexpected occurrence, that he could 
 not reply to the demand of the sentry. 
 
 " Who goes there ? " again shouted the sentry, in a tone of 
 thunder. 
 
 But Captain Throgmorton, although he exerted all his 
 vocal muscles, knowing that it was a case of life or death, 
 was unable to say any more than " A f f f ." 
 
 " Who goes there ? Speak, or I fire ! " exclaimed the 
 sentry, for the third time ; and the captain, believing that he 
 would be as good as his word, and finding all his efforts to 
 answer to the challenge unsuccessful, being able to repeat 
 only, " A f f f ," fairly turned round, and (I regret to 
 record it, but remember Hector and Turnus) commenced run 
 ning down the hill ! 
 
 The sentry fired, and the ball passed through Captain 
 Throgmorton s hat. He jumped up at least three feet per 
 pendicularly, believing himself wounded, and, at the same 
 time, the wished-for words, " A FRIEND ! " bolted out of 
 
THE STUTTERING CAPTAIN. 
 
 his mouth with tremendous force, producing a deep-mouthed, 
 sonorous sound, which was heard in every part of the strongly 
 fortified city, and causing much consternation and conjecture 
 
 among the soldiers and the inhabitants. The poor sentry 
 was astounded at the loud report, which threw him flat on 
 his back, and induced him to believe that, instead of " a 
 friend," the enemy of mankind had issued from the Moorish 
 Castle, and was taking a promenade over the rock ! 
 
 On his return home from that voyage, he met with dense 
 18* 
 
210 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 and heavy fogs on the coast. He finally struck soundings on 
 the southern edge of George s Bank ; but, the wind being 
 baffling, and, for the most part of the time, ahead, he was 
 beating about two or three days, without being able to obtain 
 an observation, or speak a vessel. One morning, just at day 
 break, the wind blowing a fresh breeze from the north-east, 
 and the starboard tacks aboard, Captain Throgmorton was 
 alarmed by the cry of " Breakers ahead, and mider the lee ! " 
 He rushed on deck, where everything was in confusion. The 
 roaring of the breakers could be distinctly heard, and, indeed, 
 a long white line of breakers could be seen through the fog, 
 but a short distance off. All hands were on deck in a jiffey. 
 The captain, of course, assumed the command, and called 
 aloud, u STAYS ! " Every man flew at once to his station, 
 and " the cook to the fore-sheet." The captain was much 
 excited ; there was not room to wear, and, therefore, every 
 thing depended on the ship s coming about promptly, of which 
 there was little doubt, as she seldom or never missed stays in 
 a tolerably smooth sea. 
 
 The helm was put down, and the tacks and sheets were let 
 fly. The ship came to the wind beautifully, with the sails all 
 shivering ; but when Qaptain Throgmorton essayed to give 
 the order, " MAIN-TOPSAIL HAUL ! " the words stuck in his 
 throat ! All he could say, in spite of the most violent strug 
 gles and workings of the facial and " the abdominal muscles," 
 was " Ma ma ma ." He stamped his foot on the deck, 
 in an agony of rage and anxiety. The sails were all aback, 
 and the ship was beginning to gather stern-way, but the words 
 clave to his windpipe, and obstinately refused to evacuate the 
 premises ! 
 
 An old sailor, Jack Buntline, was at the wheel. He saw 
 the awkward predicament which they were in, but he dared 
 not take the word from the captain s mouth and give it him 
 self, such is the virtue of strict discipline, and he resolved t./ 
 
THE STUTTERING CAPTAIN. 211 
 
 try and force it out ! Jack was a shrewd, sensible fellow. 
 He had seen a fish-bone dislodged from a man s throat by a 
 simple but summary process, and he naturally concluded that 
 a word or phrase that had got doubled up in the same pas 
 sage, might be discharged in the same manner. He accord 
 ingly raised his arm high in the air, and then let his huge 
 and brawny fist fall upon the back of the agitated skipper. 
 The blow took effect directly between the shoulders, and pro 
 duced, indeed, a magical effect. It was like applying a match 
 to a sixty-eight pounder, and MAIN-TOPSAIL HAUL ! " 
 popped from his mouth like a shot from a Paixhan gun ! The 
 crew, frightened before, now lost all presence of mind. The 
 braces were let go, fore and aft ; some pulled on one side, and 
 some hauled on the other ; the yards became square, the ship, 
 head to the wind and in irons, soon gathered sternway, and, 
 amid a din and confusion seldom *equalled, was forced, stern 
 first, slap -dash among the breakers I 
 
 But the most remarkable circumstance connected with this 
 occurrence, is the fact that at the time Captain Throgmor- 
 ton, by the timely aid of Jack Buntline, issued the order to 
 " Main-topsail haul ! " a gannet, which was flying over the 
 ship, was actually stunned by the awful noise, and fell dead 
 upon the deck ! The circumstance may seem incredible to 
 some, but Plutarch, an accurate historian, records several 
 cases where a like effect was produced by the shouts of a 
 Roman mob ; and when we consider that Captain Throgmor- 
 ton s voice on this occasion was as loud and as powerful as 
 the shouts of a vast number of people " rolled into one," it 
 will hardly be considered incredible, that, if it fairly hit 
 the gannet, the bird should have fallen dead upon the deck ! 
 
 The ship was driven among the breakers, but she u-as not 
 lost ! The breakers proved to be tide rips on the Fishing 
 Rip, where there is depth of water enough to float a frigate ; 
 
212 
 
 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 but these and other rips in the South Channel, have fright 
 ened many a poor fellow besides Captain Throgmorton. 
 
 The sturdy captain learned a lesson, however, in the course 
 of that voyage, and declared that he would never go to sea, 
 in command of a vessel, until he had cured himself of his 
 habit of stammering. 
 
 
RUFUS ARMSTRONG; 
 
 OR, 
 
 PRACTICAL JOKES. 
 
 Yonder he drives ; avoid that furious beast, 
 
 If he may have his joke, he never cares 
 
 At whose expense ; nor friend nor patron spares. 
 
 HORACE. 
 
 Rurus ARMSTRONG was a true-hearted Yankee sailor. He 
 was endowed with a noble spirit, and an unusual share of 
 intrepidity. Neither storm nor battles could awaken a feel 
 ing in his bosom, akin to fear, or hardly cause him to look 
 grave. He was a whole-hearted, jovial fellow, of a generous 
 disposition, always ready to assist a friend, or even to share 
 his purse with a stranger. But Rufus had an exuberant flow 
 of spirits, was fond to distraction of a frolic, but, above all 
 things, he loved a practical joke. He laughed often himself, 
 and delighted to make others laugh, and cared little at whose 
 expense they laughed ; and he had a peculiar faculty in elicit 
 ing mirth from men and things, which to other persons would 
 have presented a very sedate aspect. His practical jokes did 
 not originate in a spirit of mischief, but in a love of fun ; for 
 Rufus cherished no malice in his bosom, towards any human 
 being. His propensity to joke was irresistible, and when a 
 good opportunity occurred to perpetrate a practical joke, he 
 would not spare the best friend he had in the world. This 
 
214 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 trait in his character will best be seen by a few illustra 
 tions. 
 
 On board the Orestes, Rufus had a shipmate by the name 
 of Tim Tibbets. Tim was one of those selfish mortals, who 
 keep a sharp look-out for number one ; a character which 
 Rufus despised, for, with that improvidence which is charac 
 teristic of the sailor, he seldom thought of the morrow. One 
 evening, he saw Tim slyly appropriating to his own use a pot 
 of tea, which did not rightfully belong to him. He took it 
 into the forecastle, and stowed it away safe, as he thought, 
 intending it as a solace and comforter in the middle watch. 
 Rufus twigged him, and determined to have some sport. In 
 the first watch, after the watch below were asleep, he went 
 down into the forecastle, and quietly got possession of Tim s 
 pot of tea. He drank it off, and then filled the pot with salt 
 water ! Tim began to grow sleepy about three bells, and it 
 was his look-out ; he thought of his pot of tea, which he had 
 so slyly stowed away, and his mouth watered at the thought, 
 for he loved tea with a deep-seated affection. He slipped 
 quietly down into the forecastle, groped about, and seized his 
 pot, which was snugly deposited in a nook on the breast-hook. 
 He put the vessel to his lips, and took a good swallow. But 
 such a display of coughing, and sputtering, and stuttering, 
 and muttering, succeeded by menaces and abuse, ensued, as, I 
 will venture to say, has not often been witnessed, even in the 
 forecastle of a merchant ship. It roused everybody in the 
 forecastle, and Rufus declared the fellow ought to be hustled 
 for coming below and disturbing the watch, when they were 
 quietly snoozing in their berths, as if for a wager. It even 
 disturbed the slumbers of the watch on deck, who were qui 
 etly calking, and of the second mate, who was taking a nap, 
 mounted on the harness-cask and leaning against the fife-rail. 
 Tim was in an awful rage. He declared he would be the 
 death of the scoundrel who put the scurvy trick upon him. 
 
RUFUS ARMSTRONG. 215 
 
 He strongly suspected Rufiis, and kept a sharp look-out for 
 him afterwards. 
 
 Mr. Wilder, the second mate, was an inactive, sleepy- 
 headed fellow, and was much too apt to get asleep in his 
 watch on deck, when the safety of the ship might depend on 
 his vigilance. One pleasant night, during the first watch, 
 about six bells, Mr. Wilder mounted his perch, the harness r 
 cask, near the mainmast, and was soon fast asleep, and snor 
 ing like a pig. Just about this time, the wind hauled ahead 
 a couple of points, and Rufus Armstrong, who was steering 
 his trick at the wheel, took it into his head that he would 
 have some sport, and at the same time cure his officer of 
 sleeping at his post. He left the wheel for a moment, took 
 the mizzen staysail down-haul, spencers were not in fashion 
 in those days, and passed the bight of the rope gently around 
 the neck of the officer, and belayed it to a cleet on the main 
 mast. He then softly stepped aft to the wheel, and stamped 
 violently on the deck ! 
 
 The captain was below, turned in, and, hearing the noise, 
 he thought something extraordinary was about to happen, and 
 hastened on deck, in a scanty, and not very fashionable, cos 
 tume ; and as he put his head out of the companion-way, Ru 
 fus bawled out in a hoarse voice, " Mr. Wilder, Mr. Wilder, 
 I tell you again that the wind is hauling ahead. The ship 
 won t lie her course." 
 
 " What s the matter ? " exclaimed the captain, in a voice 
 of thunder, though tremulous with fear. 
 
 " Nothing, sir," answered the mate, at a venture. " Halloo 
 there, forward, come aft and brace up the yards ; " at the same 
 time he sprang from the harness-cask, and was brought up all 
 standing by the neck ! 
 
 " Murder ! " shouted the poor man, on discovering his condi 
 tion ; and he struggled hard to get free, which drew the round 
 turn still closer, and was near converting the farce into a trag- 
 
 
216 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 edy ; the poor fellow groaned, and kicked convulsively, and 
 uttered a gasping, choking kind of noise. 
 
 Rufus again left the wheel, and sprang toward him, appa 
 rently urged by sympathy and curiosity, and assisted the cap 
 tain to discover the true state of things. " I declare, now," 
 said Rufus, with well-counterfeited surprise, "Mr. Wilder 
 .has lashed himself to the fife-rail, for fear of getting asleep 
 and tumbling off the harness-cask, and when he awoke, he 
 forgot all about it, and the rope has got round his neck. I 
 thought he was asleep, as I called him twice, and he made no 
 answer." 
 
 By this time the poor mate was relieved from his rough and 
 close-fitting necklace, and as soon as he recovered from his fit 
 of strangulation, the captain gave him a tremendous rating, 
 for jeoparding the lives of all on board, by sleeping in his 
 watch ; and as to his denial that he tied himself, the captain 
 treated it as moonshine ; and, for his comfort, told him that, 
 even if he spoke the truth, it would only make matters worse 
 instead of better, for what kind of an officer must that man 
 be, whom the crew could fasten to the fife-rail, without his 
 knowledge ! 
 
 But the trick he served Jerry Johnson, was ratner a severe 
 one. Jerry was particularly fond of being comfortable at all 
 times, and had a great antipathy to a ducking ; to guard 
 against which, he supplied himself with substantial and water 
 proof clothing, comforters, &c., to wear round his neck, and a 
 broad-rimmed tarpaulin hat, to use in bad weather, and which 
 he secured by a laniard to the button-hole of his pea-jacket. 
 In consequence of his taking so much pains in his rigging, it 
 took him a great while to come on deck in bad weather, and 
 he was severely scolded several times by the mate, and grum 
 bled at by all hands, but without much effect. 
 
 At length we got on the coast. It was late in the fall, and 
 the weather was cheerless and rainy, and Jerry was longer 
 
RUFTJS ARMSTRONG. 217 
 
 than ever in turning out, coming on deck, and relieving the 
 helm. There was a good deal of muttering about it in the 
 other watch, and Rufus thought he was fair game for a prac 
 tical joke. Accordingly, one cold and stormy night, when 
 Jerry was asleep in his birth, Rufus softly descended into the 
 forecastle, and took away Jerry s hat, which was carefully 
 deposited near the head of his bed. He poured into it a couple 
 of quarts of water from alongside, and carried it back to the 
 same place. 
 
 The watch was afterwards called in due time, and it was 
 Jerry s next trick at the wheel. He turned out and decked 
 himself as comfortably as possible, and took particular care 
 to fortify his neck against any exposure to rain. Before he 
 had finished his toilette, however, Mr. Manly, the chief mate, 
 came forward, and, putting his head, down the scuttle, 
 bawled out, " Halloo, you Jerry, are you going to relieve the 
 wheel ? or do you want me to lend you a hand to find your 
 traps ? " 
 
 Jerry was by this time all ready ; and with unusual alac 
 rity, put his hand to the head of his berth, and seized his hat. 
 In his hurry he did not discover that it was heavier than 
 usual, but hastily clapped it upon his head, and, much to his 
 astonishment and dismay, found himself subjected to all the 
 comforts of a cold salt-water shower-bath, gratis ! The effect 
 was truly electrifying, and as soon as the first shock was over, 
 while the cold water was forcing various passages beneath his 
 neckerchief and comforter, after well saturating those arti 
 cles of clothing, he uttered a shriek which could be heard a 
 mile. At the same time, Rufus thrust his snub nose into the 
 forecastle, and exclaimed, " Jerry, you had better come on 
 deck, if you don t want to get yourself into trouble, for Mr. 
 Manly says that if you don t relieve the wheel in less than a 
 minute, he 11 give you a touch of a rope s end ; and you know 
 he s a man of his word." This was truly an unfortunate state 
 19 
 
218 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 of things ; but although Jerry had a great antipathy to being 
 wet, he had a greater aversion to a rope s end ; and "all ac 
 coutred as he was," with wet inner garments, and shivering 
 with the cold, he crawled upon deck, and proceeded aft to 
 take the helm. He told a pitiful tale to the mate, about some 
 person s filling his hat with water, as an excuse for his tardi 
 ness, but the mate was a poor hand at consolation, at least in 
 this case, for he told Jerry that it served him right, and refused 
 to allow him to be relieved to change his clothes, until his 
 two hours had expired. 
 
 The joke which he put upon the supercargo of the Orestes, 
 should not be forgotten. He was an arrogant young man, and 
 a great fop, withal, and held to the maxim that clothes make 
 the man. One day while the ship was lying in the inn6r roads 
 of Buenos Ayres, the supercargo came on board for some pur 
 pose which I have forgotten. He was dressed for a dinner 
 party, and looked as nice as if he had just stepped out of a 
 lady s perfumed bandbox, with his ruffled shirt, his spotless 
 collar, his white neckerchief, 4iis new dress coat of invisible 
 green, his silk stockings, and his white gloves. He stayed 
 longer than he intended, and was in a hurry to get ashore, in 
 order to fulfil his engagement. The boat was manned, and 
 Rufus pulled the after oar. The boat grounded at about half 
 a cable s length from the land, and, what was worse, no curt 
 was at that time on the beach, which kind of vehicle was ordi 
 narily used for the purpose of taking ashore those passengers 
 in boats, who were not in a plight to wade. Here was a diffi 
 culty ; what was to be done ? If he waited fifteen minutes for 
 the cart, he should be too late, but Rufus Armstrong, like a 
 good genius, came to his assistance. 
 
 " Mr. Popinjay," said Rufus, with a serious and respectful 
 air, " you had better get on my back, and I 11 carry you safe 
 ashore, high and dry, in the twinkling of a capstan bar." 
 
RUFUS ARMSTRONG. 219 
 
 "Do jou think you could do it, Rufus? Do you really 
 think I might trust you ? " 
 
 " Trust me ! Why, sir, I ve carried men ashore from the 
 boat of twice your weight. Do it indeed ! " 
 
 " Well, Rufus, I know you are strong and powerful, and I 
 suppose there is not the least danger ; but I would not meet 
 with an accident now for five hundred dollars." 
 
 3Ir. Popinjay, without more ado, mounted Rufus s back, 
 and the sly rogue marched off firmly with him towards the 
 shore. The dandy was grinning at his good fortune, in secur 
 ing such a conveyance, when Rufus s right foot plunged 
 apparently, into a deep mud-hole. He strove to recover him 
 self, but in vain, made a few false steps, and finished the 
 matter by falling backwards, at full length, flat upon Mr. 
 Popinjay, in a place where the depth of the water was about 
 a foot. ^ 
 
 Poor Mr. Popinjay ! He was soaked from top to toe, his 
 clothes were spoiled, and he was cut off from all hope of 
 dining abroad on that day. Rftfus was profuse with his apol 
 ogies, and made many lamentations for the unfortunate oc 
 currence ; but there was a lurking look of roguery in his eye 
 all the time. Mr. Popinjay absolutely shed tears of vexa 
 tion, and ever afterwards looked upon Rufus Armstrong as a 
 dangerous man, notwithstanding hfe everlasting fund of good 
 humor. 
 
 My humorous friend, Rufus Armstrong, once played a 
 serious joke on a poor Chinaman in Batavia, and, if he had 
 been taken at that time, his life would doubtless have been 
 sacrificed. With three others of the crew and the second 
 mate, he went ashore one day in the boat, for the purpose of 
 conveying to a mercantile house, far up the canal, some bags 
 of dollars. The boat was detained ashore some time, and 
 Rufus, with one of his shipmates, obtained permission to stroll 
 about town. In the course of their rambles, they heard a 
 
220 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 terrible uproar in another street. They hastened to the scene 
 of operations, and found themselves in the midst of a numer 
 ous and exceedingly noisy mob, occasioned by a quarrel 
 between some Malays and a party of Chinese sailors. The 
 inhabitants of that quarter of the city had turned out to a 
 man, and a motley collection they made, consisting of Malays, 
 Chinese, Dutch and a few English and Americans, chiefly 
 seamen. They were abusing each other in a fine style, and 
 shaking their fists in each other s faces, evidently ripe for a 
 fight. 
 
 Rufus was delighted, and, from the mere love of fun, un 
 ceremoniously sprang into the midst of the assembly, and 
 soon checked the oratorical display of a bawling Chinaman, by 
 giving him a severe blow on the mouth. He then tackled to 
 a Malay, and upset him in a hurry. His laudable example 
 was followed by the jest of the mob, and a general and despe 
 rate combat ensued. Rufus, having accomplished his object, 
 withdrew from the melee, and stood aloof, watching with much 
 interest the result of the engagement. His attention was 
 soon particularly directed to a tall, good-looking and well- 
 dressed Chinaman, with a splendid queue, reaching to the 
 ground, who, notwithstanding he was in the midst of the dense 
 mob, made himself conspicuous by his loud and constant out 
 cries and furious gestures* Rufus conceived a wicked pro 
 ject, which he hastened to execute. He again mingled in the 
 throng, and soon elbowed his way to the spot where the 
 long-queued " Celestial " was dealing out at the top of his 
 voice, 
 
 " Words of a learned length and thundering sound," 
 
 the meaning of which was either below or above the compre 
 hension of Rufus. 
 
 By dint of hard pushing, and a great exertion of strength, 
 Rufus got close behind him, drew his jack-knife from his 
 
RUFUS ARMSTRONG. 221 
 
 pocket, which, by good luck, had been sharpened that morn 
 ing, and cut like a razor, seized the Chinaman s queue with 
 his left hand, and with his right, grasping the knife, cut it off 
 close to his head, before the legitimate owner knew what lie 
 was about. The poor feJJow, who felt his hair pulled rather 
 unceremoniously, turned round, as soon as he conveniently 
 could, to see what was the difficulty, but Rufus had cleared 
 out, carrying with him the queue as a trophy. 
 
 The tall Chinaman put his hand to the back of his neck, 
 and when he found that his queue had really disappeared, he 
 uttered a yell of grief and indignation, which might have been 
 heard a mile. He caught a glimpse of Rufus, as he was forc 
 ing his way out of the mob, and suspected that he was the 
 scoundrel who had deprived him of his most valued orna 
 mental appendage. As soon as he could extricate himself 
 from the throng, he prepared, with a party of his countrymen, 
 who were much shocked and scandalized at the insult, to fol 
 low after the Yankee sailor, and teach him better manners, 
 in future, than to cut off a Chinaman s queue. But fortu 
 nately for Rufus, he had a start, and, with his shipmate, 
 reached the boat, which he found only awaiting their return to 
 shove off. They seized the oars, and got the boat under rapid 
 motion, just as the Chinamen, breathing fury and vengeance, 
 led on by the queueless orator, appeared turning the corner of 
 a street, not a hundred rods off, and the robbed and insulted 
 man gave a wild howl of despair as he beheld Rufus, with a 
 grin of exultation, " giving way," as if for dear life, with the 
 gaudily-ribboned queue tastefully arranged around his neck, 
 after the manner of the boas of our fashionable belles. 
 
 Rufus Armstrong got safe home to Boston with his prize, 
 and when he was paid off, he procured a stylish scratch, with 
 " lovelocks " of an auburn color, and got the unfortunate 
 Chinaman s queue neatly spliced to the after part of it ; and 
 he took great delight in walking about Avith his dandy locks, 
 19* 
 
222 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 and his queue, decked with ribbons, reaching to his heels, an 
 object of curiosity, admiration or envy, to all he met. 
 
 It was artillery election day ; the date of our story extends 
 further back than the time when Josiah Quincy to whom 
 Boston owes a debt of gratitude, which she will never be able 
 to repay was mayor of our goodly city. The Common was 
 covered with booths, where liquors of every variety were 
 paraded in decanters or glasses, to catch the eye of the moder 
 ate drinker or the habitual drunkard, and scenes of wild dis 
 order, language of a most offensive character, and quarrelling 
 and fighting, the inevitable consequences of a free indulgence 
 in intoxicating drinks, were frequent on the Common, on gala 
 days, in those times, notwithstanding " old Read," with a 
 score of constables, was stationed on that part of the Common 
 where the booths stood the thickest, ready to make war upon, 
 and capture all offenders against the peace of the good old 
 town of Boston. Rufus, with a couple of his shipmates, 
 called at one of those respectable places, and took some " re 
 freshment," which, in those days, was the technical term for 
 alcoholic drinks. They handed the owner of the booth a five 
 dollar bill, and demanded the change. 
 
 In those days, all dram-sellers were not strictly conscien 
 tious men, anxious for the " public good," as is said to be the 
 case at the present time, but were apt to take any advantage 
 of a sailor or drunkard, which opportunity might offer ; and 
 the man who supplied Rufus and his shipmates with liquor, 1 
 regret to say, was a person of this description. He, very 
 naturally, thought that if sailors would foolishly squander 
 away their money, he had as good a right to a share of it as 
 any other person. Acting upon this principle, he returned 
 our hero, among his change, a three-dollar bill of uncurrent 
 money. 
 
 Rufus and his friends remained on the Common, cracking 
 their jokes, and gazing upon the strange sights, and treating 
 
RUFUS ARMSTRONG. 223 
 
 little children with election buns and gingerbread; and it was 
 not long before it became necessary to " break " the three- 
 dollar bill. It was accordingly tendered to the keeper of a 
 booth, in payment for sundry " fancy articles," who declared 
 that the bill, so far from being worth three dollars, was not worth 
 a mill. This was a damper. However, they were fortunately 
 able to muster money enough to pay the man, and then they 
 started " full chisel," after the dram-seller, who had treated 
 them so unhandsomely. 
 
 After a fatiguing search for nearly an hour, they found 
 him ; but he did not seem particularly pleased with their ap 
 pearance again in the scene ; he did not even smile upon them 
 as they approached, as is customary with the dram-sellers of 
 the present day ; but a scowl rested on his brow, and when 
 Rufus accused him of dishonesty, in endeavoring to palm 
 upon them a worthless piece of paper, and demanded restitu 
 tion, the fellow, with the most unblushing effrontery, denied 
 the charge, and ordered them away, thus adding insult to 
 injury, which they could not brook. High words ensued ; 
 people were attracted to the spot, some incipient symptoms of 
 a riot appeared, and the man, alarmed for his property and his 
 person, insolently told them to be civil, and clear out at once, 
 or he would give them in charge to a constable, who would 
 deposit them in jail. At the same time, seeing " old Bead," 
 of captivating memory, approaching the booth in a very 
 calm, philosophical manner, he shouted aloud for assistance. 
 
 The sailors, finding that, in addition to being swindled out 
 of their money and insulted, they were likely to be imprisoned, 
 did not continue to cherish a violent affection for their 
 accommodating friend, who had so neatly relieved them of 
 their surplus funds, and argued very foolishly, as sailors are 
 too apt to argue, that if they must go to jail, they would not 
 go to jail for nothing. Acting upon this dangerous principle, 
 one of them, without more ado, gave the dishonest trafficker a, 
 
224 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 gentle tap beneath the ear, which laid him sprawling on the 
 green sward, and, at the same time, Rufus and the other ship 
 mates seized the long table, and tipped it over on the aston 
 ished liquor-seller, and dire was the confusion, and destruction 
 of glasses, tumblers, crockery and decanters, with their pre 
 cious contents, which ensued. The soil got intoxicated with 
 that liquor, which it was intended should degrade and madden 
 human beings. 
 
 Rufus and his shipmates sprang from the booth, and at 
 tempted to make their escape, but " old Read " was at their 
 heels, and singled out Rufus, who was making the whole 
 Common ring with his contagious laugh, as his especial prey. 
 The by-standers did not seem inclined to interfere, but cheered 
 Rufus, with his interminable queue, gorgeously decked with 
 red ribbons, as he whisked past, like a comet with a fiery tail. 
 But he had one at his heels who had his land-tacks on board, 
 and who was seldom vanquished in a foot-race. Rufus 
 jumped over the wooden fence, which lined the mall, with the 
 agility of a cat, and exercised his drum-sticks very hand 
 somely ; but the long-limbed constable gained rapidly upon 
 him, ami, before the chase reached West street, Read was 
 so close to his heels, that he reached out his hand to grasp 
 the queue. One spring more, and he is near enough. He 
 seized it, he clutched it within his hand, and smiled grimly, 
 expecting to bring up the offender all standing, and the specta 
 tors of the chase thought it was all up with Rufus, and 
 looked melancholy and disappointed that he had not escaped. 
 " Old Read " relaxed his pace, and gave a sudden jerk ; but 
 his disappointment and mortification may be conceived, when, 
 instead of the daring offender, he found nothing in his pos 
 session but a superb queue, with a scratch, well garnished 
 with " love-locks, " dangling at the end of it ! 
 
 But " old Read " was not a man easily discouraged, or one 
 who wns apt to lose his presence of mind on such occasions. 
 
RUFUS ARMSTRONG. 225 
 
 He dropped the queue as if it had been a cobra capetto, or a 
 hot potato, and prosecuted the race with renewed vigor. 
 Rufus had, by this time, gained on his pursuer several paces, 
 but he soon heard " old Read " again panting in his wake. He 
 half turned his head to watch the motions of the officer, and, 
 just as the constable, with a savage grin on his countenance, 
 was felicitating himself on the prospect of seizing blue-jacket, 
 and putting him in limbo, Rufus dropped on all-fours, as 
 suddenly as if he had been shot ; and poor Read, who was 
 going at the time, at least thirteen knots an hour, struck him 
 with such violence, that the shock sent him pitch-poling two 
 or three rods ahead, when he fell prostrate on the pavement. 
 Rufus sprung up like a lamp-lighter as soon as the crisis was 
 past, and, while " old Read " was gathering himself up, dashed 
 down Mason street, and turned into a back yard, where he 
 concealed himself until the coast was clear. His scratch and 
 its appendage were picked up by a brother tar, and after 
 wards restored to him safe and sound. 
 
 The last time that Rufus Armstrong went to sea, was in the 
 fine ship Mandricardo, of Boston. He was second mate of 
 that ship, and proved himself an active, trustworthy and ever 
 vigilant officer. When he was before the mast, he loved to 
 steal a nap on deck during his watch, especially when it was 
 not his look-out ; and many a sweet sleep has he enjoyed, 
 seated on the body of the windlass, well wrapped in his 
 monkey-jacket, and his head reposing on the bits. But when 
 he was promoted, he seemed to be aware of the responsibility 
 which rested upon him, and never allowed himself to be 
 caught napping. He constantly walked the quarter-deck, 
 watching the wind and the weather, and kept the sails con 
 stantly trimmed, according to the breeze. He would also 
 cause a good look-out to be kept on the forecastle, and rigor 
 ously exacted from the starboard watch, that one man, at 
 least, should at all times be awake and moving. 
 
226 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 It was a cold, but clear, moonlight night, in the month of 
 November, as the ship Mandricardo was dashing along, with 
 the wind abeam, on soundings, off the entrance to the British 
 Channel. The starboard watch had the first watch that night, 
 and Mr. Armstrong gave the men strict orders to keep a good 
 look-out ahead. But, about seven bells, much to his surprise 
 and indignation, he became aware that no one was walking 
 the forecastle deck. Old Peter Petersen, a Swede, a veteran 
 seaman, who, by the way, was hardly ever seen asleep in his 
 life, was leaning over the gunwale in the lee waist, quietly 
 smoking a cheroot. Rufus asked him, whose look-out it 
 was. 
 
 " Jonathan Doolittle s," replied Peter. 
 
 " Why, the fellow is fast asleep somewhere ; the good-fpr- 
 nothing vagabond cannot be trusted ; he would sleep with his 
 head in a bucket of water. But I will try to awaken him, at 
 any rate." 
 
 " Mr. Armstrong walked forward softly, and beheld, on the 
 inner part of the bowsprit, the gaunt form of Jonathan Doo- 
 little, stretched at full length ; his head lying between the 
 knight-heads, his capacious mouth wide open, and snoring 
 away as if for a wager ! 
 
 Rufus told Peter to keep silent, and draw a bucket of 
 water ; he then went aft, and told the man at the wheel not 
 to be alarmed at any noise which he might hear, and to pay 
 no attention to any orders he might give from the forecastle, 
 to alter the course. The helmsman grinned intelligence, for 
 he knew Mr. Armstrong well. 
 
 Rufus then went forward again. Poor Jonathan was still 
 in the same position, transported to the land of dreams, and 
 apparently deeply engaged in bottling off sleep, as if to secure 
 a stock for a long voyage. The second mate took the bucket 
 of salt water, stood over Jonathan, and gently poured a por 
 tion of the contents into his capacious mouth. This was an 
 
RUFUS ARMSTRONG. "I ll 
 
 awkward interruption to Jonathan s deep reveries. The poor 
 fellow was almost suffocated ; and while he was gasping and 
 struggling to get breath, Rufus rolled him on deck, and dashed 
 the remainder of the water in his face, at the same time 
 screaming in a loud voice, " Hard down your helm, Jona 
 than s overboard ! " 
 
 This was all enacted in less time than it can be described ; 
 and the whole thing was so admirably managed, that poor 
 Doolittle actually believed he had fallen overboard while 
 asleep on the bowsprit, and being a good swimmer he "struck 
 out " on the deck, as if for dear life, and looked like an over 
 grown frog trying to swim in a basin of water. He essayed 
 to call for help, but the salt water in his throat prevented ; 
 and the coughing, and sputtering, and struggling, of the poor 
 fellow were such, that neither the second officer, nor Peter 
 Petersen, could restrain their risible muscles, but burst out 
 into a laugh, which rang merrily through the ship, and was 
 the means of bringing Jonathan to his senses ; though not 
 before the watch below, as well as the remainder of the 
 watch on deck, roused by the dreadful cry of " A man over 
 board," had rushed to the scene of action in time to enjoy 
 the joke. 
 
 Jonathan Doolittle was cured of sleeping on deck, and was 
 ever afterwards vigilant when entrusted with the look-out. 
 
 But Rufus was not always lucky enough to get off with a 
 whole skin. Practical jokers are ever looked upon with sus 
 picion, are regarded as dangerous even though diverting mem 
 bers of society, and, not unfrequently, are compelled to pay a 
 heavy penalty for cracking their jokes. 
 
 Rufus was once on a visit to an uncle of his, a farmer, who 
 resided in the State of Maine. He passed some happy days 
 romping with his pretty cousins, and joking with the lively, 
 good-humored girls, who abounded in the neighborhood. One 
 afternoon, a number of these "flowers of the human species," 
 
228 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 met at his uncle s house, and after some mysterious consulta 
 tion, retired to an unfinished and gloomy room, in the back 
 part of the building, apparently with a view to carry out some 
 wise plan, which their noddles had conceived. But they could 
 not altogether conceal their designs from Rufus ; and from 
 some conversations which he had had with them a few days 
 previous, as well as from the excited and wild looks, and flash 
 ing eyes of his fair cousins, whenever they left the scene of 
 action for a few minutes, in order to procure some kitchen 
 utensils, or for other equally important purposes, he was con 
 vinced that the girls were " trying projects, * or, in other 
 words, were seeking to penetrate the mysteries of futurity, 
 and learn, by certain mystical proceedings, charms, conjura 
 tions, &c., whether they should ever be so fortunate as to be 
 married ; and, if so, the names, characters and persons of their 
 husbands. 
 
 This is one of the relics of superstition imported into our 
 country from our " father land." It is still cherished in some 
 of the interior villages in New England, but is gradually be 
 coming extinct, under the all-pervading influence of general 
 intelligence. 
 
 An opportunity was thus presented to Rufus of playing 
 off upon the girls a practical joke ; and, without anticipat 
 ing any serious consequences to either the girls or himself, 
 he forthwith proceeded to put in execution his mischievous 
 plans. 
 
 He had noticed, a few days before, the hide of a black ox, 
 hanging over a beam in the barn. The animal had been 
 slaughtered only a week or two, and of course, was not 
 divested of hair, horns or tail. Rufus arrayed himself in 
 this, as an outer garment, in lieu of a water-proof pea-jacket ; 
 and arranged that portion of the hide, which had covered the 
 cranium of the ox, when that unfortunate animal was living, 
 in such a manner as to conceal the greater part of his visage, 
 
RUFUS ARMSTRONG. 
 
 .229 
 
 and display his horns to the best advantage. He triced up 
 the tail to produce a picturesque effect, and confined the hide 
 
 to his waist with a large ox-chain, with which he took a turn 
 round his body, and passed the ends over his shoulders, where 
 they remained dangling, looking very prettily. 
 
 Thus whimsically accoutred, and determined on sport, Ru- 
 fus proceeded to the house, and entered by a back door. He 
 moved stealthily along towards the room on the lower floor, 
 which the girls had selected for the theatre of their mysterious 
 incantations and charms. He listened at the door, but all was 
 quiet, for the girls at that moment, were awaiting in silence, 
 20 
 
SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 but with fear and trembling, the result of a terribly interest 
 ing experiment. 
 
 Rufus gave three stamps on the threshold. The girls turned 
 pale, and looked at each other inquiringly. " What can that 
 be ? " said the timid Elmira Hunt, gathering herself into as 
 .small a compass as possible, as if she would like to stow her 
 self away in a nut-shell. 
 
 " Jane," whispered another, " I guess you had better open 
 the door." 
 
 Stamp, stamp, STAMP ! was repeated, but with more violence 
 than before. 
 
 " For pity s sake, Jane, do open the door ! " entreated one 
 of the frightened girls, in a low and tremulous voice. 
 
 Jane, thus conjured, reluctantly approached the door, and 
 drew back the bolt, to ascertain the character and object of 
 this intruder upon their mystic ceremonies ; ceremonies which 
 should never be witnessed by the eye of man. The door opened 
 with a creaking noise ; Jane gave a piercing scream, and 
 retreated as rapidly as if she had been shot out of a rail-way 
 car hurled over an embankment, overturning two of her com 
 panions ; and Rufus Armstrong, in full costume, shaking his 
 huge ox-chain, and nourishing Ms tail, stalked into the room, 
 bellowing in a loud and hoarse voice, "HiLLOA HO HO 
 HO HO ! What do you want of ME ? " 
 
 The consternation which was produced among this interest 
 ing bevy of girls, by the horrible apparition which stood in 
 the midst of them, may be conceived, but cannot be described. 
 Elmira Hunt gave one scream, and fainted on the spot, and 
 Lavinia Stevens followed her example ; Isabella Davis, call 
 ing for help in her loudest key, rushed to the window, and 
 turned a summersault out of it, which would have commanded 
 the admiration or excited the envy of the most accomplished 
 tumbler at a circus, and Sarah Hopkins followed her example ; 
 while Jane Baxter, Rufus s favorite cousin, with two of her 
 
KUFUS ARMSTRONG. 231 
 
 companions, made a bold rush past the spectre, for the door, 
 shouting and screaming like the whistle of a steam-engine, 
 only, of course, in a more mellifluous tone. Mary Martin 
 crouched into the further corner of the room, not daring to 
 move, and hardly daring to breathe, while Adeline Sorner;-, 
 concealed herself snugly beneath the table. Rufus, all tho 
 while continued his hideous noise, stamping and shaking hi , 
 chain, and wagging his head, in order to set off his horns I../ 
 advantage. 
 
 It happened unfortunately for Rufus, that Jonathan Baxter, 
 wno had been at work in the field, digging potatoes, was thea 
 approaching the house. He was a tall, wiry-built Yankee, 
 and, like many other Yankees, in a good cause was not afraid 
 of facing any being alive or dead, or in whatever shape it 
 might appear. He had heard the screams of the girls, and 
 in a moment after saw his sister rushing towards him, as if 
 pursued by a panther, with wildness in her eye, and terror ia 
 her countenance. 
 
 Jonathan was astonished. " What is the matter, Jane ? 
 said he. " What is the matter ?" 
 
 But Jane was too far gone to speak coherently. She coui -. 
 only point to the house, and gasp out, " Jonathan ! du 
 do save them ! " 
 
 This was enough. Jonathan left Jane lying panting and 
 trembling in the path, and with leaps of surprising longitude 
 made his way toward the house. As he passed the corner, he 
 seized a hickory axe-handle, which was quietly reposing there, 
 unconscious of the work it was destined to perform. He en 
 tered the parlor, where he found no one but Arabella Tomp- 
 kins, lying in the middle of the floor, and screaming as if for 
 dear life. As soon as she saw Jonathan, she pointed to the 
 inner door, and said, " There, there ! " 
 
 Jonathan caught a glimpse of the spectre through the door. 
 Astonished, but not daunted at the sight, he grasped his club 
 
282 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 with a firmer grasp, brandished it over his head, and sprang 
 forward. 
 
 Rufus Armstrong was chuckling with delight at the success 
 of his joke, and was beginning to think he had earned it far 
 enough, and that it was time to disencumber himself of his 
 disguise, when the axe-handle alighted upon his head with a 
 force, as if wielded by a giant s arm. The first blow knocked 
 off the horns, and laid bare his head. The second descended 
 with terrific force upon the loftiest pinnacle of his cranium. 
 Rufus fell senseless to the floor, and the huge chain rattled 
 ominously as he fell. Jonathan, however, had no intention to 
 discontinue the assault. He sprang with his whole weight 
 upon the prostrate spectre, dropped his weapon, and grappled 
 him fiercely by the throat. Then, and not till then, he noted 
 the features of the fiend, and was indeed astonished to find 
 that they were those of a comely young man, those of his 
 cousin and friend, Rufus Armstrong, by courtesy, styled 
 Esquire ! 
 
 " Why, is this you, Rufus ? Who d have thought it ? 
 What trick are you playing now, I should like to know ? " 
 asked Jonathan, as he relaxed his grip. 
 
 But Rufus was too far gone to answer. He continued to 
 lie motionless on the floor, and Jonathan perceived, to his 
 great alarm, blood streaming from his head, and forming a 
 pool on the floor. He soon succeeded in quieting the fears 
 of the girls, who never afterwards repeated the " projects," 
 which were thus unpleasantly interrupted ; and his father 
 coming home about that time, they stripped Rufus of his bor 
 rowed plumage, and laid him in bed. His head was laid open 
 to a frightful extent, and Jonathan mounted his horse, and 
 rode off in full gallop for a doctor. 
 
 In good time the doctor arrived, and, after a close exami 
 nation, declared the skull fractured, and that Rufus was, of 
 course, in a very precarious situation. The delicate operation 
 
RUFCS ARMSTRONG. 
 
 233 
 
 of trepanning, or trephining, was resorted to ; and, after the 
 compression on the brain was removed, Rufus opened his eyes, 
 and uttered a faint groan. But the poor fellow remained in a 
 dangerous state for several weeks, and was the victim of much 
 suffering. His cousins, particularly Jane, who accused herself 
 of being, in a great measure, the cause of his getting such a 
 terrible threshing, nursed him with much care and tenderness, 
 and Rufus had a grateful heart, and prided himself on his 
 gallantry. The sequel may be imagined. Rufus whispered 
 a tender tale in the ear of Jane. That young lady listened 
 to it without displeasure ; and finally consented to become 
 his consort for life, upon condition that he would abandon all 
 habits bordering on dissipation, quit the sea, stay on the land 
 and cherish his wife, and eschew practical jokes, henceforward 
 and forever. 
 
