Full text of "Picked up at Sea"

PICKED UP AT SEA.

PICKED UP AT SEA

THE GOLD MINERS OF MINTUENE CREEK.

AND OTHER STOEIES.

JOHN C. HUTCHESON,

Author of " She and I," " Caught in a Trap," " The Pcnang Pirate," &c. &c,

ILLUSTRATED.

LONDON:
BLACKIE & SON, 49 & 50 OLD BAILEY, E.O.;

GLASGOW, EDINBUEGn. AXD DrBLTX.

1884.

CON T E X T S.

PICKED UP AT SEA;

OE, THE GOLD MINERS OF JUN'TUKNE CKEEK.

Cliap.

I. The "Susan Jane," .
II. Rescued

III. Taken Aback, . . .

IV. ])£KE1,ICT

V. A Mining Phoject,
VI. MiNTLRNE Creek, . .
\TI. Fighting the Elements,
\'1II. An Unexpected Coinciden
IX. Concerning Sailor Bill,
X. A Conundrum, ....
XI. A Roundabout Route, .
XII. "Love's Labour Lost,"

XIII. CoUNTER.MINING, . . .

XIV. A Happy Hunting-grouni
XV. A Chance Shot, . . .

XVI. Sailor Bill Captured,
XVIL On the Trail, ....
XVIIL Rising CloCd, ....
XIX. Gold at Last — Eureka!
XX. Indian Alarms, . ,
XXI. The "War-whoop, .
XXII. A Eight for Life,

XXIII. After the Battle, .

XXIV. Sailor Bill's Story,
XXV. Homeward Bound, .

P.age
9

93
101
110
114
121
127
133
136
142
147
151
158

COXTEXTS.

THE COESAIK OF CHIOS;

OK, GREEK PIRATES AXD TURKISH BRIGANDS.
Cllap. Page

I. In Bej-kout Harbour, , 163

II. The Coffee-shop in Beykout, 169

III. Triends In Council, ISO

IV. The Strange S.\il, 185

V. Conquered, not Beaten '. 199

VI. A Sell for the Pirate, 209

VII. The Last of the Old Ship, 213

VIII. Amongst the Brigands, 221

DAVID AXD JONATHAN;

or, lost at sea.

I. Caught in a Squall,
II. A Vain Quest,

III. A Struggle for Life,

IV. Alone on the Ocean,
V. Starvation and Pleni

VI. In Extremity, . . .
VII. Kescued

229
236
242
249
259
265
273

"BLACK HAEKY,"

278

LIST OF ILLUSlTtATIOXS.

The Waif from tliu Wreck, Frontispiece.

" Moose" dt'clarus they have reached the ^pot, 43

Siiilor Eill rescued from the Indians, ..... ..... 123

"The sweep of a knife ?ent him dropping into the sea," . , 196

The Corsair conipL-ls Mr. Ti'inpkins to answer, 211

"'Where's David"'' inquirjd Jonathan," "27-1

Fi'ontisiyrieee.

THE WAIF FROM THE WRECK.

Paok 13.

"MOOSE" DECLARES THEY HAVE BEACHED THE SPOT. Page 43.

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SAILOR BILL RESCUED FROM THE INDIANS.

Paok 123.

*'THE SWERP OF A KMFE SENT HIM DROrPIXG IXTO THE SEA."

Pagb li)6.

THE CORSAIR COMPELS MR. THOMKINS TO ANSWER. Page 211.

WHERE'S DA\aD?" INQUIRED JONATHAN.

Paob 274.

PICKED UP AT SEA;

OR, THE GOLD MINEES CF MINTUENE CEEEK

CHAPTER I.

THE "SUSAN JANE.'

" Sail-ho on the weather-bowl "

" What do you make it ? "

" Looks like a ship's mast, with the yard attached,
and a man a-hokiing on to it and hailing us for help
— leastways, that's what it seems to me!"

"Jerusalem! On the weather-bow, you say? Can
wo foreieach him on this tack ? "

"I. reckon we can jist about do it, boss, if you put
the helm up a bit kinder nearer the wind," — drawled
out the look-out from his post of observation in the
maintop, where he had stopped a moment on catching
sight of the object floating in the water ahead of the
vessel, as he was coming down from aloft after restow-
ing the bunt of the maintop-gallant-sail that had blown
loose from its lashings.

The Susan Jane of and for Boston, Mass., with a
cargo from London, had been caught at the outset of
her passage across the Atlantic by what her American
skipper termed "a pretty considerable gale of wind;"
and she now lay tossing about amid the broken waves of

10 PICKED UP AT SEA.

the boisterous Bay of Biscay, on the morning after the
tempest, the full force of which she had fortunately
escaped, trying to make some headway under her jib,
close-reefed topsails, and storm staysails, with a bit of
her mainsail set to steady her, half brailed up — although
the task was difficult, with a nasty chopping cross-sea
and an adverse wind.

The vessel had recently passed a lot of wreckage,
that betokened they were not far from the spot where
some ship, less lucky than themselves, had been over-
whelmed by the treacherous waters of the ill-fated
bay; and the news that a waif was now in sight, sup-
porting a stray survivor, affected all hearts on board,
and roused their sympathies at once.

The captain of the New England barque had already
adjusted the telescope, that he carried in true sailor
fashion tucked under his left arm, to his " weather-
eye," and was looking eagerly in the direction pointed
out by the seaman, before he received the answer from
aloft to his second hail. But he could not as yet see
what the look-out had discovered, from the fact of the
waves being still high and his place of outlook from
the deck lower than the other's.

"Are you certain, Tom, you sec some one?" he called
out again, after a moment's pause, during which he
narrowly scanned the uneven surface of the sea.

" Yes, sure," was the confident reply. "As sartain
as there's snakes in Virginny ! "

" Still in the same direction '{ "

"Ay, ay; a point or two to windward."

"Ha! I see him at last!" exclaimed the skipper,
clambering up from the deck, and supporting himself
by holding on to the mizzen-rigging as he stood on the
tafFrail and peered forward along the ship's side, to
where he could now notice the floating object ahead,
almost in the wind's-eye. , .._ - . ...

" Luff, you beggar, luff! " he added, to the steersman,

THE SHIP BROUGHT ROUND. 11

who, with both hands on the wheel, was exerting all
his strength to keep the vessel's head up.

" She can't do it, sir," replied the sailor, hoarsely-
" It's all I can manage to prevent her falling off now."

"She must do it!" was the captain's answer. "Watch,
ahoy! Brace round those topsail-yards a bit more!
Cheerily, men, with a will! "

" Yo-ho-heave-oh-e! Yo-ho-heave! " rano; out the
chorussed cry of the crew pulling together at the braces,
until the topsails lay like boards almost fore and aft
the ship. And yet her head could not be induced to
veer a fraction towards the desired point, but rather
fell off if anything.

" Guess we shall have to put more sail on her," said
Seth Allport, mate of the Susan Jane, singing out
from amidship, ivhere he was on duty. " Guess so,
Cap'en, if you want to fetch him."

"It's risky work, Seth," rejoined the skipper, "for
she's now got as much on her as she can carry. But I
s'pose it must be done if we're to pick up that poor
fellow. Here, boys," he cried out suddenly to the crew,
"we must shake a reef out of the mainsail. Look
smart, will ye!"

The effect of this sail was soon apparent. No sooner
had the folds of canvas expanded to the wind than
the Susan Jane heeled over with a lurch as if she
were going to capsize, bringing her bow so much round
that her jib shivered, causing several ominous creaks
and cracks aloft from the quivering topmasts.

" She'll do it now, sir," said the mate, who had come
aft, and with another of the crew lent a hand to assist
the steersman, who found the wheel too much for him
now unaided, with the additional sail there was on
the ship.

"Steady! How's the poor chap bearing now?"
asked the skipper, hailing the look-out once more, as
he lost sight of the wreckage by the vessel's change of

12 PICKED UP AT SEA.

position and tlie lifting of tlie bow so uiucli out of tlie
water forward as she rose on the sea.

" Right ahead. Just a trifle to leeward, boss."

"How far off?"

" A couple of cables' lengths, I guess, Cap'en. Better
send a hand forrud in the chains to sling him a rope,
or we'll pass him by in a niinnit."

" Right you are," was the reply of the good-hearted
skipper, as he rushed along to the forecastle himself
with a coil over his arm, that he might flino- it to the
man in the water as soon as he floated within reach.

It was a task that had to be deftly performed, for
the ship w^as forging through the sea, and plunging her
bowsprit under water as she rose and fell in her pro-
gress, one minute describing a half-circle through the
air with her forefoot as she yawed to the heavy rolling
waves, the next diving deep down into the billows and
tossing up tons of water over her forecastle, where the
skipper stood, watching his opportunity, as the broken
spars, on which he could now plainly see that the
figure of a man was lashed, swept nearer and nearer on
the crest of a wave that Ijore them triumphantly on
high above the storm-wrack and foam.

While the wreckage was yet out of I'each he could
notice, too, that the figure was perfectly motionless
and still.

What the topman had taken to be an outstretched
hand, waving a handkerchief or some fluttering object,
was only the ragged end of a piece of the sail that was
still attached to the yard and a part of the topmast of
some vessel, which had been torn away by the violence
of the gale and cast adrift, with the unfortunate sea-
man who was clinging to it.

"Poor chaji!" thought the American captain aloud,
"I'm afraid there's not much life left in him now; but
if there is any, I reckon we'll save him." And, as he
uttered the words, he dexterously threw one end of the

SAFE ON BOARD. 13

coil of rope, which he had ah'eady formed into a
running bowline knot, over the spars as they were
swept past the side of the Susan Jane, while he
fastened the other end fast in-board, slackening out
the line gradually, so as not to bring it up too tight all
at once and so jerk the man off the frail raft.

" Easy there," — he called out to the men aft. " Let her
head oft' a bit now, and brail up that mainsail again.
Easy! Belay!"

"Thank God, we've got him!" ejacidated Mr. Eaw-
lings, the solitary passenger on board the Susa7i Jane.

By this time, the waif from the wreck was towing
safely alongside the Susan Jane, in the compara-
tively smooth water of the ship's lee; and in a few
seconds the rough seamen who went to their captain's
assistance had detached the seemingly lifeless form of
the survivor from the spai's to which he had been
securely lashed, and lifted him, with the gentleness
and tender care almost of women, on board the ves-
sel that had come so opportunely in his way.

" Slacken of!" those lee braces a bit, and haul in these
to the weather-side!" — said the captain, as soon as he
had got back to his proper place on the poop again.
— " I think the wind is coming round more aft, and we
can lay her on her course. Keej) her steady. So!" — he
added, to the man at the wheel. — " But easy her oft'
now and then, if she labours."

And then he went below to the cabin, down to whicli
the rescued sailor had been carried, and where the
mate, Mr. Eawlings, and the negro steward, were try-
ing to bring him back to life by rolling him in blankets
before the stove.

CHAPTER II.

RESCUED.

"Waal, how's the man getting on now?" asked the
skipper as he entered the cuddy.

"Man?" said Mr. Rawlings, looking up on the cap-
tain's entrance. " It isn't a man at all. Only a lad of
sixteen summers at best."

" Poor chap '" — said the other sympathizingly, " Man
or boy, I guess he's had a pretty rough time of it out
thaar!"

"Just so," answered the passenger. "And it's a
wonder he's still alive."

"Is he? I was afraid he was gone!" said the cap-
tain.

" No, sah. Um berry much alibe, sah, yes sah," — said
the steward, who, having seen many half-drowned
persons before, had known how to treat the present
patient properly. " See, sah, him chest rise and fall
now, sah. When jus' lilly time back um couldn't hear
him heart beat!"

It was as the man said, and a tinge of colour ap-
peared also to steal into the thin, blanched face of the
lad, or boy, who seemed even younger than the mate
had said, and who looked very delicate and ill — more
so, indeed, than his long exposure to the violence of
the waves and the terrible peril in which he had been,
quite wari'anted.

"He'll come round now, I think," said the skipper,
expressing more his hopes than his actual belief; for

"HE HAS SEEN DEATH !'' 15

the boy had not yet opened his eyes, and his breath
only came in convulsive sighs, that shook his extended
frame " fore and aft," as a seaman would say.

" Yes, sir, he'll do. But it was a narrow squeak for
such a slim youngster."

" So it must have been, Seth," replied the skipper to
the mate, who had last spoken, " But his time hadn't
come yet, as it had for many a brave fellow bigger and
stronger than him ! Look, Seth ! — he's opening his eyes
now! I'm blest if they aren't like a girl's!"

The boy, whose lids had been previously closed, the
long lashes resting on his cheek, had raised them; and
the large blue orbs, fixed in a sort of wondering stare
on the face of the American captain, bore out his
remark in some sense, as they ajjpeared feminine in
character, although wanting in expression and intelli-
gence more strangely,

" Seems dazed to me. Cap' en Blowser," observed the
mate.

" So he does. But no wonder, Seth," replied the
skipper. " Get him a drop of brandy, steward. That
may bring him to himself more than he is at present."

The steward fetched the brandy quickly in a glass,
and putting it to the boy's lips, as he raised his head
from the locker on which he had been laid, made him
drink a few drops, causing the faint colour to return
more strongly to his face. But that was all, however,
for he still gazed alternately at the captain and mate,
and the steward who had just ministered to him,
with the same fixed, expressionless gaze.

"He has seen death. Cap' en Blowser!" said the mate,
solemnly. "I've noticed that same look on a chap's
face before, when he was dug out of a mine, where he
had been banked up with others through its falling in,
and never expected to see God's daylight again! He'd
jest that same identical expression in his eyes, though
they warn't as big nor as hantlsome as this poor lad's

16 PICKED UP AT SEA.

— jest as if ho was a lookin' through you at somethin'
beyant!"

" It kinder skearts me," said the captain, turning
away from the boy with a slight shiver. " Let's come
on deck, Seth. I guess he'll do now, with a bit of
grub, and a good sleep before the stove. Mind you
look after him well, steward; and you can turn him
into my cot, if you like, and give him a clean rig out."

"Yes, sah, I hear," replied the steward, who had
been trying to get some more of the spirit down the
boy's throat.

But he started up before the others left the cabin.

"Him wounded, Cap'en Blowser," said the man in an
alanued voice. "Crikey! I nebber see such a cut!"

"Where?" exclaimed the skipper and mate almost
simultaneously, turning round from the door of the
cuddy and coming back to the side of the locker, on
which the boy still lay stretched.

"Here," said the steward, lifting, as he spoke, the
long- clusterino- curls of hair from the forehead of the
rescued lad, and laying bare a groat gash that extended
right across the frontal l:)ono, and which they must
have seen before but for the encrustation of salt, from
the waves washing over him, which had matted the
bright brown locks together over the cut and likewise
stopped the bleeding.

"Jerusalem! It is a sheer, and no mistake!" ejacu-
lated the skipper.

"You bet," chimed in the mate; "but for the wash of
the water a stopping it, he would have bled to death !
Have you got a needle and thread handy, Jasper?"

"Sartain, Massa Allport," answered the steward.

"Then bring it here .sharp, and a piece of sponge, or
rag, and some hot water, if j'ou can get it."

"Sure I can, Massa Allport. De cook must hab him
coppers full, sah. Not got Cap'en's breakfass, you
know, sah, yet."

(195)

A SAILOR-SURGEON. 17

'I forgot ail about breakfast!" laughed the skipper,
"I was so talien up witli running across tliis young-
shaver here. But what are you going to do, Seth, eli?
I didn't Ivnow as you liad graduated in medicine, I
reckon."

"Why, Cap'en Blowser, I served all through the wrj-
after Gettysburgh as sich."

" Waal, one never knows even one's best friends,
really!" said the captain musingly. "And to think of
your being a doctor all this time, and me not to be
aware of it, when I've often blamed myself for going
to sea without a surgeon aboard."

"That's just what made me so comfortable under the
loss of one ! " chuckled the mate.

"Ah! you were 'cute, you were," replied the skipper.
"Kept it all to "yourself, like the monkeys who won't
speak for fear they might be made to work ! But here's
the steward with your medical fixin's; so, look to the
poor boy's cut, Seth, and see if you can't mend it, while
I go up and see what they are doing with the ship,
which we've left to herself all this while."

Washing away, with gentle dabs of the saturated
rag that the steward had brought in the bowl of warm
water, the salt and clotted blood that covered over the
wound, the mate soon laid it bare, and then proceeded
with skilful fingers to sew it up, in a fashion which
showed he was no novice in the art.

"Golly, Massa Allport! I didn't knov/ you was so
clebbah ! " said the steward admiringly,

" You don't know everything, you see, Jasper," said
the other good-humouredly " There, I think that will
do now, with a strip or two of plaster which I have
here," producing some diachylon from a pocket-book.
" How do you feel now ? " he added, addressing himself
to the boy, who had kept his eyes fixed on his face in
the same meaningless stare as when he had first opened
them. " Better ? "

(105) B

18 PICKED UP AT SKA.

But he got no reply.

The boy did not even move his lips, much less utter
a sound, although he was now well warmed, and there
was life in his rigid limbs and colour in his face, while
his faint breathing was regular, and his pulse even.

" He looks very strange," Mr. Kawlings said. " Con-
cussion of the brain, I should say."

The sailor-surgeon was puzzled.

" I guess he's dumb, and deaf too," he said to the
passenger who had been acting as his medical assistant,
and watching the mate's operations with much in-
terest. "But no," he added presently; "a boy with
such eyes and such a face could never be so afflicted!
I've seen scores of deaf-mutes, and you could never
mistake their countenances. I know what it is, he has
received such a shock to the system that it has jmralysed
his nerves — that's it I "

" It's either that or concussion," the passenger
argued.

And the steward, who did not know what to say,
and would indeed now have endorsed any opinion that
the mate had propounded after what he had seen of
his practical skill, gave a confirmatory nod, expressive
of his entire approval of the other's dictum.

" Yes, Jasper," replied the other, " it's only a tem-
porary shock to the system, and rest and attention will
work it off in a short time."

It was a peculiarity with llr. Seth Allport, the first
mate of the Susan Jane, that when he spoke on
medical topics and subjects, which formed the only
real education he had received, his mode of speech was
refined and almost polished; whereas, his usual lan-
guage when engaged in seafaring matters — his present
vocation — was vernacular in the extreme, smacking
more of Vermont than it did of Harvard and college
training,

" I'm certain my diagnosis is correct," he said again

TJIE PATIENT ASLEEP. 19

to Mr. Rawlings — after seeing the iacl clothed in a
fiaunel sliirt and thick pair of trou.sor.s of the skipper's,
into whose cot he was tlien carefully placed, and
wrapped up, the little fellow closing his eyes at onco
and sinking into a sounl sleep — " and when he wakes
up he'll be all right, and be able to tell us all about
himself."

" I hope you may be right," Mr. Eawlings said,
doubtfully. " Sleep may do much for him; at any
I'ate, I will remain in the cabin to watch him for a
while."

So saying, he took his seat by the boy, while the
mate proceeded to go on deck and rejoin the skipper,
and the steward went to work to pi'epare breakfast.

The wind had now got well abeam of the Susan
Jane and lessoned consiilerably, although still blowing
steady from the southwards and eastwards; and the
sea being also somewhat calmei', the good ship was
able to spread more sail, shaking the reefs out of her
topsails and mainsail, wliile her courses were dropped,
and the flying jib and foresail set to drive her on her
way across the Atlantic.

" I guess picking up that boy brought us luck, Seth !"
said the skipper, rubbing his hands gleefully as the
mate came to his side and joined in the quick quarter-
deck he was taking, varied by an occasional look aloft
to see that everything was drawing fair. " I think we
might set the toji-gallants now, eh ? "

" You're not a slow one at piling on the canvas, I
reckon ! " answered the other wdth a laugh. " No
sooner out of one gale than you want to get into
another. Look at those clouds there ahead, Cap'en,"
pointing to a dark streak that crossed the horizon low
down right in front of the vessel. " I guess we aren't
out of it yet ! "

" Waal, if we've got to have another blow," replied
the skipper, " we'd better make some use of the wind

20 PICKED UP AT SEA.

we have, specially as it looks like chopping round.
What is she going now?" he a.sked of the quarter-
master or boatswain, one individual performing both
functions in the Yankee craft.

"Close on nine knots, Cap'en," answered the man,
M'ho had just hove the log over the stern, and now
stood, minute-glass in hand, calculating the result.

" Nine knots with this breeze ? That will never do.
Away aloft there, and shake out the top-gallant sails!
Now, men, stir ^''ourselves in proper man-o'-war's
fashion; and let us see it done in ship-shape style!
That's your sort, men. Johnson shall shell out some
grog presently to splice the main brace." — He continued
aloud, as the hands came down the ratlins again with-
out losing time, after lowering the sails, — " Now, hoist
away at the halliards. Cheerily, men! cheerily ho!
The Boston girls have got hold of our tow-rope; up
with the sticks with a will ! "

The Susan Jane plunged through the waves with
redoubled speed, leaning over until the water foamed
over her gunwale and was knee-deep in her scuppers,
an occasional billow topping over her fokes'l, and
pouring down into the waist in a cataract of gleaming
green sea and sparkling spray, all glittering with pris-
matic colours, like a jumble of broken rainbows.

" What does she make now, Johnson ? " asked the
skipper again of the quartermaster.

" Eleven knots, I reckon, sir, good."

"Ah, that's more like it! The poor dear thing! she
was crippled without her wings, that she was! She'll
do twelve knots yet, eh, Seth ? "

" I don't doubt that, sir," replied the mate, who was
much more cautious than his captain; "but it ain't
quite safe with those gentlemen there gathering to-
gether ahead, like a mass meeting in Faneuil Hall."

"Oh, never mind- the clouds," rejoined the delighted
skipper, whose thoughts were filled with the fond

THE captain's PREDICTION. 21

belief that the Susan Jane would make the most rapid
run across the herring-poisd ever known for a sailing-
ship. " Gue.ss we'll beat the Scotia, if we go on like this."

"Yes, if we don't carry away anything!" interposed
the mate cautiously.

"Oh, nonsense, Seth! We've got a smart crew, and
can take in sail when it's wanted I How's your patient
getting on?" continued the skipper, turning to Mr.
Rawlings, who had come up, the boy being in a pro-
found sleep.

"Well, I hope," he answered; "he is resting very
tranquilly."

"That means, I suppose, that he's all right, and hav-
ing a good caulk in my cot."

"Exactly so, Cap'en; and when he wakes by and by,
I hope he'll be himself again.

"That's good news' Did he tell jou who he was
before he dropped to sleep ? "

"No," answered Mr. Rawlings, "he did not speak."

"Not speak!" said the captain. "Why didn't he?"

"He couldn't,' replied the other. "Whether from
the cut on liis forehead, or what, I can't tell; but he
has had such a shock that his ne;.-ves seem ^Jaralj^seJ.
You noticed his eye.s, didn't you ?"

"Yes," said the captain, "but I thought that was
from fright or a sort of startled awe, which would soon
go off I'm sorry I didn't have a look at those spars
before we cast them otf; we might have learned the
name of the ship to which he belonged. Don't you
think, Seth, though, that he will recover his speech
and be able to tell us something?"

"Certainly, Cap'en, as Mr. Rawlings says, I believe
he'll wake up all right."

" Well, then, we'd Ijetter go below for breakfast now
— here's the steward coming to call us. Davitt can
take charge of the deck," — hailing the second mate as
he spoke, and telling him to " keep his weather-eye

22 PICKED UP AT SEA.

open," and call him immediately should any change
occur, but not to reduce sail on any account '

"I wouldn't liave given him that order, if I were
you, Cap'en," said the mate, as they went down the
companion together.

"Oh, Davitt isn't a fool," replied the skipper lightly;
and the two entered the cuddy together, where they
were welcomed by a hospitably spread table that spoke
well for the cook's culinary skill.

"Josh is a splendid chap for fixing up things," said
the skipper heartily, as he popped a portion of a capital
stow into his capacious mouth with much gusto. "I'd
back him against one of those French what-do-you-
call-'ems any day!" alluding, possibly, to the chef of
the hotel in Bordeaux at which he had been staying
on the SuKin Jane's previous voyage.

"So would I," echoed the mate, who was performing
equally well with his knife and fork; but, what he
would have further observed must remain unrecorded,
for at that moment a tremendous crash was heard on
dock, and a heavy sea pooped the ship, flooding the
cabin, and washing the two, with tlio debris of the
breakfast table, away to leeward, where they struggled
in vain to I'ecover their footing, until the ship righted
again — the steward coming to their assistance and
being likewise thrown down on the floor, to add to
the confusion. Then Seth Allport darted up the com-
panion.

The contretemps was so sudden that the skipper was
quite startled; but Avhat startled him more was the
sight of the boy who had been saved, and who was
supposed to be sound asleep, standing at the open door
of his cabin, with his light brown hair almost erect,
and his blue eyes starting out of his head with a look
of unspeakable teiTor, and the blood streaming down
his face, and dropping with a sort of hissing sound
into the water that surged aliout the cuddy floor and

CAPTAIN BLOWSER's ASTONISHMENT. 23

over his feet, from the terrible cut across his fore-
head.

"Mercy upon us, Rawlings, look there 1" exclaimed
Captain Blowser, trying to regain his feet, and almost
foro'ettinw what might be goino- on on deck at the sig-ht
before him. "Is he gone mad, or what?"

-*^^^-'

CHAPTER III.

TAKEN ABACK.

"What is the matter?" exclaimed the passenger,
chilchino- hold of the steward's leg under the idea that
it was the cuddy table, and contriving to get into a
sitting position on the ealiin floor, as the Susan Jane,
lurched to and fro, s'\\'ishing the M'atcr backwards and
forwards, along with the plates and dishes and broken
crockery, amongst them, mixed up with bits of meat
and vegetables and bread in the most inharmonious
sort of medley, — "What's the matter, Cap'en?"

"Struck by a squall," said the skipper, getting on his
feet at last, and holding on tightly to a brass rail out-
side the door of one of the berths, that he might not
get floored again. " But, look at your patient, the
boy! Is he mad, or wliat? "

"Golly!" ejaculated the steward, also finding his
legs again, Mr. Rawlings having released them as soon
as he sat up. " Me tink him gain' hab fit!"

The captaiir's professional instincts roused him even
more rapidly than did a loaf of soppy bread which at
that moment was dashed in his face by the counter
swish of the water against the side of the cabin, and
he sprang up ready for action as cool and collected as
possible, considering the circumstances.

Before Mr. Rawlings or the skipper — who both rush-
ed forward at once to where the boy was standing —
could reach him, however, or the negro steward, who
was directly in his way, but was too dumfoundcred to

CAUGHT BY A SQUALL, 25

prevent him, he made one loiip over the table and
I'ushed out of the cabin, with the same set look of
terror, or some unearthly expression which they could
not absolutely define, on his face, the blood streaming
down from under the bandage across his forehead,
making his appearance ghastlj- and uncanny, as the
Scotch say, in the extreme. Ho resembled, more a
galvanized corpse than anything else!

The skipper and passenger followed him instanter,
Jasper, who had recovered from his first astonishment
at the apparition, being not far from their heels; but
when the two gained the deck, the confusion that was
reigning there, and the perilous position of the ship,
made them forget for the while the oljcct that had
called them forth.

Captain Blowser's passion for " carrying on," in the
face of the treacherous weather the Susan Jane had
already experienced in the Bay of Biscay, with the
prospect of more to come, as the mate had pointed out
from the warning look of clouds along the horizon in
front, had brought its own punishment; for the ship
!iad been taken aback through the wind's shifting
round, before the second mate l)avitt, who had obeyed
the skipper's injunctions to the letter, had time to take
in sail, even if he had endeavoured to do so without
calling him first, as he had been enjoined on his leav-
ing the deck.

The results of this recklessness were most unfortu-
nate for the Susan Jane, as the foretop n:ast had soon
snapped off sharp at the cap like a carrot, bringing
with it, of course, the foretop-gallant mast as well, and
the maintop-gallant mast, with their respective yards
and other spars, and the. jib-boom as well. The ship
was consequently broached to, and tons of water were
poured on to lier from the mountainous waves that
seemed to assail her on all sides at once, which, but for
the fact of the hatches being closely battened down,

26 PICKED UP AT SEA.

would have soon filled her hold and caused her to
founder.

Fortunately, there wore no men aloft at the time
the wind chopped so suddenly, or they must have been
swept overboard with the wreck of the top-hamper,
that was now grinding against the vessel's side to lee-
ward rigiht under her quarter, and bumping with such
force against her timbers as to threaten to stove them
in. Altogether, with the whistling of the storm, that
had risen up again as if imbued with fresh life, and
the roaring of the sea, and the horrible creaking and
crashing of the broken spars alongside, combined with
the shouts of the men, who seemed lost for the moment
how to act, and running here and there, purposelessly,
without a guiding voice or hand to direct their efforts,
— the scene was a regular pandemonium of disorder!

If he had been reckless, however. Captain Blowser
was a thorough seaman, and knew how to command,
and enforce his directions when the necessity arose, as
certainly was the case here.

Snatching a speaking trumpet from the lanyard by
which it was attached to the mizzen mast, he issued
an order which called at once the scattered wits of the
crew together, and set them about repairing the damages
that had arisen, and preventing the further perils that
stared them in the face; while the second mate at the
same moment sj)rang to the wheel, which was revolv-
ing as it liked, now to starboard now to port as the
waves met the rudder below, the poor helmsman who
had previously controlled its action lying senseless on
the deck, whither he had been thrown by the sudden
concussion when the ship was taken aback.
. " Down with the helm hard ! " shouted the skipper,
through the speaking trumpet, his voice penetrating
every part of the ship, fore and aft, above the roar of
the elements and the noise on deck. " Clew up the
courses," was the next command ; followed by an order

seth's peril. 27

to brace round the yards. And the Susdn Jane eased
a bit, running before the wind with the aid of her
maintop mast and tojj-gallant sail, niizzen-staj'sail and
foresail, besides the remnants of her mainsail, that
was split into fluttering rags. All the rest of her
canvas so recently set being carried away, and floating
alongside in a tangled wreck of spars and sails and
ropes and rigging, matted together in an inextricable
mass, Captain Blowser now gave orders to have cut
away, without further delay, as the men could bo
spared for the duty.

The first mate, one of the most active of men, had,
the instant he reached the deck, set to woi-k to relieve
the ship, but as he was casting loose the lee braces
from the elects the lurch of the sail caught him, and
at the same moment the maintop-gallant mast with all
its belongings coming; down with a run, he was stunned
for a second by some portion of the falling gear, and
before he could recover his balance or take hold of
anything to save himself by, was carried overboard
with the wreck.

At nearly the same precise instant the boy darted
out of the cabin aft, just ahead of the skipper and Mr.
Eawlings, as if impelled by some unfathomable instinct,
and bounding right to the spot where Seth was being
swept away to destruction, clutched hold of the sea-
man's collar with one hand, and one end of the topsail
halliards with the other as they hung over the side,
and there he remained, swaying to and fro, partly in
the water and partly out, holding on with the strength
of his single arm in a manner that no one would have
thought a m",;i, much less a boy, could do — and neither
man nor boy, except one bred to the sea!

Seth saw it all, though no one else noticed the
action, even amidst the conflicting emotions which
passed rapidly through his mind at the moment of his
infinite peril, just as a man falling from a cliff and ex-

28 PICKED UP AT SEA.

pecting death every instant has the exact appearance
of each foot of his rapid descent photographed on his
brain. He saw the distended startled blue eyes of the
boy, the light brown hair standing almost erect, the
white bandage round his forehead, the blood on his
face; but he could not tell nor think where he came
from, and supposed, as he said afterwards, that he was
an angel come to save him — and he would regard him
as such all his life long!

" I'm darned if he warn't," he repeated, when the
captain laughed when Seth mentioned his sensations
at the time and detailed his thoughts, "fur he came
just in the nick of time to grip holt o' me; and if he
hadn't ben thaar I guess it 'ud aben all sockdolagar
with Seth, I does' He must have got what ye call a
call, that he must! Guess you'd a thought him a angel,
if you'd been in this child's shoes ' "

And so the crew all agreed when they heard from
the steward Jasper his account of how the boy had
started out of the captain's cot, where he had him in a
sound sleep, and came out of the cabin straight to help
Seth — the negro's version of the story losing nothing,
it need hardly be mentioned, through his telling it with
much pantomimic action, and his frequent affirmation,
" Golly, massa, I tell j-ou for true! "

Mr. Eawlings considered that the boy had been
awakened by the crash of the water pooping the ship
and the bleeding bursting out again from his wouncl,
both of wdiich recalled some fleeting thoughts, probably,
of the shipwreck in which he had temporarily lost his
reason. But the men would not hear of this at all,
ascribing Seth's rescue to some supernatural foresight
on the part of poor " Sailor Bill," as the boy was un-
animously dubbed, and looked on thenceforth with the
same respectful, pitying care wdth which the Indians
I'Ogard any imbecile person, by everybody on board,
from the cook Josh — another negro like Jasper, of

A SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION. 29

whom he was intensely jealous, calling him, on the
principle of " the pot and the kettle," a " nigerant puss-
proud black fellow " — up to the captain, who, to tell
the truth, shared some of the superstitious regard of
the men for their protege !

For the poor boy had, without doubt, lost his senses.
He neither spoke, nor laughed, nor cried, nor was any
perceptible emotion of pleasure or pain displayed by
him under any circumstances.

He did not once arouse from the lethargy that
seemed to press down upon his brain again after he
had so fortunately and so wonderfully come to the
assistance of Seth Allport.

One thing, however, was noticeable in him after-
wards, and that was, that from that moment he ap-
peared to attach himself to the seaman, just as a dog-
attaches himself to some master whom he elects for
himself, and was never easy out of Seth's sight, follow-
ing him everywhere about the ship, except at night,
when he slept in the cabin.

Seth Allport, talking it over with the skipper and
Mr. Rawlings, gave a scientific explanation from his
medical lore. He said that Sailor Bill's mental afflic-
tion was due to some psychologicah effect, which would
wear away in time, and probably completely disappear
if the boy had to undergo a shock precisely similar to
that which had caused it. But, as neither he nor any
one else knew what that shock was, of course they
could not expedite Sailor Bill's cure, nor do anything,
save make him the dumb pet of the ship.

In the meantime the damages of the Susan Jane
were made good, and in a day or two there were few
signs of the mishap which had befallen her.

^^^&^Liii4W/?%\7Mf&ii^^^

CHAPTER IV.

DERELICT.

The weather was now fair, and the ^^'ind favourable,
and they were in high spirits, for they hoped soon to
recover the time lost by the accident.

The captain walked up and down the deck with the
first mate, rubbing his hands as he watched the full
sails, and the water gleaming past her sides.

" We shall do, Seth, we shall do," he said, " and make
a quick voyage of it after all."

" Mustn't carry on too much, though, Cap'en ! " said
the mate with a knowing twinkle of his eye, which the
skipper could read plainly enough.

" Stow that, Seth," said ho chuckling. " I s'pose
you'll never let me hear the last of that buster I went
t'other day. Don't you be skeart, old man; you won't
catch this coon najDping twice. The breeze is splendid,
though, Seth, ain't it?
of it after alll "

" So think I, Cap'en," replied the mate with cor-
responding heartiness. " It will last, too," he added,
after another glance round the horizon; "and I reckon
we'll not get any more nasty weather; the gale has
about blowed itself out!"

" Right you are," said Captain Blowser, slapping him
on the back in his jovial way when he felt especially
good-tempered; "an we'll have an extra glass of old
Bourbon come dinner-time on the strength of it, old
hoss! How the beauty does walk, to be sure! I

Guess we'll make a good run

TOJ[ CANNON HAILS. 31

wouldn't swap a timber of her for the best Phihi-
delphia-biiilt clipper out of the Delaware!"

" Nor I," acquiesced the mate, whose opinion the
skipper valued so highly that this encomium of his as
to the transcendent merits of the Susan Jane, which
was really a splendid craft in her ^Ylly, and a capital
sea boat, completed the sum of his happiness; and he
had just called out to Jasper, the steward, to bring up
an Angostura cocktail to cement their feelings of
friendship and get up an appetite for dinner, which
would not be ready for anothei' hour, when the voice of
Tom Cannon was heard hailing thedeck from thoforetop.

" Darn that chap, he's allers hailing! " exclaimed the
skipper. "What the dickens does he want now?"

" He don't call out for nothin'," said the mate. " He's
too cute a seaman for that! When Tom Cannon hails,
you may depend on it, Cajyen, it's time to look out for
squalls!"

"Blow your squalls!" said the captain good-
humouredly. " You don't want me to take in sail
surely with this wind, you old Mother Carey's chicken ?
But let's listen to what Tom says. He's a smart man,
I reckon, sure enough — the smartest sailor we've got
in the ship; and I was only jokin' when I said that
about his hailing!"

Tom Cannon's favourite place of resort wlien the
ship was at sea, and tiiei'e was nothing for him to do,
especially when he was in the watch off duty, was the
foretop, whither he would climb up, blow high or blow
low, and ensconce himself, sometimes for hours, until
his services were required on deck, or else the rattling
of pannikins and mess-kits warned him that something
was " going on in the grub lino below," when he would
descend the rattlins, swiftly or leisurely as the case
might be, and take his turn at either grub or duty
" like a man ! "

On this day the captain had not long taken the sun,

32 PICKED UP AT SEA.

and " made it eight bells " — twelve o'clock — so the men
had all had their dinner, and Tom gone up to his ac-
customed post of observation or reflection, for lie
couldn't read, and never slept when he was in the tojj,
although he could have done so comfortably enough if
he had wanted to.

He was standing erect, looking out ahead, for he was
a careful seaman, as both the captain and mate could
vouch for, and possessed the keenest eyesight of any
man in the ship — a natiu-al gift for wdiich he was very
thankful in his way, and of A\diich it must be said he
was also very proud.

"Sail hoi" he shouted, catching sight of somethino-
not long after he had taken ujj his position in the fore-
top and began to look out mechanically in front of the
ship's course, as was his natural wont.

" Not another ocean waif, like the boy, eh ? " asked
the skipper in a chaffing sort of way, Avliile he waited
for the seaman to give some further information, as to
what he had seen, as he thought would be the case
presently without his putting the question to him.

"Nary a one," was Tom's answer, as he looked down
on the face of Sailor Bill, which was upturned to his
without a vestige of animation in it, although the boy's
attention had been attracted by tlie sound of his voice;
"couldn't find another like you, I guess."

" What sort o' sail ? " hailed the captain again, as he
did not hear the response to his question, the seaman
having spoken in a low tone as to himself.

"A water-logged hull of some vessel or other, I
reckon, boss!"

This time Tom's answer was heard plainly enough
below.

"Wliere away?" rejoined the skipper aloud, adding
under his voice to the mate, "Guess 1 woke him!"

"Right ahead — about three uules off, more or less."

"See anybody on bo^ird?"

A DERELICT. bS

"Nai'V a soul! The hull's low down in the water
and the decks swash."

"Well, we'll soon come up to her at our rate of
going," shouted out the captain in the same pitch of
voice, which might have been heard a mile away at
the least; for, although there was a strong breeze the
wind did not make much noise, and the Atlantic waves
were only frisking about in play without any great
commotion. "Mind you pilot us right: it would spoil
the Susan Jane's figure-head, I reckon, to run aboard
a water-logged hull ! "

"Aye, aye," responded the seaman from aloft, "I'll
steer you safe enough, sir. Keep her steady as she is,
full and bye!"

"Steady!" repeated the skipper to the helmsman;
whose "Steady it is!" showed his prompt attention to
the command.

"Luff a bit!" said Tom after a few minutes, when
the Susan Jane had almost traversed the distance
which he had previously said lay between her and the
submerged vessel, and was close on to her — at least,
must have been so.

"Luff!" — repeated the skipper; and — "Luff it is!"
echoed the man at the wheel mechanically as he put
the helm up ; and a moment afterwards the ship glided
by the derelict hull, her speed lessening as she came
up to the wind and her canvas quivering, like a bird
suspending its flight in the air with wings outstretched !

There is no more melancholy sight to be met with
on the ocean than a deserted ship. Everybody knows
how dismal an empty house with closed-up shutters
looks on land, especially when the shutters are inside
ones, as is usually the case with town dwellings, and
the panes have been riddled with stones, while the
walls are bedaubed with mud from the missiles of
mischievous persons, mostly, it is to be feared, of the
class juvenis, and the garden in front overgrown with

( 195 ) C

34 PICKED UP AT SEA.

grass and weeds, luxuriating in the rankest of vegeta-
tion, and completing the picture of desolation and
decay.

Well, a derelict vessel, such as is to be frequently
met with at sea, presents a ten times more miserable
appearance, if that be possible, than an empty and
deserted house. Instead of being a picture of desola-
tion, it is desolation itself!

The battered hull, scarred with the wounds caused
by the pitiless waves, its timbers gaping open here and
there, and the rent copper-sheathing showing, as it
rolls sluggishly on the waste of waters — where it has
been left to linger out the last days of a decrepid
existence, with masts and sails and bulwarks and
everything washed away, presenting such a contrast
to what it was in its pride, when it swam the waters
"like a thing of life" — is painful in the extreme to
contemplate.

This was what those on board the Susan Jane
noticed now, as she passed by the floating remnants of
what had once been a gallant ship, as they could tell
from her size and length. But Captain Blowser saw
somethino' more with his glass — for the Susan Jane
could not approach very near to the waterlogged hull
that was almost level with the surface of the sea, for
fear of colliding through the "scud" of the waves —
something that made him take in the clipper's lighter
sails, despite his anxiety to take advantage of every
breath of the wind and make a rapid passage to Bos-
ton, and lay the ship to; while he had a boat lowered,
and went to inspect the derelict hulk more closely.

Mr. Rawlings.the passenger, accompanied the skipper,
so did also Seth Allport; and naturally, as Seth went.
Sailor Bill followed his protector, or adopted master,
dog-fashion as usual, taking his seat in the boat as a
matter of course!

On boarding the abandoned vessel a horrible sight

"devil's work." 35

presented itself. Three corpses were stretched on the
afterpart of the deck near the wheelhouse — which had
been wrenched away, along with the binnacle and
bulwarks, and the cabin skylight, while the hull was
full of water and kept afloat only by the buoyant
nature of the cargo, although they could not discover
what that was, as it was completely submerged. But
those three corpses told a tale of some deadly struggle,
as there was a knife still tightly clutched in the dead
hand of the one, an empty revolver in that of another,
while the third had a rope tied round his throat as if
he had been strangled by the other two.

The bodies of all, which exhibited signs of emacia-
tion through starvation, beinff almost skeletons, showed
also numerous wounds, while their clothing was rent
into tatters from cuts and slashes apart from the wash
of the water, which had, of course, swept away most of
the blood that had probably flowed from the wounds,
although there was a large dark blotch on the deck
close to the after hatch, testifying that some gory pool
had been there.

"I guess there's been some of the devil's work here!"
said the skipper gravely.

"You bet," chimed in Seth Allport, whose keen eye
was looking out for some evidence of the nationality
of the ship. "She ain't a foreigner, and Britishers
don't murder one another like this. S'pose there was
a muss on board, or something like a mutiny, eh. Cap?"
he added presently.

"Yes," answered Captain Blowser, who was also
looking keenly about with the same motive as Seth;
and he was quicker too than the shrewd seaman in
this instance, for he noticed forward, under the legs of
one of the corpses, a loose piece of wood, on which he
pounced.

Pulling it out as quick as thought, he turned it over,
and the secret of the derelict hull was disclosed; for

36 PICKED UP AT SEA.

there, printed in letters of gold, showing that the piece
of wood was probably part of the stern of one of the
vessel's boats, as its shape also suggested, was the name
"Dragon — ." Something was ap2Darently wanting, for
the wood was broken off just at the end where the
name was painted.

"Dragon?" said Seth. "I remember a ship called
the Dragon King, that used to sail regularly to the
East Indies. I saw her last time I was in Liverpool!"

"Waal," said the skipper, "we can only report what
we've seen when we get home; for we can't get down
below to examine her papers or anything, and must
leave the old hulk to float till she sinks. I wish I had
a pound of dynamite on board, and I'd blow her up, I
guess; as, tossing about at sea like that, some vessel
might run agin her in the night and git stove in.
Let's leave her, Hiram ; we can do no good stopping
any longer."

"Let us first give those chaps there the benefit of a
sailor's grave," said the mate, pointing to the corpses;
and although the men, from some superstitious feeling
common enough among seamen, did not like to touch
them, the skipper and mate had no such scruples, and
heaved the remains of those who might have been
murderers or the victims of some atrocious crime over-
board, with as much solemnity as they could. After
which they all returned to the Susan Jane, which
pursued her way to her home port.

CHAPTER V.

A :\nXIXG PROJECT.

After passing the derelict ship, the Susan Jane met
with notliing more of an eventful character in her
voyage; and after making a very fair run across the
Atlantic, thereby gladdening the heai-t of Captain
Blowser, sighted Nantucket lights, rounding Cape Cod
the next day, and dropped her anchor, finally, in Bos-
ton harbour, opposite the mouth of the River Charles;
about which Longfellow has written some pretty lines,
beginning —

Eiver ! That in silence wiudest

Through the meadows bright and free,

Till at length thy rest thou hndest
In the bosom of the sea !"

Before the American coast was reached, however, an
arrangement was come to.

When taking his grog one evening with Seth All-
port and Mr. Rawdings, the second mate having the
watch, the «fe,ptain was expressing his regret at the
approaching* loss of several of those who had sailed
with him for many voyages, for he knew that they
would ship in other vessels when they found that the
Susan Jane was to be laid up for a thorough over-
haul.

" Well, Cap," Seth Allport said, " I shall not be sorry
myself for a spell on shore. Since I had them three
years over among the mines in Californy I get restless

38 PICKED UP AT SEA.

at sea after a spell, and long for a turn among the
mountains."

" Were you at work on the surface all the time, or
did you work in any of the deep mines ? " asked Mr.
Rawlings.

