THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES "l PLUNGED INTO THE ARMS OF A MAN AT THE H ELM. " Page U2. THE YOUNG WRECKER OF THE FLORIDA REEF; OR, THE Trials and Adventures of Fred Eansom, BY RICHARD MEADE BACHE. ifth (Edition. PHILADELPHIA: ALFRED M ARTIE N, 1214 CHESTNUT STREET. Entered according to Act of Congress, in tho year 1869, by CLAXTON, REMSEN & HAFFELFINGER, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Q * THE author has endeavored, in the following story, to 3J deviate as little as possible from fact, so as to combine ^-v ** instruction with amusement. Personal familiarity with - 1 the scene of the tale has enabled him to make its descrip tions strictly accurate. The incidents are natural, many of fbi ** them having actually occurred. The original of Dr. Cluzel c\| was the well-known Dr. Perrine, whose amiable character, and great enthusiasm in the cause of science, caused hia untimely death to be universally regretted. 0' o Q O a ui 449807 CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. An Old Bachelor introduces himself to the Young Reader Describes his present Appearance and Feelings Promises to tell the Story of the Adventures of his Boyhood 9 CHAPTER II. Our Hero, moved by a Spirit of Adventure, begs his Father to grant him permission to make a Voyage He is refused Repines at what he considers his hard Fate Makes the Acquaintance of the Son of a Sea-Captain Renews his Request to his Father, and is again re fused \isits his Friend, and runs away by Accident 13 CHAPTER III. The Mystery of the preceding Chapter explained Our Hero's painful reflections His position on the Schooner Flying-Fish, Porpoises, Dolphins. Whales Diversions of the Crew Southern Cross Gulf Stream Water-Spouts Arrival off the port of Havana Gloomy forebodings again overwhelm our Hero His letter home Captain Edson's Sympathy and Advice 23 CHAPTER IV. Sunrise off Havana The Harbor The Wrecker Filling Cloud Cap tain Edson's promise His Visit to the Wrecker Mingled despon dency and hope 44 CHAPTER V. Captain Edson's Mission crowned with Success The Captain of the Wrecker an old Friend Captain Edson obtains a Situation as Cabin- Boy for his Protege, who, in mentioning his Name to his Employer, necessarily announces it to the Reader 52 CHAPTER VI. Captain Bowers gives Fred Ransom a vacant berth in the Cabin Fred Ransom performs his Duties aboard of the Schooner The Captain gives him leave to go Ashore The Quays, Fish-Market, Havana Lottery, Volantes, the Paseo, Tomb of Columbus, Captain- General of Cuba 58 CHAPTER VII. The Flying Clmid sails from Havana The Vessel The Crew The Cook The Newfoundland dog, Jack 71 CHAPTER VIII. The Flying Cloud anchors off the Marquesas A party from the Schooner go ashore The Srenery of tne Keys and inner Ba)' The Graining One of the Party devoured by a" Shark 70 1* VI CONTEXTS. CHAPTER IX. The Discourse of Bill Rtiggles The announcement of the Norwe gian's Fate to the Captain and Crew Their Horror The Captain's Sermon The Burial Service The Schooner sails UO CHAPTER X. Captain Bowers Key West The Conchs 98 CHAPTER XI. Captain Tuft and his Friends The Excursion to Sand Key Captain Tuft's Cook. Sol Reflections on the Wonders of the Reef The Re turn to Key West lui CHAPTER XII. The Character of the Sailor Landing Wild Cattle The Mad Bull The Captain's intention to Sail 112 CHAPTER XIII. The effect of a Gale upon the Color of the Water about the Reef The Flying Cloud sails from Key West Her cruise between the Florida Reef and Keys 118 CHAPTER XIV. Fred Ransom describes (he Reef and Keys, in order that the Reader may more fully enjoy the Adventures which are to follow, and also acquire some knowledge well worth obtaining 122 CHAPTER XV. How the occupation of Wrecking is pursued Observations on the Character of the Wreckers 132 CHAPTER XVI. The Flying Clovd weighs Anchor She comes to Anchor at her Wreck ing Station The Wrecker's Life 130 CHAPTER XVII. Fred Ransom's first day's experience at Wrecking He, Rill Rnirglps, John Linden, Thomas Deal, and Dennis Hracly, the Irishman. go ashore They tr.ke Jack, who always wants to be one of a 1'nrty where there is likely to be any Sport HI CHAPTER XVIII. The Boating Party land A Mishap befalls Dennis Brady He speedily recovers Rugsjles among the Cormorants and Pelicans The Puny capture a Jew-Fish? Turtling Postponed 151 CHAPTER XIX. The Fh/ing Clrrud inspects the Reef Captain Bowers sends the Men Bohore for Wood Brady has bad luck again lots CHAPTER XX. The Men are sent Ashore again They Resume the Wooding of the Schuouer lianuiUtl provides them with a Treat for Supper 174 CONTENTS. Vii CHAPTER XXI. The Men goTurtUng They meet an Acquaintance to whom they par marked attention Something about Turtles What Switchcl is A Garden on the Bottom of the Sea 179 CHAPTER XXII. The Flin'rtfj Cloud rides out a Gale A Disaster on the Reef The Flying Cloud arrives the Day after the Fair 193 CHAPTER XXIII. Fred Ransom gives some Extracts from his Journal, which records some curious things that he saw and something of what he did and the news that he received 107 CHAPTER XXIV. George Bowers and the long-expected News from Home The tide in the Affairs of Fred Ransom is at the Flood which, Shakespeare says, "Leads on to Fortune." 203 CHAPTER XXV. The Kate Ramsey relieves the Flying Clmtd on the Station north of In dian Kev The latter SHils for Cape Florida Fred Ransom and George Bowers listen to the Men spinning Yarns Brady excels all the rest 217 CHAPTER XXVI. The Anchorage at Cape Florida Fred Ransom and George Bower? What they did, and what they saw, after they were put m command of a Dingy 229 CHAPTER XXVII. The two quarter-boats are sent to the Main-land to procure Water at the Punch-Bowl A Storm A Ship insight Captain Bowers sails to give his Advice and render Assistance The Ship goes ashore on the Reef. .1 234 CHAPTER XXVIII. Rescue of the Ship's Crew All aboard the Flying Clnud The Storm continues The Flying Cloud lying at her Anchors and riding out the Gale 243 CHAPTER XXIX. The Wreck driven higher on the Reef Wreckers heave in sight- Two are retained by Captain Bowers They take a load from the Ship, and sail for Key West Brady's quarrel on shore with the ' Bis; Ingiu," and how it ended 207 CHAPTER XXX. The Water subsides along the Reef The Flying Cloud continues the Wrecking The irrepressible Brady describes the appearance of the Irish Indians The Return of the two Wreckers All the Wreckers weigh anchor Fred Ransom makes the Acquaintance of the family of Captuai Bowers 26ft Vlll CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXXI. The Salvage settled by the Admiralty Court in Key West The Flying Cloud sails from Key West She comes to anchor off Indian Key The Captain. George, and Fred, go ashore and spend the evening With the family of Doctor Cluzel 27i CHAPTER XXXII. The Flyintj Cloud sails from Indian Key She arrives at her old An chorage The Captain visits the Wreck The Crew set to work to save the Iron about it 281 CHAPTER XXXIII. George Bowers and Fred Ransom make a Voyage The Oak Forests on St. John's River The Captain's invitation to the boys on their Return Fishing at night, without hooks or bait The Sport, and how it was enjoyed 286 CHAPTER XXXIV. How to find a Turtle's Nest Habits of the Turtle Turning Turtles 293 CHAPTER XXXV. The Miami The Everglades The Deer-Hunt The Siesta The Fight with Panthers Indians prowling in the Forest BOS CHAPTER XXXVI. The Return to the Forest The Surprise by Indians The Capture of George The Pursuit The Rescue 321 CHAPTER XXXVII. The Captain giv*M the Alarm The Commandant's Suspicions His Re quest to the Oaptain The Indian's Confession Jack's Death and Burial 335 CHAPTER XXXVIII. The Flt/ir.g Cloud sails for Indian Key The Message from Captain Bowers to Dr. Cluzcl No Attack expected that Nix n't The Surprise The Massacre The Murder of the Doctor The Escape of his Family and of Fred Hansom 341 CHAPTER XXXIX. Fred Ransom's Reflections A Ship on Fire The Rescue of the Crew Mutual Recognition 3(50 CHAPTER XL. Arrival at Key West Fred Ransom and Party sail for New York Tha Voyage Home The Old Bachelor's Adieu 377 THE YOUNG WRECKER, OR FRED RANSOM. x. AN OLD BACHELOR INTRODUCES HIMSELF TO THE YOUNG RE ADER - DESCRIBES HIS PRES ENT APPEARANCE AND FEELINGS - TELLS THE STORY OF THE ADVENTURES OF HIS BOYHOOD. AM an old bachelor. I have reached that time of life at which we old fellows are generally supposed to be fat, and to wear gold spectacles and very easy shoes. If you will pic ture me thus, the result will be a suf ficiently accurate portrait of my per sonal appearance and identity. Although I am about to write some of my own adventures, I do not purpose writing about my present self, but of myself when I was very different from the sketch which I have" made. 10 THE YOUNG WP.ECKEH, Every old bachelor was once a young one, and every young one was once still younger, when, although a bachelor, he was known only as a boy. It is the story of the boy, who is now an old bachelor, that I am about to narrate. As you may perchance wish to know some thing of the character and feelings of the person who addresses you, and how he came to do so, I will indulge your curiosity. We old fellows have not all those cares of family which fill the hours of others with pleas urable duty, and time often hangs heavily on our hands. Many of us try to do our duty. Heaven forbid that we should be blind to the need that this world has of earnest workers ! But, after all, a man may minister to the needs of others, and yet there come vacant hours, when he must return to himself, and require ministering to his own. If he lacks not plenty of the goods of this world, he may have heart- yearnings that are quite as pitiable as hunger, thirst, and want of shelter. Would that every one could be spared the sharp pang that I have sometimes experienced when fondling the joy and pride of some household, the chubby boy who tossed his arms with glee, and twined his little hands in my shaggy beard ! Sometimes, especially at night, when I return to rny lonely chambers, and feel the influence OP. FRED RANSOM. 11 of a home where there is no presence of a life closely allied to mine, a vague, aching sense of void bends over my nature. But these are feel ings which you are now too young to compre hend, and which I trust that you may never experience. I read, walk, go where my services are needed, I force myself to accomplish set tasks; but yet, with all this, I am not contented. Of friends I am not destitute. One may possess friends, and still be very lonely; for one can not live forever at their houses. So it happens that I generally dine at my club, but now and then I accept a friend's hospitality. But I am not sufficiently engaged, for regular employ ment is necessary to happiness. I will write, thought I. If I have no boys of my own to listen to the story of their father's life, the family of boys in the world is large enough to gratify my wish for hearers. I had often thought of writing it, but my intentions came to nought, until a trivial incident, occurring a few days ago, fixed my resolution to carry out the project. I will now tell you the circumstance which determined me to write, to show you upon what trifles great undertakings sometimes hinge, for it is no small undertaking to write a book, and then I shall enter upon the story of my adventures. 12 THE YOUNG WRECKER, The other day, I returned home after a lonely dinner, and throwing myself back in an easy chair, I went off into an after-dinner reverie. It was a warm afternoon, one of those when the atmosphere seems to hum with heat. At such a time, one's senses seem to be peculiarly alive to the impression of sounds, the faintest murmur being articulate, and yet a part of one grand chorus. A big fly kept droning around the room, except when it inserted itself in a crevice, and extricated itself with a whiz and dash against the nearest ob struction. Lulled by the intense heat and the buzz of the insect, my mind rambled away to the places in which I had spent some of my earlier years. I vividly recalled the tropical scenes, among which I had once passed my days. They came to me like a story of adventure, and passed in review as if a diorama unrolled before me. Suddenly the big fly struck violently against my face. I started, and made a switch at it with my pocket-handkerchief. " Too bad," I thought, " to miss the rest." I laughed aloud, as I exclaimed with delight, "Why it is my own story. If it could be so interesting as a reminiscence, why would it not prove interest ing to those who have never heard it? My mind is made up, I will write it for the enter tainment of others, and for my own." OS FRED EANSOM. 13 n. OUR HERO, MOVED BY A SPIRIT OF ADVEN TURE, BEGS HIS FATHER TO GRANT HIM PERMISSION TO MAKE A VOYAGE-HE IS RE FUSED- REPINES AT WHAT HE CONSIDERS HIS HARD FATE-MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE OF THE SON OF A SEA-CAPTAIN-RENEWS HIS REQUEST TO HIS FATHER, AND IS AGAIN REFUSED -VISITS HIS FRIEND, AND RUNS AWAY BY ACCIDENT. WAS born, not of. " poor but re spectable parents," as the phrasa goes, but of respectable parents who were well-to-do in the world. At an early age, my father settled in New York. He was an Englishman, born in the town of Sheffield. Soon after his arrival in this country, he es tablished himself in New York, in the busi ness for which Sheffield is famed, and very soon afterwards he married the lady who was the mother of our hero myself. Not many years after that event, my poor mother died. Not so early, however, that I have not a distinct recol lection of her; but early enough for me to lose, 11 THE YOUNG WRECKER, at a tender age, the affection and cherished counsel which exercise so great an influence over the life of every one who has been so for tunate as to possess them. My father intended me for his ovrn business, but having a thorough appreciation of the value of a good education for every one, no matter what course of life may be pursued, he placed me at an excellent school in the city, intending to keep me there until I should be at least seventeen years of age. "Without having any distaste for business generally, or for my father's business in particular, I grew up with that indefinable longing that is common to many boys a desire to roam. A vague feeling constantly beset me that I must ramble somewhere in the world. I persuaded myself that if my wish were gratified, my propensity might be overcome. It was not long before I imparted these feelings to my father, and beg ged him to let me go upon a voyage of some sort ; but .1 found him opposed to it, and I thought him obdurate. Pie represented to me,, that my wish was nothing but a sense less craving for excitement, and that if it were manfully resisted, it could be sub dued, and that it was my duty to conquer it. All this he eaid to me, talking as many a father has done to his son, and will do fruitlessly to the OH FEED RANSOM. 15 m end t>f timo. My arguments were based, as I have intimated, upon the very reverse reasoning. I contended that the gratification of my wish would serve the purpose of alfeying my desire, and that deprivation would only serve to increase it. We could come to no satisfactory conclusion, as we were so diametrically opposed, and time passed, and, after a while, the subject was not resumed between us. I saw that he was fixed in his determination not to give his consent to my wish, and when, after many unavailing attempts to shake his purpose, I came to this conclusion, I was silent in refer ence to the matter. Meanwhile, I continued to go to school, and to fulfil my duties, but I also continued to brood over the hard fate, as 1 thought it, which pre vented me from seeing something of the world, and which would probably sente'nce me to a life spent without ever visiting those scenc.3 which I delighted to picture in my mind. Whether it was that I had a natural 'propensity ibr rambling, or whether the obstinacy of my niture had been aroused by the opposition with which the first expression of my wishes had been met, or whether both these causes con spired to render me impatient of control, and doubly desirous of escape from it, I do not know; but certain it is, that my longing to 16 TEE YOUNG WRECKER, travel somewhere became daily more intense. However, I pursued my studies with some relish, for books have always been to me sources of interest and e, rising out of dark, rugged rocks, and contrast ing with the undulating lines of Moro Castle, completes the outline on the left of the en trance. The reader must add to the masonry a tint of dark yellow, in vivid relief amidst tropical green. Under these southern skies, nature blends colors, and adds shades of her own. Man can scarcely devise any thing so hideous, that, in time, she will not beautify it with vegetation, and paint it with a master hand. On the right of the entrance, the ground is low, and there, houses are numerous, but the city does not fairly commence until just beyond the narrow gut which leads from the sea. As the wind was ahead and very light and the passage narrow; short as it was, we would have had to make many tacks before getting inside of the main harbor, had we not lowered our sails, put some men in the jolly-boat, and towed the schooner througn. The wrecker had preceded us by half an hour, and we could see her lying at anchor in the harbor. OR FRED RANSOM. 49 Yv 7 hen llie men had pulled about four or fivo hundred yards, we came in plain view of Ha vana, which is situated on the right of the harbor, a land-locked bay, whose only com munication with the sea is through the narrow passage described. The unhealthiness of Ha vana can, in part, be properly attributed to its situation on the bay, which, filled with nume rous shipping, from which filth of all kinds is constantly discharged, lies under a tropical sun that must breed disease from its almost staor- O nant waters. The tides in this portion of the Gulf of Mexico rise and fall only between one and two feet ; so that ^in Havana there is no influx and reflux of vast quantities of water which would cleanse the harbor of its impu rities. We were soon swinging at anchor. Now that the excitement caused by our arrival and the novel scenes which presented themselves, had ceased to distract my thoughts from the uneasy reflections which had beset me, I re lapsed into the gloomy train of reflection which my unhappy situation engendered. I was look ing disconsolately at the shore, and completely lost in my thoughts of home, when I started at being touched on the shoulder. Turning around, I saw the captain, who smiled pleas antly, and said: 5 50 THE YOUNG WRECL.ER, " Now, my lad, cheer up. Don't be down hearted. All will come right. You have ex plained every thing in your letter to your father. He'll believe you, I know. You see I'm a father myself, and I know how ono feels." This was balm indeed to me, for my doubts of my ability to take care of myself weighed lightly in the balance, compared with the heart ache which I experienced when I allowed my self, for an instant, to dwell upon the thought that my father might perchance refuse to be lieve my story, repudiate me, spurn my love, and, perhaps, even declare that I should never have his forgiveness. Loving, I had always known him- to be, but then I was about to call upon him to credit what appeared to be an im possibility. " Captain," I said, turning towards my kind friend, " you have said the very word I needed. It is n't the thought of how I 'm to get along, that distresses me, but just what you said." " Well, then, cheer up," said the captain, in reply. " I tell you again, it will all come right rny word for it. For the present, I '11 help you out of one part of your trouble. I did n't intend to stay very long in this port, but I '11 settle your affairs before I sail, or else I '11 never leave it. I 'm bound for that wreckei OE FEED RANSOM. 