 Rufus Armstrong acceded to these conditions with alacrity. 
 " As to practical jokes" he said, with an air of disgust, " I 
 detest them from the bottom of my heart." 
 
 In about three weeks from that time, the minister tied the 
 knot ; and Jane was heard to declare, with a sly look, that 
 she believed there was some good in " projects," after all ! 
 
TOM DUIANY; 
 
 OR, 
 AN IRISHMAN TAKEN IN TOW. 
 
 " Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for one acre of barren 
 ground, long heath, brown furze, or anything. The wills ~ above be 
 done, but I would fain die a dry death." SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 WE had a passenger on board the ship Blackbird, Captain 
 Williams, bound from Maranham to Boston, whose name was 
 Tom Dulany. He was as good-hearted a fellow as ever left 
 the bright isle of old Erin, and that is saying a good deal. 
 He cared nothing about self, but was ever anxious to do a 
 good turn to others. He was a pleasant companion, could 
 sing a good song, tell a good story, and loved a joke and a 
 frolic at all times, and on all occasions. 
 
 But Tom Dulany must have been destitute altogether of 
 that mental organ which phrenologists dignify by the name of 
 cautiousness, for he had not a grain of prudence in his char 
 acter. He always acted from impulse, never from delibera 
 tion, and was ever getting himself into some disagreeable 
 scrape or another. Indeed, the circumstances which led him 
 to leave Maranham, will serve to explain his character in 
 part. He met, in his walks one afternoon, a Portuguese lady, 
 of remarkable grace and beauty in her features and figure. 
 Tom s susceptible heart was inflamed in a moment, and, 
 although a dark-looking, mustachoed cavalier accompanied 
 
TOM DULASY. 
 
 : : 
 
 her, he stepped up to the dark-eyed beauty, without waiting 
 for an introduction, and forthwith began to make the agreo- 
 able. The lady blushed and smiled, and did not seem disposed 
 to resent Tom s familiarity, for he was a likely-looking fellow, 
 and his address was that of a gentleman. He was always a 
 favorite with the ladies, in whatever country he visited. 
 
 The signor, however, who accompanied the lady, and wlio, 
 by the way, was her husband, regarded the conduct of Tom as 
 exceedingly impertinent. His brow grew as dark as midniglit, 
 and portended a furious storm; and when Tom attempted to 
 take the lady s hand, in order to give a greater weight to a 
 compliment which he was paying to her beauty, in his broken 
 Portuguese, the scowling siguor thought it time to interfere, 
 seized Tom roughly by the collar, and, with violence, thrust 
 him aside. Tom was indignant at receiving such cavalier 
 treatment, especially in the presence of a lady, although he 
 richly deserved it. He shook off the swarthy Portuguese, 
 and, levelling a blow at his lantern jaws, knocked him do\vu 
 as flat as a flounder. The lady screamed. Some soldiers 
 made their appearance, and Tom, finding the affair likely to 
 prove a serious one, thought the wisest course for him was to 
 retreat with all convenient despatch. He gave leg-bail Ac 
 cordingly, distanced the soldiers in the race, and succeeded in 
 making his escape. He learned, a few hours afterwar la, 
 that the lady, who, by the brilliancy of her charms, had been 
 involuntarily the cause of the difficulty, was a niece of t!e 
 governor, and that her husband, an officer of rank, was fivn- 
 tic with rage, and had ordered officers to seek him in all 
 directions, that he might be revenged on him for the blow 
 which he had received. Tom knew that close imprisonment, 
 for an indefinite time, was the mildest punishment which lie 
 could expect, if taken, and, therefore, lost no time in gather 
 ing his traps together, and, in the course of the night, sim :- 
 gled himself on board the Blackbird. On the following <Ly 
 
236 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 he left the dark-eyed Portuguese beauty, and her fierce and 
 vindictive husband, far behind. 
 
 On the passage, when near the equinoctial line, one fore 
 noon the wind died away, the sea was quite smooth, and the 
 weather extremely hot. Tom Dulany said he must have a 
 swim. Captain Williams remonstrated against this whim, 
 and stated that sharks were frequently seen in those lati 
 tudes ; that in a calm they were almost certain to make their 
 appearance, and would sometimes lie perdu beneath the vessel, 
 until something fell into the water which would suit their not 
 very fastidious appetites, when they would attack it with 
 terrific voracity. Tom listened to his arguments, but was not 
 convinced. Captain Williams told Tom, further, that these 
 sharks delighted in getting hold of a good, hearty human 
 being, now and then, just by way of change ; and that noth 
 ing would give them greater satisfaction than to try the 
 flavor of a full-blooded Irishman, especially if he sported a 
 bit of the brogue. But it was all to no purpose ; Tom per 
 sisted in his resolution to have a swim. 
 
 " Well, Mr. Dulany," said Captain Williams, " if you are 
 determined to go overboard, I insist on your putting on my 
 cork-jacket. You will be safer with that than with nothing 
 on, any how." 
 
 Tom demurred at this, declaring that he could swim like a 
 fish, without the assistance of a cork -jacket. But the captain 
 was inexorable, and carried his point. Tom put on the cork- 
 jacket, which was a noble one, buoying his head and shoulders 
 high above the water, and overboard he went. He did not 
 like this new apparatus for swimming, but it was too late to 
 remedy the difficulty, and he paddled away at a furious rate, 
 enjoying the delicious sport, until one of the men on the fore 
 castle fixed his eye on something at a distance, and shouted 
 aloud, " There s a shark ! " And, sure enough, the fin of a 
 huge sea monster was seen, rising out of the ocean at a few 
 
TOM DULANY. 237 
 
 rods distance. Tom, having no wish to do battle with a shark 
 in his own element, came alongside in double quick time, and 
 was helped on board before the big fish had time to pay his 
 respects to his leg, if carnivorously disposed. It was soon 
 ascertained, however, that the fins which had excited the 
 alarm, belonged not to a shark, but to an albicore, an animal 
 that is exceedingly fond of fish, but seldom meddles with flesh. 
 He was a huge fellow, some nine or ten feet long, and as 
 strong as a whale. 
 
 Tom Dulany was indignant at being interrupted in his 
 sport by an albicore, and threatened vengeance against the 
 fish, whose appearance was so malapropos, causing him to 
 scramble out of the water in a most undignified manner, and, 
 what was worse, barking his shin badly as he was climbing 
 up the side. Without waiting to make any alteration in his 
 garments, without even taking off his cork-jacket, he seized a 
 stout five-pronged pair of grainse which we had on board, ran 
 out on the bowsprit, and lowered himself down on the martin 
 gale stay, with the bloody intent of killing and capturing the 
 albicore. 
 
 Captain Williams assured Tom that, even if he could plant 
 the grainse in the body of the fish, it would be of little use, 
 as the albicore was a large and very powerful animal, and, if 
 struck, would soon, by his violent struggles, free himself from 
 the instrument of death, or part the line, and carry off the 
 grainse in triumph ! Tom, however, was resolved, as he said, 
 to teach the albicore better manners than to come near a 
 gentleman when he was bathing, and to pass himself off for a 
 shark. Besides, he began to think it would be capital sport 
 to capture the albicore. 
 
 Tom took his station beneath the bowsprit, on the martin 
 gale. The fish was soon seen approaching the bows of the 
 ship, unconscious of the inhospitable reception with which it 
 was in contemplation to greet him. The mate, seeing how 
 
238 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 matters stood, and being apprehensive of losing the grainse, 
 called out to Mr. Dulany to make fast the rope which was 
 attached to the grainse, and Tom, perceiving the propriety of 
 the order, without reflection complied with it by taking a 
 timber-hitch around his own body, just below the armpits ! 
 
 He had hardly got the end of the rope secured in this way, 
 before the albicore was under the bows, crossing the hawse, 
 and swimming gracefully along, just below the surface of the 
 water. Tom s heart beat quicker than was its wont. He 
 pointed the death-dealing weapon, lifted it as high in air as 
 his arms could reach, and then threw it, with all the force of 
 which he was capable, into the lower part of th back of the 
 ill-fated, albicore! 
 
 The fish was surprised, and not a little vexed, at such an 
 unceremonious proceeding, and, naturally desirous of avoiding 
 a repetition of similar favors, started off with great velocity, 
 with the grainse firmly fixed in the muscles of his back. The 
 line, one end of which was attached to the grainse-staff, and 
 the other to Tom s body, was a piece of small, but new, nine- 
 thread rattlin-stuff, and about ten fathoms long. This was all 
 run out in a hurry. But, even then, the affrighted fish showed 
 no inclination to pause in his mad career. Either not know 
 ing the effect which his further progress would have upon 
 Tom, or not caring for it, he did not even slacken his pace, 
 the consequence of which was, that Tom Dulany was most 
 unexpectedly, and reluctantly, on his part, jerked with tre 
 mendous violence from the martingale, where he was standing, 
 laughing at the mischief he had done, into the sea ! 
 
 It was no longer a laughing matter, and, for once in his 
 life, Tom lost his presence of mind ; but the captain s cork- 
 jacket, which he fortunately had on, did him good service ; it 
 floated him on top of the water. It was a curious sight to 
 see that fish darting rapidly along, keeping within a few feet 
 of the surface, and towing off, at the rate of ten or twelve 
 
TOM DULANY. 
 
 239 
 
 knots an hour, Tom Dulany, who, sometimes with his head 
 towards the ship, and sometimes towards the finny friend to 
 whom he was attached by ties not easily severed ; sometimes 
 in one position, and sometimes in another, with his features 
 distorted with terror, bellowed out for assistance with all his 
 might ! 
 
 
 The ship s company, a set of merry dogs, although they 
 liked Tom passing well, and were alarmed at the awkward 
 position in which he was placed, could not, for their lives, 
 help laughing heartily. But Captain Williams viewed the 
 business in a serious light, and ordered the quarter-boat to 
 be lowered immediately, which was done, and the second mate 
 and four men started off on a wild-goose chase, after Tom. 
 It was lucky for him that his friend, the albicore, had lost 
 his presence of mind also, and, instead of steering in a direc 
 tion to place the greatest possible distance between him and 
 the ship, was proceeding on a most crooked course, with his 
 head by turns towards every point of the compass; and he 
 
240 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 changed his course so frequently and so suddenly, without 
 consulting his companion, that the awkwardness of Tom s 
 position was much increased thereby. Sometimes the poor 
 fellow was towed along very steadily, when suddenly the fish 
 would alter his course, and Dulany would be flopped over on 
 his back or his side, without ceremony ; but, with the assis 
 tance of the cork-jacket, he managed to keep his head above 
 water the greater part of the time, although he was con 
 strained to swallow much larger quantities of the " briny ele 
 ment," than he was accustomed to, or than, indeed, was 
 agreeable to him ; and he rejoiced from the bottom of his 
 heart when he saw that the boat was starting to his rescue ; 
 for the business was becoming tedious, and, what with his 
 struggles, and his bellowings, and his saline draughts, he was 
 getting rather exhausted. 
 
 Now Mr. Davis, the second mate, bade the men in the boat 
 give way with a will, and off they dashed, " full chisel," after 
 the albicore, or, rather, poor Tom Dulany, who was fastened 
 to him. But the thing was not so easily done as could be 
 wished, for the albicore, although evidently losing his strength, 
 exerted all his energies to keep at a good distance from the 
 boat, and tacked ship several times with great adroitness, to 
 the great discomfiture of our friend Tom. Once, indeed, by 
 an expert manoeuvre, Mr. Davis succeeded in getting between 
 the albicore and Dulany, and he and Bob Nicholson, who 
 pulled the after oar, laid hold of Tom by the hair of his head 
 and by his ears, and exerted all their strength to get him into 
 the boat, when the albicore made a convulsive spring, and 
 fairly jerked Tom out* of their hands, to the great mortifica 
 tion of the second mate and crew, and succeeded in carrying 
 him off again in triumph, at the rate of seven or eight knots ! 
 
 Captain Williams, seeing how matters were going, began to 
 be seriously alarmed for the fate of his mad-cap passenger, 
 and ordered the stern boat to be lowered and manned, which 
 
TOM DULANY. 
 
 was no sooner said than done. Mr. Nichols, the first officer, 
 and four stalwart seamen, stepped in, and joined in the chase 
 after Tom Dulany and the albicore, both of whom were about 
 half a mile off at this time. It was glorious sport for the 
 sailors, who enjoyed it exceedingly ; but it was thought, at 
 the time, that the case was different with regard to the Irish 
 man and the fi^h ; at least, Tom s countenance, when a fair 
 sight of it could be got, exhibited anything but pleasure. It 
 looked, Mr. Davis said, for all the world, like a Dutch galliot, 
 caught in a severe squall. 
 
 This chase was continued for about twenty minutes by both 
 boats, when Mr. Nichols contrived to come alongside of Tom, 
 while Mr. Davis, in the quarter-boat, was heading the albi 
 core off. Mr. Nichols did not at first attempt to haul Tom 
 into the boat, when he got hold of him, but with a sharp 
 jack-knife severed the line which attached him to the albicore, 
 and then roused him on board at his leisure ! The albicore, 
 thus relieved of the clog which had so long and so unaccount 
 ably impeded his progress through the water, darted off on a 
 tangent, with the grainse sticking to him, and has never been 
 seen since ! 
 
 Tom Dulany was conveyed on board, looking as sick and 
 as sorry as a mast-headed midshipman in a gale of wind. 
 Indeed, he was hardly able to crawl up the ship s side, and 
 did not make his appearance on deck for two days. He 
 learned wisdom, however, from his adventure, and has often 
 been since heard to say, that he would never willingly take 
 another cruise, with an albicore for a pilot ! 
 21 
 
THE SAILOR S REVENGE. 
 
 " Despiteful and intolerable wrong ! 
 
 Shall I endure such monstrous villany 1 " 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 HARRY WILDER was the son of one of our New Eng 
 land farmers, the most honest, noble-minded, and happy class 
 of people in the world. But in an evil hour Harry deter 
 mined to go to sea. He took a foolish fancy for a roving, 
 adventurous life, and thought there must be something mighty 
 pleasant in facing a clear whistling north-wester, on the 
 coast in the month of January, or standing at the pump 
 hour after hour, striving to keep some old and leaky ship 
 afloat in the middle of the Atlantic. He, therefore, one fine 
 summer s morning bade farewell to his father s farm, where he 
 had passed so many pleasant hours, took a parting look at his 
 old four-footed friends, which were grazing in the pastures, 
 gave old Towser a farewell pat on his head, shook his father 
 and mother by the hand, laughed at their superstitious fears, 
 while a tear trickled down his own cheek, and jumped into the 
 mail coach. The driver cracked his whip, the horses started, 
 and away whirled the carriage towards Boston. 
 
 Harry was a fine-looking young fellow, and soon got a 
 chance to ship as a green hand ; but he found that " going to 
 sea," after all, was not such a grand thing as it was cracked 
 up to be. He did not like the idea of going aloft to send 
 down top-gallant yards in a gale of wind, or of being roused 
 out to reef topsails in a cold, dark, rainy night, just as he 
 
THE SAILOR S REVENGE. 243- 
 
 x 
 had got cleverly stowed away in his berth, and was dreaming 
 
 of home. Nor was he particularly pleased with his fare, 
 which consisted principally of salt junk, mouldy biscuit, the 
 remnants of a previous voyage, and water, which was not 
 remarkable for its purity ; that is, it was destitute of neither 
 taste, color, nor smell. Harry often thought of the- snug 
 little chamber in his father s house, where, when he turned in 
 in the evening, with the bed-clothes nicely tucked up, he was 
 pretty secure of remaining comfortable until sunrise the next 
 morning, whether it blew high or blew low, without being dis 
 turbed by the cry of " Larboard wateh, ahoy ! " or the more 
 unpleasant shout of " All hands, ahoy ! Tumble up there, 
 below ! " And he often reflected, until his mouth actually 
 watered, upon the delicious tit-bits, which he had devoured in 
 his mother s dairy, and wondered why he came to be such a 
 fool as to quit a happy life on shore, for a dog s life at sea. 
 
 But Harry was a fellow of some spirit, and not a little 
 pride. He feared that, if he returned home, his friends would 
 laugh at him for undertaking an enterprise which he had not 
 nerve enough to carry through ; and, like many other poor fel 
 lows in his situation, he resolved to persist in going to sea, 
 because he was ashamed to acknowledge he had been disap 
 pointed. Harry pursued this business for three or four years, 
 by which time he understood a seaman s duty, as thoroughly as 
 any chap who ever undertook to splice, without a marlinspike, 
 a wiry, four-stranded rope, with the thermometer at zero. 
 Harry finally got enough of going to sea. 
 
 The last voyage which Harry made was with Captain Bin- 
 nacle, whose reputation, as far as it regarded treatment of his 
 men, was none of the best. Indeed, he found it difficult, 
 where he was best known, to obtain a crew. But Harry 
 argued that he knew his duty, and was able to do it ; that he 
 asked no favors, and cared not whom he sailed with. And, 
 indeed, no reasonable man could ever have found fault with 
 
244 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 Harry ; for he was no grumbler, but always respectful and 
 obedient to his officers, obliging to his shipmates, and active 
 in the performance of his duty. But Captain Binnacle was 
 fond of a tumbler of brandy toddy, now arid then, and was a 
 real lover of old Madeira at all times, a circumstance which 
 had never entered into Harry s calculations, and when the 
 skipper was under the influence of these potations, he was no 
 longer Captain Binnacle, but an impetuous, hair-brained, 
 quarrelsome bully. At these times there was no such thing 
 as pleasing him ; he quarrelled with his mates, swore at the 
 men, and by carrying sail without regard to prudence, taking 
 counsel only of the brandy-bottle, endangered the lives of all 
 on board. 
 
 Harry, however, being, as we have hinted, of a quiet, good- 
 natured disposition, got along with him pretty well on the pas 
 sage out, although he sometimes longed to give utterance to 
 his feelings, and tell the captain, when exerting drunken 
 authority on board, precisely what he thought of him. On 
 the passage home, one afternoon, the wind was blowing a fresh 
 breeze from the north-east. The ship was staggering along under 
 all sail, including the spanker, which griped her very much, 
 and made it exceedingly difficult to steer a straight course. 
 Harry was at the wheel. The captain was in the cabin, 
 drinking his wine after dinner, as usual, and had given the 
 officer of the watch orders to keep spread every inch of sail. 
 It was about four o clock when he came reeling on deck. The 
 ship was walking it off at a great rate, with the wind about 
 three points on the starboard quarter, and, in spite of Harry s 
 eiforts, and he worked like a good fellow, the wake of the 
 deeply-laden ship was almost as crooked as some of the streets 
 of Boston. 
 
 Captain Binnacle berated Harry severely for steering so 
 wildly, in language which was not remarkable for its taste or 
 purity; indeed, he showered down upon him almost every 
 
TIIE SAILOIi 3 KEVEXGE. -45 
 
 common-place epithet, excepting that of a gentleman or its 
 equivalent. Harry bore it for a while without speaking a 
 word, although he looked rather unamiable. At length he 
 bluntly told Captain Binnacle that he could steer the ship as 
 well as any man on board, but that it was impossible to steer 
 small while there was such a press of after sail on the ship. 
 " Brail up the spanker," said Harry, " and then she will steer 
 easy enough; ay, and sail faster, too!" and Harry was in 
 the right of it, although, it must be confessed, his advice was 
 strangely ill-timed. 
 
 Captain Binnacle absolutely foamed with rage at the idea 
 of one of his sailors daring to bandy words with him. " You 
 impudent scoundrel ! " said he, " how dare you talk to me in 
 that manner ? " And while Harry was hard at work, trying 
 to put the helm a-weather to prevent a broad sheer, which the 
 old ship threatened to take, the indignant and more than half- 
 drunken captain gave "him a blow with his clenched fist, under 
 the ear, which felled him to the deck. 
 
 The mates saw the blow, and from what they knew of the 
 character of Harry, who was a full-blooded Yankee, feared 
 that he would resist it in a manly manner, without regard to 
 time or place, and stepped forward to prevent him. It was 
 lucky for the captain that they did so, or Harry would have 
 thrown him, without ceremony, over the quarter-rail into the 
 wide Atlantic, to teach him better manners in future. His 
 kind intentions being thus balked, he solemnly swore, in a 
 voice tremulous with passion, while his eyes gleamed with 
 fury, that he would be fully revenged for the How he had 
 received! Captain Binnacle cowered beneath the dark and 
 fierce glance of the young sailor, and called to the steward for 
 his pistols ; but, just at that moment, the ship having broached 
 to, all three of the topmasts were snapped off close to the 
 caps. Here was a pretty piece of business, which sobered 
 21* 
 
246 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 Captain Binnacle, and all hands were soon employed in clear 
 ing away the wreck. 
 
 In a few days after this disaster, the ship arrived in Bos 
 ton. Captain Binnacle was aware that Harry had deter 
 mined to give him a sound threshing, as a receipt in 
 full, the first time he met him on shore. Some of the 
 other seamen also owed him a small balance, and were deter 
 mined to pay it with interest. He, therefore, wisely concluded 
 not to throw temptations in their way, but entered the vessel 
 at the Custom House as quickly as possible, deposited his 
 accounts with the owners, and left Boston for a brief period, 
 without even bidding farewell to one of his shipmates. 
 
 Several years passed away, when, one cold evening in the 
 month of February, a double sleigh, containing two travellers, 
 a gentleman and a lady, was seen slowly proceeding along the 
 outskirts of a village in the interior of Massachusetts. The 
 snow had fallen in the morning to the depth of nearly a foot, 
 and, towards night, a strong wind had sprung up from the 
 north-west, and the road was filled with mountainous drifts, 
 piled one upon another, like the Alps in miniature, which 
 seemed to have been formed by magic; and our travellers 
 found great difficulty in proceeding on their way. The gentle 
 man, however (who, by the way, was no other than our old 
 friend Captain Binnacle), urged on his horses, and, by turn 
 ing out occasionally into the adjacent fields, to avoid a suc 
 cession of particularly high snow-drifts, he hoped to be able to 
 reach the tavern in the neighboring hamlet. But his horses, 
 by struggling in the snow, became exhausted ; his wife was 
 chilled with the cold, although enveloped in a rich fur pelisse, 
 the thermometer having sunk to nearly zero, and his own 
 wonted courage and energy were rapidly ebbing away, when 
 his horses, with the sleigh attached, plunged into a huge 
 snow-bank, and, after floundering convulsively for a few 
 moments, stuck fast ; all Captain Binnacle s efforts to extri- 
 
THE SAILOR S REVENGE. 247 
 
 cate them from their unpleasant situation x proving fruitless. 
 This was undoubtedly an awkward position to be placed in, 
 as the mantle of night had already overshadowed the earth, 
 and the travellers seemed to feel their unhappy predicament 
 in all its force. But something must be done at once, or they 
 would both perish by cold. Captain Binnacle, in a voice 
 which resembled a funeral knell, bade his wife be of good 
 cheer, and he would look around for assistance, or devise some 
 expedient to overcome their present difficulties. 
 
 With much labor, he forced his way through the snow 
 drifts for a few rods, shouting all the time for help ; but no 
 help came, and he began to think that his voyages were over, 
 and that, after all his perils by sea, he was about to perish 
 ignobly in a snow-bank. 
 
 Just at this moment he fancied he saw the glimmering of a 
 light at a distance. This revived his hopes and his energies. 
 He pushed onward, and soon became convinced it was no illu 
 sion. In a few moments he had arrived in front of a com 
 fortable-looking farm-house. Without stopping to go through 
 the ceremony of knocking, he lifted the latch, and entered the 
 apartment where the family were assembled, and the sight 
 which he there beheld carried comfort to his heart. 
 
 An old-fashioned wood fire, made of massy sticks of yellow 
 oak and walnut, burnt cheerily on the hearth, and diffused a 
 genial warmth, as well as abundance of light, through the 
 room, while the wild westerly wind whistled gloomily with 
 out. A good-looking young woman, on whose pleasing feat 
 ures health and happiness were stamped in characters not to 
 be mistaken, was engaged in clearing off the things from the 
 supper-table. A robust lad, about seventeen years of age, 
 was seated on one side of the fire-place, and busily em 
 ployed in perusing the columns of a newspaper, a good 
 employment for leisure hours. On the other side of the 
 hearth sat a hearty-looking man, apparently a farmer, about 
 
248 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 thirty years of age, who was hard at work, endeavoring to 
 instruct a chubby little fellow, about three years of age, in 
 the rudiments of learning. The whole picture presented a 
 scene of happiness which is often witnessed beneath the roof 
 of the New England farmer. 
 
 The inmates of the house started up at the abrupt entrance 
 of Captain Binnacle, and exhibited some marks of astonish 
 ment. He told his story, and had no sooner mentioned that 
 he had left his wife freezing to death in a sleigh, not a 
 quarter of a mile distant, than all was bustle. A couple of 
 shovels were soon mustered, and, after considerable labor, the 
 horses were released from the snow-bank, and, with the sleigh 
 attached, were led towards the house, which, after a great deal 
 of shovelling, was reached. Mrs. Binnacle was soon installed 
 in the large rocking-chair, in front of a good fire, and, after 
 drinking a few cups of tea, and joining her husband in demol 
 ishing a plate of fried ham and eggs, and some glorious drop- 
 cakes, &c., she declared that she felt quite nice and comfort 
 able. The captain was profuse in his professions of gratitude ; 
 but his host, although he neglected nothing which could con 
 tribute to the convenience of his guests, seemed remarkably 
 serious and taciturn. He asked no questions of the travellers, 
 and to the many questions which were proposed to him he 
 answered only by monosyllables. The " best bed " was soon 
 got ready for the accommodation of the captain and his lady ; 
 to which they, nothing loath, retired at an early hour. 
 
 By sunrise the next morning, all the inhabitants of that 
 part of the country were actively employed, with numerous 
 teams of cattle, in breaking out the roads, and a grand frolic 
 they made of it. By the time that Captain Binnacle and his 
 wife descended to the sitting-room, with their strength and 
 spirits recruited after a good night s rest, the roads were de 
 clared passable. A substantial breakfast was placed before 
 them, to which they did justice. Their horses, which had 
 
THE SAILOR S REVENGE. 
 
 249 
 
 been well taken care of, and sleigh were brought to the door, 
 and, with many thanks for the hospitality with which they 
 had been entertained, to which their host answered but by a 
 grim smile, they prepared to depart. Captain Binnacle 
 handed his wife into the sleigh, then took a bank-bill from 
 his pocket-book, and offered to his host, as a small com 
 pensation, he said, for his trouble, in ministering to their 
 wants. But the honest farmer rejected the proffered reward 
 with a contemptuous wave of his hand. 
 
 
 " Captain Binnacle," said he, in a deep and impressive 
 tone, " you do not know me. Look me in the face. Surely 
 a few short years cannot have effected such a change in my 
 features, that you can no longer recognize HENRY WILDER ! 
 
250 
 
 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 Yes, Captain Binnacle, you see before you the man whom you 
 abused and maltreated without a shadow of cause ; the man 
 whom, protected by the brief authority you then exercised, 
 you struck like a coward, as you were. I then solemnly de 
 clared that I would be revenged, if an opportunity ever oc 
 curred ; and if I had met you in the streets of Boston, I would 
 have exacted a fearful penalty fbr that blow. It is better, 
 however, as it is. You have come to me, unexpectedly, as 
 a suppliant ; you were in distress, and I have relieved you. 
 J am avenged I You may go your way in peace." 
 
 Captain Binnacle stood for a moment a statue of surprise. 
 He was, to use his own favorite expression, " taken all aback." 
 His cheeks turned pale, his lips quivered with dismay, and 
 his astonished wife, who was a silent spectator of the scene, 
 blushed for her husband. Recovering from his stupor, he 
 stepped into his sleigh without saying a word, gave his horses 
 the lash, and they dashed off at a rattling pace; but he will 
 never again forget the features or the voice of Henry Wilder. 
 
FRANK GRANGER AND NABBY BROWN. 
 
 " Zounds ! lady, do not give such heavy blows ; 
 I m not your husband, as belike you guess." 
 
 JOAXXA BAILLIE. 
 
 A FEW nights after Frank Granger had recounted to his 
 admiring shipmates his first courting adventure with Hannah 
 Hartshorn, the ship True Blue was snugly lying to under a 
 close-reefed main-topsail and reefed foresail. The wind was 
 blowing a strong but steady gale from the north-east, but the 
 sea was regular, and the old ship floated on the water as dry 
 and as stately as an albatross off the Cape of Good Hope. 
 The larboard watch on deck were huddled together under the 
 weather bulwarks, and trying to make themselves as com 
 fortable as circumstances would allow. Each tar was closely 
 enveloped in a good stout pea-jacket, with a tarpaulin hat 
 covering his calabash, and a coarse cotton handkerchief or 
 " comforter " around his neck. Sailors like to be comfortable 
 at times as well as landsmen. 
 
 They listened in silence, for the space of at least one glass, 
 to the murmurs of the wind, and its mournful cadences, as it 
 passed through the rigging, and the monotonous sound of the 
 waves lashing themselves into a fury, or dashing with impo 
 tent rage against the substantial sides of the ship. They did 
 not feel positively sleepy, for they had enjoyed watch and 
 watch for several days ; and, there being no excitement, and 
 nothing to do, " alow or aloft," after indulging for a while in 
 philosophical reflections, or building a few castles in the air, 
 
252 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 the time hung rather heavily on their hands, although, it must 
 be admitted, that, as a general principle, sailors are not 
 much troubled with " ennui" 
 
 The silence was at last broken by Jack Dale. " I say, 
 shipmates," exclaimed he, " I should like to hear Frank Gran 
 ger spin us another yarn about his courting scrapes. What 
 do you say, lads ? " 
 
 " A good idea," said Tim Gibson. " Come, Frank, no back 
 ing astern, open your ports and blaze away. I should like to 
 know whether you ever fell in with another Hannah Harts 
 horn in the course of your travels." 
 
 " Not exactly," replied Frank ; " but, as I gently insinuated 
 before, although Hannah was my first, she was not my last 
 love. I assure you I have had some experience in the ways 
 of womankind. But, somehow or other, they always manage 
 to get the weather-gage of me, and it is not long since I came 
 to the conclusion that the man who has least to do with them 
 is best off." 
 
 " I don t believe that doctrine," abruptly exclaimed old Ben 
 Biddle. " On the contrary, I firmly believe that if every 
 man on board the True Blue had been married to a good, in 
 dustrious, well-behaved girl, before he was three-and-twenty, 
 he would have been far better off than he is at present." 
 " Why did you not get married, then, long ago ? " inquired 
 Jack Dale, with a grin. 
 
 " Because I was a fool ! " exclaimed the old man. " If I 
 had to live my life over again, I would be married before I 
 reached the age of twenty-one." 
 
 " That is, if you could find some one to have you," added 
 Frank, "Hey, old fellow?" 
 
 " To be sure ; but there would be no difficulty in that," 
 muttered Ben. 
 
 " Come, come ! " shouted Tim ; " belay all that. If Frank 
 is going to get a yarn on stretch, there is no time to lose." 
 
 
FRANK GRANGER AND NABBY BROWN 253 
 
 " Well, shipmates," said Frank, " if you say so, you shall 
 have it, with all my heart ; and I hope that my experience in 
 a kind of navigation full of shoals and quicksands, where there 
 are neither charts nor compasses, may act as a warning to the 
 youngsters. 
 
 "Well, I told you, shipmates, the other night, that, after 
 Hannah Hartshorn had treated me so coldly and inhospitably, 
 making me the laughing-stock of all the young folks in Cran 
 berry Village, I left the home of my fathers, and went to sea. 
 I liked the business, and was successful in my voyages ; and, 
 being rather a sober and industrious lad, saved a goodly por 
 tion of my wages, and made something handsome by my 
 * ventures, which, in other days, sailors were allowed to 
 carry free of freight. In the course of five years I became 
 quite a different being from the youth who sneaked away one 
 morning from his house because he had been played a scurvy 
 trick by the girl he wished to wed ; and few persons, in the 
 sun-burnt, smart-looking, dashing sailor, neatly arrayed in a 
 jacket of blue, would have recognized the bashful, awkward, 
 gawky, green-looking chap, who got so thoroughly soused at 
 Major Hartshorn s, a few years before. 
 
 " While on tije broad deep, in the night watches, or ex 
 hausted by the heat in a tropical climate, I often thought of 
 the home of my youth, and longed to visit it ; but, although 
 not naturally of a timid disposition, as you all know, I was 
 afraid to encounter ridicule. At length, at the expiration of 
 five years, I mustered courage, and resolved to indulge my 
 inclination and return home, embrace my revered parents, if 
 they were still living, and renew my acquaintance with the 
 worthy inhabitants of Cranberry Village. 
 
 " I found that my father had been dead two years, but my 
 
 mother was in good health, and overjoyed to see me. She 
 
 hoped that I had got enough of the sea, and had returned to 
 
 assist and cheer her during her remaining years. But I soon 
 
 22 
 
254 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 undeceived her on that point. I preferred the wild, eventful 
 life of a sailor to the humdrum occupation of a farmer, and 
 had made arrangements to proceed on another voyage in the 
 course of six or eight weeks. But, in the mean time, being 
 an idler, in everybody s mess and nobody s watch, I deter 
 mined to enjoy myself among the gay lads and rosy-cheeked 
 lasses of the village, more especially as I found that my old 
 flame, Hannah Hartshorn, had been married for three years 
 and six months, to a smart young fellow, who carried on the 
 two-fold business of country trader and horse jockey, in a 
 town about ten miles off. But I could have told him, what I 
 heard he had already found to his cost, that, smart as he was, 
 he had met with his match in Hannah. 
 
 "Being well-spiced with impudence, and a good-looking 
 fellow into the bargain (remember, shipmates, this was twenty 
 years ago), and wearing a sailor s dandy costume, which has 
 always seemed charming in the eyes of the fair, I soon became 
 a favorite with the girls in the neighborhood. I found, also, 
 that in the noble exercise of wrestling at arms length, and 
 in performing the evolutions of the double-shuffle, not a youth 
 in the whole village could compete with me ; and these are 
 qualities which, if a lad wishes to gain the good opinion of the 
 girls should not be hid in a bushel. I found, too, that I could 
 talk to some purpose ; and my adventures at sea, the many 
 perilous scenes I had witnessed, formed inexhaustible subjects 
 of intense interest ; and I was always a welcome guest at 
 raisings, huskings and quiltings ; and glorious frolics we some 
 times had on those occasions, I assure you. 
 
 " While sunning myself in the smiles of these fair ones, I 
 forgot the trick which the major s pretty daughter played me, 
 and began to entertain not only an exalted opinion of the fair 
 sex, but a profound respect and veneration for the married 
 state. I could not help thinking what a pleasant thing it 
 would be to be welcomed to my own home, after an absence 
 
FRANK GRANGER AND NABBY BROWN. 255 
 
 of six months or a year, by a bright-eyed, angelic being, all 
 smiles and sunshine. 
 
 " While I was in this mood, anxious, yet afraid, to take a 
 desperate plunge over head and ears in the sea of matrimony, 
 I met Nabby Brown at a husking frolic, and all doubts and 
 fears vanished like a Cape Sable frog at the rising of the full 
 moon. I resolved forthwith to take the plunge, if I could 
 prevail on Nabby to be my partner in such an enterprise. 
 
 "Nabby Brown was the daughter of Colonel Napthali 
 Brown, of Pekoket, a little town adjoining my native hamlet. 
 She was about eighteen years of age, in the very blush of 
 womanhood, and one of the most beautiful creatures that I 
 ever beheld. She was not one of your milk-and-water dam 
 sels, with skilligalee complexions, and a frame like a lath, 
 whom you meet with so often in large cities, but a ruddy- 
 cheeked, subsiayitial maiden, of the real Yankee model ; one 
 who could walk abroad in the winter season without fear of 
 being caught up and borne off by a fierce north-wester. And 
 her eye ! it was of a dark blue, but roguish, and calculated 
 to do mischief. It was an eye that could talk, and talk well, 
 too, and express her feelings with more point and truth than 
 her tongue ; it was one of that sort of eyes, a kind of glance 
 from which, lulls reason to sleep, and always captivates the 
 heart of the poor sailor. It was truly an intoxicating eye. 
 
 " In a word, shipmate, Nabby was such a girl as the eye 
 of a true sailor delights to rest upon; she was a fine specimen 
 of female architecture, elegantly moulded in every part, and 
 rigged throughout with neatness and taste, apparently built 
 for use as well as for show, and, like an old-fashioned Yankee 
 sloop-of-war, being rather full in the bows, with a handsome 
 swell of the counter, could hardly be regarded as a clipper. I 
 then thought it would seem a shame for such a vessel to pro 
 ceed any distance on the voyage of life, without being well 
 
256 
 
 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 manned ; and I have reason to believe that Nabby was of the 
 same opinion. 
 
 " Well, that night at the husking party, it was my good or 
 ill fortune to be placed alongside of the rustic beauty, and a 
 capital time I had, I assure you, for Nabby did not object to 
 a good-humored joke, and liked a frolic and a hearty laugh, 
 as well as myself. We had lively times that evening, I 
 assure you, and whenever I met with a red ear, I claimed 
 the privilege of kissing the prettiest girl present, and selected 
 Nabby, of course ; and there was no little screaming, and 
 struggling, and laughing, and scolding, among the huskers on 
 Simon Watkins s barn floor, that night. Long before the busi 
 ness of husking was finished, I had resolved to make a prize 
 of the snug little frigate alongside, throw my grappling-irons 
 on board, man her without delay, and sail in company with 
 her through life. 
 
 " When the party broke up, and I was preparing to escort 
 my charmer to her home, about three quarters of a mile off, I 
 was a little surprised to see Harry Simpkins, a weazel-faced, 
 sour-looking chap, whose face had not been lit up with a smile 
 for the whole evening, come up, and, after giving me an angry 
 glance, offer his arm to Nabby, as if it were a matter of course. 
 Indignant at his impudence, before she had time to accept it 
 or reject it, I gently pushed him aside, placed the arm of the 
 confused but laughing girl within mine, arid, indicating by my 
 clenched fist and other movements that I was not to be tri 
 fled with, marched off in triumph, with Nabby in tow, to the 
 great astonishment and dismay of my unworthy rival, whose 
 presumption in aspiring to the affections of Nabby Brown, 
 I could hardly refrain from chastising, as it deserved, on the 
 spot. 
 
 " I have already said that the distance to Colonel Brown s 
 was only three quarters of a mile ; the road was level, and 
 by no means difficult to find, even in the night, but somehow 
 
FRANK GRANGER AND NABBY BROWN. 257 
 
 it happened that more than two hours passed away before we 
 reached the threshold of the colonel s door ! What passed in 
 the course of that time it is impossible for me to tell ; my 
 brain.- were in such a whirl of excitement, that I hardly knew 
 whether I stood on my heels or on my head. I only remem 
 ber that I approached Nabby in a style altogether different 
 from that in which I addressed Sally Hartshorn, and was re 
 ceived in a different manner, which was a natural consequence. 
 Ere we reached the colonel s house, with all the frankness and 
 ardor of a sailer, I had offered her my hand, and the affec 
 tions of an honest tar. who would never deceive her. The 
 darkness covered her blushes, but I could feel her frame 
 tremble, as she leaned against me for support. At length 
 she faltered out that she knew nothing against my character, 
 but she was very young, and had never thought of being 
 married ! 
 
 " I knew better than that, and before I parted with her at 
 her father s door, poor Harry Simpkins s nose was out of joint, 
 for Nabby had given me all the encouragement I wished, and 
 more than I could have expected or deserved, on so short an 
 acquaintance. I called to see her the next day, and admired 
 her more than ever. I -talked with her father, secured his 
 good will, and rejoiced in my good fortune. Being determined 
 to strike while the iron was hot, and to avoid subjecting my 
 self to disappointment, I called upon Squire Waddington, the 
 town clerk, to request his good offices in publishing the inten 
 tions of marriage between Frank Granger and Nabby Brown, 
 according to the good custom then prevailing in New England. 
 
 " Squire Waddington was a stiff, sedate-looking man, aboui 
 forty-five years of age. His wife had died about six or eigh; 
 months before, and he had grieved deeply and unceasingly for 
 her death. And what made the matter worse for him, she 
 had left four or five young children, who required the care 
 and attention of a mother. When I told him the object of 
 22* 
 
258 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 my visit, he started, and I thought seemed surprised and not 
 altogether pleased. He looked at me earnestly for a moment, 
 before he replied. 
 
 " Certainly, Mr. Granger, I will publish you next Sabbath, 
 if you wish. But marriage is an important ceremony ; it is 
 one of those knots which even a sailor cannot untie. I hope 
 you considered the matter well, before you formed your deter 
 mination. 
 
 " To be sure I have, I replied, in a firm voice. 
 
 " Frank, resumed the squire, in a kind, but solemn and 
 fatherly tone, I was a friend of your worthy father, and 
 should be happy to render any service to his son, and I must 
 frankly tell you that I am sorry you have proceeded so far 
 in this matter, without consulting your friends, and would 
 advise you to break off the match without delay. 
 
 " Break off the match ? I exclaimed ; wheugh ! Why, 
 what do you mean, squire ? Why should I break off my 
 match with Nabby Brown ? 
 
 " Why, replied the squire, in a low and gentle tone, I 
 know that girl, Frank, better than you do. She is not calcu 
 lated to make you a good wife. She likes too well to frolic 
 with the beaux ; and, young as she is, and demure as she 
 sometimes appears, she has been the town talk for these 
 two years. You surely must have heard the stories about 
 her ? added he, in a sort of half laugh, which I did n t at 
 all like. 
 