"I worked for a few months on the Yuba," Seth
said, " but then I went to sinking. I worked with
some mates first, and then I bossed a mine down Grass
Valley. It was held in shares. I only had a few, but
I was spry and handy, you see, and I worked up till I
got to be boss, or what you would call manager. The
lode paid well for a while ; then it fell off", and I got to
longing for the sea again; so I just chucked it up, and
made tracks from ' Frisco.' "

" If you would like another spell at mining, Seth, I
can put you in the way of it," said Mr. Rawlings. " I
am on my way out to Dakota, to prospect a mine there.
I will tell you how it has come about. I had a cousin,
a wild young fellow, who left home in the early days
of the Californian gold fever, and was not heard of for
many years. Eighteen months ago he returned. His
father and mother were long since dead, and having
not a friend in the world he hunted me up, for we had
been great chums in our boyhood. He was a broken
man, and I did not think he had long to live. I took
him in, and ho lingered on for fifteen months, and then
died. He told me all his history during the twenty
years he had been mining, and a strange, wild story it
was — at one time almost starving, at another wealthy
enough to have come homo and lived in comfort. The
most important part, and that which is of most interest
at present, is that in a valley in the heart of Dakota
he had discovered what he believed to be a most valu-
able gold mine. Among the hills he had found some
lumps of very valuable ore. He had traced down the
outcrop of the lode, which on the surface looked poor
enough, to a point near the river. Here another lode

MR. EAWLINGS' EXPLANATIONS. 39

intersected it, and believing this to be the richest point,
he began with four comrades to sink a shaft. For a long
time the lode was poor, but at a depth of eighty feet
they came upon ore of immense richness. Three da3".s
after they had made the discovery a band of Indians
fell upon them. Ned's four comrades were killed,
but he managed to escape. The Indians burnt the hut
and destroyed the surface-workings, and then left.
Alone and penniless, Ned could do nothing. He made
his way back to the settlement, and then worked on
the railway. He was afraid to tell any one his secret,
and was in no hurry, as he had no fear of any chance
miners di,scovering the spot, which he said looked by
no means a promising one. Then he fell ill, and a
yearning for England seized him, and so he came to
me. Before he died he told me the story, and gave me
the fullest directions for finding the spot where, he
said, a great fortune awaited me. I was by profession
a civil engineer and knew a little of mining, so I de-
termined to undertake the adventure. I was preparing
to start, having made arrangements for a prolonged
absence, when in London I met my old friend Captain
Blowser, and mentioning to him that I was about to
take a passage in a Cunarder for America, he said that
he was sailing for Boston in a few days, and would
be glad of my company. I accepted his invitation, and
here I am. I have sufficient capital to open the mine
and carry on operations for a year. I should be glad
of an energetic man whom I could trust, and who
undei'stands the country and mining. I might travel
far before I found one who would so thoroughly suit
my views as yourself, Seth; so if you will throw in
your lot with me, as working manager of the affair, we
shall have no difficulty whatever in coming to terms."
" I'm your man," Seth said, holding out his hand.
" Yes, sir, I reckon that this venture is just the thing
that will suit me. I'm all there, you bet."

40 PICKED UP AT SEA.

And SO the agreement was made, and before arrivinor
at the end of the voyage Seth had selected four of the
best and most trustworthy men on board to join the
party. It was arranged that each, in addition to his
pay, should receive a small share in the undertaking,
should it turn out a success; and, with the prospect of
an adventure that might render them independent for
life, they gladly " signed articles," as they called putting
down their names to an agreement which the mate had
drawn out, binding those who expi-essed their willing-
ness to embark in the enterprise to be true to Mr.
Rawlings to the last, and obey his directions; he on
his part promised that the treasure, should they suc-
ceed in finding it, would be divided share and share
alike amongst their number. And thus the list was
filled.

The band consisted so far of Tom Cannon and Black
Harry, two of the foremast hands; Jasper the black
steward, and Josh the cook, another darkey, as has
been already mentioned; besides Seth and Sailor Bill,
whom Seth stoutly declared his intention, with Mr.
Rawlings' consent, of taking with him, declining the
skipper's proposal of giving him up to the British
Consul when they arrived at Boston, so that he might
be sent home to England as a lunatic sailor at the
government expense.

" Nary a bit," said Seth ; " whar I goes, thaar goes
he, poor chap! Under Providence, he saved my life;
and under Providence I'll never desart him. Cap, till he
chooses to cast off the haw.ser hisself 1 "

Mr. Rawlings encoui-aged the seaman in his resolu-
tion; for he took great interest in the lad, and looked
forward to noting any change in his mental condition,
whom he firmly believed would some day be suddenly
restored to his senses by some similar mode to that by
which he had been deprived of the proper use of his
faculties.

K7F

CHAPTEE VI

MINTTJENE CREEK.

When the Susan Jane's anchor was dropped, and
the longshore men came on board to unload cargo, the
little party of Mr. Rawlings' follo^rers went on shore,
drew their pay, and took their discharge; and then,
after a few days' stay, took rail for Chicago, where Mr.
Rawlings was to join them, to make the final prepara-
tions for their start to the Far West.

They reached Chicago before the " Boss," as they
called Mr. Rawlings, as that gentleman had several
business arrangements to make in New York.

At Chicago, Seth met an old western friend of his,
Noah Webster, who had just returned from a mining
expedition in Arizona.

After much talk of their Californian days, Seth told
him that he was going as lieutenant to an English gentle-
man who was getting up a mining expedition to Dakota.

" I want eight or ten good miners, afraid neither of
work nor Indians."

" What pay ? " Noah asked laconically. '

"Two dollars a day each, and all grub; doiible to
you, Noah, if you will get a good gang together and
come with us."

" It's a bargain," said Noah. " I could put my hand
on twenty good men to-morrow; half of 'em were out
with me. I will pick you ten of the best. And they
ought to be that, for it will be no child's play; the
Injins of Dakota are snakes upon miners."

42 PICKED UP AT SEA.

Seth had received full authority from Mi-. Rawlings
to engage a strong party, and the "Boss" was greatly
pleased upon his arrival to find that a band of stal-
wart and experienced miners had already been col-
lected.

Previous to quitting Chicago, Mr. Rawlings, acting
under the advice of Seth and Noah Webster, purchased
a complete outfit of mining tools, and stores of all kinds:
picks, drills, pumps, buckets, windlasses, ropes — and,
indeed, everything that would be required in carrying
out their undertaking properly.

They did not overburden themselves, however, with
provisions, or any such things as they would be likely
to get cheap in the back settlements at the end of the
point where they would have to leave the I'ailway —
not far off" the town of Bismark, on the Missouri, the
extremest station of the northern branch of the Union
Pacific line.

And so, one fine morning, they started, full of hope,
for some wonderful accounts were in circulation before
they set out from Chicago, as to the enormous finds of
the Excelsior mine and other kindred speculations in or
near Dakota.

Passing over their railroad journey, during which
nothing of interest occurred worthy of notice, and their
temporary stay in the last frontier town — to lay in a
stock of provisions, and hire teams and waggons for
the transport of their mining plant and general belong-
ings; besides engaging a half-breed Indian to guide
them to their destination, a copper-coloured gentleman
who had lived for years in New Mexico, and spoke a
broken Spanish patter which he called "Ingliz," and
was afterwards a faithful member of the expeditionary
party — we will come to the period when, after a
month's march across the wilds of north-western
Dakota, they had arrived at the place which "Moose,"
the Indian half-breed, declared with a multitude of

THE NEW LOCATIOM 43

"carramboes!" was the spot which had been indicated
on the map which Mr. Rawlings had received from his
cousin.

"Waal, boys, this is bully!" exclaimed Seth, as soon
as the party had come to a halt, gazing round him with
the air of a landlord taking possession of his pro-
perty.

The scene was a beautiful one, and well merited the
seaman's exclamation.

They were in the centre of a vast semicircular valley,
surrounded on all sides but one by a chain of moun-
tains, over which one especial peak towered far above
the rest, lifting up a crest that was crowned with
eternal snow and formed a landmark for miles away.

Into this valley, which appeared to be the general
watershed of the district, ran several small streams,
that united in the middle of it in one deep gulch, which
overflowed in winter with a foaming torrent — although
there was now little or no water, and the grass and
shrubs around seemed parched and withered for want
of moisture. The "location," however, was a pleasant
one, possessing all the proper requisites for a stationary
camp such as they contemplated ; for, within hand-reach
they could have wood, water, and forage for their
baggage animals. The teams they had hired were at
once unloaded and started back to the settlement, but
there remained with them twelve pack mules, which
Mr. Rawlings had purchased in order to have means of
sending down for provisions whenever required.

Gold mining, it may be mentioned, is almost if not
quite as precarious as that of silver. The former metal
is found over a very extensive tract of country in Cali-
fornia west of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, while
silver is found in Nevada, Utah, and in fact over a vast
expanse of country stretching almost down to the south
of Mexico. Silver seldom is found in a lode extending
with any great regularity. The lode, indeed, may be

44 PICKED UP AT SEA.

traced for long distances, but whereas one mine may
be fabulously rich, those lying on the lode on either
side of it may not find enough gold to pay expenses. It
lies, in fact, in great "pockets," as English miners would
call them, or in "bonanzas," as they are termed in Ne-
vada. So long as these pockets la.st a mine will pay
enormously; when they are cleared out it becomes
worthless, as English shareholders in these mines have
often found to their cost. In "Mineral Hill" and the
"Emma" hundreds of thousand pounds' worth of ore
were taken out in a few months, and then the mines
were not worth working.

East of the Rocky Mountains, in Colorado and
Dakota, gold is found as well as silver. It is found in
quartz veins, and wherever there is quartz, some,
although often an almost infinitesimally small amount
of gold, is found ; while in other places patches of quartz
are struck containing immensely rich deposits of the
precious metal.

No search was made for the exact spot indicated on
the map, so long as the teamsters who had brought up
the mining' stores remained. These believed that it was
a mere exploring party, and although they wondered
at the quantity of mining materials brought up, they
had put this down to the -folly of the "Britisher" who
had organized the party!

When the mining party alone remained, a diligent
search was at once begun for the shaft which had been
sunk. This they knew was near the river.

Three days were spent and no signs of the shaft
were discovered, when Seth came across a short stump
of charred wood at the edg-o of the river bed.

He led Mr. Rawlings and Noah Webster to the spot,
and they agreed that this was probably the site upon
which the dwelling-house had stood.

" The river, you see, has changed its course a bit,"
Noah said. " These streams come down in big floods

PRELIMINARY ARRAXGEMEXTS. 45

in winter, and carry all before them, often changing
their beds. If it came acros.s the mouth of the shaft it
would fill it up with boulders and gravel in five
minutes. Waal, what we've got to look for is a filled-
up hole hereabouts. Mostly, the rock lies just under
the surface gravel, so if we get crowbars and thrust
down we shall find it sure enough."

A few hours' search, now that the clew was obtained,
led to the discovery of the lost shaft. The lode was
now traced extending either way, and as it was at once
agreed that it would not do to commence another so
near the river, a place was fixed upon a hundred yards
back from the old shaft, and the whole of the stores
and tools were removed to this spot.

Then the whole force set to to get up a large hut of
galvanized iron, which they had brought, with its
framework, from Chicago.

Timber is sometimes scarce in these regions, and it
would not have done to have relied upon it. The hut
contained a large general room where all would take
their meals together, a store-i'oom, a bed-room for the
men, and a smaller one for Mr. Rawlings, Seth, Noah,
and Sailor Bill. A small " lean-to " as a kitchen was
erected against the hut, and layers of coarse turf,
eighteen inches thick, were built up against the outer
wall all round for additional protection, as the winter
would be bitterly cold, and a great thickness of material
would be required to resist its inclemency.

There was an equal partition of labour. The black
cook took possession of his kitchen, Jasper was to act
as general attendant, and Seth assumed the position
of manager of the works, with Noah Webster under
him as deputy, while the. men were divided into three
gangs, each of which would v.-ork eight hours a day at
the work of sinking the shaft.

CHAPTER VII.

FIGHTING THE ELEMENTS.

The miners at Minturne Creek had a hard time of it,
and their life was monotonous enough after they had
settled down to work in earnest.

Winter came — the stern hard winter that can only
be experienced to the full in the northern regions of
the Far West, backed up seemingly by all the powers
of nature — to try and cramp the energies of the party,
and arrest their labours; but, neither the severity of
the weather, nor the languor which the excessive fri-
gidity of the atmosphere produced — although it sent
them to sleep of a night after their day's toil, without
the necessity of an opiate — were sufficient to deter
them from their purpose.

Winter passed by, and still they worked on steadily,
notwithstanding that as yet they had met with no sub-
stantial success to encourage them, hoping, however,
that they had surmounted the gravest part of their
undertaking. Spring arrived, and their hopes of an
easy season of it were demolished in an instant; for the
snow melted on the hills, and the ice melted in the
valley, and the iron bands of the river were broken,
causing a foaming torrent to dash through the gulch —
a torrent that swelled each hour with the fresh accre-
tions of water from the higher rocks, and, spreading
wide in the valley, threatened to annihilate the whole
party, as well as the results of their handiwork during
the past months of bitter toil.

EARLY DIFFICULTIES. 47

The very elements warred against them; but, under
the noble example of their indomitable leader, whom
nothing appeared to dishearten, they braved the ele-
ments, and were not discouraged.

The torrent grew into a flood, tossing huge rocks
about as if they were corks, and swelled and foamed
around the dam they laboriously raised when the
floods began, to protect the shaft; but they fought the
newly created flood with its own weapons, hurling
buttresses at it to support their artificial embankment,
in return for its rocks, and pointing the very weapons
of the enemy against itself.

They had not to contend with water alone.

The winds, let loose apparently by the thawing of
the huge glaciers by which they were confined in the
cavernous recesses of the mountain peaks, stormed
down into the valley, there meeting other and antago-
nistic currents of air coming up the canon — and met
and fought, relentless giants that they were, on the
neutral ground of the miners' camp, tearing off the
iron sheets of their house, and sending them flying
away on the wings of the storm to goodness knows
where. Still, the hardy adventurers would not be
beaten; but fought the wind, as they had fought the
water.

Spreading buffalo skins over their unroofed cabin to
keep out the wet, they piled on them rocks and timber
that they had kept in reserve for service in the mine,
weighing their ends down with some of the ponderous
rocks with which the flood had assailed them — so
making a temporary provision against the weather
until they should be able to build their log shanty
afresh.

By these means the winds were conquered, stopping
their onslaught presently and making a truce, which
in time was lengthened into a treaty. But it was a
mighty battle while it lasted; a fight of the Titans

48 PICKED UP AT SEA.

with the gods; man opposed to nature; the material
to the immaterial — self-reliant, well-husbanded, care-
i'uUy-applied strength matched against purposeless
force.

Man does not generally win in such contests, but did
in this instance. The powers of the water and air
were powerless against a systematic resistance, and
were compelled to succumb. The miners suffered, cer-
tainly — who comes out of a fray scathless? But they
were victorious; and being such, could at last laugh at
their losses. Beyond, also, the consciousness of having
fought a successful light, they were encouraged by the
certainty that they had met and encountered with
success the extremity of peril to which they would be
subjected; and that thenceforth Nature could only be
a passive enemy to them, with no terrors now to daunt
them with, albeit she struggled against them still in
the bowels of the earth, that refused as yet to give up
those hidden riches which they were confident were
there. Refuse ? Ay, but only for a time ; they would,
in the end, conquer that refusal, as they had met and
overcome nature's more active opposition!

Their house was in ruins; their provisions mostly
spoilt by the elements they had battled — fire had only
been wanting to complete the sum of their calamities;
whilst the stasfino- around their mine-shaft was broken
down and tons of water upon tons poured down the
embouchure.

They reviewed their position, and grasped its salient
points, not a single faint heart among them: — hope,
trust, energy, made them think and act as one man.

There was the iron hut and shanty to rebuild, the
mine-shaft and its supports to repair, the dam to mend
and remake in its weaker places, the mine to pump out.

Thus they thought; and, what is more, they acted
upon the thought. Some men think, and others work.
They did both; and, through their strenuous efforts,

THE CAMP RESTORED. 49

ere the early buds of spring hatl given a palpable green
tinge to the shrubs and trees that clothed the slopes of
the hills and dotted the valley of Minturne Greek hero
and there, or the snow had quite vanished from the
topmost mountain peaks, and the river that ran through
the gulch subsided down into its proper proportions,
all traces of the storm ravages had been cleared away,
and the snug little camp of the Boston exploring party
looked itself again, "as neat and trim as a new pin, I
reckon!" as Seth AUport said.

The miners themselves allowed, however, that the
victory might not have been theirs had they not had
the assistance of a visitor — and that a most unexpected
one, as the spring was not sufficiently advanced to
have cleared away all the snow from the back track to
the settlements and made the roads passable, so as to
allow the diggers to return to their claims on the hills.

Strangers are rare birds amongst the squatters out
West, and are generally regarded with much suspicion
by travellers on the prairies and in the mountain fast-
nesses.

The rougher part of the restoration of the camp be-
longings having been accomplished and not so many
hands being now required for the further repairs needed,
while the day was especially fine and suggestive of
"sport," the hunters were out on the hills, under the
leadership of Mr. Rawlings, who had proved himself
by this time one of the best shots in camp.

There were other reasons for the hunters' activity
besides the fact of the day being fine and signs of
sport apparent.

"The hull crowd, from the Boss down to Sailor Bill,
who wouldn't say nay if he could kinder express him-
self," — as the ex-mate observed before the setting out of
the expedition — " were dog-tired of pork and fixin's,"' —
and their stomachs craved after game, or fresh meat of
any sort.

(196) D

50 PICKED UP AT SEA.

Besides their having lived through tlie whole of the
winter on salt pork, it had not been improved in
quality by its contact with the flood-water that had
submerged their cabin at one time; but, whether dam-
aged or not, it must be acknowledged that even to the
most easy-going and contented palate, a never- varying
diet of fried pork and damper cakes — that resembled
somewhat the unleavened bread of the Israelites in
their passage through the wilderness — will prove some-
what wearying and monotonous in the long run ! Thus,
their anxiety for some change in their food can only
be realized by those who have been compelled to live
on salt provisions for any length of time.

Signs of sport, as has been already mentioned, were
apparent enough; for traces of deer had been discov-
ered by the Indian half-breed in the early morning,
leading from the bank of the river as it entered the
cafion below the camp from the hills; and thus, there-
fore, it was with all the eagerness of semi-starving
men that the best shots of the party were picked out
at once, and despatched to follow up the trail of the
game; the others who remained behind going on with
the rebuilding with all the greater ardour through the
prospect of an unwontedly good dinner before them —
that is, should the hunters prove successful.

Along with Mr. Rawlings was Noah Webster, who
was a better hunter almost than he was a miner;
Moose, the half-breed Indian, and Josh the cook —
Jasper stopping behind by the express orders of Seth,
although he was madly jealous at his brother-darkey
being preferred before him.

Upwards and onwards, through the scrub and brush-
wood and budding branches of trees, struggling over
the trunks of fallen monarchs of the forest, that had
been rooted up by the wind or struck down by light-
ning, and lay across their path, over rough volcanic
rocks, and through ravines that trickled down tiny

A HUNTING PARTY 51

streams to swell the river below, they made their way
slowly and tediously towards the probable lair of the
deer, as the ti'aces of their antlered prey grew fresher
and more distinct every step, the slot being sometimes
plainly visible in the moist soil, although for all they
could otherwise see and hear they might be as far off
from the wished-for prize as ever.

Presentlj', as they were emei'ging from a thicker
growth of brushwood than they had yet passed through,
they noticed, to their joy, right in front of them, feed-
ing on a small grassy plateau under the lee of a jutting
clitf, a head of what the Indian half-breed immediately
declared to be a species of ibex, or mountain-sheep,
that are commonly met with amid the peaks of the
Rocky Mountains and its chains, far from the haunts
of civilization and men. It was only owing, indeed, to
the fact that the hill diggers were away in the settle-
ments, and from the scarcity of forage in their more
secluded retreats, that they had approached so near to
the miners' camp.

Caution was now the order of the day; and, Mr.
Rawlings still leading, with the Indian next him, and
then the others one after the other in file. Josh proudly
bringing up the rear, they stepped forwards with the
utmost care, keeping the wind in their faces so that
they should not be betrayed by the scent of their
clothing reaching the timid animals, to do which, they
had to execute a considerable detour, and take advan-
tage of every chance of cover.

By degrees, they gradually got within a fair range of
about eighty yards — for, although long-distance shoot-
ing may be very nice as a test of shooting at the
Wimbledon targets, it is quite a different matter when
your dinner depends on the success of your shot; for,
with that consideration in view, even the surest of
marksmen likes to get within easy reach of his
game.

52 PICKED UP AT SEA.

Mr. Rawlings and Noah Webster, the two best shots
of the party, levelled their rifles together — after a brief
nod from the Indian half-breed which seemed to say
" Now's your time " — and fired simultaneously, aiming
at two of the wild sheep.

At the very moment they did so, the report of a third
shot was heard, that seemed like the echo of their own
double discharge, pinging through the keen rarefied
air; and when the smoke had cleared off, and the re-
verberations of the sound had died away, rolling in
fainter and fainter waves amongst the mountain hol-
lows in the distance, three of the sheep were observed
to be stretched lifeless on the plateau where they had
been so recently feeding in peace, while the remainder
of the flock were bounding away from peak to peak,
seeking rcfufje in their native fortresses in the crags
above.

Mr. Rawlings did not notice anything unusual at
first, as he had not heard the third rifle shot; but Noah
Webster and the half-breed, who were much bettor
accustomed to woodcraft — having had their senses
sharpened by dangers which seamen never have to
encounter — were alive at once to the perception of
something being wrong.

"Injuns, I reckon '" muttered Noah Webster under
his breath, to which the half-breed growled a charac-
teristic "Ugh," and the two sank down closer amid the
grass, dragging down Mr. Rawlings with them, Noah
stopping his expostulations by clapping his hand across
his mouth, and looking at him warningly, while he
motioned to the rest behind them to follow their ex-
ample.

AH huddled together in the grass and tangled brush-
wood, hardly breathing for fear their presence might
be discovered by some possible foe, they looked out
carefully, awaiting the development of the situation.

It was only a minute or two at most, but it appeared

A GOOD SHUT. 53

liours to one or two, especially to poor Josh, Avho, in
his fright of being scalped \>y a possible Indian, would
have cheerfully given up all his chances of gold in the
mine and everything, to have swapped places with the
envious Jasper and been safe in camp.

The listeners, however, did not have to wait so very
long.

In a little while they heard the .sound of twigs being
broken near them, as if some one were making his way
through the copse. Soon they could distinguish, in
addition, the heavy tramp of footsteps — they sounded
as heavy as those of elephants to them, with their ears
to the ground — trampling dowii the thick undergrowth
and rotten twigs in the thicket befoi-e them; and they
could also hoar a sort of muttering sound, like that
caused by somebody speaking to himself in soli-
loquy.

The situation, if an exciting one, was not of any long
duration, for while they were listening the denouement
came.

A nondescript-clad figure came out of the brushwood
into the open clearing, walking towards the spot where
the mountain-sheep lay stretched on the sward, Avhich
was partly covered with the snow that remained un-
melted under the lee of the clifl'; and a voice, without
doubt appertaining to the figure, exclaimed in unmis-
takable English accents —

" Well, I'm hanged if I ever heard of such a thing
before in my life! I know I am a tidy shot, but if I
were to mention this at home they would say I was
telling a confounded lie! To think of killing three of
those queer creatures at one shotl By Jove, who'd
believe it ? "

The listeners burst into a simultaneous roar of
laughter.

"It's only a Briti.sher!" .said Noah Webster; and
they all rose from their covert and sallied out into the

54 PICKED UP AT SEA.

open, to the intense astonishment of the new-corner,
whose surprise was evidently mixed with a propor-
tionate amount of alarm, for he clutched his gun more
tightly at the sight of them, and stood apparently on
the defensive.

'■h^^^WT^^-

CHAPTER VIII.

AN UNEXPECTED COINCIDENCE.

" We are friends," Mr. Rawlings said, " some of us
j'our countrymen, if, as I judge by your accent, you
are an Englishman. We are working a mine in this
neighbourhood. My name is Rawlings, and I am the
proprietor of the mine."

" My name is Wilton — Ernest Wilton," the stranger
said, taking the hand that Mr. Rawlings held out. " I
am glad indeed to meet with a party of my country-
men. Some little time since I started from Oregon
with a prospecting party that was organized to hunt
up various openings for the employment of capital in
mining, and other speculative enterprises. With this
party I crossed the Rocky Mountains, and went about
from place to place, until about three days ago, when,
while shooting amongst these hills of your.s, either I
lost them or they lost me, and here I have been
wandering about ever since by myself, and would pro-
bably have come to grief if I had not met you. By
profession I am a mining engineer, but the mine I had
come from England to work turned out badly, and I
accepted another engagement, thinking to do a little
sporting and exploring on my own account before re-
turning to England — nice sport I've found it, too ! "

Mr. Rawlings gave the stranger an earnest invitation
to spend a day or two with them down at the creek.

The visitor readily accepted; and the game being-
lifted and slung on poles, the party started for the

5G PICKED UP AT SEA.

camp, Mr. Rawlings strolling on with his new acquaint-
ance, and the others following, talking earnestly to-
gether.

Arrived at the house, Mr. Rawlings laughingly
apologized for its state of dilapidation, but assured the
visitor that it was far more comfortable than it looked.

Seth came to the doorway, and the other miners
gathered round, to inspect both the welcome supply of
fresh food and the stranger.

" This is Seth Allport, my lieutenant and manager,"
Mr. Rawdings said. " Seth, this is Mr. Wilton, an
English mininw engineer."

" Jerusalem 1 " exclaimed Seth. " Now, wdio would
have thought that ? "

" You seem surprised at my being an engineer," — said
Ernest Wilton, laug-hinof at Seth's exclamation; for
even the hungry miners, w^ho had been previously
clustered in groups around Josh and Jasper, surveying
the cooking arrangements of the two darkeys with
longing eyes, appeared to forget the claims of their
appetites for the moment on the announcement of what
evidently was a welcome piece of news, as they incon-
tinently abandoned the grateful sight of the frizzling
mutton, that was also sending forth the most savoury
odours, and joined the leaders of the party who were
interviewdng the yount^ Eno-lishman. — "I shouldn't
have thought one of my profession by any means a
strange visitor."

"It isn't the surprise, mister," — replied Seth cordially.
" No, that ain't it, quite, I reckon. It's the coincidence,
as it were, at this particular time, mister. That's
wdiat's the matter! Jehosophat! it is queer, streenger!"

" I'm sure I ought to feel greatly honoured at such
an imposing reception," — said Ernest, still rather per-
plexed at the ovation, which seemed unaccountable to
him. — "It is not such a very uncommon thing for an
eno-ineer to be travellino' through these reo-ions, is it

MR. Wilton's arrival. 57

now? especially when you consider that it has been
mainly through the exertions of men of my craft, and
the raihvays that they have planned, foUovring in their
wake, that the country has been opened up at all. I
should have thought engineers almost as common now-
adays out west as blackberries in old England."

" You are riffht there," — said Mr. Rawlino-s, hastonino-
to explain the circumstances that had caused his arrival
to be looked upon as such a piece of good fortune,
quite apart from the friendly feelings with which they
regarded him as a forlorn stranger whom they were
glad to welcome to their camp. — " But, you see, your
coming, as Seth Allport has just remarked, has been
almost coincident with a loss, or rather want, which wq
just begin to feel in our mining operations here. Your
arrival has happened just in the nick of time, when we
are nearly at a standstill through the want of a com-
petent superintending engineer, like yourself, ex-
perienced in mines and mining work. Hands we have
in plenty — willing and able hands, too," — added Mr.
.Rawlings, with an approving glance round at the as-
sembled miners, who acknowledged the compliment
with a hearty cheer for himself and Seth Allport;
— " but we want a head to suffo-est how our efforts can
be best directed, and our gear utilized, towards carry-
ing out the object we all have in view. I and Seth
have done our best; but, what with the overflow of
water in the mine, and the necessity we think there is
now for runnino- out side cuttino-s from the main shaft,
SO as to strike the lode properly, we were fairly at our
wits' end."

"I see," said Ernest Wilton mu.singly, "I see."
" An' if yer like to join us in that air capacity," in-
terposed Seth, thinking that the other was merely
keeping back his decision until he heard what terms
might be offered him, and that a practical suggestion
about money matters would settle the matter, "why,

58 PICKED UP AT SEA.

mister, we sha'n't grumble about the dollars, you bet!
As yer knows, the Kernel kinder invited yer jest now,
when we had no sort o' reckonin' as to who and what
yer were. Tharr'll be no worry about yer share ov the
plunder, neow — no, sir."

" Oh, pray don't mention that," exclaimed Ernest
Wilton, pained at the interpretation put upon his reti-
cence in accepting the offer o£ the position made him.
"Nothing was further from my thoughts. I am too
well acquainted with the open-handedness of the mining
fraternity in the Golden State and elsewhere to dream
of haggling about terms as to the payment of my poor
services."

" What, then?" said Seth. "We don't want to bind
you down to any fixed sort o' 'greement, if yu'd rather
not."

" I was only considering," replied Ernest, vexed at
his own hesitancy, "whether I could fairly give up the
party with whom I started from Oregon, as I was
under a species of engagement, as it were, although
there was no absolutely signed and sealed undertaking.
It wouldn't be right, I think, to leave them altogether
without notice."

" Nary mind the half-hearted lot," said Noah Web-
ster, at this juncture putting his spoke in the wheel.
"Didn't they leave yer out alone in the mountains? I
wouldn't give a red cent for sieh pardners, I guess,
boss. Raal mean skunks I calls 'em, and no mistake,
sirree!"

" But I promised to stay with these fellows till we
got over to the settlejnents on this side," said Ernest
Wilton, smiling at Noah's characteristic vehemence
against those half-hearted companions of his who had
held back while he had gone forward by himself, "and
I like to keep my word when I can, you know — at all
events I ought to send and let them know where I
am.

A M^ELCOME ACCESSION. 59

" We shan't quarrel about that," — said Mr. Eawlings
kindly, to put the other at his ease, for some of the
rough miners did not appear to like the Englishman's
hanging back from jumping at their leader's offer. —
"A man who is so anxious to keep his word, even with
people who loft him in the lurch, will be all the more
likely to act straightforwardly towards us. Don't, how-
ever, let that fret you, for you will be able to commu-
nicate as easily with your friends, and more so, by
stopping here with us, as by going on to the nearest
frontier township. As soon as the snow has melted,
and the roads become passable again, there will be
plentiful supply of half-breeds, like Moose there, and
other gentry with nothing particular to do, come hang-
ing round us, who will gladly carry any message or
letter for you across the hills — for a leetle considera-
tion, of course!" added Mr. Eawlings, with his bluff,
hearty laugh.

"Ay, that there'll be," said Seth Allport. "Don't
you trouble about that, mister; but jine with us a free
heart, and run our injine for us, and we'll be downright
glad, I guess!"

"That we will, sure!" — chorussed the miners in a
body, with a shout. And so, pressed with a rough but
hearty cordiality, Ernest Wilton consented to be a
member of the mining party in the same frank spirit,
and was now saluted as one of the Minturne Creek
adventurers in a series of ringing cheers that made the
hill-sides echo again, and the cavernous canon sound
the refrain afar.

Jasper and Josh, now quite reconciled after some
" little bit of unpleasantness" between them, that had
resulted in operations tending towards a lowering of
the wool crop, as far as each was personally concerned,
were unfeignedly glad the rather prolonged conference
was over. They had been gazing at the group gathered
around the yo\mg Englishman with a sort of puzzled

60 PICKED UP AT SEA.

wonder, and listening to what scraps of conversation
thej' chanced to overhear, without being able to make
out what tlie matter was about, with feelings of mingled
expectancy and impatience at the length of the debate.
But, now it was all settled, as they could see from the
dispersal of the group, their joy was great, especially
that of Master Jasper, who felt his dignity hurt, as a
former steward and present butler in ordinary, on
account of the neglect paid to his intimation that the
viands were ready and "dinner served!"

" Hooray!" shouted out Josh, throwing up his battered
straw-hat into the air, and capering round the impro-
vised caboose, in response to the miners' ringing cheers
on Ernest's consent to join the party and act as engineer
of the mine. — "Me berry glad Massa Britisher now am
one of us, for sure! Golly, we nebbah hab to put up
with dat nasty salt pork no more now, yup, yup!
Massa Britisher um beriy good shot, su-ah! Um shoot
tree sheep at one go. Golly, Jasper, you no laugh. I
tell you for true!" — And the negro cook grinned him-
self, to the full extent of his wide mouth and glistening
ivory teeth, ■\\diile administering this rebuke to his
darkey brother.

"Shoo! go way wid j-er nonsenz, and don't bodder
me," — responded the hungry and aggrieved Jasper, who
did not appreciate the joke, the j'oung Englishman's
humorous mistake as to the result of his rifle-shot not
having yet been promulgated for the benefit of those
in camp. — "Am none ob you gentlemens comin' to
dinnah, hey?" — he called out more loudlj^, — "Massa
Rawlins me tellee hab tings ready in brace o' shakes; and
now tings fix up tarnation smart, nobody come. Um
berry aggerabating — can't oberstand it, no how!"

"None o' your sass," said Seth gruffly, although the
lurking smile on his face took oif from the effect of his
words, "none o' your sass, Jasper, or I'll keelhaul you,
and make j'ou fancy yourself aboard ship once more!"

"DINNER IS ready!" 61

"Me not sassy, Massa Seth. Ise hab too much respect
for myself, sail, for dat! I only tells you as de meat's
done and gettin' cool, dat's all, while yous be all jab-
berin' way jus like passul monkeys. No imperance in
dat, massa, as I sees ! "

"Stow that, you ugly cuss," — said Seth good-humour-
edly, for he was used somewhat to Master Jaspei''s
"cheek" by this time. — " You're jest about as bad as a
Philadelphy lawyer, when you've got your jaw tackle
aboard! Now, boys," he added, hailing the miners,
who were nothing loth to obey the signal, "the darkey
says the vittles are ready, and you as wants to feed
had better fall to!"

■"^^^fifj^"

CHAPTER IX.

CONCERNING SAILOR BILL.

During this little interlude, Ernest Wilton had been
closely engaged in watching the actions of the poor
boy, "Sailor Bill."

His face had attracted him from the first moment
he caught sight of him ; but when he had more leisure
to observe him, after the palaver with Mr. Rawlings
and the miners was over, and he noticed certain pecu-
liarities about the object of his attention which had
previously escaped his notice, his interest became
greatly heightened.

Sailor Bill had altered very much in appearance
since the day he had been picked up in the Bay of
Biscay and taken on board the Susan Jane, a thin,
delicate-looking boy with a pale face and a wasted
frame. The keen healthy air and out-of-doors life out
west had worked wonders with him, and he was now
rosy and stalwart, his body having filled out and his
cheeks grown much fatter, while he was even consider-
ably taller than he had been some six months previously.

His bright golden-brown hair was, of course, the same,
and so were the long dark lashes to the blue eyes that
had so especially appealed to Captain Blowser's fancy
when he had spoken about the boy's resemblance to a
girl, for they yet bore the same peculiar far-away
look as if they belonged to a person walking in his
sleep, without intelligence or notice in them whatever.

As on board ship, Sailor Bill stuck to Seth Allport

ERNEST Wilton's curiosity. 63

as his shadow, moving where he moved, stopping where
he stopped, with the faithful attacliment of a dog,
albeit wanting in that expression of sagacity, which
even the dullest specimen of the canine race exhibits
on all occasions. Seth Allport seemed to be the main-
spring of the boy's action, and after a time it became
almost painful to watch the two, although the sailor
had now grown accustomed to being followed about in
so eccentric a fashion — as had, indeed, the rest of the
party, who were not so distinctly singled out by the
poor boy's regard; but it was all new and strange to
Ernest Wilton as he watched and wondered.

" What is the matter with the boy ? " — asked he
presently of Mr. Rawlings, who, from the fixed obser-
vation of his companion, had been expecting the ques-
tion. — " Poor fellow, ho doesn't seem all right in his
mind — and a healthy, nice-looking boy, too ! "

"Yes," said Mr. Rawlings, tapping his forehead
expressively, and speaking feelingly as he looked
affectionately at Sailor Bill, whom all had learnt to
like as they would have done a pet dog; — "something
wrong there, although I hope in time he will get over
it in the same way as he came by it, if God so wills
it!"

"I suppose he's got some story attached to him,
eh ? " said Ernest Wilton.

"No doubt," answered Mr. Rawlings; "but nobody
but himself knows it ! "

" How strangely you pique my curiosity ! Besides,
his face seems quite familiar to me, somehow or other.
Yes, it's really quite familiar," he repeated.

" Does it ? " said Mr. Rawlings eagerly, hoping that
the young engineer might be able to tell something.

" Yes," replied the other, " and I cannot tell how or
where I have seen somebody like him before. But I
will recollect presently, I have no doubt, after a little
more reflection."

6-1 PICKED UP AT SEA.

" We picked up the poor chap at sea, half'-ch-owned,
and bleudiiig- from a very terrible cut across the fore-
head; and such a slender thin shaving of a boy that
j'ou would not have known him to be the same as he
is now ! "

" Indeed ! " said Ernest Wilton with greater interest
even than he had displayed before; and thereupon
Mr. Rawlings told the whole story of Sailor Bill's
rescue, and how he afterwards saved the life of Seth
Allport, to whom he had thenceforward attached him-
self; and how the worthy sailor had refused to part
with him, and brought him out west.

The young engineer had been carefully noting all
the points of the narrative while the other was speak-
ing; and seemed to revolve the whole circumstances
of Sailor Bill's history in his mind with a view to
solving the mystery.

" I shouldn't be surprised," said he, when Mr. Raw-
lings had completed his yarn, " if he belonged to that
deserted ship which you subsequently came across;
and that in the mutiny, or whatever else occurred on
board, he got wounded and thrown into the sea."

" That is possible," said Mr. Rawlings, " but not
quite probable, considering the time that elapsed after
our saving him to meeting with the water-logged
vessel, and the distance we traversed in the interval.
Besides, the boy was lashed to the spar that supported
him in the water, and ho couldn't have done that, with
the wound he had received, by himself; so that gets
rid of the theory of his being half-murdered and
pitched overboard. Altogether, the story is one of
those secrets of the sea that will never be unravelled,
unless he comes to his senses at some time or other
and tells us all about it ! "

" And you don't know his name, or anything ? "

" No, only just what I have told you."

" Had he no marks on his clothing, or anything in

WILTOX'S INTEREST DEEPEXS. 65

liis pockets, that might servo for identification, should
any one claim him by and by ? " said Ernest Wilton,
pursuing his interrogatories like a cross-examining
barrister fussy over his first case.

" He had nothing on but his shirt and trousers, I
tell you," said Mr. Rawlings, laughing at what ho
called the badgering of the other, just as if he were in
a witness-box, he said, " and boys don't carry many
letters or documents about them, especially in their
trousers' pockets ; at all events, they didn't do so when
I was a bo}-. Stay — " he added, bethinking himself
suddenly of one item of the story he had apparently
foi'gotten till then, — " I certainly passed over some-
thincf."

"What?" said Ernest, still looking at Sailor Bill
steadfastly, as if trying in vain to summon up the re-
collection of his features from the hazy depths of his
memory; for the face of the boy seemed more and
more familiar to him the longer he looked.

"Well," replied Mr. Rawlings, with a little hesita-
tion, " I don't suppose you want to know about the
boy merely to satisfy an idle curiosity at seeing the
poor, bereaved, young creature to be out of his mind ? "

" Certainly not," said Ernest Wilton. " What you
have already told me, besides his own innocent, guile-
less look, has interested me strangely in him; and, in
addition to that, I'm sure I know something about
him or somebody extremely like him, which I cannot
at present recall to my recollection."

"I believe you honestly," replied Mr. Eawlings,
stretching forth his hand in token of good faith, which
the other cordially grasped; "and, that being the case,
I can tell you something more, which only Seth All-
port and myself know about, and which we have kept
to ourselves as a matter of confidence on the poor
boy's behalf. Of course. Captain Blowser of the Susan
Jane knows about it, too, as he was entitled to by

(195) , E

63 PICKED VP AT SEA.

rights, from having picked the littlo chap up; but he's
at sea, and it doesn't matter whether he divulges it or
not, as it wouldn't be of much consequence to the boy;
here on land, however, where anybody might track
him out from interested or other motives, it is a very
difierent matter; so I must ask you on your word of
honour to keep the circujnstance to yourself."

"Most decidedly," said Ernest Wilton heartily; "I
pledge you my -v^'ord I will — until, at all events, you
think jt best, .should things so happen, that it ought
to be divulged."

"All right," responded Mr. Rawlings, trusting iir.-
plicitly in the other's discretion. " Now, I'll tell you.
When I said that the boy had only his shirt and
trousers on in the way of garments, and that there
was nothijig in his pockets to disclose his identity, I
related you only the simple truth, for there was
nothing to trace him by ; and I remember that Captain
Blowser, of the Susan Jane, regretted afterwards that
the spar to which we found him lashed had been cut
adrift, without any one having examined it carefully to
see whether there might not have been the name of
the ship) painted on the yard, or a jDortion of the
canvas, or something else in the top along with the
boy — for there was the topmast and yard, and all the
gear of the whole mast complete, as if it had been
cari'ied away in a moment. But you recollect what I
told you, of the boy's dashing out of the cabin as if he
had been taken with a sudden frenzy, and going to
rescue Seth Allport when he was swept over the side
by the broken topsail halliards in that squall?"

" Yes, quite well," answered Ernest Wilton.

" Well, after that he fainted away almost dead again
for some time; and when I was bending over him
trying to rouse him, I noticed a thin silken string-
round his neck, which I hadn't noticed previously, nor
had Jasper the steward, although his shirt had been

THE MYSTERIOUS PARCEL. G7

opened there, and his bosom bared in our efforts to
resuscitate him, when he first took him down into the
cabin."

"A fine silken string?" repeated the other, as Mr.
BawJings paused for a momejit in his recital; "a fine
silken string round his neck? "

"Yes; and on drawing out the end of it I found a
small parchment parcel, carefully sealed up with red
sealing-wax, and an official kind of stamp over it
which had been before concealed in an inside pocket
cunningly seci-eted in the waist-part of the boy's
flannel shirt."

" And this parcel contained — ? " said the young
engineer with breathless attention.

"Ah! that's what I just don't knovr," said Mr. Raw-
lings with provoking coolness.

CHAPTER X.

A CONUNDRUM.

Ernest Wilton felt almost inclined to bo vexed at
first, tliinking that the speaker had deliberately led
liim on with the intention, finally, of " selling " him, or
perpetrating an April fool trick at his expense, it just
being about that time of year. But after one steadfast
glance at Mr. Eawlings' unmoved face, which bore an
expression of honest sincerity that could not be
doubted, he laughed off his annoyance, for he could
perceive that his companion was perfectly guiltless of
any attempt at a joke, and had said what he did in
serious confidence.

" Did you not open the packet ? " said he, when he
had stifled his laughter, wliich increased all the more
from Mr. Rawlings' unconsciousness of having done or
said anything to provoke it.

" No, I didn't do it at the time, thinking it might
be some little keepsake or love-token which the boy
would not have liked any prying eyes to look into if
he were in the full possession of his faculties; and
afterwards, when I wanted to, thinking that it might
disclose his identity, Scth wouldn't allow it."

" Hullo! " said that worthy, coming up at the moment,
with Sailor Bill in close attendance behind him as
usual, " what are you two chaps a conspiring about ? I
guess," he continued, with the broad smile that seemed
to illumine the whole of his rugged countenance and
give it such a pleasant, cheery look, " you're up to some

seth's eesolution. G9

miscliief about me, hey? I kalkerlate I heard my
name kinder mentioned. '

" We were talking about the boy, Seth," said Mr.
Kawlino'.s, smihno' too.

" Speakin' 'bout my b'y, wer' yor ? " said he, turning
half round as he spoke, to j^at Sailor Bill's head kindly.
"Poor feller! yer might ha' sunthin' a sight worse ter
talk about, I reckon ! He's a chap as can't do harm to
none whatsomdever, if he can't do 'em no good, as ho
once did to me, I guess."

"You can't forget that, Seth?" said Mr. Eaw-
Imgs.

" No, nor won't as long as this chile draAvs breath
nether," answered the ex-mate of the Susan Jane,
feelingly, with a look of almost parental fondness at
the boy.

" Mr. Wilton here was wondering, Seth," continued
Mr. Rawlings, " why you would not let mo open that
package round poor (Sailor Bill's neck, to see wdiether
it would give us any clue to who ho is,"

The smile faded instantly from Seth AUport's face,
which rcassumed its normal grim, firm look, just as if
some one had dealt him what he would ha-.'O called a
" back-hander."

" Mr. AMlton may wonder, and j-qu too, Mr. Eawlin's,
but I jest M'on't that, siree, not if I kno'\v it. Nary a
soul shall look upon it, I guess, till that tliar b'y opens
it hisself I said that months agone, Rawlin's, as you
knows well, and I say it now agin."

" I wish I could recollect whom ho resembles, really,"
said Ernest Wilton, to give a turn to the conversation,
which had got into such an unjilcasant hitch. " There
is nothing so worrying as to try and puzzle over a face
which you seem to remember and which you cannot
place."

"Yes," said Mr. Rawlings; "like a name sometimes
seems to hover right on the tip of your tongue, and yet

70 PICKED UP AT SEA,

you can't get it out, try what you may. I suppose you
left England only lately ? "

" I? " replied the young engineer. " Why, it's nearly
four years since I left Liverpool for America — quite."

"Perhaps you keep up communication, however,
with the tight little island, eh?" said Mr. Rawlings.
" I daresay some one Avas sorry to lose jon."