51 ' now. You wait here. I can get along without you better than if you were with me. Keep up your courage. Hollo," he shouted, to the men in the jolly-boat, which was now lying along-side, " drop a little astern." He threw his leg over the schooner's rail, caught hold of the man-ropes at the side, and, in a jiffy, he was steering for the schooner; and I was left on deck wistfully looking after him, until Charley came up, and began to chaff me in regular boy-fashion, as to whether I hadn't had about enough adventure. At a certain age, boys are apt to possess so little sensibility, that they are often brutal without meaning to be. However, on this occasion, I was not hurt. The captain's certainty that with, my father all would come right, coupled with my strong hope that I should be able to get a place aboard of the wrecker, had revived my spirits. I felt as if I had quaffed some subtle elixir that quickened my pulses and made my heart beat high with hope. THE TOUNQ WKECZEH, CIHI^IPTIEIR, CAPTAIN EDSON'S MISSION CROWNED WITH SUCCESS THE CAPTAIN OF THE WRECKER AN OLD FRIEND CAPTAIN EDSON OBTAINS A SITUATION AS CABIN-BOY FOR HIS PRO- TEG E* , WHO, IN MENTIONING HIS NAME TO HIS EMPLOYER, NECESSARILY ANNOUNCES IT TO THE READER. hour passed before I saw the cap tain's boat quit the side of the wrecker and row for our vessel. The length of the captain's absence had created in my mind a misgiving that his mission had been unsuccess ful. Now that I saw him leaving the wrecker, I rejoiced; for to know the worst was better than to be in suspense. As my gaze was directed towards the boat, I saw the captain rise up in the stern-sheets and wave his hat. I was instantly relieved he had suc ceeded. In a few minutes he was aboard, and, shaking me by the shoulders, clapped me on the back, as he exclaimed, " I told you so. I felt in my bones that the vessel had arrived 'specially OHFREDKANSOM. 53 for you. Why, the captain turns out to be an old friend of mine, although I had not seen him for these fifteen years. That 's what kept me so long. Meeting an old friend that way, made me forget, for a few minutes, the business I went on. Then, when I came to talk of you, it took a few minutes longer. But there is no trouble about your shipping. He 's glad enough to get a boy. He says he 's wanted one for some time. The place is only a cabin-boy's, mind you, but I don't see that you can better yourself, for you 're not a sailor, and not even a man." I professed myself delighted, as you can very well imagine. Then the captain told me that the wrecker would not sail for two or three days, and that his own vessel must leave early the next morning, but that I should stay with him until just before sailing, when he would put me aboard of the Flying Cloud. He then left me, as he had to go ashore on business, and, by his advice, I went down into the cabin, and added a long postscript to my letter to my father. I told him to address his reply to Key "West, Florida. That is the port in which the wreckers "fit out", and receive letters, papers, and supplies of every kind. The captain, his son, and I, spent the evening together, and I felt as if I was about to leave friends whom I had known all my life; so 54 THE YOUNG WEECK^R, entirely do constant companionship, intercourse, and kindly offices disregard time as a measure of the length of friendship. My letter had been posted, and it would pro bably leave Havana in the course of a day or two. At the time of which I am speaking, no regular line of steam-ships plied between New York and New Orleans, touching at Havana on both trips; so it might be a month before my letter to my father would reach him, and another month before a letter could reach Key West. And then, if I were off on a wrecking cruise, as I expected to be, it might be three months before I should hear from New York. This was supposing the most unfavorable case, that each letter would be a month in reaching its destination ; but, then, both vessels carrying the mails, in which the letters were to go, might make short passages, and, instead of each being a month on the voyage, the time con sumed might be less than two weeks for each. This, on the other hand, was too favorable a sup position, so I concluded to take the mean, to allow three weeks for each trip. That would bring a reply to Key West in the course of six weeks. Allowing three weeks more before my letter reached me, at the unfrequented point where we would probably be stationed, I con cluded two months to be the time by which I OR FRED RANSOM. 55 might reasonably expect to hear from home. Before I turned in for the night, I had gone through my calculation many times, as people in such circumstances always do; and by dint of reasoning to myself, that, at the worst, it would not be very long before I should hear from my father, I felt more ease of mind than I had yet experienced. Matters appeared to be taking a satisfactory turn, and the captain's view of my father's action in my regard had had so happy an effect, that I resolved to give way no longer to despon dency. When day dawned, our deck was at once astir with preparation for departure. The captain Beamed grieved to be obliged to let me go, although he tried to be cheerful, and to give mo courage. I was very loth to leave; so much so, that I verily believe, had the choice of going or staying been mine, I would not have had resolu tion to put in practice the plan which had been so well matured. I was scarcely able to eat a morsel at breakfast, and, after that meal, I silently followed the captain out of the cabin. "While he was ordering the boat to be lowered, I bade good-bye to Charley, and then took my seat in the boat, by the captain's side. In eix or seven minutes, we were along-side of the wrecker. I clambered .up the side, after the 56 THE YOUNG WRECKER, captain, who gave me a shove by way of intro duction to a jolly-looking person who was stand ing on the quarter-deck to receive us, and whom he accosted as Bowers. " Mind you do well by this boy, Bowers," he said, "or else we two '11 fall out. He 's my property. He's a sort of a sea-waif that I picked up." Capt. Bowers' appearance was so very good- natured, that I at once felt relieved of the only doubt that I had had about my change of commanders. " And now," said Captain Edson, " I have not a moment to spare; I must take advantage of this wind. Good-bye, Bowers." He shook the captain's hand heartily, and then taking mine in both of his hands, he gave it a wring, and just as he released it, clasped it over a hard little package, which I mechanically clutched. "Good-bye, boy," he said, as he turned to go. "It will all come right. So far, so good." By the time that he had finished his last sentence, he was in the boat, and pulling rapidly away. I made a faint attempt at twirling my hat around my head, in token of farewell, but I failed miserably. I felt that I had lost a dear friend; as in truth I had, for I never saw him again. A few mouths afterwards he died of yellow fever. OIL FRED EANSOM. 57 "What did Captain Edson say your name was," inquired a voice at my ear ? "Fred Kansom, sir," I replied, starting and letting fall the paper which Captain Edson had left in my hand. "You've dropped something," said Captain Bowers ; " your money, I reckon, by the ring." " I have n't got any money, sir," I said, " un less" I paused, stooped, and recovered the paper, and hastily tore it open. Out rolled fif teen dollars in gold coin. 58 THE YOUNG WRECKER, VX. CAPTAIN BOWERS GIVES FRED RANSOM A VACANT BERTH IN THE CABIN FRED RAN- 6OM PERFORMS HIS DUTIES ABOARD OF THE SCHOONER-THE CAPTAIN GIVES HIM LEAVE TO GO ASHORE-THE QUAYS, FISH- MARKET, HAVANA LOTTERY, VOLANTES, THE PASEO, TOMB OF COLUMBUS, CAPTAIN-GEN ERAL OF CUBA. HE object of the wrecker's visit to Havana was to procure a supply of sugar for some of the merchants of Key West. Happening to be at Key West, for the purpose of undergoing repairs, which were just finished when the merchants desired to replenish their stocks of sugar, the vessel was chartered for the voyage to Havana. Her business in Havana was not to detain her more than two or three days, at the end of which time she. could in a few hours run over to Key West, which is about eighty-two miles distant. Captain Bowers turned out to be as good- natured as his appearance indicated. As Cap tain Edson had predicted, I was certainly in OR FRED RANSOM. 59 luck ; for, besides having a most desirable com mander, I was accommodated aboard the vessel, as I believe cabin-boy never was before. There was no bunk forward to spare, and this fact gave the captain a plausible excuse for granting me permission to occupy one of the vacant berths in the cabin. How Captain Bowers came to be guilty of this queer proceeding will bo best explained by the following conversation which ensued between us, immediately after I had gathered up the fugitive coin which had dispersed in as many directions as there were pieces. "Fred," said the captain, "my friend, Cap tain Edson, has told me all about your situation, and appealed to me to do the best I can for you. I intend to do that, if you deserve it. Whether you do, or not, is yet to be tested. Meantime I '11 take it for granted, and commence by doing the best I can for you. You 've been carefully brought up, and would n't find it very pleasant to stay forward with the crew, who are good fellows enough, but rather rough, and not exactly the kind of people you 've been used to living with. So, although I never heard of a cabin-boy's shipping in the cabin, as it happens my friend takes an interest in you, and I 'm dis posed to do the same, now I know your story, why you can have a berth in the cabin, and live 60 THE YOUNG WRECKER, aboard tlie schooner until you can get word from your father. You '11 have to serve the cabin, just like any other cabin-boy, and lend a hand any where you 're needed ; but I think you 're pretty well off for a chap who has got into such a scrape," " Indeed, I am, captain," I replied, " and I am very much obliged to you for your kindness to me, and I '11 do the best I can to deserve it." (This promise, let me here say, I religiously observed.) " Well, see that you do, and it 11 be the best thanks that you can give me," rejoined the cap tain. Now I Ve got through with what I had to say, and I 'm going ashore on business. What are you going to do with yourself? I answered that I supposed I would begin my duties immediately. " All right," said the captain, " I 'm glad to see that you realize your position. But after you get things set to rights, suppose you go ashore, and buy some clothes, for Captain Edson told me you had n't a stitch except what you Ve got on your back. Hold ! I guess you 'd better wait for that, until we arrive at Key West. This is an awfully dear place, and your money would n't go very far. However, if you 're inclined, you can go ashore to-morrow, and see the sights. I guess it will take you pretty much all day to day, to get things fixed about the cabin, as it has n't been cleared up this lon that is, if you have got through with your duties." " I have nothing to do, sir," I answered ; " unless you have something particular that you wish done." " No," said he, " nothing. If you Ve finished your regular duties, be off with you." The men, having provided themselves with axes and a keg of drinking water, placed them in the quarter-boat used for the purpose of wooding, and then lowered her from the davits. Jack was immediately seized with an anxious wagging of his tail, accompanied with alternate prostrations and gambols, in the midst of which he was gratified by being deposited in the boat. 168 THE YOUNG WEECZEE, The crew of the boat consisted of Buggies, Brady, Linden, Deal, and another Conch, and, as she pulled five oars, each man took an oar, and I occupied the stern-sheets, and steered for a point to which I was directed to head. The men gave way with a will, and in the course of fifteen minutes we landed on a Key a little over a mile distant from the schooner. One of the party was left in charge of the boat, and the rest proceeded into the thicket, which soon rang with the quickly descending strokes of the axe. Buggies, Lin den, Deal, and Brady, composed the party of woodmen. While the first three men were engaged in cutting down trees, Brady waa employed in lopping off the branches and twigs of those which had been felled. The party worked steadily for about half an hour, and began to feel so much heated with their exertions, as to wish for the water that had been left in the boat. Accordingly, I was de spatched to help the boat-tender to carry the little keg to the place where the men were at work. We soon returned with the keg, and the men drank the water greedily. The afternoon was sultry, and, in the midst of the mangroves, where not a breath of air stirred, the heat was intense. OR FEED RANSOM. 169 " It 's so moighty warrum in here," observed Brady, " I think 1 11 take off me shirrut before I do any more chapping." " You '11 be stung by mosquitoes, if you do," said Linden, as he observed Brady stripping off his woollen shirt, and tightening the leathern strap around his waist. " The muskatees is n't so bad as the hate," replied Brady, placing his shirt on the fallen trunk of a tree, and seating himself on it, as he hauled a branch towards him, and com menced to trim off the twigs. "And I've a notion, byes, to try the plan a naygur once told me was good for muskatees." " What was that, Brady ?" said Linden, pick ing up his axe, and taking an occasional chop at a neighboring tree. " Jest what you see," said Brady, " nothin' shorter, to sit in me buff. I wunst landed on one of thim Kays to the southward, and I see a naygur wid his pants strapped 'round his waist, and widout a rag of a shirrut. I says, 'ain't ye afeard to go that way for the muska tees.' ' No, indade,' he says, ' for this way they can 't get a good holdt o' me.' " "You wait till sundown dressed that fashion," said Kuggles, " and they '11 leave so little of you, they '11 have nothing to take hold on, sure enough." 15 170 THE YOUNG WRECKER, " Be me troth," replied Brady, " I 've liao enough exparience already, for I fale the var mints stingin' me awful. I '11 put on me shirrub widout any more loss o' time." The woods once again resounded with the vigorous blows of the axemen, as Brady slowly arose, picked up his shirt, and pulled it over his head. As he slipped his arms into the sleeves, he uttered an exclamation, hurriedly tore the shirt off, and dashed it away from him into the bushes. " What 's up now," said Linden, dropping his axe, and walking up to Brady, as he stood rooted to the ground, and clasping one of his arms. " The mather is I ? m bit wid a scorpion ; look at thut," said Brady, exposing the place where the scorpion had struck him, and which was already beginning to swell from the animal's venomous sting. " Murther, but it 's the bad luck I have !" " Be still, Brady," said Linden, " it hurts bad, but it isn't dangerous. I never knowed any one to die of it, 'cept an old woman in Key West, and the doctors didn't say positive. Put on your shirt, and we'll go right aboard and get some hartshorn from the captain's chest : that 's the best thing for it." The men had all desisted from their work, OE FEED EANSCM. 171 and grouped around Brady. His shirt was picked up and carefully inspected, and he had again pulled it over his head, and proceeded to about the same point in his dressing as in the former attempt, when he suddenly stopped, and tore it off as rapidly as before. "It's bewutched! it's bewutched!" he shouted, as he threw it from him. " I 'm bitten all over me chist and me arrums." He was, indeed, stung very severely. The scorpion, or whatever it was, had managed to wound him in half a dozen places, during the short time that he was engaged in extricating himself from his shirt. A couple of the men started towards the boat with him, while the rest picked up the shirt and reexamined it. The second inspection proved more successful than the first, for the scorpion was found in one of the folds of the shirt. One of the men Bpeared it with the point of his knife, and I had an excellent opportunity of examining it as we walked towards the boat. This specimen of the animal was about six inches in length, including the tail, which was composed of several joints terminating in a sharp hook. The body is provided with a pair of crab- like claws, with which the animal seizes its prey. As soon as we reached the shore, we got into 172 THE YOUNG W&ECKER, the boat, and put off towards the schooner, where we delivered Brady into the hands of the kind captain, who assured him that the stings, although numerous and painful, would not prove fatal, and led him away to the cabin, to undergo the usual treatment of hartshorn. When we had committed Brady to the charge of the captain, we took another man in his place, and returned to the beach, to load the boat with the wood that had been cut. In the course of an hour, during which we each made several trips between the woods and the boat, we managed to stow her so full that she was almost gunwale deep in the water. The sun had almost set by the time the men had unloaded their freight of wood, sawed or chopped it up, and thrown it into the hold of the schooner. Every now and then one of them went to see how Brady was getting along. He had turned into his bunk, and, although suffering pain from the numerous stings of the scorpion, was not by any means in a dangerous condition. But like most of his countrymen of his class, under similar circumstances, he was despondent. It was useless to tell him that no one on the Beef had ever been known to die of the sting of a scorpion; his ready tongue always had some reply which he considered a reason. When OR FEED HANSOM. 173 I tried to console him by this statement, lie said: " An* sure, an' thim as lives on the Rafe 'has got used to it, one bite at a time, but be the powers, I've got enough- pison in me to kill an illiphant." 