 " Stories about Nabby Brown ! no. I never heard anything 
 about her which was not much to her credit. 
 
 " Indeed ! cried the squire, rolling up the white of his 
 eyes. How charitable this world has become ! but I should 
 have thought that some kind friend would have cautioned you, 
 when they saw the danger you were in, and not have left to 
 me the unthankful task of telling you the truth ; but I never 
 shrink from my duty. 
 
FRANK GRANGER AND NABBY BROWN. 259 
 
 " The squire went on, and after pledging me to secrecy, told 
 me some astounding circumstances, which convinced me that I 
 had been altogether too hasty in forming a resolution to unite 
 my fortunes with those of Xabby Brown, and that the sooner 
 I broke off the match, the better for my happiness. I felt 
 mortified and indignant at having been so neatly taken in by 
 a happy disposition, a pretty face, and a roguish eye, and de 
 clared my intention of taking French leave of my charmer, 
 and going off to sea ! 
 
 " The ver} T best thing you can do, exclaimed the squire ; 
 and I thought I saw a glance of satisfaction shoot across his 
 rigid features. And, if I were you, I would not be in a hurry 
 to return, for you may not find it altogether pleasant to be 
 laughed at. 
 
 " I know that from experience, I replied. I will go right 
 home, pack up my duds, and be off to-morrow morning in the 
 stage for Boston. But I will see Xabby first, and tell her a 
 piece of my mind. 
 
 " Poh, nonsense ! exclaimed the squire. * The less you 
 have to say to her the better. She is an artful girl, and, with 
 her musical voice and bewitching smile, and languishing glances, 
 would make a wiser man than you believe the moon s made 
 of greea cheese. Avoid an interview with her by all means. 
 But, as I am a friend of the family, if you wish it, I will call 
 there to-morrow afternoon, and explain matters to her and to 
 her father, in such a way that no blame whatever will rest 
 upon you. 
 
 " The very thing, said I. * An interview with her would 
 lo rnther awkward for both of us now; and, although I am 
 r.ot afraid of her arts and blandishments, after what you have 
 told me, it had better perhaps be avoided. But, added I, 
 with a sigh, who would have thought that Xabby Brown, of 
 all girls in the world, with such excellent parents, and at so 
 
ii SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 early an age, would have shown symptoms of being deficient 
 in propriety and principle ? 
 
 " My course was determined. I went right home, ac 
 quainted my mother with my resolution, and the next morn 
 ing at eight o clock was some nine or ten miles on my road 
 towards Boston-; and although I felt rejoiced at my escape, 
 I was disappointed and low-spirited during the whole journey. 
 But I quickly got a berth in a good brig, bound on a voyage 
 up the Straits, and the sight of the blue sea, and the excit 
 ing scenes on shipboard, soon drove all annoying thoughts 
 from my mind ; for you know, lads, I never was in the habit 
 of dwelling long on past evils, or indulging in unpleasant an 
 ticipations. So far from sighing at the recollection of The 
 girl I left behind me, I chuckled at the idea of having slipped 
 my head out of the running bowline of matrimony just in the 
 nick of time. 
 
 " Well, we proceeded on the voyage ; touched at Gibraltar, 
 got dismasted in a Levanter, and were towed into Palermo 
 in distress. After being detained for repairs, we put back 
 for Marseilles, and took a cargo for Cape Henry, in St. 
 Domingo, where we arrived in safety after a long and tedi 
 ous passage. A few days after our arrival at the Cape, I 
 went on board a brig, which had lately left Boston, to learn 
 the news ; and one of the seamen loaned me a bundle of 
 newspapers, which he had brought from home. I eagerly 
 seized the first chance to look them over. Among them 
 were several country papers ; and I caught up the Na 
 tional -<33gis, a paper published in the heart of the Com 
 monwealth. I naturally turned to the column of deaths and 
 marriages ; and there was a list long as my arm. But you 
 may judge of my astonishment, shipmates, when, in the list 
 of marriages, the very first record which caught my eye, was 
 this : 
 
 " On Sunday evening last, by Rev. Asahel Wetherby, 
 
FRANK GRANGER AND NABBY BROWN. ZOi 
 
 Abraham Waddington, Esq., of Cranberry Village, to Miss 
 Abigail Brown, eldest daughter of Major Napthali Brown of 
 Pekoket. 
 
 " It then came across me like a thunder-clap, that I had 
 been bamboozled ; that all the stories told me by the squire 
 about Nabby were rascally lies, cunningly devised ; and that 
 the object of the plausible scoundrel was to make me break 
 off the match with the girl of my choice, and get me out of 
 the way, that he might step forward and marry the roguish- 
 eyed damsel himself. 
 
 " I lamented my folly in suffering myself to be so easily 
 deceived by a sly, palavering scoundrel, and persuaded to 
 abandon a well-built, sound, beautiful craft, when in sight of 
 port. I raved like a madman, and might, for aught I know, 
 have committed some fatal extravagance, if I had not found 
 consolation in a secret determination to return home without 
 unnecessary delay, and wreak my vengeance on Squire Wad- 
 diugton, in the shape of a terrible threshing. I was, there 
 fore, rejoiced when I learned that the captain had engaged a 
 freight to New York, whither we arrived in good time. 
 
 " As soon as I was paid off, I started for Boston, and, 
 without delay, took the stage for Worcester, on my way to 
 Cranberry Village. It was a pleasant evening in the month 
 of M ay, when the stage stopped at the Gull Tavern in my 
 native town. I sprung out, inquired of the hostler if Squire 
 Waddington lived at the old place near Green Meadow, and, 
 being told that he did, I took my way, at a rapid pace, 
 towards his dwelling, for I had accounts to settle with him, 
 and I knew that the sooner a person gets such reckonings off 
 his hands, the better for all parties. 
 
 " I reached the dwelling of Squire Waddington about half- 
 past eight o clock. I knocked at the door in a state of con 
 siderable excitement, without having yet formed any definite 
 plan of operations, resolving to be guided by circumstances 
 
262 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 No one came to the door, and I knocked again louder than 
 before, but without success. I thought, however, that I heard 
 the sound of voices in the back apartments, and, finding that I 
 could not gain an entrance in front, I walked round to the 
 - back door, which opened upon the kitchen. As I turned 
 the corner of the house, the voices fell on my ears thicker and 
 faster ; and I found that a domestic squall, of a furious char 
 acter, was then raging in the house. 
 
 " A female voice, in a shrill but exalted tone, exclaimed, 
 * I tell you what it is, old Waddington, I will submit to this, 
 conduct no longer. You have treated me shamefully. You 
 took advantage of my youth and my ignorance, and deceived 
 me. You persuaded me to marry you, you, a man old 
 enough to be my father. And all the thanks I get is abusive 
 language and ill treatment ; but I will not submit to it. 
 
 " All I can tell you, madam, replied the squire, is that 
 you will have to submit to it so long as you persist in neg 
 lecting your duties as a loving and faithful wife, and choose 
 to honor me with degrading epithets, and accuse me of hav 
 ing spoiled your market with better men than myself. 
 
 " You know it s all true, replied the enraged Nabby. 
 You drove off Frank Granger, by telling him a pack of lies 
 about me. You can t deny it ; you can t. 0, you are a sweet 
 youth you are ! And then, when Harry tSimpkins came 
 to see me, in order to revive our acquaintance, you threat 
 ened to horsewhip him if he came again ; he told me so him 
 self last week. 0, I wish I had been at Joppa among the 
 Turks, before I married you ! 
 
 " I wish, with all my heart, you had, madam, for you 
 make my home miserable. I wish that Frank Granger had 
 married you. He would have been soon sick of his bargain ; but 
 he could have gone off to sea, when he found you out. As 
 for poor Harry Simpkins, you would have scolded him to 
 death in three months. But I tell you what it is, I will be 
 
FRANK GRANGER AND NABBY BROWN. l!Go 
 
 master in my own house, and, while you stay here, you shall 
 treat me with deference and respect as your lord and master. 
 
 " You, my lord and master ! screamed Nabby ; you piti 
 ful blockhead ! Two words to that bargain ! You will soon 
 find whom you have to deal with ; and I beg you to remember 
 that I am mistress in this house, and mean to be MASTER too ; 
 and I beg you will govern yourself accordingly. 
 
 " Ha! ha ! ha ! was the contemptuous reply of the un 
 fortunate squire. But his mirth was soon changed to wail 
 ing, for Xabby, who, it seems was a real Tartar, after all, 
 seized a broomstick, and gave him a rap over the sconce, 
 which brought tears into his eyes and fierce menaces from 
 his lips. He grasped the broomstick with one hand, and with 
 the other gave his dear wedded wife, to whom he had not been 
 married four months, a sound box on the ear ! 
 
 " I could stand it no longer ; and the man who can 
 quietly look on and see a woman ill-treated, whether she is 
 right or wrong, must be a contemptible coward. I pushed 
 open the door, and entered the apartment. Xabby, however, 
 hardly required my aid, for, when I entered,. she had seized 
 her liege lord by the hair, and he was alternately screaming 
 murder, and begging for mercy. 
 
 " You cowardly scoundrel ! said I, would you strike a 
 woman ? and I gave him a box on the ear, which would have 
 felled an ox. But a large dog, which had been lying quietly 
 on the hearth, an idle spectator of the loving contention 
 between the master and mistress of the house, no sooner saw a 
 new actor enter on the scene, than he thought it tfcjie to inter 
 fere, and, barking furiously, he fiercely attacked me behind, 
 and, as his teeth were decidedly sharp, made me feel very 
 uncomfortable. At the same time Nabby herself, her face 
 flushed with passion, her hair streaming over her shoulders, 
 and a most unlovely frown on her brow, rushed at me with 
 her broomstick, of which she had regained possession, exclaim- 
 
2134 
 
 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 ing, * What business have you to attack my husband, you 
 villain ? Take that, and that, and off with you, I say ! 0, 
 
 murder, thieves, robbers ! and, at very brief intervals, the 
 broomstick descended with terrible force on my head and 
 shoulders. 
 
 " The squire s three eldest children, awakened by the out 
 cry, rushed into the kitchen, and joined in the chorus. 
 Astonished at the rude reception which I met with from the 
 gentle Nabby, I was undecided what to do ; the squire him 
 self recovered from the blow I had given him, and, seizing a 
 hoe-handle, which was leaning against the corner of the room, 
 rushed upon me, denouncing vengeance against the man who 
 would dare to interfere between husband and wife. To tell 
 
FRANK GRANGER AND NABBY BROWN. 265 
 
 you the truth, shipmates, I began to be alarmed. The odds 
 w,ere too great. The dog still kept hanging on my quarters, 
 nnd giving me painful proofs of the sharpness of his teeth. 
 Squire Waddington was a stout man, and, with a good 
 weapon, and a good will, was able to do me serious injury ; 
 while, to crown all, his infuriated wife kept cracking away at 
 my head with her broomstick, raising a mousing at every 
 blow, and firing upon me vollies of epithets. I knew there 
 was neither honor nor advantage to be gained by staying ; 
 and, since I had witnessed their connubial endearments, I no 
 longer felt resentment against the poor squire for playing me 
 a knavish trick. On the contrary, I felt that he was punished 
 enough hi all conscience, and was rather an object of pity, if 
 not of thanks, than resentment. I therefore backed out of 
 the scrape, as quickly as I could. I was followed closely by 
 the squire, and Xabby, and the dog, and did not get off with 
 out considerable damage to my person and my garments. At 
 length I succeeded in reaching the highway, and rattled along 
 the road at a furious rate, without once looking back, until I 
 found myself safely lodged in the bar-room of the Gull tavern ! 
 
 " I did not tarry long in Cranberry Village after this ad 
 venture ; but I left it a wiser man than when I entered it, 
 having learned, during my short stay, that beauty and grace 
 in a maiden do not always imply gentleness and amiability in 
 a wife ; and that the man who interferes in matrimonial quar 
 rels, instead of thanks from either party, will get for his pains 
 nothing but kicks and cuffs from both." 
 
 But the string of Frank s reflections was cut short in a 
 manner not altogether of the most agreeable character. 
 While he had been spinning his yarn, the wind had been in 
 creasing, and had headed off the ship some two or three 
 points, which brought her nearly in the trough of the sea ; the 
 natural consequence of this was, that, while they were listen 
 ing to Frank Granger s story, and making themselves as com- 
 23 
 
266 
 
 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 fortable as possible under the weather bulwarks, a foam- 
 crested roller came down from the weather beam, and, after 
 striking heavily against the ship s side, it gracefully raised 
 above the gunwale its snow-white head, and, without further 
 ceremony, came slap-dash among the astonished crew. They 
 were thoroughly drenched with sea-water, and washed into 
 the lee scuppers, and puffed and blowed like a shoal of por 
 poises, before they could recover their breaths, or ascertain 
 their latitude and longitude. And this incident rather ab 
 ruptly cut off the yarn about Frank Granger and the gentle 
 Nabby Brown. 
 
THE CATAUARAff. 
 
 " She stood alone upon that fragile raft, 
 
 Tossed by the wares of ocean, far from land ; 
 
 And, with her splendid garments drenched with spray, 
 
 Her golden ornaments and jewels rich, 
 
 Her hair dishevelled, streaming in the wind, 
 
 Her visage pale as marble, and her eyes 
 
 Coal black, and sparkling like the wild gazelle, 
 
 Seemed the reluctant bride of some sea-god ! " 
 
 OLD PLAT. 
 
 THE perils and misfortunes of sailor? form a more prolific 
 theme for conversation, anecdote, and story, than their good 
 fortunes. There was a gloriousfcfcception to this rule, how 
 ever, in the case of my old shipmate, Stephen Cameron. He 
 never met with difficulties in the course of his life, but was 
 always the recipient of fortune s favors. There seemed to bo 
 
268 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 no occasion for him to plan and concert measures for his 
 future conduct. Whether he was reckless or prudent, cau 
 tious or daring, the result was ever the same, and most happy, 
 so far as he was concerned. He was a fine fellow, a noble- 
 hearted fellow, and a good-looking fellow, too, and, no doubt, 
 deserved all the good fortune that fell to his lot. Such men 
 do not always meet with their deserts. 
 
 Stephen Cameron was the son of poor parents, who died 
 when he was eight years old, and left him a destitute orphan, 
 thrown upon the charities of what is often called a cold- 
 hearted, unfeeling world. He was a bright-eyed, ruddy- 
 cheeked, intelligent-looking lad, and Mr. Bellows, a worthy 
 blacksmith, who lived in the village, and was a friend of Mr. 
 Cameron, took pity on his destitute offspring, conveyed him 
 to his own house, and treated him like one of his own children, 
 intending to give him as good an education as could be fur 
 nished by the district schools in the country, instruct him in 
 his own trade, and put him in a way of procuring a livelihood, 
 and becoming a useful and respectable member of society. 
 
 But Stephen early evinced repugnance to learning the trade 
 of a blacksmith, or, indeed, any other handicraft employment. 
 He exhibited a taste for adventure, was anxious to visit 
 foreign countries, and avowed a determination to " go to sea." 
 At the age of fourteen, he left the house of his friend and 
 guardian, with a bundle in his hand, containing all his chat 
 tels, and while his bosom beat high with hope, and his eyes 
 sparkled with expectation, he commenced his journey to the 
 nearest seaport. His intelligent face, and graceful but robust 
 form, served as a letter of recommendation, and, without much 
 difficulty, he procured a situation as cabin-boy on board a 
 ship bound to Europe. 
 
 Stephen thus commenced his career as a sailor, and met 
 with many buffets and hardships at the outset. But he 
 always made friends, this was owing to his good conduct 
 
THE CATAMARAN. 269 
 
 and exemplary character, and he never met with any seri 
 ous misfortunes. He haJ deliberately selected his occupation, 
 and he determined to press forward until he had gained the 
 topmost round of the ladder ; and, stimulated by a proper 
 spirit of emulation, it is not remarkable that he rapidly passed 
 through the different grades of cabin-boy, sailor, second mate, 
 chief mate, and became master of a fine vessel, the ship Cuue- 
 gunda, engaged in the Brazilian trade. 
 
 Captain Cameron was an honor to human nature he 
 was as brave, generous, noble-spirited a fellow as ever 
 strapped a block, or worked out a case in traverse sailing. 
 He loved his profession, he loved his ship, and was faithful 
 to his employers, who congratulated themselves on securing 
 the services of an able shipmaster and an intelligent merchant. 
 Although an ardent admirer of the fair sex (was there ever a 
 true sailor who was not ?), and fond of female society, which 
 exercises a purifying and polishing influence on the character 
 and conduct of men, he was resolved to retain his heart in his 
 own keeping, until fortune should so far smile upon his under 
 takings as to enable him to bid farewell to the ocean, and, 
 with a competence, seek happiness in the bosom of domestic 
 society. Such was the character of Stephen Cameron, when, 
 in the good ship Cunegunda, with a fine breeze from the north 
 west, he rapidly left a well-known seaport in New England, 
 bound on a voyage to Rio de Janeiro, in the. Brazils. 
 
 Nothing material oceurred in the early part of the passage; 
 but Lieutenant Maury s route had not then been 
 and, as the ship drew towards the equator, calms mul 
 southerly winds prevailed to a degree seldom witnessed even 
 in those latitudes. A current, meanwhile, was setting strongly 
 to the westward, and Captain Cameron had the unpleasant 
 anticipation of being back-strapped, as the phrase is, that is, 
 forced so far to leeward as to be unable to weather Cape St. 
 Roque in which case he would have to proceed back 
 23* 
 
270 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 into the latitude of variable winds, and then, by stretching to 
 the eastward, and afterwards hugging the " trades," try once 
 more to reach his destined port. The Cunegunda, too, was 
 heavily laden, and rather a dull sailer, and our youthful skip 
 per passed many anxious hours, until he took the trade-wind 
 strong from the east-south-east, and saw that the chances were 
 in favor of his weathering Cape St. Roque. He did weather 
 the cape, but had nothing to spare, and had to make several 
 tacks along the coast before he could hope to clear the Cape 
 of St. Augustine. 
 
 One morning, when nearly in the latitude of Pernambuco, 
 while the Cunegunda was gliding along, close-hauled, with a 
 fine easterly breeze, Captain Cameron came on deck about 
 sunrise, and, while the watch were busy scrubbing and wash 
 ing the decks, he went into the fore-topmast cross-trees, to 
 take a look around the horizon. He had been there but a 
 few minutes, ere he espied, in shore, apparently standing off 
 from the land, a sail. He called for his glass, and discovered 
 the sail to be a boat of small size, or a raft, with only one 
 piece of canvas hoisted, a shoulder-of-mutton sail. The craft 
 appeared to be steered wildly, and he was much puzzled in 
 endeavoring to conjecture why that frail vessel was navigat 
 ing that rough sea, at such a distance from the land, nearly 
 thirty-five miles, and running from the land, instead of 
 approaching it on the other tack. He was convinced that 
 some extraordinary occurrence must have caused this singular 
 proceeding. 
 
 As the craft drew nearer, Captain Cameron saw that it 
 was a catamaran, a class of vessels peculiar to South Amer 
 ica, and constructed of light logs of a species of the palm- 
 tree, cut in lengths of fifteen feet or more, and arranged in 
 the form of a raft. These kinds of skiffs are very buoyant, 
 sail rapidly with a free wind, and are much used by the fish 
 ermen on the coast of Brazil, being often met with several 
 
THE CATAMARAN. 271 
 
 miles from the land, even when the trade-wind is blowing 
 fresh, and the seas are sweeping over the platform of the raft. 
 The catamaran, of course, from its peculiar construction, can 
 not capsize, and, although a wet, is a safe and tolerably com 
 fortable craft in moderate weather ; but it presents a singular 
 appearance when seen on the coast for the first time, with 
 its rude-looking navigators, generally half-naked Indians or 
 negroes. 
 
 As the distance between the ship and the catamaran les 
 sened, Captain Cameron fancied that he saw one, and only 
 one, person on the raft, and that person was arrayed in a 
 female garb ! His curiosity now became intense ; all hands 
 were mustered on deck, and arrangements were made to board 
 the catamaran, if necessary, and thus solve the mystery. It 
 was not long before the figure of a female was plainly dis 
 tinguished. She was seated on a chest, or a box, in an atti 
 tude of helplessness, and seemed, by her gestures, to be 
 imploring assistance. She was, evidently, unacquainted with 
 the management of the craft, which was drifting or sailing 
 about at the mercy of the waves. The ship was hove to, with 
 the main-topsail to the mast, then a boat was lowered and 
 manned, and, in a few minutes, the catamaran, with its fair 
 navigator, was alongside the Cunegunda. 
 
 The sight which was there exhibited called forth all the 
 sympathy of the young and humane American captain and 
 his gallant crew. The navigator of this little vessel was u 
 girl, not more than eighteen years of age, but of extraordinary 
 delicacy of frame, and lineaments seldom surpassed in sym 
 metry and beauty. Her eyes were dark, and sparkled like 
 Golconda gems ; but her features were thin and deadly pale, 
 and although they were now illumined by a smile of joy, yet it 
 was plainly seen that the fair adventurer had been a prey to 
 intense physical suffering. 
 
 She was assisted on deck, and received with much kindness 
 
272 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 and warmth by the gallant captain, who was able to converse 
 with her in the Portuguese language. He was much struck 
 with her beauty, her youth, and the singularity of her cos 
 tume. Her dress was thin and elegant, better calculated for 
 a ball-room than to withstand the rude assaults of the winds 
 and the waves. Around her neck she wore a necklace of 
 great splendor, and her taper fingers were encircled with 
 jewelled rings. Her garments were dripping with the salt 
 sea-spray, and her hair, glossy, and of raven blackness, fell 
 unconfined on her shoulders, giving her the appearance of a 
 sibyl of the seas. 
 
 Her strength failed her when she reached the deck of the 
 Cunegunda, and she exhibited great emotion at the idea of 
 having been snatched, as it were, from the devouring jaws of 
 death. Captain Cameron, with much tenderness, assisted her 
 into the cabin, and, suspecting the cause of her weakness and 
 the pallor of her complexion, lost no time in administering 
 such restoratives as he knew would prove beneficial in her 
 case, and renovate her exhausted faculties. He then learned 
 that this lovely Portuguese girl, evidently educated in the 
 lap of luxury, and unaccustomed to even the trivial ills of 
 life, had been for more than three days exposed on the open 
 sea, and during that time had tasted neither food nor water ! 
 
 It is needless to say that Captain Cameron s attentions to 
 his beauteous passenger, whom he had so unexpectedly fallen 
 in with, were unremitting, but of the most delicate character. 
 He soon ascertained that her mind was cultivated and pure, 
 sind that she excelled in those accomplishments which are 
 always regarded as an ornament to the sex. In a few day 
 her strength and her spirits were much improved, and, although 
 still delicate in her appearance, and fragile in her form, she 
 no longer seemed a prey to suffering or disease ; her beauty 
 was more resplendent than when she was first seen, for to it 
 were added the attractive charms of health. 
 
TIIE CATAMARAN. 2~O 
 
 i 
 
 When we consider the forlorn condition of this girl when 
 first seen by Captain Cameron, and the extraordinary power 
 of her personal charms-, united with her unprotected situation 
 and the necessity there was that he should regard her as an 
 object requiring the greatest kindness and attention on his 
 part, in order to reconcile her to her strange and awkward 
 situation on board a foreign vessel, among strangers, with no 
 companion of her own sex, it is, perhaps, not very extraordi 
 nary that Stephen Cameron began to cherish for this accom 
 plished beauty, feelings of the most tender description. But 
 lest there should be circumstances which might render a union 
 with his charming passenger impossible, he urged her to tell 
 him the cause of her embarking in such a strange garb, on 
 board such a strange vessel, and on a voyage apparently 
 without object or aim. 
 
 She manifested no reluctance to relate to him the most 
 important incidents of her history, for she > felt grateful to 
 him as the savior of her life. Cameron learned that 
 her name was Marie de Sandoval, that she was the daughter 
 of a Portuguese merchant, who, during ten years, had 
 resided in Pernambuco, and acquired great wealth. She 
 was an only child, and, two years before, her mother, a 
 lady of Lisbon, had fallen a victim to one of the diseases 
 peculiar to that climate. Revolutionary troubles had broke* 
 out in the province of Pernambuco ; a jealousy was enter 
 tained, by the native inhabitants, of the Portuguese, in conse 
 quence of the superior intelligence, enterprise, and, conse 
 quently, riches, of those who were born and educated in 
 Europe, and became residents of Brazil for the purpose of 
 improving their worldly affairs, and, in many cases, acquiring 
 a fortune. Don Pedro de Sandoval, alarmed at the disor 
 derly state of affairs, and the turbulent condition of the 
 populace, who seemed disposed to set at naught the civil 
 regulations of the province, and the laws of God, hastily con- 
 
274 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 verted his property, although at a great loss, into jewels and 
 specie, intending to proceed to Lisbon with his daughter 
 Marie, in the ship Belem Castle, which was then at anchor in 
 the outer roads of Pernambuco. 
 
 A few nights before the ship was ready to sail, a desperate 
 ruffian, well known at Olinda, of which place he was a native, 
 by the name of Pedro the Savage, who had signalized 
 himself by sanguinary deeds during the revolution, and who 
 had reason to fear for his safety during the temporary rees- 
 tablishment of law and order, made arrangements to escape 
 to Maranham in a small coasting-vessel ; and he resolved to 
 take with him the property of Signor de Sandoval, and, also, 
 his beautiful daughter, Marie, as a companion of his voyage 
 and of his exile. 
 
 He found no difficulty in procuring aid to carry this dia 
 bolical project into effect. In the still hour of midnight, he 
 headed a gang of ruffians, and broke into the dwelling-house 
 of De Sandoval, who, alarmed at the attack, sprung from his 
 couch, and prepared himself, pistol in hand, to defend his 
 property and his life. His daughter was in her apartment. 
 She had just returned from a visit to some friends, and was 
 engaged in the pleasing but solemn occupation of looking over 
 some trinkets and papers which had belonged to her mother, 
 and which she had preserved with religious care. On hear 
 ing the assault and the violent language and threats of the 
 villains, she rushed, terrified, into the saloon, attracted by 
 the sound of her father s voice. The next moment he fell 
 backwards into her arms, shot through the head by one of the 
 murderous ruffians. 
 
 For a time she lost all sensation. When she recovered her 
 senses, she found herself borne along towards the water-side 
 by two of the villains ; but the boat, belonging to the coaster, 
 which Pedro expected to find waiting his pleasure at a cer 
 tain wharf, was not to be found. He stamped and foamed 
 
THE CATAMARAN. 275 
 
 with rage, being anxious to get off before the alarm should be 
 given and a pursuit take place. At this moment he spied at 
 hand a catamaran, belonging to a poor fisherman, who was 
 making ready for an excursion into the offing at daylight, 
 agreeably to his usual custom, and resolved to take possession 
 of the craft, and then convey his prize and himself on board 
 the schooner in the outer roads. The trunk containing the 
 specie and jewels was thrown upon the catamaran, and has 
 tily but securely lashed to the platform. The terrified and 
 trembling Marie was next dragged on board ; the sail was 
 hoisted, the raft was shoved off, and thus Pedro the Savage, 
 accompanied by an athletic seaman, who had aided him in 
 the robbery and abduction, embarked with his plunder and 
 his prey. 
 
 The night was cloudy and very dark ; the wind blew in 
 squalls from the eastward, and the waves dashed angrily on 
 the rugged and extensive limestone reef, which protects the 
 harbor of Pernambuco from the rude assaults of the ocean. 
 The fate of Marie seemed a terrible one, but inevitable. She 
 could hardly hope to affect by her pleadings the better feel 
 ings of the ruffians, and induce them to change their fiend-like 
 designs, and restore her to liberty in safety and in honor. 
 Nevertheless, she instinctively strove with all the eloquence 
 of a woman, whose life and honor are in imminent peril, to 
 touch their hearts, and elicit some expression of kindness and 
 humanity. She implored them in the most earnest and impas 
 sioned manner to return ; to be contented with the booty which 
 they had secured, and land her, fatherless and moneyless, on 
 the wharf. 
 
 Pedro indulged in a discordant laugh at the idea of volun 
 tarily resigning the beautiful Portuguese, after he had actu 
 ally got her safe in his possession. He assured her that if she 
 did not soon become resigned to her fate, and enjoy happiness, 
 the fault would be hers ; and he even insisted on kissing her 
 
276 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 into good humor ! But his companion, a reckless and unprin 
 cipled French sailor, was not destitute of the feelings of hu 
 manity. The eloquent appeals of Marie, and the screams of 
 the terrified maiden when the savage Pedro proceeded to give 
 her the proposed marks of affection, enlisted his sympathies in 
 her behalf, and he dared to remonstrate with his superior on 
 the folly of carrying off the girl, who would only be an incum- 
 brance, and might lead to their detection and punishment. 
 Pedro, indignant at this symptom of insubordination, to which 
 he was unused, replied in a haughty and insolent tone, which 
 roused the choler of the Frenchman. Both parties became 
 exasperated, heaped curses on each other s head, and finally 
 grappled with each other in a mortal struggle. Pedro drew 
 his glistening blade from its sheath, and passed it through the 
 bosom of his companion in iniquity, who was desirous of aton 
 ing by one good act for many deeds of guilt. The wounded 
 man uttered a loud and piercing scream, and, with a con 
 vulsive exertion, sprang into the water, dragging with him 
 the ruthless and blood-thirsty Pedro ! The cataniaran was 
 moving rapidly through the water at the time, and Marie 
 saw them no more. They doubtless both sank beneath the 
 surface of the sea ; and Marie was thus left alone on the 
 catamaran ! 
 
 Her first sensation, after she recovered from the scene which 
 had just been enacted in her presence, was that of gratification 
 in being thus rescued from a dreadful fate. But she soon 
 became aware that the raft was rapidly proceeding from the 
 land, and, as she drew towards the outer roads, the waves 
 began to dash over her little vessel. She knew not the art 
 of steering or navigating a boat, and soon became aware that 
 her situation was perilous in the extreme. In the morning, 
 when the sun rose above the horizon, she could hardly distin 
 guish the coast of Brazil. The waves were all around her, 
 
THE CATAMARAN. 277 
 
 not a vessel was in sight, and she seemed to have been pre 
 served for a lingering and a dreadful death. 
 
 In a short time she lost sight of the land. The wind soon 
 afterwards died away; but a calm, while it lessened the pros 
 pect of obtaining aid from some friendly vessel, brought no 
 comfort to her soul. Towards night the wind again breezed 
 up, and the catamaran was driven still further to sea and 
 along the coast. All the next day she kept on the watch, 
 hoping to see a ship steering towards her, but not a vessel 
 appeared in sight. The third day also passed away without 
 bringing any succor. Her sufferings from hunger and thirst, 
 and exposure to the weather, were indescribable ; and while 
 in that state of weakness, agony and despair, it is strange that 
 she was able to retain her station on the catamaran, which 
 was gradually gaining off shore, being on a wind, with the 
 starboard tack on board ; but, on the fourth day of her cruise, 
 her heart was cheered by the sight of a vessel ! She watched 
 its appearance with intense eagerness, until she saw that it 
 was rapidly increasing in size, a sure sign that it was steering 
 in the direction of her little skiff. Still she could not help 
 entertaining agonizing apprehensions that the ship would alter 
 its course, or that the persons on board might not see her, and 
 that it would pass on its way without rendering her any 
 assistance. No one, excepting those who have been placed in 
 similar unfortunate situations, can conceive of the mental agi 
 tation, of the alternate hopes and fears, of the most soul-thrill 
 ing description, which are experienced even by persons of vig 
 orous frame, and superior courage and . resolution, at such a 
 time. But she gave herself up to joy when she saw that she 
 had attracted the attention of those on board the ship, and that 
 she would certainly be rescued from her distressing situation. 
 The ship proved to be the Cunegunda ; and she was received 
 by Captain Granger with the greatest kindness and hospital 
 ity, as I have already stated. 
 24 
 
278 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 The sequel of my story is soon told. Gratitude is often 
 akin to love ; and Marie s warm heart overflowed with grati 
 tude towards the man who had been the instrument of Provi 
 dence in rescuing her from a terrible death, and she soon 
 learned to entertain for him feelings of a more tender kind, 
 and to respond to the ardent attachment which he felt and 
 avowed for the black-eyed daughter of Lusitania. When the 
 ship reached the capital of the Brazils, preparations were 
 made for the performance of the nuptial rites ; and soon, 
 before the altar, the vows were taken, which gave Stephen 
 Cameron the right, and made it his duty, to protect and cher 
 ish through life the bright being whom he met with on the 
 wide seas, in a manner so strange and unexpected. 
 
 He returned to New England, with his lovely wife and her 
 treasures, and bade adieu to the sea forever. Fortune had 
 smiled upon him, and happiness still sheds an influence over 
 his domestic circle. Often, when Stephen gazes upon the cheer 
 ful countenance of his affectionate Marie, his thoughts revert 
 to the past, and he thinks upon what slender threads hang the 
 destinies of man, and feels a conviction of the truth that a 
 great apparent evil will frequently evolve circumstances pro 
 ductive of the greatest possible good. If Stephen had not fallen 
 to leeward, during protracted calms on the line, when bound 
 to Rio, he would not have fallen in with the CATAMARAN, with 
 the fair Marie on board, who, like a benignant genius, strews 
 his pathway thfough life with flowers. 
 
A THANKSGIVING STORY. 
 
 " She gazed she reddened like a rose 
 
 Syne pale as ony lily ; 
 She rushed into his arms, and cried, 
 
 Art thou mine ain dear Willie * " BURNS. 
 
 IT was a bleak day in the month of November, the north 
 wind howled mournfully through the leafless trees, the broken 
 clouds flitted rapidly across the face of the heavens, and the 
 whole face of nature assumed an aspect, cheerless and uncom 
 fortable, well calculated to remind the moralist of the closing 
 scenes in the great drama of life, as a traveller, with weary 
 steps, wended his solitary way through one of those beautiful 
 hamlets which abound in Xew England, and which constitute 
 the noble ornaments, emblems of freedom, peace and happi 
 ness, of which she is justly proud. 
 
 To judge from his costume, this traveller belonged to the 
 humblest ranks of life, or had been singled out as a victim bj 
 misfortune. His coarse straw hat, his patched doublet, and 
 his canvas trousers, soiled by tar in many places, while they 
 proclaimed his occupation and his poverty, seemed but poorly 
 calculated to protect him from the inclemency of the weather. 
 His form was cast in a manly mould, denoting great activity 
 and strength. His features, bronzed by exposure to the trop 
 ical sun, and partly concealed from view by his luxuriant 
 locks cf coal-black hair, showed that he was still in the dawn 
 of manhood. His eyes seemed lighted up with an intelligent 
 spirit, by a gleam of expectation and hope, which showed that 
 
280 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 his humble fortune, did not accord with his noble nature; 
 that, however severely fate had dealt with him, his energies 
 were still unbroken ; and that maugre the chill northern blast, 
 and the fatigues which it was evident he had recently under 
 gone, he was resolved to push onward until the object which 
 he had in view was accomplished. 
 
 " It is now three years," said this young sailor to himself, 
 as he plodded along the road, " since I very foolishly left my 
 happy home, urged by a silly pique, and a love for a life of 
 adventure, to brave the hardships and perils of the ocean. 
 Since then my life has been a series of misfortunes. I have 
 met with storms on every tack. But, thank Providence, 
 although my canvas is sadly reduced and pretty well worn 
 out, and my pockets destitute of ballast, my .hull is unim 
 paired, and my spirits as unbroken and buoyant as ever. I 
 hope my parents are still living, and prosperous and happy. 
 I was a fool to leave them. And my brothers and sisters, 
 how happy we were together ! And cousin Mary, that bright 
 little sylph, whom I loved with a love surpassing that of 
 cousins, and in whose company I have passed so many rap 
 turous hours ! 0, I was a great fool to leave such blissful 
 scenes ! And I believe, after all, the little fairy loved me ! 
 I know she did ; she all but told me so ! But it is too late 
 now to retrace my steps, I can only regret my folly. I dar 
 say the bright and joyous young thing has forgotten Ned 
 Willis, and was married to some worthier fellow than I am 
 long ago. Her rosy cheeks, laughing eyes, and sweet disposi 
 tion, to say nothing of the property she was to inherit, at 
 tracted many admirers, and made sad havoc among the hearts 
 of the youths of the village. Well, if she is married, there is 
 no more to be said ; I have no right to complain. I hope she 
 has chosen a good husband. I will see her once once more, 
 wish her a long life and a happy one, and away to sea again. 
 But if she is not married " He did not finish the sentence, 
 
A THANKSGIVING STORY. 281 
 
 but a change came over the countenance of the ill-clad and 
 weather-beaten mariner, as if he were indulging in a vision of 
 rapture, and he involuntarily quickened his pace. 
 
 As Edward Willis journeyed onwards towards his home, 
 anticipating by turns happy and adverse fortune, he was sur 
 prised to find that, although it was in the middle of the week, 
 there were no signs of labor among the inhabitants. All was 
 quiet ; even the oxen were browsing contentedly in the 
 pastures, the school-houses were closed, and the meeting 
 houses were open ; the people whom he met with were neatly 
 arrayed in their Sunday clothes, and their countenances were 
 wreathed with smiles of gratitude and joy. On inquiry, he 
 learned that it was THANKSGIVING DAY. He hailed the infor 
 mation as a glad omen. 
 
 On the day when this poor, forlorn-looking traveller, after 
 years of wandering, was pursuing his way towards his native 
 village, the fire burned brightly on the hearth-stone of his 
 parents. Deacon Willis was a Neiv England farmer, a man 
 who, by cherishing the virtues of industry and frugality, had 
 become possessed of a handsome property, and who, enjoying 
 a competence in a free country, protected by a wise govern 
 ment, surrounded by kind and intelligent neighbors, and at 
 the head of a happy and virtuous family, envied neither 
 nabobs their riches, nor monarchs their power. 
 
 It was Thanksgiving day, and great had been the bustle in 
 Deacon Willis s family for the previous week. Descended in 
 a direct line from one of the earliest settlers of New England 
 no consideration could have induced the worthy deacon t< 
 ab.itc one jot of the "pomp and pride and circumstance" 
 of the Thanksgivings of the Puritans. Thanksgiving wa 
 religiously observed by him, as it had been by his father 
 before him, and the gratitude which he expressed to hL c - 
 Creator for the mercies which he had received, was not a 
 24* 
 
282 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 mere formula of unmeaning words, but came directly from 
 the heart. 
 
 On this day his children were collected around him, and 
 all anticipated a joyous Thanksgiving, Several of his distant 
 relations, who were not so well provided with the good things 
 of this life as the worthy deacon, also accepted an invitation 
 to be present. Among those who were sheltered by his hos 
 pitable roof on this occasion, the greatest favorite seemed to 
 be Mary Wardsworth, a blue-eyed damsel, whose lovely and 
 expressive face told more about sweetness and purity than I 
 could describe in a folio volume. She was the only daughter 
 of a cousin of the worthy deacon s, and at an early age had 
 been deprived of her parents by death. But Deacon Willis 
 had been to her a parent, his house had beeii to her a home, 
 his wife had treated her with a mother s kindness, and his 
 children regarded her as a sister and a dear friend. 
 
 Mrs. Willis s situation as mistress of the family was no 
 sinecure on that day. Her duties were various and impor 
 tant, for it was the New England Holiday, and all her skill 
 as a housewife, all her excellence as a manager, was put to 
 the test on Thanksgiving day. After the family returned 
 from meeting, for they were of the good old-fashioned sort, 
 who would almost as soon lose their Thanksgiving dinner as 
 be deprived of their Thanksgiving sermon, the table was 
 set in the large front parlor, which was wont to be used only 
 on extraordinary occasions, and preparations for the festival 
 commenced. A good fire, made of walnut and yellow oak 
 wood, burned cheerfully in the large- open fire-place, and all 
 the females belonging to the house were put in requisition to 
 bear the- abundance of the good things from the kitchen to 
 the parlor, and which, when deposited in their respective 
 places, made the tables groan again. 
 
 At the head of the table was placed a portly turkey, the 
 choicest of the large and pampered family ; at the further ex- 
 
A THANKSGIVING STORY. 283 
 
 tremity was deposited a ham of a size and flavor to make a 
 Westphalian commit suicide through envy and despair. On 
 the centre was stationed, plucked, roasted, and ready for the 
 carving-knife, one of those celebrated animals which whilom 
 saved from the ravages of the Gauls the capital of Rome ; 
 while here and there, scattered in rich profusion around the 
 table, in apparent disorder, but with deliberate care and pre 
 cision, were boiled and roasted fowls, chicken-pies, jellies, 
 knicknacks, apple-sauce, and plates of vegetables of more 
 varieties and excellence than I would willingly undertake to 
 enumerate, while on the kitchen-table, arranged apparently as 
 a corps de reserve, might be seen a stately plum-pudding, sup 
 ported by several enormous Thanksgiving pumpkin pies, with 
 mince pies, apple pies, squash pies and custard pies, with 
 fruits of various kinds, not forgetting nuts and apples, to bring 
 up the rear. As a beverage, on this happy occasion, icater 
 was the only article provided water brought from a clear 
 and sparkling spring, which bubbled up a few rods from the 
 house ; for farmer AVillis contended that water was the best 
 drink, even on festive occasions, and that hilarity and joy 
 should be promoted, not by wine or strong drink of any kind, 
 but by social communion, by a free interchange of thoughts 
 and ideas, by generous feelings, born and nurtured in noble 
 bosoms. 
 