" Not they," said Ernest Wilton carelessly. " ' I
care for nobody, no, not I, and nobody cares for me,' "
he hummed in a rich baritone voice, although there
was a tone of sadness in it that belied the tenor of
tiie words. " I assure you," he added presentlj', in one
of those sudden bursts of confidence in which some of
us are apt to indulge sometimes when we get a sympa-
thetic listener, " that I haven't written home or heard
from thence for more than three years, and they will
have thought me dead by this time! I've no doubt
there is a large parcel of letters and papers awaiting
me now in New York, where I told them to address
me when I came to America; for I've not been back
there either since the day I landed, when I started
straight across the continent for California, with a
gentleman who had an intei-est in some mines tliero,
with whom I came over in th.e same steamer from
Liverpool; and I have never been eastwards again,
or turned my face thither till I came through Oregon
as far as this place, which is still considerable to the
west, I think, eh?"

And he laughed lightlj', as if he did not care to talk
much of home or its associations.

" I don't think it's quite right, though," suggested
Mr. Rawlings in his grave, kind way, "altogether to
abandon one's relatives and friends in that fashion."

"No?" said the young man inquiringly; and then
added more frankly, impressed by the manner of the
other, " Well, perhaps it isn't quite the right thing to
do; but I have been a rover almost all my life, and a

MR. EAWLIXGS' ADVICE. 71

wanderer from home. Besides, my parents are Loth
dead, and there's nobody now who particularly cares
about me or my welfare in old England."

"'Not anybody?" persisted Mr. Eawlings, who thouglit
it strange that such a nice, handsome fellow as the
young engineer apjicarod should bo without some tie
in the world to hold liim to his country.

" I certainly have an uncle and aunt and some
cousins," said Ernest Wilton, acknowledging his re-
latives as if he were confessing some peccadillo; "and
my aunt used to be fond of mo as a bov, I remember
well."

"Then I should write to her," said Mr. Rawlings.
" When you get as old as I am, you won't like to feel
yourself alone amongst strangers, and without some
one to connect you with the past of your childhood."

" I will write to my aunt, tlicn, as you have reminded
me of my shortcomings," said Ernest Wilton, laughing.
" I promise you that at anyrate."

" That's a good fellow. I'm sure you won't regret it
afterwards," said Mr. Rawlings, who was then proceed-
ing to ask the young engineer something about his
journey from California to Dakota v.dicu Seth, who
had listened patiently to their conversation so far, now
interrupted them.

"Com'e, mister," said he, addressing Ernest Wilton,
"I a' jest — "

" Do call me by my right name, please," interposed
the good-humoured young fellow, speaking in such a
sort of pleading way that Seth could not take of-
fence.

" Waal, thin, ef yer are so partick'ler," replied that
worthy, with a very bad pretence of being angry, " kim
along, Wilton, thaar now! and see to this mine of ourn
that you've now got to look arter. How does yer like
that style anyhow ? "

" Decidedly bettez-," responded the young engineer,

PICKED UP AT SEA.

with his frank, light-hearted laugh, in which Mr
Kawlings joined.

And the four then proceeded in the direction of the
shaft, Seth leading the way, with Sailor Bill, as usual,
behind him.

CHAPTER XT.

A ROUNDABOUT ROUTE.

" It must have been a rougli journey for you, all the
way from Oregon in almost the depth of winter," said
Mr. Rawlings, as he and Ernest Wilton followed after
Seth Allport, seizing the opportunity of proceeding with
the conversation which the ex-mate had interrupted.

Mr. Rawlings had taken a strong fancy to the young
Englishman from the iirst, and the more he saw of his
frank, open nature, the more he liked him.

The feeling, too, was evidently mutual, the younger
man being attracted by the blulf, hearty, honest out-
spokenness of the other, who could not conceal his un-
affected delight at once more coming across one from
the old country, with whom he could converse on a
different footing than ho could with the rough miners
who composed the majority of his camp party — men
who, Ayitli tlie exception of Seth Allport, were totally
uneducated and unculti^'ated.

Of course, Mr. Rawlings was used to these, and got
along with them well enough; but, that was no reason
why he should not enjoy a chat witli a person more of
his own class and status in life, was it?

Rather the reverse, one would think; for, to Mr.
Rawlings, the conversation of Ernest Wilton, after the
usual style of talk to which he had now been habitu-
ated for months, came as grateful as water to a thirsty
land — or, to use a parallel which those who had been ac-
customed to living on board ship will readily appreciate.

I i PICKED UP AT SEA.

as pleasant to the taste as fresh hread, or '■' soft tack,"
Avhen one has been eating nothing but hard sea biscuits
for some time previously.

To Ernest Wilton, also, it was a matter of gratifica-
tion to be able to speak freely with a fellow-country-
men, after his recent companionship Avith half-breeds
and Indians; and he was nothing loth to accept the
other's overtures towards a friendly chat, to pave the
way for future intimacy, such as ho saw would pro-
bably I'csult between them, should they remain long
together, a possibility which recent events clear];,' prog-
nosticated and which he cordially welcomed.

" Yes, it was a rough journey, with a vengeance," ho
replied, in answer to the implied question in Mr. Raw-
lings' remark, "such a journey as I certainly never
anticipated; and my only vronder is, how I accomplished
it. But then, you know, over here in the New World
• — and it is new to me, every inch of it, the more I see
of it — they don't measure distances the same as people
do in Europe. Why, a degree of latitude or longitude
is less thouglit of than a furlong by those at liomc;
and, in some of the backwood settlements, neio-hboui's
are as far away from each other as the capital cities of
the continent are separated."

" That is true," said Mr. Kawlings. " The space ap-
pears so illimitable that one's ideas as to measurement
expand in a similar way, and the agriculturists calculate
by the square mile instead of the acre in all their
estimates of the land. But, about your jom-ney ? I'm
curious to know what route you took to come from
Oregon liere."

" You may v/ell ask," replied the young engineer,
breaking into a hearty laugh, which was so catching,
that Mr. Rawlings followed suit, and even Seth thought
it incumbent on him to look back over his shoulder and
grin, " for it vras, I believe, the most roundabout trip
ever planned. But, in order to understand it proi^erly,

A PEOSrECTIXG PARTY. 7u

you must learn what sort o£ a party accompanied me.
While in California, I got mixed up \Yith all sorts of
persons, engaged in companies started to carry out every-
thing under the sun, and even under the earth: scien-
tific men with hobbies, capitalists with money to spend,
and speculators with nothing, who wished to enricli
themselves from the pockets of the imwary; and, wdiile
at a dinner one day in Sacramento, where a lot of
directors and shareholders of the Alba Eldorado w"ere
enlarging on the good fortune attending mining schemes
in general, and their own especial venture in i^artieular,
a proposal was made that, as such fabulous reports had
been circulated of the Bonanza mine in Montana, some
of the surplus capital of the company should bo ex-
pended in looking after another lode in the same
Aacinity. The proposal was eagerly accepted, and as I
happened to be present I was asked to join the ex-
pedition."

"But that was in California," suggested Mr. Raw-
lings, smiling, "and you needn't have gone through all
Oregon to get to Montana, sui'ely — -eh?"

"Certainly not," said Ernest Wilton; "and that's
exactly wlmt I wish to explain. It was all those scien-
tific men with their hobbies that led us such a dance!
You see, it was a party of rich people, whose time was
at their own disposal, and they could do pretty nearly
as they liked. At tlie very first start, it was ari'angcd
that our first point of destination should be the Warm
Springs in the centre of Oregon; and so to the Warm
Springs wc went. I believe the principal capitalist of
the party thought they might be utilized for the pur-
poses of a Universal Bath Company, Limited, to 'ab-
lutionize' — that was his word, I assure you — the wdiole
world."

"Nonsense, you are joking!" said Mr. Rawdings,
thinking the other was trying to chaff him.

'■'Not a bit of it — 'that's a fact,' as our American

~Q PICKED UP AT SEA.

friend there would say," replied the 3'oung Englishman,
nodding in the direction of Seth Allport to show that
he had already noticed his pronunciation and mode of
speech.

"All right," said Mr. Rawlings. "I can credit j-our
financier coining the new word ablutionize; but I can't
exactly stomach the 'Universal Bath Company' quite!
I am an old soldier, however; so proceed, and I promise
not to be very much surprised at any of your travel-
ler's tales'"

" Reallj^ I am not exaggerating at all," said Ernest
Wilton. "That ignorant purse-proud fellow wished to
start a company for almost everything we came across
in our route. I need not add that he wasn't an Ameri-
can."

"No, it's only Englishmen that make themselves
such fools over here," replied Mr. Eawlings, heaving a
siofh, as if he thought himself one of the number for
having anything to do with the Minturne Creek ven-
ture. "If they have any bad points at home, they get
them more developed by the passage across the ocean.
What is the old Latin adage wc used to learn at school
—eh?"

" ' Cceluni non animum mutant qui ti-ans mare cur-
runt,'" quoted the young engineer. "'Those who travel
abroad may change their scene of action, but can't alter
their own minds.'"

"Yes, that's it," replied Mr. Rawlings. "But go on
with your journey."

"AVell," continued the other, "when we had done the
Warm Springs, one of the scientific gentlemen, who
wanted to make soap cheap, I presume, suggested that
the exploring party should proceed to the celebrated
Alkali Desert in Idaho, which I daresay you've heard
of?"

"I have," answered Mr. Rawlings. "It's to the south
of the Snake River, just below Boise City and the

PUSHING OX. 77

Salmon River Mountains. My poor cousin Ned was
there a year or two prospecting, he told me."

"Indeed!" said the young engineer. "Then I've no
douht you liked the place as little as I did. And as
for those Snake Indians, they're the worst lot I ever
came across yet."

"They are so," said Mr. Rawlings. "Born thieves,
every one — at least, I have got Ned's word for it."

"I was grateful to them for one thing, however,"
said Ernest Wilton, laughino- again at the recollection.
"They so disgusted our great English company-starting
capitalist that he would come no further with us; and
we were well rid of his humptious airs and vulgarity
for the rest of the journey."

"I suppose you then came in a bee-line through
Wyoming?" said Mr. Rawlino-s.

"Oh dear, no," answered the engineer. "We Avere
doomed to execute a series of right-angled triangles all
through our erratic course. From the Alkali Desert —
or rather. Three Forks Camp, which was our halting-
place — we made for the Rocky Mountams, so as to
reach the Yellowstone River on this side. And that
was where we had such a terrible time of it."

"I expect so," said Mr. Rawlings; "the Rocky Moun-
tains are no joke in winter time, for they are not easy
by any means even in summer."

"We lost a lot of animals and nearly all our bag-
gage," continued Ernest Wilton; "so when we got to
Virginia City, on the Yellowstone, the majority of our
party stopped there. I would have stopped too, I must
confess, but a very energetic scientific gentleman sug-
gested our pushing on, to explore some oil wells that
were reported to be situated to the south of the Big
Horn range."

"I know that place well," said Mr. Rawlings eagerly.
"The petroleum springs are by Poison Spring Creek,
as the Indians call it."

78 TICKED UP AT SEA.

'•'Do they?" said Ernest Wilton. "We couldn't see
any creek at all; and even the scientific gentleman got
tired out, and went hack to Virginia City to join the
others, and recruit, before investigating the mining
districts of Montana. I was so sick of the lot, how-
ever, that I determined to push oh to Bismark, and
strike the line of the Northern Pacific, waiting till the
spring came before I undertook any further exploring
work."

" And that's how you came to us ? " said Mr. Eaw-
lings.

"Yes. Two of us started to cross the Black Hills
from Wyoming, along with the Indians who engaged
to guide us. According to the map I had with me,
our route would have been to strike the north fork of
the Cheyenne River, and follow it up till it emptied
itself into the Missouri, when we could have pursued
the left bank of the latter due north, until it took us
right into the town of Bismark, which is, I believe, the
terminus of the railwaj'."

"Bless you! why it runs more than 100 miles farther
west already," said Mr. Rawlings; "and if you wish
still to communicate with your friends, who, I can per-
ceive from your story, there is every reason for you to
be pained at your separation from, why, you'll be able
to join them in Vii-ginia City itself, in a short trip by
the cars from Bismark."

"Thanks," said Ernest Wilton, appreciating the other's
sly allusion to those dear companions of his with whom
he had so little in keeping. "As I will be within
easy reach of them in case of need, I shall be all the
better pleased to remain with you, as then I'll have
two strings to my bow! But, to finish my narrative: —
the weather was so bad after we left the supposed site
of the oil wells, that we could make no headway at all ;
and on our arriving at Fort Phil Kearney, which, to
our mortification, was deserted, my solitary white com-

CKOW INDIANS ACT THEIK CHAEACTKR. 79

panion, who had accompanied me faithfully so far,
turned tail ■« ith two of^ the remaining Indians — of the
Crow tribe, of course, rascally fellows, just like the
birds from whom they are named!"

"You like those chaps," said Mr. Eavvdings with a
smile, "dearly, ch?"

"I do 'muchlj',' as Artemus Ward says," responded
Ernest. "I should like to pay them out! But to make
a long story short, with the remaining two Indian
guides — who only came with me after I promised them
a small fortune on myreaching a settlement — I managed
to lose my way utterly; and then having lost the guides
also, I wandered about hungry and cold until I mot
3"our hunters amongst the mountains, when all my
troubles were ended."

"Thank goodness they met you!" said Mr. Rawlings
cordially. "But those Indians must have deserted," he
continued musingly. "They arc much too knowing to
have lost their way."

" Yes, I know it," said Ernest Wilton. " They were
afraid of encountering any of the Sioux, who are near
you, I think."

" Yes, too close to be pleasant," said Mr. Rawlings.
" But we have not had any trouble with them yet."

" And I hope you won't at all," responded the other
with much heartiness. " Those Crow Indians with me
were continually talking about Red Cloud and Spotted
Tail. I think those were the names of the chiefs they
mentioned."

"Yes," replied Mr. Rawlings, "both have Indian
reservations in Dakota."

"Is that so? I thought that might be only their
yarring when they said, so; but they mentioned those
two chiefs in particular, I remember now, and asserted
that they intended 'digging up the hatchet,' as they
termed it in their euphonious language, as soon as the
spring came round! However, I wouldn't place much

80 PICKED UP AT SEA.

credence in their statement, I assure you. Those
Crows are such curs that they would say anything
rather than venture ' within measurable distance,' as
the phrase goes, of a possible enemy." And Ernest
Wilton lauQ'hed.

"I have heard some similar rumours myself," said
Mr. Rawlings more gravely. " The last scout that
came here from the township, just before the winter
set in regularly, brought word that the Sioux were
preparing for the war-path, or something to that effect;
and, as the red men themselves say, there is never
much smoke without fire. I hope to goodness, though,
that it is only rumour! An Indian 'N^'ar is a terrible
thing, my boy. I've seen the effects of one, years
since, and never foro-otten it," — and Mr. Rawlino-s laid
his hand on Ernest Wilton's shoulder, as if to impress
his words more strongly. — " It wouldn't be pleasant
for us here were another to break out now, and we so
far from the settlements."

"Isn't there a military station near this of the
United States troops ? " asked the young engineer.

"About a hundred miles off, or so," replied Mr. Raw-
lings.

" Oh, that's pretty close for the backwoods ! " said
Ernest Wilton lightly, as he cpickened his steps to join
Seth Allport, who had hailed out to the two stragglers
to "hurry up," for the "lazy lubbers" that they were;
the ex-mate of the Susan Jane having awaited with
some considerable impatience, for a rather unconscion-
able length of time, the end of the interview between
the two Englishmen, although he was too good-hearted,
and had too much good taste, to interrupt them before
he saw that their chat v.'as finished.

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CHAPTER XII.
•love's labour lost.'

" Now, mister," said Seth Allport, when the youn^
engineer closed up to his side, " I guess you've seed
our location, and you've seed ourselves :— now, see the
mine afore you. What d'ye think of it, hey ? "

The " location " looked as favourable a one for min-
ing purposes as it was charming to the eye; but
appearances are not everything to those who toil
beneath the surface of the earth, and so Ernest Wilton
well knew.

" What strata have you passed through ? " asked he
of Seth.

"I s'pose yer mean the sile, don't yer?" said Seth
Allport.

The young engineer nodded an affinnative re^^ly.

" Black mould — gravel — sand and clay — black sand
by itself — and then quartz reef," replied Seth, laconi-
cally, repeating the words as if he were saying a lesson
he had learnt from a book.

" And what have you got to now ? " continued Ernest
Wilton, pursuing his inquiiy.

" Water," said Seth Allport in the same laconic waj-.

Ernest Wilton's face fell, albeit he had previously
felt inclined to smile at the ex-mate's queer manner
and abrupt speech.

Water! It was the cruellest, most persistent enemy
with whom the miner has to deal. Foul air and gas
can be got rid of, but water, proceeding from invisible

(195) 1'

82 PICKED UP AT SEA.

springs, ever welling up, and the more the quantity
pumped up the greater the yield from the inexhaustible
fountains of the earth, was an opponent tliat could not
be conquered, an enemy of the most potent powers for
ill indeed — a very vampii-e that sucked the blood of
energy.

Delving down, day after day, Avith superhuman exer-
tions, through the various strata, they had met with
no sight as yet of that rich vein of gold which they
confidently hoped to encounter, although there were
occasional traces of an auriferous deposit here and
there to encourage them on, their hopes and hearts had
never failed them until now. No wonder that Ernest
Wilton's arrival was hailed as an omen of good luck;
and that ho was regarded by all as having arrived
"just in the nick of time" to extricate theia from tlicir
difficulty!

" How long is it since you met with water ? " asked
the young engineer, before he descended the shaft in
order to inspect the works personally below.

Mr. Rawlings answered this time, Avhile Seth All-
port and Noah Yv^ebster confirmed his statements by
their looks, which were expressive enough!

" That is a question that none of us can reply to
satisfactorily."

Ernest Wilton was surpiised. He thought he had
made one of the simplest inquiries possible; and ho
looked his astonishment at the answer given him
before he said anything more. The idea of a practical
man, as he regarded Mr. Rawlings, speaking so!

" How is that ? " said he, after a pause. " I should
think you would have no trouble in telling me ? " — and
he looked from Mr. Rawlings to Seth Allport with
some curiosity.

" Some things that appear simple enough," said Mr.
Rawlings somewhat pragmatically, " are more difficult
to answer, my dear fellow, than most people would

A SLIGHT PARADOX. 83

think; and you ought to know that from your engin-
eering experience ! "

" Certainly," repHed the other; "but hei'e's a mine
with men working in it from day to day, and digging
through each separate std'atum in turn, and knowing at
the close of each day the result of that day's labour.
Surely, one would think that the day on which they
struck water they would not forget it?"

" Granted, my dear fellow," answered Mr. Rawlings,
who dearly loved a bit of argument when he could
come across a foeman worthy of his steel. " I accede
in toto to your promises; but your deduction is some-
what a little too rapid, for there are other circumstances
to be considered which I have not yet brought to your
notice, and which, I have no doubt, will alter your
decision."

"By Jove'" said Ernest Wilton, with a laugh, "I
must treat it as a conundrum, and give it up. I am
certain that I cannot solve it."

"Stop a minute," said Mr. Rawling,s, "and you'll
soon see how it is. During the winter we had a hard
time of it to keep the roof of our house over our head,
let alone preserving the mine in working order! The
snow, the ice, the stormy gales, that seem to haunt the
vicinity of the Rocky ilountains and their outlying
ranofes, each in turn assailed us: and then, on the melt-
ing of the snow at the first breath of approaching
spring, the floods, which were the most virulent anta-
gonists with whom we had to grapple, almost over-
whelmed us! There vras 'water, water everywhere,'
as Coleridge says in his ' Ancient Mariner.' The
whole valley, almost as far as you can see, was one
vast foaming torrent, that bore down all our puny pro-
tections in the shape of ramparts and stockades. It
nearly swept away our rough dwelling bodily; it did
more, it demolished the dam we had erected across the
gulch just there," — pointing to the spot as he spoke — •

Si PICKED UP AT SEA.

" and wrecked the heading of the shaft, fdling the luino
as a matter of course."

"And up to then, in spito of all your digging, 3-0-1
had met with no water?" asked Ernest Wilton. — "Wai
that so?"

"Not a drop, which I very much wondered at, con-
sidering that we are almost in the centre of the tribu-
taries of tliG Cheyenne and Missouri — any number of
tiny streams rising amongst these hills, and gaining
additional body as they proceed onward to join tho
greater rivers from fresli sources that cross their course
at different angles."

"And after the floods?"

"Why, we set to work like men, I can tell you: —
Seth, there, will hear me out."

" We did so, sirree," said that worthy, with a most
emphatic nod.

" Yes," continued Mr. Kawllngs, " we first renovated
the dam, and dug out a channel for the overplus of
water on either side of the shaft; and then we started
pumping out the mine."

"An' it were a job!" said Seth, taking up the thread
of the story. " I've been in a vessel as sprung a leak,
and where the hands were pumping day and night,
with nary a spell off, so as to kip a plank atween us
and the bottoju of Davy Jones's locker; but, never, in
all my born days, have I seed sich pumpin' as went on
in that thaar week!"

"As Seth says," resumed Mr. Rawlings, "we were
like mariners pumping at the hold of a water-logged
ship, as if for life. We pumped, and pumped, and
pumped ; but, in spite of all our etibrts, only succeeded
in just keeping the enemy in check, that's all"

" Can't get the mine dry, eh?"

"No, not for any length of time. What we gain in
the day, we lose again at night. In concise terms, I
may put it, that by keeping the hose constantly at

A WAY OUT 0? THE DIFFICULTY. 85

work, which of course interrupts the progress of exca-
vation, we barely manage to hold our own, neither
gaining nor lo5ing an inch."

"That's a bad look-out'" said Ernest Wilton, shaking
his head.

It was. It meant ruin to all their hopes and expec-
tations; the inglorious end of the expedition; the
sacrifice of all their toil and perseverance throughout
those terribly arduous Munter months; their waste of
energy in struggling with the powers of nature. It
meant all that, and more!

Such a state of things would never do to last.

Difficulties were only made for men to overcome,
according to the maxim which had hitherto guided Mr.
Rawlingaand Seth Alljjoi't, and which they had preached
to the more faint-hearted members of their party; and,
Ernest Wilton was a thorough disciple of their creed,
for he was not one to be daunted by obstacles, no matter
how grievous and apparently insurmountable they were;
■ — no, not he.

The young engineer went down the mine to look for
himself, and to form his own opinion as to what was
best to be done in the emergency.

He went down looking grave enough, but he returned
with a more hopeful expression on his face, which at
once cheeredupthe somewhat despondent spirits of those
awaiting him above — for he preferred descending alone.

"Well?" inquired Mr. Rawlings, interrogatively.

" It might be worse," said the young engineer smiling.

" That sounds good," said Soth Allport, his counten-
ance, which had previously been grimmer than ever,
beaming over its whole expanse, as if the sun was trying
to shine through overhanging clouds and fog. Seth's
phiz was as expressive as a barometer any day.

" I think I see a way out of the difficulty," said
Ernest Wilton to ease their anxiety, which he could
readily sympathize with after what he had seen.

83 PICKED UP AT SEA.

" I am sure you would not say so unless you had
some hopes of its success," said Mr. Rawlings, whom the
good news seemed to affect more than all the previous
trials had done, for he looked quite pale, and almost
trembled with eagerness as he questioned the bearer of
the welcome tidings.

"No/' said Ernest Wilton joyously, for he was very
glad to be able to communicate the intelligence to those
who had succoured him in his own distress, and now
appealed to him for assistance. " There's a chance fcr
the mine yet; and you need not despair of having
spent your toil in vain."

"Bully for you!" exclaimed Seth Allport. "Didn't
I say now — ask anybody present if I didn't anyhow —
that you'd brought us good luck?"

" I rejoice to hear you say so," said Mr. Rawlings, a
little more calmly, although his whole fortune had
been at stake, as it were; for if the mine had turned
out a failure he would have been ruined, and had to
begin the world over a^ain. " It would have been
hard that all our labour should have gone for nothing."

" Well, my dear sir," said Ernest Wilton cheerfully,
"you need not complain now. It is not a case with
you of 'Love's labour lost/ as in Shakspere's play of
that title."

oST^afe

^■im-r^-

CHAPTER XIII.

COUNTEKMIXING.

" AVhat do you think of doing?" asked Mr. Rawlings,
di'awing a long breath of relief on hearing Ernest Wil-
ton's cheering words. " We have tried almost everj^-
thing to stop the flow of water and failed — Seth and I ;
and although you appear so sanguine, I hardly see
what can be done, myself." And he sighed again, as
if he were returning to his previous state of despon-
dency.

"Did you ever hear the old Irish saying that 'there's
more ways of killing a pig besides hanging him?'"
asked Ernest Wilton, instead of answering the other's
question at once.

"Yes," laughingly replied Mr. Eawlings.

" Then," said the young engineer, " I am going to
carry that precept into practice regarding your mine."

"How?"

" You have tried pumping without avail, have you
not?" said Ernest Wilton.

"Thaat's a fact," said Seth Allport, with the full
power of his down-east nasal intonation. " Yer couldn't
hit nearer the mark than thaat, I guess, sirree."

"And you could never get the water lower than fifty
feet off the bottom of the shaft?" pursued the young
engineer, stating his case, "could you?"

"No, not a foot lower," said Mr. Eawlings.

"Then what think you of a countermine?"

" I don't quite understand you," said Mr. Rawlings.

88 riCKED UP AT SEA.

"Don't you?" said Ernest Wilton, smiling, "and yet
it is easy enough to answer, as you told me just now,
when I wondered how you did not know when the
water came into the shaft."

"Pray explain," replied Mr. Eawlings. "I didn't
keep you in suspense, you know, when you confessed
your inability to answer the question."

" No," said the other, " ancl I'll treat you as faii'ly
now. You see, at present there is only an intervening-
wall, of about one hundred yards in gross thickness,
dividing the shaft from the channel of the gulch out-
side. The upper part of the stratum is mere gravel,
for as you found, in winter the river extends beyond
the point where you are sinking. Judging by the eye,
I should say that the mouth of the shaft is twenty
feet above the level of the water in the river. So far
you would naturally find no water. When you began
work the water in the river must have been ten feet
at least lower than it is at present, consequently it M^as
no higher than the solid rock where you began to work
down in the quartz. So long as the river was below
that level you naturally would meet with no water
whatever, however deep you might sink, but directly
it rose so that it was higher than the level of the rock,
it would penetrate through the gravel like a sieve, and
will fill your shaft as fast as you can pump it out.
Gradually the river will sink as the dry season comes
on, and in the autumn will bo again below the level of
the rock. Yovi can't wait for that, and must therefore
carry your shaft from the top of the bed rock to the
level of the water in the stream, say twelve feet in all,
but of course we will get the levels accurately."

"That sounds right," Seth nodded approvingly.
"What's go ter be done?"

"The job is by no means a diihcult one," Ernest/ Wilton
answered. "In the first place, we must widen the
shaft by a foot down to the level of the rock, that will

PLANKING THE MINE. 89

give six inches all round. Then we must square off
and level the top of the rock, which will then be a level
shaft six inches wide all round. While you are doing
this we must make a drum ready. That is easily made.
We must make four circular frameworks, fasten twelve-
feet planks, carefully fitted together, and pitched out-
side them so as to make it perfectly water-tight. We
ought to have a layer of hydraulic lime or cement laid
on the rock for the drum to rest on; but if we have
not got them, some well-puddled clay will do as well.
Then when the drum is in position in the shaft of rock,
its upper end will be higher than the level of the water
in the river, and if the rock is compact and free from
fissures Ave shall be perfectly dry however deep we may
sink. Howareyouoff for strong planks? They must be
strong to resist the pressure of the water and gravel."

" I fear that we have no planks of that thickness
whatever," Mr. Rawlings said. " We only brought
enough timber for the scaffolding over the mi/ie, and a,
little for framework if it wanted lining. You sec, we
did line it down to the rock. I think we have one
balk of nine-inch timber left."

"Let us measure it and see how many two-inch
planks it will make."

It was thirty-two feet long. Eight feet was there-
fore useless for planks, but would come in for the
framework. Twenty-four feet would make eight planks
of a little over two inches thick, nine inches wide, and
twelve feet long.

" This is less than a fifth of what wo require," Ernest
Wilton said. " The shaft is eight feet in diameter, so
we shall need some thirty-two nine-inch planks. How-
ever, there are trees about, not very large and not very
high, but big enough to get one or two nine-inch planks
twelve leet long from each. The first thing to do is to
get a supply of them."

" And you feel quite sure that by lining this portion

90 PICKED UP AT SEA.

o£ the mine with a drum, as you describe, we shall get
over our difficulty with the water ? " Mr. Rawlings said.

"Quite sure," Ei'nest Wilton replied; "providing
always that the rock is solid."

" Tlien it's as good as done," Seth said emphatically.
" You have put us on the right track, Wilton, and we'll
carry it through. I never thought about the river,
and kept on wondering why that darned gravel kept
letting the water through w^hen it was as dry as bones
when we drove through it."

While the preparations were being made and parties
scouring the country for timber the young engineer
bent his mind to the task of inventing some better
mode oi: getting rid of the water than by manual
labour — the mine being sadly deficient in a lot of
necessary gear, besides steam-power, as Ernest Wilton
had quickly perceived, although he had refrained from
commenting on the fact.

" You see," said Mr. Rawlings, in apology, " I under-
took too big an enterprise with the little capital I had:
and, consequently, have been unable to M'ork it f)ro-
perly. Indeed," he continued confidentially, "if we don't
hit upon a good lead soon I shall have to give up, foi
my funds now will hardly suffice to pay the hands
what I promised them; and if Ave continue working, I
should have to get more stores and planks, and lots of
things, which I certainly cannot afford unless we strike
visible gold."

" I have a few hundred dollars of my own — ," began
Ernest; but Mr. Rawlings stopped him at once.

" No, no, my clear fellow," said he impulsively, " your
natural kindness of heart shall not lead you into
throwing away your hard-earned money on my ven-
ture. I shall sink or swim on my oAvn laottom, as the
saying goes, although I thank you sincerely all the
same. But about the mine," he continued, veering
away from the delicate subject, " I'm sorry we haven't

MAKING WATER PIGHT WATEK. 91

got a steam-engine; but that was all Seth's fault. He
would believe that a mine could be pumped out as
easily as a vessel's bilge."

" That's me," said Seth, not a whit annoyed at the
imputation. " I hate theui donkey en-jines. Tliey
mostly chokes the pumps, and I'd liefer any day have
hand gear an' a decent crew to clear ship with."

"Well, whether you like it better or not," said
Ernest Wilton, with good humour and good sense com-
bined, " you haven't one, and we'll have to make the
best of a bad bargain."

" That's so ' " said Seth, with much satisfaction ap-
parently.

"And that being the case," continued the young-
engineer, " we'll teach our enemy to beat itself, or in
other words, make water fight water."

"Jerusalem!" exclaimed Seth admiringly. "How
on airth will you get to do that, mister ? "

" Look before you," said Ernest Wilton, pointing to
the foaming stream that was dashing along the valley.
"Look at the waste of energy there! Why, with a
good undei'shot wheel that water-power is worth more
than a hundred additional hands at the pumps."

If Seth had looked at the speaker admiringly before,
no words could exj)rcss his pleased astonishment now.
He seemed to glow all over with gratification.

"I'm jiggered!" he ejaculated, gazing at Ernest
Wilton from the tip of his boots to the top of his head.
" You air a screamer, an' no mistake ! "

Even Mr. Rawlings, generally so sedate of demea-
nour, in contrast to Seth Allport, who usually went
into extremes, became enthusiastic.

" My dear boy," said he, grasping both of Ernest's
hands and shaking them with much heartiness, " you'll
be the making of us all."

"I shall try to be," said the young engineer; "for I
certainly don't intend to be content with merely clear-

92 PICKED UP AT SEA.

ing tlio mine oi' water. You don't know luilf the value
of j'our property yet; why, tliat quartz there," waving
his hand towards a heap of the debris that had been
extracted from the shaft and cast aside as waste, " if
passed through a crushing mill would yield a hand-
some premium."

" I know," said Mr. Rawlings sadly. " But I couldn't
afford the machinery."

" We'll soon manufacture it, with a little help from
the nearest town, whore we can get some of the articles
we can't make," said Ernest Wilton sanguinely; "we've
got the power to drive the machinery, and that's the
main thing, my dear sir. We'll soon manage the
rest."

" I'm sure I hope so," replied Mr. Rawlings ; but he
had received such a check from the mine already, on
account of its turning out so differently to his expec-
tations, that he could not feel sanguine all at once,
like the young engineer who had not experienced those
weary months of waiting and hope deferred, as ho had.

Not so Seth, however. His tone of mind was very
opposite to that of Mr. Rawlings.

The ex-mate was as confident of their success now
as when they had started from Boston, before he or
the rest knew the perils and arduous toil they would
have to undergo. All those trials vanished as if by
magic from his memory, as quickly as the winter snow
was now melting away from the landscape around
them, and he thought he could see the golden future
right in front of his mental gaze, all obstacles being
cleared away in a moment by Ernest Wilton's hopeful
words.

" Hooray, Rawlin's!" he exclaimed excitedly, twirling
his " cheese-cutter" cap round his head, and executing a
sort of hop, skip, and jump of delight. " The Britisher's
the boy for us! I guess we'll strike ile now, and no
flies, you bet, sirrce! "

CHAPTER XIY.

A HAPPY HUXTIXG-GROUXD.

Witliin a few clays after Ernest Wilton had joined
the miners of Minturne Creek, tlio winter seemed to
vanish away at once, the " cliinook wind " coming with
its warm hreath from the Pacific through the gaps and
passes of the Rocky Mountains far away to the west,
and dissolvino- the last remaining evidences of Jack
Frost's handiwork.

The region of the Black Hills, as the young engineer
had now the opportunity of observing, as the moun-
tains and valleys shook off their snowy mantle and
became clothed anew in the fresh green verdure of
spring, is one of the most picturesque in the States,
partaking alike of the lofty grandeur and rough
magnificence of the sierras of the north, and the spread-
ing landscape features to be met with in the middle of
the continent adjacent to the watersheds of the Missouri
and Mississippi, where the open country extends like a
panoransa on either side for miles.

The Black Hills proper partly lie in Dakota, occu-
pying the south-west extremity of that state, and
partly in Wyoming, and are almost encircled by the
Cheyenne river, the jirincipal fork of that stream ex-
tending in a curve right round the northern limit of
the region, to where it joins the lesser tributary, ■^^•hich
similarly skirts the southern side of the hills. On the
north-east, the two branches then unite in one lai-ge
river, styled by way of contrast "The Big Cheyenne,"

94- PICKED UP AT SEA.

which ultimately falls into the vast rolling tide of the
Missouri, some hundred miles further on due east, at a
place called Fort Bennett.

The branches of the Cheyenne are not the only
streams of the region, for many others, some of con-
siderable dimensions and volume, and others mere tiny
brooklets, wander in every direction through the coun-
try. The Black Hills are divided from the adjacent
prairie by a series of valleys some two to three miles
across; while, away back from the more elevated points,
the land rolls oft' into a series of undulating plains,
covered with grasses of every hue, and timbered along
the banks of the rivers that transect them with the
useful Cottonwood tree, the ash and the pine, mingled
with occasional thickets of vrillow and the wild cherry,
and briars and brushwood of every description.

The operation of timbering the shaft making satis-
factory progress, and Ernest Wilton's water-wheel,
that was to do such wonders, having been "Q-ot well
under weigh," as Seth expressed it, the chief members
of the party determined to have an "outing" into tJio
open land lying beyond their own especial valley, in
search of game; for the cry for fresh meat had again
arisen in the camp and urged them on to fresh exer-
tions to supply the larder, quite apart from their own
inclinations to have another day off the dreary work
of the mine, which seemed to fall most upon Mr. Raw-
lino's and Seth, as it was at their mutual su<jo;estion
that they went a "hunting," — as a shooting expedition
is termed in the New World.

Having so determined, they carried their determina-
tion into effect, and started.

"I should think you had plenty of game here?" said
Ernest Wilton, when they had left Minturne Creek
some distance behind them, and entered upon an ex-
tensive prairie, that stretched before them, in waves of
o'rass as far as the eye could reach, to the horizon.

THE HAPPY HUNTING-GROUNDS. 95

'I should think so," said Mr. llav.-Iiiigs. "Why, it
swarms with it."

"What sort?" asked the other. "Any deer?"

"Every variety you can ahnost mention. Deer, ellc,
moose — although these are to be found more to the
northwards — antelope, mountain-sheep — as you know
already — grizzly bears — if you relish such cu.stomers —
and buffalo as soon as the sweet summer grasses croj)
up here, and the pasturage to the south loses its flavour
for them."

"That's a pretty good catalogue," said Ernest, who
was a keen .sportsman. "Any birds?"

"The most uncommon slap-up flying game, I guess,
in creation," said Soth, "if yer cares to tackle with sieli
like; though I prefers runnin' game, I does."

"Seth is right," .said Mr. Rawlings; "you will have
a varied choice there likewise: grouse, jiartridge, prairie-
fowl, wild geese, ducks — these two, however, are more
to be met with in the winter months, and will bo off
to the Arctic regions soon — all sorts, in fact. And as
to fishincT, the salmon and trout— the latter of which
you'll find in every stream in the neighbourhood — beat
those of England."

"Well," said Ernest, laughing, "if your i-cport be true,
as I see no reason to doubt, you must have discovered
those happy hunting-grounds to which all good Indians
go when they die."

" Don't talk of Injuns," said Seth v>'ith a shiver and
a shake. " That's the worst part of the hull thing, I
reckon. If it warn't for them, the place would be a
kinder paradise — it would so, sirrce; but those Injuns
spile it all."

"What he says is true enough," observed Mr. Raw-
lings. "We are in the very heart of the Indian coun-
try, with Blackfeet, Crows, and Sioux, not to mention
lesser frj', within .striking distance; and if there should
be a rising amongst them^ as it is threatened this spring

96 PICKED Ur AT SE.t

or summer, it Avoukl be a bad thing for the peo^jle in
the sparse and scattered settlements in Dakota."

"But tlie United States' army has stations about
here, eh?" inquired Ernest.

"Few and far between," replied Mr. Rawlings. "As
I told you some little time since, the nearest one to us
is at least a hundred miles away. Besides that, the
detachments quartered hero and there are so attenuated
in their numbers that five or six of the so-called com-
panies have to be concentred together from the different
outlying depots in order to muster any respectable con-
tino-ent that could take the field against the Indians
should they rise in force."

"An them Sioux under Spotted Cloud, or whatever
else they call their precious chief, ain't to be despised,
I o'uess, in a free fight," said Seth.

"Pray don't talk any more about them," said the
young engineer, laughing, as he took off his wideawake
and ran his fingers through his curly brown hair. "I
declare my scalp feels quite ticklish already."

"Them redskins 'ud tickle it a sight worse if they
got holt of it," said Seth grimly, cocking his rifle as he
spoke. "But I reckon I heerd somethin' russlin' about
thaar to the back of yer, mister," he added suddenly,
gazing intently in the direction he had intimated, to
tlie rear of the young engineer, whore the praiiie grass
had already grown to some height.

"What was it?" said Mr. Rawlings, likewise prepar-
ing his weapon, and telling Ernest to follow suit. "Did
you see it at all?"

And he peered anxiously about to the right and left.

"Yes, jist for a minnit," responded the ex-mate. "It
wer a longish sorter animale; a catamount or a wolf,
maybe. Thaar! Thaar 1 I seed it again! Jerusalem! I
have it!"

And he fired as he spoke, quick as lightning, as a
dark object bounded fi'om the cover and made a direct

POOR wolf's return. 97

plunge at the young engineer, who was taken una-
wares, and came to the ground, as much from the sud-
denness of the shock as from the impulse of the animal's
spring.

"Stay!'' shouted Mr. Eawlings, as Seth was rushing
forwards with his clubbed rifle to where Ernest Wilton
and his assailant appeared struggling together amidst
the grass that almost concealed them from view. "I'll
.settle the beast, if you hold back a minute and let mo
have a clear aim."

But before he could get a .shot, or Seth deal tlic
deadly blow he contemplated with the butt-end of his
rifle, Ernest Wilton uttered an exclamation that stopped
them both — an exclamation of surprise and agonized
entreaty.

"Don't fire!" ho cried out in a voice which was half
laughing, half crying. "Don't fire, Mr. Eawlings. It
is only Wolf."

"Wolf! who's Wolf?" said Mr. Eawlings and Seth
together, as Ernest Wilton rose to his feet; the ex-mate
adding under his breath, with a whistle to express
astonishment on his part, in his usual M^ay when so
affected, "Jerusalem! this beats Bunker's Hill, any-
how!"

"The dearest and most faithful clog, compauio;i,
friend, that any one ever had," said Ernest with much
emotion, caressing a fine, though half-starved-lookiiig
Scotch deer-hound, that appeared in paroxysms of de-
light at recognizing his master, leaping up to his neck
with loving barks, and licking his face, to express his
happiness and affection in the manner customary to
doggydom, almost wild with joy.

"You never told me about him? "said Mr. Eawlings.

"I couldn't. The subject was too painful a one,"
replied the other. " I brought him with me from
England, and he never quitted my side day, or even
nigTit, I believe, for any appreciable time, until those

(195) G

03 riCI'ED UP AT SEA.

rascfiliy Crovv' Indians stole him from me,
Liiii into their favourite dog soup, as I thought, weeks
ago. Poor Wolf, old man!" he added, speaking to the
faithful creature, and patting his head, "1 never thought
I should see you again."

" He's a fine crittur! " said Seth, making advances of
friendship towards Wolf, which were cordially recipro-
cated; "an' I wouldn't like to lose him if I owned him,
I guess. I s'pose he broke loose and follered your
trail ? "

"I expect so," said Ernest "Wilton; "but how he
managed to track me through all my erratic course
amongst these mountains — or hills, as you call them —
puzzles me. See," he continued, " they must have tied
up the poor fellow, as well as starved him, or he would
luive probcibly found me sooner! Here is a piece of
hide rope round his neck, which he has gnawed through
in order to get free," — holding up the tattered frag-
ment of the old rope, one end of which hung down to
Wolf's feet, while the other was tightly knotted about
his tliroat, like a cravat, so as almost to choke him.

" That must have been the case," said Mr. Rawlings.
"But hullo! what is Jasper coming after us for?"

" That durned nigger," exclaimed Seth, " is allers
shirking his v/ork. I told him he warn't to come with
us this mornin', and here he is toting arter us with
some slick excuse or other. — Hullo, you ugly cuss!" he
added, hailing the darkey, who was running after the
party and had now got close up, " what the dickens do
yer want here ? "

" Me see fuie dawg, lubly davv'g, Massa Seth, sailin'
round de camp; and me f oiler um up, Massa Seth.
Um berry good dawg for huntin', sah, and me don't
want to lose him; dat's all."

" Oh," said Seth, " that's all, is it ? The dorg is here,
right enough, with the gentleman theer, who's his
master," pointing to Ernest AVilton and Wolf. " And

WOL? AND SAILOIl BILL. £9

now, you lazy luLber, as you have kinder satisfied yer
mind, you can jist go back agin to that job I sot you
on."

"Pray let him stop now," said Ernest, pleased with
iho interest which the negro steward had taken in
A\''oli''s fate, "as he has come so far. If wo kill anj--
tiiing, as I hope ayc shall presently, he'll be of use in
helping to take the meat back to the camp."

"That's so," said Seth; and with this tacit consent
to his remaining, Jasper joined the party, ■svho now
]5roceeded to look more carefully after game than they
I'.ad previovisly done, the yoving engineer's allusions to
" meat " having acted as a spur to their movements, be-
sides, no doubt, whetting their appetites.

It was curious to observe, however, before they
separated to hunt up a deer — of which tb.ere were but
few traces about, when Wolf attached himself, like a
proper sporting-dog, closely behind Ernest — how in-
terested the animal seemed to be in Sailor Bill, who
accompanied Seth, of course, on their leaving tlie camp.
As soon as the dog had given, as he thought, ample
testimony of his delight at rejoining his own master,
he sniti'ed about the boy as if he also were well known
to him; and ho v/as nearly equally glad to meet him
again, only leaving him when Ernest Wilton gave him
the signal to " come to heel."

It was singular; but no one paid much notice to it,
excepting that Mr, Rawlings regarded it as another
instance of how dumb animals, like savages, have some
sort of especial sympathy with those atfiicted beings
vv'ho have not the entire possession of their mental
faculties, and seem actuated by instinct rather than
reason, like themselves.

" Seems, mister, as if he war kinder accjuainted with
him ? " said Seth.

"Yes," replied Ernest Wilton; "but that's impossible,
as I've had Wolf ever since he was a puppy. My aunt

100 PICKED UP AT SEA.

ffave liiiii to nie," he continued aside to Mr. Rawlino-s
in a confidential key, " and I ought to have been more
thoughtful in writing to her, as you hauled me over
the coals just now for not doing, if only in gratitude
for all the comfort that dog has been to me since I left
home. I suppose I'm an ungrateful brute — more so
than Wolf, eh, old fellow?" — patting the lattor's head
again as he looked up into his master's face Avith his
\,-istful brown eyes, saying as plainly as he could in
doggy lano-uao-e how much he would like to be able to
speak, so that he could express his affectionate feelings
more explicitly.

"No," said Mr. Rawlings, "not ungrateful, I hope
and believe, only unthinking, that's all."

"Ah!" replied the other, "'evil is wrought by want
of thought,' " quoting the old distich. " But," he added,
shaking off the momentary feeling of sadness produced
by reflection, as if ho were ashamed of it, " if we don't
look ' smart,' as our friend Seth says, we won't get a
shot all day; and then, woe betide the larder!"

*^'

CHAPTER XV.

A CHAXCE SHOT.

"Say, what precious fools wo all air!" exclaimed
Sctli Allport all of a sudden, without any reference to
anything they had been speaking about, Avhen the
hunting party stopped a moment to rest after a long
and weary tramp over the seemingly-endless prairie,
during which they had not caught sight of bird or
beast worthy of a charge of powder and shot. " What
precious fools we all air ' " he repeated with the air of
a Solon, and shaking his head solemnly with portentous
gravity.

"Please speak for yourself,' said Ernest AYilton
jokingly. " Why this wholesale condemnation of our
unfortvmatc selves ? For mj' part, I should have thought
that we were more to be pitied than blamed for our
Avant of success."