15* THE YOUNG WRECKER, THE MEN ARE SENT ASHORE AGAIN-THEY RE SUME THE WOODING OF THE SCHOONER-HAN NIBAL. PROVIDES THEM WITH A TREAT FOR SUPPER. HE next day, after making our . usual cruise, the captain ordered a boat's crew to go ashore to procure more wood. The men sent were the same as those of the preceding day, excepting Brady, who was convinced that his wounds were mortal, and per sisted in declaring that his days were num bered. I did not join the party until they had brought several loads of wood aboard the schooner, when, as my duties were finished, and I found myself at leisure, I received liberty to go wooding with the rest. More than that, the captain gave me a general permission to ac company the me:i whenever I desired to do so, OR FRED RANSOM. 175 only stipulating that I should be certain that my work was finished. When we returned to the schooner, it was time for supper, and Hannibal hurried the men to eat it, ostensibly that he might get his pots and pans cleaned before dark. There was not much deliberation on the part of the men. The wood was soon unloaded, and the boat hoisted up to the davits. Two or three of the crew seated themselves on the coamings of the hatch way, and a couple on water casks, while one or two stood or walked around. Hannibal brought supper, and the men commenced to eat heartily. The meal was fairly earned by the hard labor of wood-chopping. " Here 's you' comorant, Bill," said Hannibal, bringing his last dish from the caboose. " He 's nice, I tell you, sah. I save him for a treat." Ptuggles received the dish, which had a very savory look, but the smell of it was any thing but appetizing, being decidedly fishy. He looked at it rather dubiously, and then asked Hannibal whether he had skinned the bird. " Yes, sah ; ebery bit of skin is off him," re plied Hannibal. " He 's mighty good bird, sah; plump as patridge." "Here, Hannibal," sai EANSOil. 287 of his vessel. We were gone just nineteen days. The course of the St. John's is peculiar. A few miles from its mouth, it takes a sudden turn to the southward, and runs parallel with the coast. The shores are densely wooded, and, in the broad parts of the river, the scenery is very agreeable. We saw great forests of oak covered with Spanish-moss. In their dense shades, the moss hung in flowing masses that looked like long gray giant-beards. When the rays of the sun struck aslant through them, they were pene trated and suffused with light so rich, yet so soft, that they seemed dripping from a bath of silvery-gold. Nothing can be imagined more funereal, more weird, than one of these dense forests, at sunset ; when the darkness of night has settled on the ground, and stolen around the huge trunks of the oaks ; while above, in gentle gradations of light, the long, waving, gauzy drapery grows brighter and brighter, until, on the topmost branches and twigs, it shines re- splendently. After procuring the lumber for which the sloop had entered the river, we set sail for the mouth, put to sea, and, in three days from that time, George and I were once more on board of the Flying Cloud. We were rejoiced to get 288 THE YOUNG WRECKER, back to the schooner. Life on the E,eef had more charm in a day, than our voyage of over half a month had afforded. As we had shipped to supply the place of one man on the voyage to St. John's River, we were paid what one man would have received for wages, and divided the sum between us. Although the month of April was nearly spent, there was not a marked change in the climate on the Keef. As for the appearance of the country, the verdure is the same throughout the whole year, and summer is perennial. Un der our mosquito bars on the quarter-deck, George and I luxuriated in the coolness of the nights. In all my experience, I recollect no couch so delightful as that quarter-deck. In clear weather, the water was so tranquil that we could just feel the undulation of the schooner, as she dipped her bow into the glassy waves. Looking upward, we beheld the pure firmament bespangled with brilliant stars ; and the gentle breeze fanned us, and sang a lullaby that min gled pleasantly with the dull roar of the break ers on the far-off Eeef. What more could two boys of our age desire, than all that we pos sessed ? We had studies to give zest to recrea tion, and recreation and repose surrounded by romance. A few nights after our return, the captain, OR FEED RANSOM. 289 who did not often indulge in sporting, said to us boys that he would show us a kind of fishing that we had never seen. We jumped at the offer, not only because there was novelty at tending it, but because the captain was to Je of the party. George eagerly exclaimed : " What day is to be, father ?" "It is not to be any day," replied the captain, "it is to be at night, to-night, if you like. What do you say to to-night? What do you say, Fred ?" " We are ready," we both answered. " What bait shall we prepare ?" inquired I. " No bait at all," replied the captain. " No bait !" exclaimed George. " Fishing by night, and with no bait! well, that is strange fishing !" " Perhaps it is because it is at night," said I, laughing, " that we do n't need any bait, be cause the fish could n't see it if it was on the hook." " How is it, father ?" asked George, jocosely, "do the fish get caught by running afoul of the hooks in the dark ?" " We sha* n't need hooks !" replied the cap tain, making his eyes as big as saucers, sta ring from one of us to the other, and enjoying our puzzled expression. 25 290 THE YOUXG WRECKER, " We give it up, father," said George, " now don't tease us any longer." " You will see," said the captain, mysteri ously. "Tell the men to lower one of the boats." Captain Bowers ordered some very myste rious looking apparatus to be stowed in the bow of the boat, and in five minutes we were pulling for the shore. The captain steered along the Keys, towards the southward. We rowed close to the line of mangroves, just within the verge of their shadows, cast by the faint starlight. After having passed three or four Keys, the boat headed for the entrance to one of the inlets. Keeping towards the Key on the port hand, the captain suddenly shot the boat into an obscure inlet which led into a lake comprising nearly the whole of the Key, and which George and I imagined to be our possession by the right of original discovery. " Do you know this place ?" said George to his father. " I thought no one but Fred and I knew it." " Boys are very apt to think similarly about many things," replied the captain, drily. The oars were unshipped, and the men, grapp- ing the overhanging boughs and twigs, dragged the boat through the inlet, until she shot out upon the placid bosom of the lake, whose shores OR FRED RANSOM. 291 the starlight faintly revealed in dreamy out line. " That '11 do, my men ;" said the captain, " now fire up." On each side of the boat, the men hooked a couple of iron things, like little grates, into which receptacles they put pine knots and tarry pieces of rope. They then struck a light, and ignited the stuff. The -flames sprang up, and in a minute we had a couple of bright bonfires, crackling and smoking and dropping their embers with a seething noise into the water. In, and immediately around, the boat, the scene was brilliant in the extreme ; but, be yond, a circular wall of impenetrable darkness shut in the view. " Here are your hooks," said the captain, handing George and me a pair of short spears with several barbs on them. " What are you looking up in the air for ? Look at the bottom." Hereupon, George and I, who had been gazing around, charmed at the brilliant spectacle, cast our eyes towards the water. Imagine our sur prise, when we found that we could see the bottom as clearly as at noonday; and that, over it, darting about in all directions, were fish of every description. We were so delighted at this sight, that we began to shout and strike wildly into the water. The captain 292 THE YOUNG WRECKER, commanded silence, and stationing a man astern, with a long pole, the boat was urged gently through the water, and we were cau tioned to make allowance for the refraction, when we were about to strike at a fish. The grates were constantly replenished with pine knots, tarry rope, and oakum; and we went blazing along, harpooning, and struggling with our prizes, some of which were so huge that they were as much as we could master. Just as we had made the circuit of the lake, a great barracuda, terrified at the fiery dragon of a boat, which was sweeping resistlessly along, leaped into its maw. As we had secured plenty of fish, and it was neither the cap tain's wish, nor ours, to indulge in wanton destruction, we desisted from our sport, and laid aside our spears. A few handfuls of water, thrown into the grates, soon quenched the fire. The grates were then unhooked, emptied, and stowed away in the boat, and the men rowed until we arrived at the inner mouth of the little inlet, through which, as before, we hauled the boat. We came out upon the ruffled waters of the Beef-Channel, and within hearing of the sound of the distant surge. There was no merrier laughter along the coast, than that with which George and I, on our return, counted our spoils, and talked over cur exploits in spearing. 203 HOW TO FIND A TURTLE'S NEST-HABITS OF THE TURTLE-TURNING TURTLES. was on the night of the 7th of May, that we speared fish by fire-light. George and I were so fas cinated with it, that, only two or three nights afterwards, we begged the captain to indulge us with a renewal of the sport. It was by far the best in which we had engaged. We fancied it, not solely on account of the novelty of using short trident-like spears, instead of fish-hooks, but because the accompaniments were so charming. The ruddy glare of the fire; the glowing stretch of water; the dark shadows cf the woods ; the sight of the fish as they dari over the bottom, all these circumstances combine to render the scene in the highest degree pic turesque. Our first excursion was our last, for the captain could not be prevailed upon to go again, 25* 294 THE YOUNG WRECKER, iOr and lie would not let us take the boat at night. "We had ample amends, however, in some new enterprises which I must describe. One morning, about the middle of the month, George and I did not go with the schooner on her morning cruise, but rowed off, ashore, to have a day's fishing and gunning. The tide was rising, and had almost reached high- water mark. We were rowing along one of the beaches, when George said to me : "Fred, do you see that mark on the sand, between the edge of the beach-grass, and where the water is now? Do you know what that is?" " No," said I, " what is it ?" " Guess," he answered. "A piece of brushwood, or perhaps drift- timber, that has scraped down the beach at the last ebb." " No it is n't," said he ; " it 's the track of a turtle. There 's a turtle's nest near there." " A turtle's nest," shouted I, pulling on one oar, so as to bring the boat's head on the beach. " I 'm bound to have it." "We jumped on shore, and George whittled a straight stick, so as to make it more slender, and adding a sharp point to it, he went opposite to the place where the mark appeared on the beach, and walked about, carefully examining OR FRED RANSOM. 295 the sand above high-water-mark. At last, he said: "Here it is. Now come here before I dis turb the sand, and I '11 show you how to find a turtle's nest. The Conchs taught me ; and what they do n't know about fishing, turtling, and egging, is n't worth knowing. You must know that turtles choose a moonlight night and high- water to come upon the beach to lay their eggs. IIow they can tell it 's a moonlight night, I can understand, but how they know it 's high-water is a peg beyond me. It takes them only a few minutes to lay their eggs, and then, down they souse into the water. But as they come up at the top of high-water, the tide falls a little be fore they can get away, so they leave their tracks on the beach below high-water-mark. The next tide washes them all away, but we came across this place before the tide had risen again. The tracks are one sign. The other is this. Do you see a kind of crescent, cut into the loose sand among this beach-grass, above high- water-mark? That's the place the turtle touches with the hind end of its shell, as it turns to go back to the water, after it has covered its eggs, and smoothed the sand over them. If we had been ten minutes later, the tide would have washed away the tracks on the beach ; and if there had been any wind, this loose sand 296 THE YOUNG WRECKER, would have shifted so that there would n't have been any sign at all here." " I think that you had better set about find ing the nest," said I,. " It would be a joke, if, after all your directions for finding turtles' eggs, you could n't find any." "You never mind," replied George, good- humoredly, " I have to take your instruction every day, and it 's my turn now. You do n't know every thing. I 'm just as sure that there 's a turtle's nest where that crescent in the sand is well, now look !" Hereupon, he commenced to punch the sand with the sharp stick, and every now and then examined the point of it. After jobbing it down several times to the depth of about a foot, he held the point towards me, and said, trium phantly, " What do you call that?" " It looks exceedingly like egg," said I. " That 's just what it is," he replied, going down on his hands and knees, and commencing to dig a hole in the sand. I followed his example ; and when we had dug to the depth of a little over a foot, we came to the eggs. " Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty," cried I, in amazement. " Why, here is another layer un- OK FRED RANSOM. 297 derneath ; sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety. "Why, there are over a hundred !" We found a hundred and seventy ; and then George ran hastily along the beach to see if ho could find any more turtle-tracks before the tide rose to high-water-mark. He found a place about two hundred yards off, and after the usual jobbing with the stick, we discovered the nest, and took a hundred and forty-one eggs. Three hundred and eleven eggs in two nests! We found a secure place in which we buried them slightly under the sand, to secure them against birds, and then went off on our projected expedition. In the evening, we stopped at the place, and carried the eggs aboard of the schooner. On the following morning, when the schooner was under way, George and I were on deck talking over our good luck of the preceding day. The captain, hearing part of our conver sation, joined us, and inquired how we would like to turn a turtle on the beach. " For then," continued he, " you will have the eggs, and tho hen too." It was agreed that we would go ashore that night, and .turn turtle. The season being that when the turtles commence to lay, the captain was certain that we would capture at least one. He told me many interesting things 298 THE YOUNG WRECKER, about turtles. It seems that, numerous as the eggs were in tne nests which we found, they form only a portion of those laid by a turtle in the course of a season. The green-turtle lays three sets of eggs, tw<~> in May, and one in June. The sum-total of eggs is about two hundred and fifty. The hawksbill- turtle lays two sets of eggs, one in July, and one in August. The whole number of eggs laid is about three hundred. The loggerhead- turtle lays in May and June, three sets of eggs, which amount to about five hundred. The trunk-turtle lays three sets of eggs, which amount to about three hundred and fifty. The habits of the turtles, in laying, are very different. The loggerhead and trunk turtles, being the largest and fiercest species, are not nearly so shy as the green and hawksbill turtles. The last two resort to the most unfrequented places, although the green-turtle penetrates the indentations on the coast. The hawksbill-turtle lays only on the wildest Keys, far distant from the main-land. About nine o'clock that night, one of the quarter-boats was lowered, and the captain, George, and I, pulled by five oarsmen, rowed towards shore. The moon was full, and shone with that silvery lustre which sheds a beauti fying influence upon the most commonplace OR FRED RANSOM. 299 objects, and invests the really beautiful with a charm so mysterious and solemn, that the observer feels as if in a scene of enchantment. Our keel soon grated on a beach which stretched away for two miles, with its wh.te coral sand reflecting the soft light which bathed it throughout the whole of its graceful sweep. We leaped ashore, and hauled the boat above high- water-mark, until it was almost hidden among the beach-grass and low brushwood. "Now," said Captain Bowers to the men, "scatter along the beach, about the same dis tance apart, just above high-water-mark; lie low, and don't make any noise. You Conchs understand the business better than I do, but you, Brady, if you 've got any yarns to tell, keep them till you get aboard." The five men walked off along the beach, and, occasionally, we could see one of them leave the partyand disappear in the shadows of the brushwood above high- water-mark. At last, in the far distance, was discernible a single figure wending its way along the bright beach ; then it vanished, and the scene lay silent and deserted in the silvery sheen of the moonlight. The tide crept slowly up the beach, and commenced, with a gently plashing sound, to lave the jagged points of coral which cropped out of the srnd just below high- water-mark. 300 THE YOUNG WRECKER, " You must be very quiet, boys," whispered tlie captain, as we all crouched behind the high tufts of beach-grass. " If a turtle conies up near us, it will be off at the slightest noise.' " Aye, aye, sir," we whispered in reply, as we kept a strict watch on the beach. " There is one," said the captain. " Where ? where ?" we eagerly whispered. " On the beach, about a quarter of a mile off," replied the captain; "near that dark-looking thing like a drift-log. Do n't you see it move ? there it shows." We saw it, then, as the moonlight shone on its wet shell. In a few seconds it was out of sight. " Now let me caution you again, boys," re iterated the captain. " Not a word above your breath." The captain adjusted his night-glass, and commenced to examine the surface of the water. " Pshaw !" said he at last, closing the slides of the telescope, and shutting it up. " We 're not in luck to-night." He had hardly uttered the words, before a prolonged, loud, and startling hiss, came from the water; and, as we crouched still lower, and looked between the tufts of beach-grass, we saw OR FRED RANSOM. 