 It was nearly two o clock, long after their accustomed 
 hour of dinner, before the assembled company were invited 
 into the parlor to partake of the good cheer which had been 
 so bountifully provided. And, as the happy company stood 
 around the tables, waiting for their host to ask the Divine 
 blessing upon the meal which was placed before them, a shade 
 flitted across the good man s brow, for his eldest son, a noble 
 youth, was absent. Among the joyful faces which surrounded 
 him, Edward s was not seen. He had left his home, yeari 
 before, to embrace a seafaring life, and the wanderer had 
 
284 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 not returned. There was reason to believe that he was no 
 longer in the land of the living ; and, although they still 
 strove to cherish hope in each other s bosoms, many and 
 bitter were the tears of affection, which had embalmed his 
 memory. 
 
 Deacon Willis did riot intend to cast a damp over the 
 spirits of the happy group, and his words were but the echoes 
 of his thoughts, as he involuntarily exclaimed, " Were Edward 
 here, we should, indeed, be happy ! " 
 
 " My poor, dear boy ! " exclaimed Mrs. Willis. " Ah ! I 
 much fear we shall never see his smiling face again." 
 
 Mary Wardsworth said nothing, but a tear started into her 
 eye, and any casual observer would have seen at once that 
 Edward Willis was dearer to her than a cousin or a friend ; 
 and that she cherished his memory in the very depths of her 
 heart. 
 
 Just then old Bose, the house dog, was heard to make some 
 angry remonstrances to a passing traveller, which attracted 
 attention, inasmuch as it was by no means an ordinary occur 
 rence ; for Bose was a well-nurtured brute, and seldom ac 
 costed a well-dressed^ gentlemanly personage in a rude and 
 angry manner ; but he entertained the prejudice against the 
 victims of misfortune or intemperance, wearing the garb of 
 poverty, which is cherished by nobler animals, who boast the 
 attributes of reason. In truth, Bose, although a faithful dog, 
 was an aristocrat in his principles. The traveller, from his 
 appearance, moved in the humblest rank in life, and Bose in 
 tended to give him a reception corresponding with his shabby 
 appearance, and was advancing towards him in a surly man- 
 ner, and truculent look, when Deacon Willis, who well knew 
 the peculiarities of his dog, told his son James to go out and 
 protect the stranger from violence. "He seems a sailor, 
 too," said he, " arid, on a day like this, we should not refuse 
 the rites of hospitality to the humblest being who passes along^ 
 
A THANKSGIVING STORY. 285 
 
 the road. On Thanksgiving day, no individual, rich or poor, 
 sailor or landsman, should want for a plentiful nieal. Ask 
 him in, my son," continued the noble-hearted farmer, " and 
 let the poor wayfarer take a seat at our board." 
 
 The stranger entered the parlor, and room was made for 
 him at the table. But his appearance and manner were 
 strange, and he seemed as if he was ill-disposed to requite his 
 kind hosts for the hospitality he enjoyed. He did not even 
 raise his dilapidated hat from his head ; and to the kind in 
 quiries which were made of him, he scarcely deigned any 
 reply ; but, as if overcome with fatigue, or agitated by con 
 tending emotions, he threw himself into the nearest chair, and 
 covered his brow with his hands. 
 
 The wondering group witnessed his conduct in silence. 
 " Come now, my good man," at length exclaimed Mrs. Willis, 
 in a kind,- motherly tone ; " I dare say you are tired and 
 hungry ; take a seat at the table, and make yourself at home. 
 We like sailors, and would gladly do you a good turn for the 
 sake of one who has long been absent. Don t cry, Mary ; you 
 should learn to restrain your feelings." 
 
 Just then old Bose, who, when the sailor first came in sight, 
 was disposed to regard him as an enemy, much to the surprise 
 of the children, suddenly conceived the most lively attach 
 ment to the " poor straggler." He wagged his tail with un 
 wonted energy, absolutely danced around him, whined forth 
 his joy in the most expressive manner, and continued the pan 
 tomime by jumping into his lap, and attempting to lick his 
 face. 
 
 The stranger hardly attempted to repulse the affectionate 
 animal, but, gently patting his head, addressed him him with 
 the endearing epithet of " Poor old Bose ! " adding, " you 
 have not forgotten me." 
 
 He then raised his head, took his hand from his forehead, 
 removed his hat, and brushed away the long and matted locks 
 
286 
 
 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 which partly concealed his features. His voice had touched a 
 chord in the bosoms of the persons present, which had long 
 ceased to vibrate. The eyes of Deacon Willis and his wife 
 were turned upon him in eager expectation. Mary Wards- 
 worth started ; the rose on her cheek gave place to the lily ; 
 and her deep-seated and pure love proved more quick-sighted 
 than even parental affection. She gazed upon him with a 
 look in which joy and surprise were blended, and met his 
 glance, which beamed with tenderness and rapture, expressing 
 the fruition of earthly enjoyment. Her maidenly reserve 
 
 was conquered by her surprise and joy at beholding before her 
 a dear one whom she had long mourned as forever lost. " It 
 
A THANKSGIVING STORY. 287 
 
 is cousin Edward ! " said she, and she threw herself into his 
 arms. 
 
 The scene which followed may be imagined, but cannot be 
 described, nor shall I attempt it. There was no longer any 
 alloy in the enjoyment of that happy family ; and Deacon 
 Willis, albeit always noted for his piety, never offered up a 
 thanksgiving prayer with greater fervency and sincerity, than 
 on that occasion. 
 
 After dinner was over, Edward had a long tale to tell, to 
 which his auditors listened with breathless attention, of the 
 perils and sufferings he had experienced during the previous 
 three years. The vessel in which he had sailed for South 
 America had been suspected of carrying on a contraband 
 trade, and the crew were condemned to the mines for life. 
 Edward, with two of his companions, at the imminent risk of 
 his life, succeeded in effecting his escape, and worked his pas 
 sage home in a vessel bound to Providence. Misfortune still 
 pursued him ; the vessel was wrecked on Block Island during 
 a heavy gale, and, after a desperate struggle with the waves, 
 he succeeded in gaining the shore. He lost no time in pro 
 ceeding to Providence in a fishing craft, when he took his 
 land tacks on board. Weary, hungry, destitute of money and 
 clothes, a poor, shipwrecked sailor, Edward Willis at length 
 reached his home. 
 
 " And you are welcome, my boy ! " exclaimed his father ; 
 " I hope you will never again leave us." 
 
 Edward looked at Mary, who blushed like a peony. 
 
 " I see how the wind sits," said the worthy deacon. " Come 
 hither, Mary Wardsworth." 
 
 Mary, with trembling steps, approached her guardian. 
 
 " Mary," said the deacon, " we must look to you for secu 
 rity that Edward will never play truant again." 
 
 He put her trembling hand into that of his son. 
 
 Edward has never been to sea since. He is now a happy 
 
288 
 
 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 and prosperous farmer; and, blessed with an affectionate wife 
 and three lovely children, he every year welcomes the ap 
 proach of November, and reads in the newspapers, with keen 
 gratification, the governor s proclamation for THANKSGIVING 
 DAY. 
 
NED GASKET S STORY. 
 
 THE PIRATE IN THE OLD BAHAMA CHANNEL. 
 
 " Then said the rover 
 
 To his jolly crew, 
 Up with the black flag, 
 
 Down with the blue ; 
 Fire in the main-top, 
 
 Fire on the bow ; 
 Fire on the gun deck, 
 
 Fire down below." OLD BALLAD. 
 
 A FEW years have passed away since a ship of about three 
 hundred and fifty tons, called the Belle Rosa, was running 
 down the " south-east trades," in the south Atlantic "Ocean, 
 between the latitude of Ascension and the equinoctial line. 
 She was on her return from the East Indies, with as fine a 
 crew on board as ever manned a windlass and responded to 
 the musical cry of " Yeo, heave-o ! " The wind was right 
 aft, a gentle but steady breeze ; and, for more than one week, 
 the Belle Rosa, under its benignant influence, had been qui 
 etly gliding over the surface of the waters towards the United 
 States, without its being necessary to trim a sail, to touch a 
 tack, a sheet, a halliard, or a brace, so steady had been the 
 breeze in that ever smooth and quiet part of the ocean ! And 
 beautiful indeed looked the ship as she moved gracefully 
 along over the quiet sea, while, spread on her lofty and taper 
 masts, was a crowd of sail to catch the passing breeze. Seen 
 from her wake, with her lower, topmast, top-gallant and royal 
 25 
 
290 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 studding-sails on both sides, and main skysail set, she seemed 
 a living pyramid of snow, or a beautifully devised but fantas 
 tic palace, moved by some magic power over the face of the 
 waters. 
 
 It was the Sabbath day. The crew had partaken of their 
 Sunday dinner, and, in neat and trig attire, and happy counte 
 nances, were lounging about the main deck and forecastle ; 
 some were reading their Bible, happily the present of a ven 
 erated mother ; a small group, gathered around the heel of 
 the bowsprit, were conversing in cheerful but subdued tones, 
 spinning yarns, or indulging in interesting reminiscences. 
 Some were humming or attempting to hum a good old-fash 
 ioned psalm tune, such as they had listened to in the old 
 meeting-house of their fathers in days gone by, and others 
 were intently busied in reading, perhaps for the hundredth 
 time, the last letters received from home, or gazing, with eyes 
 sparkling with affection, on the gift of a dear, perhaps loved, 
 friend. It was a pleasant day, that Sabbath on the ocean. 
 The captain was engaged in the cabin in working out a series 
 of lunar observations that he had taken the night before ; the 
 chief mate was employed in his state-room, in transferring the 
 record on the log-slate to the log-book ; the second officer, 
 who had charge of the watch on deck, was comfortably 
 seated on the hen-coop, beneath a temporary awning, reading 
 an interesting book of adventures, and ever and anon rising 
 to look over the quarter, and note the progress of the ship, or 
 to peep into the binnacle, and see that the helmsman kept -her 
 strictly on her course. 
 
 The group around the heel of the bowsprit became larger, 
 for Harry Williams, an old man-of-war s man, had been giv 
 ing, in real man-of-war style, an interesting description of the 
 terrible conflict, during the last war, between the General 
 Armstrong privateer, and the boats of an English squadron. 
 When Harry had concluded his tale, which was well fitted to 
 
NED GASKET S STORY. 291 
 
 his audience, and was received with much applause, Ned 
 Gasket volunteered a yarn about the pirates off Cuba, and in 
 a few minutes all hands, excepting the man at the helm, were 
 listening with the closest attention to his story. 
 
 Ned Gasket was a well-built man, about thirty-five years 
 of age, with a countenance which might be called intelligent, 
 although the deep furrows in his cheeks, and his wrinkled 
 brow, told a sad tale of the excesses to which he had long 
 been addicted, which had impaired his constitution, destroyed 
 his character, and were rapidly producing a premature old 
 age. His connections were highly respectable, and in early 
 youth he had received a good education. At the outset of 
 his career, he promised to make a useful member of society ; 
 but he acquired intemperate habits, frequented low company, 
 became idle and dissipated, thus blasting the hopes of his 
 friends, who, after repeated efforts to reclaim him, abandoned 
 him to his fate, and, as a desperate resort, he went to sea. 
 He no longer cherished any respect for himself, or wish to 
 advance his condition or his fortunes, and soon settled down 
 into the habits of a real " old salt." At sea, with no means 
 of becoming intemperate, he was an excellent sailor, and was 
 prized by his officers as a good man. In port, or on shore, he 
 gave himself up to the gratification of his sensual appetites, 
 and was but one degree removed from a brute. And such is 
 the history of many a sailor, whose natural talents and supe 
 rior education would have rendered them highly useful men, 
 and valuable ornaments to society, had they not been wooed 
 and won by intemperance ! 
 
 " You well recollect, shipmates," said Ned Gasket, after he 
 had comfortably stowed himself away between the bowsprit- 
 bits, " that, years ago, a great many acts of piracy were com 
 mitted in the West Indies, principally on the coast of Cuba 
 and the Bahama Bank. These pirates were the scum and 
 . rough-scuff of all nations ; vagabonds who had been in the 
 
292 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 Patriot service, as it was called, and had there been initi 
 ated into all kinds of villany. They were too lazy to work, 
 and too roguish to live in an honest community ; and 
 collected by hundreds in Cuba, making their head quarters 
 in Havana, and purchased suitable vessels, and carried on 
 the business of piracy, which they reduced to a regular 
 system. 
 
 " Some of these piratical vessels were fitted out at Havana 
 and Matanzas. But afterwards, when our government and 
 John Bull made a fuss about it, the pirates became more shy, 
 and resorted to the intricate creeks and lagoons on the Isle of 
 Pines, or among the keys and bays on the north-east side of 
 Cuba, bordering on the old Bahama Channel. At the com 
 mencement of these piracies, the scoundrels contented them 
 selves with robbing the vessel, flogging and otherwise mal 
 treating the crew, keel-hauling the skipper, and outraging the 
 lady passengers when they could meet with them. But in a 
 year or two, when great efforts were made to capture and 
 hang them, they waxed more cruel and blood-thirsty, and 
 murdered in cold blood every living soul they could find on 
 board the vessels that they robbed. The horrible acts of the 
 pirates, in those days, surpass all that history relates of the 
 most desperate and cruel brigands, or salt water robbers, in 
 ancient or modern times. Their depredations and murders 
 were continued for years, before they were thoroughly sub 
 dued, captured or dispersed ; and this was done at last only by 
 blockading their haunts, and attacking them in their secluded 
 harbors, in boat expeditions. 
 
 " It was in the year 1822 or 1823, that I made one of the 
 crew of a fine brig, belonging to Salem, called the Horse 
 Mackerel. We sailed from Marseilles for St. Thomas, with 
 an assorted cargo ; but finding no market in St. Thomas, Cap 
 tain Seymour concluded to run down through the old Bahama 
 Channel, to Matanzas. And as the Horse Mackerel was a 
 
NED GASKET S STORY. 293 
 
 fast-sailing vessel, with painted ports, and we had two real 
 iron nine-pounders on board, with a dozen muskets, boarding- 
 pikes, &c., and mustered twelve resolute fellows in all, without 
 including the captain s wife, a young and interesting woman, 
 Captain Seymour laughed to scorn the suggestion that the 
 old Bahama was infested by pirates, and with an air of self- 
 satisfaction declared that he feared them not. The bloody- 
 minded villains, said he, will not dare to attack the Horse 
 Mackerel ! 
 
 " On the passage down, however, he thought it well to be 
 prepared for whatever might happen, and caused the guns to 
 be got ready, cartridges to be made, and the few round and 
 double-headed shot which were stowed away in the run, to 
 be brought on deck, ready for use, in case they might be 
 wanted. 
 
 " It was about six o clock in the morning of the sixth day 
 after we left St. Thomas, that we found ourselves between the 
 high and mountainous coast of Cuba, back of Point Mulas, on 
 the south, and key San Domingo and the numerous banks, 
 reefs, and rocks, which form the northern boundary of the 
 channel at its entrance. There was a fresh breeze from about 
 north-east, and, with all sails spread, the brig bounded merrily 
 along, with the wind a couple of points abaft the starboard 
 beam. With top-mast and top-gallant studding-sails set, and 
 with a heavy swell heaving through the channel from the 
 eastward, we ran past the northern coast of Cuba at a rapid 
 rate, looking into the numerous bays and harbors which line 
 that part of the coast, and admiring the fertility of the vege 
 tation. After we passed the bay which forms the entrance to 
 the harbor of Xeuvas del Principe, the channel became more 
 contracted, and we soon found that reefs, shoals and low isl 
 ands extended for several miles off the coast. Indeed, from 
 Port Principe to Point Yeacos, which lies eastward of Mataii- 
 zas bay, the whole coast is guarded by a line of reefs, extend- 
 25* 
 
294 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 ing several miles from the land, abounding in intricate chan 
 nels and harbors, which are known only to fishermen, coasters, 
 or pirates. 
 
 " We soon approached the narrowest part of the strait, and 
 were obliged to haul our wind, and steer as high as north- 
 west-by-north ; and, as we left the land, we could discover on 
 the starboard hand the white waters on the Bahama Banks, 
 with the waves dashing against rocks and reefs, and sending 
 aloft volumes of spray. The channel is here not more than 
 eight or ten miles in width, and its boundaries were clearly 
 defined. The dark blue waters of the fathomless strait, con 
 trasted singularly and beautifully with the milky hue of the 
 shoal waters on each side. 
 
 " It was now about four o clock in the afternoon, and Sugar 
 Key was in sight. * Hurrah ! said the captain, we are 
 now in the narrowest part of the channel ; we shall soon be 
 able to keep off a couple of points, and, if this breeze lasts, 
 we will be up with the Salt Key Bank before eight o clock 
 to-morrow morning, and in Matanzas before meridian. 
 
 " I hope so, exclaimed his pretty wife; I long to be once 
 more in port, and I hardly know why. This is beautiful 
 sailing, and there is something refreshing in this fine trade- 
 wind. But I cannot overcome all apprehension of danger 
 from those terrible pirates. 
 
 " Don t be a coward, Harriet. Your courage has carried 
 you without flinching through many scenes of real danger, 
 and I hope you are not now going to be frightened at shad 
 ows. 
 
 " Perhaps I am foolish, she replied. But the idea of 
 falling into the hands of those wretches is terrible. They 
 know nothing of mercy, and exult in deeds of blood and out 
 rage. But you say there is no cause for alarm, and I will 
 try to think so, in spite of gloomy forebodings, which come 
 like shadows over my mind. 
 
NED GASKET S STORY. 295 
 
 " Cheer up, my love, and don t indulge in such fancies, 
 said her husband, in an encouraging tone. The American 
 and English vessels of war in these seas have captured or 
 destroyed all the pirate vessels. If any piracy is still carried 
 on, it is by means of open boats, or feluccas, manned by a 
 few desperate villains, armed with muskets. They attack 
 only the defenceless, and if a dozen of them should attack the 
 Horse Mackerel, especially in such a breeze as this, we would 
 run them down, or sink them by a few well-directed shots. 
 But we shall see nothing ; and, indeed, if the worse comes to 
 the worst, we can use our heels. Few vessels, in a good breeze, 
 can overhaul the Horse Mackerel. 
 
 " His confident tone and cheerful manner dispelled, in a 
 great measure, the apprehensions of his wife, and the wonted 
 smiles returned to her cheeks. But old Jack McNeil, who 
 had been many voyages to Cuba, and was a knowing old salt, 
 while coiling up the spanker-sheet, had listened to the cap 
 tain s remarks with an incredulous grin, and, when he came 
 forward, in a low but gruff tone, grumbled out, When a 
 man talks to a woman, I s pose he may talk as much nonsense 
 as he likes, therefore I ve nothing to say agin it. But the 
 bloody-minded pirates are not all taken yet, as we may find, 
 to our cost ; and if we don t have a brush with the rascals, 
 and have to fight for our lives before we get to Matanzas, say 
 old Jack s mistaken, that s all. 
 
 " What makes you think so, Jack ? I modestly inquired. 
 
 " Because I know more about them than you do, Xed. 
 They are not so easily destroyed as the captain thinks. Every 
 port, big or little, swarms with the pirates, who have learned 
 their trade on board Pa-triot privateers, or Spanish Guinea- 
 men, and they can always find vessels enough, and guns, too, 
 to answer their purposes. We are now coming upon their 
 haunts. The Old Bahama, between here and Matanzas, and 
 off Cape Antonio, at the west end of Cuba, are famous places 
 
296 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 for pirates, and we have no right to expect to go clear, espe 
 cially as we have a woman on board, mischief and women 
 always go together; and the old fellow made a grimace, 
 which twisted his weather-beaten visage into the shape, and 
 almost the consistency, of a double-wall knot, for which I 
 could have kicked him with pleasure, for I was young then, 
 and looked on every pretty woman as a saint. I have learnt 
 better since. 
 
 " J3ut before I could give utterance to the indignation with 
 which I listened to this ill-natured sneer of old Jack, Mr. 
 Parkins, the second mate, who had just gone aloft with the 
 glass, called out, There is a vessel at anchor, inside the 
 reefs ! 
 
 " * What does she look like ? inquired the captain. 
 
 " A schooner, sir. 
 
 " Ay, ay, I see her from the deck, replied the captain. 
 She is at anchor to leeward of Sugar Key. Some drogher, 
 I suppose, continued he, in a lower tone, waiting for a 
 wind. 
 
 " That can hardly be, Captain Seymour, said Mr. Handy, 
 the chief mate, * for I see she is a topsail schooner, and I 
 believe none of the droghers carry topsails. 
 
 " While we rapidly neared the vessel at anchor, conjecture 
 was very busy in regard to her character, and what object 
 she could have in anchoring amid the reefs, several miles from 
 the main land, and where she could command a view of all 
 the vessels that might pass through the channel. 
 
 " She may be a slaver, with a cargo of human flesh, waiting 
 for a chance to land her slaves, suggested the captain. 
 
 " Yes, replied Mr. Handy, < or she may be a schooner, 
 bound down channel, which got in among the reefs in the 
 night, and is waiting for assistance, or a pilot, to help her 
 out. 
 
 " Or, suggested the second mate, she may be one of 
 
NED GASKET S STORY. 297 
 
 Commodore Porter s squadron, snugly anchored under the lee 
 of Sugar Key, on the look-out for pirates. 
 
 " * More likely she s a pirate, herself! growled out old 
 Jack McXeil, in a low tone. 
 
 " In the mean time, we were running along the channel, and 
 approaching the schooner rapidly. Indeed, she was a suspi 
 cious-looking craft ; her masts were taunt and tapering, raking 
 far more than is usual with the drogher. She sat low on the 
 water, and her hull was long, snakish-looking, and painted 
 Hack. She was evidently a clipper, and there was a dark- 
 looking mass just abaft her foremast, which might be a long 
 boat, or a pile of sails, or cargo covered with a tarpaulin, or 
 a death-dealing < long Tom. Taken altogether, she had a 
 sort of roguish, rascally look about her, which might satisfy 
 one at a single glance that she was a dangerous craft, and 
 the less one had to do with her, the better. It was not long 
 before we were abreast of the schooner, only about two or 
 three miles off, but no sign of life could be seen on her decks. 
 She was riding at single anchor among the reefs, with no 
 colors flying, and nothing about her which could furnish the 
 slightest clue to the nation to which she belonged, or the busi 
 ness in which she was engaged. 
 
 " Never mind ! said the captain to his wife, who had been 
 whispering her fears ; she is a wicked-looking craft, to be 
 sure, and they are a sulky set on board of her. But she 
 does not seem inclined to trouble us, at any rate. Even if 
 she is a pirate, and has been trying to make us out ever since 
 we hove in sight, she could not harm us now. She has lost 
 tho. chance. Before she could work out into the channel, and 
 get in our wake, it would be dark ; we should be many miles 
 ahead, and would show her a clean pair of heels. 
 
 " Captain Seymour, exclaimed old McXeil, who had been 
 closely watching the schooner with his starboard eye, the 
 other had been knocked out, years before, by a British bullet, 
 
298 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 we shall know more of that craft before she has done 
 with us. She has hove her anchor short, and a man has just 
 slyly crept aloft to loose her topsail ! 
 
 " And old Jack was right. Her cable, that a few minutes 
 before trended away under the jib-boom, as if there was a long 
 scope out, was now as up and down as a dog-vane in a calm, 
 and a man or a boy could be seen stealthily employed in cast 
 ing off the yard-arm gaskets from the topsail. It was clear 
 that mischief was brewing. 
 
 " * Call all hands ! exclaimed Captain Seymour, in a loud 
 and startling tone, which rang through the vessel. But the 
 order was unnecessary, for every man was on deck, and, by 
 this time, well convinced that the black-looking schooner 
 would soon be cutting out work for us. 
 
 " Set the flying-jib, Mr. Parkins, continued the captain, 
 and the fore and main top-gallant studding-sails, which 
 had been taken in when we hauled up to pass Sugar and 
 Minerva Keys. 
 
 " I ran aloft to assist in executing these orders, feeling, with 
 every man on board, that a crisis had arrived when we were 
 called upon to exert all our energies. As I reached the 
 futtock shrouds, I cast a look to leeward, over the fore-yard, 
 to see what the schooner was about, and the change which, in 
 less than a minute, had come over her, appeared like magic. 
 I could hardly believe my eyes. When I saw her from the 
 deck, she was lying quietly at anchor, in a smooth haven, 
 with no sign of life or animation on her deck, and her long 
 and naked masts stood out in bold relief against the south 
 western sky. Now, her decks were crowded with men ; and, 
 with immense sheets of canvas spread, she was moving along 
 with wonderful quickness, on a wind, through a channel which 
 led into the deep waters of the strait. 
 
 " It is all over with us, now, said I to myself; poor 
 Pilgarlick s gone at last ; but I must finish my job of work, I 
 
NED GASKET S STORY. 299 
 
 suppose, whatever may happen, and I proceeded to set the 
 studding-sail. 
 
 " When I came down, Captain Seymour ordered all hands 
 aft, and addressed the crew in a short, pithy speech. My 
 men, said he, * yonder is a piratical-looking craft, a clipper, 
 undoubtedly, which seems determined to overhaul us. She 
 looks like a rogue, but, perhaps, after all, may have no evil 
 intentions. Perhaps she is a cruiser on a quest after pirates, 
 and wishes to convoy us through the most dangerous part of 
 the channel. 
 
 " If she s a cruiser, muttered Jack McNeil, where s her 
 pennant ? 
 
 " * Well, continued the captain, apparently staggered by 
 McNeil s remark, whatever she may be, it is for our interest 
 to keep as far from her as possible. If she overhauls us, and 
 proves to be a pirate, we must fight as long as a man is left 
 at the guns. V A dreadful fate, as you all know, will await us 
 if we are captured. We shall be made to walk the plank, or 
 have our throats cut in cold blood, and here he looked at 
 his wife, who, pale and trembling, leaning against the quarter- 
 rail, was a close observer of the whole scene ; a shudder came 
 over his frame as he added, in a firm tone, prepare to fight 
 like men, or die like dogs. But, after all, continued he* 
 after a momentary pause, we may get away ; our brig sails 
 fast, and this is her best mode of sailing, with the wind a 
 point or two free. If we can hold our own until night comes 
 on, we can run on to the Bahama Bank, and dodge her in the 
 darkness. 
 
 " Captain Seymour then, with the energy, decision, and judg 
 ment of a true Yankee sailor, gave the necessary orders ; 
 the topsails and top-gallant-sails were closely sheeted home, 
 and swigged well up ; the tacks of the courses were got down, 
 and the sheets properly trimmed ; the yards were braced with 
 the utmost precision, and an experienced and trusty seaman 
 
300 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 was placed at the helm. The brig seemed to respond to the 
 wishes of the crew, and, the breeze continuing fresh, she 
 seemed to leap through the water, running along at the rate 
 of nine or ten knots. Orders were then given to cut loose 
 the extra lashings of the guns, and charge them with a round 
 shot and a bag of bullets each. The small arms were also got 
 ready and loaded each with a handful of buckshot ; and the 
 boarding-pikes and cutlasses were placed at hand to repel any 
 attempts that might be made to board, a favorite manoeuvre 
 with the pirates. 
 
 " Meanwhile, the schooner was threading her way through 
 the shoals and reefs, and while the crew of the Horse Mack 
 erel, who watched her proceedings with intense anxiety, hoped 
 every moment to see her strike upon a sunken rock or a coral 
 knoll, she suddenly luffed up almost in the wind s eye, and 
 glided out through a narrow passage into the deep, dark blue 
 waters of the old Bahama Channel. Then keeping off a rap 
 full, proceeded with all sail set on a coarse nearly parallel 
 with the brig, but gradually gaining to windward. 
 
 " It was now little past five o clock, and the schooner was 
 about three or four miles abaft the lee beam, and every lubber 
 knows that the best play of these clippers is beating to wind 
 ward. We were completely entrapped ; as for keeping off, 
 that was out of the question. If we hauled close on a wind, 
 the schooner would gain upon us hand over hand. So the 
 captain wisely concluded to keep her along with the yards just 
 braced in a little, our best point of sailing, and, if we 
 could not escape, fight it out, if she proved to be a pirate. 
 
 " Any doubt upon that subject, however, was about to 
 be solved. The schooner gained upon us slowly ; this was 
 ascertained by watching her bearings ; and a man was seen on 
 her taffrail busily employed about the peak-halliards. We 
 shall soon know what to expect of that fellow, said the cap 
 tain ; he s about to show his colors. 
 
NED GASKET S STORY. 301 
 
 Every eye was now eagerly directed towards the schooner. 
 For a few minutes we were in suspense. A ball was attached 
 to the halliards and slowly hoisted up to the peak. It was 
 then unfolded, and the breeze spread out to our view the Hack 
 flag of the pirates. 
 
 " There is no mistake about his character now, said the 
 captain ; we have our work before us ; but, avast, there is 
 something in the centre of the flag that looks like a crown 
 Mr. Parkins, you have good eyes, try if you can make it 
 out. 
 
 The mate took the glass, looked through it for a moment, 
 then returning it to the captain, quietly remarked, A 
 Death s head and marrow bones ! 
 
 "As the sun sunk down towards the horizon, the breeze in 
 creased, and dark clouds appeared to windward, indicating a 
 squally night. Our good brig dashed gallantly along, laying 
 well over to leeward, and tossing the spray about at a great 
 rate. Her masts stood stiff, and her yards were well secured 
 with preventer-braces, but not a sail was taken in. Hold 
 on, good spars, exclaimed the captain, and we will give him 
 the slip yet ! 
 
 " But the pirate also carried all sail, and did not seem to 
 mind the strength of the breeze. He, however, hauled up a 
 point higher, and trimmed his sails on a wind, being evidently 
 desirous of closing with us before dark. At sunset he was on 
 our lee quarter, not more than a mile or a mile and a half off, 
 and it was clear that the crisis of our fate was approaching. 
 
 " All hands had imbibed a portion of the spirit of the cap 
 tain, and had determined to stand by him as long as a breath 
 remained in our bodies. His plan was to take in the stud 
 ding-sails, and get the brig ready for working, but to keep on 
 the course we were steering, without firing a gun, while we 
 were to screen ourselves as much as possible from tho effects 
 of the enemy s shot, until he got well up on the weather 
 26 
 
302 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 quarter, then put the helm hard down, let her come into the 
 wind, get into a raking position, and, at the same time give 
 him, at close quarters, the contents of our large guns, well 
 directed, and of all our small arms, taking care to pepper well 
 the scoundrels who might be on the bowsprit and forecastle 
 ready for boarding. This dose was to be repeated as often and 
 as rapidly as possible, if there should be a prospect of his 
 coming on board of us before we could fill away on the other 
 tack. If he ran into us, we were to resort to our boarding- 
 pikes and cutlasses, and manfully defend our vessel against all 
 odds, or die on the deck of our ship. 
 
 " Mrs. Seymour exhibited much alarm when the piratical 
 flag was hoisted. Her cheeks were pale as marble, and she 
 leaned for support against the capstan. She listened to the 
 suggestion of her husband to go below, when it was thought 
 the pirate might give us the contents of his long Tom ; but 
 she soon afterwards returned to the deck, in a costume more 
 suitable for active exercise than ladies usually appear in. 
 I have more at stake than any one on board, said she, in a 
 tremulous voice, and I cannot remain idle below, while it is 
 in rny power to render the slightest aid in this deadly contest 
 with the pirates. 
 
 " At eight o clock the sky was obscured by clouds. It was 
 quite dark, yet the pirate schooner . could be distinctly seen 
 not half a mile off, directly in our wake, and coming up hand 
 over hand. Our captain was pacing the quarter-deck with 
 hasty steps, occasionally addressing a few words of hope and 
 encouragement to his terrified wife. The chief mate and six 
 men had charge of the two guns, both of which were on the 
 starboard side, with orders to fire as soon as they could be 
 brought to bear upon the pirate, after going about. To the 
 second mate and three men, all good marksmen, were en 
 trusted the muskets ; while the cook, a huge black fellow, kept 
 his station in the galley, with his coppers filled with boiling 
 
NED GASKET S STORY. 
 
 303 
 
 water, and armed with a capacious ladle, with which he prom 
 ised to deal it out in liberal supplies to the pirates, if they 
 once poked their noses over the gunwale. 
 
 " Another half hour had passed, by which time the pirate 
 had approached so near on our weather quarter, that we could 
 distinctly hear the ripple beneath her bows. The water, by 
 this time, had changed color, for we had run on to the southern 
 edge of the bank. The time had arrived for practising the 
 daring manoeuvre, which must save or destroy us, when the 
 awful sound of BREAKERS was heard ahead ! It must be 
 Ginger Key, exclaimed the captain, and we are close upon 
 it. Stand by, men ! said he, in a distinct, but subdued 
 
 -i- 
 
 voice. Pat your helm hard down, Jack, and let her come 
 round ! 
 
304 SATT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 " His orders were obeyed. The brig luffed up into the wind, 
 still moving rapidly ahead, and, almost instantly, the schooner 
 bore a little abaft the starboard beam, heading directly 
 towards us, with her forecastle and bowsprit crowded with 
 men, ready to spring on board. GIVE IT TO HER ! cried 
 the captain, in a voice like thunder, and the metallic shower 
 sped, raking her decks from the jib-boom to the taffrail. At 
 the same moment the muskets, well directed, helped to carry 
 death and confusion among the enemy, whose shrieks of agony 
 and horrid oaths and menaces could be heard far over the 
 face of the deep. The effect was most successful. 
 
 " Captain Seymour was aware of his proximity to Ginger 
 Key, and knew that no time should be lost in filling away. 
 In a stentorian voice, he summoned the men to the braces ; 
 the yards were instantly braced round, and the sails trimmed 
 to the wind on the other tack. We shot across the hawse of 
 the schooner. But the pirate was in a desperate condition. 
 Our guns must have made fearful havoc among the host of 
 men which crowded his deck. Confusion reigned on board. 
 He did not follow our example in tacking ship. On the con 
 trary, the schooner fell off from the wind, and, before the 
 Horse Mackerel could gather much head-way, the pirate, still 
 running at the rate of nine or ten knots, dashed madly in 
 among the rocks which surround Ginger Key." 
 
HOV TO RAISE A BREEZE. 
 
 " After a calm there comes a storm." 
 
 THERE is nothing more destructive to the patience of a 
 sailor a real old-fashioned, web-footed " old salt " than a 
 calm at sea. Other evils he can bear, if not with resignation, 
 at least without losing command over his feelings and his 
 temper. Miserable grub he can put up with, though, per 
 haps, not without grumbling ; a short allowance of water in a 
 hot climate is not agreeable, but, with a grin of disgust, he 
 submits to his lot ; hard work, and plenty of it, is hardly re 
 garded as an evil, but welcomed as a blessing; a leaky ship, 
 a dull sailer, and skulking shipmates, are matters of course, 
 and excite no particular manifestation of indignation or regret; 
 and a furious tempest, especially when on a lee shore, brings 
 out all his energies, and makes him as happy as a dandy 
 at a dancing party, or a porpoise bound on a long cruise. 
 
 A calm is a different thing. Like many other terrible ills 
 of life, it comes not only without being desired, but without 
 being expected ; and all Jack s philosophy melts away before 
 it, like a spongy cake of field ice when it strikes the Gulf 
 Stream. The flapping of the sails against the masts is dis 
 cordant music in his ears, and the thrashing of the ropes 
 about the decks conjures up scowls and mutterings, not loud 
 but deep, which clearly indicate that such life-like motion is 
 not poetry in his eyes. His short, jolly countenance becomes 
 elongated till it reminds one of the equator, all longitude and 
 126* 
 
306 . SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 no latitude ; his eyes, which are wont to kindle with mirth or 
 beam with good nature, flash with anger and ferocity. From 
 a frank, open-hearted sailor, ready at all points to meet the 
 frowns or favors of fortune, and willing to " doff the world 
 aside and bid it pass," Jack seems transformed, as if by the 
 trick of some wicked enchanter, into a morose, surly savage ; 
 an Ishmael, whose hand is ready, with the slightest provoca 
 tion, to be raised against every man ; a cannibal, whose glow 
 ering looks manifest a fearful propensity to make a meal of 
 his shipmates, if an opportunity should occur. 
 
 Such is the magical effect produced on the character and 
 conduct of a whole ship s company, from the captain to the 
 powder-monkey, by a calm at sea ; arid the change becomes 
 more marked in proportion as the storm is protracted. I 
 verily believe that calms have given rise to more bickerings, 
 strife, heart-burnings and bitter quarrels, among the officers 
 and crews of vessels, and have caused more brutal treatment 
 on the one hand, and scenes of insubordination and revolt on 
 the other, than, with the exception of rum, all other causes 
 combined. And now having attempted, successfully, I hope, 
 to give those of my readers who have never dipped their hands 
 into a tar-bucket, or been ducked by a deluge of salt water, 
 some idea of the evils which are attendant on a calm, evils 
 which, although dreaded by the experienced sailor more than 
 a typhoon or a water-spout, are unsuspected by the landsman, 
 I will fill away the main-topsail and shoot ahead ; or, in 
 other words, proceed with my narrative. 
 
 The ship Memphremagog was bound on a voyage to San 
 Salvador, in the Brazils. She was a good, stout, old-fash 
 ioned, dull-sailing, Boston ship, of some three hundred and 
 fifty or four hundred tons, with a bright side, and bluff bows, 
 square stern and a fiddle head. She was commanded by 
 Nicholas Brandt, Esq., and could boast of two mates, cook 
 and steward, and nine men before the mast. Captain Brandt 
 
HOW TO RAISE A BREEZE. 307 
 
 was a shipmaster of the old school. He was a tall, lathy- 
 looking piece of humanity, with but little flesh on his huge 
 bones, but possessing extraordinary muscular developments. 
 He was a good practical sailor, having spent many years of 
 his life at sea ; a man of decision and energy, cool in tho 
 hour of peril, devoted to the interests of his employers, and 
 faithful in the discharge of his duty. He prided himself on 
 his skill in managing his ship, and in making short passages, 
 which he mainly attributed, and probably correctly, not so 
 much to " good luck," as to his own vigilance and personal 
 attention ; being a great portion of the time on deck himself, 
 seldom taking a regular nap, excepting when lying to in a 
 gale, and seeing with his own eyes that the officers and crew 
 did their duty, especially in doubtful weather and in the night 
 time. In this way advantage was taken, at once, of every 
 change of the wind ; the yards were braced up or squared 
 without unnecessary delay, and sail made or taken in precisely 
 at the right time. It is astonishing how much may be gained 
 by personal inspection of this kind, on the part of an active 
 and efficient shipmaster ; how many hours and days saved in 
 a passage ! Captain Brandt was somewhat annoying and 
 troublesome to his crew, in consequence of his unremitting 
 exertions to get along as quickly as possible. They would 
 have been much better pleased if he had accustomed himself 
 to take a stiff glass of brandy and water at eight o clock in 
 the evening, and turn in, as was the custom with some of 
 the shipmasters in those degenerate days, and there remain 
 snoring in his state-room until eight bells on the following 
 morning ! But in other respects Captain Brandt was kind 
 and indulgent, especially during a fair wind, and was loved 
 and respected by the men, notwithstanding he always main 
 tained strict discipline on board, and was prompt to check, 
 at all hazards, the slightest symptoms of insubordination. 
 The Memphremagog had been out about twenty-eight days, 
 
308 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 having had a fine passage up with the Cape de Verds ; for 
 Captain Maury s straight cut across the Atlantic to the equi 
 noctial line was unknown in those days. Captain Brandt had 
 sanguine expectations of making a comparatively short pas 
 sage to Brazil, and, if possible, redoubled his care and exer 
 tions to shove his old tub-bottomed craft along through the 
 water. But when about sixty miles to the southward and 
 westward of St. Anthony, the westernmost of the Cape de 
 Verd Islands, the wind, which for several days had been 
 blowing fresh from the eastward, became, much to the morti 
 fication of Captain Brandt, light and baffling, and manifested 
 symptoms of dying away altogether ! 
 
 The night which followed, although the moon shone bright 
 upon the water, and the atmosphere was clear and tranquil, 
 was a long and unpleasant one to the skipper, who paced the 
 deck impatiently hour after hour, while the sails flapped as 
 the ship rolled lazily to windward, and no sign of a phospho 
 rescent wake could be witnessed on gazing over the stern. 
 " Here comes a breeze, at last ! " he would exclaim, as the 
 shadow of a cloud passed over the surface of the water. 
 " Blow, St. Anthony, blow ; don t desert us at the last 
 pinch ! " And then the main-topsail would strike against the 
 mast, as if it would fly out of the bolt-rope, and with the rat 
 tling of the ropes and the creaking of the masts and yards, 
 make music which sounded right dismally in his ears. At 
 sach times, he would smite his hands furiously together, and 
 declare, with a frightful emphasis, that he would sooner a 
 thousand times listen to the fierce howlings of a hurricane, 
 than the discordant, monotonous, squeaking sounds, caused by 
 the flapping and slatting of the sails and running rigging. 
 His impatient exclamations, his grumblings and mutterings, 
 however, produced no effect. Towards morning, the ship lost 
 steerage way altogether, and by eight o clock it was a dead 
 calm ; hardly a cat s-paw was seen on the water. And through 
 
HOW TO KAISE A BREEZE. 309 
 
 that day, and the following one also, the Memphremagog lay, 
 like a log, floating on the surface. 
 