" Oh, do you ? " replied Seth gruffly — albeit he was
as good-humoured as usual. " Then that's all y(va
know about it. Don't you kinder think it raal sij;r,i t
iieow for us to be a wearin' out shoe-leather wlieii
we've a heap o' mules eatin' their heads oft' and busii:i'
theirselves in that shanty o' theirn agin the house for
want of work, I reckon ? "

"Phew!" whistled Mr. Rawlings through his teeth,
his face assuming a mingled expression of surprise and
amusement. "I declare I forgot all about the animals,
I suppose because we have not lately had any occasio;i
for their services' But they are in good condition,

102 PICKED UP AT SEA.

I've no doubt, as they have had literally nothing to do
since they helped to carry our traps here in the fall,
while they've fared better than us during the winter,
for thouffh forage has been scarce work has been
scarcer, when our rations had sometimes to be limited.
Oh, yes, they are certain to be filled out by this time,
and been vrcll looked after by our friend Jasper here,"
nodding kindly towards the negro steward as ho spoke,
tliat worthy having charge of the pack-mules amongst
his other manifold duties as general factotum.

" Iss, Massa Kawlin's," interposed JasjDer, glad of the
opportunity of joining in the conversation, " dey am
prime. Dat obstropolus mule, Pres'dent Hayes, gib
me one good kick in tummick dis marnin' ^^•hen I'so
feedin' him. Um jest as sassy as dat niggah Josh, iss,
massa, and so is all de odor mules, sah,"

" You'd better let your friend, that thaar mule, hovo
a shy with his heels at your woolly pate next time,"
said Seth in his customary grim way. " I don't think
you'd kinder feel a kick thaar! But, 1 say, giniral,"
ho added, turning to Mr. Rawlings, " I don't see
why we couldn't go a hvmtin' on hossljack as well
as afoot. It would bo easier nor walki]i', I gucs-!,
hey?"

" Certainly it ^^'Ould if we had any horses, which we
haven't," said Mr, Rawlings with a smile; "and mulos
— which are the only quadrupeds which we possess —
are not exactly fitted for hunting purposes — at least I
wouldn't like to try them. Besides, Seth, if I remem-
ber rightly, you do not shine quite so well on horse-
back as you do on a ship's quarter-dock, eh, old man?
ha, ha, ha ' "

And Mr. Rawlings's smile expanded into a laugh at
the reminiscence of one of the ex-mate's performances
en cavalier soon after they came to Minturne Creek,
causing Master Jasper to guffaw in sympathy with a
heartiness that Seth did not at all relish, especially

JASPER KEBUKED. 103

after Mr. Rawlings's allusion to a matter which was
rather a tender subject with him.

" You jest stow that, old ebony face," ho said angrily
to the negro, in a manner which proved that his equan-
imity was considerably disturbed. "You jest stow
that, and hold your rampagious cacklin', or I'll soon
make you rattle your ivories to another toon, I reckon,
you ugly cuss ' "

Hov.-ever, his passion had spent itself by the time
he o'ot out these words, for he said to Mr. Rav.dings a
moment afterwards, allovt'ing a smile to extend 'over
his grim features to show that he was himself asain,
the usual easy-going Seth, and that his natural good
temper had now quite got the better of its temporary
attack of spleen, — " But I guess you're jist about right,
Rawlings. I arn't auite fit fur to go saddle wise on
them outlandish brutes; I ain't bred up to it like as I
am hitched to the sea! When I spoke of riding, hovi'-
somedover, I warn't thinkin' o' myself, though, giniral,
mind that; I thought as how you and our noo fren'
here could kinder ride the deer down better if you
v%'er mounted, that's all, I reckon."

"Very thoughtful of you," said Ernest Wilton drily;
"but you see, old man, elk and wapiti — which are tlic
only species of deer we arc likely to meet with here, I
think — can be better stalked than run down, as you
suggest. However, the mules may come in handy for
you, Mr. Seth, to run down the bufialo, when they arrive
from tlie southern plains hero, as they'll probably do
now in a week or two as the spring progresses. Look,
Mr. Eawlings," he added, " that buffalo grass, as it is
called, there in front of you, is growing rapidly and
will soon be breast high, don't you see ? "

" That's right enough," said he. " But your remark
reminds me of the old proverb about 'live horse and
you'll get oats.' I wish we could get something now
to 20 alonci: with until the buffalo do come northwards.

104 PICKED UP AT SEA.

I'm sure I am more sick than ever of that monotonous
salt pork, after that taste of mountain mutton we had
tlie otlaer day"

"You bet/' said Seth laconically, with much em-
phasis.

And then the party resumed their ti'udge over the
billowy surface of the prairie, directing their quest
towards a clump of trees they could perceive in the
distance, at a place Mdiere the ground shelved down-
wards into a hollow, the certain sign of the near vicin-
ity of some tributary of the Missouri coursing its way
eastwards, amidst the recesses of whose wooded banks
it was possible that traces of game might be found —
that game which they wore ah'eady wcll-nigh weary
of seeking. To tell the truth, however, their want of
success was not at all surprising, as the experience of
the hunting party was extremely limited.

The Indian half-breed and Noah Webster, the two
who were the most practically versed in the secrets of
woodcraft, and thoroughly acquainted with all the
various hunting dodges practised out on the prairie,
had been left behind in camp, especially at Seth Allport's
request, that amiable worthy wishing to distinguish
himself Ijy bringing home a deer "on his own hook,"
as he ex^iressed it; although, as regards his shooting
powers, he was far more dangerous to his friends than
any object he might aim at, being likely rather to hit
those behind or on either side of him than the animal
at which ho pointed his weapon in front; while, as for
liis skill in the stealthy approach of his prey in the
fashion adopted by skilled deer-stalkers, it may be
mentioned that he strode through the tall prairie-grass
and brushwood as incontinently as if he were marching
np and down the poop of the Susan Jane in a gale of
wind, alarming every winged and four-footed creature
for miles round!

Touching the others, ilr. Rawlings and Ernest AVil-

DEEK-STALKING. 105

ton were both o-ood shots, although not very fainiliai"
with "the noble arte of venerie," as hunting the deer
was stjded in the days of Shakespeare, who is reported,
by the way, io have been an adept in the pursuit:
while, of course. Sailor Bill and Jasper Avere " out of
the hunt " in the literal sense of the phrase.

" I tell you what, boys," said Mr. Eawlings when
they had reached the timber they had made for, " we
must separate, and each of us try his luck on his o^vn
account. I'm sure we're never likely to come across
anything as long as we are all in a body together like
this."

The remark was made just at the right time, for
they were in the likeliest spot to harbour deer they
had yet tracked over; and if there was any occasion
for their exercising caution and skill it vras now.

The timber — mostly pine-trees and cotton- wood, with
low brush growing- about their trunks, forming a copse
— was on both sides of a small river, which seemed
easily fordable, with bright green grass extending from
the adjacent prairie down to the water's edge.

"Right you air, boss," said Setb, wading into the
streamlet without any more ado as ho spoke; "my
motter's allers to go forrud, so I reckon 111 take tother
side of this air stream alicad, an' you ken settle ycr-
selves on this."

"A very good arrangement," said Mr. Eawlings, not
at all displeased at Seth's putting the river between
them.

He and Ernest Wilton might possibly have a chance
now of getting near a deer for a shot, Avhich they
could not liavo hoped to do as long as Seth remainel
along with them.

"But pray take care of the boy," he continued, as he
saw Sailor Bill follow in Setli's footsteps and wade into
the stream, v.fhich came np beyond his knees; "the
river may be deeper tlian you think"

106 riCKEL) UP AT SEA.

"Never fear," sang out the ex-inate lustily in re-
sponse. "Tliaar ain't water enough to float a cock-
boat; and I'm lookin' out kccrful and feeiiu' my way
afore I plant a fut, you bet."

" All right," answered Mr. Rawlings.

And his feelings were soon afterwards relieved by
seeing Seth and his protege reach the other side in
safety.

A moment later, and they had ascended the opposite
I'ivor-bank and were lest to sight, their movements
being hidden from vicvv' by the clustering branches of
the young pine-trees and spreading foliage of the
brushwood and rank river grass, although their where-
al)outs was plainly betrayctl for some time later by the
tramp of Seth's heavy footstep and the crunching noise
lie made as ho trod on the rotten twigs and dead vrood
that came across his path, the sound growing fainter
and fainter in the distance, and finally dying away.

" Xow," said Mr. liawlings to Ernest Wilton, who,
vrith Jasper and the dog ^Volf, still i-emained by his
side, " we are rid of poor Seth and liis blundering
sportsmanslnp, and have the coast clear for a .shot;
which way woull j-ou lilie to go best — up or down
this bank of the river?"

"Dovrn," answered the young engineer promptly.
"Seth, 'I reckon' — as he \vould say himself — will be
certain to startle any game on that side long before
ho gets near it; and as the deer will probably take to
the water and cross here on their back track to the
bills, I may possibly get a shot at one as they pass."

"Very good," said Mr. Eawlings; "please yourself.
You go that way, and I'll go this, and the sooner we
separate and each follow his own course, the bettor
cliance of sport we'll have. Only, mind, Wilton, don't
you shoot poor Seth and Sailor Bill at one discharge of
your rifle, the same as you did those three mountain
sheep the other day, eh?"

ON THE S('E^;^^ 107

And },h: T{a\Ylings chuckled as he strolled off up
stream with the negro.

"And don't you bring down Jasper inider the idea
he's a blackbird," retorted Ernest Wilton before Mr
llawlings had got out of earshot, as he started down
the river-bank with Woli" follov/ing closely at his heels,
in the manner befitting well -trained dogs of high
degree like himself.

Then followed a long silence, only broken, as far as
caoli hunter was concerned, by the rustling of leaves
and trampling of twigs as he puisne:! his Vv-ay through
the thick undergrowth, paushig every moment to
examine the ground beneath his feet and the thickets
he encountered, in search of deer tracks to and from
the Vi'ater, and giving an occasional glimpse at the
prairie beyond wlien the trees opened a bit and their
branches lifted enough to affortl a view of the sur-
rounding country, which only happened now and then,
as vegetation was vigorous along both banks of the
river.

hlv. Rawlings, it may be mentioned before going any
fui'tlior, was decidedly unlucky in his quest, not catch-
ing sight of a single moving creature, although the fact
must be taken into consideration that the direction he
took was somewhat over tlie same ground that the
vrhole party had already traversed, and that whatever
game might have been in the vicinity, must have been
pretty well nearly scared away befoi'e he tried his
sportsman's cunning alone; Ernest Wilton, however,
was more successful.

Shortly after parting from Mr. Eawlings and Jasper,
as he was creeping stealthily through the tall prairie
grass that bordered the grove of fine trees along the
bank of the river, with Wolf following closely behind
him, he noticed suddenly a movement in the under-
growth amidst the timber, just like the branch of a
ti'ee being moved slowly up and down.

108 PICKED UP AT SEA.

Watching- the spot carefully, he subsequently thought
he could distinguish two little round ol>jects that glared
like the eyes of some animal; so aiming steadily
Ijetween these latter, after a brief jiause he tired.

His suspicions proved correct; for, almost at the
same instant that the report of his rifle rang out in the
clear air,a magnificent wapiti stag, with wide branching-
antlers, leaped from the covert, and bounded across his
line of sight towards the hills on the right; although
from the halting motion of the animal he could see
that his shot had taken effect.

" At him, Wolf!" cried ho to the dog. But Wolf did
not require any command or encouragement from his
master: he knew well enough what to do.

Quick as lightning, as soon as the wounded stag had
pimped out from amidst the brushwood the dog leaped
after him, and, in a few strides, was at his quarters.
The chase was not of very long duration, for Ernest's
bullet had touched some vital spot; and, within a hun-
dred yards of where he had been struck, the wapiti
dropped on his knees, made a faint attempt to stagger
again to his feet, and an equally unsuccessful effort to
gore W^olr, who wisely kept without his reach; and
then, with a convulsive tremor running over all his
vast frame, fell over on his side, dead!

" Hurrah!" shouted Ernest, so loudly that Mr, Eaw-
lings, who was not very far off", heard his shout as well
as Wolf's (^,ecp baying, and was soon on the spot, where
mutual congratulations were exchanged at the noble
game the young engineer had brought down so unex-
pectedly.

"Golly, massa!" exclaimed Jasper, his face expand-
ing into one of his customary Jiuge grins that seemed
to be "all ivoiy and eye-balls," as Seth used to say —
" why, um will serb de camp in meat um whole week!"

" You're not far wrong," said Mr. Rawlings, as he
surveyed the hcavv C-ircasc of the wapiti,

A GOOD CAPTURE. 109

as big as an ordinary-sized pony, with a splendid pair
of branching antlers; "and you'll have to go back and
fetch the small waggon and a team of mules, Jasper,
to take it home. It's a very fine animal, Wilton," he
continued, turning to the latter, " and I almost en^y
A'on your sliot!"

The young engineer made some chaffing answer,
ascribing tlie credit of taking the game to A\^olf, wlio
stood panting guard over his prostrate prey, when the
attention of both Mr. RawdJngs and himself was sud-
denly distracted from all thoughts of hunting, and
everything pertaining to it, by the faint echo of a rifle
shot in the distance, again followed rapidly by another;
and then, immediately afterwards, the sound of i~-eth
AUport's voice appealing to them for aid, in ringing
accents that rose above the report of the last shot.

" Help ' Ahoy, there '. help ' "

CHAPTER XYI.

SAILOll BILL CAPTURED.

" Good heavens 1 " exclaimed Mr. Rawlings, as ho and
]:^rnest Wilton looked at one anothev for a second in
blank consternation — "I hope nothing serious has hap-
l^cnedl" And he v^'as just about to dash into the river
an:l wade across to the other side, in the direction from
whence Seth's shout for succour came, when the young-
engineer stopped him.

" You'd better wait a minute," said Ernest. " The
prairie is a wide place, and sounds seem to come from
one point when in reality they emanate from an entirely
different spot; so, in Iiurryiug thus to Seth's assistance,
you may take the longest way to reach him. Let us
return to the place Avhere he and the boy crossed tl;e
stream; and, as soon as we reach the other bank
opposite and find their track I'll put Wolf on the scent,
and we'll come up with them much more quickly than
you could do by crossing here and spending some
time perhaps in hunting about in the brushwood
over tlicre before you could find any trace of his foot-
steps."

"You're right," said JLr. Rawlings. "Two heads are
better than one. But, pray lose no time about it," ho
added, as Seth's call was again heard, sounding more
loudly than before, —

" Help ! ahoy, there ! Help ' "

The path back to where the entire party had halted
on the bank of the river befor'e separating, according

AX ALAKM. Ill

tr) Mr. Rawling.s' suggestion, ■was not clilllcult to traco.
Then, fording tlie stream at the point where Sethand
Sailor Bill had \Yaded across, they searched about for
their tracks up and down a short distance until they
were likewise found, when their task became compara-
tively easy, as tlic dog's aid was now of use.

"Hi, Wolf!" said Ernest Wilton, drawino- his hand
over the footmarks of Scth's heavy boots, where they
entered the dense mass of brushwood below the pine
trees. "Good dog! Fetch 'em out! Hi!"

Wolf was all attention in an instant.

Looking up into his master's face v,-lih a low whine
of inquiry as if to learn what he exactly meant him to
do, and then putting down his nose with a significant
snilF, as Ernest Wilton again drew his hand across
Seth's track, he gave a loud 3"elp expi-es,sive of his in-
telligent comprehension of the duty that lay before
him; bounding on in advance through the thick shrub-
bery, and going at such a pace that Mr. Rawlings and
Jasper had hard work to do to keep up with Erne.st,
who followed close behind the dog at a run almost.

"Steady, boy, steady!" said Erne.st Wilton in a lov,'
tone, every now and then, as Wolf would turn back his
head to see whether his master was near him or no,
and then the sagacious animal would give an eager
bark in answer, as if to say, — ■

"I'm going on all right, old man. Don't be alarmed,
I'm making no mistake about the scent."

Presently the trail diverged from underneath the
timber and brushwood by tlie river bank, and struck
off at an angle into the open prairie, as if Seth had
got tired of fighting his way amongst the overhanging
branches and projecting trunks of the pine trees.

From this point the footprints gradually led up to a
little plateau above the valley through which the
streamlet ran; and, arrived at the top of this, W^olf
gave vent to a louder and more triumphant bark than

112 r;cKED UP at sea.

p]-e\-iously, and halted in his tracks, as if waiting for
Ernest to join him before proceeding any further.

The young engineer was by the dog's side in a
moment, and one rapid glance round enabled him to
sec that the prairie extended beyond the plateau in a
vast plain as far as the eye could reach, being bounded
on the extreme verge of the horizon by a low range of
lulls or wooded heights, most j^robably marking, he
thouo'ht, the southward course of the great Missouri
river, although, as he reflected the moment after, they
were much too far to the westward for that.

His attention, however, was not mucli given to the
scenery and the picture which the spreading vast plain
presonted. A figure in the foreground, some little dis-
tance from the higher level on ^A-hich he was standing,
was gesticulating frantically towards him, and Seth's
voice assured him of his identity, if he had any linger-
iuQ- doubt on the subject, Ijy shoutino- out as soon as
he had come into sight across the sky line, —

"Hyar, ahoy, man! Hurry up thaar an' help a feller,
can't you?"

"Here he is!" shouted out Ernest back to Mr. Raw-
lings and Jasper, who wore a few yards behind him ,
and, without ■\^-aiting for them to come up, he hastened
down the slightly shelving ground towards where the
ex-mate seemed to be in some predican^ent, as he did
not stand up, but was half sitting, half Ijdng on the
ground, resting his head on one arm as he waved the
other to the young engineer.

"Hullo! what's the matter?" asked Ernest, calling
out before he reached him.

"Injuns — been wounded," said Seth, in his usual curt,
laconic ^^'ay.

"Gracious me!" exclaimed Ernest, quite taken aback
by the announcement. "Indians! And wdiere is Sailor
Bill?"

"The durned cusses have carried him off!" said Seth

SETII WOUNDED. 113

with a sob. "I'd a follered and got him back," added
the ex-mate to Mr. Rawlings, who now came up, with
Jasper at his heels — the negro ahnost turning white
^vith terror at the very name of the Indians being-
mentioned, and shaking in his shoes, — "I'd a follered
an' got him back, yes sir! But them durned cusses
have sent an arrowhead through my karkuss, and well-
nigh broken my fut as well!"

(195)

CHAPTEE XVII.

ON THE TRAIL.

"Where are you wounded?" asked Mr. Eawlings,
bending over Seth, who seemed to suffer considerable
pain, although he endeavoured stoically to suppress all
expression of it.

"In my side, haar," replied the other, pointing to
V\diere the feathered end of an arrow could be seen
protruding from his shirt; "and if yer cut off the tail
of the cussed thing, I reckon you ken pull it slick
through, as the head's comed out ahint me. But it's
only a flesh wound, and ain't up to much, for it didn't
touch my ribs."

"Well," said Mr. Eawlings, "you're a bit of a doctor,
Seth, and ought to know if anybody does."

"Yes, it's only a scratch, I'm sartain, or I would ha'
felt it more. My fut's the wussest of the two. But,
lor' sakes'" added Seth, trying to get on his legs, and
quivering with excitement, although the attempt was
futile, and he had to sink back ao-ain into his half-sit-
ting, half-kneeling posture with a groan — "don't you
stop here a consulting about me, Eawlin's, when that
poor boy's life's in peril. You and Wilton had best
skate off at once and foller up them redskins as has
Sailor Bill. I ken bide waal enuf till you gits back again,
old man, along with Jasper, who can do all I wants."

"We won't neglect the boy," said Mr. Eawlings,
struck with Seth's unselfishness in ignoringr his own
wounded condition under the consciousness of his pro-

THE WOrXD EXAJIINED. 115

te'ge's danger, "but we must think of you all the same
first." And kneeling down by the injured man's side,
he proceeded, with Ernest Wilton's assistance, to cut
away Seth's shirt, and then the end of the arrow, hold-
ing it firmly the while so that it should not wriggle
about, and hurt him more than they could help, after
which the barbed head was drawn out of the wound — ■
which was just between the third and fourth ribs, and
not very serious, as the ex-mate had thought — stanch-
ing the blood, and binding up the place with a silk
handkerchief, which the young engineer had taken
from round his neck for the purpose.

Mr. Kawlings was immensely relieved to find that
Seth Avas not so dangerously hit as he had at first sup-
posed. When he saw the arrow sticking out of his
side, he thought it was all up with his poor comrade;
so now that the case appeared more hopeful, he was
bettor able to consider what course should be adopted
for Sailor Bill's rescue.

After a moment's deliberation, during which Seth
gazed at him with a look of piteous entreaty on his
face, but did not interrupt him with a word, guessing
what was passing through his mind, Mr. Rawlings' line
of action was decided on.

"Here, Jasper," said he to the negro steward.

"Iss, massa."

"You must run back to the camp as hard as you
can, and tell Noah Webster to pick out five or six of
the men who can use their rifles well, and come back
here with them and Moose — he wouldn't forget to
bring him — to pursue the Indians. You must also
bring a team of mules with the small waggon with
3-0U, the same as I told you about just now, although
I did not then think to what a sad use we should put
it, to take home itr. Seth in; and look sharp now —
why, what's the matter?"

Jasper bad started up to go at Mr. Rawlings' first

116 PICKED UP AT SEA.

words; but when that gentleman spoke about the
Indians while giving his directions, his alacrity and
courage seemed to disappear together in company, as,
instead of rushing off, as Mr. Rawlings supposed, almost
before he could finish speaking, there he stood, twirling
his battered straw hat about in his lingers, and looking
the picture of cowardly irresolution.

"What, massa?" he tremblingly said, in answer to
!Mr. Rawlings' interrogation, his teeth chattering with
fear, and his countenance wearing a most hang-dog ex-
pression. " Me go back 'lone cross de prairee, all dat
way to camp? Suppose the Injuns scalp pore niggah
same as massa Seth! Golly, Massa Rawlins, um can't
do it. Ise af eared ' "

" You durned skunk ! " exclaimed Seth, his indigna-
tion heightened probably by the pain of his wounds.
"You jest make tracks at once, as Mister Rawlin's
says, or else I'll — " and he shook his iist expressively
to complete the sentence.

"Perhaps I had better go," said Ernest Wilton at
this juncture. " Jasper seems to be so frightened that
he might lose his way; and, at all events, he would
probably have forgotten half your instructions when
he got to the creek, and give only a garbled account of
what has happened. I think I would make the best
messenger, unless you would prefer me to remain with
you in case the Indians should return in force before
we get help."

" Go by all means," answered Mr. Rawlings. " I
needn't tell you to hurry, my boy, you know the
necessity of that, on every account! Jasper shall stop
here and help defend us in case the savages assail
us before you get back ; " and Mr. Rawlings could not
help smiling as he spoke, in spite of their perilous
position, at the comical idea of the cowardly Jasper
acting as a protector.

"Bress us and sabe us, Massa Rawlings!" ejaculated

seth's story. 117

the negro in mortal terror, about which there was no
pretence or affectation. "Don't say dat, don't now! mebbe
it come out for true! Ise rader go 'th Mass' Willerton,
an' bring back the waggin for Mass' Seth, iss, sah."

" No you won't," said Mr. Eawlings. " You hesitated
to go when I told you, and now you shall stop here
whether you like it or not ! " emphasizing his words by
laying his hand on the darkey's shoulder, in such an
impressive manner that he could not but submit to the
command. But long before the question of Jaspex-'s
staying behind or going off with the young engineer
was settled, Ernest had started off on the back track
towards Minturne Creek at a brisk inin, and was shortly
out of sight behind the top of the plateau they had
just descended from.

Prior to leaving, however, Ernest considerately
ordered Wolf to remain in his place, as he would be of
much service in the event of an Indian attack, telling
the sagacious animal to lie at Seth's feet, with a " Hi,
watch there; old man! an order which the dog at once
obeyed, while his master was off and away in an instant.

" Well, Seth," said Mr. Eawlings, when the young
engineer had disappeared from their gaze, " you haven't
yet told me how this catastrophe occurred? But let
me see your foot now, and I can examine it, and see
what I can do to that while you are telling me all
about it." And Mr. Eawlings proceeded to cut away a
portion of Seth's boot with his clasp knife — the same
as he had had to do to his shirt before extractino- the

arrow, as it caused the poor fellow too much pain to
pull it off — while the other went on with his yarn.

"Thaar ain't much to tell," began Seth. "I an'
Sailor Bill beat up the bush alongside that ther stream,
arter partin' with you, and then, when we seed nothin'
thaar, made tracks for this yere paraira, as I diskivered,
when I got to the top o' that risin' ground yonder,
some elk a feedin' down hvar There was a herd of

118 PICKED UP AT SEA.

seven o£ 'em or more, an' soon as I gets near enuf I lets
drive at 'em; and just then, hullabaloo! I heart a
screech like somethin' awful, an' a Injun starts up, just
like a deer a walkin' on his hint legs."

" That's an artful dodge they have of putting on the
skin of some animal, and approaching unsuspiciously
within shooting range without alarming their game."

"Wa,al, this hyar Injun," continued Seth, without
noticing Mr. Rawlings' explanatory interruption,
" rushed on to me like a mad bull in fly time, and seem'
as how he meant bizness; I drawed the trigger again,
but missed him, and he flung his tommyhawk, which
cotched my fut, and brought me to the ground as slick
as greased lightnin,' you bet ! "

" And gave you a bad wound, too," said Mr. Rawlings,
who by this time had managed to take ofl" Seth's boot
and disclose the extent of the injury, a pretty deep cut
right across the instep, which would probably lame the
ex-mate for life, as far as he could judge.

" Waal, it do hurt some," said Seth, when Mr. Raw-
lings proceeded to bandage up the foot in the same
way as he had done the poor fellow's side previously.
" But I dersay I'll git over it soon, gineral. Ef I seed
Sailor Bill agin I wouldn't care a cent about it, I guess 1 "

"How was it that they carried him off, and you
escaped alive ? I can't think how they let you off when
you were once down and at their mercy ? "

" Oh, I made a pretty good fit of it, I reckon, with
the butt end of my rifle, and giv' both them red devils
somethin' to remember Seth AUport by! — For there
was two on 'em at me, as soon as Sailor Bill rushed in
atween me an' the fust Injun."

"Did the boy really help you?" said Mr. Rawlings
in some surprise; for, as has been previously related.
Sailor Bill had never exhibited any trace of emotional
feeling from the time of his being picked up at sea,
save on that memorable occasion immediately after-

seth's story. 119

wards, when, it may be remembered, he rushed out of
the cabin when the ship was taken aback.

" He did so, " answered Seth, " an' the curiosest part
of it wer he looked jest the same frightened lilie as
when he saved mo aboard the Susan June, with his
har all on end — jes so."

"It's very extraordinary," said Mr. Rawlings; "and
then they carried him ofiV "

" Waal, I was making a good fit of it as I told you,
an' when Sailor Bill rushes to help me a second Injun
started up and collars him; and then I heart that air
blessed dawg bark, and I knowed what it wer, an' so
did the Injuns too; for as I shouted out to let yer know
whar we wer, they made tracks with pore Bill, lugging
him off atween them over thaar," said Seth, pointing-
eastwards, where, howevei-, nothing could now be seen.
" And that's all you know about it ? " said Mr. Raw-
lings.

" Jes so," replied Seth.

At the same moment the negro Jasper, who had
been gazing fixedly in the direction in which Ernest
Wilton had gone for aid, uttered an exclamation of
frenzied delight, and began to caper about.

" Golly, Massa Rawlin's," cried he, " dere dey is ! dere
dey is ! "

The negro was right. As he spoke Mr. Hawlings
and Seth could see a body of men advancing over the
crest of the plateau, accompanied by a waggon drawn
by a pair of mules.
The youngengineer had accomplished his mission well.
Instead of publishing his news aloud, and thereby
creating a commotion amongst the miners who would
have all wished to rush off en onasse to the assistance
of Mr. Rawlings and Seth Allport, both much liked
by all, and the rescue of Sailor Bill, whom the men
had got also attached to in the same way as the crew
of the Susan Jane, Ernest drew Noah Webster on one

120 PICKED UP AT SEA.

side, and briefly told him what had occurred and A\"hat
Mr. Rawhngs had ordered to be done.

Noah was equally prompt and discreet.

Mustering one of the gangs, who had completed
their shift in sinking the new shaft and had had a rest,
he told them to get their rifles quietly and accompany
him to the prairie, when he mentioned casually, in a
way they appeared to understand, the boss and manage)'
had come across some "red game " and wanted their help.

At the same time the backwoodsman ordered Josh,
who was nothing loth to have the chance of abandoning-
his caboose duties for awhile, to have a couple of mules
hitched to the waggon; while he beckoned Moose, the
half-breed, who apparently suspected something was in
the wind, to come towards him, when the two con-
ferred, while the miners and Josh were getting ready.

The whole thing, indeed, was so well managed, that
within ten minutes of Ernest Wilton's arrival in camp,
the rescuing party had started for the spot where Mr.
Eawlings and Seth and the terror-stricken Jasper were
awaiting their approach : a band of strong, well-armed,
resolute men, consisting, besides the young engineer
himself and Noah Webster, of Moose the half-breed.
Black Harry — one of the former crew of the Susan
Tunc, a muscular giant who would have been a match
for three Indians in liimsclf — and five of the miners,
old "Californian stagers," used to frontier life and
rough and tumble fighting — in addition to Josh, of
course, who drove the mule waggon.

As soon as the scene of the fray was reached, Seth
was lifted carefully into the M'aggon and sent back to
Minturne Creek, under the care of Jasper — who took
the place of Josh as teamster, that darkey displaying
considerably more pluck than the former, and evincing
as much eagerness to encounter the Indians as Jasper
did to avoid them — while the rescuing party followed
on tlie trail of Sailor Bill's abductors,

CHAPTER XVIII.

RISING CLOUD.

" Silenza!" said the half-breed warningly, hearing
Black Harry talking rather loudly and threatening
what he would do in case a hair of the poor hoy was
injured, — "Silenza! Sefiors must go soft, or Sioux hear
mens speak!"

This happened just as they started, and from that
moment not a word was further spoken amongst the
party, the men preserving a solemn silence and march-
ing one after the other in single file, Moose and Noah
Webster leading the way, and tracking the course of
the Indians like sleuth-hounds, seeing traces of the
passage of those of whom they were in pursuit in places
where, as in the rocky bottom of a dry ravine they
presently came across, no footprints were perceptible
like as they were when the trail led through the
prairie grass, in a manner most unaccountable both to
Mr. Eawlings and the young engineer.

On and on, mile after mile, went the gallant little
band, at one time treading downward towards some
bottom or valley, at another their route lying upwards
along some ascending plateau, until the afternoon grew
dusky and night approached, when they had travelled
over a considerable distance of ground from their
starting-point.

The prairie still stretched before them, the fringe of
trees on the horizon which Ernest Wilton had per-
ceived some hours before still far off, but much nearer

122 PICKED UP AT SEA.

than they were then, although, as he saw now, they
certainly could not indicate the banks of the Missouri,
as he had then thought; while between this distant
bank of timber, that stood out here under the shades
of evening more strongly against the sky line, were
sundry little timbered islands as it were amidst the
vast ocean of spreading plain on which they were.

As it got darker, the half-breed, who was unac-
quainted with Wolf's sagacity, that equalled his own
in following a trail, made them understand that they
iiiust give up the pursuit until the morning light, or
moon, should it not be obscured, enabled the trail to be
deciphered; but Wolf's master showing him what to
do, and a sort of leash being attached to the dog so
that he should not go too fast on the scent and be lost
sight of in the gathering gloom, the expedition started
on again, after a brief halt, as untiringly as ever.

" Ugh ! " ejaculated Moose, when they had con-
tinued their quest through the darkness with Wolf's
aid for about an hour, more or less — "Hist! Light
yonder! Stay here, I go see!" and he disappeared from
amongst them, while the others halted on the spot,
from whence they could faintly perceive the glimmer
of firelight shining amidst trees in front of them: so
they were evidently near one of those little wooded
islands they had observed in the distance.

After an absence which seemed unconscionably long
to those who remained behind, the half-breed returned,
and from what he said Mr. Rawlings divided the band
into two portions, one of which he ordered to follow
Moose, whose object was to take the Indians in the
rear, while the main body attacked them in front, thus
causing them to surrender probably at the display of
tliteir overwhelming numbers, the two parties acting
together by a concerted signal, without any recourse
to their weapons, which would most likely endanger
the life of poor Sailor Bill whom they had come to save.

PKECiriTATING THE FEAY. 123

All proceeded satisfactorily up to a certain point.

The half of the band that accompanied Moose stole
forward, skirting round the trees so as to get the
Indians in a line between themselves and Mr. Rawlings'
party; and presently the solitary note of the melan-
choly whip-poor-will was heard from amidst the trees,
to warn the others that Moose and his companions
were in position, and they were to close in nearer to
the Indian camp before the half-breed should give the
second intimation that it was time for the final rush.

Black Harry's indiscretion, however, at this juncture
spoilt Moose's plan of surprising the Indians and effect-
ing their object without bloodshed. As they approached
nearer the light that glimmered from amid the trees,
they could see that three Indians were seated round it,
while close adjoining them was poor Sailor Bill lashed
tightly to a tree, like a poor lamb that was to bo
slaughtered in some butcher's shop.

The sight was too much for the unthinking but
gallant seaman, so, despite Mr. Rawlings' strict injunc-
tions to the contrary, he levelled his rifle and fired
point blank into the group of Indians huddled over
the fire.

The savages started up with a yell of alarm; and,
seizing their arms hurriedly, one of them darted towards
the motionless figure of Sailor Bill with an uplifted
hatchet in his hand.

At that moment Mr. Rawlings, seeing the imminent
jeopardy of the boy, fired, and the Indian's arm fell as
if broken by the bullet, the hatchet dropping from his
hand; in another second, however, the savage picked
up the weapon again and would have brained Sailor
Bill, being in the act of hurling it at him with a malig-
nant aim, when Wolf, who had stolen forward at the
first outburst, dashed at the Indian's throat with a low
growl of vengeance, and brought him to the ground.

"Don't kill them!" shouted Mr. Rawlings, in a voice

124 PICKED UP AT SEA.

that made itself heard above the melee; and after a
brief struggle, the two remaining Indians were secured
and firmly bound, although it took all Black Harry's
strength to overcome the one he grappled, who turned
out to be the chief of the party, while the one Wolf
had brought down suffered terribly from the grip of
the dog on his throat.

After all had cooled down from the contest, which
had lasted some little time, Mr. Eawlings directed
Moose to ask the Indian chief — who, the half-breed
said, was a leading warrior of the Sioux tribe, rejoicing
in the sounding title of "Kising Cloud," — why he had
attacked an innocent settler and miner like Seth All-
port, and stolen away the boy that was with him?

The Indian, however, did not seem to require the
services of an interpreter, for he answered Mr. Eaw-
lings as if he thoroughly comprehended the gist of the
question Moose was deputed to ask him.

" Pale-face lie ! " he said angrily, in broken English,
which he mastered much better indeed than the half-
breed did in his half -Spanish patter. " Rising Cloud
was hunting on the lands of his tribe when tall pale-
face hunter shoot him as if he were a beast of the
forest. The red man isn't a dog to be trodden on, so
he gave the pale-face a lesson, to remind him Rising
Cloud could have killed him if he had willed it."

" But why steal the boy?" asked Mr. Rawlings, think-
ing that perhaps the Indian had some right on his side
in assailing Seth after he had fired at him first.

" Boy jump at Rising Cloud like grizzly bear. Boy
grow up fine warrior. Rising Cloud take him to his
wigwam to make him big Sioux chief by-and-by and
fight the pale-face dogs."

" That's a very pleasant way of appropriation," said
Ernest Wilton, under his voice, to Mr. Rawlings.
"But what's that he says, about fighting the pale-
faces?"

THE SIOUX CHIEF, 125

"I thought there was peace between the red man
and the children of the Great Father at Washington ? "
said Mr. Rawlings, alluding to the current legend in
frontier life that all the settlers out west are the pro-
geny of the President of the United States for the
time being.

" No peace long," said the Sioux chief defiantly, a
savage smile lighting up his expressive features.
"Hatchet dug up already. War soon — in 'nother
moon."

"Well, that's a pleasant prospect to look forward
to!" said Ernest, in a half-serious, half-comic way, as
he usually regarded most things. " But what's to be
done with these fellows now? Sailor Bill is none the
worse for his temporary captivity, and I suppose Seth
will be all right in a few days, after his wounds get
better. I suppose we shall have to let them go ? "

"Yes," said Mr. Eawlings; "but I must coasult Noah
Webster first."

After consultation with that worthy, it was deter-
mined that the whole party should take advantage of
the Indians' bivouac and remain there till the morning,
when they would have had a good rest; but the Indians
must be kept bound, and one taken with them on the
back track next day until they had accomplished half
their return journey home, when he would be released,
and sent back free to unloose his comrades. This,
Noah Webster said, was the only course they could
adopt in order to avoid any treachery with the red-
skins, Noah saying that he would not trust tlieni far-
ther than he could see them, and lauc^hing- at Mr. Raw-
lings' idea of releasing them at once on parole.

" Why, if yer did so," said he, " none of us would
ever git back to Minturne Creek to tell the tale!"

Accordingly, Noah's plan was adopted. The little
band that had accomplished Sailor Bill's rescue so satis-
factorily, rested after their labours till the morning.

12G PICKED L'P AT SEA.

■\vlien, leaving two of the Indians bound to trees in a
similar Avay as they had discovered poor Scth's protege,
they started back for the camp, taking with them the
chief, Rising Cloud, whom they did not release until
they reached the spot where the original row had
occurred, where the chief had his arms unpinioned and
was told he might go and free his companions.

The Indian did not take a very affectionate farewell
of his escort. As Mr. Rawlings and Ernest untied his
hands and told him he might go, he pointed first to-
wards the sky, then towards the east from whence
they had just come, and then in the direction where
Minturne Creek la.j.

"Yes, white man master now' Eising Cloud go
home to his tribe; but by-and-by he come back again
with a thousand warriors at his back, and wipe out
the white men, robbers of the red man's land. Yes,
by the Manitou of the pale-faces Rising Cloud swears
it! "

And the Indian spat on the ground with a savage
gesture as he spoke,

7 L ^

"MT*=afy

i^nra

5^:^' lijK^^^r"?^

^^^^51''

^^^^

CHAPTER XIX.

GOLD AT LAST — EUREKA!

V/hcn Jasper and the mule waggon appeared at
Minturne Creek, some time after the departure of
Noah Webster and the rescue party, the miners who
had been left at work under the charge of Tom Cannon,
as Noah's deputy, greeted the arrival with a cheer, as
they had been kept in ignorance of what had really
happened, and imagined that the waggon had been
sent for, as well as a few additional good shots from
their party, in order to bring in an unexpected supply
of game which the hunters had come across.

Jasper's conveyance certainly did carry something
in the game line, the negro having mentioned to Seth
about the wapiti deer that Ernest Wilton had shot, and
being directed by him to stop and cart it homo with
them, as it lay in their road to the camp; but the main
cargo of the waggon, their wounded manager, whom
Jasper hailed them to come and help him lift out, was
a double surprise to the men, and a grief as well, as
may be readily understood when it is considered how
much Seth was liked by the hands under him.

They vowed .vengeance against the Indians; and it
required all the exercise of Seth's authority to prevent
another party from sallying off to aid the first in the
rescue of Sailor Bill. But, after a time, the excitement
calmed down, and they waited with as much patience
as they possessed the return of the others; although
nothing that Seth could say would persuade them to

128 PICKED UP AT SEA.

turn in all that weary night, during which time they
were in a state of suspense as to the fate of their com-
rades; and they were equally disinclined to resume w^ork
in the mine.

They seemed capable of doing nothing, until they
should learn how the matter was settled, one way or
other; and — heedless even of the welcome addition of
fresh meat to their scanty fare, in the fine wapiti that
they possessed through the precision of the young
engineer's rifle, which at another time would have
roused equally their enthusiasm and their appetites —
remained grouped round impromptu log-fires that they
had lit to hail the absentees when they came back,
looking to their arms and ammunition so as to be ready
for anything that might happen, and ' considering
amongst themselves as to what was best to be done in
the event of the non-arrival of the rescue party within
a reasonable limit; Seth fretting and worrying himself
the while as much as any, although he tried to pre-
serve a quiet demeanour in order to reassure the rest,
and exclaiming against the "paltry wounds," as he
called them — which gave him much pain in spite of
Jasper continually soaking the bandages around them
with cold water in pursuance of his directions — that
prevented him from taking an active part in his pro-
tege's recovery, instead of waiting idly there while
others went bravelj' to the fore, as he should have done.

Be the night however weary, and watching long, the
morning comes at last: — thus it was now with the
miners of Minturne Creek.

Daylight is a wonderful panacea for those gloomy
thoughts and anxieties which are nourished and mag-
nified during the dark hours of the night; so, when
the sun arose next morning, after the weary watch of
Seth and the others, in the expectation that they might
receive every moment the news of some disaster to
their comrades who had been gone so long, instead of

TACKLING TO WORK AGAIN. 129

their fears being increased by the knowledge that the
rescue party had not yet returned, they felt inclined
to take a much more sanguine view of the situation —
a view that Seth not only endorsed but was the prime
agent in promulgating, possibly through the pain of
his wounds having considerably lessened and caused
him to look on things in a more hopeful way.

"Tha'are all right b'ys, I reckon," said he. "No
noos is good noos; fur ef anythin' had kinder happen'd
to 'em, we should have heert afore."

"So thinks I," said Tom Cannon; "and let's set to
work agin, mates, at the shaft, to let the boss see, when
he comes back, that we ha'n't been idle in his absence;
p'raps, too, we'll have something to show him in the gold
line, as I don't think as how we're far off the lode now."

"That's yer sort," echoed Seth, from amidst the pile
of buffalo rugs alongside one of the fires in the open
space before the hut, where he would persist in staying,
to be the first to receive the rescue party on their
return, and where he said he could nurse his injuries
far better than going to bed in the anxious frame of
mind he was in. "That's yer sort, b'ys! Tackle to the
job with a will, my hearties; it'll be a durned sight
better nor restin' on your oars and doin' nothin', as I'm
forced to do, like the battered old hulk I am!"

These cheery words from Tom Cannon and Seth
had the desired effect of restoring a little more activity
to the scene around the creek; and the small band of
the remaining miners, dividing their attenuated forces
into two gangs and taking short shifts turn about at
intervals, worked with such praiseworthy diligence,
that when Mr. Rawlings and the other adventurers
arrived in safety near mid-day, escorting the recovered
Sailor Bill scatheless in triumph back to the camp,
they had got through a surprising amount- of WQrk,
The tubbing had been put into position two days be-
fore, and had been found to act admirably; the water

(195) " I

130 WCKED UP AT SJtA.

had been pumped out, and the men at work were
driving to the left, as Ernest Wilton thought that they
were at present only on the wall of the lode, which
was a very strong one, and that it would be found
much richer upon the other wall.

As soon as mutual congratulations had been inter-
changed amongst the leaders, and the joy of the whole
party at being once more reunited had somewhat sub-
sided, Tom Cannon, and one of the leading miners who
had been last down the new shaft, approached the spot
where Mr. Rawlings, Ernest Wilton, and Noah Webster
were grouped, chatting together, with Seth — behind
whom Sailor Bill had taken up his usual place, on his
return to camp, with his customary apathetic air, the
boy not exhibiting the slightest increase of animation,
despite all the excitement and unwonted scenes through
which he had recently passed, or any return to that
sudden change of demeanour, almost amounting to a
fit of frenzy, which he had again displayed for an in-
stant, as Seth asserted, when he interposed to save his
life from the onslaught of the savage, on the prairie,
as he had done when he came forward in a similar way
to rescue him on board the Susan Jane on the ship's
being taken aback the previous year.

"I guess thaar's sunthin' up now," said Noah Web-
ster, as the two men came towards him and the others,
noticing a slight assumption of mystery on the part of
Tom Cannon and his companion, a man who was
familiarly styled "Left Bower" amongst the miners,
from the fact not only of his surname being Bower,
but on account of the singular dexterity he exhibited
in the great American card game of euchre.

" Guess so," said Seth, sotto voce. " They've been
downright busy since you've been gone, workin' like
bosses, that they have! Waal, b'ys," he added aloud
for the benefit of the coming deputation, "what's the
rumpus neow? Panned out any thin' tall?"

TKEASURE TROVE. 131

"See!" said Tom Cannon, opening his closed fist and
displaying a little tiny heap of gold dust lying in the
palm of his hand. "All that came out o' one lump o'
quartz taken out of the gravel in the heading we've
begun. We can see it everywhere in the rock, and it
was getting richer every inch we got in."

"Ay," put in Left Bower, "heaps, I reckon, boss,"
addressing himself to Mr. Rawlings, who turned as pale
at the receipt of the news as if he were going to faint.
"We've struck the lode at last, mister, and run slick
inter a bonanza if ever they ■\^'cre one ; may I never see
Frisco again, if we haven't!"

"Hooray!" shouted Seth, attempting to rise and
wave his hat as he was wont to do in moments of
triumph, but quickly quieting down again as the pain
of his foot reminded him of having been wounded.
"Didn't I say so — ask any a one in camp if I didn't —
that we'd find the gold at last? Hooray!" he repeated
aloud at the pitch of his voice, his cheer being taken
up instantly by the main body of the miners, who were
gossiping in front of Josh's caboose, with a heartiness
that resounded through the valley and even made the
hills echo again; while Jasper, who had been under a
sort of cloud ever since his cowardly conduct on the
prairie, joined Josh in an exciting pas a deux before
the latter's culinary sanctum, and repeating ever and
anon his jubilant song, "Golly, massa, uni told yer so!"