301 the head of a turtle appearing above tlie surface of the sea. "Hist!" said the captain; "lie as close as you can." We obeyed his injunction, and, at the same time, kept our eyes directed towards the turtle, fearing that it might not land near us. But it swam rapidly towards shore, and dragged its unwieldy body out of the water. Its wet shell gleamed in the radiance of the moon-beams, like a silver shield. The monster stretched its neck out of its shell, to the full extent, and crawled sluggishly up on the beach-grass, just on the other side of the boat. The captain kept his forefinger to his lips, by way of enjoining silence, and we scarcely breathed. At last, the turtle made so much noise, that the captain cautiously arose and peered over the edge of the boat. Having apparently satisfied himself that we would be secure from obser vation, he touched us, and motioned to us to look over the boat. Praising our eyes just above the level of the boat's gunwale, we saw the turtle hard at work, scooping a hole with its hind flippers. As soon as it had collected a heap of sand, a violent flirt of the flippers scattered it in every direction. When the hole was about a foot and a half deep, the animal commenced to deposit its eggs. The 26 302 THE YOUNG WRECKER, operation of digging being finished, and that of laying commenced, the captain ducked his head behind the boat, and saying, " Now 's our chance," ran quickly around it. "We followed at his heels, seized the turtle, and, by our united exertions, turned it on its back. " I do n't think that the men can beat this," said the captain. " It is one of the biggest that I ever saw. If we had n't caught it when it was laying, I 'm not sure that we 'would have been able to turn it. When turtles are laying, which does not take more than ten minutes, they do not seem to be able to stop ; but they are powerful things, and when they 're making for the water, it's something of a job to turn them." "Hollo! Hollo-o! Hollo-o-o-o-o !" shouted the captain, walking out on the beach, of which the rising tide had left but a narrow strip. One after another, five dark objects emerged from the shadows, and commenced to move slowly towards us. By the time that the last man arrived, the first-comers, with our assist ance, had hampered the turtle's flippers with a piece of marline. We lifted the turtle into the boat, and rowed to the place where one had been turned by a couple of the men. Its captor had accommodated it with a pillow of c'oral rock, a plan which is sometimes adopted to prevent OR FRED RANSOM. 303 the animal from reversing its position. On a favorable slope, it sometimes uses its powerful neck to so great advantage as a lever, that it has been known to regain its liberty. We hampered the second turtle in the samo manner in which we had secured the first one, and lifted it into the boat. It was not more than two thirds of the size of the other. The aggregate weight of the two was probably about three hundred and fifty pounds. " Well, Brady," said the captain to that in dividual, who was pulling the stroke-oar as we rowed off towards the schooner, " do n't mind me, you must be nearly dead from having had to hold your tongue for two hours. What about the turtles in Ireland ?" "Well," said Brady, "there's this about toortle toorning in Ireland; it's pleasanter sport there nor here, for the muskatees." " You own up, then," said the captain, " that you can 't beat America in turtles, and you have n't got any mosquitoes ?" "Troth, no!" replied Brady; "the bigness of the toortles there would astonish ye, captain, and" added he, with a sly glance at the cap tain " the muskatees too; but they 're amazin' kind-hearted be the side of the Floridy galli- nippers." The turtles were so heavy, that a tackle was 304 THE YOUNG WBECZER, used to hoist them aboard of the schooner. The next day, one was despatched, and, with the eggs, served as our principal food for three or four days. The other turtle was put in a shady place, and brine was occasionally poured over its head and body. By pursuing this treatment, a turtle can be kept alive for a long time, without food, and yet preserve its health ful condition. OE FRED RANSOM, 305 THE M1AMI-THE EVERGLADES-THE DEER-HUNT -THE SJESTA-THE FIGHT WITH PANTHERS- INDIANS PROWLING IN THE FOREST. URING the remainder of May, and in June and July, the captain occasionally indulged us in a tur- tling expedition by moonlight, and we captured specimens of all the various kinds of turtle. As he al ways accompanied us, and seemed to share in the excitement of the sport, our pleasure was very much enhanced. Daily we got the Flying Cloud under way, and sighted the Reef for miles on each side oi" our station, but nothing rewarded our vigilance. This daily duty at last became exceedingly mo notonous, and had we not had recourse to expe ditions for the purpose of procuring turtles, fish, eggs, and birds, we would have experienced en nui, despite the admirable collection of books 2G* 306 THE YOUNG WRECKER, which I have mentioned that the captain pos sessed. Independently of the spirit of adventure which prompted us to make these expeditions, they were absolutely necessary, in order to ob tain food of a kind that would ward off scurvy, which infallibly attacks those who are for a long time exclusively confined to a diet of salt provisions, with a disproportionate amount of vegetable food. All things, however, must end, and George and I, eager turtlers though we were, tired of the moonlight excursions to the beaches, and craved some novelty. The stay of George was drawing to a close, and the intercourse of th occupants of the cabin commenced to be tinged with a shade of gloominess, brought about by the anticipation of his approaching depar ture. How little we all know even of the Future which is almost the Present! George's going was not nearer than mine. Our departure took place soon and simultaneously, by a train of startling events, transpiring with so great sud denness, that they left us in a maze in which it was difficult to collect our thoughts. At daylight, on the 5th of August, owing to the approaching departure of George, and in fulfilment of a promise which had long be fore been made to him, to the effect that OR FLED RANSOM. 307 V. / before lie went, he should have a deer-hunt, Captain Bowers committed the vessel to the charge of Ruggles. Giving him instructions ill regard to the day's cruise, and taking George and me and Brady in the dingy, the captain set sail for the main-land. We were provided with two good fowling-pieces, two fine rifles, and an ample supply of ammunition. We did not neglect to take fishing-tackle, including the grains, although none of us were capable of using them skilfully. About eight o'clock in the morning, we landed at the mouth of Miami River. On the left bank, near the mouth, was the little military post, garrisoned by a few men. Here the vege tation was not dense, and a beautiful grove of lime trees surrounded the quarters of the sol diers.* Proceeding up the Miami, for a few miles, we at length arrived at the place where it leaves the Everglades. This was a spot which I had long desired to see, and one which, at that time, had seldom been trodden by the foot of the white man. George and I climbed the roof of a solitary mill which was built at the head of the stream, * This post was established in 1837, reestablished in 1850, and afterwards deserted. During the late Eebellion, the spot was the resort of nunbers of white refugees from the southern parts of Florida. 308 THE YOUNG WRECKER, on the verge of the Everglades; and when we had mounted to its ridge, wt> commanded a view for many miles. We had penetrated the Miami to its source, about three miles from its mouth. This, there fore, at that point, is the width of the encircling rirn of land which bounds the Everglades, or, as it were, the wooded shore of a vast sea of swamp, covered with long, waving, yellowish grass, and dotted with a perfect archipelago of wooded hummocks. Some of the hummocks were quite diminutive. Others seemed at least half a mile in length. I now realized how difficult it was to prosecute the Florida War, then being waged in portions of these Everglades, where the In dians could lurk in almost impenetrable fast nesses, and when approached by a superior force, seek safety in flight. In fact, the Flo rida War, from the difficult nature of the country, had been a bloody game of Hide and Seek. The Spanish Indians, who had been long peaceful, had, for some months, been engaged in committing depredations on the settlements of the whites, and on shipwrecked sailors : so that the practice of providing the wrecking vessels with arms had ceased to be a mere form. No apprehension, however, of immediate danger OH FRED HANSOM. 309 :a our vicinity, appeared to exist in the mind of any one with whom we had intercourse. After George and I had remained perched up on the mill for half an hour, the captain hailed us to say that the morning was swiftly passing away, and that, if we intended to hunt befoi'o noon, we must immediately descend. During the heat of the day, deer generally lie down in the place where they have been grazing. In the open spaces of forests like those of Florida, the undergrowth affords con cealment, and the animals remain quiet until the coolness of the afternoon invites them to renew their browsing upon the herbage. The kind of hunt upon which we were proceeding, is called a still-hunt. This consists in advanc ing quietly through the forest, in search of the feeding deer, and whenever they graze, tho huntsman is enabled to advance unperceived; but when they raise their heads, he stands stock-still, when, although they no doubt often perceive him, they do not recognize him as a living object. Being without hounds, we could not hunt in any other manner, for, notwithstanding the presence of Jack, and Brady's authority on the subject of Newfoundlands as hunting-dogs, tho captain, if he had ever heard of that sage opinion, preferred to attempt a still-hunt. This 310 THE YOUNG WRECKER, requires nothing hut a cautious approach and a steady hand, and is practised by the solitary, keen-eyed rifleman, as successfully as if he were a king with a court at his heels. We entered the boat and rowed across the Miami, and when we reached the other shore, the captain took a rifle, and gave us boys the two double-barreled fowling-pieces, each of which he loaded with sixteen buckshot. Filling our pockets with luncheon, and a supply of bullets, buckshot, and percussion-caps, and slinging our powder-flasks over our shoulders, we left Brady in charge of the boat, and plunged into tho recesses of the forest. The morning had slipped away in a most strange manner. Our various delays, princi pally caused by rowing up the Miami, viewing the Everglades, and increased by all sorts of little distractions, among others by examining curious objects to which the captain called our attention, had consumed the time from eight o'clock, when we landed at the mouth of tho river, until past noon ; and before we had pene trated two miles into the forest, the captain, on consulting his watch, found that it was verging on one o'clock. Not a sign of a deer had we seen. The heat was very oppressive, and our eagerness began to languish. At last, tho captain, perceiving that George commenced to OR FRED RANSOM. 311 lag, suddenly threw himself on the ground, ex claiming : "Come, boys, we may as well take lunch. We '11 not find any deer now, unless we stumble over them." We sat down, and spread our stores on the ground. They consisted of a few ship-biscuit, some sliced tongue and ham, and a canteen cf F.witchel, quite warm, but as it was, it sufficed to slake our intense thirst. Not a leaf stirred. The air seemed clogged with heat. Not a sound was heard, save to use a paradox that mysterious voice of silence, eeeming infinitely distant, yet all-pervading, an inarticulate murmur that fills all space, like blended voices speaking in some distant sphere, and faintly borne within the confines of the earth. Who has not heard it? And if any have not, go where there is silence, and listen, and you will hear its voice. The hot air,- the motionless leaves, the deep shade, the repast, the fatigues of the day, affected us all with a languor to which we offered no opposition, but disposing our heads on our coats, rolled up so as to serve as pillows, we were all soon in the enjoyment of a profound siesta. The captain was the first to awake, and on looking at his watch, found that it was past four o'clock. 312 THE YOTING WEECKEE, " Come, boys," said he, " up with you. Now is the time to find deer, if there are any in the neighborhood." At this summon;?, George and I, with some slight effort, threw off a disposition towards sluggishness, and shouldered our guns; while Jack, who had been indulging in a nap, and like us at first, seemed little disposed to make exertion, joined us, and, by his actions, mani fested his understanding that the hunt was about to be resumed. Before we had gone a hundred paces, the effects of our sleep wore off. Revived by the cool breeze, we stepped along gaily, peering in every direction to descry the game. We had walked about half a mile, when we arrived at the opening to a beautiful glade. The tall trees shut in the spot so effectually, that only here and there the sunlight struck through the leafy covering, and sent a long narrow beam athwart the ground, or flecked the low bushes with a few spots of golden light. As the captain preceded us through the opening which served as as ante-cham ber to this saloon of the forest, he sudden ly halted, and motioned to us to be cautious. Proceeding with a stealthy pace, in obedience to the motion of his hand, we came in view of three or four deer grazing at the extremity of OR FEED RANSOM. 313 the glade. At that moment, two of them had raised their heads, and were evidently in the act of chewing the mouthf^ls of grass which they had last cropped. We all stood like statues, until the animals again lowered their heads, when we separated slightly, and cau tiously advanced, taking great care to avoid treading upon branches that might crackle under foot. Slowly we drew nearer, each step well calculated, each gun well poised, so that if the deer took alarm, we could fire as they fled. At last, we came within about a hundred yards of them, and then our precautions re doubled. The captain's rifle would have been effective at that distance ; but George and I, inexperienced sportsmen, who could not rely upon a single bullet, had therefore been provided with fowling-pieces, which are not sure at a range exceeding fifty yards. The captain was to reserve his fire, and make use of it in case ours proved ineffectual. More slowly, and more slowly still, we ad vanced, until I judged that we were within the prescribed distance. I heard the sharp click of George's lock, as he cocked his piece. With a sidelong glance at him, as he was in the act of levelling his gun, I slowly aimed mine at the foreshoulder 27 314 THE YOUNG WRECKER, of a stag wliicli had just raised his head from the spot on which he was feeding, under the overhanging boughs of an enormous tree. But the moment that the sights of my gun showed clearly denned against his red hide, and I was about to pull trigger, I restrained my hand, for I saw a great animal pounce upon him from the tree. At this astounding sight, George also withheld his fire, and we both dropped the muzzles of our guns. " A panther !" shouted the captain. " Be steady, now, boys." The deer stood, for a moment, in startled attitudes, and then plunged madly towards the thicket. They vanished like a flash. Meanwhile, a tremendous commotion was visible among the grass and low bushes in the place where the panther and stag had fallen to the ground together. " Cock both barrels, boys," said the captain. " Here, George, give me your gun, and take my rifle. This is going to be close quarters, and may need a cool hand. Advance steadily, with your guns ready to fire at an instant's notice. Keep cool!" We advanced steadily, but with rapidity, towards the place, and came in full view of the scene, which was rather different from our an ticipation. Instead of the single panther and OH. FEED RANSOM. 315 stag which we expected to find, and found, just as we reached the place, another panther was in the act of emerging from the thicket.* As our heads appeared above the surrounding bushes, the male panther, or cougar, which had sprung upon the stag, and was then greedily engaged with his muzzle buried in the animal's flank, heard a signal of alarm from his ad vancing mate, desisted from his work,' glanced up, and, with a quick bound, diminished his distance from us by several yards. f " Steady, boys," muttered the captain, and, levelling his gun, he fired. The panther reared and pawed the air, and George and I, taking advantage of the opportunity, fired at his chest and foreshoulders. He rolled over and over, and tore up the ground and bushes in his death agony. The captain, seeing that there was no danger to be apprehended from one antagonist, glanced towards the other animal, which had been ad vancing with ferocious aspect to the aid of her * It is common for the male and female panthers, when paired, and raising cubs in their lair, to hunt in couples. f The animal known in the United States as the panther, vulgarly painter, has been incorrectly named, for the rea son that it is a different animal, and does not at all resemble the real Panther, from which it derives its designation. It is the Felis Concolor, or Cougar, the same animal as the Puma of South America. 316 THE YOUNG WEECKER, mate. Her agile form and snarling jaus Lad changed at the sight of her companion's fate; and far from seeking to avenge it, she had turned tail, and was slinking away with a rapid lope, when the captain again fired, and her raised hind paw and limping gait showed that she had been lamed by the shot. Jack sprang after her, and I fired simultaneously. She in stantly rolled over on her back, then arose ; and as if my shot had given her increased vitality, instead of depriving her of it, she bounded for the thicket. Just as she neared the edge of it, she fell, rolled over once or twice ; and then, as if endowed with renewed strength, rushed at the trunk of a large tree and climbed it rapidly. As one fore paw grasped the lowest limb of the tree, her hold suddenly relaxed, and she fell heavily to the ground. Thinking that she might rend Jack, in her expiring rage, wo shouted to restrain him from approaching her. We were too late. The brave fellow rushed at her, and fastened his fangs in her neck. Then as suddenly loosing his hold, he uttered a joyful bark, and looked towards us as we came running up. The panther was dead. We remained masters of the field, and stood leaning on our guns, and striving to regain our breath, exhausted by the excitement and the chase. OR FRED RANSOM. 