 This was an event of an annoying character, certainly, but 
 one at which Captain Brandt had no reason to be surprised ; 
 for vessels bound to the southward of the line, by steering so 
 far to the eastward as to reach the vicinity of the Cape de 
 Verds, are very apt to get becalmed, and these calms some 
 times continue for several days. But the captain of the 
 Memphremagog had coaxed himself into the belief that he 
 would be especially favored, although it might have puzzled 
 him to give a reason why, and that a fine breeze would propel 
 him cheerily along across all the " doldrum latitudes." He 
 was doomed to disappointment ; and, I regret to record it, he 
 did not bear his disappointment like a philosopher. 
 
 Captain Brandt had no more rest during the day than 
 through the night. He gave one a good idea of perpetual 
 motion. He not only kept wide awake himself, but he kept 
 all hands alive throughout the ship. He was upon the look 
 out for a breeze in every direction ; watching the clouds, 
 whistling at times, at other times singing, or shouting, or giv 
 ing vent to his feelings by language neither classical nor re 
 fined, but which, candor compels me to say, unless he has been 
 grossly slandered, verged closely on the profane. 
 
 " Halloo, Mr. Thompson ! " would the skipper exclaim, 
 rubbing his hands ; " there comes a breeze, at last. I see the 
 cat s-paw creeping along over the water. How does she head, 
 Tom ? " 
 
 " East-south-east, sir." 
 
 " Very well. Call the hands aft, Mr. Thompson, and brace 
 round the head-yards. Let us box her off, and then see all 
 clear to board the main tack. Keep her south-south-west, 
 Tom, when she falls off enough." 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir," replied the helmsman, giving a sly wink to 
 his shipmate, who was coiling up the spanker sheet. But, 
 
310 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 alas ! the cat s-paw never reached the ship. The old Mem- 
 phremagog persisted in looking directly to the eastward. The 
 sea looked as glassy, the sun s rays as coppery, and scorched 
 as fiercely as ever, and the sails flapped with redoubled vio 
 lence against the mast. Captain Brandt, in his vexation, would 
 stamp the deck as if he would split the planks, kick the stew 
 ard, find fault with the mates, and launch anathemas against 
 all hands, then stop suddenly, take up a chip, throw it over 
 the side, and gaze upon it earnestly for a few moments, until 
 he saw that it was disposed to linger on the spot where it was 
 thrown, and to stick closer to the ship than a brother, when 
 he would give utterance to some untranslatable exclamation, 
 and turn away with a look of disappointment and unmitigated 
 disgust. 
 
 After taking a few turns fore and aft, he would whistle an 
 impromptu deprecatory tune, more spirit-stirring than any of 
 Uncle Toby s lillibulleros, but without conjuring up a breeze. 
 Then he would apostrophize the winds, commencing in a mild 
 and persuasive strain, but ending in a style peremptory, fierce 
 and emphatic. " Blow, good breezes, blow ! Do blow, if 
 only enough to fill the sails, and get steerage-way on the ship. 
 Blow, I say ; why dorit you blow ? Blow, I tell you, blow, 
 until you blow the sails from the yards, or the masts over the 
 side ! Blow, I tell you, blow ! " But the winds were alike 
 deaf to his urgent entreaties, and his fierce and menacing com 
 mands. The surface of the deep continued undisturbed even 
 by a ripple ! 
 
 Nor was this impatient feeling confined to the skipper. 
 The crew felt deep in their hearts the magic influence of the 
 sultry calm, became sour and sulky, glowered fiercely at each 
 other, gave short answers to the officers, and grumbled furi 
 ously, in voices inaudible to the captain and mates, however, 
 when ordered to the performance of any duty. The malign 
 influence of the protracted calm extended even further. The 
 
HOW TO RAISE A BREEZE. 311 
 
 steward, a fine-looking mulatto, looked as grim as a savage ; 
 but this might have been partly owing to the uncivil treat 
 ment which he received from the captain ; and the steward 
 in his turn was very short, sulky and unceremonious, to a 
 degree verging on insolence, to the cook, a big, brawny, black 
 fellow, who moodily attended to his duties about the galley, 
 with his lips sticking straight out, forming a knotty protuber 
 ance, large enough to hang a swab on, and every now and 
 then breathing forth guttural denunciations, in broken English, 
 against the weather. 
 
 Such was the uncomfortable state of things on the afternoon 
 of the second day of the calm, when Jack Thompson, a mis 
 chievous but jovial sailor, fond of a practical or any other 
 joke, passing along the main deck where a couple of his ship 
 mates were serving a rope, suddenly snatched away the light 
 straw tarpaulin hat which covered the cocoa-nut of Jeremiah 
 Nichols, a youth but recently from the hills of Berkshire, in 
 the good old State of Massachusetts, and gave it a sea-toss 
 far away from the ship s side into the water, exclaiming at the 
 same time, " Hurrah ! this for old Neptune in exchange for a 
 breeze ! " 
 
 Jerry s astonishment at such an unlooked-for proceeding, 
 knew no bounds. He could not at once appreciate the justice 
 of the act, or conceive why his individual property should thus 
 be sacrificed as a propitiatory offering to the hoary god of 
 ocean. On recovering from his astonishment, his first impulse 
 was to knock down his joking shipmate; but fortunately recol 
 lecting that the indulgence of his revengeful feelings would 
 not recover his chapeau, and might be attended with danger 
 to himself, he abandoned this pugnacious intention ; and, spring 
 ing head-first overboard, struck out vigorously in the direc 
 tion of the old tarpaulin. The cook, who was leaning over 
 the rail, indulging in some abstract philosophical reflections, 
 as was his wont, turned pale with affright on seeing Jerry 
 
812 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 tumbling head over heels into the water, and instinctively 
 screamed, with all his might and main, " A man overboard ! " 
 
 This terrible cry reached the ears of the captain, who was 
 down in the cabin, trying to raise a breeze by pommelling the 
 steward, and he hastened on deck, and rushed forward to the 
 waist. By this time the officers and men had there assembled, 
 and were intently gazing on Jerry, as he manfully " buffeted 
 the billows." Suddenly, but a few rods off, a large shark was 
 seen, with his dorsal fin and the upper portion of his tail sev 
 eral inches above the surface, stealthily swimming along in the 
 direction of Jerry, whom the rascal seemed to eye with a 
 deep-seated affection, not altogether of a fraternal character. 
 
 " A shark ! a shark alongside ! " was the cry which now 
 resounded fore and aft. 
 
 " Look out, Jerry ! " shouted the captain. " There is a 
 shark after you ! Come back, come back, you good-for-noth 
 ing vagabond ! Lower away the boat, there ! Where is the 
 harpoon ? Hand along the grainse." 
 
 All was now confusion on the decks of the Memphremagog. 
 Some hastened to lower the boat, and some sought for the 
 harpoon, the grainse and the boat-hook, with a view to do 
 battle to the voracious monster, and create, at least, a diver 
 sion, under cover of which their shipmate might escape the 
 fate which seemed impending over him. But the boat was 
 thoroughly lashed, and could not be lowered in a hurry ; the 
 death-dealing instruments could not be found immediately, and 
 the shark, with his " evil eye " glistening with the anticipa 
 tion of a luxurious feast, was meanwhile creeping along 
 rather closely towards Jerry, who, frightened almost to death, 
 was making superhuman efforts to get on board. He had 
 reached the side of the ship, and clutched the bight of the 
 main-top-bowline, which was thrown towards him, when the 
 ferocious monster, fearing he was about to lose his prey, sud- 
 
HOW TO RAISE A BREEZE. 313 
 
 denly turned over on his side, preparatory to making a grab 
 at the thigh of the well-fed Yankee sailor. 
 
 Those of the crew who were looking over the side, simul 
 taneously uttered a fearful shriek, for the boat was at that 
 moment only rounding the quarter of the ship, and the captain 
 had not yet got ready the harpoon. They gave up their un 
 happy shipmate for lost, when Jack Tompson, who had been 
 foremost among the most active in rendering assistance, leaped 
 upon the gunwale, and, with a stunning voice, calling out, 
 " "\Vatch, there ! watch ! " jumped with all his force directly 
 upon the back of the shark. The feat was a desperate one, 
 but it was admirably executed. The feet of the chivalrous 
 sailor struck the man-eating villain fairly, just abaft the 
 shoulders, slipped aside, although in different directions, and, 
 for a moment only, Jack Thompson was seen riding a-cheval 
 on the back of the sea-monster, with his knotty features 
 lighted up with a smile, as if he thought it was the funniest 
 thing in the world ! 
 
 The shark thus unkindly interrupted at the moment he was 
 making up his mouth for a delicious bite, manifested more 
 astonishment that indignation. He turned aside abruptly 
 from the tempting morsel before him, and made a dash down 
 ward through the water, that unseated Jack without ceremony, 
 and left him floundering about like a hooked albatross. In 
 the lapse of a few minutes, Jack and Jerry were both safe 
 and sound on the deck of the Memphremagog. 
 
 The questions now arose among the excited crew, " what 
 has become of the shark ? Can we not capture the audacious 
 scoundrel ? " He was soon espied from the starboard quarter, 
 pirowling about as unconcerned as a pirate who has just made 
 a whole ship s company walk the plank, and looking as inno 
 cent and demure as a mermaid quietly combing her long sea- 
 green hair, and singing ballads upon the rocks. The calm 
 for the time was forgotten, and every man on board the ship 
 " 
 
314 SALT WATER LUBBLES. 
 
 was bent on the capture of the ferocious fish. The boat was 
 hoisted up at the stern, and preparations were at once made 
 for catching the common enemy of sailors. The skipper 
 called for a piece of pork from the harness-cask, and the 
 mates were soon busied in making running bowlines, and get 
 ting in order the harpoon. As for a shark-hook, properly so 
 called, there was none on board. 
 
 The captain cut off a junk of pork of the size of his fist, and 
 threw it far off in the direction of the shark. The fish soon 
 detected the white and attractive object, and leisurely moved 
 towards it, eyed it with much interest, smelled of it, and then 
 bolted it with much apparent gusto, and looked around, like 
 poor Oliver Twist, for more. Another piece lured him 
 still nearer the ship s quarter, and it was clear that he 
 had recovered from the alarm which Jack s gymnastic 
 feat had excited in his bosom. A running bowline of stout 
 rope was now lowered into the water, through which a piece 
 of rattlin-stuff, with a big piece of pork at the end, was passed, 
 and thrown some fathoms from the ship s stern. The shark 
 saw the tempting tit-bit, and his eyes shone and his mouth 
 watered at the sight. He made hastily towards it, and it was 
 drawn nearer the ship as he advanced, until he had passed 
 his head and shoulders through the noose, when the uppe? 
 part of the bowline was dropped, and, by a dexterous pull of 
 the rope, the unsuspecting villain was firmly caught in a trap, 
 from which, in spite of his tremendous exertions and convul 
 sive leaps, he could not extricate himself. He was, then, by 
 the united strength of the ship s company, hauled alongside 
 in triumph ; and, after some labor, and, notwithstanding an 
 obstinate resistance on his part, was hoisted on board, when 
 three cheers were given for his capture ! 
 
 But it was soon found that there was little cause for exul 
 tation. The shark was uncommonly restless on the deck of 
 the Memphremagog ; as uneasy as a fish out of water. He 
 
HOW TO RAISE A BREEZE. 315 
 
 could not be made to lie still ; and, with his strong jaws and 
 sharp teeth, snapped at everything in his way. Ropes from 
 three-quarters to an inch in diameter, that lay scattered about 
 the decks, were seized upon in his rage, and severed as clean 
 as if cut with a knife. 
 
 The cry was now, " Kill the rascal ! ! " This was more 
 easily said than done, but a furious assault was made upon 
 the captured fish by > the whole ship s company, armed with 
 hatchets, axes, handspikes and boat-hooks, and dire was the 
 noise, and dreadful the confusion that reigned on board. 
 Long and gallantly the shark fought and struggled for life; 
 and more than once he came within an inch of grabbing one 
 of his enemies by the heels ; but it was not in the power of 
 any fish to contend successfully against such odds, when out 
 of his native element ; and, after a fierce and unheard-of con 
 test of about twenty minutes, the shark, brained with the 
 cook s axe, after dodging it two or three times to the great 
 detriment of the deck planks, was obliged to succumb. His 
 tail was then decapitated, as Nick Mulroony called it, and 
 nailed to the belfry as a trophy, and the carcass was thrown 
 overboard amid loud rejoicings from the whole crew. 
 
 While these important events were transpiring, but little 
 attention was given to the weather ; the calm for a time was 
 forgotten. The excitement, however, soon passed away, and 
 a reaction followed. The captain again became brutal, the 
 maies gruff, and the men sulky. A breeze was demanded 
 more clamorously than before; but, alas ! the clouds hung 
 motionless and heavy about the horizon, and there was not 
 the slightest indication of a change. The night passed away, 
 and the sun rose on the morning of the Sabbath, and the ship 
 remained rolling and tumbling about on the ocean, with not a 
 breath of wind to fill the sails. 
 
 After breakfast, Jack Thompson, who had been thoughtfully 
 looking over the bow, as if speculating on the immense depth 
 

 316 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 of the ocean, suddenly turned round, and, addressing Jim 
 Blaney, a rough, web-footed, veteran man-of-war s-man, said 
 " I tell you what it is, old fellow, this will never do ; if this 
 calm lasts a day longer, we shall all become savages, or some 
 thing worse, four-legged barbarians, for what I know. 
 Can t we contrive some way to raise a breeze ? " " You tried 
 it yesterday," muttered Jim , in a voice which sounded like a 
 cross between the shriek of a steam-whistle and the roar of an 
 infuriated father of the herd, "and I shouldn t think you 
 would care about trying it again ; " and he contemptuously 
 turned away, " chewing the cud of sweet and bitter fancy " 
 with redoubled industry. 
 
 " Never mind, old Tantarabogus," soliloquized Jack; "if I 
 don t raise a purchase to kick up a breeze, or some other 
 shindy, before night, it won t be for want of trying, that , 
 all." 
 
 The hours passed heavily away, as if borne on leaden 
 pinions; but about one bell, p. M., while the men were still 
 employed in bolting their salt junk and boiled duff, they were 
 abruptly roused from their labors by the voice of Captain 
 Brandt, who imagined he saw preliminary symptoms of a 
 breeze; and,, indeed, some dark, suspicious-looking clouds 
 seemed gathering in the horizon. He kept the crew at work 
 for half an hour at least, bracing round the yards, and trim 
 ming the sails ; but it all proved in vain, a mere flash in the 
 pan. After this well-timed and wholesome exercise, without 
 conjuring up the ghost of a wind, they were dismissed, and all 
 hands relapsed into the usual inactivity which prevails on 
 ship-board during the Sabbath day in pleasant weather. The 
 captain retired to the cabin, fatigued and disgusted, and, 
 throwing himself upon a couple of sack-bottomed chairs, tried 
 to murder time by taking a nap, in which he succeeded, and 
 was soon snoring away as if for a wager. The chief mate 
 shut himself up in his state-room, where he sweltered in a 
 
HOW TO RAISE A BREEZE. 317 
 
 close atmosphere of a temperature something less than one 
 hundred and twenty degrees. The second mate, who had the 
 watch on deck, amused himself, seated on the hen-coop, by 
 trying to solve a problem in navigation. Of the crew, one 
 half were turned in, and reeling off sleep at the rate of ten 
 knots an hour ; the other half, with the exception of the man 
 at the wheel, were scattered about the forecastle; some grum 
 bling in an undertone, to themselves, about the weather and 
 " hard usage," one sewing a patch on the elbow of his pea- 
 jacket, and another reading the Bible on the heel of the bow 
 sprit; but all, excepting Jack Thompson, looked as sour and 
 sad as a sea-elephant after he is knocked on the head. 
 Sambo, the cook, having put matters and things " to rights " 
 in his galley, stretched himself at full length on the hot 
 deck, and was taking a pleasant snooze, with his head, well 
 cushioned with wool, resting on a handspike ; and the steward, 
 having collected his various utensils, tools and condiments, 
 which he had been using in preparing the cabin dinner, had 
 gone aft, and was busily stowing them away in his pantry, 
 little dreaming of the ill treatment which was in store for 
 him. 
 
 At this moment, Jack Thompson, who, with a countenance 
 beaming with mischief, had been for some time carefully 
 watching the various proceedings on deck, stealthily stepped 
 to the caboose and abstracted from the fire a live coal of 
 goodly size, which he quietly deposited in a natural nest 
 among the wool which grew in such luxuriance on Sambo s 
 head. He then resumed his place on the forecastle, lighted a 
 cigar, and, with a sedate countenance, began reading a well- 
 thumbed edition of " Dampier s Voyages." 
 
 In a few minutes a thick and fetid smoke began to issue 
 
 from the head of poor Sambo. The unctuous nature of the 
 
 wool rendered it quite combustible, and the smoke, settling 
 
 down about his face, tickled his olfactory organs, and made 
 
 27* 
 
318 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 him sneeze and twist up his features into a ludicrous expres 
 sion of alarm. 
 
 " Goramity ! " exclaimed Sambo, raising his head. " What 
 de debil to pay now ? What ting is that a-fire ? Something 
 that smells drefful bad, any how." 
 
 In the mean time, the singed wool was fizzing and sputter 
 ing away at a great rate, and the unfortunate darkey, rising 
 upon his pins to ascertain the cause of the strange phenom 
 enon, felt an uncertain and burning sensation on the side of 
 his cranium, which soon resolved itself into a sharp and ago 
 nizing pain ; and, instinctively putting up his hand, he con 
 vulsively clinched the crumbling cinders and the burning coal, 
 which caused him to utter a prolonged howl, which reverber 
 ated from the bulwarks and the poop-deck, and was heard 
 throughout the ship. 
 
 At this unlucky moment the steward was coming forward 
 towards the galley, and, seeing the unfortunate condition of 
 poor Sambo, and the grotesque contortions of his countenance, 
 he could not refrain from indulging in a hearty laugh. This 
 roused the ire of " the doctor," who owed him a grudge for 
 former insults, and,. believing that he had discovered the mis 
 chievous author of the joke, he rushed upon the astonished 
 steward, exclaiming, " So, nigger, dis is de way you play your 
 pranks upon a gentleman, is it ? I 11 teach you one thing, 
 and make you know better next time. Smudder me in my 
 slush-barrel, if I don t, any how ! " 
 
 So saying, with the impetus of a battering-ram, he thrust 
 his smoking head against the brawny bosom of the steward, 
 who, uttering a sonorous grunt, staggered backward several 
 paces, and fell heavily upon the deck. This assault upon the 
 steward, and its decisive result, was witnessed by Jim 
 Blaney, whose attention, as well as that of all hands, was 
 now directed to these operations on the part of the bellig 
 erent parties ; and Jim, who owed the steward a debt of 
 
HOW TO RAISE A BREEZE. 
 
 319 
 
 gratitude, for occasional favors in the shape of cabin deli 
 cacies, was irresistibly prompted to take the part of that func 
 tionary. He sprang towards the indignant but victorious 
 cook, crying, " What are you about there, you rascal ? " and 
 gave him " a louuder " on the side of his head, which few men 
 of the Caucasian race could have withstood, but which only 
 caused Sambo to show his ivories in a grin of defiance, and 
 shake his head half a dozen times, as if to restore its equili 
 brium. He was not backward in returning the compliment, 
 and hit Jim a severe blow over the left eye, which caused 
 that organ to be surrounded immediately by a magic ring, or 
 dark halo, which increased rather than diminished the pictu 
 resque grimness of his countenance. The steward had now 
 recovered his senses, and came quickly to the rescue. He at 
 tacked "the doctor." in the most savage, scientific style, who 
 would soon have been badly beaten and vanquished by 
 superior numbers, had not Jack Thompson, with the chivalry 
 characteristic of that mischievous tar, seized a deck-swab, and 
 put a speedy end to the pugilistic exertions of the steward, by 
 drawing it somewhat roughly across his face and eyes. 
 Others of the crew hastened to the scene of combat, and, 
 without inquiring particularly into the cause or nature of the 
 row, gladly availed themselves of the opportunity of giving 
 free indulgence to their pugnacious propensities, which had 
 been growing stronger and stronger since the commencement 
 of the calm. With yells of rage and delight, they thrust 
 themselves into the thickest of the affray, and, like pugilistic 
 demons, let loose from Pandemonium, squared away at each 
 other, right and left ; and, for about five minutes, there was 
 as furious a combat, and as pretty a scene of confusion on 
 the decks of the Memphreniagog, as one would wish to behold 
 on a summer s day, and that day the Sabbath ! 
 
 The mates, hearing the disturbance, hastened to the scene 
 of action, with the laudable desire of quelling the fury of the 
 
320 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 combatants, and keeping the peace. But it would have been 
 better for them if they had kept quiet, and minded their own 
 business ; for, in the midst of this terrible hurly-burly, their 
 official characters were not recognized by the combatants, and 
 they were regarded only as good and substantial objects for 
 receiving sturdy blows and hard knocks ; and, although they 
 dealt about them lustily in return, and shouted furiously in 
 behalf of peace and order, they soon found themselves in a 
 sorry plight. 
 
 And now the captain, hearing the tumult, which awakened 
 him from his nap, and supposing that a breeze had come at 
 lasi, bounced on deck ; and his astonishment and anger may 
 be imagined, when he beheld the whole ship s company, in 
 cluding the cook, steward, and both the officers, engaged in a 
 terrible battle on the main deck, and, covered with blood 
 and foaming with rage, giving and receiving blows, and hit 
 ting away at each other indiscriminately, howling and shout 
 ing like so many fiends ! Captain Brandt gazed for a moment 
 on this tumultuous scene. A look of savage delight lighted 
 up his weather-beaten countenance. His organ of combative- 
 ness had been screwed up to the highest pitch, and now an 
 object was presented on which he could direct all its pent-up 
 energies. He grasped a heaver in his hand, and threw him 
 self into the midst of the combatants ! 
 
 I have already said that Captain Brandt was a tall and 
 powerful man, and by this time some of the crew had become 
 exhausted by the violence of their exertions, and two were 
 stretched along the deck, fully satisfied with the treatment 
 they had received. The captain, therefore, with the excep 
 tion of a few sly knocks which he received from unknown 
 quarters, had it pretty much all his own way. He soon, by 
 the aid of his heaver, tumbled three or four of them on all- 
 fours, among whom was the second mate, who was hit by mis 
 take in the confusion, and the rest of the crew were soon 
 
HOW TO RAISE A BREEZE. 
 
 321 
 
 scattered in different directions. The cook, whose unjust 
 assault upon the steward had caused the affray, had, some time 
 
 before, while the others were together by the ears, wisely 
 withdrawn himself from the contest, and retired within his 
 galley, and closed the doors. 
 
 Fatigued and heated with his exertions, the captain stood, 
 with his bosom panting, leaning against the gunwale, victor in 
 the combat, and master of the battle-field, when, as he turned 
 his head towards the east, he felt a refreshing puff of air, full 
 in his face ! He recognized it as the joyfuj symptom of a 
 breeze ! He looked up, and all his unexpended energies, 
 which had so lately been called into action, were pointed in 
 another direction. While the storm raged on the decks of 
 the Memphremagog, a storm of a different character had been 
 
322 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 brewing in another quarter. The clouds, whicl? had been 
 hovering above the horizon during the day, had suddenly col 
 lected together in a dense and dark mass, had r sen rapidly, 
 and a terrific squall was about to burst upon the ship ! 
 
 Captain Brandt sprang upon the quarter-deck, and in a 
 voice, loud, animated, and distinct, which rang through the 
 ship like the notes of a clarion, and awakened in the bosom 
 of every man a sense of his duty, he shouted, " All hands 
 muster on deck at once ! Here s a heavy squall coming. 
 Clue up the top-gallant sails ! Lower away the spanker ! 
 Rise the fore-tack there, some of you, and stand by to square 
 away the yards ! See the topsuil-halliards all clear ! and 
 stand by to clue the yards down on the cap ! Let go the 
 halliards, fore and aft, clue down, clue down! Hard 
 a-port your helm ! Square away the yards ! Mind your 
 helm, now, Jack, and steer steady, just as she goes, with 
 the wind right aft ! Hurrah ! we have got a wind at last ! " 
 
 The rain fell, the wind blew, and the sea rose, but nobly 
 the good ship dashed along over the water, like a courser just 
 loosened from his tether. All hands participated in the exul 
 tation of the skipper, and, in their rejoicings at a change of 
 weather, forgot their late quarrels, and the many hard knocks 
 they had so lately given and received. As for Jack Thomp 
 son, as he stood laboring at the wheel, while the ship bowled 
 along, some eight or nine knots, to the southward, he met the 
 exulting glance of the captain, as he walked aft, with an arch 
 leer from one of his bunged-up eyes, and exclaimed, in a sub 
 dued but triumphant voice, " I KNOW D, SIR, I COULD RAISE A 
 
 BREEZE ! " 
 
AVALTER GRAFTOX, 
 
 THE IMPRESSED AMERICAN 
 
 " Flag of the Seas ! on ocean -wave 
 Thy stars shall glitter o er the brave ; 
 Each dying wanderer of the sea 
 Shall look at once to heaven and thee, 
 And smile to see thy splendors fly 
 In triumph o er his closing eye ! 
 
 NUMBER of years since, a travel? 
 ^apparently old and infirm, early one morn 
 ing in summer, with slow and tottering steps, 
 ascended the summit of a hill which com 
 manded a view of a beautiful village situated 
 in the valley beneath, on the bank of one of those clear and 
 swift-rushing streams which are so frequently seen in New 
 
324 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 England, fertilizing the soil, arid giving a romantic beauty to 
 the landscape. 
 
 He \vus a man of a sinewy frame, but care or disease had 
 laid upon it a heavy hand, and the flesh had withered beneath 
 the touch. His cheeks were thin, haggard, and bronzed by 
 exposure for years to the rays of a tropical sun. His locks 
 were thin and gray, and hung in straggling masses upon his 
 shoulders ; and his hazel eyes, keen and restless, as they sur 
 veyed the wide amphitheatre beneath him, assumed a wild and 
 mournful expression. 
 
 That man, after an absence in foreign climes of more than 
 a quarter of a century, had returned to the spot which gave 
 him birth. He was not old in years, but exposure, hardships, 
 sorrow, oppression, and disease, had broken his spirits, de 
 stroyed his vigorous constitution, and brought on premature 
 old age. When he left his native home, his friends and his 
 kindred, he was a noble specimen of manhood. He returned, 
 no longer a man, but a wreck of humanity ! 
 
 Walter Grafton was a New England sailor, and, ere mis 
 fortune had palsied his frame, and chilled his heart with her 
 spells, he was brave, generous, and noble-hearted, with buoy 
 ant spirits, and an ingenuousness of disposition, which secured 
 him the kind wishes of all who knew him. He was about 
 twenty-two years of age when he left the pleasant village of 
 Follingsburg, after a visit of a few weeks, with a light heart ; 
 for he had but just entered on the threshold of manhood, 
 and Hope, with her magic but deceiving glass, showed him 
 his pathway strewed with gay and fragrant flowers. He left 
 behind him dear friends ; among them was one fair being, 
 who had promised to share his lot through life, be it weal or 
 woe. And, as the stage-coach in which he was seated slowly 
 ascended the rising ground that overlooked the village, he 
 felt proud of his health, of his vigorous frame, of his native 
 energy, and implicitly believed that he could successfully 
 
WALTER GRAFTON. 325 
 
 carve out his own fortune, and to a very considerable extent 
 shape his own destiny. 
 
 He sailed from Boston as second mate of the brig Volant, 
 bound on a voyage to Antigua. He was a faithful officer ; he 
 loved ; his profession, and hoped soon to be promoted to the 
 highest step. But, during a severe hurricane, the Volant was 
 wrecked on the low island of Barbuda, and only Walter and 
 two of his shipmates were saved. The kind inhabitants of the 
 island relieved the immediate wants of the shipwrecked mari 
 ners, and in the course of a few days an opportunity offered 
 of proceeding to St. Bartholomews, in a Swedish drogher, from 
 which place he hoped to procure without difficulty a passage 
 to America. But the drogher had hardly cleared the harbor, 
 when she was fallen in with by the British sloop of war Ring 
 dove, of eighteen guns ; and the eyes of the boarding-officers 
 parkled with joy when they beheld, among the passengers, 
 Walter Grafton and his two shipmates, all fine-looking Amer 
 ican seamen, and without protections. Walter told his story, 
 and the Englishmen knew that he spoke the truth. They 
 were convinced by his statements that those men were Amer 
 ican seamen, victims of misfortune. They were aware that 
 their duty, as honest men and Christians, required them to 
 relieve their wants, so far as it might be in their power, and 
 aid them in returning to their own country. But the British 
 navy wanted men ; and, in those days, the British officers 
 were too often unscrupulous with regard to the means by 
 which seamen were procured. Walter Grafton and his com 
 panions were declared to be Englishmen, and sternly ordered 
 into the boat. They were impressed on board an English 
 man-of-war ! 
 
 This was a terrible disappointment to the hopes of the 
 
 young American. The airy palaces which his imagination 
 
 had erected, began to fall to the ground ; for he had always 
 
 regarded as one of life s severest ills, the fate of the poor 
 
 28 
 
326 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 sailor on board of a British man-of-war ; and he found the 
 reality far worse than the ideal picture. He resolved, how 
 ever, to escape from his floating prison, if any opportunity 
 should offer; and one dark night, as the Ringdove was at 
 anchor off the harbor of St. George s, in Grenada, he quietly 
 let himself down into the water, with a view to swim to the 
 shore, a distance of about half a mile. But he was seen by a 
 marine on duty, who fired at him, and lodged a ball in his 
 shoulder. A cutter was instantly manned, a blue-light shown, 
 and Grafton was discovered, and brought on board, bleeding, 
 and deeply mortified at the failure of his attempt to escape. 
 In order to set a wholesome example before the crew of the 
 Ringdove, and deter others from making a similar attempt, he 
 was tied up to the gangway, a few days afterwards, by order 
 of the captain, and, in presence of the whole ship s company, 
 jive dozen lashes were inflicted upon the bare back of this 
 young American sailor ! 
 
 Grafton was subsequently drafted into a frigate, soon after 
 which war was declared between England and the United 
 States ; but his repeated representations that he was an Amer 
 ican citizen were unheeded or scoffed at by his officers ! On 
 one occasion, a ship, with the stars and stripes waving at her 
 peak, hove in sight, and preparations were made for an obsti 
 nate engagement. Walter resolutely persisted in a determi 
 nation to take no part in the battle. He declared that noth 
 ing should induce him to fight against his countrymen ; and 
 for adopting this noble and patriotic course, which should 
 have elicited the praise and admiration of brave and honora 
 ble men, he was again inhumanly scourged ! 
 
 The frigate was ordered to England, to the great satisfac 
 tion of Grafton, who confidently relied on receiving justice, 
 and being liberated, whenever he should reach a British port; 
 and hope began to revisit his bosom. But this poor, friend 
 less von ris: man found that his statements were as much disre- 
 
WALTER GRAFTON. 327 
 
 garded or ridiculed at Plymouth, as in an obscure port in the 
 West Indies, or on the high seas. And while the officers of 
 the ship were absent on furlough or on leave, and could par 
 take of amusements on shore, or visit their friends at home, 
 this hapless foreigner was compelled to remain in that worst 
 of prisons, a British man-of-war, with no prospect of libera 
 tion, excepting by the hand of death. 
 
 In a few weeks, Grafton was drafted into another frigate, 
 which was fitting away for the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, 
 and compelled, against his will, to embark, and assist in main 
 taining abroad the glory of the British name. Thus the bright 
 sky, which cheered his soul in the morning of life, was ob 
 scured with dark and gloomy clouds. He proved to his sor 
 row that his destiny was shaped by a mighty and unseen Power, 
 and that dark, and inscrutable by mortals, are the works of 
 divine Providence. 
 
 And for years he submitted to his fate, and endured all the 
 privations, the cruelties, the hardships, the injustice, which, in 
 those days, were the lot of the unfortunate men who fought 
 the battles of Great Britain on the seas, and sustained the 
 honor of the British flag. His whole character, as well as 
 his person, became materially changed. Hope and ambition 
 no longer nerved his arm, or excited his energies to action. 
 His proud spirit was subdued, and, despairing of any favorable 
 change of fortune, he became reckless even of existence. HOME, 
 a word around which cluster associations of the most blissful, 
 pure and holy character, in the minds of the great mass of 
 mankind, seemed to Walter Grafton only the faint shadowing 
 or a dream, a happy vision of the past, which he felt could 
 never be realized, a mockery ! 
 
 But he lived on ; he seemed to bear a charmed life. His 
 shipmates fell beside him in battle, or were swept away by 
 the hand of disease, and their places were supplied by other 
 unfortunate men, without regard to country, or the flag under 
 
328 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 which they sailed. It was sufficient that a British man-of-war 
 wanted seamen, and, whenever they were met with in those 
 seas, no questions were asked, no protestations or entreaties 
 were listened to ; they were ruthlessly seized, whether Dane, 
 Swede, Dutchman or Yankee, and compelled to submit to per 
 petual and barbarous slavery in the service of the king of 
 Great Britain ! 
 
 But Grafton still loved his country, and revered her free 
 institutions, and he would have given worlds to have stood on 
 the deck of an American ship, battling with all his energies 
 against the naval forces of Great Britain. From the bottom 
 of his heart he detested that power which had torn him from 
 his friends, and dashed to the earth the cup of joy, even while 
 hope was holding it to his lips. 
 
 Grafton was finally transferred to a small brig of war, sent 
 on a dangerous exploring expedition to the Caroline Islands. 
 In the course of a few months the brig was wrecked upon a 
 coral reef, and the greater portion of the crew perished before 
 they could reach the shore. Walter and a few of his ship 
 mates survived the disaster, but were treated with great 
 cruelty by the natives ; and all, himself excepted, in a short 
 time sank under the tortures which were inflicted by the 
 savages, with a view of testing their courage and fortitude. 
 Grafton passed the ordeal, was created a chief, and treated 
 with favor. 
 
 He passed several years on the island, enduring a miserable 
 existence, and without partaking of any of the enjoyments of 
 life, when, to his delight, a small vessel appeared in the 
 offing, with the American flag flying at her mast-head. It 
 was a schooner from a New England port, seeking for beche- 
 le-mer and pearl oysters. A thrill of delight passed through 
 his frame as he beheld the vessel, and he secretly resolved to 
 escape from the island, or perish in the attempt. 
 
 When night spread her veil over the surrounding objects, 
 
WALTER GRAFTON. 329 
 
 Walter Graiton stealthily left his wigwam, and hastened to 
 the beach. In a few minutes he had launched a canoe, and, 
 with all the strength and skill which he possessed, he was 
 paddling from the shore in the direction of the schooner. But 
 he was watcljed ; the alarm was given, and he was pursued by 
 the indignant savages. He heard their yells of vengeance as 
 they rapidly drew near, and, with all the energy of despair, 
 he redoubled his exertions. At length he saw the schooner 
 through the gloom. He hailed her, and, in good English, 
 implored succor. The captain understood the case immedi 
 ately, and promptly determined to aid the fugitive. He fired 
 a shot at the fleet of canoes, which induced them to abandon 
 the chase ; but not before one of the savages, a chief of giant 
 size and vigorous arm, had launched a spear at the unfortu 
 nate Grafton, which pierced his thigh, and crippled him for 
 life. The next moment Walter was on board the American 
 vessel, and welcomed with kindness and cordiality by the 
 noble-hearted commander. 
 
 His wish was now to return to his native country. He 
 longed to behold again the hills and vales of New England, 
 and to repose after death in the land of his fathers. But 
 although he rejoiced to find himself on board an American 
 vessel, he was still far distant from his home, and was reluc 
 tantly compelled to visit many places, traverse manv 
 and suffer various hardships, before he again planted his foot 
 on the American soil. He also saw, more than once, proudly 
 streaming to the breeze, the red-cross flag of Great Britain. 
 And while he gazed upon it, his eye would kindle with frenzy, 
 his whole frame tremble with passion, and, amid the incohe 
 rent ravings of a madman, he would mutter curses upon the 
 nation, which, to extend her national glory, would violate ail 
 the principles of honor and justice, and enslave and torture 
 the free and the brave of other countries, who owed no alle 
 giance to the would-be mistress of the seas ! 
 
330 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 When this sad victim of British oppression landed on the 
 wharf in Boston, he was rapidly sinking into the grave. He 
 was but fifty years of age, yet life s candle was already burnt 
 to the socket ; and his stooping figure, his wrinkled features, 
 and hoary locks, seemed to say that he had passed more years 
 than are usually allotted to man. He was a stranger in his 
 native land a cripple without money, without friends, 
 without health ! 
 
 He did not tarry in the nourishing city, for he felt that he 
 had no time to lose, but immediately commenced his journey 
 on foot to the spot which, twenty-five years before, he had left 
 in joyous spirits, exulting in the possession of a vigorous con 
 stitution and manly qualities, that he was confident would 
 soon place him at the head of his profession, and secure him 
 the respect and esteem of the wise and the good. 
 
 In such guise, and under such circumstances, did Walter 
 Grafton return to his native village. 
 
 He stood upon the summit of the hill, and gazed upon the 
 scenes around him. He beheld the same beautiful stream, 
 and the same secluded valley, in which the hamlet where he 
 was born was located ; but most of the prominent features of 
 the landscape, indelibly stamped upon his memory, were no 
 longer there. The old church, with its lofty spire, like an 
 inverted tunnel, which he had often gazed upon with reveren 
 tial awe, and beneath whose spacious roof he had often listened 
 to the precepts of the man of God, had been taken away, a,nd 
 its place was supplied by several edifices of inferior dimen 
 sions, and modern style. The school-house, of wood, where 
 he passed many of the happiest days of his life, and eagerly 
 drank in the seeds of knowledge, was removed from its ro 
 mantic site by the banks of the limpid stream, and several 
 unsightly and shapeless " cotton factories " covered and sur 
 rounded the spot. The stately elm-trees, which constituted 
 one of the proudest ornaments of the village, and which were 
 
WALTER GRAFTON. 331 
 
 formerly religiously treasured and cherished by the worthy 
 inhabitants, had fallen beneath the axe of the spoiler, a vic 
 tim to the march of improvement ; even the unpretending 
 hamlet, with its old-fashioned mansions, its common, its green 
 lanes, lined with umbrageous forest trees, had disappeared, 
 and in its stead had arisen, as if by magic, a flourishing man 
 ufacturing town, with its straight streets, its numerous stores 
 and taverns, and its comfortless brick dwellings ; and the 
 village burial-ground, the last resting-place of the inhabit 
 ants, where in early youth he had seen the remains of a be 
 loved and indulgent mother deposited, and where he had 
 passed many mournful, but delicious hours, reclining on the 
 green and flowery turf which covered her grave, had not been 
 spared. The sacred spot was covered with a range of three- 
 story granite stores. 
 
 The heart of the wanderer sank within him at the sight. He 
 looked for his HOME, but he saw it not. He could not even find 
 the graves of his fathers. He turned away in the bitterness 
 of his disappointment, and sobbed like a child ! 
 
 His attention was soon attracted by the shouts of some 
 young men and boys, who ascended the hill, bearing a long 
 pole ; and who, by their smiling countenances, were evidently 
 about to undertake some interesting task. They beheld the 
 old man, with tears upon his cheeks, leaning against a rough 
 mass of granite, and their sympathy, "as well as their curiosity, 
 was excited. One of the number, a fine-looking youth, about 
 twenty years old, respectfully approached him ; and while his 
 companions proceeded in their work, in kind accents he inquired 
 of the forlorn stranger the cause of his grief. 
 
 The old man made no direct reply to the question, but in 
 eager and tremulous accents, said, "Tell me, O tell me, young 
 man, if any persons reside in yonder town, by the name of 
 Grafton ? " 
 
 " Xo," replied the youth; "the last person of that name 
 
332 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 who resided in Follingsburg, was Walter Grafton, who, with 
 his wife and children, left this part of the country, to settle 
 in Illinois, about five years ago. But why do you ask ? " 
 
 A deep groan was the only reply to this question. The 
 old man pressed his hand firmly to his brow, as if he wished 
 to suppress the strong emotion which shook his soul. In a 
 few moments, he again asked, in a hesitating and subdued 
 tone of voice, as if he feared the tenor of the reply, " Can you 
 tell me if you ever heard the name of such a person in this 
 village as Helen Stockton ? " 
 
 " Helen Stockton ! " exclaimed the youth, with unequivocal 
 marks of surprise. " Helen Stockton ! To be sure I have. 
 Helen Stockton was the name of my mother ! " 
 
 The burning hectic which had flushed the wan, and hag 
 gard, and scarred cheeks of the stranger, now gave place to a 
 ghastly pallor. At this moment his attention was attracted 
 by some loud huzzas from the party who, for some moments, 
 had been busily at work but a few rods off. He looked up, 
 and saw that they had planted a flag-staff, from which de 
 pended, in graceful folds, the beautiful American ensign. 
 " What is the meaning of this ? " said he to the young man, 
 who still lingered near him, actuated partly by curiosity, and 
 partly by a better feeling. 
 
 " This," said the young man, in a triumphant voice, while 
 his eyes sparkled with the fires of patriotism, " this is the 
 FOURTH or JULY, THE BIRTH-DAY OF AMERICAN INDEPEN 
 DENCE ! HURRAH ! " 
 
 The old sailor with difficulty raised himself from his reclin 
 ing posture, and limped towards the flag-staff. He fixed an 
 intense gaze on the stars and stripes which floated above him, 
 the emblem of FREEDOM and of UNION, the rallying-poirit 
 of the friends to the RIGHTS OF MAN in every part of the 
 globe. He took the old tarpaulin hat from his head, and 
 summoned back for a moment his departing energies. Three 
 
WALTER GRAFTON. 333 
 
 times he waved that hat high above his head, and three times, 
 with a voice as clear, as loud, and as startling as the^tone of 
 a trumpet, he shouted Hurrah ! HURRAH ! HURRAH ! 
 