"And you are not through the vein yet?" asked
Ernest Wilton when he was able to speak calmly, he
and Mr. Rawlings hurrying towards the head of the
new workings in company with Noah Webster and the
first discoverers of the ore; the rest of the miners fol-
lowing after at a distance; eager to set to work again
at once as soon as their leaders should give orders to
that effect. Seth, seeing himself thus deserted, and
not wishing to be "left out in the cold," therefore re-
quisitioned the aid of the two darkeys, and made them

132 PICKED UP AT SEA.

cany him in the rear of the procession, which put a
summaiy stop to their dancing, but delighted them
equally as well, for they were thus enabled to learn
all that was going on without tlie annoyance of having
their ears perchance boxed for listening without per-
mission: consequently there was a general move all
round.

"No sign of the other wall," said Tom Cannon as
spokesman, "we're nigh four feet in from the bottom
of the shaft. The richest is that near the river."

"That is just what we expected from the statement
of Mr. Rawlings' original discoverer. He found it
rich in the little shaft he sank there, and that is at the
point where the two lodes run into each other. I expect
we shall find it richer every foot we go in that direction.
If so, it will be one of the richest finds we know of."

So saying, Ernest, full of eagerness and expectation,
was lowered away into the mine by the men. He did
not stop very long below the surface ; and on his return
his face seemed to glow with the goods news he brought.

"It's all right," he gasped out, almost before he got
out of the shaft; "you've hit on the richest lode I ever
saw in my experience. We ought to get tons of gold
out of that quartz. We have just struck the centre of
a pocket, I think, which must extend to the old work-
ings of your cousin Ned. Mr. Rawlings, I congratu-
late you; your luck has changed at last, and if all
turns out as I expect, you'll be the wealthiest man in
Dakota ! "

"Hooray, b'ys!" shouted out Seth, almost choking
poor Josh and Jasper by gripping their necks with his
muscular arms in his excitement, the darkeys support-
ing him, as if in a chair with their hands clasped be-
neath him, on which he sat with his arms resting on
their shoulders, although he now shifted his hold un-
wittingly to their necks. "Hooray! I sed the Britisher
were the b'y for us; an' so he air!"

CHAPTER XX.

INDIAN ALARMS.

The men now worked Avith unflao-gino- vigour. The
cros.s-cufc was first pushed aci-oss the vein, which was
found to extend thirteen feet heyond the side of the
shaft. It was not unbroken quartz, as here and there
the rock came in, but seemed to consist of four separate
veins, which sometimes joined together, sometimes
were separated by partitions of rock. The richest por-
tion of the vein was two feet from the farthest wall,
and here the gold was everywhere thickly scattered
through the quartz. Now, they drove right and left
along the course of the lode, and found that in both
directions the walls were coming closer together.

"It is only a pocket," Erne.st Wilton said. "You will
see that in about five fathoms either way the quartz
will finish in to its usual width, and become poor.
However, we must not mind that; if it holds for a few
fathoms in depth there will be half a million pounds'
worth at least. Twenty tons of quartz like this we
see would suffice to make us all rich men, and we know
that there is double that at least."

As the young engineer predicted, the lode fell away to
its original width, and soon ceased to carry visible gold.

Then they began to sink deeper. Twenty feet lower
the walls of the lode again began to approach each
other, and there was now a possibility of calculating
the amount of quartz in the "pocket."

"I am of opinion," Ernest Wilton said, "that there

134 PICKED UP AT SEA.

will be fifty tons of the richest stuff, and nearly two
hundred of what I may call second class, but which is
still exceedingly I'ich. But it is time now that we
should carry out our plans. We must get up a small
mill with five stamps, with a wheel to be worked by
water from the mountain stream. It is likely enough
that such a set could be got in one of the mining-
camps, and I must make a short journey to Bismark
and perhaps further west in search of gear. While I
am away, the men will have to cut a leet to bring the
water along the side of the hill from the torrent, and
get all the quartz out of the mine."

All this time, however, even with the confident ex-
pectation of untold wealth being now almost within
his grasp, not one of the party had forgotten the part-
ing threat of Rising Cloud, and his warning that, ere
many months were over, the camp at Minturne Creek
would be assailed by the Sioux tribe in full force.

Indeed, if Mr. Rawlings or Seth, or Noah especially,
who had had such a long experience of the dangoi's
of backwoods life away from the settlements, and
thoroughly appreciated the old adage that " he who is
forewarned is forearmed," were at all inclined to laugh
at the Indian's declaration as an empty boast, many
circumstances would have constrained them to alter
their opinion, and make them bo prepared for anything
that might happen.

In the first place, a stage used to run from Bismark
to the Black Hills at stray intervals, when they first
camped at Minturne Creek — although it did not come
within some miles of their own valley — and continued
running until the winter set in; but when the spring
developed, and the roads got in working order again,
no stage was to be met with; and rumour had it that
it had been " frightened off the track by the Injuns."

In the early months of .summer this rumour received
additional confirmation by the arrival of some scouts

TOKENS OF DANGER. 135

from the settlements, with the news that the Sioux
had declared war against the United States authorities,
and that all the outlying settlers had been warned to
withdraw into the townships, where they could join
together and resist any attack made on them.

And, later still, a special messenger from one of the
military stations on the Missoiiri, where " Uncle Sam's"
troops were quartered, brought them word that in-
telligence had been received that Rising Cloud had
published his intention of attacking the Minturne Creek
miners especially, and that his band of warrors had
already started on the war-path — although the com-
mander of the detachment at Fort Warren assured
them that he was following up the Indians, and would
revenge them should they happen to get " wiped out "
before he came up with the red-skins'

This, naturally, was no very cheering intelligence;
but the miners were not discouraged, although they
took every wise precaution so that their wary foe
should not catch them napping; and so, whether they
were working in the mine or went hunting — as they
did more frequently when the buffalo came northwards
later on, led from the southern plains, which form their
more common habitat throughout the year, by the rich
blue grass, and other piairie delicacies which these
bovine beasts loved, that flourished among the vallej^s
of the Black Hills; or whether they were digging in
the kitchen garden that Josh and Jasper had improvised
at the back of the little hut where they all lived —
every man went armed or had his arms handy. In
addition to this, sentinels were posted through the day
at the entrance of the Creek, to warn them of the ap-
proach of any suspicious strangers to the camp; while
Seth caused as rigid a watch to be kept at night, tak-
ing the first and fourth turns himself, as if he were still
a first mate with the responsibilities of a ship on his
hands and walking the deck of the Susan Jane.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE WAR-WHOOP.

Havino; levelled the line for the watercourse, Ernest

1 -w, ~ . •

Wilton prepared for his journey.

The news of the Indian raids made travelling very
dancjerous, and Mr. Rawlins's uro-ed Ernest to let him
go in his stead. But to this Ernest strongly objected,
advancino- all sorts of reasons but the right one against
Mr. llawlino's startincj- for Bismark, stating amongst

OCT ' o o

other arguments that if the worthy leader of the party
went, the miner.s might think he was running away
from the Creek for fear of the Indians attacking them,

"No, no, my boy!" laughed Mr. Rawlings; "you
cannot wheedle me by using such an argument as that,
Wilton ! It is too absurd, for the miners know me too
well for that, and so do you; besides, it is far more
perilous to venture out into the open, as you are about
to do, than to remain hero, where, united together as
we are in a phalanx of stout, able-bodied men, in an
almost impregnable position, we could resist any for-
midable attack in force. No, no, my boy; you may
tell that to the marines. But do inform me, W^ilton,
what is your real motive in wishing to go yourself ? I
consent certainly to your going, as you press the matter;
but I .should like to know your ulterior object, if only
to satisfy my curiosity."

" Well," said Ernest, laughing too, " I didn't like to
tell you at first for fear of wounding your sensibilities.
To tell you the truth, I think I am more competent to '

PREPARATIONS FOR THE JOURNEY. 137

get what I vrant than you are, as, if I do not see any
of the things I require exactly, I may be able to pick
up makeshifts that will answer my purpose as well,
while you would be trying to procure impossibilities,
perhaps, just because 1 mentioned them in the list of
my requirements, and would be satisfied with nothing
else."

" Very good, have your way," said Mr. Rawlings,
satisfied with the reason advanced, and handing the
voung engineer at the same time a roll of sfreenbacks
that represented all his available capital. " But you
must be economical in your purchases, my boy. This
is all tlie mone}^ I ( an spare you for your expenses and
everything. 1 think you had better take a few rich
specimens with you, and should your funds run short
they may give you credit if you tell them you have
fifty tons of it ready for the mill."

"All right," said Ernest cheerfully, pocketing the
parcel, and making an inw^ard resolution the wdiile to
supply any deficiency in that respect from his own
funds — which, indeed, was his trvie motive for under-
taking the connnission in person, although he concealed
it from Mr. Eawlino-s; for he was aware that the latter
had got near the end of his resources, and would have
been indignant if he had ottered to be his temporary
banker in order to buy all that was now^ needed for the
mine, which he had made up his mind to be, whether
he liked it or not, without his knowing it; and he
chuckled to himself as he told Mr. Rawdings that the
money would do amply.

" I suppose, Wilton, yoii'll take the waggon and a
team of mules with you to bring back the things, eh?"
said Mr. Rawdings presently, as the young engineer
began making his preparations for starting.

" Yes," said Ernest, " and shall have to hire four or
five others; but I need only have them wdth me as far
as Fort Bennett on the Missouri, where, as I pointed

138 PICKED UP AT SEA.

out to you just now, I can get a passage in one of the
river steamers right up to Bismark, and the same way
back with all my purchases. Why, Mr. Rawlings, you
must have come here by almost as roundabout a route
as I did from Oregon 1 You told me that you took a
month getting to Minturne Creek with your mining
plant and other goods, dragging them, I suppose, the
whole distance from the railway depot across the plains,
instead of taking advantage of the waterway as I am
going to do now."

" That is very true," answered the other. " But
Moose said it was the best way, and I allowed him to
shape his own course."

" He'll have to shape mine now! " said Ernest dryly;
and the same day he and the half-breed, with the
valiant Josh in charge of the waggon and a ten-mule
team, started for Fort Bennett, a distance of some
hundred and forty miles from the camp, which they
accomplished within three days, not meeting with any
obstruction in the shape of Indians on the road.

At this station Ernest left Moose with the waggon
and mules, while he took passage for himself and Josh
in one of the steam-boats which ply along the rolling
waters of the Missouri to the large town on its banks
above, that may now be called the capital of Dakota.

At Bismark he was fortunate enough to hear of some
machinery which would exactly suit him; it had been
sent west for a mine, which before it arrived had
proved so poor that it was abandoned, and the wheel
and stamps were now for sale. He also laid in some
stores, besides a quantity of gunpowder, and lead for
bullets, which he thought would come in handy for the
Indians should they lay siege to Minturne Creek.

When he knew the weight of the goods, he sent word
down the river to Moose at Fort Bennett, and the latter
hired five additional waggons and teams, which were
all in readiness when he arrived by steamer with the

TERRIBLE NEWS. 139

machinery. Everything was soon packed up, and the
little party tracked back to the camp, having been but
twenty days away altogether.

"You air smart!" said Seth, who was the first to
welcome Ernest on his arrival, the ex-mate having now
quite recovered from his wounds, and "hopping about
on his pins," as he expressed it, "as merrily as ever,"
himself again in every particular. — "You air smart,
mister! I guess you're the slickest coon I ever seed
for makin' tracks — Jerusalem, you air!"

" You would have made haste too, friend Seth," said
Ernest, laughing — there never was such a fellow to
laugh as he was — " if you had heard what I have about
those blessed Indians, and our old acquaintance, Eising
Cloud."

"What is that?" asked Mr. Rawlings anxiously, who
had just come up in time to catch the last observation
of the young engineer — "what have you heard about
Rising Cloud?"

" Only," said Ernest, and he spoke gravely enough
now — "that he is spreading murder and havoc all along
the banks of the Missouri, and may be soon here upon
us with the miscreant gang he leads. I heard terrible
tales of him in the steamer I came down the river in.
The captain of the little craft told me that the Indians
had burnt every outlying settlement in Southern Da-
kota, massacring all the white inhabitants, and were
making their way northwards, so we'd better look out.
Why, he said they'd even attacked his boat when it
was at one of the landings; and if he hadn't put on
steam he and his vessel would have been settled, with
all on board."

"Ah," said Mr. Rawlings, "that corroborates the
warning we got from the commander of the United
States troops at Fort Warren when you were away.
We certainly must keep a careful look now, for it
would not do to repeat all of my poor Cousin Ned's

140 PICKED UP AT SEA.

experiences, and have the result of our toil snatched
from our grasp by those relentless fiends of the prairie
when it was just within our reach, as it was in his,
poor fellow!"

Mr. Rawlings then went on to tell Ernest what they
had heard, and give an account of what had transpired
during his absence at the settlements; after which the
whole party proceeded to examine their defences in
detail, the young engineer suggesting that they should
entrench the camp in a systematic way, and also the
machinery which would be erected on the river's bank.

There were but two directions from which they could
be attacked; for the precipitous range of the Black
Hills, standing behind Minturne Creek with its semi-
circular ramjjart, protected their rear and sides, so that
they had only their front face to guard, along the
course of the stream, following the gulch.

The same safeguards which they had adopted before
were redoubled in the face of the second warning they
received by the account Ernest Wilton brought back
with him of the Indian savages in their neighbour-
hood, their day and night watch being maintained
with the strictest regularity.

The teams were soon unloaded and started on their
return journey, and with the exception of the men
engaged in clearing out the quartz from the mine, all
hands set to to erect the water-wheel and stamps, which
operation, as all the pieces of timber were fitted and
numbered, was an easy and rapid one.

In three weeks afterwards all was ready for a start.
Five hundredweight of quartz was then weighed out
and carried down to the stamps, the gear which con-
nected the machinery with the great wheel which was
revolving in the river was connected, and the stamps
began to rise and fall with a heavy regular rhythm.

The quartz was thrown in beneath the stamps
shovelful by shovelful, and in an hour and a half the

GOLD B'OR THE GETTING. 141

last fragment was used up. For another half hour the
stamps rose and fell, then the water running through
them was no longer milkwhite, and the stamps were
stopped. Then the blankets spread upon the ways by
which the mud-charged gold had flowed were taken
up and washed, the quicksilver was taken out of the
concentrators and passed through wash-leather bags,
in which great rolls of amalgam remained. These were
placed in large crucibles to drive off the quicksilver,
and then removed from the furnace and the gold placed
in the scale. To this was added the fine gold from the
blankets. Ernest Wilton added the weights, and
around him stood Mr. Rawlings and all the miners off
duty.

"Just a hundred ounces," he said, "five hundred
ounces to the ton; speaking roughly, £1800 a ton."

"Hurrah!" shouted Seth Allport, his ringing voice
making itself heard above the sound of the rushing
water and the echoing chorus of the men's cheers; but,
an instant after, his exclamation of delight was changed
to one of dismay, as a flight of arrows and the ping of
rifle bullets whistled around the party, while the dread
war-whoop of their Indian assailants burst forth in all
its shrill discordancy.

" Who — ah — ah — ah — ah — oop I"

CHAPTER XXII.

A FIGHT FOR LIFE!

In the excitement of starting the stamps, the usual
precautions which had been previously practised, of
posting sentinels and keeping their arms ready, were
for the moment forgotten; but after the first startle of
surprise at being so unexpectedly attacked passed over,
there was a general rush to cover of all the members
of the party, behind the breastwork of earth that the
young engineer had caused to be thrown up round the
spot facing the river all along its right bank, the men
catching up their rifles and cartridge-pouches — which
lay here and there about as they had dropped them in
their expectancy while waiting the result of the weigh-
ing — as they ran to shelter themselves and prepared to
return the fire of their foes.

All the miners rushed to the breastwork save one,
and that was Seth.

At the in.stant he turned, like his comrades, to seek
the protection of the rampart, towards which the others
hastened, an arrow struck Sailor Bill slantingwise
across his forehead, and, tossing up his hands, the poor
boy, who was standing on the timber which led to the
wheel, tumbled over into the foaming water below that
was seething like a whiidpool.

Uttering a frenzied ejaculation of anguish and grief,
Seth plunged into the flood, and an instant after
dragged forth Sailor Bill's body, heedless of the arrows
and bullets of the Indians, the former of which dark-

MOWING THE.M DOWX. 143

ened the air in their passage around him, while the
latter whistled through his garments.

The intrepid fellow seemed to bear a charmed life,
for not a shot nor a barbed head of the savages' fea-
thered missiles reached him as ho pulled the poor boy's
apparently lifeless body from the water, Seth not being
content until he had hauled it up beneath the breast-
work; when with a shout of vengeance he seized his
rifle and set to work to aid the others in dealing death
on those who had, as he thought, killed his protege.

It was a terrific fight whilst it lasted.

Mingled with the war-whoop of the Sioux, which
was repeated ever and anon, as if to excite them anew
to the carnage, came the fierce exclamations of the
miners, and the calm word of command from Mr. Raw-
lings occasionally, to restrain the men from getting too
flurried. — He certainly showed himself worthy of the
post of leader then!

"Steady, boys! Don't waste your fire. Aim low;
and don't shoot too quickly!"

"Ping! ping!" flew the bullets through the smoky
medium with which they were surrounded, while an
occasional "thud" evinced the fact that one of their
assailants had fallen: — "ping, ping, ping!" it was a
regular fusilade; — and the miners delivered their fire
like trained soldiers from behind the breastwork that
had so providentially been erected in time!

Presently there was a rush of the redskins, and the
besieged party could hear the voice of Rising Cloud
encouraffinc^ his warriors, and taunting those he at-
tacked.

"Dogs of palefaces!" cried the chief, "your bones
shall whiten the prairie, and your blood colour the
bufialo grass, for your treatment of Rising Cloud in
the morn of the melting of the snow! I said I would
come before the scarlet sumach should spring again on
the plains; and Rising Cloud and his warriors are here!"

144 PICKED UP AT SEA.

Then came the fearful war-whoop again, with that
terrible iteration at its end " Who — ah — ah — ah — ah
— oop!" like the howl of a laughing hyrena.

The river alone interposed between the whites and
their enemy, and gave them a spell of breathing time,
but in spite of this protection, the odds were heavy
ao'ainst them; for what could even sixteen resolute
men, as the party now numbered — for one had been
mortally wounded by a chance shot, and although
Josh the negro cook could tight bravely and did, Jasper
was not of much use — do in a hand-to-hand struggle
with hundreds of redskinned human devils thirstins;
for their blood ?

The river, however, was a great help, especially now
that it had been converted into a mill-race, and flooded
beyond its usual proportions; for, when the Indians
rushed into the water to wade across and assault the
camp at close quarters, as the shallowness of the stream
at that season of the year would previously have
easily enabled them to have done, they found, to their
astonishment, first that the current, which they did
not expect to be more than a foot deep, rose above
their waist-belts, then above their armpits, and finally
above their heads, as, pushed onwards by their com-
panions behind, they were submerged in the flood;
while the miners, still sheltered by Ernest Wilton's
trenched rampart above, rained down a pitiless hail of
bullets into the half-drowned mob, whose very strength
now proved their principal weakness.

"Give it 'em, b'ys: remember poor Sailor Bill!"
shouted Seth, his blood up to fever heat with passion,
and the murderous spirit of revenge strong in his
heart. "Give 'em goss, an' let nary a one go back to
tell the story!"

"Steady, men, and fire low!" repeated Mr. Raw-
lings.

And the miners mowed the redskins down by the

CALLING OVER THE ROLL-CALL. 145

score with regular volleys from their repeating rifles,
although twenty fresh Indians seemed to spring up in
the place of every one killed.

The fight was too severe to last long-, and soon a
diversion came.

As Rising: Cloud, raising his tomahawk on high, and,
leading the van of his warriors, was brino-ing them on
for a decisive charge, several sharp discharges, as if
from platoon iiring, were heard in the rear of the In-
dians.

Just then, a bullet from Ernest Wilton's rifle pene-
trated the chief's brain, and he fell dead right across
the earth rampart in front of the young engineer. The
platoon firing in the rear of the savages was again re-
peated; the United States troops had evidently ari'ived
to the rescue; and, taken now between two fires, and
disheartened by the fall of Rising Cloud, the Sioux
broke, and fled in a tumultuous mass towards the gorge
by which they had entered the valley of Minturne
Creek.

The struggle over, the miners had time to count
casualties, and see who amongst their number had
fallen in the fray.

Thanks to Ernest Wilton's breastwork, their losses
had not been very heavy.

Noah Webster was slightly wounded, and Black
Harry badly; while the only one killed outright was
Tom Cannon, the whilom keen-sighted topman of the
Susan Jane, who would never sight wreck or sail
more, for Sailor Bill was only wounded, and not dead,
after all,

Jasper, who had been hiding beneath the embank-
ment beside the boy's supposed lifeless body, had per-
ceived signs of returning animation in it, to which he
immediately called the attention of Seth and also Mr.
Rawlings, and the three were bonding over the figure
in a moment. Just almost a year before they were

(195) K

l-tu PICKED UP AT SEA.

bending over Sailor Bill in precisely the same way in
the cabin o£ the Susan Jane. The Indian's arrow had
ploughed under the skin of the boy's forehead nearly
at the same place that bore the scar of his former
wound when he had been picked up at sea, and could
not have inflicted any dangerous injury; it was evidently
the shock of falling into the foaming torrent from the
tunnel, as it rushed into the river, that had rendered
Sailor Bill senseless for the time being.

He was now comino; back to himself, for his limbs
twitched convulsively, and there was a faint tremor
about the eyelids.

Just then Ernest Wilton came up and stood by the
side of Mr. Rawlings, while Seth was rubbing the boy's
bared chest vigorously with his brawny hand to hasten
the restoration of the circulation; and at that moment
Sailor Bill opened his eyes — eyes that were expression-
less no longfer, but with the light of reason in their
hidden intelligence — and fixed his gaze on the young
engineer as if he recosnized him at once.

" Ernest ! " the boy exclaimed wonderingly, " what
brings you here? Why, where am I? "

And he looked from one to the other of the group
around him in a half -puzzled way,

"Jerusalem!" ejaculated Seth, jumping to his feet
and turning to the young engineer. " He knows you,
mister. Ken you rec'lect him ? "

" By Jove ! " said Ernest, " I do believe it's my cousin,
Frank Lester, now I hear his voice. Frank ! "

" Yes, Ernest," answered the boy, heaving a sigh of
relief. " Then it is you after all. I thought I was
dreaming."

And he sank back into a calm sleep as if he were in
bed.

CHAPTER XXIII.

AFTER THE BATTLE.

" Now didn't I say so, Rawlin's ? " said Seth triumph-
antly, turning to that gentleman. " I leave it to any
one if I didn't diagnose the boy's symptoms correctly!
I said ef he can meet with a similar shock to that
which cost him his reason, he'd get it back again. I
told you that from the first on board the Susan Jane."

"You certainly did," replied Mr. Rawlings. "It's
the most curious case I ever heard or read of! Do you
think, Seth, when he wakes up he'll be still all right
here ? " tapping his forehead expressively.

" Sartain as thaar's snakes in Virginny ! " said the
ex-mate, returning for a moment to his vernacular
mode of speech; although, his medical instincts assert-
ing themselves again presently, he spoke more formally
and in professional st3de in continuation of his reply
to Mr. Rawlings. " He is still in a semi-comatose con-
dition, as that somnolent fit assures us; but he will
sleep it off", and rouse up by and by in the proper pos-
session of his faculties, a glimpse of which we observed
just now."

" I'm right glad to hear it," said Mr. Rawlings.
" What a difference that look of intelligence in his eyes
made in him! I declare I would hardly have known
him to be the same boy ! "

" You're right thei'e," said Seth. " I've read in some
book of the eyes bein' called ' the windows of the soul;'
an' I believe it's pretty near the mark."

148 PICKED UP AT SEA.

" Golly, massa Rawlings," put in Jasper at this junc-
ture — the darkey had been dying to speak for a long
time — " p'raps him turn out to be gran' fine genelmun,
for sure, 'sides bein' massa Willerton's cuzzing, hey ? "

" P'raps I'll souse you in the river if you don't make
tracks and bring down somthin' as we can take poor
Sailor Bill up to the hut in," said Seth, speaking again
in his customary way and in a manner that Jasper
plainly understood, for he disappeared at once, return-
ing shortly in company with Josh, the two bearing a
mattress between them, on which the boy was placed,
still asleep, and carried up to the house, where he was
softly put down on Mr. Kawlings' bed and left, with
Seth watching by his side until he should wake up, as
the latter expected, in his proper senses.

The camp was in a state of tremendous excitement,
as may be supposed, for no less than three thrilling
episodes of interest had occurred all in one day, any
one of which would have been sensational enough in
itself to have afforded matter for gossip for a month.

The starting of the stamps — the attack and repulse
of the long-dreaded Indian band — the fact of Sailor
Bill recovering his lost senses — all happening at once,
all comincr together!

It was too much for even the most apathetic of the
miners to contemplate calmly. And when, after the
final departure of the American soldiery — whose com-
mander returned, after pursuing the Sioux for some
distance amongst the Black Hills, to report that no
further attack need be feared from the band, which
was now thoroughly dispersed and incapable of assail-
ing the camp a second time, that year at least — Min-
turne Creek resumed its normal quietude, and seemed
duller than ever after such stirring events as had
recently been witnessed, the excited gold-diggers
gathered together in twos and threes, thinking over
and talking about what had happened.

BURYING THE DEAD. 149

Beyond the stirring events that had happened they
had also to mourn the loss of two of their number, as
gallant comrades as men ever had — for, ere long. Black
Harry had followed the smart foretopman to the silent
land, succumbing to the dangerous wound he had re-
ceived towards the end of the strugcrle from an Indian
tomahawk wielded by a powerful arm, which had almost
cleft the poor fellow's skull in twain; and, after so
many months of close companionship, the death of the
two sailors was keenly felt.

The best way to banish painful thoughts, however,
as Mr. Rawlings knew from sad experience, was to
engage in active employment; so he did not allow the
men to remain idle, although he gave them ample time
for a rest after the fight was over.

Summoning to his aid Noah Webster, who, like some
of the others who had received trivial wounds, made
light of the bullet hole through his arm, he mustered
the hands late in the afternoon of the eventful day,
and delivered a short practical address to them before
resuming operations — a speech which, being to the
point, had the desired effect of making the men go
back to their work with a will.

" Now, lads," said he, " we must be up and going.
Sitting there talking will not bring back the poor
fellows that have gone. I moui'n our comrades just as
much as you do, for they worked steadfastly, like the
honest, true-hearted men they were, through the hard
time of toil and trouble we had till recently, and at the
last fought and died bravely in the defence of the
camp. But, crying over them won't help them now;
all we can do is to bury them where they so nobly fell,
and then turn our hands to carry on our work to the
end that is now so near in view, just as they would
have insisted on doing if they had been alive still and
with us! "

There was no more lethargy after Mr. Rawlings'

150 PICKED UP AT SEA.

exhortation: as Solomon say.s, — "A word in season,
how good it is ! "

The men sprang up with alacrity to set about what
he had suggested rather than ordered; and, as soon as
graves had been dug in the shelter trench of the ram-
part that Tom Cannon and Black Harry had held so
courageously against the Indians, and their bodies in-
terred with all proper solemnity, Mr. Rawlings himself
reading the burial service over their remains, the
miners grasped their picks and shovels with one hand
as they wiped away a tear with the other, and M^ent
back to the mine, some of them possibly with the re-
flection that, all things considered, their slain mates
were perhaps after all now better off than them-
selves !

CHAPTER XXIV.

SAILOR bill's story.

After the sad ceremony which he had just performed,
Mr. llawHngs did not feel much inclined for gold-
seeking or any worldly affairs, although he went to-
wards the mine as a matter of duty; and when he
reached the stamps he found Ernest Wilton already
standing there, but looking pale and perturbed, as if
anxious about something.

"What is the matter?" said Mr. Rawlings. "You
seem out of sorts, beyond what the loss of these poor
fellows would have affected you ? "

" Yes, I am," replied the other. " I can't help think-
ing of that cousin of mine, and why I did not recognize
him when I first saw him; but then he was quite a
little boy at school, and who would have dreamt of
your picking him up at sea ? "

"Strange things do happen sometimes," said Mr.
Rawlincfs. " When was it that you last saw him in
England ?

" Four years ago last Christmas, if I recollect aright.
He was then a little schoolboy not half his present
size. How on earth did he manage to get to sea ? my
aunt had a perfect horror of a sailor's life, and would
never have let him go willingly. But, there, it only
serves me right for my selfish neglect! As you told
me before, I ought to have kept up my communication
with my family, and then I should have known all
about it. I can't help now fancying all sorts of queer

152 PICKED UP AT SEA.

things that may have occurred. My poor aunt, who used
to be so fond of me, may be dead; and my uncle,
who was of a roving nature kindred to mine, may — "

"Nonsense!" said Mr. Rawlings, good-naturedly, in-
terrupting him. " If you go on like that, you'll imagine
you're the man in the moon, or something else! Sailor
Bill, or rather your cousin Frank, as we must now call
him, will wake up presently and enlighten us as to
how ho came to be in his present position — or rather
in the Bay of Biscay, where we picked him up; for we
all know his subsequent history; and then you'll learn
what you are now puzzling your brains about, without
any bother. I confess I am curious in the matter too, for
I wish to know the secret of that mysterious packet
round his neck; but we must both wait with patience,
and dismiss the subject for the present from our
minds. Come along with me now, my boy," he added,
as the body of the miners hastened up after paying
their last tribute of respect at their comrades' graves.
" I'm just going to have a look at your sluices, and see
whether the stuff is coming out as rich as before."

This invitation at once caused the young engineer
to brighten up, as the idea of action had aroused the
miners from dwelling on what had happened.

The yield upon being examined proved fully as rich
as before the first experiment.

" You see, Mr. Rawlings," said Ernest, cordially hold-
ing out his hand for a friendly grip, " the lead has
turned out just as I fancied it would do, and my efforts
to open it out proved successful. You are now, as I
told you would be the case, the richest man in this
State, or in Montana either, for that matter, with all
their talk of Bonanza King's there."

" You bet, ' chimed in Noah Webster, who felt
equally proud and delighted with the young engineer
at the result of their joint operations; but Mr. Raw-
lino-s could sav little.

SAILOR BILL XWAKES. 153

The Indian attack had hitherto prevented his realiz-
ing this sudden change of fortune, and now that he
was fully conscious of it, all he could do ■was to silently
shake Ernest Wilton's hand first, and then Noah
Webster's; and after that each of those of the miners
who pressed near him for the purpose, full of sympathy
with " the good luck of the boss," and forgetting already
the fate of their lost comrades in the sight of the glit-
tering metal before them — their natural good spirits
being perfectly restored a little later on, when Mr.
Rawliugs assured them, on his recovering his speech,
that he fully intended now keeping to the promise he
had given when the venture was first undertaken, and
would divide half the proceeds of the mine, share and
share alike, among the men, in addition to paying them
the wages he had engaged to do.

The ringing hurrahs with which the jubilant miners
gave vent to their gladness on the reiteration of Mr.
Rawlings' promise, were so loud that they reached the
ears of Seth, who was watching by the sleeping boy,
and the latter woke up immediately with a frightened
air, as if suffering from the keenest terror.

"It's all right, my b'y, all right," said Seth sooth-
ingly; and at the same time Wolf, who had entered the
house and crept up by the side of the bed, leapt up
on the boy and licked his face.

" Where am I, Sam ?" he sai<l to Seth, the dog's greet-
ing having apparently calmed him down as well as the
ex-mate's kindly manner; "are they after me still,Sam?"

" You are here with us," saith Seth, puzzled at the
boy's addressing him so familiarly; "but my name arn't
Sam, leastways, not as I knows on."

The boy looked in his face, and seemed disappointed.

" No, you are not Sam, though you are like him.
Oh, now I recollect all?" and he hid his face in his
hands and burst into a passionate fit of crying, as if
his heart would break.

154 PICKED UP AT SKA.

" There, there," said Seth, patting him on the back,
"it's all right, I tell you, my b'y; an' when Seth saj's
so I guess he means it!"

But the boy would not stop weeping; and Seth,
thinking that some harm might result to his newty-
awakened reason if he went on like that, strode to the
door and summoned help, with a stentorian hail that
rang through the valley as loudly as the cheer of the
miners had done one instant before.

" Ahoy there, all hands on deck ' " he shouted, hardly
knowing what he was saying, adding a moment after-
wards, " Wilton, you're wanted ! Look sharp."

" Here I am," cried Wilton, hurrying up, with Mr.
Rawlings after him. "What is the matter now, Seth?"

" I can't make him do nothin'," said that worthy
liopelessly. " He takes me to be some coon or other
called Sam, an' then when I speaks he turns on the
waterpower and goes on dreadful, that I'm afeard he'll
do himself harm. Can't you quiet him, Wilton; he
kinder knowed you jest now?"

" I'll try," said Ernest; and kneeling by the boy's
side, he drew his hands away from his face and gentlj'
spoke to him.

" Frank ! look at me : don't you know me ? "

" Ye — e — s," sobbed he, " you — j^ou are Ernest. But
how did you come here? you weren't on board the
ship. Oh, father! where are you, and all the rest?"

And the boy burst out crying again, in an agony of
grief which was quite painful to witness.

Presently, however, he grew more composed; and, in
a broken way, Ernest managed to get his story from
him — a terrible tale of mutiny, and robbery, and murder
on the high seas.

This was his story, as far as could be gathered from
his disconnected details.

Frank Lester, much against his mother's wishes, had
persuaded his father to take him with him in the early

A TALE OF BLOOD. 155

part of the previous year to the diamond fields in South
Africa, whither Mr. Lester was going for the purpose
of purchasing some of the best stones he could get for
a large firm who intrusted him with the commission.
The object of the journey had been safely accomplished,
and Mr. Lester and Frank reached Cape Town, where
they took their return passage to England in a vessel
called the Dragon King.

Seth nudged Mr. Rawlings at this point.

"Didn't I say that was the name of the desarted
ship?" he asked in a whisper.

And Mr. Rawlings nodded his assent.

The Dragon King — to continue Frank's, or Sailor
Bill's story — was commanded by a rough sort of cap-
tain, who was continually swearing at the men and ill-
treating them; and, in the middle of the voyage a
mutiny broke out on board, started originally by some
of the hands who wished merely to deprive the captain
of his authority, and put the first mate, who was much
liked by the men, in his place; but the outbreak was
taken advantage of by a parcel of desperadoes and
ne'er-do-weels, who were returning home empty handed
from the diamond diggings, and were glad of the oppor-
tunity of plundering the ship and passengers — whence
the mutiny, from being first of an almost peaceful
character, degenerated into a scene of bloodshed and
violence which it made Frank shudder to speak about.

His father, fearing what was about to happen, and
that, as he was known as having been up the country
and in the possession of j ewels of great value, the des-
peradoes would attempt to rob him first, placed round
Frank's neck, in the original parchment-covered parcel
in which he had received them from the bank at the
diamond fields, the precious stones he had bought, with
all his own available capital as well as his employers'
money, thinking that that would be the last place
where the thieves would search for them.

156 PICKED UP AT SEA.

" And now they ai'e lost," added the boy with another
stifled sob, " and poor mother will be penniless."

"Nary a bit," said Seth; and pulling out the little
packet by the silken string attached round his neck —
which the poor boy had not thought of feeling for
even, he was so confident of his loss — he disclosed it to
his gaze. " Is that the consarn, my b'y?" he asked.

"Oh!" exclaimed Frank in delighted surprise. "It
is, with the bank seal still unbroken, I declare!"

And opening the parchment cover he showed Ernest
and the rest some diamonds of the first water, that
must have been worth several thousand pounds.

After his father had given the parcel into his care,
Frank went on to say, events transpired exactly as he
had anticipated. Most of the passengers were robbed,
and those that objected to being despoiled tranquilly,
murdered. Amongst these were his father, whom the
rufBans killed more out of spite from not finding the
valuables they expected on him. He, Frank, escaped
through the kindness of one of the sailors, who took a
fancy to him, and hid him up aloft in the ship's foretop
when the men who had possession of the ship would
have killed him.

" This sailor," said Fi-ank, " was just like that gen-
tleman there," pointing to Seth.

"Waal neow, that's curious," said Seth. "Was his
name Sam?"

"It was," said the boy.

" This is curious," said Seth, looking round at the
rest; " it is really. I wouldn't be at all surprised as
how that's my brother Sam I haven't heerd on for this
many a year, or seed, although he's a seafarin' man
like myself, an' I oughter to 'ave run across his jib
afore now. Depend on it, Rawlin's, that the reason the
boy stuck to me so when he hadn't got his wits, and
came for to rescue me aboard the Susan Jane, and
arterwards, was on account of my likeness to Sam."

THE LAST OF THE MUTINEERS. 157

And as nobody could say him nay, it may be men-
tioned here that that was Seth's fervent belief ever after.

The last recollection that Frank had of the ship and
the mutineers was of an orgie on board the Dragon
King in the height of a storm, and of one of the mur-
derous villains hnding or.t his retreat in the foretop,
where the sailor who protected him lashed him to the
rigging, so that he could not tumble on deck if he
should fall asleep. He remembered a man with gleam-
ing eyes and great white teeth swearing at him, and
making a cut at him with a drawn sword. After that,
all was a complete blank to him till he had just now
opened his eyes and recognized Ernest.

"An yer don't recollect being picked up at sea an'
taken aboard the Susan Jane, and brought here, nor
nuthm'?" inquired Seth.

" Nothing whatever," said Frank, who showed him-
self to be a remarkably intelligent boy now that he
had recovered his senses. " 1 don't remember anything
that happened in the interval."

" Waal, that is curious," observed Seth.

That was all the story that Frank Lester could tell
of the mutiny on board the Dragon King, and his won-
derful preservation.

All the mutineers, and some of their victims too most
probably, met their final doom shortly afterwards in the
storm that had dismasted the ship, leaving it to float
derelict over the surface of the ocean; all but the three
whose corpses the visiting party from the Susan Jane
had noticed on the submerged deck. These must have
survived the tempest only to perish finally from each
other's murderous passions, after having lingered on in a
state of semi-starvation possibly — although Frank said
that the desperadoes from the diamond fields, who were
the ringleaders on board, were originally the most
attenuated, starved-looking mortals he had ever seen
in his life.

CHAPTER XXV.

HOMEWARD BOUND.

The work at the mine went on steadily. The
"pocket" was cleared of the quartz it contained, and the
whole, amounting to two hundred and fifty tons, passed
through the stamp.

The soldiers, on their return from their victory over
the Sioux, had spread the news of the wonderful fiiud
of gold at Minturne Creek, and miners had flocked up
in hundreds. When the pocket was emptied, a debate
arose whether a heading should be driven along the
course of the lode to the spot where Mr. Rawlings'
cousin had struck gold, and where it was probable that
another pocket existed. It was, however, decided to
accept the offer of a body of wealthy speculators, who
offered £100,000 for the set. This was indeed far less
than they would have gleaned from it had the second
pocket turned out as rich as the first, for the gold,
when all the quartz was crushed, amounted in value to
£330,000. Half of the total amount was divided by
Mr. Rawlings, according to his promise, among the
miners. Seth receiving three shares, Noah Webster
two, and the men one each. To Ernest Wilton he gave
one-fourth of his own share of the proceeds.

Then, starting from the spot where they had toiled
so hard, the little band set out for the haunts of civi-
lization once more, leaving behind, where they had
found a solitary valley, a place dotted with huts and
alive with busy men.

SEPAllATION. 159

At Bismark the men separated, some to proceed
back to their beloved California, to star it among their
fellows with their newdy acquired wealth, others to
dissipate it in riotous living in the nearest frontier
towns, while others again, struck with the greed of
gold, thought that they had not yet got enough, and
proceeded rapidly to gamble away what they had.

Mr. Rawlings went eastwards tow^ards Boston, in-
tending to take steamer thence to England, which he
resolved never to leave again in the pursuit of adven-
ture now that fortune had so generously befriended him ;
and with him came Ernest Wilton, taking charge of
his recovered cousin; and Seth, who could not bear to
lose sight of his former protege.

Josh and Jasper had been left behind, the two
darkeys sinking their mutual jealousy, and determin-
ing to start a coloured hotel on the Missouri, for the
benefit of travelling gentlemen of their own persuasion;
so too had Noah Webster, who said he liked hunting
■ better than civilization, and intended to pass the re-
mainder of his days out west in the company of Moose,
who was as eager after game as he was himself and as
fearless of the Indians, should they again trouble them,
after their Minturne Creek experiences.

Wolf, however, was one of the homeward-bound
party. He certainly could not be abandoned after all
his faithful services, and the wonderful instinct he had
displayed, more than his ma.ster had done, in recogniz-
ing Frank, whom he had not seen since puppyhood,
when Ernest Wilton's aunt, Frank's mother, gave him
to the young engineer.

As luck would have it, on the arrival of Mr. Rawlings
and his party at Boston whom should they meet acci-
dentally at the railway depot but Captain Blowser, of
the Susan Jane, as hearty and jolly as of yore, and
delighted to see them !

His ship he "guessed" was just going to Europe,

160 PICKED UP AT SEA.

and he would be only too glad of their taking passage
in her.

Need it be mentioned that the captain's offer was
accepted; and that, long before Frank Lester — the
"Sailor Bill" whom Seth loved, and the crew of the
Susan Jane and the gold-miners of Mintui'iie Creek had
regarded with such affection — had arrived in England to
gladden his mother's heart by his restoration, as if from
the dead, when he had long been given up for lost, to-
gether with his father's property which he carried with
him, he had learnt every detail, as if he had been in
his right senses at the* time, of how he had been
"Picked up at Sea?"

~^rf^'

THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

•^^^

(196)

THE COESAIE OF CHIOS;

OR, GREEK PIKATES AND TURKISH BRIGANDS.

A TALE OF ADVEXTUEE BY SEA AND LAXD.

CHAPTER I.

IN BEYROUT HARBOUR.

G '

"It's a thundering shame our sticking here so long
and I'm sick of the beastly old place," said Tom Aid
ridge in a grumbling tone, as he leant over the bul-
warks listlessly, crumbling bits of biscuit into the sea
to attract the fish, which would not be attracted, and
gazing in an idle way at the roof of the pacha's palace,
that glittered under the rays of the brigh_^ Syrian sun.
"I'm sick of the place, Charley!" he repeated, more
venomously than before.

"So am I, Tom," said Charley Onslow, his felloM'-
midshipman on board the Museadine, an English barq\ie
of some seven or eight hundred tons, that lay, along
with several foreign vessels of different rig, in the bay
of Beyrout — as pretty a harbour as could he picked out
in a score of voyages, and about the busiest port in the
whole of the Levant.

"So am I, Tom," said Charley with the utmost hearti-
ness. "I am as tired of it as I am of the eternal dates
and coffee, coffee and dates, on which these blessed Arab

164 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

beggars live, and which everybody makes a point
of offering to one, if a chap goes ashore for a minute;
while, on board, we've nothing now to do but to check
off the freight as it comes alongside before it's lowered
in the hold, and look out at the unchanging picture
around us, which is so familiar that I believe I could
paint it with my eyes shut if I were an artist. Talk
of the beauty of Beyrout, indeed! To my taste, it's the
most monotonous hole I was ever in in mj life, and I
hate it!"

And yet, in spite of Charley Onslow's peevish criti-
cism, the scene around him and his companion was
charming enough.

The Muscadine was anchored out in the roads, close
to the jutting promontory on which the lazaretto build-
ings were lately erected, that stretched out like an
arm into the harbour ; and the view from her deck pre-
sented a beautiful panorama of the semi-European,
semi-Oriental town, nestling on the very edge of the
blue waters of the Mediterranean, and surrounded by
gently-undulating hills, that were terraced with sym-
metrical rows of trim olive-trees and vineyards, rising
tier upon tier, the one above the other; amidst which,
occasionally peeped out sHly the white cupola of some
suburban villa belonging to one of the wealthy mer-
chants of the port, or the minaret of a Moslem mosque,
standing out conspicuously against the shrubbery of
foliage formed of different tints of green, from the
palest emerald shade to the deepest indigo, that cul-
minated finally in the cedar-crowned heights of the
mountains of Lebanon in the purple distance.

It was not a quiet scene either, as might have been
imagined from the idle ennui of both the young sailors,
whom it seemed to have well-nigh bored to death.
On the contrary, to an unprejudiced looker-on it was
quite the reverse of being inactive.

In the foreground the harboiir was lively enough,

A GOOD SUGGESTION. 165

with boats and caravals, and other Turkish craft of all
sizes and shapes, darting here and there like great
white-winged dragon-flies, as they were wafted swiftly
one moment by some passing whiff of air, or lying
still on the surface of the sea as the wind fell and
they were temporarily becalmed, until another gust
came from the hills to rouse them out of their noontide
slucrgishness.

Amongst them, too, were ships' boats belonging to
the different vessels, anchored, like the Muscadine, out
in the roads, being pulled to and from the shore, anon
laden with merchandise, anon returning for more;
while, of course, the dingy black smoke and steady
paddle-beat of the inevitable steamer, that marks the
progress of Western civilization in the East, made
themselves seen and heard, to complete the picture and
make the contrast the more striking.

"Tom," said Charley presently, after the two had
remained silent for some time, still standing in the
shade of the awning aft, that protected them from the
burning heat of the sun, which was at its most potent
point, it being just mid-day.

" Yes," said the other grumphily, as if disinclined
even for conversation.

" It has just gone eight bells."

" Can't I hear as well as you, Charley ? What's the
use of bothering a felJow? Do leave me alone."

" I only wanted to say, Tom, that the skipper said
we might go ashore this afternoon if we liked, as soon
as the second mate came on board; and there he is
coming off in the jolly-boat now."

" I don't care whether Tompkins comes off or not,"
replied Tom Aldridge in the same peevish tone as he
had spoken at first. " What's the good of going ashore ? "

" Oh,lots of good," said Charley Onslow more cheerily.
" Better than stopping here cooped up like a fowl and
being grilled in the sun."

166 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

" Well, I can't see the difference between getting
roasted ashore and roasted on board, for my part,"
retorted Tom. " It's six of one and half-a-dozen of the
other."

" You lazy duffer! " said Charley laughing; " you are
incorrigible. But do come along with me, Tom. We
haven't landed now for two days, and I can't stand the
Muscadine any longer."