317 As we returned towards the place where the male panther lay, we boys kept np an animated discourse, recounting to each other what we had all seen. We found that the neck of the stag had been broken by the force of the panther's spring. Even without that, the animal would have had no chance to escape the clutches of its powerful enemy, for the wounds on the delicate hide exhibited fearful laceration effected by the panther's claws. The panther was riddled with balls. The captain had fired between his eyes, and the load of buckshot had completely blinded the beast, and caused the rearing which enabled George and me to discharge our pieces at his chest. The captain drew his hunting-knife, and commenced to dismember the stag. He took one haunch of venison and laid it aside, and placed another in security, by tying it to the bough of a tree. After that, he went to work, with our assistance, and skinned the male panther. This was quite a long operation, and by the time that we finished, cleaned the skin, rolled it up in a bundle, with the hair outward, and provided a branch on which to carry tho haunch of venison, the sun was getting quite low. " Come, boys," at last, said the captain, wiping his gory hands in the long grass ; " we must bo 27* 313 THE YOUNG WRECKER, packing. We 've got a mile and a half to walk, and a long sail or row before us. To-morrow we '11 get the skin of the other panther." George and I slung the haunch of venison on the middle of the branch which had been provided, and he shouldered one end of it, and I took the other. The captain carried the pan ther's skin, and we trudged off through the woods, in the direction, of the boat. We felt pretty well fagged with our day's exertion. Now and then, the captain took a turn at one end of the pole, and, in that way, we divided the labor among us; except that the captain continued to carry the skin, which, in, its undressed state, was quite a heavy bundle. When we arrived at the boat, we found Brady, shouldering his rifle, and pacing the bank in a martial manner, while his countenance betrayed the greatest alarm. " Be yees all safe," said he, anxiously scanning the party. *' Be the powers, but I thought yees was all murthered and scalped." " Pooh ! Brady," replied the captain ; " what is the matter with you ? I hope you did n'b get any thing to drink from the post ?" "Indade no!" answered Brady; bad luck to the military regulations, that has no regard for the wakenesses of human nature. It 's sober I am; but I 've been a' most out of me mind with OR FRED RANSOM. 319 thinking yces was kilt and massacred iniirely by the Ingins. Yees hadn't more 'n weiit, the mornin', when I heerd a nize in the lushes, and rins on tap o' the bank, and sees two Ingins, one of thim, the chafe, he calls himself, that stole me porruk, yer honor remimbers." " Aye, aye !" said the captain, " what then ?" " I looks at thim, and they looks at me, and the porruk thafe comes up to me, and says : " ' What you do here ? more men in wood ?' and I says to him, ' Mind yer business, or I'll wallop the pair of yees;' and wid that I gets me rifle and says to him, ' be aff wid yees, or I '11 shoot yees widovit benefit of clargy. I do n't like the looks of yees, says I, ' nor yer manners ayther,' I says. And whin I said that, the spalpeen muttered some gibberage to the other one, and they goes off into the brambles." " I 'm afraid you 've been hasty, Brady," said the captain. " Once before I cautioned you to be civil to this very fellow." "Well, yer honor, the captain, I tried to obey yer orthers, but the sight of thim var mints snaking around when yer honor and the byes was away in the wuds, a'most took away me power of spache." " I 'm thinking," rejoined the captain, " that your power of speech will be an endless trouble 320 THE YOUNG WRECKER, to you 4 Brady. It can 't be helped now. Get aboard the boat; the sun has almost set." " And whin I heerd the shots that was fired so quick," resumed Brady, at the same time obeying the captain's orders, " I made sure that yees were all murthered, and yer scalps shaved off as clane as a whustle." " I pardon your indiscretion, Brady," replied the captain, " in gratitude for the interest that you have shown for our safety. Pull away, my man, and as soon as we get out of the river, we '11 loosen the sail, for I see that the breeze is fair." So saying, the captain took the other pair of sculls, and rowed lustily. When we reached the mouth of the river, we set our sail, and, with a free wind, sped away over the bay, in the direction of the Keys. It was ten o'clock before we reached the Flying Cloud, and George and I had fallen asleep, several times, in the boat. When she came along-side of the schooner, we awoke in so drowsy a state, that we had scarcely energy to clamber up the Bide, stumble into the cabin, and throw our selves into our berths, so entirely were we over come with the fatigue and exciting adventures of the day. OR FEED RANSOM. OIEIA.IF'X'IEIR, THE RETURN TO THE FOREST-THE- SURPRISE BY INDIANS-THE CAPTURE OF r5EORGE-THE PURSUIT-THE RESCUE. HE captain's complaisance, in mak ing and performing the promise to indulge George in a deer- hunt, entailed, as is often the case, a further sacrifice of inclination. The captain had passed the age at which such expeditions have the power to charm, and if he had any pleasure in them, it was princi pally in contributing to that of his son. It must be granted, however, that the exciting character of the sport in which we had actually engaged, had so far exceeded his anticipation, that he did seem to share our enthusiasm. The measure of our satisfaction was complete, except that the coming night had prevented our securing one trophy of the chase the skin of the femalo panther. The captain, it will be recollected, had re conciled us to leaving the forest, as the light THE YOUNG WRECKETJ, was waning, by saying that, on the following day, we could procure the other skin, a promise from which he was not likely to be released by our indifference. Thus it happened, as I hinted just now, that the captain, having been once gracious, was from being " in for a penny, in for a pound." In the morning, George and I were among the first who were astir on the schooner, and the captain had hardly opened his eyes, be fore we brought him to a realizing sense of his indiscreet promise of the preceding day. "With a hearty yawn, and a slight hesitation, he jumped out of his berth, saying, "Well, boys, a promise is a promise. Be sides, to please you, I would have seen the sport out. It will be something to talk over, and I know that you 'd never cease to regret that skin. There will be one for each of you to show as the spoils of the chase." The captain's orders to Euggles were com municated in a few words. Then, telling Brady, who ecemed to think that he was to make one of the party, that his services were not re quired, as the wind would probably remain in the same quarter, and it would be fair both ways, the captain ordered the dingy to be lowered. Hannibal stowed some provisions in the stern-locker of the din try, and when Georrro v_* J * O OR FEED RANSOM. 323 and I, accompanied by Jack, got into her, after handing our arms and ammunition to the cap tain, who had taken his place, Hannibal passed aboard a biggin full of steaming coffee. The boat's painter was cast off, and with sheet un- b railed, we skimmed away towards the main land, wnile the schooner, which had been lying with sails set and anchor apeak, got under way and stood towards the southward. Day had not quite dawned. The breeze was of hat faint and fitful character, which fre quently heralds the coming sun; and, with it, freshens, until the ruffled water sparkles in the renewing light of day. Thorough wreckers as we were, as soon as our little sail was well set, and the articles in the boat stowed away in tho most convenient places, we addressed ourselves to the hot coffee. Then, without the usual in termission to which we were subjected aboard of the schooner, we partook of breakfast, con sisting of the cold viands which Hannibal had deposited in the locker. We soon passed the slender line of Keys, and the breeze freshening as the sun showed iila red disc above the horizon, we began to glide rapidly through the water. " I did not bring Brady with me," observed the captain, after we had got clear of the vessel, " because, after previous experience, especially 324 THE YOUNG WKECKER, yesterday's, I don't judge it safe to have him with us, when there is any possibility of meeting Indians. I don 't positively think there is danger from them, or else I would consider myself ab solved from the promise I made to you boys; but the Spanish Indians are becoming restive, and any provocation might result in some act of revenge. My feeling of security, among those inhabiting these parts, comes from an acquaintance of years with some of their lead ing men. I have always been cautious in my dealings with them. But a quick-tempered fellow, like Brady, might mar every thing. I'm very sorry that I took him yesterday. To ba on the safe side, I brought no one to-day." During the sail to the mouth of the Miami, the captain entertained us with "some anecdotes relating to the war with the Seminoles, in which eome of his friends had at various times par ticipated. His accounts of the atrocities com mitted by the Indians, unlike those of some novelists, did not afford an agreeable picture of the character of the "noble children of the forest." The captain was in the midst of one of these narratives, when we entei^d the mouth of the Miami. On the left bank, the stars and stripes floated over the quarters at the little military post. At the sight, I experienced the emotion that thrills the breast, whenever, in a OR FRED RANSOM. 325 foreign land, or in one 's own, in some sequestered spot, the banner of one's country displays its folds, shedding a mystic influence on the soul. The captain's story continued as we progressed up the river. We soon took in sail, and re sorted to rowing; for the river was so com pletely shut in by trees, as to render the breeze uncertain. Besides, in some of the reaches, we could not lay our course. "We had proceeded about a mile up the river, when the captain ab ruptly ceased his recital, and commenced scru tinizing the bushes on the right bank, near to which we were rowing. " Ease your port oars, boys," said he ; " more jet. Pull the boat's head into shore." Obeying his directions, we pulled the bow of the boat in towards the bushes, backed water, and then held water, so as to keep her in the eame position. " I thought so," said the captain, looking into the bushes; "it is an Indian canoe." George and I stood up to look at it, and then, by the captain's order, backed water, pulled the boat around, and continued on our course. We asked the captain to continue his story; but he declined, saying that he would finish it at another opportunity. He seemed plunged in a musing mood. When we had gone about a mile and a half up the stream, he told us to pull 28 326 THE YOUNG WRECKER, the boat in towards shore, and land, as ho judged that we must be about opposite to the place where we had shot the panthers. We were much further down the stream than the place from which -we had started on the hunt ; but our course, after striking into the forest, had been nearly parallel with the stream. We had returned by the same way, and the place at which we had had the adventure, was at no great distance from the river. The captain sprang out of the boat, with one of the fowling-pieces, and told George to ac company him. I expected to go, and was there fore surprised when the captain added, "you Fred, stay with the boat." Then after a pause, he resumed : " I '11 be frank with you. I do n't know why, it 's very ridiculous, perhaps ; but I fed what is called a presentiment. Pshaw ! Mind the boat, Fred; keep a sharp lookout." And then quickly turning on his heel, as if ashamed of his extreme caution, he walked rapidly away, accompanied by George, who relieved him of his fowling-piece. Jack followed them, frisking around through the undergrowth, crushing it with his burly strength, and uttering short barks, indicative of delight. They had scarcely gone, when the sense of loneliness, and the captain's last words induced me to pick up the riile, and examine ic, to try "WITH A WHOOP, HE DASHED DOWN THE BANK." OR FEED RANSOM. 327 whether it was loaded and capped. I found that it was ready for use ; and after raising the hammer once or twice, and letting it, down on (LQ cap, so as to press the cap firmly on the nipple, I amused myself by sighting the piece at various objects on the opposite shore of tho stream, and in the woods on the bank to which the boat was fastened. Ten minutes elapsed, when I heard the quick barking of a dog, followed by the report of a distant rifle. Then silence for a short interval ensued, and from the distance came borne to my ear,. a long and dismal howl. I was stand ing in the stern-sheets of the boat, still grasping the rifle with which I had been firing imaginary shots. As I heard these sounds, my hands clutched the rifle with a nervous grip; my blood curdled ; my hair seemed to stand on end; and my ears strained to catch another sound. At that moment I heard a crackling and crushing noise in the bushes, then a rush, and before me, on top of the bank, stood a stalwart Indian, brandishing his tomahawk. With a whoop, he dashed down the bank. A moment lost, and his tomahawk would havo been buried in my brain. With a coolness born of desperation, I raised my rifle, and sent its bullet straight into his breast. With one S28 THE YOUNG WRECKER, low moan, and without a strugg/e, ho fell dead at the bottom of the bank. I dropped the butt of my rifle, and leaned on it for support. The moment of action over, the terror of the situation, the unspeakable horror that hung over the fate of my companions, un nerved me. "With a little respite, I regained my self-possession. Keflecting that I might have more assailants than one, and that the most exposed place which I could occupy was the boat, I seized the fowling-piece, rifle, and ammunition, and clambering up the bank, took shelter behind a tree, and' commenced to reload the rifle. If, thought I, the captain or George, or both, escape, I will have the boat ready. If they have been massacred, and the Indians approach, I can see them coming. I can jump into the boat, row across the stream, take refuge in the woods, and try to make my way to the post at the mouth. My hope of the safety of the captain and George was indeed faint, when I recollected that the report I had heard was that of a rifle, and the captain had taken one of the fowling-pieces. I had scarcely had time to think and do what I have just described, when I heard a sound, and looking through the trees, I saw a flitting appearance, such as a man at a distance pre sents, as he runs through the uncertain light OR FRED RANSOM. 329 amidst the trunks of trees in a dense forest. My gaze concentrated on the shifting object. Instantaneous resolve and execution must follow the discovery of whether the approaching form was friend or foe. All at once, a little opening in the trees emitted a white flash, and I knew that the captain had escaped. Before leaving the boat, he had disencumbered himself of his coat, and I knew that no Indian wore any gar ment so white as a shirt. A minute later, the captain broke his way through the bushes, and stood at my side. His face was deathly pale, scratched and bloody, and his clothes were nearly torn from his body, in his desperate progress through the bushes. "Not a, word!" said he to me, glancing at the dead Indian, picking up the guns, and hurrying into the boat, which we shoved off. and commenced to pull down stream. " Listen, and be cool. I see you can be by what you have done. George is captured. He was in advance, carrying my gun. Two Indians leaped out of the bushes, seized, and bound him. Pull Fred ! For God 's sake, pull ! my son, my son! Listen again. There is work to be done. They seized him, I say. I was unarmed, and a hundred yards distant. I could do nothing. Jack rushed to his rescue. I saw the knife of one Indian flash, as he plunged it into the faith- 28* THE YOUNG WRECKER, ful beast. The other Indian fired at me as 1 escaped in this direction. You know the rest. We are armed. You are a boy, but equal to a man's part. The canoe in the bushes must belong to the Indians. They started in that direction. "Captain," said I resolutely, "you can de pend on me." " I believe you," muttered the captain through his clenched teeth. " When the time comes, be prompt, for every thing depends on that." We entered a reach in the river, above the place where we had seen the concealed canoe. The captain backed water with his oars, un shipped them, and made me a sign to do the same with mine. He then unshipped the rud der, and taking one of the oars, commenced to scull the boat noiselessly along the very edge of the trees that overhung the bank. The ex pression of the captain's face was frightful. It was as rigid as if hewn in marble, and well-nigh as white ; and his gaze had an intensity that was terrible to behold. Such a blended ex pression of woe and dread and fierce determina tion, it would seem impossible for the human countenance to express. At last, after we had rowed some distance, a penetrating whisper came from his lips. " This is the place," said he. " One hope re- OR FEED HANSOM. 331 mains. WQ have distanced them. If we ap proach nearer to the canoe, we shall be discovered, and they will take to the woods." He sculled the boat in towards shore, on the up-river side of a projecting tree, whose lowest branches, almost dipping into the water, afforded concealment. Again the thrilling whisper pierced my ear ; (every thing now seemed like a horrid dream.) " Fred," said the whisper, " they cannot be for off. Ship a pair of sculls. They will shovo the canoe into the stream. The rifle; is it carefully loaded? the ball rammed home? " I am sure of it," I replied. " The rifle, again whispered the captain, is tho gun. Buckshot scatters, and might kill George. The moment they are clear of the bank, I shall fire. No matter what happens, pull out into the stream, and give chase. I will take the other pair of sculls. But until I fire, lie still in the bottom of the boat. George's life may hang on the movement of your hand. God grant steadi ness to mine!" After this neither of us spoke. I placed a pair of sculls gently in the rowlocks, glanced around, and coiled myself up in the bottom of the boat. I restrained even the heaving of my chest, so that when the critical moment arrived, I illicit communicate no more motion to tlio 332 THE YOUNG WRECKER, boat, than if I had been a corpse. The suspense became dreadful. I strained to catch a sound. The ticking of my watch was distinctly audible, and I commenced to count the minutes. Three, four, five, passed. Six, seven I thought I heard a faint, distant sound, like muffled voices. It must be, I thought. Again, but muffled still, I heard something like the accents of the human voice. A distant splash. The captain moved. A report ! " Up Fred," I heard him cry. But I was up and in my seat and straining at the oars. The captain seized his, and pulled furiously. The water boiled around the bow of the little skiff. I looked over my shoulder, and a glance showed the situation. The captain's shot had taken effect. The body of one of the Indians hung lifelessly over the side of the canoe, put ting it entirely out of trim. The other Indian was attempting to right the canoe, by shifting the body of his companion. George, apparently pinioned, was seated about amidships. I again glanced over my shoulder. The In dian had not succeeded in budging his companion from the position into which he had fallen, and had relinquished the attempt. He was paddling with all his might. Another glance showed me that we were gain- OR FRED RANSOM. 