 The dying sailor sank exhausted on the ground, at the foot 
 of the flag-staff. The young men on the hill, astonished at 
 his enthusiasm, hastened to his assistance ; but it was not 
 needed, the spirit had departed. And thus, on the green 
 hill overlooking his native valley, a stranger, destitute, 
 crippled, and forlorn, perished the hapless victim of BRIT 
 ISH IMPRESSMENT ! 
 
 The tale of Walter Grafton is not a mere sketch of the 
 imagination. It is only one of many cases of wrong and 
 oppression which grew out of the practice of impressment, and 
 are calculated to excite the sympathy and rouse the indigna 
 tion of every honest heart. But let us rejoice that such 
 times have passed away. The impressment of seamen is no 
 longer authorized in the English navy. It was a vile and 
 barbarous custom, even when the victims were British sub 
 jects ; but when men belonging to other nations are ruthlessly 
 kidnapped, or forcibly dragged from their homes upon the 
 deep, and compelled to serve on board a British man-of-war, 
 the outrage is of a nature so horrible, so contrary to all the 
 recognized principles of honor and justice, that the whole civ 
 ilized world should rise up en masse, and exclaim against it. 
 
 "We do not believe that the* British government will ever 
 again dare to resort to this mode of manning their ships dur 
 ing a time of war. The subject was agitated during the 
 Ashburton treaty with Great Britain, and the letter of Daniel 
 Webster, upon the subject of impressment, is one of the ablest 
 documents which ever came from his hands. It does honor 
 to his head and to his heart, and the American sailor owes a 
 debt of gratitude to that enlightened statesman, who, in bold 
 and decided language, proclaimed to the world that the Amer 
 ican flag shall protect the American seaman ! 
 
CUTTING OUT WORK FOR ALL HANDS! 
 
 Honestus. I like her well. She is a goodly ship ! 
 Does she sail fast, my lad 1 
 
 Jack, Our Captain does, and very fast indeed, 
 When all his brandy is aboard ! 
 
 OLD PLAY. 
 
 IT was five o clock in the afternoon. The good ship " Will- 
 o -the Wisp," bound from Boston to Amsterdam, was rushing 
 rapidly through the water, towards her destined port. The 
 wind was a couple of points abaft the beam, from about north- 
 north-west, and it blew a strong breeze. The royals, flying- 
 jib, and mizzen and fore top-gallant sails were furled, the 
 weather clue of the mainsail was hauled up, and as the stanch 
 ship dashed through the water, deeply laden as she was, her 
 timbers and bulk-heads croaked and sung like mutinous frogs 
 in a pond, the water under her bows roared like the Norway 
 maelstrom, and she left a wake behind her, as broad, as 
 foamy, and as crooked, as that of a huge Dutch galliot. A fair- 
 weather sea would, now and then, when she broached a little 
 to of *her course, gently come over the weather-bulwarks, and 
 electrify those of the watch who happened to be in the way ; 
 and, while the helmsman labored at the wheel, exerting all 
 his strength and all his skill, the chief mate, Mr. Halloway, 
 kept one eye on the sails and spars aloft, and the other to 
 windward, watching the appearance of the clouds ; while the 
 watch on deck were speculating on the probability of having 
 soon to take a double reef in the topsails. 
 
 At this interesting moment, Captain Cornelius Grampus 
 
CUTTING OUT WORK FOR ALL HANDS. 335 
 
 made his appearance on deck. Captain Grampus was a man 
 who, although he commanded a temperance ship, was never a 
 member of a temperance society. He adopted the principle 
 that temperance was a good thing for those who could not 
 keep sober, and he carefully obeyed the orders of his worthy 
 owners, in excluding all kinds of liquors from the forecastle, 
 and had even often been heard in port haranguing* his crew 
 on the folly and impropriety of getting drunk. But, as he 
 always knew when he had enough, and, as he said he never 
 got drunk himself, he considered it unnecessary to pledge 
 himself to temperance, or even to abstain from the free use 
 of intoxicating drinks, either at sea or on shore. 
 
 Captain Cornelius Grampus came on the deck of the Will- 
 o -the-Wisp. He was a plethoric-looking man, of rather short 
 stature, with a face as round and as full as a Thanksgiving 
 pumpkin, and with a complexion as ruddy as the gills of the 
 noisy monarch of the barn-yard. Indeed, with his huge eyes, 
 apparently starting from his head, his peculiar and ungainly 
 figure, his sprawling nippers, and his inflamed visage, he 
 forcibly reminded one of a lobster, after he had been immersed 
 in the boiling-pot. 
 
 Captain Cornelius Grampus came on deck. He looked 
 aloft, and his eyes seemed lighted up with anger. He cast a 
 savage glance at his mate, as if he wished to annihilate him 
 on the spot. He walked several times fore and aft the quar 
 ter-deck. He then stopped abruptly, directly opposite Mr. 
 Halloway, and, after grinding his teeth together, addressed 
 him fiercely as follows : 
 
 " Mr. Halloway, how fast does the ship go, now ? " 
 
 " Eight knots and a half, sir," replied Mr. Halloway, with 
 a conciliatory smile ; for he knew the captain s " custom of 
 an afternoon," and feared that a storm was about to burst 
 forth. 
 
 " Eight knots and a half! Only eight knots and a half! 
 
336 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 What is the meaning of this, sir ? This ship ought to go at 
 least ten knots, with this breeze. You must be mistaken, sir, 
 or it is high time to make more sail. Heave the log, Mr. 
 Halloway." 
 
 The log was hove, and the result was given by the mate, 
 as follows : " She takes nine knots off the reel, sir. The 
 wind seems to increase." 
 
 " Poh, t is only a good whole-sail breeze, and when the 
 wind is fair we must improve it. She must go ten knots. We 
 must crack on more sail, and try her speed for once. Set the 
 fore and mizzen top-gallant sails, Mr. Halloway." 
 
 " It blows very hard in flaws, sir ! " exclaimed the mate, 
 with a deprecatory look. 
 
 " Well, let it blow ! " thundered out Captain Grampus. 
 " I want it to blow. Call all hands, and get more sail on the 
 ship ! Do you think I don t know what I m about ? I 11 
 showyou how to carry sail, my good fellow." 
 
 Remonstrance, of course, was useless. All hands were 
 called, and were on deck in a trice ; for the watch below had, 
 ever since eight bells, been in momentary expectation of being 
 roused up to reduce sail, and, as the wind had increased, they 
 were somewhat astonished that they were wanted for a pur 
 pose entirely different. However, it is Jack s duty to obey 
 orders, without questioning their propriety. If the ship 
 should be capsized, or dismasted, or swamped, through the 
 folly, or obstinacy, or fool-hardiness, of any of her officers, 
 the fault is not his, and he washes his hands of all respon 
 sibility. 
 
 " Up there, men, and loose the fore and mizzen top-gallant 
 sails ! " shouted Mr. Halloway. 
 
 The top-gallant sails were loosed, and, after much shiver 
 ing and slatting, they were sheeted home. Captain Grampus 
 paced the quarter-deck, looking, and, doubtless, feeling as 
 proud and important as a turkey-cock in all his glory. The 
 
CUTTING OUT WORK FOR ALL HANDS. 337 
 
 ship steered badly, and whenever a heavier flaw struck her, 
 and she came to of her course, the masts would bend, the 
 yards would buckle, and a loud cracking and snapping amongst 
 the rigging seemed to admonish the skipper to be prudent, 
 that the " Will-o -the-wisp " was not to be trifled with. At 
 such times, old Grampus would open his lower deck ports, and 
 pour out tremendous broadsides of oaths and abuse upon Blue- 
 water-Jack, the helmsman, and upon Mr. Cat-Harping, the 
 second mate, who was standing by the wheel, cunning, and 
 occasionaly assisting Blue- water- Jack in heaving up the wheel. 
 
 " Now throw the log, Mr. Halloway," exclaimed Captain 
 Grampus, with a grim smile of satisfaction, as a heavy flaw 
 struck the ship, careened her some half a dozen streaks, and 
 made all crack again. 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir," replied the mate, in a tone which indicated 
 disgust rather than satisfaction. " Hold the reel." 
 
 The log was accordingly thrown, and Mr. Halloway re 
 ported that the ship was walking off at the unprecedented 
 rate of nine knots and a half an hour. 
 
 " Nine knots and a half! " shouted Captain Grampus. 
 " Only nine knots and a half? She must go faster than that. 
 We must set the fore-topmast studding-sail." 
 
 Mr. Halloway stared ; but he knew that, as Captain Gram 
 pus was in full sailing trim, with a good cargo of cogniac 
 and Madeira on board, it would be useless to try to convince 
 him of his folly, and the men were ordered aloft to rig out the 
 fore-topmast studding-sail boom. It required great care, in 
 setting this sail, to prevent its being split in pieces. But Mr. 
 Hallo way was a good seaman, and a sober man into the bar 
 gain ; and, after a pretty tough siege, he succeeded in setting 
 the sail. The wind kept gradually increasing, and the old 
 ship seemed to leap madly along, straining, like a well-trained 
 race-horse, to reach the goal, and looking for almost every 
 point of the compass but the right one. The boom, too, 
 29 
 
338 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 buckled like a whip-stick, and the crew expected every 
 moment to see it broken short off, and the sail rent into rib 
 bons. Captain Grampus noticed the bending of the boom. 
 " Mr. Halloway," said he, " that fore-topmast studding-sail 
 boom, like a fresh water dandy, cocks up its nose rather too 
 much. Clap on the lower studding-sail to keep all straight, 
 and let the good old ship go ahead." 
 
 " Get along the lower studding-sail there, men. Clear away 
 the boom and reeve the gear," exclaimed the mate. 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir," replied Ebenezer Oakum, a hearty old salt, 
 at the same time saying in an under tone to Harvey Scuttle- 
 but, " I say, Harvey, the * old man has got his beer aboard, 
 and is cutting out work for all hands" 
 
 The lower studding-sail was brought on the forecastle, the 
 halliards were bent on, and the gear all prepared. Captain 
 Grampus had just been below, "freshening the nip." He 
 was much excited, and paced the deck rapidly, sometimes 
 swearing terribly to the helmsman, for not steering small, 
 sometimes bawling to the mate for not bearing a hand in set 
 ting the studding-sail, and sometimes chuckling and grinning 
 like an overgrown baboon. 
 
 At length the lower studding-sail was ready for hoisting. 
 The men clapped on to the halliards and out-hauler, the wind 
 struck the sail, which, fastened by the four corners, bellied 
 out, and caught more than a capful of wind. At the same 
 time a flaw struck the ship, and she came to of her course 
 some two or three points ; a sea dashed against her weather 
 bulwarks, rolled into the waist, nearly filled her decks, and 
 made the old Will-o -the-wisp shiver and shake, as if she had 
 been suddenly attacked with fever and ague. 
 
 " Hard up the helm, you scoundrel ! Hard up, I tell ye, 
 you know-nothing soldier ! " screamed Captain Grampus. 
 
 " Hard up it is, sir ! " exclaimed the helmsman, puffing and 
 
CUTTING OUT WORK FOR ALL HANDS. 
 
 339 
 
 blowing like a porpoise, and almost overcome with fatigue, for 
 his office had not been a sinecure. 
 
 At this moment the wind piped harder than ever. The 
 weather fore-brace, of old coir rope, could no longer stand the 
 racket, it parted. The studding-sail boom broke short off 
 by the iron, the fore-yard flew fore and aft, and the topsail- 
 yard followed its example. The pressure upon the topmast 
 was now greater than it could conveniently bear, and away 
 over the side went the fore-topmast ; as a matter of course, or 
 courtesy, the main top-gallant-mast followed suit. The head 
 
 sail being thus suddenly reduced, and the whole spanker being 
 set, the ship luffed up, and such a fluttering of canvas was 
 seen and heard as has seldom been witnessed on board a craft 
 where temperance watched over the cabin ! 
 
340 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 Captain Grampus seemed to be really astonished at this 
 very natural result ; but his astonishment gradually gave way 
 to indignation. He gave the mate a stare, in which perplex 
 ity and fury seemed combined, a stare which was evidently 
 intended to annihilate, exclaiming at the same time, in a 
 voice of thunder, " There, Mr. Halloway, I think you have 
 done it, now ! " 
 
 " Done it ! " replied the mate, in a bitter tone, gazing de 
 spairingly upon the wreck. " Yes, you have DONE IT with a 
 vengeance ! Come, lads," he continued, in a more cheerful 
 voice, " there s no help for it now. Let us go to work with 
 a will, and clear the wreck." 
 
 " That s right, Mr. Halloway," said Captain Grampus. 
 " T is a pity you made such a fuss, merely about setting a 
 lower studding-sail. But, as you say, there is no help for it. 
 Clear away the wreck as quick as possible ; save all the 
 spars, sails and rigging, if you can, and get up a new top 
 mast, and make sail again as soon as possible." Thus saying, 
 Captain Grampus staggered down to the cabin, and, after 
 seeking for consolation in a glass of raw cogniac, he leisurely 
 turned in. 
 
 As his head disappeared through the companion-way, 
 Mr. Halloway muttered some reply, which was by no means 
 respectful in its character, or complimentary to his superior 
 officer. 
 
 " There," said Eben Oakum to Harvey Scuttlebut, " what 
 did I tell you ? Did n t I say the old man would cut out work 
 for all hands?" 
 
JACK HOPKINS. 
 
 A CASE OF CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. 
 
 " Hang him ! For what 1 Will t make the poor wretch better, 
 Even if guilty of the dreadful crime 1 
 But if he should be innocent ! T is sad, 
 Indeed, and fearful to indulge the thought. 
 "What right has man frail and imperfect man 
 Thus to usurp the province of the Deity, 
 And, under cover of the forms of law, 
 Riot in blood, and snap the chord of life 1 " 
 
 OLD PLAY. 
 
 ONE beautiful night, the brig Petrel was crossing the Great 
 Bahama Bank, on a voyage to Sisal, from New York. It was 
 about sunset when this vessel entered upon the Bank, and, 
 with a fine easterly breeze, and a smooth sea, soon left Stir 
 rup Key far behind. The captain, as he paced the quarter 
 deck in a joyous mood, gayly predicted that he would be up 
 with the Orange Keys, on the edge of the Gulf Stream, by six 
 o clock on the following morning. But his expectation was 
 not realized. Before midnight the wind died away, and we 
 were tantalized by a calm one of the most disagreeable inci 
 dents in the course of a voyage. In a gale of wind there is 
 something sublime, majestic, exciting ; in a very heavy squall 
 all hands are roused, and all their energies are called into ac 
 tion ; in a good stiff" breeze the craft jogs merrily along, and 
 the crew look forward with eager hope to the time of her 
 arrival in port ; but there is a dismal monotony in a calm, 
 29* 
 
342 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 which strikes a chill to the heart of a sailor, and spreads a 
 gloom over his features, and despondency over his spirits. 
 
 After the breeze had left us, it was soon ascertained that 
 there was a current setting to the north-west at the rate of 
 about one and a half knots an hour ; and the captain, not 
 wishing to be drifted out of his reckoning, wisely concluded to 
 let go the kedge anchor, in order to remain in the mid chan 
 nel. The anchor was let go accordingly ; the courses were 
 hauled up, and there we lay, for several hours, snugly at 
 anchor in sixteen feet of water, on nearly the centre of the 
 Great Bahama Bank. 
 
 And the scene was a beautiful one ! There was not a rip 
 ple on the vast expanse of water which surrounded us on 
 every side ; and the element was so transparent, and so lighted 
 up by the rays of the moon, which was nearly full, and seemed 
 to smile upon us pensively from its high station in the 
 heavens, that the white coral sand, and fragments of coral 
 limestone, and here and there a small tuft of dark-looking 
 sponge on the bottom, could be seen with wonderful distinct 
 ness. Indeed, the silver light, reflected from the snowy plain, 
 of vast extent beneath the waters, seemed to impart its own 
 pure hue to the briny element ; and we could hardly persuade 
 ourselves that we were not riding at anchor in the midst of a 
 vast sea of liquid pearl. 
 
 Our captain, however, who was a driving sort of a charac 
 ter, and a great enemy to sentiment and poetry, seemed not 
 to enjoy the beautiful and romantic scene around us ; on the 
 contrary, he viewed it with a countenance expressive of utter 
 disgust. He paced the deck for ten or fifteen minutes with 
 hasty and impatient strides, and then, apparently perceiving 
 no prospect of a speedy change of weather, he turned to the 
 second officer, and, in a brief and abrupt manner, requested 
 to be called if a breeze should spring up, and muttering some 
 strange sounds, which were not distinctly "syllabled," dis- 
 
JACK HOPKINS. 0-13 
 
 appeared from the deck, and soon forgot his troubles and dis 
 appointments in a sweet sleep. 
 
 Bob Hastings, Harry Snyder and myself, having the middle 
 watch, took possession of the forecastle, and, seated on the 
 bowsprit bits, or leaning against the fore-scuttle, we watched 
 the appearance of the weather; but everything prognosti 
 cated a continuance of the calm ; and it is not, perhaps, re 
 markable that our thoughts took a turn which was by no 
 means of a cheerful description. 
 
 " I say, Hawser," exclaimed Bob Hastings, in a low but 
 hoarse voice, " the last time I crossed the bank, was in the 
 ship Orange Blossom, along with old Captain Colesworthy ; 
 and Jack Hopkins, as fine a fellow as ever broke a biscuit, 
 was on board that ship. He was, indeed, a whole-hearted 
 sailor, but his fate was a sad and unjust one. Poor Jack ! " 
 
 " Jack Hopkins ! " exclaimed Harry. " It strikes me that 
 I have heard of that chap. If I am not mistaken, we were 
 shipmates together on board the old ship Medusa, on a voy 
 age to the River of Plate, some eight or ten years ago. We 
 separated after we arrived home, and I have never seen him 
 since." 
 
 " And never will," said Bob, in a sepulchral voice. 
 
 " Indeed," replied Harry. " Come, tell us about him. 
 You say his fate was a sad one. What was it ? " 
 
 " Ay," said Tom Wheelrope, who had just come on deck, 
 and would any time exchange a good nap for a yarn, " what 
 was it ? " 
 
 " Why," replied Bob, " the fact is, I don t like to talk 
 about it, for it makes me feel down in the mouth for a week, 
 afterwards. However, as we seem to have nothing to do, and 
 as I suppose it won t answer to calk while lying here at 
 anchor, notwithstanding the calm seems likely to last the 
 whole watch, I suppose I may as well tell you what became of 
 Jack Hopkins." 
 
344 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 " That s right, my hearty ! " exclaimed Tom. " I like to 
 listen to a yarn, especially if it is well spun and is of good 
 material, as is always the case with your yarns. You talk 
 like a book. So heave ahead." 
 
 " What I am going to tell you is the truth, any how," said 
 Bob. 
 
 " Well, well, let s have it, such as it is," exclaimed Harry, 
 rather impatiently, " without any further palaver." 
 
 Bob answered this energetic appeal by thrusting a huge 
 mass of the Virginia weed between his capacious jaws, at the 
 same time giving his features a twist which would have 
 frightened a catamount. He then commenced his narrative 
 of the fate of Jack Hopkins. 
 
 " I have already told you, shipmates, that Jack was as fine 
 a fellow as ever broke a biscuit. He was born and brought 
 up somewhere in the neighborhood of the White Mountains, 
 in New Hampshire, and received a tolerable education, 
 better than is the case with the common run of sailors. 
 When we sailed together in the Orange Blossom, he had 
 been three voyages before the inast, and might have shipped 
 as second mate, before we started, but he thought he would 
 go another voyage before he left the forecastle for the cabin. 
 
 " Jack Hopkins was a fearless and active sailor. He was in 
 his element in a gale of wind, and could turn off a nice job 
 of work with a degree of neatness and dexterity which would 
 astonish even a veteran seaman. His shipmates all liked him, 
 for he was of a kind, obliging disposition, never a fomenter of 
 quarrels in the forecastle, or a promoterof dissensions between 
 the officers and the people ; he never neglected his duty on 
 board, and he never got drunk or engaged in raws on shore. 
 He was a cheerful, honest-hearted, intelligent Yankee sailor. 
 Such was Jack Hopkins, and I wish we had more sailors like 
 him. 
 
 " Well, we reached Havana in good time, and, after dis- 
 
JACK HOPKINS. 345 
 
 charging our cargo, lay moored quietly in the upper harbor, 
 waiting for cargo for St. Petersburg. One Sunday, three of 
 the men and those none of the steadiest obtained leave 
 to go on shore, on the express condition of coming on board 
 before sunset. They were rather wild chaps, and the mate 
 was afraid that they would get into some trouble, especially 
 as neither of them was ever known to refuse a glass of grog 
 when it was offered him. The sun went down, but they did 
 not come on board, and the mate asked Jack to go ashore and 
 try to find them. I went with him, and staid by the boat, 
 while he went up to look for the men. It soon grew dark, and 
 Jack did not come back ; after waiting about an hour, I sculled 
 the boat off alongside the ship, and made my report to the 
 mate, who, however, did not fear anything about Jack, as he 
 well knew he could take care of himself. 
 
 " It appeared afterwards, from Jack s statement, that the 
 faithful fellow succeeded in finding his shipmates, by dint of 
 inquiries on the quay ; but they were tipsy, and resisted his 
 entreaties to go with him on board. They were moored in a 
 snug harbor, where, as long as their money lasted, they could 
 have abundance of what sailors are apt to consider the bless 
 ings of life, good things to eat, and plenty to drink. 
 They were in a boarding-house and grog-shop, kept by a 
 swarthy, rough-looking Frenchman, who made a living by 
 coaxing ship s companies to desert, boarding them for a few 
 clays, and then shipping them on board other vessels in want 
 of crews. 
 
 " One of the men, Sam Townsend, said he would go on board 
 after he had finished his aguadie?ite, and had a sociable chat 
 with an old shipmate, whom he found drifting about ; and 
 Jack, being reluctant to go off without them, remained on 
 shore for a while, hoping to persuade them to go along with 
 him in a quiet manner. But he could not prevent them from 
 drinking grog, and, after a time, it became evident to him 
 
346 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 that they were unable to walk- down to the quay, and a volante 
 could not be had at that time of night, it being between ten 
 and eleven o clock. He therefore seized upon a sword-cane 
 and a few other articles of little use, which Sam had foolishly 
 bought, and asked him to take care of, and thoughtfully pur 
 sued his way through the narrow streets of Havana, towards 
 the quay. 
 
 " He had gone about half the distance to the public square, 
 and was in a dark and narrow street, when he thought he 
 heard a shriek, as if from a person in dreadful agony. Al 
 ways ready to succor the distressed, Jack grasped his cane, 
 and rushed forward in the direction of the sound ; but all was 
 silent. When he had reached the spot from whence the sound 
 had seemed to proceed, he spied something white lying on 
 the ground. He picked it up, and it proved to be a cambric 
 handkerchief, which he thrust within his bosom. At the 
 same moment, a large dog sprung towards him, and com 
 menced a fierce attack, growling and barking furiously. 
 Jack found it necessary to resort to decided measures, in 
 order to defend his life from the attack of the savage animal. 
 He congratulated himself on having possession of the sword- 
 cane, and, with a well-directed thrust at the brute, he ran him 
 through the body, and sent him howling and bleeding away ; 
 but not until he himself was bereft of nearly one half of his 
 lower garment, and had received upon his person some rather 
 painful marks of the savage character of his four-footed 
 enemy. 
 
 " At that moment, a guard of six soldiers and an officer 
 appeared turning a corner, near by. They had lights with 
 them, and Jack, fearing he might be detained, and get into 
 difficulty if he should come in contact with the patrol, espe 
 cially as he could speak no Spanish, thought it best to clear 
 as fast as possible. He turned down what he took to be a 
 narrow lane, running as fast as he was able. But the soldiers 
 
JACK HOPKINS. 
 
 347 
 
 saw him, and gave chase. Jack would have got away easily 
 enough, if he could have gone forward; but an obstacle 
 intervened which he did not expect ; he found himself not in 
 a lane, but in a blind alley, to which there was an entrance, 
 but from which there was no exit, unless he retraced his steps. 
 The Spaniards soon came up with him, and found him crouch 
 ing in a corner, grasping in his hand the sword-cane of Sam 
 Townsend, the blade covered with blood ! 
 
 "Here was a sad business. The soldiers declared that 
 murder had been committed, and Jack was believed to be a 
 
348 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 great scoundrel, and handled rather roughly. Two Spaniards 
 seized him by the throat, and dragged him towards the guard- 
 house. Their progress, however, was interrupted by a fearful 
 shout from two of their comrades, who had been carefully ex 
 amining the street, and who found, near the spot where Jack 
 had fought with the dog, the dead body of a Spanish gentle 
 man, his garments soaked with blood. His limbs were yet 
 warm, and it was plain that he had just been assassinated and 
 robbed ; and it was probably his shriek which had alarmed 
 Jack, and roused the patrol. 
 
 Jack Hopkins was conveyed to the guard-house; with 
 regard to his guilt there was, of course, no room for doubt on 
 the mind of the officer on duty. The suspected assassin was 
 thrust into a noisome dungeon, where he passed a hapless 
 night in reflecting upon his strange and awkward condition. 
 The next day he was loaded with heavy irons, and carried 
 before an Alcade, or some kind of magistrate ; and Captain 
 Colesworthy was sent for. He came, accompanied by the 
 American Consul, and the examination took place. The 
 soldiers swore to the facts in the case, and it is not likely that 
 the rascals softened the matter any, as they heartily hate the 
 Yankees. Jack told his story ; but, of course, it produced no 
 effect. Captain Colesworthy could only give decided testi 
 mony in favor of his general character, and declare his firm 
 belief in his innocence ; but the American Consul shook his 
 head. Jack Hopkins, who, never in his life, harmed a human 
 being, was ordered back to prison, to be tried on a charge of 
 cool-blooded, deliberate murder and robbery ! 
 
 " In the course of about ten days the trial came on, and 
 Captain Colesworthy, like a gentleman, as he was, spared no 
 effort to ensure Jack a fair trial, and to prove his innocence. 
 But the task was a difficult one. Although he and all who 
 knew Jack were convinced that his account of the matter 
 was as worthy of credit as if sworn to by a dozen men of the 
 
JACK HOPKINS. 349 
 
 highest character for truth and honesty, yet the evidence 
 against him was strong, and apparently conclusive ; and it 
 was soon too plain that Jack Hopkins s case was a hopeless 
 one. 
 
 " It was proved that, on the night in question, a shriek 
 was heard, evidently proceeding from a person in great dis 
 tress ; that, on going towards the spot from which the sound 
 seemed to proceed, they found a man struggling with a dog, 
 which, soon after, ran howling away. On their appearance, 
 the man, as if afraid of being detected in the commission of 
 some crime, made a desperate effort to escape, but was finally 
 discovered in a remote corner of an alley, striving to conceal 
 himself from their view, and holding in his hands a bloody 
 sword ! He looked pale and agitated when taken, and his 
 clothes were partly torn off, and some portions of them were 
 spotted with blood. And, near the spot were the prisoner 
 was first seen, the body of a rich and respectable citizen of 
 Havana was found dead ; he having been thrust through the 
 heart with a sharp and pointed weapon, either a knife, sword, 
 or a dagger ; and the wound corresponding exactly in size 
 with the bloody sword found in the hand of the prisoner. 
 The murdered man had been robbed ; plunder having doubt 
 less been the object of the assassin, and a portion of the 
 property had been found on the person of the accused ; and 
 it was, therefore, but fair to suppose that he had an accom 
 plice, who had taken possession of the remaining booty, and 
 who, while the prisoner was struggling with the dog, had suc 
 ceeded in making his escape. 
 
 " The evidence was overwhelming ; indeed, hardly an in 
 dividual in court, or in all Havana, excepting the officers and 
 crew of the Orange Blossom, believed that Jack Hopkins was 
 innocent. The facts were stated in a clear manner ; there 
 was no contradiction among the witnesses, and it is not sur 
 prising that Jack s plain tale, excepting so far as it was cor- 
 30 
 
350 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 roborated by several ragamuffins of equivocal character, who 
 had seen Jack quit the boarding-house that evening, obtained 
 no credit whatever. 
 
 " Jack Hopkins was doomed to die. The third day after 
 his trial, was the day appointed for him to undergo the pun 
 ishment of death by the garrote. 
 
 " My poor shipmate ! He was in the bloom of manhood, 
 possessed of a vigorous constitution, which promised a long 
 life, with prospects opening upon him of a cheerful descrip 
 tion. He had friends whom he dearly loved, father, 
 mother, brothers and sisters, in his native land ; yet he was 
 sentenced, in a foreign country, to pay the horrible penalty 
 for a crime which he had never committed ; to be barba 
 rously, deliberately murdered in cold blood, according to pre 
 scribed forms of law ! It was a hard case ; and it is no 
 wonder that poor Jack Hopkins shrank with terror from the 
 idea of suffering the dreadful penalty. 
 
 " Captain Colesworthy saw him several times during the 
 interval between the sentence and the execution, and tried 
 hard to give him consolation ; but, let me tell you, shipmates, 
 it is no easy thing to reconcile a man to his fate, when that 
 fate is a cruel and an ignominious death. None of his old 
 messmates were allowed to see him, until early on the morn 
 ing assigned for his execution. On that memorable morning 
 we saw him through the narrow grates of his dungeon. He 
 looked ghastly pale. He told us it was a fearful thing to die, 
 but that he had found comfort in his Bible, which the Span 
 iards, with a degree of indulgence not common, had allowed 
 him to read in his cell. He prayed that neither of us might 
 ever meet a similar fate. He divided the little property 
 which he had on board, among us, to keep for his sake ; and 
 said he had given Captain Colesworthy some messages for 
 his relatives in New Hampshire, which he had promised to 
 execute. But my poor mother, exclaimed he, in heart- 
 
JACK HOPKINS. 351 
 
 rending accents, who loved me so dearly ! How will she be 
 comforted when she learns my dreadful fate ? I beg of you, 
 continued he, earnestly, * if you ever meet with any of my 
 friends, with any persons who knew Jack Hopkins, to 
 assure them, on the word of a dying man, that he was inno 
 cent. 
 
 " The guard now approached to take him to the place of 
 execution, and we were compelled to bid farewell to our noble 
 shipmate. Yes, we bade him, with tearful eyes, an eternal 
 farewell. 
 
 " The place of execution was on the Pun to, where some 
 thousands of people had collected, at an early hour, to witness 
 the horrid sight of the legal murder of a human being by the 
 hands of the executioner, to see the pale and agitated 
 frame, to hear the last words, to witness the convulsive, dying 
 struggles of a poor wretch, condemned to die by his fellow- 
 men, in direct violation of the dictates of humanity, and the 
 law of God, which says in the most emphatic language, Thou 
 shalt not kill ! 
 
 " Jack Hopkins was brought to the place of execution in a 
 condition more dead than- alive ; for life was sweet to him, 
 and seemed laden with rare and rich blessings ; while, on the 
 other hand, death had assumed its most appalling form, a 
 form calculated to chill the stoutest heart. Jack was as 
 sisted to the scaffold, and bade to repose his trembling limbs 
 on a bench. He looked upon the vast assemblage before 
 him, who came to see him die ; he clasped his hands convul 
 sively, and raised his eyes to heaven, with a look confident, 
 yet imploring ; a look which I shall never forget. The 
 garrote, an instrument composed of a circular band of iron, 
 was placed around his neck. The fatal multiplying screw 
 was applied, which brought the ends nearer to each other, and 
 stopped the respiration, and the circulation of the blood ; and 
 the audible and fervent prayer of Jack Hopkins to his God 
 
352 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 to receive his soul, was changed into a horrid, inarticulate 
 sound a gurgle of agony ! Poor Jack Hopkins was no longer 
 among the living ! 
 
 " A few days after the execution of our shipmate, which 
 cast a deep gloom over the ship s company for the remainder 
 of the voyage, a villanous-looking Spaniard, who had entered 
 a house in the night, was arrested by the patrol, in one of 
 the sleeping apartments, in the very act of murdering the 
 occupant. He was tried and condemned to death, and, pre 
 vious to his execution, confessed that he had been guilty of 
 the act for which the American sailor had suffered. He ac 
 knowledged that he had stabbed the Spaniard in the street 
 with a dagger, had hastily secured his purse, his watch, and a 
 diamond ring, and made his escape as he heard the sound of 
 footsteps approaching. He even indicated the spot where the 
 booty was concealed, which was afterwards recovered. 
 
 " This confession, although too late to save my friend from 
 a shameful death, redeemed his reputation, by removing all 
 suspicion of his guilt ; and even this was some gratification to 
 his friends. The Governor-General of Cuba made a very 
 polite apology to the Consul, for the mistake in putting a 
 worthy American citizen to death for a deed committed by 
 a sanguinary Spaniard ! " 
 
 Tom Wheelrope, who had listened with close attention to 
 Bob s narration, and whose interest increased as the tale pro 
 gressed, as soo"h as it was completed, sprang to his feet, struck 
 the gunwale a blow with his iron fist, which would have felled 
 an ox, and exclaimed, with bitterness, 
 
 " The cowardly, murderous scoundrels ! To hang an inno 
 cent man ! I always owed the Spaniards a grudge. It will 
 be a double grudge after this." 
 
 " But perhaps the Spaniards were not so much to blame, 
 after all," replied Bob. " Circumstances were against Jack. 
 
JACK HOPKINS. 
 
 353 
 
 They would have hanged him in New England on the same 
 evidence." 
 
 " But he was not proved guilty," said Tom ; " and is it the 
 law that a man who, owing to suspicious circumstances, may 
 be arrested and tried for murder, shall be hanged, unless he 
 is able to show that he is innocent ? " 
 
 " Certainly it is, my dear fellow. Such cases are of fre 
 quent occurrence in all civilized countries. But the custom 
 of killing men systematically, for the commission of crime, is 
 a bad one. There are many better ways of punishing men 
 than applying torture, or taking a life which can never be 
 restored." 
 
CALICO JACK. 
 
 like Arion on the dolphin s back, 
 
 I saw him make acquaintance with the wave*, 
 As long as I could see." 
 
 SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 " PORPOISES ! Porpoises ! Porpoises ! " 
 
 Such was the cry one morning, about six bells, on board 
 the ship Lobster, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire; and the 
 cry was taken up in all parts of the ship, and the shout of 
 " Porpoises ! porpoises ! " was heard in every key, from the 
 gruff bass of the boatswain, to the shrill treble of the cabin- 
 boy. 
 
 The ship Lobster was bound to Liverpool, and was now 
 approaching soundings off Cape Clear, after a long and bois 
 terous passage. The crew were a lively set of fellows, and 
 eagerly seized upon anything which promised excitement and 
 a little relief from the monotony usually attendant on a long 
 passage across the Atlantic. The cry of " Porpoises ! " 
 seemed a magic charm to rouse all their energies into action, 
 and every man hastened to the weather side of the deck, and, 
 with outstretched neck, and glistening eyes protruding from 
 their sockets, was soon earnestly gazing towards that part of 
 the ocean indicated by Sam Starkweather, a gnarly-looking 
 old tar, who was standing on the starboard cat-head, holding 
 on by the fore-tack. 
 
 And there, sure enough, away off on the weather-bow, was 
 seen a shoal of porpoises, rapidly approaching the ship. They 
 
CALICO JACK. 
 
 355 
 
 seemed to be in high glee, sporting with each other, leaping 
 out of the water, and playing a variety of antics, which would 
 have excited the admiration of a harlequin. 
 
 " Where is the captain ? " exclaimed Mr. Westinacot, the 
 mate. " Steward, call the captain." 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir," and that sable functionary dived below. 
 
 " Hand along the harpoon ! " yelled the mate. " Bend on 
 the end of the fore-topsail halliards ! " 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir." 
 
 And now Captain Rutherford, in marvellous scanty cos 
 tume, came rushing on deck, with eager determination in his 
 look, as if he was resolved on mighty deeds. " Where are 
 the porpoises ? " he exclaimed, as he sprang out of the com 
 panion-way. In three bounds he reached the forecastle, for 
 the Lobster was not an everlastingly long, snakish-looking, 
 modern, mammoth clipper. 
 
 " Here they are, sir, almost under the bows ! " screamed 
 Sam Starkweather. 
 
 Captain Rutherford took his station on the bowsprit shrouds, 
 albeit he was pretty sure of a ducking. " Reach me the 
 harpoon ! Be lively, lads ! What are you about ? Now 
 stand by ! See all clear to haul one of those fellows aboard ! " 
 and with stalwart arms he brandished the death-dealing in 
 strument. 
 
 A tail-block was fastened to the fore-stay, through which 
 the topsail halliards were rove, and then made fast to the eye 
 of the piece of rope permanently attached to the harpoon. 
 
 The unsophisticated fish, unconscious of danger, and at 
 tracted by a very natural curiosity, began to gather around 
 the bows of the Lobster. One of goodly size, possessed of a 
 double portion of animal spirits, or too eager to display his 
 wonderous activity, made a circle beneath the bowsprit, which 
 brought him near the stem of the vessel, and directly beneath 
 
356 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 the feet of his formidable foe, armed with the weapon of 
 destruction. 
 
 " Now for it ! " shouted the captain, in a voice of thunder, 
 as the harpoon left his hands, and was buried deeply in the 
 back of the porpoise. " Haul in ! haul in ! why don t you 
 haul in ? " 
 
 " Haul in ! haul in ! " responded Mr. Westmacot, the mate, 
 and the remainder of the crew in chorus, as they roused in the 
 slack of the rope, drew the struggling and astonished fish 
 from beneath the ship, and, after a severe struggle, hoisted 
 him up to the bowsprit, 
 
 " A bowline ! A running bowline to clap over his tail ! " 
 screamed Mr. Westmacot, " or we shall lose him, the har 
 poon is drawing out ! " 
 
 A running bowline, formed out of the fore-topmast staysail 
 down-haul, was thrown over his tail, notwithstanding the con 
 vulsive efforts of the porpoise to free himself from the murder 
 ous iron; the noose was jammed fast, and the mate, in a 
 triumphant voice, proclaimed that he that is, the fish 
 was safe. In a few moments he was handed in on deck, by 
 the united force of the crew, whose white garments indicated, 
 by many a sanguinary spot and streak, the bloody business 
 in which they had been engaged. Thrown into the lee-scup 
 pers, the flenching process commenced, and the porpoise was 
 soon stripped of his jacket of blubber, in true scientific style. 
 The harslet, resembling a pig s in appearance as well as 
 flavor, was carefully preserved, passed over to the cook, who 
 soon had it ready for the frying-pan, and, in due time, it 
 appeared in the cabin, and formed a welcome addition to the 
 breakfast-table. The remainder of the animal was then 
 triced up to the main-stay, for the use of any one, in the 
 cabin or forecastle, who was desirous of regaling on such fresh 
 grub as could be furnished by the coarse, oily, black, repul 
 sive-looking flesh of a porpoise, 
 
CALICO JACK. 357 
 
 I have said that the whole crew of the Lobster participated 
 in the excitement caused by this incident, and gladly aided in 
 capturing the fish. There was, however, one exception in the 
 shape of Jack Callimanco ; or, as his shipmates called him, 
 Calico Jack, a neat, trig-looking, snug-built, warm-hearted 
 tar ; who, by his courage and activity in times of peril, and 
 his kindness and good humor in pleasant weather, was a 
 favorite with all on board. But greatly to the astonishment 
 of the crew, during the hubbub, noise and confusion, caused 
 by the attack on the porpoise and its successful result, Calico 
 Jack, so far from lending a hand, stood leaning over the waist, 
 with his arms folded, apparently looking into the depths of the 
 ocean, and engaged in philosophical reflections of the gravest 
 character. 
 
 This was not unnoticed by several of the crew, who, during 
 the battle with the porpoise, were too busily engaged to ask 
 him what was the meaning of such conduct ; but, after the 
 usual order and quiet on board the Lobster took the place 
 of the interesting proceedings which I have attempted to 
 describe, some of his shipmates rallied Calico Jack on his 
 indifference, and asked why he did not lend a hand to haul in 
 the porpoise. 
 
 " Ah, shipmates ! " said Jack, with a doleful grin, " I have 
 helped catch many a fish in my day ; but my fishing days are 
 over. I shall never try to catch a fish again, especially a 
 porpoise." 
 
 What is the reason of that ? " inquired Sam Stark 
 weather. " Taking fish is capital fun. Porpoises are no 
 great things, to be sure, but even a porpoise is better than 
 nothing." 
 
 "That s true," replied. Jack. "A porpoise is a capital 
 friend at a pinch, as I have found out by experience. I was 
 once active enough in catching fish ; but now I cannot look 
 
358 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 upon such sport without disgust ; and I have sworn never to 
 injure a porpoise." 
 
 " How s that ? " said Sam. " You must have had some 
 strong reason for taking such an oath ; and you must tell us 
 all about it, if you have to spin a yarn as long as the flying- 
 jib down-haul." 
 
 The hardy crew of the Lobster gathered around Calico 
 Jack, insisting on hearing his story. The poor fellow held 
 off as long as possible ; but at last, after making a wry face 
 and bringing himself to anchor on the windlass-end, gave in, 
 saying, " Well, I suppose I must spin you my yarn, if I hope 
 for a quiet life ; and if you have any wish to know my expe 
 rience in fishing in general, and my opportunities of studying 
 the habits of the porpoise in particular, lend me your ears, as 
 the monkey said when he sliced off the cat s listening tackle 
 with one of the captain s razors." 
 