" I suppose you'll have your way, as you always do,"
grumbled the other, turning away at last from his list-
less contemplation of the prospect with which he had
owned himself so disgusted. " I don't know how it is,
Charley, but you seem to manage me and everybody
here just as you like; you can come round the skipper
even, when you set your mind to it, and that is what
no one else can do ' "

" You forget Mr. Tompkins."

"I don't count him at all," said Tom Aldridge in-
dignantly. " He's a sneak, and gets his way by wheedl-
ing and shoe-scraping! But you, Charley, go to work
in quite a different fa.shion. Why, I'm hanged if you
don't cheek a fellow when you want to get something
out of him. It's your Irish impudence that does it, my
boy, I expect."

" Sure, an' it's a way we have in the ould counthry, '
said Charley, putting on the brogue so easily that it
seemed natural to him — which indeed it was, as he was
born not twenty miles from Cork, in the neighbour-
hood of which is sitiiated the far-famed " Blarney
stone," that is supposed to endow those who kiss it
with the "gift of the gab;" and Charley must have
" osculated it," as a Yankee would say, to some pur-
pose.

" Be jabers, thin, ye spalpeen," laughed Tom — who
had got out of his grumpy state quickly enough; for his
disposition was almost as light-hearted as that of his
friend, and it was only the heat and the confinement

"THE REAL STUFF." 167

on board ship when in harbour that had previously
oppressed his spirits — " let us look smart, and be off
Here's that fellow Tompkins just coming up the side,
and I don't want any more of his company than I can
help ! Tell him we're going by the captain's permission,
Charley. I don't want to say a word to him after that
row this morning. You are still on speaking tei-ms
with him, and I'm not. And while you are settling
matters with the old sneak, I'll get the dingy ready,
and fetch up the bottle of brandy 1 promised that jolly
old Turk at the cofFee-shop."

" You'd better water it a bit, Tom," said Charley, as
the other was diving down the companion stairs. " It's
awfully strong; and you know Mohammedans are not
accustomed to it."

" Not a drop of it, my boy," replied he, disappearing
for a moment from view, and his voice receding in the
distance. " I promised the old infidel that he should
have the real stuflf, and I'll let him see that a giaour
can keep his word."

In a second or two he came up again, the bottle,
however, concealed in the pocket of his reefer of light
blue serge. And hauling in the painter of the boat,
which was floating astern, while Charley was still con-
fabulating with the second officer, who had come on
board in the meantime, he sat himself doi'S'n in her, and
Avaited patiently till his chum had done with the ob-
noxious Mr. Tompkins, who seemed to have a good
deal to say, and that of a not very pleasant character.
" Bother the chap ! " said Charley, when he was at
length released, and, shinning down a rope, sat down
in the stern-sheets of the dingy, as Tom Aldridge took
up the sculls and shoved oft" from the ship. " He's got
as much to say as Noah's great-grandmother. And the
gist of it all, fault finding, of course."

" What can you expect from a pig, eh ? " said Tom,
philosophically, when the boat was well clear of the

168 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

Muscadine, setting to work leisurely and pulling to
shore, while Charley reclined at his ease on the cushions
which he had taken the trouble to hx up for himself,
and — did nothing, as usual

It was the general sort of "division of labour"
amongst them.

However, they were fast friends, and, as Tom didn't
complain, nobody else has any right to tind fault.

" A grunt, I suppose," replied Charley, in answer to
Tom's conundrum. " At least, from a Welsh pig, like
Tompkins. An Irish one, bedad! would have better
manners."

" Bravo, Charley ! " exclaimed Tom, bursting out into
a laugh in which his companion as heartily joined.
'■ You stick to your country, at all events, which is
more than can be said for our leek-eating friend. He
always wishes to deny that he belongs to the land of
the Cymri and hails from Swansea, as he does. The
sneak ! I'm sure a decent Welshman would be ashamed
to own him. But, don't let us worry ourselves any
longer about Tompkins; it's bad enough to have him
with us on board, without lugging him ashore, too;
hang him ! "

" Ay, ay, so say I," sang out Charley, in the best
accord.

And then, after a few more vigorous strokes from
the sculls, propelled by Tom's muscular arms, the bow
of the dingy stranded on the sandy shore, and the two
boys landed in the highest glee, without a trace of the
ill-humour and despondency in which they had been
apparently plunged not an hour or so before.

CHAPTER II.

THE COFFEE-SHOP IN BEYEOUT.

Pushing past the crowds of busy and idle people,
Greeks, Turks, Armenians, Maronites, Arabs, French-
men, and a few English, like themselves, who thronrred
the narrow streets, which were lined on either side with
stores built in the American fashion for the disposal
of European goods ; narrow Eastern shops, and bazaars
and caravanseries, hung with carpets, and displaying
grapes and figs, and all sorts of fruit in true Oriental
style; they made their way towards a Turkish coffee-
house that was situated not far from the waterside,
and much patronized by those who, like themselves,
had to do with ships and seafaring concerns — although,
they did not arrive very quickly at their destination,
for the time for the noonday halt having passed by,
the usual caravans from Damascus and the interior
were coming in, long traijis of camels, asses, and mules,
laden with coti'ee, raw silk, rhubarb, untanned leather,
figs, aromatic gums, and all the varied merchandise
(hat conies through Arabia and Persia to the ports of
t!io Levant; and, consequently, the main thoroughfares
were so blocked with these cojnmercial pilgrims fi-om
the desert, that it was as much as Torn and Charley
could do to get along.

They did it at length, however, by dint of shoving
themselves unceremoniously through the lookers-on
who congregated to see the caravans pass, taking no
notice of the many invocations to Allah to curse them, as

170 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

" dogs of Christians/' who profaned the sacred presence
of the followers of Islam by breathing the same air as
themselves; finally reaching the courtyard of Moham-
med's khan, aftermuch jostling and struggling andgood-
natured exposulation and repartee, enlivened with many
a hearty laugh as some donkey driver came to grief
with his load, or when a venerable Arab sheikh on a
tall dromedary sputtered with rage at finding the way
impassable and his dignity hurt.

The Turk who kept the khan, or coffee-house, was a
middle-aged man, who had seen a good deal of all sorts
of life in knocking about the world, and was so cos-
mopolitan in his character that he was almost dena-
tionalized. He had a round, good-humoured face, that
told as plainly as face could tell that he was no ascetic,
or rigid Mussulman bound to the edicts of the Koran,
but one who liked good living as well as most folk.

Tom's description of him hit him off exactly; he
was decidedly "a jolly old Turk" — nothing more nor
less.

On seeing the boys come in, he at once made places
for them beside him on the divan, where he sat on a
pile of cushions smoking a long chibouque, with a
coffee-cup beside him on a little tray, that also con-
tained sweetmeats, from which he took an occasional
sip in the intervals, when he removed the stem of his
pipe from his lips and emitted a vast volume of tobacco-
smoke in one long puff.

" Aha, my young capitan I " said he to Tom Aldridge,
when they had seated themselves, cross-legged, as he
was, and accepted the chibouques brought to them im-
mediately by an Arab boy, "you ver long time coming
to see me. I tinks I nevare see yous no more!"

He spoke broken English, but with his genial manner
and broad smile of welcome made himself readily under-
stood.

" I couldn't come before," said Tom. " But I didn't

A Turk's "medicine." 171

forget you all the same, for I've brought what I pro-
mised, the bottle of — "

" Hush-h!" interrupted old ilohammed, with a warn-
ing gesture, placing his hand before Tom's mouth..
"De med-i-seen for my leg? Ah, yase, I recollects.
I am ver mooch oblige. Tanks. You'll have some
cafe?"

" No, thank you," replied Tom. " I and my friend
here are sick of coffee; let us have some sherbet instead,
although we don't want anything. We only came to
have a chat with you and a smoke, that'.s all."

" That is all raite, my frcns. I don't like mooch
coffees myselfs. De med-i-seen is mooch bettaires,"
said Mohammed, patting his stomach and grinning
again, as he winked knowingly at Tom, in a manner
that would have shocked a true believer, while he
shouted out an order to the Arab boy. " But, de sheer-
beet is goot for de leetle boys, yase."

" Cunning old rogue," said Charley, aside to Tom.
" He wants all the brandy for himself, although he
wouldn't like his fellow-religionists to know that he
drank it. I suppose if we wished for some, we would
have to ask for a drop of the meed-i-seen."

" Oh, he's not a bad sort," replied Tom. " He has
offei'ed me wine many a time, and he's a generous old
chap, I should think. Well, Mohammed," he continued,
aloud, "and how's business?"

" Ver bad, ver bad inteet," said that worthy. " I nevare
did no worse in my loife. I shall have to shoot up de
shop soon."

"That's a good one!" exclaimed Tom. "You can
tell that to the marines. I bet you've got a snug little
pile of piastres stowed away somewhere."

"P'raps I halve," said the old Turk, nodding his
head as he smiled complacently; "and if you young
shentlemens should be vat you call ' ard oop,' I could
lend you some moneys. But don't talk so lout," he

172 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

added cautiously, casting a glance at a group of Greek
sailors who were gabbling away near them, and scan-
ning Tom and Charley curiously, " I don't like de look
of dose fellows dere, and dey might hear us talk if dey
leesten, and vill remembers."

" What of that ? " asked Charley: " I don't suppose
they would understand us."

"Aha, so you tink," said Mohammed warily. "But
dose Grecs are ver knowing and oop to every ting. Dey
are bad, ver bad, every one."

As he spoke two of the Greeks separated themselves
from the group, and came over to where they were sit-
ting, as if sent for the purpose.

" I understand," said one, who acted as spokesman,
and addressed them in the most perfect English, "that
your captain is in M'ant of hands?"

The question was pertinent enough, as more than
half the crew were laid up in the Beyrout hospital, or
lazaretto, with a sort of malarial fever, and the Mus-
cadine was only waiting for their recovery, or until
enough hands could be shipped, to enable her to pursue
her voyage to her next port, Smyrna, where she was to
complete her cargo, and then sail for England.

The boys of course knew this well enough, but they
did not see it was any business of the Greeks, and after
Mohammed's hint as to their character they resented
the inquiry as a piece of impudence.

" How do you know which is our ship ? " said Charley,
in Irish fashion asking another question, in lieu of
answ'ering the one addressed to him; "and if you do,
whether she wants hands or not ? "

He spoke rather uncivilly, but the man replied to him
with studied politeness.

" I beg your pardon, sir," said he, " but the Musca-
dine is the only English ship in the harbour, and any
one who has travelled like myself could easily tell the
nationality of yourself and your friend. I am aware.

AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE. 173

also, that several of your crew are laid up in hbs-
pital."

" And supposing such is the case," said Tom Aldridge,
taking up the cudgels, " what then ? "

" Only, sir," replied the man, even more obsequiously
than before, "I and several others here, who are in
want of a ship, would be glad to sign articles with
you."

" The others you mention are Greeks like yourself,
I suppose?" inquired Tom, still brusquely, as if he did
not care whether he offended his interlocutor or not.

" Yes, sir," said the man, " but my countrymen are
generally reckoned to make good sailors, and ship in
all sorts of vessels to all parts of the world."

" That may be," answered Tom, who hardly knew
what to say, " but it is no concern of mine. You had
better speak to Captain Harding about the matter; we
can't engage you."

" No?" said the man with a half sneer, half smile on
his face, and he seemed about to say something nasty;
but he altered his mind before he uttered the words,
and completed his sentence with another civil inquiry,
at which neither Tom nor Charley could take offence.
" And, where can I and my friends see the captain, sir?"

" On board, any time before ten in the morning or
after sunset in the evening," said Tom curtly.

He didn't like the man, but he was at a loss how he
could put him off in any other way.

" Thank you, sir, I'm deeply obliged for your conde-
scension," said the Greek, who then regained his com-
rades, and the group presently walked out of the khan.

"Bismillah!" ejaculated Mohammed as soon as the
Greeks had disappeared. " Can I believe my eyes ?
That scoundrel has got the impudence of Sheitan, and
must be in league with the spirits of Eblis."

"Who is he? do you know him?" eagerly asked
Tom and Charley almost in one breath of the Turk,

174 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

who exhibited all the appearance of stupefied astonish-
ment.

"Mashallah! do I know him?" gasped out Moham-
med, his emotion nearly choking him. " Allah is great
and Mohammed is his prophet — do I know him^" he
repeated, taking a long draw at his chibouque as if to
calm his nerves, while he lay back for a moment mo-
tionless amid his cushions.

"Well, who on earth is he, Mohammed?" demanded
Tom abruptly — "that is, unless the a — medicine — has
got into your head."

While the Greek had been talking to Charley in the
first instance, it may be mentioned that Tom had dex-
terously transferred the bottle of brandy to the keep-
ing of the Turk, who had secreted it behind his back,
after turning half aside and pouring out a pretty good
dose into his coffee-cup, all with the most rapid leger-
demain as if he were a practical conjuror.

" Efl^endi," said Mohammed with dignity, "you insult
me by such a remark. The sight of that man —
that Grec, that villainous piratt, quite overwhelmed
me."

"Pirate!" said Charley, for Tom was too much
abashed by the Turk's rebuke to speak.

"Yes, piratt," repeated Mohammed firmly. "That
would-be simple Grec sailor, as he represented himself
to you, was no one else than Demetri Pedrovanto,
better known in the ^gean Sea, as 'The Corsair of
Chios.' There's a price of ten thousand piastres on
his head. Mashallah ! How he dares show himself in
Beyrout, amongst the enemy he has plundered, I know
not. However, kismet! 'tis his fate, I suppose."

"Are you sure?" asked Charley, who was inclined to
think that Mohammed was cramming them.

"Effendi, throw dirt on my beard if I lie. It is De-
metri Pedrovanto, sure enough."

"But I never heard of pirates being about in these

THE devil! 175

waters, with so many French and English cruisers
going backwards and forwards in the neighbourhood,"
observed Tom.

"Aha, you Inglese and Frenchmans don't know
everyting!" said the Turk laconically, after emitting
another volume of smoke, which he had been appar-
ently accumulating all the time he had been speaking
previously. " There are alway piratts in dese seas, and
always will be, as long as Grecs are Grecsl"

"Ah, you say that because you are a Turk," said
Charley chafSngly.

"No, no, no," replied Mohammed, shaking his head
vehemently. "I'm not one great bigot because I have
been born under the crescent. I am cosmopolitaine.
You ask your consul, or ze Americans, dey will tell
you the same. All dose Grecs are piratts, and dem as
isn't piratts are brigands, tiefs, every-one."

"Well, you've got a very good opinion of them at
any rate," said 'Tom. "I wonder what the beggar
spoke to us for, eh ? If he is the man you say, I don't
suppose he would have the cheek to go on board the
Muscadine."

"No, I should think not," agreed Charley; "and if
he does, the skipper will soon overhaul his papers, and
then find him out."

"Aha, ah!" grunted out Mohammed. "De Grec is
one ver clevaire rogue, and would sheet Sheitan him-
self."

"Who is he?" a.sked Charley innocently. "I heard
you mention him before."

"De Debbie!" answered the Turk, so gravely that
both the young fellows burst out into such paroxysms
of laughter that Mohammed thought they were ridi-
culing him, and they had much difiiculty in assuring
him to the contrary. Indeed, it was not until late in
the evening, after they had dinner of kabobs and cofiee
and their host had imbibed several cups of his "med-i-

176 THE COKSAIR OF CHIOS.

seen," that he grew friendly again; and then, he was
so cordial that he wept over them at their departure,
and assureil them that he loved them a,s his own ehil-
(h'en, as his brothers, as his father, nay, even as his
great-grandfather, who had borne the standard of the
prophet in the annual pilgrimage to Mecca!

When Tom and Charley got on board the Musca-
dine, they saw only the second officer, Mr. Tompkins,
who after telling them that they were very late, and
that the captain had turned in long since, said they
might go below; which of course, as the ship was in
harbour and only an anchor watch kept, when their
services were not required, they were extremely grate-
ful for, and turned in accordingly, without giving a
thought to their rencontre at the khan.

The next morning, however, when they came on deck
they saw three or four Greek sailors lounging about
the fokes'l, and Mohammed's warning recurred to then
with startling significance.

"Who are those men?" asked Charley of Mr. Tomp-
kins, who was in command of the vessel for the time
being. Captain Harding, the skipper, having gone
ashore, and the chief mate being invalided with those
of the crew who were in the lazaretto.

"Some new hands the captain shipped last night,"
answered he; "and if you've any more business ashore.
Master Onslow, you'd better look sharp about it, as
we're going to sail as soon as we'v^e obtained pratique,
■v\hich will be about four bells, I reckon."

"But, does Cap' en Harding know about them?"
asked Tom, sinking his objection to having any con-
versation with the second officer in the urgency of the
occasion.

"You mind your own business, you young dog," said
Tompkins, glad to have the opportunity of snubbing
Tom. "I suppose you would like to command this
khip, but you sha'n't while I'm on board."

THE FRESH HANDS. 177

"You cad!" muttered Tom under his breath, as he
walked away forward to look at the men more closely.
"I wish I had you on land for a quiet half hour, and
I'd soon take the starch out of you!"

"None of your jaw," shouted the second mate as a
parting shot. "I hear you, and if you speak another
word I'll have you put in irons for mutiny," swearing
also a fearful oath. So Tom had to put up with the
other's language and nurse his wrath until the skipper
came on board.

When Charley joined him presently, they took note
of the new additions to the crew, who were altogether
eight in number; but to their surprise they did not see
the Greek among them whom Mohammed had indi-
cated as being the far-famed corsair; and on their
comparing their views they both agreed that the
worthy Turk must have been "slinging the hatchet"
at their expense, or else mistaken about the supposed
pirate.

On Ca'^tain Harding coming off, however, they
thought it their duty to tell him what they heard; but
the skipper, who was a bold bluff English sailor, laughed
the Turk's warning to scorn, and joked the young fel-
lows for taking any notice of it.

"What! Mohammed told you, the keeper of the khan
by the Capuchin monastery. My dear boys, he was
only humbugging you. I saw the old rascal this very
morning hauled up before the cadi, for being drunk
and kicking up a row. He must be able to spin a fine
yarn when he has a mind to. There are no pirates
nowadays in the Mediterranean; and if we do come
across any, I believe the Muscadine will be able to
give a good account of them. Pirates ' bless my soul,
what a tremendous liar that old Turk must be! Those
Greeks I've shipped are honest sailors enough ; for I've
examined their papers, and had them before our con-
sul. Besides, I've told them what sort of discipline I

(195) M

178 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

keep on board my ship ; and they are not likely to try
and come the old soldier over me — not if John Harding
knows it!"

"But, captain," put in Tom.

The skipper wouldn't hear any more, however.
"Now get to your stations, lads," said he, to show that
the private interview was at an end. "Mr. Aldridge,
I must make you acting second officer in Mr. Tomp-
kins' place, as I've promoted him to poor Wilson's
berth until he can join me at Smyrna, as I'm bound to
start at once now that I have filled up the vacancies
amongst my crew. Charley Onslow, remain aft with
me. All hands up anchor, and make sail!"

In a short time the men working together with a
will, and the new hands specially distinguishing them-
selves for their activity in so marked a manner as to
call forth the approval of the generally grumbling Mr.
Tompkins — although, perhaps, he praised them be-
cause Tom and Charley had suspected them — the
Muscadine had her anchor at the catheads; and, her
topsails having been dropped long before, was sailing
gaily out of Beyrout harbour, under the influence of
the land-breeze that sprang up towards the afternoon,
blowing briskly off shore.

When she had got a good ofiing, and the mountains
of Lebanon becran to sink below the horizon in the
distance as she bowled along merrily on her north-
western course, a long way to the southward of Cyprus,
bearing up direct for the Archipelago, a keen observer
on board might have noticed something that looked
strange, at all events on the face of it.

No sooner had the shades of evening begun to fall
than a long low suspicious-looking vessel crept out
from the lee of the land, and followed right in the
track of the Muscadine, as if in chase of the English
ship.

It was a swift-sailing lateen-rige'ed felucca, one of

A FELUCCA IN SIGHT. 179

those crafts that are common eno^lgh in Eastern waters,
especially in the Lavent.

She spread a tremendous amount of canvas; and
leaping through the sea with the pace of a dolphin,
came up with tlie doomed merchantman hand over
hand.

CHAPTER III.

FRIENDS IX COUNCIL.

The Muscadine when she left England had a crew
of some twenty hands, or with the captain, and first
and second mates, and our friends Tom and Charle}',
twenty-live men altogether — a very fair average, as
the proportion of the seamen usually borne in mei'chant
ships is at the I'ate of about three to every hundred
tons of the vessel's burthen.

Through the illness, however, of the fiist officer, Mr.
Wilson, an amiable man and a thoroush sailor, whom
everybody liketl — quite the reverse of the odious
Tompkins, Tom's and Charley's special bete-noir — and
a large number of the seamen, whom they were forced
to leave behind in hospital at Boyrout, the complement
of the .ship was much reduced, and her crew now
mustered, officers and men, but twenty in number, of
wb.ieh total twelve were Englishmen who had originally
belonged to her, and eight the Greeks whom the cap-
tain had so suddenly shipped at the last moment.

" It's a good job that Cap'en Harding didn't get any
more of those blessed Greeks aboard: they're almost
equal to us now, man for man," said Tom to Charley,
who on this first night of their being at sea after so
long a detention in port was performing an act of not
altogether disinterested friendship in sharing the first
watch on deck of the newlj'-promoted " second mate,"
as he would persist in addressing Tom.

"Yes, sir; I think you are about right, sir," replied

COUNTING THE ODDS. 181

Charley, with a mock deference, which made Tom grin
in spite of his endeavoui's to preserve a dignified com-
posure. "Is there anything else, sir, you'd like me to
say, sir ? "

" Only, that I'll kick you in the lee scuppers if you
call me 'sir' again. But, Charley, joking aside, I
don't like us having all those Greeks here, and we so
short-handed too."

"Don't you see that that is the precise reason why
they are here, most sapient of second officers? if we
hadn't boon .short-handed the cap'en wouldn't have
shipped them."

" Yes, }-es, I know that," replied the other shortly.
" You don't seem to follow me, Charley, really. What
I meant to point out was, that there are only twelve of
us belonging to the ship on whom we could rely —
indeed only eleven, fqr that matter, as I don't count on
Tompkins; a bully like him would be sure to show the
white-feather in a scrimmage — while these Greek
chaps muster eight strong, all of them pretty biggish
men, too, and all armed with them beastly long knives
of theirs, which I've no doubt they know how to
use."

" Bless you, Tom, Cap'en Harding would be a match
for half-a-dozen of them with his revolver; and you
and I would be able to master the other two, without
calling for aid on any of the foremast hands, or relying
on your chum Tompkins. How fond you're of him,
Tom!"

" Hang Tompkins, and you too, Charley ! You can't
be serious for a moment!"

" Oh yes I can, Tom ; and I will be, now ! I tell you
what, old chap, your sudden promotion has disagreed
wuth you, and you are trying to manufacture a moun-
tain out of a molehill. Those Greeks are not such fools
to attack us unless they gained over the rest of the
crew on their side; and you know that's impossible;

182 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

for every Englishman forward now in the fokes'l I'd
stake my life on; and so would you, Tom, as they've
slujDped M'ith old Harding every voyage he has sailed
since he's been captain of the craft. You've got a ht
of the blue-devils or something, Tom, that makes you
so unlike yourself; or else that blessed old Turk's non-
sense made a deeper impression on you than it has on
nie! "

" You're right, Charley," said Tom Aldridge, giving
himself a shake as if to dispel his strange forebodings.
" I don't know what has come over me to-night. Of
course, if those beggars should rise, we could whop
them easily enough. To tell you the truth, I shouldn't
mind if they did, if Tompkins only got a knock on the
head in the fight ! "

"Bravo, Tom! that's more like yourself! But isn't
your watch nearly over? It must be six bells by now;
the moon is getting up."

"So it is, Charley I wish you would call that beast
for me; it's time he was on deck."

"All right! " shouted the other with a laugh, scuttlino-
down, and hammering at the first mate's cabin-door,
so loudly that Tom could hear him plainly above, and
also Mr. Tompkins' deeply growled oaths in response
to the sunnnons, after it was repeated once more with
all the strength of the middy's fists beating a tattoo.

" He'll be here in a minute," said Charley, as he
hurried up the companion in advance of the gentleman
he had called to relieve Tom's watch; although Tomp-
kins came pretty close behind him, swearing still, and
glaring at the two young fellows in the moonlight as
if he could " eat them without salt," as Charley said.

Before going below, Tom gave the first mate the
ship's course, as was customary, " nor'- west and by
north," reporting also that all w^as right and nothing in
sight, no vessel had passed them during the night; and
then he and Charley turned into their bunks, with the

"TURNING IN." 183

expectation of having a better " caulk " than they had
had all the time the Muscadine had lain at anchor in
Beyrout Roads, for while there, the heat and lassitude
produced by their having almost nothing to do had so
banished sleep that they hardly cared when the time
came for their " watch below." Now, however, it was
all different; as what with the bustle of preparation
in storing the last of their cargo, and seeing to those
endless little matters which had to be put in ship-
shape manner before the anchor was weighed, and the
actual departure itself, their time had been fully oc-
cupied nearly from dawn to sundown, and their feet
and hands busy enough in running about on deck and
aloft, directing the crew under the captain's orders, and
lending assistance where wanted. So it was with the
comfortable assurance of bavins' earned their four
hours' rest that they went below that first night at
sea.

" I guess old Tompkins will have to rap pretty loud
to make me budge at eight bells," said Tom with a
portentous yawn, as he peeled off' his reefing jacket
and turned in " all standing," as he expressed it, with
the exception of his boots. He was too tired to un-
dress; and besides, he thought, in his lazy way, what
was the use of his doing so when he would have to
turn out again and relieve the first mate at four o'clock
in the morning, just as he was beginning to enjoy
himself.

"By George, a sailor's life is a dog's life!" he mut-
tered out aloud.

"What, eh?" sleepily murmured Charley from the
other bunk adjacent, the two occupying one cabin be-
tween them ; and, presently, the pair were " wrapped
in the arms of Morpheus," and snoring like troopers in
concert, the captain playing a nasal obligate from his
state-room in the distance, whither he had retired a
.short time before themselves, after being satisfied that

184 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

the ship was proceeding well on her course and every-
thing all right.

And all this time the Muscadine was bowling so
favourably along at the rate of some eight knots an
hour, carrying with her the fair wind with which she
had started from port, the felucca that had left the
Syrian coast shortly after still followed in her track,
although hull down on the horizon, and her white
lateen sails only just dimly discernible to a sharp eye
that was looking out for her, under the rays of the
rising moon, which now emerged from the waste of
water that surrounded the two vessels with its fathom-
less expanse. But who on board the merchant ship
suspected that they were pursued or looked out for the
felucca, dead astern as she was, and only a tiny speck
on the ocean?

CHAPTER IV.

THE STRANGE SAIL.

Mr. Tompkin.s, the lato second and now first officer
of the Muscadine, besides possessing a nasty, grum-
bling, fault-finding temper for the benefit of those
under him, and a mean, sly, sneaking sort of way of
ingratiating himself with his superiors, was as obstinate
as a mule, and one of those men who would have his
way, if he could, no matter what might be the conse-
quences. When he was able, as was the case with the
men he was unf ortxmate enough to command, he bullied
those who might differ from him into acquiescence with
his views ; with those over him in authority he adopted
another course, that of wheedling and slavish " shoe
scraping," as Tom Aldridge termed it; but in both in-
stances he generally succeeded in carrying his point,
and arranging things in the manner he had previously
made up his mind to.

Now, with eifrht strange hands, and those foreigners,
who had lately come on board, any reasonable person
would have naturally divided them four and four in
each watch, thus mixing them up with the eight Eng-
lish able seamen left of the Muscadine's original crew;
but no, Mr. Tompkins was of a different opinion, and
what was more, carried round Captain Harding to his
way of thinking, much to Tom and Charley's surprise.

It was not on account of the new first mate having
any ulterior designs on the ship or cargo — that idea
may be dismissed at once, for he neither had the villainy

186 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS,

nor pluck for such a proceeding. His real object was,
that these new men were all fresh to the vessel and
had not yet any experience of his persuasive waj's;
unlike the old hands, who knew Mr. Tompkins so well
that they hated him and shirked work when he was to
the fore — and by getting them all into his watch
matters would be able to go easy with him, and he
would be able to astonish everybody by the way in
which he got the duty done when he had charge of the
ship, instead of having to call on the assistance of the
skipper when his orders were not obeyed, as had fre-
quently been the case before.

He did not tell Captain Harding this, however. His
explanation of the proposed plan was, that the men,
being all Greeks, would work better together, as they
had alreadj' shown when making sail; and, as he under-
stood Lingua Franca, which all foreign sailors can
speak, he could manage them better than " such a boy
as young Aldridge," who might get alono- \\'ell enough
with the old hands who knew him, but would bo power-
less to exercise any authority over those foreigners,
who wanted a man to drill them.

" Very well, Tompkins," said Captain Harding, when
the first mate had well-nigh delug-cd him with his
reasons. "I sujjpose you know best; and as you've got
to see to the working of the ship }"ou can have your
own way, though what you can see to prefer those ill-
looking beggars to decent British tars I'm sure I can't
understand. I'm glad you're not afraid of them, at any
rate ? "

"Afraid, sir!" repeated Tompkins scornfully, with
any amount of braggadocia. " These foreigners only
want you to let them see you are master, and they're
tame enough. It is only from want of firmness that
any trouble ever breaks out when they're on board an
English ship. They need a strict hand over them,
that's all."

A STERN CHASE. 187

" All right, Tompkins. Only don't bully them too
much, you know!" said the captain good-humouredly,
for he was sufficiently acquainted with the first mate's
pleasant way of ordering the men about to be awai'e
that he did not err on the side of leniency in exercising
his authority, as he complained that his subordinate
officer Tom did.

And thus it happened that when Tom and Charley
went below and joined Captain Harding in his slumbers,
the deck was left in sole possession of Mr. Tompkins
and the eight Greek sailors, with the suspicious-looking
felucca creeping up rapidly astern, and getting nearer
and nearer to the Muscadine each hour.

A stern-chase is proverbially a long one. And so,
although the light-wino;ed craft that was following the
ship sailed three feet to her two; yet she had such a
long start, and the breeze was so fair and dead aft —
which was all in favour of a square-rigged vessel and
against a fore-and-after, that sails best with the wind
abeam — that the felucca was still some five miles off
when day broke and the chief mate first discovered
her.

He was not alone in his discovery either, for he
noticed that a part of the watch were looking over the
bulwarks at the approaching vessel, and from their
gesticulations and rapid speech in their own language
he thouglit something was up.

Calling one of the Greek sailors, named in the ship's
articles "Pollydoriy,"as the captain had put him down,
whom he thought he could better make understand
that version of "Lingua Franca" which he pretended
to know, the mate interrogated him as to what he knew
of the felucca, and what was her intention in trying
to overhaul them. The man, however, only shrugged
his shoulders, and jabbered something which he could
make nothing of; and as the group then ceased speak-
ing together, or paying any attention to the stranger,

leo THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

Mr. Tompkins put down their excitable demeanour to
their being only foreigners, and their natural way of
going on, so unlike the stolid British seafaring man,
who hardly notices anything except it specially concerns
him, and even then keeps what he thinks to himself.

As it was getting near the time, however, for him to
be relieved of his watch and go off duty — although it
still wanted half an hour to four bells, when it was
Tom Aldridge's turn to come on deck again and call up
the other men below — he thought he would giveCharley
Onslow a hail in the meantime, to come up and keep
him company until then. Not that he was a bit alarmed
at the approach of the felucca, as he said to himself, or
that he was anyway at all frightened at being alone
on deck with the Greek sailors when so many more of
their comrades might be so close at hand. But it was
always best to be on the safe side, and there was
nothing like a man in authority, as he was, taking
due precaution against any possible danger, no matter
how remote.

Thus trying to cheat his own conscience, Mr. Tomp-
kins sang out for Charley down the companion, awaking
him from the soundest sleep he had had for weeks with
the echoes of his melodious voice.

"Just like the braying of a jackass afflicted with
bronchitis/' as Charley said afterwards ruefully, to his
chum.

Much to the first mate's annoyance, he not only awoke
Charley, but Tom also; both the lads coming on deck
together.

"I didn't call you, Mr. Aldridge," he said angrily.
"My watch is not over yet."

" I'm quite aware of that," said Tom. " But no fellow
could go to sleep after such a hideous row as j^ou made.
And besides" — looking at his watch — "I'm due in an-
other twenty minutes, so I thought I had better come
up with Charley, since I was woke up. Hullo! what is

HAILING THE STRANGER. 189

that?" he added, glancing astern at the felucca, which
was now almost within speaking distance, and coming
on as if she were g'oing' to sheer along'side. " What the
deuce is that piratical-looking craft running us aboard
like that for? If I were you, Mr. Tompkins, I would
signal them to stand off, and call up the captain and
the other watch."

" I will thank you to mind your own business, Mr.
Aldridge," replied the chief mate, not at all pleased with
the suggestion. " If you are so terribly alarmed at the
sight of a common Levantine coaster, you had better go
below again."

And he turned on his heel, Icavino- Tom burnino- with
indignation at having his courage questioned and being
taunted of being frightened, especially by such a person
as Mr. Tompkins.

The felucca was barely a cable's length off now, and
in another minute she passed underneath the Musca-
dine's stern so closely that they could have chucked a
biscuit on board her.

"Schooner ahoy'" hailed Mr. Tompkins. "What's
the matter? Do you v.'ant anything?"

But no reply was made directly, although the felucca
luffed up a bit, and ran for a second or two almost
alongside, the ship's mainyard just touching her reed-
like masts, and a voice uttered a few words rapidly in
Greek, which Charley, although he had a smattering
of the language, could not quite understand, although
the foreign sailors on board their vessel evidently did,
as they replied in the same tongue. And then the
dapper little craft's lateen sails filled again as her helm
was put down, and she How away from the Muscadine,
sailing on a bowline, and heeling over to the wind so
as to display half her keel as she topped the waves,
just as if the other vessel had been lying still in the
water, although she was going a good eight knots by
the log in the same direction.

190 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

" Did you see that fellow's face on board the felucca
who spoke to our men, Charley?" asked Tom anxiously.

"No," said Charley. "But I heard his voice, and
that was enough for me."

" Oh, you recognized him, then?"

"Yes. I could swear, only from his voice, that he was
the same man who spoke to us in Mohammed's coffee-
shop at Beyrout. He had a most peculiar twang in his
speech, which I noticed at the time."

"It was the same chap, Charley; I saw him dis-
tinctly. I wouldn't be at all surprised that Mohammed
was right, and that he is a 'piratt,' as he called him.
But if he is after us, I wonder why he didn't board us
then. That felucca was crammed full of men."

" Ah, piracy would be rather risky work in these
seas, with lots of men-of-war about; at all events, in
broad daylight, as it is now. From the distance the
ship has run, we can't be very far off Cyprus, and the
pirate, if pirate he be, knows well enough that an
English frigate has been stationed there ever since we
occupied the island. I've no doubt, however, Tom, that
he is after us, for I heard, as well as I could make out,
from what I know of the language, two phrases, 'In a
couple of nights' time,' and 'Look out for the signal,'
while the Greek sailors here said, 'It's all right on
board,' as if they had arranged everything. I don't
like it at all, Tom. What a murderous lot of fellows
they are, and what a fool that Tompkins is to insist on
having them all in one watch!"

"We'll tell the captain what we've heard and seen,"
replied Tom.

But at that moment the first mate, who had gone
down into the waist of the ship to confer with the
Greeks, returned, rubbing his hands and with a scorn-
ful smile on his face.

"A nice thing it would have been if I had gone be-
low and wakened up the captain to tell him that a

"A LITTLE UNPLEASANTNESS." 191

fruit-boat from Rosetta was going to run us down!"
said he ironically, speaking at Tom, although he did
not directly address him.

"Rosetta does not lie astei-n of us," said the latter
aside, as if to Charley. "And they didn't answer your
hail, at all events ! "

"Pray, sir, did you understand what they .said?" said
the mate angrily, speaking this time straight to Tom.

"No," he replied.

"Well, then, I do, and I will thank you to hold your
tongue. The men have told me all about it. Those

• • • T

fellows in the schooner had lost their reckoning and
didn't quite know where they were, and our men,
.speaking Greek of course, told them."

"And I M^onder how they knew?" said Tom.

The first mate was posed for a moment, but he
quickly recovered himself.

"I suppose any one without being a sailor could tell
them that as we've run more than a hundred miles
since we left Beyrout yesterday afternoon, and gone in
a nor'- westerly course, we must be a little to the south-
ward of Cyprus. But, I'll thank you to mind your
own business, as I told you before, Mr. Aldridge."

"It is my business," said Tom, "and Til take care to
tell Captain Harding of it."

"Tell the cap'en and be " said Mr. Tomkins in a

rage. "But I'll save you the trouble, I will tell him
myself," he added a moment afterwards, da.shing down
into the cabin, and leaving Tom to dismiss his watch
and take over the duty without another word.

"That's pretty behaviour!" said Tom to Gharley.
"I call that relieving a fellow in proper style. No un-
necessary ceremony at all."

"Well, you brought it on yourself, Tom," said Char-
ley, with a sympathizing grin. "You will badger him
so. I suppose, now you are second officer, you intend
paying him back for old snubs, eh?"

192 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

"I don't want to notice the beggar at all," replied
tne other. "I wouldn't have spoken to him then if it
hadn't been my duty to do so. He is a pig, though. I
daresay he hasn't told the captain anything at all, as
he hasn't come up."

" You let him alone for making his story right,"
said Charley. "Captain Harding hasn't come on deck
because there's nothing to call him; for that mys-
terious craft is hull-down now and almost out of sight
ahead."

Such was the case; and when the captain did turn
out at breakfast time he had heard the first mate's
version of the affair, and as the felucca had now quite
disappeared below the horizon, altogether pooh-poohed
Tom's account of having recognized Mohammed's "cor-
sair," even although Charley backed him up by his
statement of what he had heard say in conversation
A\'ith the stranger.

"Avast there, my dear boys!" said he, speaking good-
humourodly to them, as he always did. "That rascally
old Turk so stuffed you up with his lying yarns, that
you've got pirates on the brain."

Captain Harding, however, did one thing that
pleased them, especially Tom, to whom it gave the
greatest satisfaction.

Despite the first mate's protest, he remodelled the
two watches into which the crew were divided, putting
four of the Greek sailors with an equal nuuiber of
English Jack tars in each, so that should any "little
unpleasantness," as he laughingly observed, occur, the
foreigners would not have it all their own way.

Mr. Tompkins's chagrin when this was effected was
delightful to Tom, although he suffered from it, as the
first mate, ascribing to his suggestion the credit of the
now arrangement, vented his spite on him accordingly,
and tried to make his duties as difficult for him as he
could.

SUSPICIONS. 193

Nothing was seen further all that day, or the next
night, of the felucca, although Tom never went below
for a single watch even when his time for relief came
— except for meals, of course — remaining on deck and
keeping a sharp look-out towards every point of the
compass, not only during his own time of duty but in
that of the chief mate as well, despite the latter's broad
hints and insulting remarks that his absence would be
more agreeable than his company. So, when the fol-
lowing day likewise passed without any I'eappearance
of the suspicious stranger, both the lads began to think
that their fear of being attacked by pirates was only
a chimera, founded, as the captain had said, on Moham-
med's fabulous narrative; for Charley had been quite
as nervous in the matter as Tom, and had shared his
anxious watch with him all through ever since he had
recognized the Greek on board the felucca.

Accordingly, the two, their apprehensions quite al-
layed, turned in together again on the third night the
Muscadine was at sea, without any greater anticipation
of something being about to happen, beyond the usual
disagreeables of a sailor's life, than they had the first
evening after they left port — both quitting the deck
about just the same time as then, too, when Tom was
relieved by the first mate at six bells.

"Isn't that a sail out there, Chai'Iey, right in the
wind's eye?" said Tom as they turned to descend the
companion -stairs, pointing to what looked like a
white speck, far away otf in the direction he had
named.

"A sail be hanged!" exclaimed Charley. "I never
saw such a fellow in my life. You are like Don Quixote,
who fancied every windmill a giant. I believe that
blessed felucca haunts you in your sleep!"

"No, really, Charley, I didn't think it was her. I
meant another sort of sail. But I was mistaken, for I
can see nothing now."

(195) N

194 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

"That's always the way with you, Tom. It strikes
me that all your sails are sells."

At which brilliant piece of wit on Charley's part
both lads laughed so loudly that Mr. Tomkins thought
they were making fun at his expense, and it was gall
and wormwood to him as he paced the deck on the
windward side; and "the two inseparables," as Captain
Harding dubbed them, then turned in without any
further palaver save a brief "good-night," being soon
wafted happily into the land of dreams.

A tolerably fast vessel for her size, and in fair sail-
ing trim, as she was only half-loaded — being unable to
complete her cargo at Beyrout, whence her going out
of her way, as it were, to Smyrna from thence — the
Muscadine, with the good breeze she had at starting,
which had subsequently increased into a very favour-
able wind, strong, but not too strong to prevent her
carrying all plain sail, had made such use of her legs,
as sailors say, that she had by this time run over 500
miles from her point of departure, and before morning
the captain expected they would sight the southern-
most point of Rhodes, and be able to enter the channel
between that island and Scarpanto.

He had therefore issued strict injunctions about a
sharp look-out being kept forward, stationing one of
the English crew in each watch there for that purpose
— as he said he didn't believe in any foreigner's eye-
sight where a ship was concerned — just when he was
leaving the deck, which was shortly before Tom and
Charley, giving orders at the same time that he should
be called as soon as anything was perceived; and these
instructions Tom, as the second officer, passed on, as in
duty bound, to Mr. Tompkins when he relieved him, the
first mate receiving them, as he now invariably did any
statement from his junior, with a characteristic grunt!

There is really no other word in the English lan-
guage to express the meaning of the ejaculative sound

A STAB IN THE DARK ! 195

he made, which signified, equally, acquiescence, ap-
proval, disapproval, or anything.

It was now midnight.

The captain, Tom and Charley, and one of the Eng-
lish hands who acted as steward, were down below
asleep aft, and three English sailors and four Greeks
were supposed to be in the same sonuiolent condition
in the fokes'l; and, on deck, were the first mate and
four more Englishmen, one of whom was on duty as
look-out forward, and another taking his turn at the
wheel; while four of the foreigners and the remaining-
two British seamen lounged about the waist, or stood
grouped around the mainmast-bitts amidships, attentive
to the orders of the officer of the watch, who, being not
in the best of tempers, as usual, did not let them long-
remain idle for a spell.

That was the situation when the first mate called
out, after glancing at his watch, to "make it eight
bells;" and almost at the same moment the look-out
man forward sang out lustily, in a voice that rang
through the ship, "Land ho!"

Whether it was the sound of the ship's bell that
gave the signal, evidently preconcerted beforehand, or
the cry that land was in sight, only the Greek sailors
knew; but, at all events, it roused them in a second to
action, for with a fierce cry the four foreigners who
were amidships rushed on the two Englishmen that
shared their watch, drawino- their knives and stabbino-
them desperately as they fell upon them.

"Murder! Help!" sang out the poor Jack tars; but,
though caught unawares, they made a hard fight for
their lives, one, a north-countryman, although stabbed
in several places, snatching up a capstan bar and brain-
ing the Greek nearest him like a bullock.

At the same time, the four other Greeks who were
down below in the forecastle and supposed to bo sleep-
ing, crept up the hatchway forward, slipping on the

196 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

cover as they got on deck, and went to the assistance
of their companions, who, being thus reinforced, made
short work of the two Englishmen, who presently sank
senseless on the deck which was weltering with their
gore, and then rushed aft in a body, brandishing their
knives and shouting like demons.

Mr. Tompkins showed himself the coM'ard he was,
as Tom had anticipated; for, after hammering on the
top of the cabin skylight to rouse those below, with a
belaying pin he had grasped hold of at the sight of
the struggle in the waist, he incontinently scuttled up
the mizzen shrouds, displaying an agility of which one
would have never thought him capable. The steersman
followed his example; while the look-out man for-
ward, hearing the yells and groans of his comrades, and
seeing what was up, took refuge in the foretop, thus
leaving the seven remaining Greeks, one or two of
whom had suffered in the fray, practically masters of
the ship, which was yawing about like a drunken
man, and backing and filling as she veered this way
and that without any guidance or contiol, nobody
being at the helm.

Two of the Greeks placing themselves on either
side of the cabin hatch to give a warm reception to
the captain and the rest of the Englishmen whom the
noise had fully wakened up, for they were heard stir-
rino" below, the remainder distributed themselves in
the rigging, and started an exciting hunt after the
three who had sought safety aloft.

The steersman was the first caught, and the sweep
of a knife blade across the rope end by which he had
lowered himself from the extreme tip of tlie mizzen
yard-arm, sent him dropping into the sea with a faint
despairing scream; but, the first mate and look-out
man led them a fine dance, up the shrouds on one side
and down on the other, and shifting from the mizzen
to the mainmast, and from that to the foretop again

"potting" the pirates. 197

by sliding down the stays, or catching hold of the falls
and halliards when the pursuit grew too hot — until
both parties, the hunters and the hunted alike, paused
for a moment to draw breath.

As they did so, the two Englishmen who were now
together in the mizzen top, and the Greeks Mdio were
ascendinor the shrouds on either hand — the former
looking down on the quarter-deck below them, and
the latter gazing towards the land that had just been
sighted — uttered as if in chorus an exclamation of joy,
the echo of which from the others seemed to bewilder
both the Greeks and Englishmen.

It was a curious coincidence, the opposite causes for
the gratulation on either side coming together as it
were, but so it was.

At the very moment the mutineers had stopped in
their murderous chase of the first mate and the remain-
ing British sailor. Captain HarcUng, holding a revolver
in each hand, came up through the cabin skylight, as
if propelled by some hidden machinery below — Tom,
Charley, and the steward, all armed to the teeth, jump-
ing up after him.