333 ing rapidly on the canoe. The effort of the In dian to make speed was entirely frustrated by the canoe's position in the water, and he dared not stop paddling, lest we should lessen our dis tance from him. When I looked again, I saw the canoe heading towards shore. " Give way," shouted the captain, who had observed the same thing; "he may land and drag the boy off into the woods." The elastic oars bent as we plied them with all the strength with which we were endowed. A single misstroke, and all might have been lost. The canoe came within ten yards of shore. Its bow touched the bank. The Indian leaped from it, and pulled it towards him, as if he was about to take hold of George, and lift him out of it. At that moment, the captain, dropping his oars, seized a fowling-piece, and levelled it at the Indian, who hesitated, then turning, sprang up the bank and fled. The captain who, for fear of wounding George, had not intended to fire, except as a forlorn hope, discharged his gun at the Indian, as his form was disappearing amongst the bushes. In a few moments, we were along-side of the canoe. I jumped out, gun in hand, and ran up the bank, to guard against a surprise ; while tho captain cut the thongs by which George's wrists 334 THE YOUNG WRECKER, had been so tightly bound that they were lace rated. I soon discovered, by the -marks in the bushes, that the Indian had made good his escape. The one left in the canoe was mortally wounded, and almost expiring. On scanning him closely, I recognized him as the Indian who had represented himse^ to be a chief, and with whom Brady had had the diffi culty on the Key on which some of the goods from the wreck had baen landed. When I descended from the bank, and ascer tained this, I mentioned it to the captain. He scarcely seemed to hear what I said. After re leasing George, whom he tenderly embraced, he had fervently lifted up his eyes, and then seating himself in the boat, he had buried his face in his hands, and remained in that posture. At x length, he raised his head, and said to us : "I was overcome. I hope that I am duly grate ful for the favor which has been vouchsafed to me. George come here, and let me kiss you again, my child." " There is much to be done yet," resumed the captain, suddenly starting to his feet. "The commandant of the post must be notified. And boys, let us not forget our faithful friend, even if he is a dog." OR FRED RANSOM. 335 THE CAPTAIN GIVES THE ALARM-THE COMMAND ANT'S SUSP 1C IONS-H IS REQUEST TO THE CAP TAINTHE INDIA M"'S CONFESSIO N J A C K. ' S DEATH AND BURIAI HE captain arose, and approaching the canoe, and bending low over the Indian, listened to ascertain whether he still breathed. Satisfied of the fact, he ^ e ^ t ne Indian's pulse, and then raising the almost lifeless body, placed jt in an easy position. Unbending our painter, he fastened one end to the bow of the canos, and the other to the stern of the dingy. Then telling us to get aboard of our boat, he and I put out the sculls, while George took the tiller. The captain told George to steer for the post at the mouth of the river, and we started with the canoe in tow. George was extremely quiet. He had passed through a scene of wild excitement. The roughness of his savage captors, the alter nations of hope and fear, the pudden joy of de- 336 TJTE YOUNG WEECKEE, liverance, had followed with transition so rapid, that they had left him subdued and speechless. We soon reached the post, and the captain briefly explained to the commandant all that had happened. The commandant, after glancing at the wounded Indian, said to the captain : "I need not tell you, Captain Bowers, that trouble is brewing. This Indian's dress, paint, and weapons, indicate that he was on the war path." " I knew it, when I saw the Indian who was shot by this boy," replied Captain Bowers, in dicating me with a gesture. " This preparation is not for the attack of the post," said the commandant, " but for that of some unprotected settlement, probably Indian Key. These Indians were probably on their way to join their comrades. There will be no danger in acceding to your request. I will send a squad of men with you, and when you have recovered your noble dog, you must in stantly return to your vessel. You have a duty to perform. You must immediately get under way, sail for Indian Key, and warn the settle ment of its danger." The captain assented without a moment's hesitation. The Indian was removed to the quarters of the soldiers. We left *our boat, and OR FRED RANSOM. 337 getting into the boat belonging to the post, a squad of four soldiers escorted us up the river. George was left at the post to await our return. We lauded at the same point from which the captain and George had started, and two soldiers staid near the boat, to guard it, and bury the dead Indian. The other two set out with us towards the place where the Indians had lain in ambush. The mystery of their presence in that place was very easily solved. The previous day, they must have come across the dead panthers, and concluded that we would return to the place to procure the skin of the female one. They there awaited our coming, after having detached one of the party to capture the boat and cut off our retreat. "We proceeded cautiously through the woods, for fear that we might be waylaid by some lurking Indian, and our advance was neces sarily slow. In a quarter of an hour, we ar rived at the place. There, in a pool of his own blood, lay poor Jack. The ca[ta : n gently pressed his hand on the region of the animal's heart, and felt a slight fluttering pulsation. The soldiers, with the aid of their knives, cut some boughs, and constructed a litter, on which Jack was carefully deposited, and borne along to wards the river. When we reached the shore, 29 338 THE YOUNG CHECKER, the captain took off his coat, placed it in the bottom of the boat, and Jack was laid upon it. The captain then proceeded to staunch the blood, which was still ebbing from Jack's wound. By the time that he had accomplished this, and adjusted a bandage made of our handkerchiefs knotted together, the corpse of the Indian had been buried in a shallow grave. We then started down the river, and again landed at the post. The commandant was on the shore, awaiting our arrival, and at once said to the captain : " It is as I thought. The Indian died a few minutes ago; but, before expiring, he answered a question of mine. Indian Key is on the eve of being attacked. You must hasten to get your vessel under way." We immediately transferred Jack to our own boat, and bidding the commandant farewell, set sail across Key Biscayne Bay. As soon as the boat was fairly under way, the captain renewed his attentions to Jack, who showed increasing signs of life. At last, he opened his eyes, moaned slightly, and then raising his head, licked the captain's hand. After awhile, he was seized with frequent and intense twitching of the limbs, and moaned more frequently, as if suffering acute pain. Oh, OR FRED RANSOM. 339 how George and I watched him and cried over him ! for we loved the dog. The cap tain, with one hand on the tiller, reached out the other, and constantly patted the head of his faithful friend. Once more, Jack raised his head, licked the captain's hand, and turned his head to lick George's and mine, as we placed them near his mouth, to gratify the affectionate yearning of his nature. He closed his eyes, as If satisfied, and then quivered all over. His limbs twitched and struck out spasmodically, and he uttered a sharp bark, ending with a howl. He became rigid; his eyes opened and glazed; his lower jaw dropped; and his tongue protruded. " Boys," said the captain, mildly, " he is dead." I look back through the vista of many years, and see in that stiffening form, what men call a dog, but I, one of the dearest friends I ever had ! We landed on the first large Key that we reached, and lifting Jack out of the boat, laid him on the shore. The captain dispatched me to the vessel to fetch two of the crew with spades. As I set sail, I saw him and George lift the body of Jack, and carry it towards the high ground on the Key. Before an hour had 310 THE YOUNG WRECKER, passed, I had returned with the men and the implements for which the captain had sent me. In a densely wooded spot, far removed from the beach, we dug a little grave. The captain folded his coat more closely around the dog, and buttoned it over his chest. We laid him care fully in the grave, and took one look at him. The captain made a mark on a neighboring tree, and we turned sadly away, and walked towards the beach. "When we reached the boat, the captain, turn ing to us boys, who could not restrain our tears, said: " He was worthy of our love, proving his by yielding up his life in our defence." We were soon under way, bound for Indian Key. OE FEED RANSOM. THE FLYING cuouo SAILS FOR INDIAN KEY- THE MESSAGE FROM CAPTAIN BOWERS TO DR. CLUZEL-NO ATTACK EXPECTED THAT NIGHT-THE SURPRISE-THE M ASSACRE-THE MURDER OF THE DOCTOR THE ESCAPE OF HIS FAMILY AND OF FRED RANSOM. ' T was three o'clock in the after noon. The schooner had a fair, but moderate breeze. The captain set every rag of canvas on her, and we glided slowly along the line of Keys. Our mission was fraught with life and death. Would we be in time to give warning? Why not? The Indians, if they purposed an attack, would make it at night ; and as we passed a wrecker, to wards the southward, she made no signal, as ehe would assuredly have done, had she pos sessed any tidings. But then, on the other hand, the attack might have taken place during the preceding night, and the wrecker might not have sighted any vessel towards the southward. 29* 342 TEE YOUNG WS2CE.ER, True, the attack miglit have been made during the preceding night. I felt as if the fickle wind and sluggish waves clogged the uails and once-swift keel. The captain, standing near the helm, had apparently been pursuing the same train of thought, for he turned towards me, and said : " The Indians may have attacked the Key last night. If not, we shall be in time, even with this breeze, for they will not attack before the dead of night. I knew that, or I would not have spent even an hour in burying Jack." " Oh, captain !" exclaimed I, "I am so glad to hear you say that ! I feared that we should be too late." " So we may be," replied the captain ; " but not if the attack has n't already taken place. Go down into the cabin, and sit with George. Perhaps you had better try to take some rest, to recover after the fatigue of the clay. You may be needed in a few hours. George is too much overcome to be of any use in an emer gency. I shall be obliged to depend upon you alone." I found George as I had left him. He lay in his berth, with his eyes open ; perfectly calm, but unable to compose himself to sleep. I sat down beside him, took his hand, and talked to him. Beinoc thus diverted from the thought* OB FRED RANSOM. 343 which had engrossed him, the fatigue -which he had undergone, exercised uncontrolled influence, and he soon fell fast asleep. Then I slipped off my coat, and threw myself into my own berth, knowing that the next few hours might tax my utmost energies, and determined to brace my nerves by the refreshment of slumber. Blessed, indeed, as Sancho Panza says, be the man who invented sleep ! When I awakened, I was in darkness, and I felt a cool breeze rushing through the cabin. I called to George, in a low voice, but receiving no answer, got out of my berth, put on my coat, and ran up the companion-way. The captain was seated near the helm. Ap parently, he had not relinquished his post. The breeze had increased. It was quite fresh, and the schooner was scudding along, with her Bails bellied out, and lee-scuppers almost under water. "I hope that you have had a good rest," observed the captain. " It is ten o'clock. Wo shall reach the Key in an hour's time. I '11 leave you in charge of the deck. Call me the moment we come in sight of the Key." The captain left me, and, a few minutes afterwards, on putting my head down the com panion-way, I knew, by the loud snoring, that he had not been long in obtaining the plumber 344 THE YOUNG WRECKER, which the seafaring man, tutored by experience of surprises, dangers, and fatigues, seldom woos in vain. In a little over an hour, a distant light ap prised me that we were approaching our desti nation. After confirming myself in this opinion, by appealing to the helmsman, I awoke the captain. He instantly came on deck. We were soon abreast of Indian Key. " We are in time, Fred," said the captain, as the schooner rounded to and let go her anchor. " Ashore, all appears too orderly for any thing to have happened. There is no noise, and the lights in the windows of the houses near the water show as usual. I have got some service for you to perform. My duty keeps me here. Take a man or two, and row ashore. Go to Doctor Cluzel's house, and give him the intelli gence. In case he should consider the schooner a safer refuge than his house, let him come off with his family." "Certainly, sir," I replied; "but I don't need any one. I can pull ashore without any help; and, as the boat is small, and the doctor may accept your offer, I had better dispense with even one of the crew. There is a pretty stiff breeze rising, but I can manage the boat." The dingy was lowered, I jumped into her, put out my sculls, and rowed for the Key. OK FEED HANSOM. 345 * On landing, I ran hastily to the doctor's house, and up the steps leading to the piazza, and pounded at the front-door for some minutes before I could make myself heard. At length, the doctor put his head out of the window, and asked who was there. I announced my name, and said, in a low tone, that I had something of importance to communicate. The doctor withdrew his head, and soon opened the front door. In a very few words, I told him the news, and gave him the captain's invitation. The doctor looked grave, but after a short silence, said: "I must confess, that the suspicions of the commandant of the post, and of Captain Bowers, are not unwarranted. Of course, I do n't doubt, after what you have told me, that the Indians contemplate some outrage ; but I do doubt that they intend to attack this settlement. No signs of them have been seen about here. It is many miles from this place to the main-land. The residents here, being wreckers and fishermen, are daily in the habit of visiting the neighboring Keys; and if any Indians had been lurking there, they would have been discovered. At any rate, no attack will be made to-night. Look over the water in this direction, and in 346 THE YOUNG WKECKER, that. Every thing is as silent as the grave. Hold ! let us go into the cupola. Thence we can command a view in every direction." Saying this, the doctor left the piazza, on which we had been standing, and led the way into the house, and upstairs to the cupola. Nothing could be more peaceful than the scene which presented itself from the cupola. The waters surrounding us lay calmly shimmer ing in the light of the setting moon. The shores of the ^ adjacent Keys showed quite distinctly, and the only sounds that we heard were those of the gentle waves splashing against the piles of the neighboring jetty, and the sighing of the in creasing breeze, as it struck the crannies in the roof, and the open casement of the cupola. " It is past twelve o'clock," said the doctor, examining his watch. " Surely, if danger is brewing, it will not overtake us to-night. I like to act with caution ; at the same time, I wish to avo^d giving a needless alarm to the settlement. I cannot think that there is danger to-night; and, by daylight, the people will be less alarmed at the news. However, I will be on the safe side, and communicate it to the two most reliable men here, obtain GE FRED HANSOM. 347 their opinion, and let them use their own judg ment/'* We descended the stairs, and Doctor Cluzel, after donning his coat, left me standing on the lower piazza, while he went on the errand which he had mentioned. After an absence of half an hour, he returned, and stated that he had seen both of the persons to whom he had alluded. They agreed with him in thinking that the late ness of the hour indicated, .that if an attack had been in contemplation, it would be post poned until another night. The doctor and they had concluded to divulge the news on the following morning, and preparations could then be made for repelling an attempt upon the set tlement. " It is within five minutes of one o'clock," said the doctor, again consulting his watch. "Every thing is perfectly quiet, and likely, in my opinion, to continue so. You must not think of returning to the vessel. Your late fatigue must have nearly exhausted you. Come into the sitting-room. I have a shake-down there, always ready for the use of a friend." I was worn out, and seeing no reason which should urge a return to the vessel, I gladly * The warning received by the settlement, as introduced in the story, is historically untrue. The attack by the Indians was a surprise. 