 The crew gathered around Calico Jack, for a good yarn 
 is the delight of a sailor. Jack was popular among the 
 ship s company ; could sing a good song and talk like a hero 
 They expected something interesting, and listened with ex 
 emplary attention, while he proceeded with his fish story as 
 follows : 
 
 " It is now just three years, seven months and nineteen 
 days, since I sailed from New York in the ship Pocahontas, 
 of three hundred and fifty tons, bound to St. Jago, in the Cape 
 de Yerds ; thence to Rio Janeiro. The Pocahontas was a 
 good ship, and well found ; the captain was an honest man 
 and a real sailor, and the officers were not so bad as they 
 might have been. On the whole, there was little to find fault 
 with, for I doubt not that all hands were treated with as much 
 kindness and indulgence as they deserved, and we got along 
 very harmoniously together. 
 
 " As we drew towards the Cape de Yerds, the wind was 
 light, and the weather was pleasant, and, the ship s bottom 
 
CALICO JACK. 359 
 
 being a little foul, a large number of fish made their appear 
 ance ; dolphins, bonetas and albicores. They seemed to say, 
 * Catch me and eat me, in such an imploring way, while they 
 sported in the water beneath the bows, that no man, with the 
 heart of a stock-fish, could possibly withstand the temptation 
 to capture them, or at least make the attempt. If I ever had 
 a weakness, of which there may be some doubt, it was an ex 
 cessive fondness for fishing. Trout in the fresh water streams 
 of Xew Hampshire, my native State ; pickerel in her ponds, 
 cod on the bank of Newfoundland, barracooters in the West 
 Indies, halibut on George s Shoal, porpoises in the broad 
 ocean, or dolphin and bonetas in the tropics, it was all one to 
 Jack. I loved the sport, and indulged my fondness for it 
 whenever and wherever I had a chance. You will therefore 
 not be surprised, shipmate?, that I hailed with great glee the 
 appearance of various kinds of fish around the Pocahontas, as 
 we were drawing up towards the Cape de Yerd Islands. 
 
 " In those days I never went a voyage to sea without being 
 well provided with fishing-gear of all kind.-. I had hooks of 
 various sizes, from a halibut hook, double shanked for an albi- 
 core, and ganged with stout wire, down to a hook small enough 
 to catch a rudder fish ; and many were the hours of my watch 
 below, I passed on the flying-jib-boom end, trying to hook a 
 boneta ; or on the martingale, with the grainse, attempting 
 to strike a dolphin. And as neither the captain nor the mates 
 cared much about fishing, I had it pretty much all my own 
 way. 
 
 " One unlucky day, after we had made Bonavista, and 
 were standing in for St. Jago, with a moderate breeze, I 
 heard a cry on deck, of Dolphin ; two big dolphin right 
 under the bows ! It was about six bells in the afternoon, 
 I was busily engaged in making up some old duck into a pair 
 of trousers, at the time ; but the moment I heard the words 
 big dolphin, I dropped my duck like a red-hot marlinspike, 
 
360 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 took a couple of large hooks, stoutly ganged, out of my chest, 
 instinctively put them in my pocket, and rushed on deck. 
 
 " Where are the dolphins ? I exclaimed, as I seized the 
 grainse, which was lying on the forecastle. But at that mo 
 ment a black squall was rapidly rising to windward, and the 
 watch were too busy in taking in sail to attend to my ques 
 tions. I sprang up between the knight-heads, and in less than 
 two minutes I was standing on the lower martingale stay, with 
 one arm around the martingale. I saw one of the dolphin ; a 
 big fellow he was, too ! The squall was close aboard of us, 
 coming thick and heavy; and I was too eager to secure my 
 fish, to attend properly to my own safety ! I made a furious 
 throw at the dolphin, with what effect I know not, for with 
 the effort I missed my hold, and fell overboard ! The squall 
 struck the ship at the same time, and as the old Pocahontas 
 flew past me while I was struggling in the foam, I heard one 
 of my shipmates cry out, in a voice of terror, A man over 
 board ! at the same time that the captain shouted in a voice 
 of thunder, Let go the topsail halliards, fore and aft ! 
 
 " I was a good swimmer, and a hen-coop from the quarter 
 deck was tossed overboard at once, which I paddled towards 
 in quick time, and got hold of; but the squall blew with great 
 violence, and was attended with considerable rain. Of course 
 I lost sight of the ship in a few minutes, and I saw with a 
 glance that there was but a slender chance for poor Pilgar- 
 lick ; and let me tell you, shipmates, there are many better 
 berths for an honest fellow in this life, than to be struggling 
 alone in the wide ocean, in the midst of a heavy squall, with 
 nothing to buoy you up but a hen-coop, and no ship in sight ! 
 I hope you may never have occasion to try it. 
 
 " The squall lasted for an hour, and raised such a commo 
 tion among the waves, that I could hardly retain my station 
 on the hen-coop, and I was sometimes compelled to swallow 
 more salt water than was altogether agreeable, or good for 
 
CALICO JACK. 361 
 
 one s health. When the weather cleared up, I raised my 
 head as high out of water as I could, and looked around 
 for the ship ; but no ship was in sight ! The Pocahontas 
 had gone on her way rejoicing, and left Jack Calimanco 
 behind ! 
 
 " But a true sailor will never despair ; he will never dowse 
 his flag so long as there is a shot left in the locker; and although, 
 as night was coming on, and matters looked rather dark and 
 dreary, I really wished myself on the deck of a good ship, yet 
 I called philosophy to my aid, and reflected that my condition, 
 though bad enough in all conscience, might have been worse. 
 I still had a hen-coop to cling to through the night, and I 
 might by an extraordinary piece of good luck be picked up 
 by a drogher or some other vessel in the morning. It is true, 
 it would sometimes occur to me that my legs dangling in the 
 water would make a nice morsel for a hungry shark ; and also 
 that, as few vessels ever crossed the spot where I was, the 
 chances of being snatched from the clutches of Davy Jones 
 were about one out of a thousand. But I stoutly resisted all 
 such gloomy forebodings, and inwardly resolved to do all that 
 a man could do to save my life, and if, after all, I should be 
 drowned, it would be through no fault of my own. 
 
 " That was a long night, shipmates, that I passed on the 
 hen-coop. It seemed like half a dozen nights spliced into one. 
 At daylight next morning no vessel was in sight, and I was 
 getting somewhat fatigued and hungry. Hour after hour 
 passed, and my prospects were as dismal as ever. The wind 
 had died away ; it was a dead calm, and this, although it 
 made my situation on the raft more comfortable than during 
 a stiff breeze, diminished my chances of escape, as no vessel 
 could come to my rescue. 
 
 " It was, as near as I can calculate, about four bells in the 
 afternoon, while I was lounging on my hen-coop, with my 
 head under my wing, and thinking whether it was likely I 
 31 
 
SO2 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 should ever again indulge in the luxury of salt jurik and 
 mouldy biscuit in a ship s forecastle, that I was startled by a 
 noise which sounded like the blowing of a porpoise. I looked 
 up, and beheld an immense shoal of those noble fish, coming 
 from the south, in a direct line towards me, on their way to 
 better marine pasturage, perhaps thousands of miles off. I 
 had no inclination at that moment to harm them, and I pre 
 sume they had no wish to harm me. I supposed, as a matter 
 of course, they would not notice so insignificant a being as 
 Jack Calimanco on a hen-coop, but push forward on their 
 journey as quick as possible. 
 
 "But I was out in my reckoning. The porpoises saw the hen 
 coop, and a sailor hanging to it, a novel sight, which roused 
 their curiosity, and they crowded around as if determined to 
 fathom the mystery. I did not like such close companion 
 ship with the rascals, and made a great splashing in the water 
 to keep them at a respectable distance. But it was of no use. 
 It was not often that an opportunity offered to make acquaint 
 anceship with an old salt, and they seemed resolved to improve 
 the present .chance. They forgot the object of their journey, 
 and the importance of despatch, and jostled one another in 
 their efforts to get near, and find out what was going on. 
 Ah ! thought I to myself, my fine fellows, if I was now 
 standing on the bow of a good ship with a harpoon in my fist, 
 I would tickle your curiosity to some purpose ! 
 
 " They crowded nearer and nearer. At length, one big 
 fellow, who seemed a sort of king among them, made a dash 
 towards me, and thrust his ugly nozzle between my legs, giv 
 ing at the same time a snort, whether of triumph, admiration 
 or surprise, I cannot tell, which scattered the water all over 
 me. At this moment, provoked at the rascal s impudence, I 
 recollected the fish-hooks in my pocket, and, as he turned and 
 attempted to repeat the manoeuvre, with admirable presence of 
 mind, a quality which never forsakes me, shipmates, in any 
 
CALICO JACK. 
 
 363 
 
 strait, I thrust a fish-hook into each of his jowls, just forward 
 of his eyes, and held hard on the ganging ! At the same mo 
 ment, I dropped upon his back, seated myself firmly in the 
 saddle, and hauled taut upon both parts of the bridle ! In 
 
 this way I kept his head to the water s surface, and easily 
 defeated his desperate attempts to plunge into the depths 
 below. Finding himself foiled in all his efforts to unseat me, 
 he suddenly started off in an easterly direction, as if a shovel- 
 nosed shark of the largest size was after him ! 
 
 " The hen-coop I soon lost sight of; and the other por 
 poises, astonished at my unexpected conduct, and not know 
 ing what I might be tempted to do next, scattered in every 
 direction ; and there was I, scouring over the ocean waves 
 
 
364 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 at the rate of some twelve or fifteen knots, on the back of a 
 porpoise ! 
 
 " My situation was a novel one. It required no little 
 strength and skill to manage my courser, keep his nose at the 
 water s edge, and steer him in the right direction ; but I felt 
 that my chance of getting out of Davy Jones s clutches this 
 time was far better on the porpoise s back, than when cling 
 ing to a hen-coop, half buried in salt water, out of sight of 
 land. 
 
 " I knew that the island of St. Jago could not be more than 
 thirty miles off in a south-east direction ; for I had heard the 
 captain say so to the chief mate, after he marked the ship s 
 place on the chart that afternoon ; and I tried hard to steer 
 my ship for St. Jago, by keeping the sun well on the larboard 
 quarter. But I had tough work. I would rather be rattling 
 down the top-gallant rigging in a hurricane, or lying to in 
 Massachusetts bay in a north-east snow-storm, with the deck 
 and rigging covered with ice, than to manage a headstrong 
 porpoise, with a bridle without a curb. With all my efforts, 
 I could not prevent his broaching to occasionally, and his wake 
 was as crooked as the track in the snow of an old man-of-war s 
 man who had just been paid off ! 
 
 "Such wild steering lengthened my distance considerably ; 
 nevertheless, in about an hour I looked out sharp for land ; 
 but it was full two hours before ! saw it, rising, as it were, 
 all at once, high out of the ocean, about three points on the 
 starboard bow, and not more than nine or ten miles off". A 
 noble landfall ! And a glad sight it was, shipmates, I assure 
 you, for I longed to finish my ride ; and I gave the old fellow 
 beneath me a nudge or two to quicken his paces, and away he 
 went again as if a grampus had kicked him in end. 
 
 " As we drew in towards the land, I spied a little open bay, 
 lined with a white sandy beach, back of which were erected 
 some dwelling-houses ; arid on this spot I at once made up 
 
CALICO JACK. 365 
 
 my mind to beach my craft ; so I stood in directly for the 
 bay. My appearance at this time, coming in from the open 
 sea at a furious rate, with half or two thirds of my body out 
 of water, must have been singularly striking, and calculated 
 to attract attention. At all events, it seriously alarmed the 
 quiet inhabitants of this little village. They gathered on the 
 shore, men, women, and children, to the number of fifteen or 
 twenty, armed with old muskets, cutlasses, hatchets, and har 
 poons, prepared to oppose my landing by force of arms, if 
 necessary. They looked so formidable and threatening that, 
 if I could have had my own way, I should have hove to, 
 within hail of the shore, and held a parley. But my faithful 
 friend, to whom I was so firmly attached, would stand for no 
 ceremony, but dashed forward with increasing speed towards 
 the shore. I had only time to wave my hand, and shout, 
 lustily, * Amiga ! amigo ! before I found the porpoise had 
 run himself upon the beach, hard and fast, with me on his 
 back ! 
 
 " I never saw folks so astonished as those Portuguese were. 
 One among them could speak some English, and to him I 
 made an explanation, which was satisfactory, and received 
 with cheers and acclamations by the whole company. The 
 porpoise also came in for a share of their admiration. They 
 admired his noble size and plump proportions, and although I 
 begged hard for his life, wishing to return him safe and sound 
 to his native element, I soon saw it was of no use; his fate 
 Avas settled ; and, as the sun went down, they were feasting 
 on his carcass and trying out his blubber. Poor old fellow ! 
 I shall never forget him ! (and Jack wiped a tear from his 
 eye with his starboard flipper.) 
 
 " Those people treated me kindly, and the next day carried 
 me over to Port Praya, into which harbor the Pocahontas 
 was just entering. I borrowed a boat, pulled alongside, and 
 asked the captain if he wanted a pilot. 
 31* 
 
866 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 "The captain looked hard at me, and answered, rather 
 gruffly, No ! 
 
 " I had a sombrero hat on, which a kind-hearted native 
 had given me, and the skipper did n t know me. * Never 
 mind, said I, I shall come aboard ! 
 
 " The tone of my voice, which is not a common one, both 
 ered him, and he watched me closely as I passed over the 
 side; but I had no sooner jumped from the gunwale on deck, 
 lifted my sombrero from my head, and, with a bow, said, 
 quietly, I have come aboard, sir ! than he threw his hat 
 half way up to the main-top, cut a regular pigeon-wing, and 
 called out, at the top of his voice, It is CALICO JACK, as sure 
 as my name is Jeremiah Thompson ! 
 
 " The cruise on my own hook was ended, and I was glad 
 enough to find myself once more on the deck of the good old 
 ship Pocahontas. But, shipmates, since that time, I have 
 abandoned in disgust the sport of catching fish at sea, and as 
 for lending a hand to harpoon a porpoise, I would as soon 
 send an iron through the best friend I have in the world ! " 
 
PETER THE GREAT; 
 / 
 
 OR THE 
 AUDIENCE IX THE MAIX-TOP. 
 
 One foot upon the rattling, 
 
 One hand upon the shroud, 
 One doubtful look aloft, 
 
 And thus they cried aloud, 
 " Excelsior ! " 
 
 AMONG the illustrious men whose names are recorded in 
 adamantine characters on the page of history, there is prob 
 ably no one more remarkable, in many points of view, or who 
 is more entitled to the admiration of mankind, for the vigor 
 of his intellect, for the energy of his character, for the un 
 bending firmness with which he prosecuted his designs, for 
 the variety and profundity of his knowledge, and for the zeal 
 and wisdom which characterized his purposes to promote the 
 happiness of his people, than the powerful, despotic Czar of 
 Russia, Peter the First, surnamed, with propriety, "the 
 Great." When, still quite a youth, he ascended the throne 
 of that vast empire, he found the country distracted by fac 
 tions, and impoverished by civil and foreign wars. He was 
 called upon to govern a barbarous people, among whom the 
 arts and sciences were almost unknown, and who, bound to 
 their separate chiefs, or nobles, by ties of interest or self- 
 preservation, were but little accustomed to venerate the actual 
 monarch, who occupied a tottering throne. 
 
368 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 Peter was young when he was first vested with the sover 
 eign power. His education had been purposely neglected ; 
 his mind had never been disciplined, nor his intellect improved. 
 He had led a life of idleness and pleasure, and had associated 
 only with the ignorant and dissolute, giving free scope to his 
 animal passions. But, when he unexpectedly found himself 
 enthroned in the palace of the Czars, a sudden and mighty 
 change seemed to have been effected in his character ; the 
 energies and powers of his mind, which till then had lain 
 dormant, were called into action. He was aware of the re 
 sponsibility of his situation, as the head of a vast and popu 
 lous empire, and resolved, from that moment, to devote him 
 self to the improvement and happiness of his subjects, to 
 introduce radical reforms into the customs and manners of the 
 people, and into the departments of the state and the church. 
 
 He was aware that, to succeed in this undertaking, he had 
 formidable obstacles to overcome ; and he wisely commenced 
 the great work by improving his own education, and reform 
 ing himself. He applied himself assiduously to the study of 
 military tactics and political economy, and, at the same time, 
 gained, apparently with little effort, a knowledge of the Ger 
 man, French, and English languages ; and, by the free dis 
 tribution of honors and rewards, encouraged important im 
 provements in the mechanic arts, or in the more difficult 
 sciences. He labored, also, to restore peace to his distracted 
 country ; and, above all, to repress and prevent all inte? 
 commotions, by elevating the condition of the peasantry, ai. 
 restricting the colossal power of the " Boyards," landholders 
 of princely rank, who had, previously, often rebelled against 
 the sovereign power. 
 
 Owing to his unremitted industry, and the force of a power 
 ful intellect, aided by an indomitable will, he was, in a great 
 measure, successful ; and, after he had restored comparative 
 tranquillity to his dominions, he resolved to visit other coun- 
 
PETER THE CHEAT. 369 
 
 tries, and witness the blessings of civilization, and gain a 
 thorough practical knowledge of various mechanic arts, and 
 thus prepare himself for instructing his subjects in matters 
 calculated to strengthen the government, promote industry, 
 and contribute to the elevation and happiness of all classes. 
 Accordingly, having made the necessary arrangements for the 
 due administration of the laws during a long absence, in the 
 year 1697, in the twenty-sixth year of his age, he commenced 
 his travels in quest of useful practical knowledge, and min 
 gled in the suite of his ambassadors, without any personal 
 attendants, excepting a secretary, a valet-de-chambre, and a 
 favorite dwarf! 
 
 The einbassade, composed in all of about two hundred per 
 sons, passed through Livonia, which then belonged to Sweden, 
 through Prussia, the confines of Germany, to Holland, and 
 was everywhere received with hospitality and great marks of 
 respect. Some of the ambassadors and princes in the train 
 were clad in vestments of extraordinary magnificence, but 
 the Czar himself was habited in a plain German costume. He 
 entered Amsterdam some days before the embassy, and took 
 private lodgings. A few days afterwards, arrayed in the 
 costume of a mechanic, he visited the village of Saardam, 
 situated on the Zuyder Zee, a few miles from the capital, 
 where ship-building was at that time carried on on a large 
 scale. At this period the Dutch were celebrated for the 
 excellence of their ships, possessing a formidable navy, and 
 engaged in extensive commerce to every part of the globe. 
 
 It was at Saardam that Peter commenced his labors as a 
 mechanic. He put himself under the orders of a master- 
 workman, associated with the carpenters, lodged with them, 
 and worked with them, doing his part in labors of every de 
 scription. He thus acquired, in a short time, a practical 
 knowledge of the art of ship-building. He- worked, also, in 
 the blacksmith s shop, blew the bellows and handled the 
 
370 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 sledge-hammer ; he aided in the rope-walks, and gained all 
 necessary information respecting the manufacture of cordage, 
 and passed some of his time in laboring in the saw-mills, 
 where he became familiar with the art of sawing timber by 
 machinery, lie also gained instruction in the arts of manu 
 facturing paper, and working the ductile metals, &c. When 
 Peter commenced his mechanical labors, the ship-builders 
 were not a little astonished at finding the sovereign of a 
 mighty empire voluntarily enrolling himself in the list of 
 workmen. They were, at first, inclined to treat him with the 
 ceremony and respect due to his exalted station. This feeling 
 of reverence, however, wore off , and they soon learned to 
 regard him as one of their own number, and he was known 
 among them by the familiar appellation of Peterbas, or Master 
 Peter. 
 
 While at Saardam, the Czar caused a ship of sixty guns to 
 be built for himself, and superintended the work, and, subse 
 quently, sent her to Archangel, the only seaport which he 
 then possessed in the north, for the city of St. Petersburg 
 he caused to be built several years afterwards. He resided a 
 short time at Amsterdam, to gain a knowledge of the art of 
 surgery, and studied with the celebrated anatomist, Ruysch, 
 and also received instruction in medicine from a distinguished 
 physician of Amsterdam. 
 
 While residing in Holland, Peter did not neglect the public 
 interests of his own country. While handling the compass 
 and the saw at Saardam, he was maturing schemes which had 
 a mighty influence on the destinies of Poland, and from his 
 humble workshop he sent despatches promising to aid Augus 
 tus, Elector of Saxony, with thirty thousand men. From 
 the same place he issued orders for the assemblage of a large 
 army in the Ukraine, to take ground against the Turks. 
 
 Such was Peter the Great, of Russia ! I only intended to 
 write a paragraph, introductory to an incident recorded in 
 
PETER THE GEE AT. 371 
 
 the life of this illustrious monarch, the details of which I 
 believe are not generally known to the world, and I find 
 myselfinsensibly engaged in writing his biography. 
 
 In common with almost every traveller who has been to 
 Holland, I have seen the village of Saardam, and the humble 
 workshop and lodging-house of the Czar, which are still 
 pointed out with manifestations of pride and exultation by 
 the worthy and hospitable inhabitants. But the village is 
 not now as flourishing as it was in the days of the Czar. 
 Holland, which at that time was equal to any nation as a 
 maritime power, has wofully degenerated in this respect. 
 England, France, Spain, as well as our own country, are 
 greatly her superior, and Saardam has declined in population 
 and the enterprise of the inhabitants, in proportion as Hol 
 land has declined as a naval power. But, still, an interest 
 is attached to the place, which makes it an important object 
 in the eyes of travellers ; and there one, without being a " mel 
 ancholy Jaques," could sit and moralize for hours. 
 
 But to my story. Peter, as I have already ^intimated, 
 while working as a carpenter, or blacksmith, at Saardam, did 
 not endeavor to preserve his incognito. It was soon known 
 to every court in Europe that the Czar of Russia was resid 
 ing in Holland ; and although the different European mon- 
 archs were, at that time, unable to appreciate his character, 
 as manifested by his voluntary labors, and sacrifices of pomp 
 and personal comforts, they respected him as the powerful 
 and energetic head of a mighty empire, and most of the 
 European monarchs sent to him, with much display and cere 
 mony, ambassadors, tendering him their respects, and inviting 
 him to visit their respective courts. 
 
 William of England, however, was dilatory in thus evinc 
 ing his respect for the Czar, much to the dissatisfaction of the 
 Russian monarch, who was particularly desirous of being on 
 the most friendly terms with the English king. At length, 
 
372 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 after waiting impatiently for several months, the Czar learned, 
 with much gratification, that King William was aboat to send 
 three ambassadors, selected from among the most distinguished 
 noblemen, and attended by a brilliant cortege, to do honor to 
 Peter of Russia. The Czar, with a spirit of eccentricity, 
 which he not unfrequently exhibited, resolved to teach these 
 envoys a lesson which they would not soon forget, and punish 
 them in a whimsical manner for their tardiness. 
 
 When the ambassadors reached Amsterdam, they were 
 astonished to learn that Peter was at Saardam, busily engaged 
 in building a ship, which was nearly finished, and that he 
 would be delighted to see them at that place. The English 
 noblemen, who expected to be received at Amsterdam with 
 the pomp and ceremony corresponding to the character of 
 their mission, were not a little embarrassed by this informa 
 tion, but set off, post-haste, for Saardam, to find the carpenter 
 monarch, and sent an avant courrier with despatches, an 
 nouncing their intentions. They reached Saardam at the 
 appointed hour, but, to their great surprise, were informed 
 that the Czar was then on board his ship, where he awaited 
 their arrival, and was impatient to give them an audience. 
 They were also informed that a boat was in waiting at the 
 ship-yard to put them alongside. 
 
 The English dignitaries hardly knew what to think of this 
 affair. There were no precedents by which to frame their 
 line of conduct. They were desirous, for many reasons, to 
 have an interview with the Czar, and were great sticklers for 
 etiquette; yet, after a hurried consultation, they determined to 
 flatter the whims of the barbarian monarch, and visit him on 
 board his ship. A couple of burley-looking Dutchmen, in a 
 large and clumsy boat, pulled off the ambassadors, and a por 
 tion of their suite. They were received at the gangway by a 
 man dressed in the costume of a sailor, who, in a rough man 
 ner welcomed them on board. Wondering at their singular 
 
PETER THE GREAT. 373 
 
 reception, but supposing it a specimen of Russian manners, 
 they inquired for the Czar, and their consternation was 
 actually ludicrous, when the sailor, with a knowing grin, 
 pointed to the main-top, and assured the grave and stately 
 representatives of Albion, that PETERBAS was aloft, where he 
 expected the pleasure of receiving the ambassadors of his 
 friend and brother, the King of England ! 
 
 The ambassadors were stupefied at this arrangement, and 
 gazed at each other with despairing looks when told that the 
 hall of audience of the Russian monarch was the main-top 
 of a sloop of war. They could not conceal their perplexity, 
 and, indeed, entertained some suspicions that they were the 
 victims of a hoax ; but when they were assured that the Czar 
 was actually in the main-top, and wished and expected them 
 to climb the rigging, and introduce themselves to his presence, 
 their hearts failed, their limbs trembled, and they hardly 
 knew what course to adopt. 
 
 " What ! " said the proud and venerable Earl of Tewksbury, 
 " does the Czar of Russia expect me to climb up those rope- 
 ladders, and play the part of a harlequin, at this period of my 
 life ? Tp ascend that crow s nest, in such a way, would not 
 only be highly undignified in a person of my rank, but actu 
 ally impossible." 
 
 " No," said Sir Nicholas Granger, with a spice of indigna 
 tion, as well as sorrow in his tone, " this is a most unreason 
 able exaction on the part of the Czar. For my part," con 
 tinued the knight, taking a survey of his portly proportions, 
 and then glancing at the shrouds, " I should as soon think of 
 flying, as of going aloft to the main-top by means of the rig 
 ging. No ; if I get there, they must hoist me up by pul 
 leys." 
 
 Upon further inquiry, they satisfied themselves that they 
 must visit the bear in his den, elevated as it was, or return 
 to England without accomplishing the object of their mission. 
 32 
 
374 
 
 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 They hesitated a few moments, uncertain which horn of the 
 dilemma to seize ; but Lord Gower, the youngest of the party, 
 who had once been as far as Constantinople in a ship of war, 
 and who, therefore, boasted of his nautical experience, sug 
 gested that there was nothing so very alarming or dangerous in 
 the Czar s request ; that it was neither a frolic nor a hoax, 
 but a mark of respect to a great maritime government, to 
 receive her envoys in a noble ship ; and that if they should 
 refuse his invitation to go aloft, and hold a personal inter 
 view, after having proceeded thus far, the Czar would construe 
 it into an insult, take umbrage, and a war between the two 
 powers of England and Russia must be the inevitable result. 
 
 These arguments had due weight, and the other ambassa 
 dors, with sour looks and an ungracious grunt, at length sig- 
 
PETER THE GREAT. - 375 
 
 nified their reluctant assent to the arrrangement, and prepared 
 to " go up the rigging," a feat which is somewhat awkward 
 and difficult, even to a young and active landsman, and was 
 truly appalling to those venerable and heavy-moulded noble- 
 nien. It was an act of devotion to their country and their 
 king, of which we can hardly find a parallel in the pages of 
 history. 
 
 They heroically mounted the gunwale, Lord Gower leading 
 the way ; and they were also assisted by the rough, nautical- 
 looking personage who received them at the gangway, and who 
 subsequently proved to be the celebrated Le Fort, one of the 
 most faithful and able among the counsellors and friends of 
 the Russian monarch. They got upon the ratlings, and slowly 
 ascended, panting for breath, and pausing in their career 
 every few moments. They were gazed at with admiration by 
 the crew and officers on the deck of the ship, who could 
 hardly help cheering them in their arduous undertaking ; and, 
 after a rather unreasonable time, they reached, breathless 
 with fatigue, the cat-harping>. Here, clinging convulsively 
 to the futtock shrouds, they tarried awhile to recover breath, 
 and constilt upon what was next to be done. To climb the 
 futtock shrouds, and pass over the top rim, outside, they, with 
 one voice, decided was impossible, when Lord Gower, with a 
 triumphant shout, pointed out the lubber s hole, of which he 
 had often heard, and the pen is reluctant to record it 
 these proud representatives of a great kingdom, of a power 
 which aimed to become the sovereign of the seas, were 
 actually so lost to shame and a sense of true dignity, as to 
 crawl into the main-top through the hibber s hole ! This fact 
 has never been recorded in the naval annals of Great Britain, 
 or, if it was faithfully recorded at the time it occurred, it has 
 since been carefully expunged. 
 
 Peter was quietly seated on an arm-chest, as, one following 
 another, the ambassadors entered his presence, actually 
 
376 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 creeping on their hands and knees. He received them with 
 much grace and dignity, with a grave demeanor, as if noth 
 ing extraordinary had taken place ; and, by the affability of 
 his manners and the charms of his conversation, he soon made 
 them forget the perplexities which they had so recently ex 
 perienced, and the dangers through which they had passed. 
 
 After passing half an hour very pleasantly in the top, the 
 meeting, at the suggestion of Peter, was adjourned to the 
 cabin ; and the descent from the " bad eminence," which they 
 had attained with so much toil and peril, was accomplished, 
 under the direction of the Czar himself, with much less diffi 
 culty than they had anticipated. 
 
 Peter subsequently visited England in a plain, unpretend 
 ing way, resided for a time at Deptford, and devoted him 
 self to the prosecution of his studies in the mechanic arts. 
 Here he applied himself to the theory of ship-building ; and 
 soon became a great proficient in the art. He also studied in 
 London the art of horology, or of making clocks arid watches, 
 which had then attained great perfection in England. In 
 deed, during his visit to Holland and England, a space of 
 time not exceeding two years, there was hardly any "kind of 
 business important to the interests of a kingdom, from the 
 casting of a cannon, to the spinning of a thread, of which he 
 did not obtain a practical knowledge, and afterwards at 
 tempted, in almost all cases successfully, to introduce into his 
 own country. 
 
 The subsequent events in the life of this extraordinary 
 man, his return to Russia, his wars with Charles XII., of 
 Sweden, his marriage with an obscure Livonian girl, who, 
 afterwards proved herself in every way worthy to be the 
 partner of his throne ; his construction of the city of St. 
 Petersburg, and the magnificent port of Cronstadt ; the con 
 demnation of his son, Alexis Petrovitz, a blot upon his 
 character which cannot be effaced ; his various wars, and 
 
PETER THE GREAT. 
 
 377 
 
 victories over the Persian, Turkish, and other powers, and his 
 death, in 1725, at the comparatively early age of fifty-three 
 years, will be found faithfully chronicled in the biographies 
 of this eminent monarch. 
 
 His name is embalmed in the memories of the Russians, 
 who regard him and justly as the benefactor of his 
 country. In the public Museum of St. Petersburg are de 
 posited many curious and interesting articles, which were 
 once the property of the Czar, and are shown to visitors with 
 a manifestation of respect which can only be surpassed by the 
 reverence of a Roman Catholic devotee for the relics of his 
 favorite saints. 
 
 
 
 32* 
 
CAPTURE OF AN INDIAMAN. 
 
 AN ADVENTURE DURING THE LAST WAR. 
 
 0, it is excellent 
 
 To have a giant s strength ; but tyrannous 
 
 To use it like a giant ! " SHAKSPEARE. 
 
 IT is well known, doubtless, that during the latest, and I 
 hope the last war with Great Britain, an immense injury was 
 done to the British commerce by American privateers and 
 letters of marque. British ships were fallen in with on every 
 sea. Some, which were good sailers and well found, and con 
 tained valuable cargoes, were manned and ordered to some 
 port in the United States ; but the greater part of the cap 
 tured ships were burnt on the waters where they were cap 
 tured, after having been stripped of their most valuable arti 
 cles. Such bonfires were often seen in the night on the 
 Atlantic, on the Pacific, and on the Indian Oceans ; and while 
 they tended somewhat to cripple the resources of the enemy, 
 they caused a vast amount of individual suffering, and plunged 
 many worthy men, who perhaps deprecated a war between the 
 two countries as a great evil to be avoided at all hazards, from 
 the summit of affluence to the lowest depths of poverty. Such 
 have been some of the natural and unavoidable consequences 
 of war ! But we may venture to hope that such scenes will 
 never be repeated, and that privateering will never hereafter 
 be sanctioned by any civilized nation. 
 
 In the month of August, 181o, a beautiful brig, called the 
 
CAPTURE OF AX IXDIAMAX. 379 
 
 Wanderer, of a " Baltimore pilot-boat model," was despatched 
 from a port in New England, for the East Indies, with full 
 permission to " capture, burn, sink, or destroy," any vessels 
 belonging to the enemy, which might be met with on the out 
 ward or homeward bound passage. It was thought, however, 
 that the injury which this vessel would cause to the British 
 commerce would not be very great, for she was far better cal 
 culated for sailing than for fighting ; her whole armament 
 consisting of only six twelve-pound carronades, while twenty- 
 five good seamen comprised all her effective crew. Neverthe 
 less, the Wanderer made an imposing appearance on the water. 
 She was a long, black, rakish-looking craft, heavily sparred, 
 and ostentatiously exhibiting nine port holes on each side. 
 On the high seas she would be easily mistaken by the enemy 
 for an eighteen-gun brig, with all the customary means and 
 appurtenances. 
 
 The Wanderer was commanded by Charles Wilcox, Esq., a 
 man of great intrepidity and resolution, and who possessed, 
 among other characteristics of a thorough seaman, a noble, 
 generous heart. He was a strict disciplinarian, and although 
 his crew were comparatively few in number, his vessel was 
 managed with admirable skill and dexterity. 
 
 On the outward passage, Captain Wilcox fell in with a 
 -number of British armed vessels, and was several times chased 
 by their frigates and sloops of war, from which he found little 
 difficulty in escaping. When he fell in with a large merchant 
 ship, or a government vessel of small size, either of which 
 would have been more than a match for the Wanderer, with 
 her small armament and complement of men, he would hoist 
 the " stars and stripes at his trysail peak, and crowd all sail, 
 steering directly towards her, with a drag astern to retard 
 the brig s way, and preclude the possibility of getting within 
 point blank shot ; while, in an agony of fear, the enemy would 
 claw of with all possible despatch ! 
 
380 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 The Wanderer was bound to China, and reached Whampoa 
 after a short passage of one hundred and fifteen days. She 
 succeeded in getting into port, in spite of the British cruisers, 
 which at that time were stationed at convenient intervals 
 along the whole southern coast of China, and which succeeded 
 in entrapping a number of valuable American ships, and pre 
 vented others from leaving port. Her arrival caused quite a 
 sensation among the English officers, and old Commodore Tree 
 nail, who arrived at Whampoa in the frigate Salamander, a 
 few days afterwards, declared, with a knowing look, as he 
 gazed with an admiring eye on the fair proportions of the 
 beautiful brig, that although " Jonathan " had fairly weath 
 ered them by entering the port, yet he would find it a difficult 
 matter to get out. 
 
 Captain Wilcox anchored his brig apart from the other 
 vessels in the harbor, and took pains to conceal the actual 
 condition of his armament and crew. On shore, especially in 
 presence of British officers, he talked large, and impressed 
 them with the idea that the Wanderer was a crack privateer 
 of eighteen guns, and at least one hundred men. In the mean 
 time, he was secretly purchasing his cargo of teas and silks, 
 and, by way of recreation, caused a dozen " quakers," or 
 wooden guns, to be manufactured on board, and regularly 
 mounted on carriages or slides. He was thus enabled on gala 
 days to show what appeared to be a formidable set of teeth, 
 although the greater part of them were false ones ! 
 
 One day Commodore Treenail, in a conversation with Cap 
 tain Wilcox, expressed a desire to go on board the Wanderer. 
 The Yankee was aware that the Commodore merely wished to 
 satisfy himself of the efficiency of his vessel, and to form an 
 opinion of the result of any contest that might take place 
 between the American brig and one of the English gun brigs 
 then in those seas. Nevertheless, without indicating by his 
 manner any reluctance, Wilcox cordially invited the British 
 
CAPTURE OF AX IXDIAMAX. 381 
 
 officer to honor the Wanderer with his presence the next 
 afternoon. 
 
 Captain Wilcox went immediately on board the brig, had 
 his " quakers " put in good trim, and sooth to say, they 
 made an imposing appearance in their warlike garb, pro 
 vided with tomkins, aprons, breechings, gun-tackles and other 
 trimmings ; cannon shot were arranged conspicuously in 
 racks about the bulwarks, and sabres, pistols and boarding- 
 pikes in great profusion, were exhibited in gallant array. 
 Wilcox, who was seldom at a loss for expedients, next con 
 sidered how he should make up for the occasion the deficiency 
 in his crew, and finally applied to the captains of the few 
 American vessels in port for the loan of their crews for a 
 day ! This favor was readily granted. The Wanderer was 
 soon manned by some eighty or ninety as fine fellows as ever 
 knotted a reef-point or puddened an anchor (we had no chain 
 cables in those days) ; and when Commodore Treenail came on 
 board in his barge, agreeably to appointment, and passed up 
 the accommodation ladder, and over the gangway, and saw 
 Buch a crew, all neatly dressed, at quarters, he promptly de 
 cided in his own mind that the Wanderer was calculated to do 
 a great deal of mischief, and would make short work with any 
 thing of less force than a sloop of war. He determined to take 
 his measures accordingly. 
 
 The result equalled the expectations of Captain Wilcox, 
 who stood in as much fear of a small gun brig as of a frigate, 
 but who was determined to avoid a contact with either, and 
 trust to the nimbleness of his heels, if he could once get fairly 
 out to sea. An opportunity at length arrived. A furious 
 squall set in during the night. The wind blew in fierce and 
 fitful gusts, and the rain fell in great abundance, and increased 
 the obscurity of the atmosphere. Wilcox ordered the cable to 
 be cut, and, under a reefed fore-topsail and jib, shot like a struck 
 dolphin out of the harbor of Whampoa. 
 
SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 The Wanderer had a fine run to the Cape of Good Hope, 
 and met with nothing to furnish cause for alarm. One day, 
 when a few degrees to the westward of the Cape, as day broke 
 in the east, a large ship was seen steering to the eastward under 
 a press of sail. Captain Wilcox altered the course of the brig, 
 and steered directly for the ship, which he soon made out to 
 be a heavy East Indiaman, doubtless well armed and manned 
 with a numerous and effective crew. 
 
 All hands were piped to quarters. " Come, my lads," said 
 the captain, " suppose we try the mettle of that fellow. We 
 have taken nothing yet, and there is good picking on board 
 some of these outward-bound Indiamen. The thing must be 
 carefully done, however, for if John Bull only suspects our 
 inferior force, he will blow us out of the water, and laugh at 
 us afterwards ! " 
 
 Every rag of canvas was packed on the brig, and it was 
 evident that the captain of the Indiaman did not like her 
 appearance, for he tacked ship and stood off to the south-west. 
 The Wanderer rapidly gained upon the chase, and was fast 
 closing on the weather quarter, when Captain Wilcox fired a 
 gun to windward and hoisted American colors ! The ship re 
 plied by showing the English ensign, and taking in her courses 
 and top-gallant-sails. She was evidently preparing for a brush. 
 Not a shot, however, was fired until the Wanderer was within 
 hail, when Captain Wilcox sprang upon a gun near the gang 
 way, with a speaking-trumpet in his hand. He was a fine- 
 looking fellow, possessing a dignified exterior, dressed in full 
 uniform, and had a voice like the famous Stentor of old. 
 
 " First division, there ! " shouted he ; " see all ready to 
 fire ! " and then, directing his trumpet towards the huge ship, 
 with heavy cannon protruding from her massy sides, he had 
 the cool impudence to add, in a loud and imperative tone, 
 " Ship ahoy ! haul down your colors, and lay your main top 
 sail to the mast, or I 11 give you a broadside ! " Then turn- 
 
CAPTURE OF AN DfDIAMAN. 
 
 ing to his crew, " Stand by, my boys ! Take good aim ! " 
 Then in his loudest tone to the Englishman, "Haul down 
 your flag, I say, this minute, or I 11 blow you sky-high ! " 
 
 This threat produced the desired effect. The British ensign 
 came fluttering upon the deck, and the heavy main yard of 
 the East Indiaman was reluctantly braced round, the helm 
 was put hard down, and the ship was laid to with her main 
 topsail to the mast, having struck to the United States letter 
 of marque Wanderer ! 
 
 Captain Wilcox sent his first officer on board, accompanied 
 by his clerk, in officer s uniform, with orders to send on board 
 the brig the captain of the ship, with his papers, and as many 
 of the crew as the boat could convey. The ship proved to be 
 
384 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 the Alnwick Castle, Captain Henderson, of seven hundred 
 and fifty tons, from Bristol, bound to the Isle of France, with 
 a cargo of stores, provisions, &c., of no use to the crew of a 
 privateer. The ship mounted sixteen eighteen-pound carron- 
 ades, and was manned by a crew of forty men, all told. The 
 guns were double-shotted with round and grape ; and one 
 broadside, well directed, would have made fearful work with 
 the Wanderer, and decided the contest against her. 
 
 But Captain Henderson was accompanied by his wife, a 
 young and beautiful woman, to whom he had been married 
 but a few short months. And to this circumstance must be 
 ascribed his reluctance to engage in a desperate contest with 
 a vessel apparently well fitted for fighting, and evidently his 
 superior. With a heavy heart he handed the officer his 
 papers, and assisted his wife into the boat, and, with the 
 greater part of the crew, they were soon on board the Wan 
 derer. The men were placed in irons for greater security, 
 and temporarily stowed away beneath the " quakers," in the 
 waist. 
 