"Death to the traitorous scoundrels'" exclaimed
Captain Harding, levelling the revolver in his right
hand at one of the Greeks who remained by the com-
panion, paralysed by the unexpected appearance of
those below from a quarter he had never imagined,
while he was looking out for them in a different direc-
tion.

A flash. Bang! and the man fell dead in his tracks;
while Tom gave the other Greek sentry a wipe over
the head with a cutlass, which also sent him to the
deck.

Just then, however, the felucca, which had been lost
sight of so suddenly, and which no one had seen ap-
proaching the ship but the desperadoes aloft, and even
they only at the end of the struggle — seemed to start

198

THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

up out of the deep in some mysterious fashion close to
the Muscadine, and sheered alongside, with a tri-
umphant cheer from the brutal-visaged ruffians who
lined her deck that made Tom and Charley's blood
run cold!

CHAPTER V.

CONQUERED, XOT BEATEN!

The situation had assumed a new phase.

Inspirited by the proximity of the pirate craft, with
their comrades on board, the Greek sailors in the rig-
ging, abandoning their pursuit of the first mate and
the lools-out man — a brave fellow named Jack Bower
— began to descend the ratlins rapidly, with the view
of making an onslaught on the captain and the others
that were in possession of Ihe quarter-deck. Jack, how-
ever, following closely after them now without a trace
of fear, resolving to aid his fellow-countrymen in
making a stand, although he had given them leg-bail
when he stood alone against them, as the first mate
had abandoned him at the wheel the moment the
Greeks rushed aft, and even now remained trembling
in the mizzen top, instead of backing up Jack, and
taking the mutineers in the rear as they scrambled
down the shrouds without looking behind them.

The courage of the latter, however, did not suffice
to take them very far.

The foremost man had hardly descended two step.s,
when "crack!" went Captain Harding's revolver; and,
reeling backwards, his hands cleaving the air vainly
for a hold, the Greek sailor toppled over into the sea
with a splash, and sank like a stone to the bottom,
dead as a herring!

Another would have followed .suit, for the captain
had recocked his pistol, and was in the act of taking

200 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

aim, when a stern, commanding voice exclaimed, in
accents that rang through the ship, —

"Hold!"

Captain Harding, without lowering his weapon,
looked hastily forward from whence this unexpected
summons appeared to come; and there he saw a sight
which might well make even a courageous man quail.
The felucca had been run alongside the Muscadine
forward, under cover of the mainsail, her bow right
under the ship's counter, and a crowd of fierce, bearded
rufSans were pouring on board as fast as they could
clamber up the side, led by a tall, athletic fellow, dressed
rather better than themselves, with a crimson sash
folded round his waist, who was so much in advance
of his villainous crew that he was close upon the group
on the quarter-deck before they were almost conscious
of his presence. It was his voice, the voice and face
of the man who had accosted Tom and Charley in the
Turk Mohammed's coffee-house at Beyrout, and whom
they at once now recognized again, that had arrested
the action of the captain — although only for an instant,
as, undismayed by the numbers now opposed to him,
and conscious that his little band and himself must be
defeated in the long run, and meet their death in the
struggle, he shifted his aim, and pointed his revolver
wdthout hesitation at the leader.

"Hold!" repeated the pirate chief again in warning
accents, before the captain could fire. " Another shot,
and I won't answer for your lives' "

"And who are you, sir, who dares to attack a peace-
ful merchant vessel on the high seas in this fashion ? "
demanded Captain Harding, without faltering, and
still keeping his pistol levelled at the head of the other,
who faced it with the utmost sangfroid, although he
could perceive that the English sailor's blood was up
and his finger trembling on the trigger.

" One who dares anything and everything, and never

A PARLEY. 201

embarks in any enterprise unless he has weighed the
consequences and can carry it through to a successful
termination!" replied the desperado, with an assump-
tion of stern dignity that was in harmony with his
stalwart form and reckless air. " But, come," he con-
tinued, sinking his tone of bravado, and speaking in
the same easy, polite manner which Chai-ley had
specially noticed when he addressed Tom and himself
in the khan — a manner that showed a very consider-
ably greater amount of breeding than could have been
expected from a common seaman, — "you must see that
you are powerless to resist us."

" There are six of us," interrupted Captain Harding,
" and we can at all events make a fight for it ! "

" To what purpose ? " retorted the other. " You are
six, truly; but two of your party are boys, and one a
coward who wouldn't be of much help" — glancing as
he spoke from Tom and Charley, who stood beside the
captain prepared to aid him to their last breath, up-
ward to the mizzen-top, where the craven-faced Tomp-
kins stood, looking down too much frightened to
stir.

" Well, what then ? " said the captain, impatiently.
" Be quick with your palav^er or I'll fire."

" You'll do so at your peril," retorted the other.
" Captain Harding, you are a brave man, or I wouldn't
waste so many words on you or spare your life. You
are powerless to I'esist us, as I said before, for you are
but six in number, including your boys and that cur
aloft; you have thi-ee other men down in the fokes'l,
but they cannot join you. We are fifty. Show your-
selves, my lads," he cried to his followers, who instant-
ly ranged themselves across the Muscadine four deep,
exhibiting their full strength, which was even more
than he had stated.

"You see!" said the pirate chief, complacentl}-.
" Look, and count them."

202 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

" I see that we're outnumbered by a gang of cut-
throats," said Captain Harding, bitterly.

" Gently, my friend," said the other, suavely. " Some
of my men understand English like myself, and might
not relish your compliments, although, as a man of the
world, I can make excuses for you — ah — want of tact;
yes, that's the word, is it not? "

" Cease your humbugging, sir, and come to the
point," said the captain, trying to curb his anger,
which he could hardly control in the face of the
pirate's cynical impertinence. Had it not been for
the sake of the boys by his side he would have let
drive at the scoundrel at once, and risked his fate.

" That's just what I am about to do," said the other
coolly, not one whit put out of his even temper appar-
ently. "You confess you are outnumbered? Good!
I, on my part, do not wish for any further bloodshed,
if I can effect my purpose without it. Besides which,
I have conceived quite an affection for you and those
young gentlemen there, whom I first had the pleasure
of meeting at Beyrout. Good morning, signors," he
interposed, taking off his Greek cap and bowing politely
to Tora and Charley. " It is morning, for it's nearly
one o'clock now. I hope I see you well? But to re-
sume, captain. As I said, there's no further necessity
for our fightino: that I can see. You have killed three
of my men, whom I considerately placed on board your
ship before she left port so as to get possession of her
without any bloodshed at all, although the fates willed
otherwise; and we, I believe, six of yours; so in losses
we may, perhaps, have the advantage of you, although
that fellow there "^pointing to the Greek sailor Tom
had cut down with his cutlass — " won't be worth much
more to me, and that gives you only two more than
ourselves in the casualty list. But I won't grumble.
I'm satisfied to cry quits, and call a truce to hostili-
ties."

MAKING AN OFFER. 203

" And, after that ? " said the captain. — ' I don't sup-
pose you attacked us for nothing ! "

"Your remark," said the pirate, smiling, "does credit
to your good sense. I am not in the habit, strange to
say, even in these heroic days, of doing anything for
nothing. Am I, Calchas?" he added, turning to a
ferocious-looking villain at his right hand.

The man evidently did not understand him, as he
spoke still in English for the benefit of the captain's
party; but he grinned in sympathy with the smile on
the pirate chief's face — such a cruel, crafty smile as it
was!

" You have got possession of the ship," said Captain
Harding; "what more do you want, if you don't wish
to murder us like the rest of my poor crew ? "

" My dear sir, you certainly use very strong lan-
guage; and I can't say I like it," said the pirate, play-
ing carelessly with the handle of a long yataghan that
was thrust through his crimson sash. "Murder is a
nasty word, which should not really be mentioned in
the company of gentlemen! Your men fell in fair
fighting."

" Yes, when they were taken unawares by a pack of
traitors," put in the captain hotly. The other's cool
assurance was more than he could stomach.

" Pray don't interrupt me," said the pirate. " It is,
to say the least of it, rude. But, now to business. I
have possession of your ship, you say? That is true
without doubt; now, my difficulty is, how to utilize
that possession; and here. Captain Harding, I shall
have to claim your assistance — "

" You may claim away till doomsday," said the cap-
tain with grim humour; "but as to my giving it, that's
quite a different matter."

" Allow me to finish my sentence," continued the
other — " claim your assistance in return for the lives
of yourself and the remainder of your crew. Else, I

20i THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

shall be extremely sorry, but circumstances will compel
my wishing you all a speedy adieu."

And the cold-blooded desperado drew his hand across
his throat and then pointed to the Vi-ater over the ship's
side, in a very suggestive Vv'ay.

" What do you want me to do ? " asked Captain
Harding curtly.

"Nothing very alarming, or calculated to wound
j'our honourable feelings," replied the pirate. " I
simply want you to remain in command of your
vessel."

The bluff, honest sailor stared at the other in amaze-
ment; he couldn't make out " what he was di'iving at,"
as he said to himself.

" In ostensible command of the ship, that is," said
the pirate, correcting his previous expression. " I, of
course, shall be virtually master, but you will navigate
her under my orders, and answer — likewise under my
directions — any curious questions that may be put to
us from passing vessels as to our destination and so
on."

" Why, you want me, John Harding, to sail under
false colours, and help you to make away with the ship
as I've sailed in, man and boy, ever since I smelt salt
water, not to speak of betraying my owners aiid their
interests. I'll see you — a — a — shot first ! "

As he spoke the captain pulled the trigger of his
revolver, and would have settled all the pirate's chances
of present and future Ijooty if he had not with a rapid
movement of his quickly-drawn yataghan struck up
the muzzle of the weapon, causing the bullet to expend
itself in the air harmlessly, although it went uncom-
monly close to the head of the trembling Tompkins
above, who was waiting for a peaceful arrangement
of the situation before he descended.

On the shot being fired, the main body of the pirates
rushed forward, and would have annihilated the cap-

A RECOGNITIOX AT LAST. 205

tain and the two lads, had not their chief stopped them
with some harsh word of command, at which they
immediately fell back again.

" I bear no malice, Captain Harding," said the pirate
chief, with a magnanimous air, " and I'll forgive your
attempt on my life, especially as the bullet missed its
mark. I will also, as you have such scruples of con-
science, excuse you from acting still as the captain of
this vessel, and promote your chief officer — I believe
the gentleman is up aloft — to that post. I've no
doubt he will prove more accommodating, particularly
when I place my reasons strongly before him. But I
have not done with you yet, captain. I shall want
}'ou presently below with reference to the ship's papers
and cargo. So now put down your weapons, and order
your men to di.-tarm. I will save your lives, I promise

"Boys, we must submit; we're in their power, and
they are too strong for us," said Captain Harding,
turning to Tom and Charley. " I don't suppose they'll
murder us now in cold blood; we must trust their
word for it — the word of a pirate," he added aloud,
with bitter scorn.

"And you can trust it," replied the pirate chief
proudly. " The word of Demetri, the Corsair of Chios,
is known to be as sacred as his name is feared in the
^gean Sea."

" By Jingo ! " exclaimed the captain, looking from
Tom to Charley, and back again to the pirate chief.
" Demetri, the corsaii'! Why, that's the very man that
Mohammed told you about at Beyrout, and whom I
would not believe in."

And the honest old fellow seemed to reproach him-
self for not paying more heed to the boys' story.

" The same, at your service," said the corsair, as he
had better be called now. " Now lay down your arms,
and I shall treat you as prisoners on parole."

206 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

"And you promise that we shall go free?" said
Captain Harding, pleading for terms, although he felt
that they were vanquished.

"Yes, when I've done with you. Look sharp!
Time is pressing, and I cannot answer for my men
much longer," said Demetri.

So Captain Harding, Tom, and Charley, and the
steward, laid on the deck the weapons with which they
had hastily armed themselves when below as soon as
the noise of the outbreak reached them, when they
were instantly picked up by one of the Greeks,
who stepped forward for the purpose by his leader's
orders.

" We are now at your mercy," said the captain. " I
don't mind about myself, but. Corsair, or whatever you
are, spare the poor boys and my remaining men."

" Their lives are safe, I tell you," said the other im-
patiently. " Have I not given my word ? But call
your other men down," he added, pointing to Jack
Bower, who was still half-way up the rigging, and
Tompkins in the mizzen-top.

Captain Harding summoned them, and Jack Bower
at once obeyed his orders; but the first mate refused
to budge, saying, that as he was no longer master of
the ship, he was not compelled to carry out his direc-
tions, especially if doing so jeopardized his life.

" The cowardly rascal ! " exclaimed the captain,
hardly knowing whether to laugh or to be angry; but
Mr. Tompkins was really so paralysed with terror
that he had not the faintest idea of what he was
saying,

" I'll soon make him obey me," said the corsair,
cocking the captain's revolver, which he had taken
from him, and pointing it at the frightened occupant
of the top above his head. " If you are not on deck
by the time I count five, you, first ofEcer, or whatever
you call yourself, Til fire, and you'll descend to Davy

"A MERE MATTER OF FORM." 207

Jones's locker quicker than it will take you to come
down the rigging ! One — two — three — "

" Stop, sir, good gentleman, stop, and I'll come down,"
faltered out Mr. Tompkins, roused from his fright
more by the corsair's action than his words, for a
pointed pistol has a wonderfully persuasive way of its
own; and, with hesitating feet, he slowly descended
the ratlins and placed himself beside the captain, who
looked at him first contemptuously, and then turned
his back, mutterincj between his teeth, —

" If I had had a man in charge of the watch, or even
one of these boys, we would never have been put in
this position."

" You are wrong there," said the corsair, " for we
would have attacked you all the same."

" Never mind," retorted the captain bravely. " But
we would not have been unprepared, and you would
have had a tussle to get on board, instead of things
being made easy for you."

" Have your own way in that," replied the other,
shrugging his shoulders, as he gave some unintelligible
order to his men, ten of whom slipped forward, placing
themselves on either side of the captain and the two
lads, and the other Englishmen, with the exception of
the chief mate — two Greeks to each of them. " I'm
sorry, captain," continued the corsair, " but I am com-
pelled to put you and your countrymen to some little
inconvenience, lest you should be tempted to escape,
^^'hen it would be the worse for you."

And, at another word of command, all the hands of
the whole party were securely lashed behind their
backs.

"As for you," said the corsair, speaking more harshly
than he had yet done, as he turned to Tompkins, " if
you dare move without my permission, you are a dead
man! Stop there, and if any vessel hails you as we
pass into the archipelago, mipd you answer correctly

208 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

as if you were still pursuing your original voyage, for
we are going for a time in the same course. I shall
hear you, so beware ! "

And he waved his sharp yataghan before the first
mate's eyes in a way wliich he did not at all relish,
although he took the hint as it was intended.

The corsair now gave the man whom he had sent to
the helm after the parley was over, some directions as
to the steering of the Muscadine, which was then
entering the channel between Rhodes and Scarpanto,
nearly about the very time that poor Captain Harding
had expected, although under strangely different cir-
cumstances; after which, he motioned the captain to
precede him down the companion, while he told the
others to remain where they were on deck until he
returned, enforcing his order by placing a guard over
them.

" We'll now go below, captain, and overhaul the
ship's papers, as I suggested to you just now," said the
corsair in a politelyperemptory tone; and the captain, see-
ing no help for it, and no object to be gained by opposing
the wish of his captor, obeyed the veiled order, the
two descending to the cabin, where they remained some
time, whether in argument or in conference of course
those who were on deck could not guess, although both
Tom and Charley would have bet their last sixpence
that the corsair did not get much voluntary informa-
tion out of their skipper.

CHAPTER VI.

A SELL FOR THE PIRATE.

Acting apparently under instructions previously
given, the felucca, after transferring a large portion of
her men to the merchant ship, proceeded some distance
ahead of her, as if not to cause any suspicions by her
propinquity should any vessel pass by them in their
passage through the channel. But she still remained
close enough to be signalled by her commander should
her nearer presence be needed.

When the pirate chief and Captain Harding returned
on deck from their visit below, Tom and Charley could
see, from the fierce looks of the one and the stolidly
stubborn expression of the other, that their private
interview had not been of the most agreeable nature,
and they soon learned the reason.

"I have been deceived, duped, despoiled of my just
dues," exclaimed the corsair frantically, as he gained
the deck, speaking in English as if for the special
benefit of the two lads and their unfortunate fellow-
countrymen; "and had it not been for my sacred word
which I never break once I have given it, overboard
you should go, every one, with your throats cut!"

"But," said Captain Harding, "we have not deceived
you as to the value of the ship and cargo. If anybody
is to be blamed, you must look to those agents and
spies you employ who have misinformed you."

"Silence!" shouted out the other, foaming with pas-
sion. "You are a miserable set of impostors, you Eng-

( 196 )

210 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

lish! How could I tell that a big vessel like this
would only be half loaded with a lot of trumpery stuff
that's not worth the freight; and that her captain had
hardly a piastre to bless himself with? And yet you
English people boast of your wonderful wealth. I call
it a scandalous imposition, wasting my time in this
way, and the lives of my men, for nothing."

And he stamped his feet in his rage as he walked to
and fro.

Charley could hardly refrain from laughing at the
pirate chief going on in this way about being taken in.
As he whispered to Tom, when he had the chance, it
reminded him of the pickpocket who had stolen a
watch, complaining of being hardly used because the
article turned out to be pinchbeck !

"If you like to let us go, I will give you a bond for
the estimated value of the ship and cargo," said Cap-
tain Harding, wishing to pacify the man — who now
appeared capable of going any lengths in his fury — for
he did not place much credence in his loudly vaunted
promise of saving their lives.

His suggestion, however, only seemed to add fuel to
the fire.

"Yes, and a nice fool I should be to present it for
payment, and have the police upon me. Do you take
me for an addle-pated idiot? 1 tell you what I will
do, I will burn your miserable old hulk of a ship,
and its rotten cargo; and you and she can roast to-
gether!"

"And your pledged word as to our lives?" said the
captain.

"I told you I wouldn't take them, and my word is
good, although I spared your life simply because I
might want your signature. But if the ship catches
fire, and you unfortunately cannot escape from her, of
course it will not be my fault — don't you see?"

And the corsair gave a malignant laugh, that dis-

A coward! 211

closed his real disposition better than words, and con-
vinced the Englishmen of the futility of appealing to
him for pity.

It was now broad daylight, and the Muscadine was
working up to windwai'd of the cluster of small islands
that lie to the northward of Scarpanto, having just
weathered the channel that separates it from Rhodes,
when the topmasts of a ship could be seen rounding
the headland nearest them.

"It's one of our cruisers, boys," whispered Captain
Harding, whose keen eyes had distinguished a pendant
flying from the maintruck of the new-comer. — "We are
saved! we're saved!"

The pirate captain, however, had ears as quick as the
captain's eyes were keen.

"Gag that babbler," he cried to his men — in Greek
of course — "and the two boys as well, and bundle them
down into the cabin. Stay ! take those men also, and
serve them the same," pointing to the steward and Jack
Bower and the other three seamen.

All the Englishmen were hurried below without any
unnecessary delay, with the exception of Mr. Tompkins,
whom the corsair next addressed, presenting the cap-
tain's cocked revolver as he did so, and pressing the
cold steel muzzle of the pistol against his right temple.

"You coward!" said he with a thrilling hiss on his
tongue like a serpent's; "your life trembles in the bal-
ance. If that vessel now approaching hails us, and
you do not answer correctly, as I have already warned
you, this bullet goes through your brain. Do you
hear?"

"I hear. 1 — I — I — hear," faltered out the first mate,
while the perspiration stood out in great beads of
fright on his forehead.

The vessel in front came nearer and nearer; and
presently she rounded-to under the Muscadine's stern,
the old well-known Union Jack of Old England float-

212 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS

ing up to the masthead the while, and a hearty voice
hailing the merchantman through a speaking-trumpet
from her quarter deck, not half a cable's length away,
in true nautical fashion —

"Ship ahoy! What ship is that ? "

The corsair was standing by the side of Mr. Tomp-
kins, close by the taffrail, Before Captain Plarding
had been taken below he had removed his uniform cap
and monkey jacket, and put them on himself, so that
he might pass for one of the ship's officers, and he had
likewise directed the majority of his men to lie down
on the deck, lest their numbers might create suspicion.

As the stranger vessel approached nearer with the
intention of speaking, as he could understand, he low-
ered the revolver which he had held for more than a
nnnute pressed against the first mate's forehead. But
he had it still in his hand, as the trembling Tompkins
was aware, ready for action, only that its muzzle was
now touching his side instead of his temple.

"Now, answer correctly," whispered the corsair in
the mate's ear, in a fierce thrilling whisper that pene-
trated through every fibre of his body, when the hail
of the British man-of-war rang out in the air. — -"An-
swer as I told you, or you are a dead man, if fifty
English frigates were alongside!"

^ — -r.

^^^^^

CHAPTER VII.

THE LAST OF THE OLD SHIP.

It was not an Eno-lish frigate, as might have been
supposed, from the observation of the pirate chief, but
one of those despatch vessels that we usually keep in
eastern waters in attendance on our Mediterranean
fleet; and being a steamer, of course she could arrest
her progress, and remain in proximity to the Musca-
dine without the necessity of laying-to like a sailing
ship, or any trouble save slacking speed.

"Answer," repeated the corsair sternly, still in the
same melodramatic whisper, enforcing his order with a
dig of the revolver barrel in Tompkins' side.

"The Mus — " began the mate in faltering accents

But another savage dig of the pistol improved his
articulation, and he shouted out, as loud almost as if
he had a speaking-trumpet like the officer who had
hailed them.

"The Muscadine of Bristol," he cried Vi'ith all the
power of his lungs, "from Beyrout to Smj-rna with
assorted cargo."

"Any news from the Levant?" was the next query
from the ship-of-v.'ar. "Stop, I'll send a boat aboard."

This, however, was the last thing which the corsair
desired, and he impressed some whispered instructions
rapidly on Mr. Tompkins, with the assistance again of
the pistol barrel; and that worthy spoke equally rapidly,
to prevent the other vessel from lowering a boat, which
they were on the point of doing, as they could hear

214 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

the men piped away by the boatswain's call for the
purpose.

" Fever very bad at Beyrout," sang out the first mate,
again, inspired by his tutor. " Had to leave half crew
in hospital! Short-handed! Can you lend us a few
men? Who shall we report as having met us?"

This answer at once arrested the intention of the
commander of the despatch vessel,- and prevented his
sending a boat to them — as the corsair had surmised it
would, from the fear of his bluejackets catching the
infection, Syrian fevers being as much dreaded in the
Mediterranean as the plague — for the reply shouted
back was an apology for non-communication or help.

"Sorry for you, but cannot spare any men! You'll
have to go into quarantine at Smyrna. Report H.M.S.
Batrachia, from the Dardanelles to Malta."

And then, in obedience to the orders of the officer
on the bridge, the despatch vessel circled round again
on her way; and putting on full steam was soon lost
to sight in a cloud of black smoke far away to leeward.

To the captain and two lads below it was the keenest
agony to hear the welcome hail of the English steamer
followed by the mate's prevaricating reply, when they
were certain that but one single word as to the real
truth of the case would have summoned their country-
men to their rescue, and ensured the punishment of
their lawless captors.

Of course they knew that Mr. Tompkins had acted
under intimidation, having been compelled to give the
answers he did and prevented from calling for assist-
ance; but both Tom and Charley would have died
rather than have sacrificed the chance of their com-
rades' escape through any morbid fear as to their own
personal safety.

They could not speak to each other, being gagged,
and having a couple of assassin - looking scoundrels
mounting guard over them in addition, as they lay

HOPES OF PLUNDER. 215

where they were thrown down on the floor of the
main cabin; but their eyes said, as plainly as eyes
could speak, the thoughts that were uppermost in the
mind of each — a feeling of disappointment at the hope
of a rescue being so rudely dispelled when it looked
so imminent, and a sense of disgust at the disgraceful
cowardice of the mate.

It may seem strange that the corsair, who had spared
the lives of the captain and the remainder of the crew
of the Muscadine, and appeared really on such jovial
terms with his prisoners up to the moment of his going
below with Captain Harding to look at the ship's
papers, should all at once change his demeanour and
come out in his true colours; but, the matter is easy
enough of explanation.

The corsair had been led to think that the merchant
ship was freighted with a valuable cargo of silk and
tobacco, the bulk of which he could have readily trans-
ferred to the felucca, as they were handy of shipment ;
consequently, when he found out that the vessel was
only half-loaded with wine and fruit, which would
require considerable storage room, and be then almost
valueless in the only markets he could command, his
rage knew no bounds. Added to this, Captain Har-
ding, acting under a sense of duty to his owners, had
concealed the fact of his possessing a considerable sum
of money on board in drafts on bankers at Smyrna;
while the pirate chief, supposing that he did have
• money, looked to find it in specie, and was correspond-
ingly disappointed a second time. And thus it was
that he was sorry at having spared the lives of the
Englishmen after the fray had occurred; although he
regretted that he had planned the capture of the ship
at all, and placed himself and his companions in peril
for a prize that was uncommonly like the king of
Siam's present of a white elephant to one he meant to
ruin; for it was useless to him, and he could not destroy

216 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

the vessel or abandon it where she was, in the regular
waterway of communication between the cities of the
East, for fear of her being discovered, and he and his
band of desperadoes pursued before they had ensured
their safety by flight. He wished now to get rid of the
ship, and secure whatever of her cargo he could carry
away — for his men must have some booty to repay their
trouble and risk; but he must seek some out-of-the-
way spot first, where he might unload her, and then, as
he told his prisoners, burn her — and them, too, as far
as he cared — to destroy all traces of his handiwork
and the possibility of detection. Had he not thought
it worth his while, he would certainly never have at-
tacked the vessel.

To tell the truth, the cor,sair was in a quandary; so,
when the smoke of the man-of-war steamer had melted
into the air, he summoned Captain Harding and the
rest on deck again, and having their gags removed, in-
terrogated them once more.

" You say, captain," said he, knitting liis brows and
looking the skipper straight in the eyes, to see whethei
he was telling the truth, "that you have no money,
beyond the few piasters and two or three English
sovereigns I saw in your desk in the after cabin?"

The honest seaman could not tell a lie even to an
enemy and a robber as this man was — at least, not
unblushingly; so, unlike his usual way, he could not
face his questioner, but gazed down on the planking of
the deck as he spoke.

" No — that is, yes," replied the captain hesitatingly:
it was very diflferent to his round, bluff way of bring-
ing out his sentences with an honest straightforward-
ness.

" You had better be careful," said the other in a
threatening manner. "It is strange that you should
be bound to Smyrna for more cargo, and not have the
wherewithal to purchase it with! Have you got any

THE BAXK DRAFT. 217

more money or not? Reflect, it is the last time I shall
ask you the question."

Mr. Tompkins stood by unbound, while his fellow-
prisoners had their hands bound behind their backs,
and their legs likewise tied. He thought it a mark of
the higher consideration in which he was held, whereas
the corsair considered he wasn't worth the trouble of
binding, being one who would not have the pluck to
help himself or his fellows. Unbound he was, how-
ever; and, anxious to ingratiate himself further with
those in power, the mate up and spoke, heedless of
Captain Harding's angry exclamation to hold his
tongue, and the boys' cries of "Shame!"

" The captain forgets," Mr. Tompkins said, address-
ing himself to the corsair. " He might not have hard
cash, but he has a draft, I know, on a firm at Smyrna."

"Oh-ho!" exclaimed the pirate chief, a gleam of
triumphant satisfaction passing over his face for an
instant, and then vanishing as he again confronted the
captain sternly.

" I thouo-ht an Englishman's word was his bond
throuo'h the world," he said in a scornful tone, which
made the captain redden as his conscience accused him
of having told an untruth, or at all events, of having
been guilty of an evasion.

" It wasn't mj money," he said, as if to extenuate his
previous denial.

" Then you have got a draft, such as this fellow
speaks of?" continued the corsair, pointing contemptu-
ously with his foot at the mate, with a kick.

" Yes," said the captain.

"Where is it?"

" In a note-book in the pocket of that coat of mine
you've got on," said Captain Harding, with a gesture
at the borrowed monkey-jacket which the other still
wore.

"Oh, thanks! Then it is quite handy," said the

218 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

corsair, clapping his hand in the breast-pocket of the
appropriated garment, and producing a thick Russian
leather wallet, which he proceeded to open with ner-
vous hands.

" Respect my private papers," said the captain, as the
other fumbled amidst a mass of memoranda and other
documents. " There is only one draft there, and nothing
else valuable, I pledge you my word."

" Honour ? " asked the other.

" On my honour there is not," replied Captain Har-
ding with dignity. " I never said that when you asked
me about money in the cabin; so, you may believe me."

" I do believe you, captain," said the pirate chief
with a light laugh, which might have been caused by
the sight of a banker's draft which he unfolded at the
moment, as much as by his words. " I give you the
credit of not being able to tell a lie with any spirit, as
you tried to do just now. Here are your papers; this
will be enough for me." And he then read out the
draft, which ran as follows: —

" From Bracegirdle, Pollyblank, and Company, Ship
and Insurance Agents, Birchin Lane, London, to Miguel,
Mavrocordato, and Thomasson, Freres, Fruit Merchants
and General Shippers, Smyrna, I7th March, 1881. At
three days' sight pay to John Harding, master of the
ship Muscadine, or order, the sum of one thousand five
hundred and seventy-five pounds sterling. Value re-
ceived.

"£1575, Os. Od. Bracegirdle, Pollyblank & Co."

" This is a veiy nice little sum of money," said the
corsair complacently, restored to all his previous good-
humour; "a very nice little sum of money!"

" Wait till you get it," said Captain Harding gruffly,
by no means pleased at the other's satisfaction.

" Oh, I shall get it easily enough," replied the corsair
airily. " You've only to put your signature to it, and
the thing's done."

TRANSHIPPING THE CARGO. 219

' When I sign it," said the captain, pointedly.

" Ah ! my dear captain, there will be no bother about
that, when I ask you politely," retorted the pirate chief,
with a significant look, which did not have the slightest
effect on the brave sailor — indeed it only made him
smile.

" We will see," was all he said in replj', but his de-
termined expression of face added the rest.

" I can wait," answered the other; "so we will not
argue the point, for at pi'esent I ha\'e got more press-
ing matters to attend to."

A siscnal was then made to the felucca, which had
kept the ship in sight all the while, although close in
to the land, and apparently proceeding on a coasting-
voyage, and having nothing to do with the other vessel ;
and then, the course of the Muscadine was altered and
she bore up for the Cyelades.

" I have no further dread of meeting any of your
floating bull dogs," said the pirate chief affably, as if in
explanation of his motives. " And none of the French
cruisers are up here now ; they are all too busy in Tun-
isian waters. So, I may as well shift your cargo, cap-
tain, at the back of one of the little islands we are
coming to, where we can lie by unseen without any in-
terference."

During the whole of that day, the ship was steered
amongst a parcel of shoals, which made poor Captain
Harding tremble for her safety, albeit she was taken
out of his control; and, towards nightfall, she was
brought to anchor in sixteen fathoms, under the lea of
a rocky cliff that projected up into a peak on one of
the tiny islets by which they were encircled. Here,
the felucca having followed them, the pick of her
cargo was removed to the smaller craft — a few bales
of silk, some tobacco, and a good portion of wine; the
cases of dried fruit being left untouched, as taking them
to any of the Greek ports with the idea of finding a

220 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

market for their contents, as the corsair well knew,
would have been like carrying coals to Newcastle.

Then, the Engli.shmen, who had been well treated all
the day in the matter of food and drink — some books
even were brought up by the orders of the leader from
the cabin, for them to read, his courtesy and attention
were so great — were removed to the felucca, being fol-
lowed by the Greek sailors; Captain Harding and the
othei'S subsequently witnessing the melancholy sight
of the ill-fated Muscadine sinking at her anchors, for
she had been scuttled in several places after the selected
goods had been transferred to the pirate's own vessel,
which remained on the spot till the other disappeared
beneath the waves. '

" I should have liked to have burnt her, as I said I
would do," observed the corsair, as the Muscadine
went down bows foremost, "all standing," with a grace-
ful plunge; "but I was afraid of attracting notice.
However, she is safe now at the bottom, at all events;
and sunken ships, like dead men, tell no tales!"

Captain Harding made no reply.

His heart was too full at seeing his ship, which he
regarded almost like a living thing, so recklessly de-
stroyed before his eyes; it was the ship which he had
first gone to sea in as a boy, and which it had been the
ambition of his life to command. It was too much, and
turning his head away as the tips of her spars sank
from view, he wiped away a tear from his eye with the
back of his horny hand.

Nothing that the pirates had done hitherto affected
him like this.

^i.^:Mik^^

1^^

CHAPTER VIII.

AMONGST THE BRIGANDS.

As soon as the j\fuscadine had succumbed to her ill
fate so tragically, the felucca made sail at once from
the place, steering north, as well as Captain Harding
could make out; for neither he nor the boys were
allowed to look at the compass, and they none of them
spoke to Tompkins since his betrayal of the captain's
trust, although he could probably have told them, for
he " appeared to be hail fellow well met" with his
captors, as Charley said.

The night passed, and again another day and night,
without anything noteworthy happening, the swift
craft sailing at racehorse speed, and always in the same
direction, to the best of their belief, as if towards some
fixed destination; but the corsair did not enlighten
them, and, indeed, did not address them during the
interval.

Towards the evening of the second day on which
they were on board her, the felucca drew near land,
from which she held off and on until the shades of
night covered her movements, when she approached
close to the shore, and a boat was lowered over her
side.

The pirate chief then, for the first time since the
Muscadine disappeared under the waters of the ^gean
Sea, addressed Captain Harding and his companions,
who had found the time of their captivity hang wearily
on their hands, although they were virtually free to

222 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

walk about on board their prison-house, with the ex-
ception of speaking to any of the crew or looking at
the compass, both of which were interdicted, with sig-
nificant threats whenever they tried to evade the pro-
hibition.

"Now, captain," said the corsair, with an oily smile,
which sat worse upon his countenance than a frown,
"I will thank you to sign this order," producing the
skipper's bank-draft, and a pen and ink all ready for
the purpose. "Just sign it, and I will put you and
your brother Englishmen ashore at once."

"Where are we?" asked the captain.

"On the coast of Greece," was the answer, "not far
from Salonica, where I am going with the felucca to
dispose of my cargo," with a naive candour which made
Charley Onslow laugh outright.

"His cargo, indeed," he whispered to Tom. "You
have often talked of my Irish impudence, but, bedad,
that beats Banagher."

"Be quiet," replied Tom; "you'll only get us into a
row."

But the leader of the pirates took no heed of the
interruption; he was too busy about the money order.

"Come, sign," he repeated to the captain.

"And suppose I don't?" said he.

"Then you and your companions will be imprisoned
in the mountains until you do, up to a certain period —
until I have time to complete my business at Salonica,
that is — and if, on my return from thence, you still
continue obdurate, why, then all of you had better say
your prayers — " completing his sentence with an em-
phatic gesture which could not be misunderstood.

The captain was obstinate. He thought that now
they were near a well-known port, and in compara-
tively civilized regions, the pirate chief would not dare
to carry out his threat, and after a time, if he only
held out, would be satisfied with the share of booty he

A CHANGE OF SCENE. 223

had already secured, particularly, as from some remarks
which he casually let fall when the cargo was being
shifted, it had turned out to be more valuable than he
had anticipated.

Once he had made up his mind, nothing would make
the captain budge an inch from the position he had
taken up. He could be as obstinate as a mule when
he liked.

"I refuse to sign the draft, and you may whistle for
the money," he said doggedly.

"You better had," urged the other. "I only advise
you for your own good. Those brigand friends of mine
in the mountains, who will be your jailers, are a rough
lot, and not to be trifled with."

"I will see you hanged first!" shouted out the cap-
tain, out of all patience, and he then closed his lips to-
gether tightly to show that he did not intend saying
another word.

"Absit omen," quoted the corsair; "hanging is a tick-
lish subject. Polydori," turning to one of the Greeks,
"take charge of these Englishmen, with ten others of
your best men. Your lives will answer for theirs until
you give them into Moeatto's keeping. You know the
rendezvous, where to meet him and his band. Captain,
and young gentlemen, adieu 1 May you be of a more
practical mind when I see you again, which will not be
long."

And, with these words, the corsair took leave of the
captives, who, after being gagged again, and having
their hands all tied behind them — including Tompkins
this time, much to the boys' satisfaction — were put
into the boat that lay alongside, and rowed ashore,
under a strong guard, with the Greek Polydori at their
head.

It was a change of scene from their cooped-up quar-
ters on board the felucca; but after they had had a.
toilsome march, uphill all the way, through mountain-

224 THE CORSAIR OF CHIOS.

ous defiles and along the roughest of paths, they wished
themselves back again in their floating prison.

Arrived at a cross-turning surrounded by a thicket
of stunted shrubs, the leader of the guard that accom-
panied them cried a halt, uttering a shrill and pro-
longed whistle, which was presently repeated from the
hills above.

An approaching footstep was then heard, and a chal-
lenge, to which Polydori replied witfi some password,
after which there was a long colloquy between him
and the stranger.

They were then ordered to resume their march,
although they had been walking two hours since they
had quitted the shore, Polydori and the stranger lead-
ing the column, with the prisoners in the centre and
the other guards in the front and rear. In this manner
they proceeded until the unfortunate captives were
ready to drop with fatigue, while their board ship
shoes were worn into shreds by the stones and prickles
of the path they had traversed, and their feet all bleed-
ing and torn.

"I can't go a step farther!" exclaimed Tom, dropping
in his footsteps. " Good-bye all."

But the guards prodded him with their knives, and
made him rise ag-ain. So he tottered along, until the
column, marching in a sort of military order, and pass-
ing numerous sentinels, who challenged the leaders,
and stopped them till they gave the countersign, en-
tered suddenly on a large encampment of men, squat-
ting on the ground amidst a circle of fires. There were
no tents nor waggons to bear out the illusion, but
otherwise the scene resembled a bivouac of some expe-
ditionary force.

The brigands, as the English readily guessed these
gentry to be, were some forty or more in number, and
were principally Greeks and Albanians, clad in their
picturesque dress — a short sleeveless jacket, coarse

AN kvening's entertaixjient. 225

o-aiters and shoes, a kilt of some rouc;'h texturo, and a
i'ez; while across their chests tlicy carried a cartridge
belt, and around their waist a sash, in which were stuck
pistols and knives, not forgetting the long yataghan,
that hung to their sides in the same fashion as they
had noticed with the crew of the pirate felucca.

Amongst this band of miscreants, who thought less
of murder than they did of killing a fowl, the survivors
of the Muscadine suffered a species of moral torture
for more than a week, being moved from place to place
meanwhile, generally by night, as the brigands' encamp-
ment was shifted to evade the pursuit of the Turkish
troops, who were wonderfully active in hunting the
mountain gentry about — after Mr. Suter's and Colonel
Synge's release!

During this time, they heard nothing of the pirate
chief, although the leader of the brio-ands — a o-igantie
Albanian named Mocatto — was continually engaged in
pleasantly putting before Captain Harding what he
and his countrymen might expect should the bank
draft remain unsigned after the corsair's return — of
course acting under that worthy's instructions; pointing
the moral of his remarks by practising the most un-
heard-of cruelties on such captives as the brigands
brought in day by day, who were unable or unwilling
to send to their friends to ransom them.

At last, one day, after witnessing the horrible exhi-
bition of a poor Turk having his clothing saturated
with paraffine oil, and then set fire to, the captain,
urged more by considerations for the safety of Tom
and Charley and his men, than for his own, gave in,
and told Mocatto that he would sign the draft.

" That is good," said the brigand. " Demetri comes
to-night, and you can sign it in the presence of the chief.
If you do not, you know the consequences."

However, as it turned out. Captain Harding was
fortunately able to keep his word to the corsair, when

( 105 ) p

226 THE CORSAIE OF CHIOS.

he said " he would see him hanged first " before he
should attach his name to the money order.

That very same afternoon, a whole battalion of
Turkish troops, sent out from Salonica, surrounded
one of the mountains in which the brigands' stronghold
was situated; and after desperate fighting, in which
many men were killed on either side, compelled the
surrender of Mocatto's band.

Demetri, the pirate chief, who was on his way, like
Shylock, for his bond or pound of flesh from the cap-
tain, got captured amongst other prisoners, and was
subsequently hanged along with them on the mountain
side, as a warning to all dishonest folk.

Tom and Charley, and the captain, escaped scot free,
— through a miracle almost, the brigands being attacked
so suddenly that they were unable to murder their
captives, as they invariably do when assailed by the
troops — and so did the sailors along with them; all
but Tompkins, who, as if in punishment for his treach-
ery and cowardice, got shot by a passing bullet.

" It is a long lane that has no turning," as the pro-
verb I'uns; and, to paraphrase it, it must be a long
stoiy which has no ending: so there must be an end to
this.

The Muscadine could not be raised again. But
Captain Harding got another ship, of which Tom Ald-
ridge was appointed second officer, and Charley Onslow
third, on probation; and the three, captain and young-
sters, have had a voyage or two already. But they
have not forgotten, nor are they likely to forget, their
memorable adventures in their passage from Beyrout,
nor Mohammed's old friend, " The Corsair of Chios."

DAVID AND JONATHAN.

>gO-

DAVID AND JONATHAN;

OE, LOST AT SEA.

CHAPTER I.

caught in a squall.

"Dave!"

"Hullo!"

"What's that big black thing out there, tumbling
about in the sea astern; is it a whale? "

" A whale, your grandmother! " sang out Davy Arm-
strong with a laugh, as he sprang on the tafFrail, and
holding on to the shrouds with one hand while he
shaded his eyes with the other, peered about anxiously
in the wake of the vessel in search of the object to
which his attention had been drawn by his companion,
a dark-haired lad who stood on the deck near him,
and whose thin face and slender figure betrayed the
delicate constitution of one brought up amidst the
smoke and din of cities and busy haunts of men.
David, on the contrary, was tall and well-built for his
age, about sixteen, with blue eyes and curly brown
hair, and the ruddy glow of health on his cheek; and
being a middy of some two years' standing on board
the Sea Mover, and full of fun and " larkishness," to
coin a term, assumed a slightly protective air towards

230 DAVID AND JONATHAN.

Johnny Liston, the son of one of the cabin passengers,
between whom and himself one of those standi
friendships common to boyhood had sprung up during-
the voyage to Australia. " A whale, your grand-
mother, Jonathan!" repeated Davy Armstrong in a
bantering tone, with all — as his companion thought ho
could detect — the conscious superiority of a suekiug
sailor over a raw landsman, in his voice. "Why, you'll
be seeing the sea serpent soon if you look smart I
Where is this wonderful thing you've discovered,
Jonathan, my son? I'm blest if 1 can see it."

It need hardly be mentioned that, close friends as
they had become in a short time, Johnny Liston rather
resented David's patronage and implied superiority,
and he hated his callino- him " Jonathan," or addressiuij-
him as " my son," just as if he were as old as his father,
instead of being just of an age, as he would indignant-
ly remonstrate, which knowing, David mischievously
made a point of so speaking to him on purpose to
tease him, although in good part all the same.

"And you call yourself a sailor! " said Johnny Liston
mockingly. " Why, there it is, as plain as a pikestatl',
on the lift of that w&ve to the right there! Where
are your eyes, stupid ? "

" Why don't you say on the port quarter, you lub-
ber?" answered David good-humouredly; "then a
fellow would know what you meant! Oh, I see. I
think it's a ship's boat floating bottom upwards; but
I'll call the skipper's attention to it, and he'll soon tell
us what it is. Johnny, my boy, you've got good eye-
sight, and deserve a leather medal for seeing that
before I did, so I'll let you have the credit of it."

" Thanks, Dave," said the other ironically. " I'm glad
you can allow for once in a way that you are not infalli-
ble, and that somebody else can see as well as yourself."

David meanwhile had crossed over the deck, to
where the captain was conA'ersing with a group of

IN SOUTHERN LATITUDES. 231

passengers, and having pointed out the object which
his friend had discovered, a telescope being brought
to bear soon proved it to be what his quick eye had
already assured him it was, a boat pitching about
bottom upwards, probably washed away from some
Australian liner like themselves. There was no trace,
however, to be seen of any one clinging to the keel,
and time was too valuable and the wind too fair for
the vessel to be put off her course merely to pick up
an empty boat, which would most likely not be worth
the trouble of hoisting on board; so they passed on,
and it was soon hull down in the distance.

The Sea Rover had made all her southern latitude,
descending to the thirty-sixth parallel. She had passed
the Island of Tristan d'Acunha, although at some dis-
tance off, a few days 'before ; and now as she was well
below the region sacred to the stormy Cape, and had
run down the trades, her course was set due east for
Melbourne, from which she was yet some thousands
of miles away. The wind was fair, almost dead astern,
although the sea was high; and as the ship was rather
light, she rocked and rolled considerably, the waves
washing over her decks, and occasionally running over
the poop in an avalanche of water, that swept right
forward and made any one hold on that did not wish
to be washed off their feet. The sea had a most
winterly look. It appeared like a vast hilly country
with winding valleys, all covered with sloshy snow
just melted, the extreme tops of the waves looking like
frozen peaks in between, with the snow as yet not
melted. The air, too, was as cold as winter, for it
blew from the Antarctic ice; and the gusts came more
and more frequent as evening closed in, raising the
sea still higher in towering mountains, that rushed
after the ship, which was going from ten to twelve
knots an hour under all plain sail, as if they would
overwhelm her, striking h^r sides every now and then

232 DAVID AND JONATHAN.

heavy ponderous blows, that made: her stagger from
her course and quiver right down to her keelson. One
gust of wind came all at once with such startling force
that it split the main topsail up like a piece of tissue-
paper, and then the captain thought it was about time
to take in sail.

" I guess we're going to have a rough spell of it,
Jonathan," said Davy, as he moved away from his
companion in obedience to the skipper's order, "All
hands shorten sail ! " and stationed himself at his post
by the mizzen-halliards.

" Will it be serious, Dave ? " asked the other, his pale
face growing a little paler with apprehension.

"Pooh! no, nothing to speak of, only a squall,
Jonathan; so don't be frightened, my boy."

A squall it was with a vengeance.