348 THE YOUNG WRECKER, accepted the doctor's offer. He soon left me, and retired to his own chamber, continuing carefully to guard against making any noise which might disturb the family, and, by the unwonted circumstance, arouse their appre hensions. "When I was left alone, I partially undressed, and threw myself on the couch. For a long time, I lay with my eyes fixed, with an ab stracted gaze, on the face of an old clock which stood in the corner of the room. The scenes of the last few hours vividly presented them selves to my imagination. But the curtain of sleep fell not before my hot and weary eyes, and the drama closed with my present situation, only to be again repeated. How long I had lain thus absorbed, I knew not, until my gaze, which had rested on the face of the clock, without my being conscious of the object upon which it centred, resuming its function, showed me the hands indicating two o'clock in the morning. I sprang up, and was in the act of divesting myself of my remaining clothes, when a horrid yell smote my ears. Almost simulta neously, came a volley of bullets, and the sound of crashing glass showed me that the musketry had been levelled at the upper windows of tha house. At that yell, heard by me for the second timo, OR FRED RANSOM. but now vociferated by many discordant voices, I needed not the accompanying discharge of bullets to tell me that the Indians were upon us. Fatal error, reflected I, that lapped us in fancied security! But there was no time for reflection. I seized my lamp, and hurried with it to the corner of the room, where I set it down, and screened it with a chair and a cloth hastily snatched from a table. Voices and footsteps sounded upstairs. I had hardly time to clothe myself decently, when the doctor, Mrs. Cluzel, and their three children, poured into the room. The doctor was cool and collected ; but Mrs. Cluzel was speechless with alarm, and her son James, in maddened terror, clung to her night dress. The doctor hurried us all to a trap-door leading to the cellar, already described as being used for a bathing-room. The doctor raised the trap-door, but Mrs. Cluzel hesitated to descend. Her daughters threw their arms about her, and besought her to seek refuge there. But the thought of leaving the doctor seemed to be more than she could bear. In the midst of this dis tressing scene, came the crashing blows of axes, as the Indians commenced to force their way into tho opposite dwelling. At the sound, Mrs. Cluzel's agony of terror so prevailed, that she hurried with us all into the dark opening, down SO 350 THE YOUNG WRECKER, the narrow stairs, and into the water of the bathing-room. As we descended, the doctor ran hastily towards the interior of the house. We passed through the bathing-room, and made our way to an oblong place which communicated with it. This place was separated from the wharf by posts driven into the marl. We had hardly concealed ourselves there, when we dis tinctly heard the doctor's voice speaking to the Indians from the upper piazza. He addressed them in Spanish, telling them that he was a physician. When he said that, they gave a shout, and, from the sound of their -voices, we judged that they were retiring, having resolved on abstaining from further molestation of the- house. As the murmur of voices gradually be came more and more vague, as the Indians re tired, we heard the doctor's footsteps near the trap-door, which we had left open in our hasty descent. "We are safe," whispered he, putting his head through the trap-door. " The Indians have gone. I told them that I was a medicine-man, and they respect that title. Hemaiu where you are for a while longer." Saying this, Doctor Cluzel closed the trap door, and, judging by the sound, I think that he must have dragged over it a heavy chest which I had observed in the room. OR FEED RANSOM. Who can depict, save one who has been a wit-" ness of such a scene, the slow torture of the minutes and hours that ensued ! With clothes saturated with water, and bedraggled with mud; worn out with suspense; half-crazed with horror; what must have been the feelings of that poor mother, with her children clinging around her ? From a distance, now and then came the noiso of resounding blows, as the Indians broke into house after house, dismantling it, and heighten ing their demoniac instincts by swilling the spirituous liquors which they found upon the premises. Sometimes, the crashing sound of axes, and the murmur of voices seemed to bo approaching, and we felt sure that the savages, maddened with drink, were returning, to imbruo in our blood, hands reeking with that of many already ruthlessly slaughtered. The hoarse, drunken shouts, came borne in fitful blasts from a distance, or startled us by their proximity, as they were bellowed by a swiftly passing throng of infuriate wretches. And utter darkness shut in our retreat, and what we could not hear, the imagination divined with a vividness that reality could scarcely exceed. I could not ascertain the time of night, or rather morning, for my watch, being immersed in the water, had stopped. Otherwise, I might have discovered the time by feeling the hands. 352 THE YOUNG WRECKER, After hours, seemingly years, of weary watch ing, we thought that we perceived, through the chinks between the piles, the gray light of morn ing stealing through the air. \Ve cautiously whispered the news to each other, and, for the first time, hope seemed to revive in every breast. Scarcely had this feeling commenced to re sume its sway, when our hearts sank within us, for again, and close to the house, we heard the yell of the Indians. Then came a terrific bat tering at the front-door, and at that renewed sound, I gave up all for lost. Scarcely a minute had elapsed, when by the noise of hurrying feet above, we knew that the Indians had forced an entrance. The sound of footsteps rushing up the stairs, showed that the Indians were search ing for the family. Again, the battering on a distant door apprised us that the doctor had retreated to the cupola the place to which he had taken me but a few hours before, to show me the peaceful scene that lay spread out for miles be yond ! Foiled in their first attempt to enter the cupola, the yells of the savages became frightful, and the inmost recesses of our retreat seemed to vibrate with the horrid clamor. Then came a crash of planks, and one general yell, louder than all the rest, revealed the fearful truth. The Indians had broken down the door. A few wild yells and trampling sounds ensued, and the noise OR FEED RA.NSOM. So3 of numerous and rapidly approaching footsteps rumbled down the staircase. It was clear. The doctor had been murdered in cold blood. I heard a groan at my side, and a lifeless form fell on my breast. I encircled it in my arms, and kept it from dropping into the water. Mrs. Cluzel's long agony had overcome her, and she had fainted. I cautiously whispered the fact to the girh, who approached and aided me in sup porting their mother above the surface of the water. We threw some of the fluid in her face, chafed her hands and wrists, and in a few min utes she was sufficiently restored to consciousness to enable her to raise her head. Then, the horror of our situation seemed so suddenly to burst upon her, that, judging by the convulsive rising of her shoulders and inflation of her chest, that she was about to give vent to a scream, I clapped my hand over her mouth, saying, "for Heaven's sake, madam! We are lost, if you raise your voice." " It was involuntary," replied she, with a groan. "I bore accumulating horrors, but the memory of all, in one second, distracted me. The doctor" %" I thought that she was about to faint again, but the girls supported her, pleading with her to be calm. And then came a scene ! what a strange mourning scene! The mother, daugh- 354 THE YOUNG WRECKER, ters, and son, interlaced in each other's arms, shivering arid benumbed, mourned and wept together, for they knew that above lay the body of the husband and father. They seemed to be stupefied by the danger and grief that encompassed them. I was, as I should have been, the one who best preserved his senses. The last blow had overwhelmed them so completely, that the mere instinct of self-preservation, alone seemed to control them. The noises above now appeared to fall all un heeded on their ears. The sound of heavy objects, dragged along the floor, indicated that the pillage of the house had begun ; and I knew by the frequent crashing of glass, that the Indians were engaged in wantonly destroying what they could not carry away. Hope that they would speedily depart, then took possession of me; for I said to myself, "after they have pillaged or destroyed all the valuables upon which they can lay their hands, what can detain them? They have gratified their love of drink, with bestial intoxication, and glutted their thirst for blood, by the murder of many besides tho doctor." Discovery, at times, seemed imminent; for some of the Indians were immediately overhead, and once an Indian lifted the plank by which the turtle-crawl could be entered, and peered 30* OR FEED RANSOM. 355 down into the darkness. Had there been much light, no doubt our presence in the oblong pas sage, which lay between the bathing-room and the turtle-crawl, would have been discovered. I shuddered when I saw the plank replaced, and realized how narrowly we had escaped. I then felt as if our last trial of fortitude had passed. But I was mistaken. Another was in store for us. Hardly had the sun risen, when, by the light which penetrated our retreat, I perceived wreathing lines of smoke coming from the floor above. The house was on fire. Soon the smoke descended in volumes so stifling, that we were obliged to keep our faces close to the water, to avoid being suffocated. The roar of the flames grew louder and louder. All hope vanished. The alternatives seemed to be death by suffocation, or by the hands of the Indians. The house soon fell into the cellar, and even now, when I recall the ensuing scene, it seems impossible that human nature could withstand what we endured. We could not see each other. The planking which covered the long, narrow space, in which we were ensconced, took fire, and we were constantly obliged to dash water upon it. At the same time, we were obliged to cover our heads with rnarl, and throw water over them, to diminish the intense heat, and disperse the smoke, so that we could breathe. Jurnea 356 THE YOUNG WBEC31ER, could endure no more. He began to scream. His mother forcibly held him, and gagged him with her hand ; while one of his sisters held his arms. But, frantic with terror, he broke from them, and displacing one of the palmetto posts, which separated our place of concealment from the turtle-crawl, made his escape. We now thought our fate sealed, and des perately awaited the arrival of the Indians. Blank despair settled upon us. I confess that I had not a ray of hope that we would not be discovered and murdered. We waited for some time, in dreadful suspense, but heard no noise. Mrs. Cluzel, feeling that we could not exist much longer there, approached the line of pal metto posts, and, with her hands, dug up the marl at the bottom of some of them, until she removed it sufficiently to withdraw them. We all passed out under the adjoining wharf, on which was some blazing cord-wood, dropping its cinders into the water below. As we emerged from the wharf, we perceived James standing on the shore, gazing distractedly in every direction. Near the wharf beyond, we espied a large launch, to which we waded, beckoning to James to follow us. We dragged the boat into deep water, jumped into it, and commenced poling and row ing with all our might, to get clear of the Key. Fortunately, James knew how to manr.ge a boat, OR FRED EANSCM. 357 and we made good speed. We once ran aground, but soon succeeded in getting the launch afloat. Some of the Indians happening to discover us, as we got clear of the shore, ran down to the water's edge, yelling with rage. But we were be- ytfnd rifle-shot before they could recover from, their surprise. We then saw a boat from tho Flying Cloud pulling to our assistance. We were saved. The presence of the launch seemed providential. Laden with goods stowed in it by the Indians, in a brief interval of their absence, it changed from the means of pillage to the instrument of our safety. It was afternoon when we got aboard of the schooner. A few residents of the Key had already reached her. Others, who had secreted themselves in various places on the Key, were discovered when the Indians had retired. Mrs. Cluzel and her children were led into the cabin, and the captain begged' them to take anything with which they could cover themselves. They had nothing on but their night-clothes. After the Indians had left, some scattered dresses were found, and they were distributed among the sufferers. The situation of Mrs. Cluzel and her children was deplorable in the extreme. Bereft of the head of their family, destitute of clothing ; devoured by restless fear of a renewed attack by the Indians ; they needed, 358 THE YOUNS and, I must say, received our fullest sympathy and aid. All that the captain could do, he did, to alleviate their sufferings, physical and mental. On the night of the second day after their arrival on the schooner, tlj.ey heard the report of two rifles, which was understood to be a signal agreed upon in case the Indians attacked Tea- Table Key. So unnerved were they by tli3 ordeal through which they had passed, that, although a storm was raging, the idea of the proximity of the Indians put them in so great a paroxysm of terror, that they implored the captain to let them have a boat to leave the vessel. The captain, in a kind but firm manner, refused to accede to their request. If he had done so, they would inevitably have perished in the storm. Towards evening, there arrived a United States schooner, commanded by an officer of the Navy. He at once surrendered his state-room to the Cluzel family, and, the next day but one, sailed for Cape Florida, to await the passing of a steamer in which the family could reach St. Augustine. Some of those who had taken refuge on the Flying Cloud, as well as those who, by hiding themselves on shore, had escaped the massacre, returned to their dwellings. I learned, afterwards, that the Cluzels were OR FRED JIA.1TSOU. 359 safely put aboard of the steamer. On trans ferring the party to the naval vessel, on the evening preceding her departure, the command ing officer requested Captain Bowers to sail for Key West, to carry the news of the massacre. \Ve got under way at once, and stood down the coast. 360 ifuUiNG FRED RANSOM'S REFLECTIONS- A SHIP ON FIRE-THE RESCUE OF THE CREW-MUTUAL RECOGNITION. HE sun had set, but twilight still lingered, as we spread sail and glided swiftly along the shadowy line of Keys. The storm which had raged nearly without intermission, since the fatal night of the 6th of August, had subsided, and a double calm en sued, after the strife of the elements, and the more fearful violence of man. We had rea son to look back with satisfaction at the part which we had acted in the events of the last few hours ; yet to the retrospection, belonged so much that was painful, that I rejoiced in a change of scene which might disturb the memo ry of the late pillage and ruthless massacre. I had had enough adventure to satisfy the craving of the most romantic youth. As a consequence, OR FEED RANSOM. SGI I experienced a longing to return home ; and it was with a joyful feeling that the thought flashed across me, that it was in my present frame of mind, and in no other, that I could honorably do so. By dint of pondering, came the idea of leaving the vessel when she arrived at Key West. Then, for the first time, I re alized the strength of the tie which bound me to the captain and his son. On that account, I felt reluctant to go. Yet my father had said, that when I could state that I was cured of my spirit for adventure, I might return home. I was sure that I could say so now. I asked myself whether I ought not to return when I' could say this with truth. I had no right to give my father the pain of a prolonged and indefinite separation. The accomplishment of my desire, and his injunction, were reconcilable, and all that opposed them was the anticipated pang of separation from my wrecker friends. I resolved to leave the vessel at Key West. Ever since the morning after the massacre, my thoughts had taken this turn ; but my final determination was not made until the evening upon which we weighed anchor. About nine o'clock, I was alone, reclining on the trunk- cabin, gazing at the stars, and listening to the purling sound of the low waves sweeping past the schooner. The calm influence of night and 31 362 THE YOUXG WRECKER, solitude inspired a thoughtful mood, and I resolved to encourage it until I had reached a solution of the question which had engaged my mind. As I ceased communing with myself, my spirits rose. Doubt had vanished. My desire and my duty were in accord. I felt supremely happy. I sprang to my feet, and walked to wards the cabin, with the intention of telling my friends of my determination ; but, on second thoughts, I concluded to defer telling the news until we reached Key West, for I felt sure that it would grieve them both to know that we must part. Passing the companion-way, I heard "a mur mur of conversation. One of the survivors of the massacre was recounting to the captain some of the details of his escape with his family. The children, with their mothers, were retiring to rest, as I judged from the glow of a light behind a blanket which had been hung across the cabin, in order to afford privacy to the fe male passengers. Brady was at the helm. I sat down near him, under the lee of the bulwarks. The lo quacious fellow instantly took the opportunity to ask me some questions about the killing of the " chafe," and about the events of the night OR FRED RANSOlf. 363 of tlie 6th of August, although he knew that, the captain allowed no conversation at the helm. " I will not talk to you, Brady," said I. " It is against orders." " Did you hear that," said Brady, quickly. " I tell you, Brady," returned I, " that I will not talk to you. If you go on, I '11 be obliged to report you." " It 's a gun, I mane," said Brady. " I heerd a gun." " Nonsense," said I, thinking that his imagi nation was running upon the Indians. " We are miles away from Indian Key." " It 's a cannon, I mane," said Brady. " There ! Do you hear that ?" "No, I did not," said I, rising. "And, more over, I think that the cannon is in your imagi nation. But perhaps I could n't hear so well where I was, as you can by the helm." A short time elapsed, and I was on the poinl -of resuming my seat, when I heard the reporl of a distant cannon. "Do n't you hear that?" exclaimed Brady, " You 're right," said I. " Captain !" shouted I, calling down the companion-way. " Please come on deck. I hear signal-guns." The captain sprang up the steps, followed bj one of the passengers, and stood beside us. The sound of the guns came at regular ano 864 THE YOUNG WRECKER, frequent intervals, as fast as a single piece of ordnance can be loaded and fired. " I should judge by the sound," said the captain, " that the vessel must be well off shore, fifteen miles at least." Two or three of the male passengers now joined the party, and one of them, who was a sea-captain, agreed with Captain Bowers in his estimate* of the distance from our vessel to the vessel in distress. " It seems to me," he added " that she must bear about south south-east from where we are." Captain Bowers assented. "She is to the southward, certainly," re marked one of the passengers; "for do n't you observe that the reports have become much louder ?" " She bears about south south-east," said Captain Bowers, in a confident tone. " I shall keep the schooner on her present course, for .awhile; and then try to cross the Keef, through a channel I know. In four or five miles we '11 be abreast of her." When we had sailed about that distance, the correctness of the view expressed, as to the vessel's first bearing from our position, was con firmed, for the sound of the reports came from the eastward. OR FEED RANSOM. 