 Captain Wilcox soon ascertained, by examining the ship s 
 papers, that he had captured a prize of little value. He could 
 not spare men sufficient to navigate her into an American 
 port ; her cargo consisted of bulky articles, which could not 
 be transferred to the brig ; and he issued orders to take out 
 every man, with all their baggage, and set the vessel on fire. 
 It was then that Captain Henderson ventured to remonstrate, 
 in a gentlemanly manner, against such a summary disposition 
 of property, in which he was directly interested, for he was a 
 part owner of the ship and cargo. He suggested that, by 
 burning the ship, his own ruin would be effectually sealed, 
 without any benefit to his captor ; and that, by restoring the 
 ship and cargo to the legitimate proprietors, Captain Wilcox 
 would perform a noble and magnanimous act, which would 
 
CAPTURE OF AN EAST IXDIAMAX. 385 
 
 meet the approval of all good men, and which would be in ac 
 cordance with the dictates of benevolence and justice. 
 
 This was a view of the matter which struck a responsive 
 chord in the bosom of the generous-hearted Yankee. There 
 was force in the reasoning of the Englishman, and his feel 
 ings responded to the arguments set forth. He felt that it 
 was little better than piracy to set fire to and destroy prop 
 erty belonging to private and deserving individuals, when far 
 away upon the ocean. But it is uncertain what would have 
 been the result, had he not at that moment caught the eye 
 of the beautiful and accomplished Mrs. Henderson. She was 
 sad, but charming in her sadness, and addressed the cap 
 tain in a musical voice, which sounded to him, accustomed for 
 months to the gruff mutterings of the sailors, like the music 
 of the spheres. He listened to her attentively, while, in elo 
 quent language, she pleaded the cause of her husband ; and 
 Captain Wilcox, who, with all a sailor s gallantry, adored a 
 lovely woman, was, in his turn, completely vanquished. He 
 told her to give herself no further apprehension the vessel 
 and cargo should be restored to her husband. Such was the 
 triumph of beauty pleading in behalf of humanity and jus 
 tice ! 
 
 In the mean time the English sailors, who were stowed 
 away among the wooden guns, were making observations and 
 indulging in sundry philosophical remarks. 
 
 "I say, Ben," growled a rough-looking tar, with a voice 
 like a screech-owl, "just look at the crack in this here gun." 
 
 " Crack ! " replied Ben. " So there is. That gun was never 
 cast in a foundry. It is made of a soft kind of metal, and 
 growed in the woods." 
 
 " Ay," said another of the crew, " and here is one of 
 the same kidney. Queer kind of cannon these Yankees 
 use ! " 
 
 " Cannon ! " chimed in the boatswain. " These cannon 
 33 
 
386 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 are all wooden ones. This craft has not an effective gun on 
 board, all wood, all quakers, as sure as my name s Timothy 
 Twilight. We have been shamefully humbugged by these 
 rascally Yankees. Wheugh ! " and the boatswain whistled 
 Lillibulleroo in a style that would have charmed "my Uncle 
 Toby," and astonished the corporal. 
 
 " This will be a pretty story to tell in England," resumed 
 the boatswain. " The ship Alnwick Castle, of sixteen guns, 
 taken and burnt by a paltry Yankee merchant brig, armed 
 with quakers, and manned by a dozen greenhorns, just out of 
 the woods. And all this comes of having women on board. 
 They are at the bottom of all the mischief that ever was 
 hatched. For my part, I hate the sight of a petticoat." 
 
 " Not worse than every pretty girl hates the sight of your 
 blear-eyed, squab-nosed, wide-mouthed, and hickory-barked 
 phiz," replied, with some tartness, Jack Spendall, a young 
 and handsome sailor, with flowing locks, and a bright black 
 eye, such as ladies love to look upon. " A pretty woman is 
 never out of place at sea or on shore, in fair weather or foul ; 
 and the man who grumbles at breathing the same air with a 
 pretty woman, is no sailor, and deserves to be kicked to death 
 by marines." 
 
 "That s true, Jack," chimed in his gallant shipmates; and 
 the boatswain was compelled to close his clam-shell. 
 
 Captain Wilcox went upon deck, with Mrs. Henderson 
 hanging upon his arm. He ordered the crew aft. " My 
 lads," said he, "you have behaved nobly. We have captured 
 this British East Indiaman, of a heavy force, without firing a 
 gun, and she is a lawful prize to the Wanderer. But we 
 cannot man her, and take her into an American port, and, 
 therefore, the ship and her cargo are of no value to us. Her 
 captain is the principal owner of the vessel. He is a worthy 
 man, although an Englishman, and the loss of his vessel will 
 strip him of all his property, and accomplish his ruin. His 
 
CAPTURE OF AN EAST INDIAMAN. 38J 
 
 wife, whom you see here before you, has been pleading elo 
 quently in his behalf, and I have promised that the ship shall 
 be given up to the captain, with all her effects, with liberty to 
 proceed on her voyage. What say you, my lads ? Have I 
 acted right ? " 
 
 " O," said Mrs. Henderson, stretching her fair arm towards 
 the rough-looking tars, and addressing them in a melodious 
 voice, " 0, do confirm the promise which your generous captain 
 has given me, and Heaven will bless you ! " 
 
 The sailors stared at the lovely woman with as much ardor 
 and admiration as if she had been a superior being, dropped 
 among them from the skies ; a,nd when the captain repeated 
 his question, " Have I acted right ? " he was replied to by a 
 ringing shout of " AY, AT, SIR ! " and " THREE CHEERS FOR 
 MRS. HENDERSON ! " 
 
 And the cheers were given with a hearty good will ; even 
 the handcuffed Englishmen joined in them, with the exception 
 of the boatswain, who still looked sour and sulky under the 
 rebuke of Jack Spendall. 
 
 The Englishmen were liberated and conveyed on board 
 their ship, which was given up to Captain Henderson. The 
 parting between Captain Wilcox and the interesting couple, 
 who had so unexpectedly honored his cabin by their presence, 
 was extremely impressive. Captain Henderson expressed his 
 gratitude in the warmest terms, and solemnly declared that he 
 would repay the obligation the first time it would be in his 
 power to serve an American citizen. As for Mrs. Henderson, 
 words could not express her grateful feelings. Her sense of 
 gratitude seemed in some sort to overcome her sense of pro 
 priety, for, when her words failed her, she threw her arms around 
 the neck of the worthy Yankee captain, and kissed him, much 
 to the surprise and gratification of Captain Wilcox, who was 
 subsequently heard to declare that the kiss lingered upon his 
 
388 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 lips for a fortnight ; even salt water could not wash away the 
 taste of it ! 
 
 Two or three years -passed away, and peace was reestab 
 lished between two countries, which nature never intended 
 should war against each other. Captain Wilcox was called 
 to take the command of a fine ship, in the East India trade. 
 He sailed from New England, and, in due time, arrived at the 
 Cape of Good Hope. On landing and reporting his vessel, he 
 was asked if he was the same Captain Wilcox who commanded 
 the brig Wanderer during the late war. 
 
 " The same," replied he. 
 
 " Then," said the officer, " allow me to return you my 
 thanks for your kind treatment of a countryman, whom you 
 captured off the Cape, and to whom you generously restored 
 his vessel and cargo." 
 
 He soon found that the story was well known at the Cape, 
 for the Alnwick Castle had put into Table Bay, after the ves 
 sels separated, and Captain Henderson and his fair companion 
 were loud and eager in their praises of the generous-hearted 
 Yankee captain. 
 
 He was treated with great hospitality during his short stay 
 at Cape Town. The governor showed him many attentions ; 
 fetes were made and parties given for his especial gratification, 
 and the ladies in particular welcomed him with their sweetest 
 smiles. And all this for obeying the dictates of a generous 
 heart, and refusing to act on the high seas in a manner more 
 becoming in a lawless buccaneer or a pirate, than in a member 
 of a civilized and Christian community. The more he reflected 
 on the course which he was prevailed on to adopt \vith regard 
 to the English East Indiaman, the better satjsfied he was with 
 himself. " What a ninny I should have been," said he to him 
 self, " if I had set the Alnwick Castle on fire, with the flimsy 
 plea of doing my best to cripple the resources of the enemy ! " 
 
 He left the Cape of Good Hope, and next touched at the 
 
CAPTURE OF AN EAST INDIAMAN. 38Q 
 
 Isle of France. After the ship was anchored in Port Louis, 
 he started in his gig for the shore. A large English ship lay 
 in his track, and, as he drew near, he saw a lady beneath the 
 awning on the poop, engaged in reading, while breathing the 
 grateful sea air. As the boat was gliding past the quarter, 
 she raised her eyes from the page, and gazed upon the features 
 of the American captain. Her visage was instantly lighted 
 up with astonishment and delight. " Captain Wilcox ! " she 
 said with eagerness. " Theodore ! husband ! here is Captain 
 Wilcox ! " she repeated, looking down the skylight. Then, 
 running to the side of the deck, she snatched a scarf which 
 was lightly reposing on her shoulders, and, waving it towards 
 the boat, attracted the attention of that gentleman, who recog 
 nized her now, and, in a moment he was alongside of the 
 Alnwick Castle ! 
 
 He was received at the gangway by Captain Henderson 
 and his lovely wife. I hardly need say that he was welcomed 
 in the kindest manner. After the first warm greetings were 
 over, Mrs. Henderson, with the agility of a fairy, descended 
 into the cabin, which was elegantly fitted up, and returned on 
 deck, bearing in her arms a bright-looking child, about two 
 years of age, who was, indeed, a miniature edition of herself. 
 " His name," said she, while her eyes were suffused with the 
 tears of joy and gratitude, " is CHARLES WILCOX HENDERSON! " 
 
 As Captain Wilcox stepped over the gangway, after bid 
 ding his friends a temporary adieu, he was heard to mutter 
 to himself, " What an unmitigated scoundrel I should have 
 been, to have burnt the Alnwick Castle ! " 
 
 33* 
 
SATURDAY NIGHT REVELS; 
 
 OR, 
 
 A SCENE IN PERNAMBUCO. 
 
 Maria. What a caterwauling do you keep here ! If my lady has not 
 called up her steward, Malvolio, and bid him turn you all out of doors, 
 never trust me. 
 
 Malvolio. My masters, are you mad, or what are you 1 Have ye no 
 wit, manners, nor honesty, to gabble like tinkers at this time of night 1 
 Do you make an ale-house of my lady s house, that ye squeak out your 
 catches, without any mitigation or remorse of voice 1 Is there no respect 
 of persons, place, nor time with you 1 SHAKSPEARE. t 
 
 HE harbor of Pernambuco is 
 an excellent and capacious one. 
 It is formed by a long reef of 
 coral limestone a natural 
 breakwater which has for 
 thousands of years withstood 
 the bold attack of the waves, 
 lashed into fury by the stormy 
 south-east trade winds. Inside 
 of this reef the inner harbor 
 stretches along, furnishing a 
 port completely sheltered from 
 
 the winds and seas, from whatever quarter they may come. 
 
 The ships lie moored, head and stern, at the distance of a 
 
SATURDAY NIGHT REVELS. 391 
 
 quarter of a mile from the shore, and the depth of water at 
 the barred entrance of the harbor is sufficient for vessels of 
 goodly size, if their draft of water should not be unreason 
 able. 
 
 In the month of April, about the close of the first quarter 
 of the present century, the ship Pandolfo, of Salem, was lying 
 snugly moored in the harbor of Pernambuco, taking in a 
 cargo of sugar, and bound for Archangel, in Russia. Captain 
 Snyder, of the Pandolfo, was a good sort of man enough when 
 sober. He was a smart seaman, understood business, and was 
 liked by his crew ; but he was fond of company, and delighted 
 in a frolic ; and at such times he did not measure the amount 
 of stimulating drinks which he consumed. He loved, above 
 all things, to get a few hearty, roistering chaps on board ; 
 and, what with drinking, shouting, talking and singing, have 
 a regular " hurrah." His hospitality on such occasions was 
 proverbial, and it is, therefore, not remarkable that his friends 
 in port were many, and that with a degree of good-nature, 
 which is deserving of all praise, they often gratified the wor 
 thy captain with their company. 
 
 One Saturday night, soon after the supper-table was cleared 
 away in the cabin of the Pandolfo, three well-manned boats 
 came alongside, each bearing a brace or more of visitors, 
 captains or supercargoes, to pass an hour or two with the 
 worthy and sociable Captain Snyder. They were warmly 
 welcomed ; and. after taking a few turns on the quarter-deck, 
 and smoking a few cigars, and relating the news of the day, 
 they, nothing loath, retreated through the companion-way to 
 the cabin. The steward was called upon, and decanters, 
 bottles, cork-screws, and glasses, were in demand. They were 
 all " jovial fellows," and soon became loquacious and good- 
 humored. The liquor did its accustomed work, and it was not 
 long before the welkin rung with merry shouts of laughter, 
 songs and huzzas. 
 
392 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 The crew of the Pandolfo were also a set of hearty, jolly 
 fellows, who loved a joke, a laugh, and a song, as well as 
 their captain. They also emulated his example in another 
 respect. They liked the stimulus of intoxicating drinks, and 
 especially loved to indulge their likings on a Saturday night ; 
 but, unlike their skipper, they were by no means fastidious in 
 their choice of liquors. They wanted something which would 
 do its work, and it mattered not to them whether it was Cog 
 nac brandy, Holland gin, West India rum, Brown Stout, the 
 clear, unadulterated " New England," or the genuine Agua- 
 diente of the country. They, too, were hospitably inclined, 
 and dearly loved to have some of the ships companies in port 
 call on board, after the labors of the day, and pass a social 
 evening. On the occasion to which I particularly allude, the 
 men belonging to the boats alongside, as a matter of course, 
 were invited on board, and shown the way to the forecastle. 
 The worthy fellows belonging to the Pandolfo gave them a 
 hearty welcome, and resolved to follow the example of their 
 captain, and " make a night of it." 
 
 " Come, shipmates," said Sam Wilkins, " it is Saturday 
 night ; your skippers are moored head and stern, for a couple 
 of hours at least. Hillo, cook! go aft, Snowball, and ask 
 the captain if he 11 give us Saturday night. Sweethearts 
 and wives, eh, doctor ? Tell him, too, we have got company 
 on board, and hope he 11 give us extra allowance : 
 
 * We 11 push the can of grog about, 
 And keep it up till morning. " 
 
 The " dark-complexioned gentleman " soon returned from 
 the cabin, exhibiting a double row of polished ivories, and 
 bringing a generous supply of liquor, the sight of which made 
 the eyes of the honest tars glisten with delight, and lighted 
 up their countenances with smiles. They determined to spend a 
 happy Saturday evening ; and, to make sure of it, Bill Simons 
 
SATURDAY NIGHT REVELS. 393 
 
 and Alec Doolittle pulled ashore in the boat, under pretence 
 of getting their go-ashore clothes from the washerwoman, and 
 smuggled off two or three bottles of aguadiente ; enough, with 
 what they got from the cabin, for all the practical purposes 
 of hospitality. And a glorious time they had. They talked 
 as loud, and as fast, and as absurdly, as their superiors in the 
 cabin ; and, like them, they praised their liquor, acted various 
 antics, indulged in strange oaths, perpetrated stale jokes, and 
 made the forecastle shake with their guffaws, and other noisy 
 demonstrations of delight. 
 
 " I say, Jack Hastings," shouted Sam TVilkins, " give us a 
 song ; we have been drinking to sweethearts and wives, and 
 talking about the girls long enough, and there will be no 
 harm in singing about them a little, just by way of a change. 
 Go ahead, old fellow ! " 
 
 Jack Hastings was a hickory-faced, round-shouldered, mid 
 dle-aged, rough-looking tar, full of fun and frolic, with nothing 
 of the Adonis or sighing swain about him; and when he 
 puckered up his large lips to begin, his companions, expecting 
 something exceedingly ridiculous, got ready for an explosion 
 of laughter. This preparation was premature, for Jack dis 
 appointed their expectations, and gave them a sentimental 
 song, something like the following, which he sung with a 
 hoarse, croaking voice, that sounded like the clatter of a saw 
 mill when doing double duty. But every man in the fore 
 castle joined in the chorus, and what was wanting in melody 
 was more than made up in vociferation. 
 
 SATURDAY NIGHT AT SEA. 
 
 " A sailor loves a gallant ship, 
 And shipmates bold and free, 
 
 And ever welcomes with delight 
 
 Saturday night at sea. 
 Saturday night at sea, my boys, 
 Saturday night at sea; 
 
\ 
 
 394 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 Let every gallant sailor sing 
 Saturday night at sea. 
 
 " One hour each week we 11 snatch from care, 
 
 As through the world we roam, 
 To think of dear friends far away, 
 
 And all the joys of home. 
 Saturday night at sea, my boys, 
 
 Saturday night at sea ; 
 Let winds blow high or low, we 11 sing 
 . Saturday night at sea. 
 
 " We 11 think of those bright beings who 
 
 Bedeck with joys our lives; 
 And raise to Heaven a prayer, to bless 
 
 Our sweethearts and our wives ! 
 Saturday night at sea, my boys, 
 
 Saturday night at sea; 
 In storms, or calms, through life, we 11 sing 
 
 Saturday night at sea." 
 
 " Well done, Jack ! " said Sam Williams ; and, suiting the 
 action to the word, gave the honest tar a slap on the back 
 which would have annihilated a Washington-street dandy, 
 cane, straps, whiskers and all " that s not so bad, old fellow. 
 And it s a good sentiment, too ; for a man who wears a blue 
 jacket, and ships for a sailor, and has not a wife or a sweet 
 heart, deserves to live all his life on salt junk and mouldy 
 bread, and precious little of that ; and if he has a wife or a 
 sweetheart, and is unwilling to think about them, talk about 
 them, sing about them, or drink about them, on Saturday 
 night, when thousands of miles from home, he s no sailor, and 
 deserves to be keel-hauled." 
 
 " So I say," exclaimed Bill Simons, with considerable 
 emphasis ; " he has not the soul of a grampus. But come, 
 shipmates, let s have that chorus again ; " and again they 
 thundered forth, 
 
SATURDAY NIGUT BEVELS. 390 
 
 " Saturday night at sea, my boy*, 
 
 Saturday, night at sea ; 
 Let winds blow high or low, we 11 sing 
 Saturday night at sea." 
 
 TVhile these happy and rather boisterous scenes were enact 
 ing in the cabin and forecastle, the two mates of the ship, 
 Mr. Hawkins and Mr. Dalrymple, were cooling their heels 
 on the quarter deck, and occasionally, by way of a change, 
 took a stroll on the main deck. They were not invited, 
 of course, to participate in the festivities of the cabin, and, 
 much to their annoyance, were compelled to listen to the 
 sounds of mirth and revelry from both extremities of the ship. 
 They were neither of them philosophers, and it must be re 
 corded, although I do it reluctantly, that they exhibited some 
 marks of impatience whenever a burst of merriment broke 
 upon their ears, and gave vent to their unamiable feelings in 
 half-suppressed mutterings, and now and then an emphatic 
 exclamation, of a condemnatory character, more remarkable 
 for its force and pungency than its refinement or piety. 
 
 They could not interfere to put a check upon the obstreper 
 ous doings in the cabin, but were obliged to listen, and approve 
 or condemn as they thought fit. But when Bill Simons led 
 off the roistering fellows in the forecastle in the chorus of 
 " Saturday Night at Sea," and they made noise enough to 
 drown the cataract of Niagara, Mr. Hawkins declared he would 
 not stand it any longer, and in three leaps was on the fore 
 castle. After thumping the combings of the fore-scuttle 
 several times with a handspike, he attracted the attention of 
 those below, one of whom, in answer to the summons, shouted 
 " Halloo ! " 
 
 " Halloo yourself," said Hawkins, " and see how you like 
 it ! I tell you what t is, lads, there s too much noise below 
 there. I won t have such a rumpus on board the ship. We 
 
396 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 shall have the guard-boat alongside ; so shut up your clam 
 shells at once, and keep quiet, if it is Saturday night." 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir," responded Jack Hastings, with a knowing 
 wink to his companions, "we have finished the chorus, sir, 
 and will be as quiet as (he dropped his voice) a flock of sea 
 gulls before a storm ! " 
 
 " You had better," said Mr. Hawkins, peremptorily, " if 
 y#u know when you are well off." And he walked aft with 
 a dogged air, as if he was not altogether well satisfied with 
 the result of the interview ; and as his steps were heard on 
 the main deck, the men celebrated his retreat with a loud 
 laugh. 
 
 " Never mind him" said Bill Simons. " I suppose the 
 poor fellow feels rather crabbed because there s fun and frolic 
 going on, and he has no hand in it. It s not to be won 
 dered at. I should feel bad myself if I were in his case. 
 But we are not to be cheated out of our Saturday night s 
 frolic, for all that. Come, Dick Nettletop, give us a song." 
 
 " Yes, yes, Dick," shouted in chorus several voices, " give 
 us a song." 
 
 " Well, shipmates," said Dick, " I don t know what to 
 sing ; but, never mind, I 11 give you a song that old Simon 
 Deadeye used to sing, on board the Jason, on a voyage to 
 Sumatra. The old fellow was no great favorite with the 
 girls they were always quizzing him. So here goes ! " 
 
 SIMON DEADEYE S SONG. 
 
 " Let others raise their voice in praise 
 
 Of love, and count their prizes. 
 Their Ellens fair, with auburn hair, 
 
 Their Marys and Elizas ; 
 Or prate of darts, of cloven hearts, 
 
 Of Cupids, doves, and blisses, 
 Of burning sighs, of sparkling eyes, 
 
 Of rosy lips and kisses. 
 
SATURDAY NIGHT REVELS. 397 
 
 Such joys let loafing landsmen prove, 
 A SHIP is my delight and love. 
 
 " Let others whine at Cupid s shrine, 
 
 And talk of tastes congenial, 
 Of Beauty s wiles, of witching smiles, 
 
 And sigh for joys hymeneal ; 
 Such stupid themes are weak day-dreams ; 
 
 /love with deep devotion 
 The storms and calms, and rude alarms, 
 
 And dangers of the ocean. 
 My MISTRESS is a gallant ship, 
 My HOME is on the stormy deep." 
 
 " Well, well," exclaimed Bill ; " he was a queer chap that 
 wrote that ere song, and no sailor, I 11 be bound to say. I 
 never knew a real sailor who did n t love the sight of a pretty 
 girl better than the finest ship that ever floated on the sea. 
 The fellow was as cold-blooded as a porpoise, and had a heart 
 like a clamshell. He was a disgrace to a blue jacket, and I 
 advise you, Dick, never to sing that song again. What do 
 you say, Jim O Higgins ? Come, my lad, tune up, and let 
 us have a sample of your quality." 
 
 " 0, that s out of the question," replied O Higgins. " I 
 can t sing. I only know the words of one song which Jack 
 Hilton made up one night in the middle watch, during his 
 trick at the helm, and I don t know the tune to that." 
 
 " Pho ! " said Hastings, " never mind the tune if you know 
 the words. The tune s of no manner of consequence what s 
 it about, my lad ? " 
 
 " About the Constitution and Guerriere." 
 
 " 0, let us have it, by all means," said Simons. 
 
 " Ay, ay, let s have it, Jim ! " shouted half a dozen grum 
 voices. 
 
 Thus entreated, O Higgins, in strains resembling the sounds 
 sometimes extracted from an ungreased grindstone in motion, 
 34 
 
SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 went off in a rousing ditty, which he dignified with the name 
 of a song, and what was wanting in musical tone was more 
 than made up in volume of sound. The concluding verse, 
 particularly, was given with startling energy. It was as fol 
 lows : 
 
 " Then, boys, run up the Yankee flag, 
 
 And give a hearty cheer 
 For him who checked the British pride, 
 And sank the bold Guerriere." 
 
 " Three cheers for valiant Hull, my hearties t " exclaimed 
 Alec Doolittle. And the " Hurrah, HURRAH, HURRAH ! " 
 with which the jovial and patriotic fellows responded to the 
 suggestion was a satisfactory test of the strength of their 
 lungs, as well as of their attachment to their native or adopted 
 country. Their shouts stirred up the feelings of the mates 
 again, as with a long pole, and Mr. Dalrymple, at the chief 
 mate s suggestion, was sent forward to caution them against 
 making such a noise. 
 
 " What are you kicking up such a hullabulloo for, there 
 below ? " he inquired, in tones not remarkably soft or kind. 
 " One would think the ship was turned into a den of wild 
 beasts, with your bowlings, and your screams and roars. If 
 you cannot make less noise, dowse the glim, and turn in, and 
 the sooner the better." 
 
 His harangue was brought to an abrupt conclusion by a 
 loud burst of merriment and music, which the wind wafted 
 from the cabin, where the mirth waxed fast and furious, and 
 one of the visitors, Captain Somers, of the brig Conqueror, of 
 New York, who had a voice that could be heard at the mast 
 head in a hurricane, now began to sing the " Bay of Biscay " 
 at the very top of his lungs and the voices of the other 
 cabin guests, strengthened by repeated glasses of Madeira, 
 brandy, and champagne, nobly swelled the chorus, as they 
 bellowed with wonderful power and effect, 
 
SATURDAY NIGHT BEVELS. 399 
 
 " As she lay 
 
 On that day, 
 In the BAY OF BISCAY ! " 
 
 Mr. Dalrymple felt the absurdity as well as injustice of rebuk 
 ing the sailors for their boisterous merriment, when they were 
 only imitating, in a humble way, the example of their supe 
 riors. He walked aft, muttering something not very compli 
 mentary to the habits and conduct of his captain. 
 
 " I say, shipmates," said a young fellow, named Nicholas 
 Bolton, who belonged to the barque Chemistry, of Boston, " we 
 are making a tremendous noise, there s no use denying it, and 
 it s all nonsense ; we may as well be quiet if we wish to keep 
 out of difficulty ; and, if you like, I 11 sing you a song not 
 one of your rowdy ditties, with a chorus as big as a ninety- 
 barrel sperm whale, and as rough as the back of a shovel- 
 nosed shark but a soft, gentle affair, that will cause no 
 noise nor disturbance." 
 
 " A song ! a song ! Nick Bolton s song ! " shouted several 
 voices ; and the youth, with a clear, melodious, but unculti 
 vated voice, sang with tolerable effect the following 
 
 SONG. * 
 
 " As once I strayed through fields and meads, 
 
 To pass the twilight hour, 
 
 I met a damsel gathering flowers, 
 
 Herself the fairest flower. 
 Her cheeks were like the rose s blush, 
 
 Her neck like lilies fair, 
 On which in witching ringlets fell 
 
 Her glossy, raven hair. 
 
 " I gazed upon her graceful form, 
 
 I marked her sparkling eyes ; 
 
 And, captivated by her charms, 
 
 Resolved to win the prize. 
 I seized her hand, and said, * Fair maid, 
 0, will you marry me 7 
 
400 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 I am an honest sailor true, 
 Who ploughs the stormy sea. 
 
 " She blushed, she smiled, then quick replied, 
 
 0, no, kind sir, not I ! 
 And while she spoke a roguish leer 
 
 Was seen in her dark eye. 
 * I d rather wed a landsman true, 
 
 Who 11 live at home with me, 
 Than twenty gallant sailors bold, 
 
 Whose home is on the sea ! " 
 
 " That gal was a fool ! " shouted Jack Hastings, screwing 
 up his face until it resembled a monkey s that had been drink 
 ing vinegar. " I wonder if she ever got a husband. At any 
 rate, I pity the man who married her. Your song don t 
 amount to much, Nick ; it is a milk-and-water sort of a thing." 
 And Jack thundered forth, in his peculiar voice 
 
 " Success to the damsel, wherever she be, 
 Who smiles on the rover that ploughs the dark sea, 
 Whose feelings are kind, whose affections are true, 
 Who loves the bold tar with his jacket of blue." 
 
 " Chorus, my hearties ! " shouted Jack Hastings. " Let s 
 give it to em strong ! " 
 
 " Jacket of blue, boys jacket of blue ! 
 Who loves the bold tar with HIS JACKET OF BLUE ! " 
 
 " Hist ! " exclaimed Nick Bolton, who tried in vain to sup 
 press the boisterous shouts of his shipmates. " What s the 
 use of making noise enough to rouse all hands on board every 
 ship in port ? " 
 
 " Sure enough ! " said aklec Doolittle imploringly. " And 
 here comes Tantarabogus again. Now we shall catch it ! " 
 
 And, sure enough, Mr. Hawkins, to whom Alec had ap 
 plied most unjustly the above disparaging epithet, again 
 approached the fore-scuttle with hasty strides. 
 
 f . 
 
SATURDAY NIGHT REVELS. 401 
 
 " Halloo, there below ! " said he, in a voice trembling with 
 passion. " I won t put up with this rascally riot any longer. 
 There is as much screaming and howling among you as would 
 do credit to a boatswain s gang of evil spirits with their tails 
 just chopped off. And I tell you what it is, my lads " 
 
 " We were only singing, sir. It is Saturday night, sir ! " 
 said Jack Hastings, in a deprecatory tone. 
 
 " Singing ? " exclaimed Hawkins. " If you call that sing 
 ing, I don t know what you call howling. But I 11 tell you 
 what it is, lads if I hear any more such singing, as you 
 call it, I 11 order you aloft to send down the top-gallant-masts, 
 and there you 11 be able to sing to some tune." 
 
 And Mr. Hawkins walked aft, with his hands clenched, his 
 teeth grating against each other, and his face burning with 
 anger. He longed to fight somebody, and if he could have 
 had any excuse, might have turned to upon his friend and 
 fellow-officer, Mr. Dalryniple, who would not have been back 
 ward in returning the compliment, for his feelings were not,- 
 at this time, nearly twelve o clock at night, of a very amiable 
 character. 
 
 " Send down the top-gallant-masts to-night ! " cried Jack 
 Hastings. " Wheugh ! I should like to see him try it. I 
 thought Mr. Hawkins was a good fellow once ; but he 
 proves to be a real dog in the manger. Because he can t 
 share in a frolic himself, he won t let nobody else ! " 
 
 " He feels vexed, I spose, and it s but natural he should," 
 growled Bob Simpkins, " to see such fun and frolic in the 
 forecastle and in the cabin, while he and the " second Dicky " 
 can only hold on the slack. They are what I call tanta- 
 lussed." 
 
 " Tantalussed ! " exclaimed Jack Hastings. " That s a 
 booktionary word, I suppose ; what do you mean by tanta- 
 lussed ? " 
 
 Why, don t you know what tantalussed means ? You re 
 84* 
 
402 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 a bigger fool than I thought you were, Jack ! Tantalus was 
 an old chap, who, for some of his good deeds, I suppose, was 
 clapped in the bilboes, and kept on short allowance, or rather 
 no allowance at all, while all sorts of drinking, eating, fid 
 dling and dancing were going on around him ; and so, d ye 
 see, when a man is placed in such a queer fix, folks say he is 
 tantalussed." 
 
 Jack looked at Bob Simpkins, while a frown, as dark as a 
 Hatteras squall, was rapidly gathering on his brow, and pre 
 monitory symptoms of a regular forecastle row appeared ; for 
 several of the company were rapidly verging towards that 
 stage of intoxication which disposes men to quarrel with 
 everybody arid everything around them. But Nicholas Bolton, 
 naturally a quietly-disposed, peaceable youth, with praise 
 worthy presence of mind, sought to prevent it by calling 
 upon Bob Simpkins for a song. 
 
 " Come, Bob," said he, " you promised us a song, and we 
 can t let you off without one. So, tune up, my good fellow. 
 But give us one that s got no chorus to it." 
 
 " He sing ! " muttered Jack between his teeth. " You 
 might as well listen to the creaking of a snatch-block ! " 
 
 This observation was unheeded by Bob, who, after some 
 preliminary flourishes, and several desperate and affectedly- 
 fashionable efforts to clear his pipes, burst forth into a most 
 dolorous tune, with the following words : 
 
 ** One morning, one morning, one morning in May, 
 I spied a pretty fair maid a-raking of hay : 
 Her cheeks they were so rosy, her " 
 
 But a spiteful and uproarious laugh from Jack Hastings, 
 in which two or three others joined, completely drowned the 
 rest of his song, and induced Bob to turn round, and with an 
 air of defiance, and a flourish of his fists, ask Jack what he 
 was laughing at. 
 
SATURDAY NIGHT REVELS. 403 
 
 At this question, Jack screamed louder than before. " Ha, 
 ha, ha !" shouted he, " I was laughing to think ha, ha, 
 ha ! to think that a pretty fair maid would be raking hay 
 in the month of May ! Ha, ha, ha ! In my country they 
 never rake hay in May or January ! Ha, ha, ha ! " 
 
 But his burst of mirth was changed into a paroxysm of a 
 different kind, when Bob fetched him a smart rap across the 
 muzzle, which dislodged a couple of his teeth, and inflicted a 
 feeling far more akin to pain than pleasure, accompanied with 
 the unkind remark that he would not be able to laugh again 
 for one week, anyhow ! 
 
 Jack hit back as soon as he could recover his balance, 
 and as pretty a disturbance was got up, extempore, as a per 
 son would wish to see on a summer s day. Blows were inter 
 changed and passed around without ceremony, and a regular 
 game of " rough and tumble " was commenced, when loud 
 voices, as of many persons in wrathful altercation, were heard 
 on deck, and Mr. Hawkins and Mr. Dalrymple both came 
 forward, and peremptorily ordered up the men belonging to 
 the other vessels, to go into their boats. This nipped the 
 raw in its bud. And while the men are slowly tumbling up, 
 muttering and grumbling, we will take a glance at the doings 
 in the after part of the vessel. 
 
 Here, as I have already said, reigned revelry and mirth. 
 The glass went briskly round, healths were drunk, jokes 
 cracked, stories were told, and songs were sung. And here, 
 as in the forecastle, were much wit and good-humor at the 
 outset, which, I regret to record it, degenerated, as the night 
 advanced, into obstreperous shouts, coarseness and vulgarity. 
 And when " the witching time of night " approached, there 
 was precious little difference in the character of the carou 
 sals in the forecastle and the cabin, although the immedi 
 ate agent in the one case was N. E. rum and aguadiente, 
 
404 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 and, in the other, the more expensive stimulants, cognac and 
 wine. 
 
 Patriotic and amatory songs were sung, for intoxicating 
 drinks have a powerful effect in expanding love and patriot 
 ism, and many toasts and sentiments were drunk, until the 
 jovial fellows began to feel wonderfully light in the upper 
 story, and not a little heavy about the lower extremities. 
 Their vocal powers, nevertheless, were not impaired. In 
 deed, their tongues seemed to have been oiled, so dexterously 
 did the muscles play that set them in motion. All went on 
 harmoniously, however ; that is, there was no quarrelling or 
 fighting, or aught approximating to it, until about twelve 
 o clock, when Captain Somers, striking the table three times 
 with his brawny fist, to attract attention, proclaimed that he 
 would give a sentiment. 
 
 " Fill your glasses, gentlemen," said he, " to the brim 
 and no heel-taps, mind ! I 11 give you The President of the 
 United States and all his Cabinet, as honest a set of fellows 
 as ever gave the word to haul taught and belay. " 
 
 The sentiment was drunk amid acclamations by all the 
 company, excepting old Captain Hazlewood, of the brig Poly 
 phemus, of Saco, who was a good deal of a politician, but 
 who unfortunately happened to be on the other side. His 
 glass remained untouched. 
 
 " Hallo ! " shouted Somers, " why don t you toss off your 
 glass, Captain Hazlewood, hey ? " 
 
 " Because I believe the president and his cabinet are a set 
 of shabby fellows, and I would sooner lend a hand to seize 
 them up to the main rigging, and give each of them a dozen, 
 than drink their healths ! " 
 
 " And I think," shouted Captain Somers, his eyes kindling 
 with wrath, " that the man who will pass his wine at such a 
 time as this, deserves to have it thrown in his face ! " And, 
 suiting the action to the word, he reached his long arm across 
 
SATURDAY NIGHT REVELS. 
 
 405 
 
 the table, seized the full glass, and threw it slap into the face 
 of the astonished Hazlewood ! 
 
 This act caused a sensation among the company, which was 
 increased when Hazlewood, after drawing his hand across 
 his eyes to clear his sight, and enable him to take good aim, 
 clutched a decanter which was standing on the table near 
 him, and hurled it with fury at the man who had so grossly 
 insulted him ! It took effect just between his eyebrows, and 
 capsized him in an instant. 
 
 There was now great confusion in the cabin of the Pan- 
 dolfo. Mr. Hodgkins, a friend of Captain Somers, no sooner 
 beheld that worthy man so unceremoniously stretched in a 
 horizontal position on the floor, than he sprang upon the table ; 
 
406 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 and, amid the crash of tumblers, glasses and decanters, and 
 the shouts of the excited company, attacked Captain Hazle- 
 wood with great fury. Somers, with the blood streaming over 
 his face, rose from the floor, and, pouring forth whole volumes 
 of threats and imprecations, joined in the fray. Hazlewood 
 received some hard knocks before Captain Snyder and one or 
 two others could interfere and hustle him on deck, which they 
 did under pretence of finding room for a fair fight. Captain 
 Snyder then, while the altercation was renewed, and threatened 
 serious consequences, called to his mates to order the crews 
 into the boats at once ; and the men were summoned, as be 
 fore related. 
 
 But the men, by this time, were exceedingly surly and inde 
 pendent, and, being called away in the midst of some very 
 pretty quarrels of their own, were in no hurry to make their 
 appearance on deck. And when they staggered up, at last, 
 their mutterings and insolent language elicited a sharp rebuke 
 from Mr. Dalrymple, which was replied to by a note of defi 
 ance from one of the sailors. Two or three of the captains, 
 who were not so far gone but that they could distinguish the 
 voices of their men, now stepped into the waist to reprove the 
 refractory seamen, and subject them to discipline ; when Mr. 
 Dalrymple, whose temper, by this time was none of the sweet 
 est, hit one of the fellows who had replied to him with inso 
 lence a hearty blow under the ear, which threw him on his 
 beam-ends ! 
 
 This was the signal for a general set-to. All hands were 
 now on deck. They saw the blow, and with loud shouts fell 
 on the mates. Captain Snyder and all his friends entered 
 briskly into the combat ; and blows were interchanged with a 
 hearty good will, amid loud shouts of " That s right, Bill ! " 
 Hit him again, Bob!" "That s a settler, my good fel 
 low ! " &c., &c. 
 
 The combatants soon got intermingled with each other, so 
 
SATURDAY NIGHT REVELS. 407 
 
 that it was impossible for them, obfuscated as their faculties 
 were, to distinguish a friend from an enemy; and furious 
 blows were dealt about in the most impartial manner. Even 
 the two mates, who were quite sober, fought with tremendous 
 energy, and were by no means particular with regard to whom 
 they attacked. They were glad to let off a little of the steam 
 they had been bottling up, and seemed to act with much zeal 
 upon the advice of the Irishman to a Yankee friend at Don- 
 nybrook, or some other fair namely, "Whenever you see 
 a head, hit it ! " 
 
 What the result of this^terrible engagement would have 
 been, if they had been left to fight it out, it is impossible to 
 say. One captain, one supercargo, and three sailors, were 
 stretched, hors de combat, on the deck that is, they were 
 completely done up and several others had cracked crowns 
 and bloody noses, when two large boats, filled with soldiers, 
 well armed, dashed alongside. The officers boldly boarded the 
 Pandolfo, followed by the soldiers, and, after a short struggle, 
 succeeded in subduing and capturing the belligerents in detail. 
 
 And now there was a terrible jabbering on the decks of 
 that ship. The sailors were anxious to tell their story, and 
 exculpate themselves from blame ; the captains, also, stoutly 
 maintained that the whole cause of the disturbance might be 
 found in the disorderly and mutinous conduct of the sailors, 
 who were a set of drunken fellows, and would always kick up 
 a row whenever they could get rum. The Brazilians were 
 not backward in doing their share of the talking, and it was 
 a long time before the question of blame could be decided, and 
 harmony and quiet restored. This was at last done, by de 
 ciding that the sailors alone were to blame, and deserved pun 
 ishment for their insolent, mutinous, drunken and outrageous 
 conduct ! 
 
 Six of the most turbulent and noisy of the men were there 
 fore singled out, put in irons, and transferred unceremoniously 
 
408 SALT WATER BUBBLES. 
 
 from the deck of the Pandolfo to the guard-boats alongside, 
 and then conveyed to the guard-ship lying at anchor at the 
 mouth of the harbor. Here they were thrust into a dark and 
 noisome hole, where unsavory vapors and mephitic mists 
 abounded, and for a week, which seemed to these poor, bruised, 
 unfortunate fellows an age, they were fed on a very scanty 
 diet, consisting of caravances (a species of bean), rancid olive 
 oil, mouldy bread, and garlic. At the end of that time they 
 were glad enough to promise better behavior in future, and 
 returned to their respective vessels, wiser at least, if not bet 
 ter, for their week s incarceration on board a Brazilian man- 
 of-war. 
 
 So much for Saturday night revels on ship-board in days 
 gone by, when intoxicating drinks were freely used in the 
 cabin and the forecastle, and were the origin of a vast deal of 
 trouble, discontent, insolence, oppression, fighting, flogging and 
 imprisonment. But those days, we trust, have passed away. 
 The vile and dangerous effects of indulging an appetite for 
 strong drinks, especially at sea, are now well known. If a 
 man sins, he now sins with his eyes wide open, and deserves 
 all the punishment which he will, in some shape or another, 
 surely receive. And if a ship-master, with the light of knowl 
 edge upon this subject upon him and around him, will persist 
 in resorting to this stimulus, in these days, endangering the 
 peace of his ship s company, and jeoparding the property and 
 lives under his charge, he is unworthy to have any confidence 
 reposed in him, but should be stripped of his command with 
 all possible despatch.