365 " All bane's stand by to haul in the fore and main sheets," ^shouted the captain. "Here, you three men, come aft. Luff her up, Brady. Haul away uow. Give a pull at the main-peak halliards, men. Trim the jib-sheet. Steady at that, Brady." The schooner was now close-hauled, and run ning directly towards the Reef. Before long we passed through the channel, and the reports of the cannon became more and more distinct. Suddenly, near the horizon, a bright light glowed, encompassing a large ship with a mo mentary halo. " She 's on fire !" shouted every one on deck. The noise brought up all the crew who were below, as well as those occupants of the cabin who had not retired to rest, and our forward deck was filled with eager gazers. The glow quickly reappeared, and as suddenly vanished. Again it commenced, shone fiicker- ingly, and died away into utter darkness. With a quick leap, the light arose once more, increasing in intensity, until the ship became a great bonfire, lighting up the horizon with a dazzling glare. The darting blaze, amid her masts, devoured her sails, as powder is consumed in the quick breath of its explosion. The sails gone, the blazing hull then lighted the masts, which soon 31* 3C6 THE YOUNG V/KECKER, showed like pillars of fire, until, charred to the core, just before they fell, quick streaks of light coursed up and down them, like the darting of electric sparks. The whole of the forward part of the ship, even to the mizzen-mast, was in flames. It was very evident from the character of the conflagration, that the ship had been for a long time afire in her hold; the hatches had been battened down to exclude the air, and smother the flames, which, although pent up, imperceptibly gained the mastery, and sud denly bursting their bonds, had wrapped tho ship in a tornado of flame. The deck of the Flying Cloud was a scene of bustle and preparation. The boats were prepared, so that we could lower them at a moment's notice. The two quarter-boats, with close stowing, could hold a dozen persons besides the oarsmen. The dingy we had lost at Indian Key. We had nothing upon which to depend, except the quarter-boats. "I've got just two crews of four men each, for the boats," said Captain Bowers to the sea- captain. You take command of one of the boats, and Fred Eansom will take charge of the other. I '11 run as close as I dare. Hannibal and I can manage the vessel, with the aid of one or two of the passengers. . Take your sta- OR FRED RANSOM. 367 tions by the boats', men," shouted the captain. " Hannibal, take the helm." The men ran up the companion-ladders, and reached the quarter-deck. One of them got into each boat, to unhook the falls as soon as she was lowered, and the others stood by the davits. The light of the fire was now so vivid, that on our decks, the face of every one shone brightly in the glare. "We were ploughing ra pidly through the sea, and objects on the ship became at every moment more distinguishable. She drifted, an unmanageable mass, with the flames sweeping from her stem almost to her Stern. Near the stern, we could see dark clus ters, which we recognized as human beings, trying to escape, on the verge of the taffrail, the blast of the fiery furnace. The excited shout and rush to the forward- deck, with which all on the deck of the schooner had involuntary greeted the discovery that the mysterious vessel in distress was a ship on fire, had at once given place to brief command, dis ciplined and prompt obedience. In a minute afterwards, we were standing motionless at our posts. The passengers who had retired, com menced to emerge from the cabin, their scanty dress and excited gestures betokening that the sudden noise had, owing to the scenes through 8G8 THE YOUNG WRECKER, which they had lately passed, produced in them an alarm little short of a panic. "We were nearing the ship so rapidly, that we could sometimes see a figure separate itself from one of the little knots of human beings, run quickly to and fro, and then again become merged in the dark mass that hung, like swarming bees, close to the taffrail. The captain luffed the schooner slightly, so as to run to windward of the ship. As we held on our new course, and the ship drifted slowly to leeward, from our new point of view the figures in the groups on the ship's poop began to appear detached. Just after we had changed our course, we thought that the ship's passen gers must for the first time have seen our vessel; for a fluctuating movement was per ceptible amongst them, and then a shrill sound, like a cry of distress, was faintly borne to our ears. "We were soon within hearing of the agonizing cries of the ship's passengers. The progress of the flames was depriving them of the little space in which they had huddled, cowering on the deck to escape the scorching heat. Objects of various sorts were being hastily thrown over board, and human forms were seen leaping into the water. Some rushed wildly to and fro, OK FRED RANSOM. SCO wringing their hands, stopping abruptly, and then precipitating themselves into the sea. " Oh, if we could only have arrived a few minutes earlier!" exclaimed I to the sea-cap tain, who was standing at his post on the other side of the deck. " I am afraid that thev will all be lost," " Never fear," he replied, " the ship must have been afire for a long time, and those things that were thrown overboard, before any one leaped, were prepared for that purpose. The sea is pretty smooth. We may pick most of the people up." We were now so near that the crackling and roar of the flames were distinctly audible. Only two figures were visible on the ship's poop. They showed like silhouettes* against the back ground of flame. The two female figures (for they were in fe male costume) showed so distinctly, that I could recognize by their respective height and size, that one was a woman, and the other a young and slender girl. They stood poised on the taffrail, clasped each other in a momentary em brace, and then, hand in hand, sprang into the sea. * A silhouette is a^Jjlack figure, in which nothing is ro- co^nizable except the outline. 370 THE YOUNG WRECKER, I heard the captain's voice shout, "Down witb your helm, Hannibal !" The schooner shot up into the wind's eye, and slowly lost her way,, and as soon as the captain dared, he said, "Lower away the boats." To lower the boats, unhook the falls, shove off from the schooner, point and let fall the oars, and pull in the direction of the place where most of the ship's passengers had leaped into the sea, required but a few seconds. A few more, brought us to the place where, clinging to spars, boxes, barrels, and other articles, so numerous that it was evident that they had been prepared, we found some drowning wretches tossing amid the waves. We dragged them into the boats, working with desperate eagerness, so as to avail ourselves of tho bright light of the burning ship, which was rapidly drifting away to leeward. Sometimes, when we had almost given over further search, a faint cry led us to the rescue of some one yet struggling in the water. All at once, I thought of the two female figures that I had seen pre cipitate themselves from the ship. Neither was in my boat. After taking aboard seven people, I had been for five minutes vainly pulling around in every direction. I bethought me of pulling towards the other boat, to see if they were there. They were not. There was not a OR FRED RANSOM. 371 woman nor a girl in either boat. I recollected that they had remained last on the ship. If they were to be found, they were nearer to the ship I steered along the fiery track of the ship drifting to leeward. I soon heard a shrill cry. Then a louder one came. The light from the burning ship showed a dark ob ject on the crest of a wave. I steered in that direction. I distinguished cries for help. We reached the place, found and dragged into the boat two female figures. One was that of a woman of mature age, the other that of a mere slip of a girl. They were clinging to a spar, and were almost exhausted by their efforts to retain their hold. They must be the persons of whom I was in search, thought I. I saw the other boat approaching mine, and heard the hail of the sea-captain who was in charge of her. I rowed to meet him, and as we neared each other, he hallooed : " I have the captain of the ship aboard my boat. He wants to make a count, to see who are missing." The boats ranged up along-side of each other, and the captain of the ship, as soon as he came near, recognizing some of the people in my boat, asked the names of others whom, at the first glance, he could not distinguish. "Are Mrs. and Miss Brenton aboard?" said he. 372 THE YOUNG WRECKER, " There are a woman and a girl in the bottom of the boat," said I. "I don't know their names. They are too much exhausted to speak." "Then," said the captain of the ship, "all that can be saved, are saved. One man, when the fire was first discovered, became panic- stricken, jumped overboard, and was drowned." We steered for the schooner, and aided the passengers to reach the deck. I jumped out of my boat, and taking Miss Brenton by the hands, lifted her up to the deck, while one of the men assisted her mother. Miss Brenton was so exhausted that she tot tered. To keep her from falling, I was obliged to encircle her waist with my arm. As I turned, in the act, to address some words of encouragement to her, I for the first time ob tained a full view of her face. I was seized with astonishment so great, that I nearly let her fall to the deck. " Julia !" exclaimed I. She glanced at me with a startled look, and murmured, " Fred !" " Fred Ransom !" echoed Mrs. Brenton. "This is no time for explanations," said I, addressing them. " You are both exhausted. You had better go down, at once, into the cabin." OB FRED RANSOM. 373 Saying this, I escorted Julia and her mother to the companion-way, where they were received by two of the lady-passengers. Some of the ship's crew were accommodated forward. Some remained on deck. The cap tain of the ship, his three officers, and two of the male passengers, finding how crowded the cabin was, declined to accept a place there. Captain Bowers gave them a change of clothes, and some light bedding, which they spread on deck. The captain did not attempt to return through the channel across the Beef. When, an hour before, he had passed through it, the urgency of the case admitted of no debate. We were forced to keep on a course along the outside edge of the Roof, breasting the current of the Gulf Stream. The ship burned, until, owing to our increas ing distance and the waste of material for combustion, she showed like a great live-coal upon the surface of the sea. When day dawned, she was out of sight. "At that time we were still far from Key West. During the latter part of the night, the wind had been extremely fickle, and as the schooner had had to contend with the cur rent of the Gulf Stream, she had not made much way. 874 THE YOUNG WRECKER, It was late in the morning, before Mrs. Brenton and Julia were able to come on deck, owing to the fact that their clothes were in process of drying. The other lady-passengers were not able to replenish their wardrobe, for they themselves were destitute even of a change. I anxiously looked for the Brentons, and was gratified when, about ten o'clock,, they emerged from the cabin. They were both pale and weak, and Mrs. Brenton leaned on her daughter for support. " Take my arm, Mrs. Brenton," said I, ad vancing. " The fresh air on deck will revive you." " It is like a dream," said Mrs. Brenton, half soliloquizing, and half addressing me. " It was only a fortnight ago," added she, in a weak voice, "that I saw your father, and we were talking of the prospect of your return. Julia and I were on our way to join my husband in Valparaiso. What will become of us ! I was hot able to save even the money which I had in my trunk. For the sake of your father's friendship for my husband, you must stay with us, Fred." " I will, indeed," I replied. " And I would have done so under any circumstances. I shall not appear to have so much merit now, when I confess that, before I met you, I intended to OR FEED HANSOM. 375 return home when tins vessel reached Key "West. It seems providential that she, of all the wreck ers, should have been so fortunate as to save you. The captain and his family are strong friends of mine. I have a little sum of money saved up in Key West, and the moment that we arrive there ? you will be provided with what is necessary, and my remaining funds will be sufficient to pay our passage to New York." " I have, indeed, reason to be grateful," re plied Mrs. Brenton. Julia timidly smiled her thanks. For half an hour, they walked the deck, and then, being fatigued, returned to the cabin. I seized the opportunity to communicate to the captain my intention of departure, assigning the reasons which I have already given the reader, adding the additional one, of the ne cessity of my becoming the protector of the Brentons, who were friends of our family. A shade passed over the captain's face. George said that I could net go; that the Brentons could take passage from Key West for New York, just as well without me as with me. But the captain checked his son, and turning to me, said : " I approve of your intention, Fred. The 376 THE YOUNG WRECKER, reason that you first gave me was sufficient. Never forget your wrecker friends, my boy." " Never !" said I, walking away to conceal my emotion. And I never shall forget them. OB, FEED EANSOM. 377 OIKLAJPTIEiR, ARRIVAL AT KEY WEST-FRED RANSOM AND PARTY SAIL FOR NEW YORK.-THE VOYAGiE HOME-THE OLD BACHELOR'S ADIEU. UT little remains to be told. My story draws to its close. When the Flying Cloud reached her wharf in Key West, the news of the massacre quickly spread through the town. During the whole day after our arrival, the citizens poured down to the schooner, to learn the particulars of the catastrophe. The doors of the hospitable residents of the Key flew open to welcome the distressed people whom we had brought with us. Mrs. Bowers received Mrs. and Miss Brenton in her house, and her sympathy and aid soon restored the two agitated Sufferers to comfort and equanimity. I may as well mention here, what I after wards learned in relati- n to the doings of the 32* S ( 8 THE YOUNG WRECKER, Indians near our wrecking station off Capo Florida. The mill on the Miami was burned to the ground. The keeper of the light-house at Cape Florida was attacked by the Indians, and driven into the tower. He took refuge in the lantern, from which position he made so stubborn a defence, that the Indians desisted from their attempt to dislodge him, and after setting fire to the staircase, retreated. The keeper, unable to descend, remained for hours on top of the tower, whence he was finally rescued by an armed party of whites. An opportunity to reach New York soon pre sented itself, in the arrival of a ship which put into Key "West for repairs, after having been sub jected to stress of weather in the Gulf of Mexico. I drew all the money remaining to my credit on the books of the owners of the Flying Cloud. It amounted to a considerable sum ; for in ad dition to what was due for salvage, my monthly allowance had always been remitted by my father, although, after the award to me of a share in the salvage, I had released him from his promise to make me an allowance. The time of parting came at last. It was with a heavy heart, although I was going home, th$t I bade the captain, George, and the men, good bye. The captain's whole family came down to OR FRED RANSOM. 379 the wharf to see us off in the boat which carried us to the ship. I promised the captain and George that I would often write to them, and assured them of how gladly, at some future time, I would seize an opportunity to visit them in our old haunts. I went through the final shak ing of hands, jumped into the boat, and waved my handkerchief from the ship, as long as my friends were within sight. Soon we were on the broad ocean. Nearly one year before, I had left home, an unwilling voyager, sailing away into that unknown, mys terious world, which I had longed to see, and which, when the opportunity offered, was by circumstances divested of all the charms with which to my fancy it had been endowed. Through what strange vicissitudes of fortune had I not passed ! Not a cloud now obscured the serenity of my mind. The breeze all day seemed to whisper the word, Home. The crests of the swiftly-gliding waves seemed to peer ab me over the bulwarks, and murmur, Home. Mrs. Brenton was terribly prostrated by sea sickness. Julia, after a slight attack, recovered, and was not again affected by it during the voyage. ' At night, we two used to pace the deck, arm in arm, conversing in tones subdued by the influence of tho mighty deep. One moonlight 380 THE YOUNG WRECKEH, night, just before we reached New York, we were thus pacing up and down the deck. The slight figure of my companion moved gracefully at my side. I was so enthralled by the loveli ness of the scene, and the artless discourse of Julia, that I felt as if I could wish that the spell might endure forever. " Julia," said I suddenly. " I must give you some memento by which you can recall my con nection with the strange adventure through which you have just passed." " I can never forget your connection with it," she replied, "for you saved our lives. I need no token." " Yes !" rejoined I; "but I wish to make you a present of something which I have, that will be safer in your possession, and more appro priate too, than in mine. Wait and you shall see it." I went to the cabin, and brought back the box containing my shell-basket. Carefully lifting out the basket, I deposited it on a seat, that it might be seen to the best advantage. The moon-beams shone brightly on the clusters of pearly flowers, and on the delicate trembling tendrils. " Is it not beautiful ! " said we both at once, stooping, at the same time, to examine it more closely. OR FEED RANSOM. 381 Julia's curls grazed my cheek. As she raised her head, blushingly conscious of the accident, I said : " All that I ask in return is the least lit for a locket." Young reader, you think that this was the beginning of a lo've affair, the sequel to which, after some years, was that Julia and I were married. Ah! you forget that I said I was an old bachelor. I am. Therefore I did not marry Julia, although I did save her from drowning. We parted. You and I must also part. As I write these words, which I know are some of a very few yet to be written, I feel a sadness steal over me. The gas-light in my room seems to grow dim, and, as I glance around, I feel as if I were about to be more solitary than I have been of late. Over the arm of yonder sofa, hangs the skin of the male panther (we never got the other one), and, on the mantle-piece, are a few branching corals, that serve for decoration, and to recall the past. For your amusement, and mine, I have written the story that I promised, but as yours commences, my own must cease. For a brief space, I have been a boy, but as I lay down my pen, I am again a lonely old bachelor. THE END. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Form L9 15jn-10,'48(B1039)444 UMVERSITY 01 CA AT DC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY A 001 374 600 3 PS 1054 B122y