As the wind had been, right aft, the captain had
kept the Sea Rover under her royals and top-gallant-
sails, without even taking in a reef, in order to make
the most of the twelve-knot breeze that was blowing:
it was only at the chief officer's request that a little
time before he had been induced to take in the stun-
sails; and now the wind seemed to expand so suddenly
into a (rale, that it was as much as the seamen could
do to get the canvas off her before she was struck with
the squall, that came up astern at the rate of fifty miles
an hour, coverino; the heavens to windward with great
black storm-clouds, and flying wrack like white smoke
that drifted before it, and seemed to herald the heavier
metal that lay behind that would come into action soon.

Everything was let fly, and only just in time; for,
without the slightest warning, the wind shifted and
struck her on the starboard quarter, and the vessel
was almost taken aback, with the waves slipping in
over the bows and on the starboard and port sides as
she rolled heavily, borne down into the trough of the
sea by the force of the gale, her timbers groaning, the

NEARLY BKOACHING-TO. 233

spars creaking, blocks rattling, and the wind shrieking
and whistling as it tore through the rigging and flapped
the sails heavily against the masts witli the noise of
thunder, as if it would wrench them out of the ship
bodily.

It was a scene of the utmost confusion while it lasted,
with the men running about the deck here and there
and pulling and hauling at the halliards and bi-aces,
and the captain yelling out stentorian orders through
his speaking trumpet, which nobody apparently under-
stood or attended to; and Davy Armstrong, who had
been up aloft to superintend the furling of the raizzen,
roj-al, and topgallant sails, and close reefing of the
top-sail, was just congratulating himself on getting
down on deck alongside of Johnny Listen safe once
more, when another squall struck the ship from the
opposite quarter, and she heeled over on her side until
she buried her top-sail yards in the billows, broadside
on, as if she were going to " turn the turtle."

" Oh ! " exclaimed Johnny. " She's going over ! "

" Not a bit of it," shouted out Dave in his ear, for
the wind howled so that he could hardly make his
voice heard. " She'll right in a minute. But that
was a stiif blow ! "

" Aye, stiff'er than the last."

A heavy sea just at the same moment struck the
rudder, which, through the ship's lying over on her
side, had been partly raised out of the water, and
whirled round the wheel with such force that the man
who was steering was lifted off his feet, and as he
grasped the spokes with desperation, was dashed down
on the deck with .an awful impetus, which knocked
him insensible. Dave, -followed by Johnny, immediately
rushed aft, and took the helmsman's place, although it
required all the strength of the two boys to hold on
and save the ship from broaching-to, when her spars
would have been swept off like ninepins, and a clean

234 DAVID AND JONATHAN.

sweep made of her bulwarks, and everything on her
decks fore and aft, if possible, she did not founder,

" Well done, my lads ! " shouted out the captain.
" Keep her to it," as he ordered a couple of men aft to
help them. " Keep her to it, my lads, you'll be relieved
in a jiffy. Hold on for the life of you, my lads; hold
on ! "

Their strength, however, M'as unequal to the struggle.

Another sea struck the rudder again almost in the
same place, and David and Jonathan were floored in
an instant.

Round span the wheel with mad velocity, now un-
controlled, jamming poor Davy's leg between the rudder
beam and the wheel post, while Johnny lay sprawling
on the deck, holding on like grim death to a stray end
of the mizzen-halliard that had been cast loose from
the cleats. Another turn of the spokes of the wheel,
as the rudder was banged to and fro by the billows,
and Davy's leg was released, although sadly crushed,
and he was flung against the binnacle; and then a
gigantic wave pooped the ship, coming in over the
stern, and before the captain, or Johnny, or the men
who were hurrying aft as rapidly as the motion of the
ship would allow them, could stretch out a hand to
save him, poor Davy was swept over the side to lee-
ward, grasping tightly with the energy of despair, as
he was carried away, a portion of the roof of the wheel-
house, which had been broken off by the same wave
which washed him overboard, as well as part of the
bulwarks.

" Oh, Dave, Dave!" exclaimed Johnny Listen, holding
on to the mizzen-halliards still, and scrambling to his
feet after the water flowed over him and the ship
righted again, as he saw David torn away by the re-
morseless waters, and floating astern on the top of a
great mountainous billow, his hands upheld as if im-
ploring help.

A GALLANT ACT. 235

" Oh, Dave, Dave!" exclaimed Johnny Listen, appar-
ently panic-stricken for an instant, adding, as he
turned halt' round to-wards the captain, "Why, his leg
is broken, and he can't swim ! "

And then, without another moment's hcisitation, or
a single reflection of the hopelessness of his task, or
that lie was endano-erinti' his own life as well, the b)'ave
Loy, grasping hold of one of the life-buoys that hung
close to the tatfrail where he was supporting himself,
as he watched the wave bearing Dave away, plungeJ.
into the sea to his comrade's rescue.

"Hold on, Dave, I'm connngl" he shouted out at the
pitch of his voice, to encourage the sinking David.

And the next minute, ere any one could prevent him,
he was over the ship's side, battling with the powers
of the deep-

" Man overboard!"

That cry, which those who have once heard it will
never forget, echoed far and wide through the ship,
making itself heard above the dull roar of the sea, the
whistling of the wind as it tore throutrh the rigging,
the creaking of the timbers, and the trampling of feet
up and down the deck, as the crew bustled to and fro,
slackening a sheet here, tightening a brace there, and
preparing for emergencies, ready for anything that
might happen.

" Man overboard ' "

And, in an instant, every heart palpitated Avith one
thought, every ear was on the qui vive, every eye
turned, intently watching the captain as he gave the
necessary orders for bringing the ship up to the wind
— as it was far too squally and risky work for her
spars and top-hamper to wear her, before she could
pay off on the other tack — and retrace her course in
her own wake to pick up the two boys, who were now
out of sight.

" Stand by the lee braces, and be ready to slacken
off on the weather side! 'Bout ship! Up with the
helm! Main-sail haul!" were some of the orders ra-
pidly given and as rapidly attended to.

With a will, the great main-yard swung round to
starboard, the Sea Rover paying off handsomely. And,
in another moment, under her reefed top-sails and top-

NOT A SPECK IN SIGHT. 237

gallaiit-sails, with hei' coui-ses dropped, and her yards
sharply braced up, she was going back on her track at
even greater speed than she had been previously tra-
velling towards Australia, the wind having shifted to
the southwards and eastwai'ds after the last squall, and
being now well on her beam, which was the clipper's
best sailing point.

There was a look-out on the foretop-mast crosstrees ;
but almost every one was looking out in the direction
where some trace of David and Jonathan might be dis-
covered. And the minutes seemed lengthened into
hours as they anxiously peered into the mass of slatey-
brown water in front and around topped with yeasty
foam. But the sky was overcast with storm-clouds
and the darkening of approaching night, and their
horizon was now limited so that they could not see
very far in advance of the Sea Rover's bows — not more
than a mile at most.

Every voice was hushed on board the ship now, and
only the humming of the wind and the swish of the
water could be heard as she dived every now and then
over her catheads into the waves, that fell in a cataract
of spray on her forecastle and washed into her waist,
while she dashed onward, gathering speed with every
yard of progress that she made.

"Look out, ahoy, there!" shouted out the captain to
the man on the fore crosstrees. " Do you see anything
of them yet?"

" Not a speck in sight," was the answer; and still
the Sea Mover clove through the water on what they
guessed to have been their former coui-se, and the sky
and the sea grew darker and darker and seemed to
mingle together, gradually diminishing their ai'ea of
vision.

" We must have passed the spot by this time," said
the captain presently to the chief officer, when the ship
had gone some two miles after coming about. " Send

238 DAViU AKD JOXATIIAN.

another look-out into the main-top; and you, Daw-
kin.s," addressino- one of the hands standing near, "sky
up here in the mizzen rigging and see if you can see
anything. Look Avell round to leeward as well as
ahead, for we may have overrun them."

" Aye, aye," said the man as he scrambled up the
shrouds, and quickly made his way, not merely into
mizzon-top, but on the topgallant-yard, where he sat
astride and scanned the horizon to his right and left,
to windward and leeward of the vessel's wake.

"On deck there!" he hailed in a little time. He had
the keenest sight of any man on board.

"Aye, aye!" answered the captain. "Speak out!"

" There is something to windward, two points on
the ^yeather bow."

"How far?"

" About half a nule or more, sir; but it may be less."

" We must get her a couple of points nearer the
wind," said the captain to the chief officer. " Clew up
the courses, set the flying-jib, and let us get the main-
sail on her, and see what she can do. Come, look smart
and brace the yards round. Keep her helm up!" he
added to the men at the wheel, lending them a hand
as he spoke. "Hard! "

The Sea Rover leaned over, gimwales under, and
made deep bows to the sea, pitching the water over
her fore-yard, as, her head being brought round a
couple of points more, she sailed almost in the wind's
eye, taking all that two men could do to steer her, be-
sides the captain. _

" Aloft there!" shouted the captain once more to the
look-out men. " How's her head now? Does she bear
towards the object, or is it still to windward?"

" Steady!" was the answer. " She's right for it now.
Luff a bit, steady, it's right ahead."

"What is it? Can you see them?" cried the cap-
tain, eagerly peering into the distance himself.

A DISAPPOINTJIENT. 239

" Looks like floating timber, sir. I can't see anybody
as yet; it seems all awash."

A moment further of breathless suspense, and then
those on deck could see for themselves what had at-
tracted the look-out man's notice — a black object,
bobbing up and down amidst the waves, one minute
raised aloft on a billowy crest, the next hidden from
view in a watery valley that descended, as it were,
into the depths of the ocean.

It was now clear to windward on the weather bow;
and, every now and then, distinctly visible.

" Put the helm down, slack off the sheet 1 " cried the
captain; and, as the Sea Hover rounded-to, with the
floating object under her lee, it could be seen that it
was the boat which David and Jonathan had perceived
passing them, bottom upwards, just before they were
struck by the squall. The vessel, therefore, must have
gone much further back on their track than they had
imagined, for the boat mu.st have been three or four
miles astern of the point at which the boys were
washed overboard. She would of course have drifted
farther than the floating wreckage, being higher out
of water, but could not have made up more than a
mile of the intervening distance.

It was a grievous disappointment to all on board,
crew and passengers alike. They had made certain
that it was the two boys clinging to the wreckage of
the bulwarks and wheelhouse that had been carried
away along with Davy; and the disappointment was
all the greater because their hopes had been so cruelly
raised.

"My boy, my boy!" sobbed Mr. Liston, who stood
with several of the other cabin passengers grouped
around the captain on the quarter-deck watching in
breathless suspense. " My boy, my boy ! He is lost,
he's lost! I shall never see him again!" and he wrung
his hands in agonv.

240 DAVID AND JONATHAN.

Poor, bereaved father! He had only that moment
been made aware that his son was overboard, having
been below when the accident happened to Davy, and
only attracted on deck by the commotion. Johnny
was his only child, his mother having died in giving
him birth, and he was the apple of his eye. He would
have jumped into the sea, too, when he learnt what
had happened, if he had not been prevented; and his
grief was frantic.

" Cheer up, my dear sir!" said Captain Markham, as
he gave orders for the ship to back across her course
at right ano^les, and warned the look-out men aloft to
renewed watchfulness. '' We may pick them up yet.
You know Davy Armstrong was holding on to some-
thing when he was carried away, and your gallant son
took a life-buoy with him when he went to his rescue,
so they can keep afloat till we overhaul them. Why,
I was picked up myself once after I had been in the
water for hours and the ship searching for me all the
time, when I had been washed overboard like Davy."

The captain's sanguine anticipations, however, even
if he really believed in them, were baseless.

The Sea Rover backed, and wore, and tacked again,
sailing, within a radius of a few miles, in every pos-
sible direction the wind would let her, without hnding
any traces of the lost ones, or even coming across the
pieces of wreckage, which the sombre tint of the sea
and sky prevented their seeing; and then night came
on, and they had to abandon their quest, although they
burnt blue lights and cruised about the same spot for
hours afterwards, in vain!

"Alas, dear captain, it is hopeless now!" exclaimed
Mr. Liston mournfully, with the resignation of despair,
drawing away his gaze from the sea, and his head
dropping on his breast in despondency.

He was standino- almost alone on the deck, the ma-
iority of the passengers having gone below — for the

MAKING THE BEST OF IT. 241

wind was cold and boisterous, and the crew having
retired forward to the forecastle excepting those on
duty aft — a tall, thin, pale man, whom the calamity
seemed to have aged ten years in that brief space of
time, and bowed with care.

" Only a miracle could have saved them!" he said,
as if speaking to himself; and then, turning to the
captain, he added, " I suppose you must give them up
now, and proceed with your voyage ? "

" Yes, it is useless waiting any longer," said Captain
Markham, sinking his voice in sympathy with the
other. " Poor fellows," I'm afraid they've told the
number of their mess long since! But if they are
drowned, poor Davy was lost while doing his duty as
a gallant sailor; and your son, my dear sir, lies in a
hero's grave beneath the wave, for he sacrificed his
life in trj-ing to save that of his friend, it is some
slight consolation, Mr. Listen, to recollect that; and I
don't think the recording angel above will have for-
gotten to log it down, either!"

And, as the hardy sailor pointed upwards with a
reverent air to where one tiny twinkling star was
peeping out from amidst the mass of fleeting shadowy
clouds that still obscured the heavens and shrouded
the horizon from view, he wiped away a tear from his
eye with the back of Ids hairy hand, bidding the quar-
termaster a moment or two afterwards, in a strangelj'
grutf tone quite unlike his usual mode of speech, to set
the ship's course once more duo east for Australia.

And the Sea Rover went on her way.

(195)

CHAPTER III

A STEUGGLE FOR LIFE.

Half drowned by the avalanche of water which had
swept him overlioard, and just catching one faint
glimpse of the hull of the ship through eyes that
were blinded with the spray, as it swept away from
him and left him struggling with the waves, although
holding on still to the top of the wheelhouse which he
had clutched in desperation as he was carried away,
Davy thought he was dreaming when he heard the
voice of his friend shouting out, as if in the distance,
miles and miles away, " Hold on, Dave, I'm coming! "

"Nonsense," he reasoned with himself, amidst the
pitiless lash of the billows, and the keenness of the
wind that seemed to take the skin off his face and
jjierce through his wet clothing as he was one minute
soused down into the water and then raised aloft a^ain
on his temporary raft exposed to the full force of the
blast. " Nonsense ' I'm drowning, I suppose, and this
is one of those plea.sant dreams which peojDle say come
to one at the last."

It was no dream, however.

After a little while, although it seemed ages to
David, the voice sounded nearer.

"Hold on, Dave, old boy. I'm quite close to you
now, and will reach you in a minute ! "

" I can't be dreaming," thought David again, gettino-
a bit over the feeling of suffocation which had at first
oppressed him. " Jonathan's voice sounds too real for

A TOUGH SWIM. 243

that, and I can see that I am adrift on the ocean, and
resting on something. Oh, how my leg hurts me!
I'll give a hail, and see whether it is Jonathan's voice
or not that I hear. It must be him ! "

"Ahoy, help, ahoy!" he sang out as loudly as he
could; but he was already weak, his voice came only
in a faint whisper to Jonathan, who imagined he must
be sinking and he would be too late.

" Keep up, Dave, for goodness' sake," screamed out
the latter in agony, making desperate exertions to
reach him. " Don't give way ! Hold on a second
longer and you'll be safe ' "

Although he was such a slight, delicate-looking little
fellow, hardly doing justice in his appearance to his
sixteen years, if there was one accomplishment in which
Johnny Liston was a proficient, it was swimming. Living
in the neighbourhood of Kensington Gardens, he had
made a habit of going into the Serpentine every morn-
ing during the summer months, and sticking at it as
long as the weather permitted, although he did not go
to the lengths of some intrepid bathers, and have the
ice broken for him in winter ; and by constant practice,
and imitating the best swimmers amongst whom he
bathed, he had learned so much that he could compete
even with professionals for speed and endurance, and
made the best amateur time on record for so young a lad.

His practice now stood him in good stead; and he
had, besides, an additional advantage, for having learned
to swim in fresh water, and indeed never having
essayed his powers in the sea, the unaccustomed buoy-
ancy of the waves, which he now experienced for the
first time, gave him a confidence and an ease which
seemed surprising to him; he felt that he did not re-
quire the slightest exertion to keep afloat, even without
the life-buoy, as he tested by letting go of it for a short
time, and with it he was certain he could almost rival
Captain Webb and swim for hours.

244 DAVID AND JONATHAN.

Of course it was rough work for a novice, pauuliug
in such broken water; but after a few strokes he got
used to it, and, by dint of diving under the swelling
bosom of some of the more threatening crests, and
floating over the tops of the others whose ridges were
yet perfect, he made his way pretty rapidly towards
the spot where he had espied David floating off.

The wind and the set of the sea were both against
him, but the answering hail of the middy assured him
he was proceeding in the right direction, and would be
soon by his lost friend's side.

Another stroke or two, and as Johnny Liston rose
on the crest of a huge mountain of water, which took
him up almost to the sky, he saw below him the broken
timbers of the bulwarks rolling about in the trough of
the sea, and he thought they formed part of the wreck-
age on which David had been supporting himself, and
that he had seen him on them.

His heart sank within him like lead, for no one was
floating on the broken bulwarks now Poor Dave
must have gone.

Just at that moment, however, the middy's faint hail
rang again clearly out above the noise of the wind and
the sea, to assure him he was still above the surface,
and restore his drooping energies.

"Ahoy! Help! Ahoy!"

He did not require to hail again, for, the next
moment overtopping another billow, his friend Jonathan
shot up alongside of him, and grasped him by the
shoulder.

" Oh, Dave," he exclaimed. " Thank God I've got
you safe. I thought I would never have found you."

David had partly clambered up on the top of the
wheelhouse, and lay stretched out with his legs in the
water.

He raised his head and tui-ned his face as Jonathan
got hold of him.

SELF-SACRIFICE. 245

His emotion was too great for many words.

"And you jumped overboard to save me?" was all
he said.

But his look was enough.

Johnny Liston had been swimming with one arm
only thrust through the life-buoy, as he had been
obliged to quit his hold of it each time he dived beneath
the crest of a wave.

He now took it off, holding on to the wheelhouse-top,
which sank down into the water on one side under the
double weight of the two lads, elevating the other end
in the air.

" Here, put this on, Dave," he said. " I brought it
for you, and a precious job I have had to reach you
with it."

"But you, Jonathan — I beg your pardon, old chap,
I didn't mean to call you so. I know you don't like
it."

" Never mind, Dave. If you think of me as Jona-
than you may as well call me so. I shan't mind you
doing so any longer I rather like it, old fellow, now,
for our friendship will be like that of David and Jona-
than that we read of in the Bible; you know it says
that ' the soul of Jonathan was knit unto the soul of
David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.'
That's just how I feel."

" What a chap you are to think of that now," said
David admiringly, " with both of us bobbing about in
the middle of the ocean, and the ship out of sight.
But I won't have the life-buoy; what will you do
without it ? "

" Bless you, I can swim like a fish, Dave, and it was
more a nuisance to me than a help; but, we can both
hold on to it, you know, if it comes to the worst.
How's your leg, Dave? I thought it was broken when
you got it twisted in the wheel that time."

" Oh, it's all right," said David, kicking it out vigor-

246 DAVID AND JONATHAN.

ously as he spoke. "The bone isn't quite broken, but
it's very sore, and I suppose I'd have to lay up for it
if I wasn't here;" and lie grinned ruefully.

"Do you think the ship will pick us up?" said the
other presently, losing some of his self-possession now
that he had come up with David, and the motive for
forgetting self and personal danger was wanting.

He was naturally timid unless nerved up by neces-
sity.

" Oh, yes," said David, whose spirits rose with the
occasion, and who in the presence of his friend forgot
all the peril. " Captain Markhara won't desert u.s,
never fear; but j^ou can't pull up a ship like a horse,
you know, Jonathan, and it will take some time for
the Sea Rover to tack about before she can fetch us.
I wish, however, old chap, we had a little better raft
than this to support us; the wheelhouse top is hardly
big enough for two, even with the buoy, which, though
it can keep us afloat, won't raise us out of the water
as we want."

" Why, I passed some wreckage a few yards off
before I reached you," said his friend.

"Did you?" said David. "That must have been
the gangway and part of the bulwarks that came away
with me. I wish we had the lot here."

" Do you ? " said Jonathan, as we must now call him,
" then I'll soon fetch them," striking out as he spoke.

" Take care," said David ; " and pray take the buoy
with you."

But, the sea saved Jonathan the trouble of leavino;
his friend, for the very pieces of timber of which he
had spoken made their appearance at that moment,
floating down towards them from the summit of a
wave, in whose valley they were; and Jonathan swam
beyond them and pushed them before him till they
were alongside the wheelhouse top.

There was plenty of material to form a substantial

despair! 247

raft with the addition of what they already had; and
as Jonatlian drew up the heavy mass alongside, David
gave a shout of joy.

" Why," he exclaimed, " here is the cleat of the signal
halliards come away with a piece of the taffrail, and
we'll have enough rope to form all the lashings we
want. Isn't that lucky ? "

The young middy was handy enough in sailors' ways
through his two years' experience of the sea; and —
Jonathan aiding him under his direction — in a short
time the loose timbers were lashed firmly together as
a framework, with the roof of the wheelhouse fastened
on the top, forming altogether a substantial platform,
on which the two boys found themselves elevated a
clear foot or more out of the water, and free from the
cold wash of the waves, which was beginning to turn
them blue.

" There," exclaimed David, " now we're comfortable,
and can wait in patience till the ship overhauls us; she
can't be long now."

Watching with eager eyes they saw the Sea Rover
coming towards them, after a long, long while, as it
seemed to them; but ere she had reached them, in spite
of their shouts and hand-wavings, which they fancied
must have been seen and heard on board, she ^xen\,
round on the other tack, and disappeared from their
view, to their bitter disappointment and grief.

It was David now who was hopeful still. Jonathan
seemed to have lost all that courage which had inspired
him to leap into the sea to his friend's rescue, and was
trembling with fear and hopeless despair.

The next time the Sea Rover came in sight, she was
further off, and appeared to be sailing away from them,
although they could see her tack about in the distance
several times, as if searching for them still.

Then it gradually got darker, and night came on,
enveloping them in a curtain of hazy mist that seemed

248 DAVID AND JONATHAN.

to rest on the water, through which they could see far
off the blue lights that were burnt on board the ship to
show their whereabouts, although they were useless to
them, as they could not reach her.

Even David began to lose hope now, but he still en-
couraged his companion.

" They'll not desert us, old fellow," he said, with a
heartiness which he by no means felt. " The captain
will lie-to, and will pick us up in the morning."

Jonathan was not attending to his words, however.
He was shivering and shaking as if he had the ague,
and David could hear his teeth chatter together with
the cold, although the wind had gone down somewhat,
and the sea no longer broke over them.

It was so dark that the two lads could scarcely see
each other as they lay on top of the frail structure
that separated them from the deep, clasping each other's
hands.

Presently, in the fitful phosphorescent light of the
water, some dark object seemed to float up alongside;
and Jonathan gave vent to a scream of horror, that
rano- throuo-h the silence of the nig-ht.

" Oh, what is that?" he exclaimed.

And if David had not clutched him, he would have
plunged headlong from the raft into the sea in his fright
and agonized terror.

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CHAPTER IV.

ALONE ON THE OCEAN.

For hours the two boys remained in a sort of name-
less terror, David feeling ahno.st as friglitened as Jona-
than, although he concealed his fright in order to
reassure his companion, with the terrible object that
had excited their fear bobbing up and down alongside
them, and occasionally coming with a crash against
their frail raft, that threatened to annihilate it and
send tlicni both into the water, when it would be all
over with them.

The night was pitch dark, for the mist that hung
over the surface of the deep appeared to increase in
intensity, and they could not see even the faint glimmer
of a star to cheer them; while all they could hear was
the lapping of the waves as they washed by them, and
the ripple and swish of some billow as it overtopped
its crest, and spent its strength in eddies of circling
foam, as David could imagine — for the darkness ren-
dered everything invisible now, even the platform on
which they were supported, and the unknown' com-
panion beside them, which might be anj'thing, and
their very hands when held before their faces.

Some time after midnight, A^dren David and Jona-
than had gone through a purgatory of dread, not know-
ing what might happen to them any moment, the moon
rose gradually from the horizon, shining faintly through
a veil of clouds that almost obscured its light, and the
morbid terror of the two boys was at once dispelled on

250 UAVIB AND JONATHAN.

their being able to perceive what it really was that had
occasioned them such alarm.

" Goodness gracious me, Jonathan!" exclaimed David,
with a tone of glad surprise in his voice, which at once
aroused his friend, who was lying face downwards on
the raft, with his head buried in his crossed arms.
" Why, what do you think it is that has frightened us
sol I'm blest if it isn't that very identical boat that
you saw in the afternoon passing by the Sea Rover!
Isn't it providential, old chap, that after all these hours
we should come across it again? Thank God for it,
Jonathan," he added more earnestly a moment after-
wards ; " it may save both our lives in case the ship is
unable to find us and pick us up ' "

Yes, there it was, a long black boat, the cutter of
some vessel, that had been washed away from the bows,
as it was twenty feet long and more, floating keel
uppermost, alongside the raft, although buried some-
what deep in the water.

The night had no longer any terrors for them; and,
although they waited anxiously for the sun to rise to
see whether the Sea Rover was still in sight — for the
moon was frequently obscured by clouds, and its light
too intermittent and deceptive for them to scan the
ocean by — they did not dream of despairing now, even
if their worst suspicions should be realized, and the
ship have left them to their fate, as the boat oflered
them a tangible means of rescre, which the raft did
not; albeit it had saved their lives for the while, and
served as a "pis-aller."

Morning came at last, first tina;ing the horizon to
the eastwards with a pale sei' -green hue, that deepened
into a roseate tinge, and then merged into a vivid
crimson flush, that spread and spread until the whole
heavens reflected the glory of the orb of day, that rose
in all its might from its bed in the waters, and moved
v>nth rapid strides towards the zenith, the crimson

BOAKDING THE BOAT. 251

colour oi' the sky gradually fading away, as the bright
yellow sunlight took its place, and illuminated the
utmost verge of the apparently limitless sea; but the
Sea Rover was nowhere in siafht, nor was the tiniest
speck of a distant sail to be seen on the horizon !

" Never mind, Jonathan," said David, cheering up
his companion; "you mustn't be disappointed: it is
only what I expected, although I didn't tell you so
before! Now that we have the boat, you know, we
are not half so badly off as we thought ourselves at
first. We've no reason to despair 1"

And then, sailor-like, he immediately began to over-
haul their God-sent gift, to see whether it was all
a-tauto and seaworthy, without losing any more time
in vain repinings, and scanning the ocean fruitlessly
for the Sea Rover; Jonathan sitting up, and beginning
to be interested, as he regained his courage and self-
reliance, through his companion's words and the
warmth of the sun combined, and lost that feeling of
hopeless despair that seemed to overwhelm him and
weigh him down since they lost sight of the ship for
the last time on the previous night.

" It must have been adrift a good while," said David,
clamberino- on to the keel of the boat, and e-ettiny
astride on it. " The bottom is quite slimy. Oh, my
poor leg, how it hurts ! I forgot all about that squeeze
I had between the rudder beam and the wheelhouse,
for a moment. Never mind," continued the brave boy,
hiding his pain from his companion, who winced in
sympathy; " it was only a little wrench I gave it, and
it has passed off now. But pray hold on tight to the
stern, Jonathan — you can catch hold of it by the rudder-
hinge — or else I'll be parting company, and going off
on a cruise by myself."

Workincf himself along with his hands and knees on
the slippery surface of the boat, he felt the exposed
portion all over, and as far under water as his arm

252 DAVID AND JONATHAN.

could reach down, when he proceeded to give his
opinion like a consulting surveyor.

" The timbers are all sound, old chap," he said, "at
least, as well as I can make out; and not a hole any-
where that I can see. I can't tell for certain, howevei',
till we right her properlj', and get the water out of
her; and I think we'll find our work cut out for us to
do that, Jonathan, my boy."

" I'm sure I don't sec how v/e can manage it," re-
plied his friend despairingly.

"Oh, don't you?" answered David cheerfully, his
spirits rising with the sense of action and the feeling
of having something to do, and as happy and uncon-
cerned as if he were safe on board the Sea Rover. "Oh,
don't you, Master Jonathan? Then allow me to inform
3"ou, as Dick Murphy says, that there are more \'\'ays of
killing a pig besides hanging him; and that I see a
way to our i-ighting that boat."

" How?" inquired the other.

" I'll soon show you," said David. " But I guess and
calculate it will take a pretty considerable time I
reckon, and you'll have to help us, sirree."

" Of course I will," said Jonathan, laucrhinor at David's
apt imitation of an American passenger on board their
ship, who had unwittingly been the source of much
amusement to the two boys, with his drawding voice,
and habit of speaking through his nose in regular
" down eastern" fashion.

" Well, bear a hand, old cock," said David jocularly,
pleased at seeing Jonathan laugh again, and getting
off the boat's keel gingerly on to their raft again.
" The first thing we have to do, Jonathan, is to try and
raise the bow of the craft on top of these timbers hero
— or rather, sink down the end of the wheel-house
roof so that it may get \inder the boat. We can
do it easy enough by both going to the extreme
point of it and bearing it down by our united

A FLOATING STAGE. 253

weight; but mind you don't slip off, old boy. Hold
on tight."

It was no easy task, as the motion of the waves hin-
dered them, and the raft was lifting and falling as the
surges rolled under them; besides which, the boat was
heavy, and the suction of the water seemed to keep it
down and resist their efforts.

However, they persevered, and, after innumerable
attempt.? and failures, succeeded at length in getting
part of the bow of the cutter on to the end of the raft,
which it almost submerged, although it was itself lifted
clean out of the sea.

" So far, so good," said David, puffing and blowing
like a grampus with his exertions, and Jonathan fol-
lowing suit. " We'd better have a spell off for a bit ;
the heaviest part of the work is yet to come."

" Don't you think," said Jonathan presently, after a
rest, "that it would be a good plan to float her stern
round at right angles to the raft? Then the waves
would force her on to it, almost without our help."

" Right you are," said David. " Two heads are
always better than one!"

" You stop where you are," said Jonathan. " You
know your leg is bad; and besides, I'm more at home
in the water than you are, although you're a sailor.
I'll jump in, and soon turn her stern round, while you
hold on to the bow, so that it doesn't slide off and give
us all our trouble over again to get it back."

So saying, he let himself down into the sea, and
catching hold of the aftermost end of the boat, which
was now much deeper down in the water, owing to the
bow being raised, struck vigorously with his free
hand, swimming on his side, and soon managed to slew
it round so that it pointed athwartwise to the raft.

" Now, David," he said, when this was accomplished,
"if yoii'll come into the water too, — I'm sorry to
trouble you, old man, but I can't do it all by myself —

254 DAVID AND JONATHAN,

and put your shoulder under the other gunwale of the
boat, the same as mine is under this, and hold on to
our staging at the same time, we'll be able by degrees
to lift and drag it bodily on to the raft, as the send of
the sea, as you call it, will assist us."

" Why, Jonathan, you ought to be a sailor," said
David admiringly. '' It's the very thing to be done,
and just what I was going to suggest." And he also
slid off' into the sea, taking particular care of his
wounded leg, and went to his companion's assistance,
placing himself in the position he had advised.

The two boys exerted themselves to the utmost,
held on tightly to the raft as they "trod the water,"
as swimmers say, with their feet, lifting the boat an
inch or two at a time with each wave that rolled
towards them, until, little by little, they got one end
well upon the raft, which it sank quite a foot in the
water, when they clambered out of the sea and got on
to it, too.

" Now," said David, "comes the tug of war, to tret
the boat over, I'ight side uppermost."

"And then," rejoined Jonathan, "we'll have to bale
her out. How will you manage that ? "

" With our boots, to be sure," was the prompt
answer.

" Oh yes," said Jonathan, " I quite forgot those. Let
us get her over at once; it is cold work standing thus
in the water ; and we may as well be comfortable as
not!"

After a long and weary struggle, during the course
of which the boys were in the water, with their weight
hanging on to the keel, and endeavouring to turn it
over — they succeeded at last, almost when they were
half inclined to give up the task as hopeless.

Then when the boat was righted, they pushed it off
the raft, and David kept it in proper position, while
Jonathan, taking oft" one of his boots, baled away until

THANK god! 255

he was tired; David relieving liim, and he taking his
place in keeping the boat steady. It was slow work,
but it was done in time; and when it was half emptied
of its contents, they both climbed in, and being now
able to bale together, they soon had it clear, and float-
ing bravely like a cork.

Much to their joy, it did not leak a bit ; and after hav-
ing satisfied themselves on that point, they went on to
examine their craft in detail. It was a smart ship's
cutter, which had evidently, as David had surmised,
been washed off the bows or davits of some sea-going
vessel through being carelessly fastened, for it was
perfectly uninjured, and, to the delight of the boys, it
had its proper oars and a mast and sails lashed fore
and aft under the thwarts. There was also a locker
in the stern sheets which was locked, and on David
prising it open with his clasp knife, it was found to
contain some fishing-line and hooks. A small cask, or
beaker, was also locked in the bow of the boat, and this
was found to contain water, a trifle impregnated by
the sea, and slightly brackish, but still quite drinkable.
It need hardly be mentioned what a great boon this
was to them, as they had begun to be afilicted with
thirst as the sun's heat grew more powerful towards
mid-day.

" Oh, David," exclaimed Jonathan presently, from
his seat in the stern of the boat, where he had been
giving way to his thoughts while his friend was bustl-
ing about in the bows, stepping the mast, and seeing
that the sail and tackle answered properly, " God has
been very watchful over us ! "

" Yes," replied the other, " we have much to be
thankful for, old man, and I am for one, as I've no
doubt you are; but still I don't see why we should
remain here, as there is no chance of the Sea Rover
coming back for us now, and there is a good south-
westerly breeze blowing just on purpose for us."

256 DAVID AND JONATHAN.

" Why, in what direction would you steer ? "

" Nor'-cast, to be sure, and we'll fetch the Cape of
Good Hope in time, besides the chance of falling in
the track of passing vessels."

" Have you any idea of where we are, David? "

" Well, the ship yesterday was in latitude oG° and
something, and just nearing the longitude of Greenwich,
which is neither east nor west, as you know, so I
suppose we're about a thousand miles or so off the
Cape."

" Good heavens, David! a thousand miles' "

" It isn't such a tremendous long way, Jonathan.
We can run it easily, if the wind lasts from the same
quarter, in about eight days; and if we don't quite
fetch the Cape, we'll reach some part of South Africa
at all events — that is, if we don't come across the track
of a ship, and get picked up before then."

" But even eight days, David. What shall we do
for food all that time?" said Jonathan, who was by no
means of so hopeful a disposition as his friend.

" Don't you recollect, old fellow," rejoined David,
"what you said just now, of God watching over us?
As He has done so up to now, don't you think He'll
look after us still, and provide some means by which
we shall not starve ? "

" Yes," said the other, feeling the rebuke, " you are
quite right, David; and I was wrong to doubt His
mercy. But, oh, I do feel so hungry ! "

" So do I," replied David. " But we'll have to grin
and bear it for a while, old chap, as we are not near
old Slush's caboose, on board the Sea Rover, and I don't
see any grub anywhere in sight. However, Jonathan,
we haven't felt the pangs of real hunger yet, and
needn't begin to shout out before we're hurt. Let us
do something — make sail on the boat and abandon our
old raft, which has served us a good turn — and we'll
wear off the edge of our appetites."

A DISCOVERY. 257

David's advice was followed. Taking only the life-
buoy with them, they cast loose from the raft almost
with feelino-s of regret, for it had saved their lives, and
it seemed like ingratitude to leave it there tossing alone
on the surface of the deep now that they had no further
service for it; and, hoisting tlie cutter's "leg-of-mutton"
sail, and steering with an oar, as the boat's rudder was
missing, they ran before the wind, David directing
their course, as nearly as he could possibly guess to the
north-east, by the sun, which had now passed the
meridian.

" I say, Jonathan," said David, after a time, when
they had quite lost sight of the raft, and must have
run some miles, "just rummage in the locker again, and
see if their is anything else we passed over in our first
search?"

" No," said Jonathan, after going down on his knees
and looking into every corner of tlie receptacle with
his fingers, so that not a crevice was left unsearched,
" nothing but the fishing-lines."

" Well, let us have them out and see if we can catch
anything."

" But we've got no bait."

" Oh, we can tie a bit of my red flannel shirt or your
white one to the hooks. Fish bite at anything at sea,
if they can only see it. Hullo!" added David, "I didn't
see that before."

" What ? " exclaimed Jonathan.

" Why, the name of the vessel to which this boat
belonged. There it is, painted there on the gunwale as
large as life, the Eric Strauss. I suppose she was a
German ship, but I never heard of her."

The two boys got out the lines presently, attaching
small pieces of fluttering cloth to the hooks, and heaved
them overboard, dragging them in the wake of the
boat some distance astern; but they caught nothing
that day, nor did they even see the sign of a fin. A
( 195 ) r.

258 DAVID AND JONATHAN.

whale travelling by himself, and not accompanied by a
" school " as usual, was the only solitary denizen of the
deep that they perceived.

It was the same the next day, the boat sailing in a
north-east direction as well as David could judge, for
the wind remained in the same quarter, from the south-
ward and westward. But he had some difficulty in
keeping her on her course at night, owing to the
absence of the north star, which is never seen south of
the equator, although he could manage to steer her all
right by the sun during the day.

When the third morning broke, the boys were starv-
ing with hunger, and could have eaten anything. They
even tried to gnaw at bits of leather cut out of their
boots, but they were so tough and sodden from their
long immersion in the sea that they could make nothing
of them.

If it had not been for the beaker of water which
they found providentially in the boat, they felt that
they must have died.

CHAPTER V.

STARVATION AND PLENTY.

" Look, David," said Jonathan, when the sun had
risen well above the horizon on that third morning.

He was sitting down in the bow of the boat, looking
out almost hopelessly for the sight of some sail, while
David was in the stern-sheets steering.

" There's a big flock of birds right in front of us.
Oh, if we only could catch one! I could eat it raw."

" Well, I don't think we'd wait for the cooking,"
said his companion philosophically, although he put
the helm down a bit so that he might likewise see the
birds that Jonathan had spied.

" What can they be so far out at sea ? " inquired the
latter.

"Molly hawks, to be sure," said David promptly
" We must be getting into the latitude of the Cape."

" Why, they're as big as geese," said Jonathan, when
the boat got nearer them. " But some are quite small ;
are they the young ones ? "

" No," replied David ; " those are the cape pigeons,
which generally sail in company with the others, and
not far off at any rate. When you see them close, as
I've seen them scores of times, and as you'll be able to
if we catch one, as I hope we shall, you'll find they are
very like a large pigeon, only that they have webbed
feet; and they always seem plump and fat. See, their
feathers are white and downy, while their heads are
brown and their wings striped with the same colour,

260 DAVID AND JONATHAN.

giving them the appearance, if you look down on them
from a ship, of being large white and brown butterflies,
with their large wings outspread. Draw in your line .
a bit, Jonathan, and let the white stuff on the hook
flutter about in the air; perhaps one of them will grab
at it thinking it's something good. It's our only
chance."

No angler, not even the celebrated Izaac Walton, ever
angled more industriously than the two boys did for
the next hour.tiying to attract one of the birds, which,
both molly hawks and cape pigeons, hovered about the
boat all the time, making swoops every now and then
down into the sea.

They were too knowing, however, to accept David's
fictitious bait, as a fish would probably have done.

One look at it w^as quite sufficient for them; first
one and then another wheelina; round and coming
nearer the surface of the water to inspect the induce-
ment offered them, and flying oft' again in disgust.

At last, just as a group of three of the cape pigeons,
which were the most inquisitive of the lot, stooped
down over the strip of red flannel attached to David's
hook, he gave it a jerk and it caught somehow or other
in the bird's foot or leg, and he pulled it in, squeaking
and fluttering all the time, its companions circling round
it in alarm, and cawing in concert over its misfortune.

" Hurrah ! " exclaimed Jonathan, as David hauled in
his prize, flapping vigorously, over the gunwale in
triumph; and he stretched out his hand to take hold
of it.

" Look out, and stand clear a moment," shouted out
his friend. " Those cape pigeons have a nasty habit
of throwing up everj'thing they have in their stomachs
on to you as soon as you catch them. There, you see.
I suppose it's a means of protection given them by
nature, the same as the savoury perfume of the Auieri-
can skunk."

A GOOD feed! 261

■' He's lucky ta have anything to bring up," said
Jonathan drily. " It is more than we could do, I'm
sure. There's plenty of him to eat, however, old
fellow," he added, when the hird had disgorged its last
feed, "and I vote we pluck off his feathers at once and
begin business."

" All right," said David, giving the bird a rap on the
head with the steering oar, which effectually stayed
any further proceedings on its part. " Pipe all hands
to dinner."

Both the boys said afterward.s, when detailing their
experiences during that voyage in an open boat across
the ocean when they were lost at sea, that they never
before or since ever enjoyed such a meal in their lives
as that cape pigeon, which they plucked, and divided
into two equal portions, eating the raw flesh, share and
share alike, with the greatest gusto, even licking up
afterwards the blood that dropped from it on to the
thwarts.

The repast gave them new life and spirits, and from
that hour the tide of their affairs seemed to flow more
favourably, as shortly afterwards they caught a molly
hawk, which they carefully put away in the boat's
locker along with the watei", which David was very
particular in alloM^ancing out, giving Jonathan and
himself only a small quantity twice a day out of a
measure he had made by cutting ofl' the toe part of one
of his boots.

Towards the afternoon of the same day the heavens
grew dark right ahead, a big black cloud spreading
across the horizon like a great curtain, and mounting
gradually till it hid the sun from view.

" We're going to have a squall, Jonathan," said
David. " You must look out sharp to shift the sheet
when I tell you, and unstep the mast, if necessary, the
very moment I say, mind!"

" Eight you are," answered the other, who had now

262 DAVID AND JONATHAN.

lost all that nervousness for which David used to chaff
him when on board the Sea Rover. " You only give
the word, old man, and you'll find me all there."

The squall, however, passed away without touching
them, having vented its force in some other quarter;
but the wind veered round to the eastwards, much to
David's disgust, as he had to let the boat's head fall off
from the course he wished to steer, and, strange to say,
the great black cloud they had first seen seemed still
to face them and keep right ahead, although their
direction had been altered — it looked, really, just as if
standing like a sentry to bar their progress.

" I don't know what it can mean," said David
anxiously. " The wind has shifted, so why can't it
shift too?"

" It doesn't appear so big as it was," observed Jona-
than. " It is gradually narrowing at the bottom as it
spreads out on top. And look, David, the end of it,
close to the sea, comes down into a point just like a
thread."

Presently, as the boat ran nearer towards the cloud,
which seemed to rest stationary over the water, they
could see that the sea was churned up around it in a
state of violent commotion, and they could hear a
peculiar sucking noise rumbling in the air at the same
time.

"I tell you what it is," said David; "although I've
never seen one before, it must be a waterspout, and
we'll have to give it a wide berth. Look out, Jonathan,
for the sheet; I'm going to put the helm up and bring
the boat about on the other tack."

Almost as soon as the cutter turned off at an angle
from the direction of the waterspout, although not
absolutely going away from it, as the boys were in-
terested in the sight, David uttered another exclama-
tion.

"Gracious goodness, Jonathan!" he ejaculated. "Look,

FIGHTING A WATERSPOUT. 26.3

if there isn't a whale there ! And he is going slap at
it, as if he is going to bowl it over."

It was true enough; but, whether the leviathan of
the deep had been caught in the maelstrom of the
waterspout, or had gone towards it from choice, they
could not tell. There he was, however, at all events,
circling round in the eddy of the sea at the foot of the
cloud, and sending up columns of spray every now and
then with the flukes of his tail, as they came down
with a bash on the water, like the sound of a Nasmyth
steam-hammer.

Almost as soon as the boy spoke, the whale appeared
to raise itself up on end, as they could see nearly the
whole length of its body; there was a tremendous
concussion; and then, with a report like thunder, the
M'afcerspout burst, falling around the boat in the form
of heavy rain.

"I say," said Jonathan, when the unexpected shower
had ceased, "it's an ill wind that blows nobody good.
Look, if there are not a number of dead fish which
the waterspout must have sucked up. How thankful
we ought to be ! there is enough to last us ever so long
and keep us from starvation."

" You are light," said David. " Let us kneel down
and thank God for His mercy and care in watching
over us':"

And, after they had prayed fervently to Him who
had guarded them through all the perils of the deep,
and now showered on them a supply of food almost
from heaven, they set to work and collected all the fish
they could see floating about on the surface of the sea,
David saying that they were bonetas and skipjacks,
and capital eating, as he stored them in the locker.

" We'll cut them open and dry them in the sun by
and by," he added. " It's too much overcast to do it
now ; and it's so rough with the spray dashing over us
that they would only get wet instead of dry."

264 DAVID AND JONATHAN.

Soon after the waterspout had burst, the boat's head
had been brought round again as near to the north-
ward as the easterly wind wovild permit; but, towards
evening, as the breeze grew stronger and stronger, and
the sea rose in mountainous billows, just the same
almost as on the day on which they bade good-bye to
the Sea Hover, they were obliged to let her off a point
or two and scud before the gale.

It was a day of surprises; for, just as night was
closing in, Jonathan — who took the station of look-out
man in the fore-sheets, while David .steered, being
more at home with the rudder oar than his friend — ob-
served something white, standing out in relief against
the dark background of the horizon, which was piled
up with a wrack of blue-black storm-cloud.s.

" I say, David!" he shouted out, " what is this white
thing in front — is it another waterspout, or a squall, or
what?"

"I'll soon tell you," said David, standing up in the
stern-,sheets to get a better view. But he had no sooner
looked than he dropped down again in his seat as if he
had been shot, and turned as pale as a ghost, as he ex-
claimed hysterically, half laughing, half crying, " A
sail! a sail!"

CHAPTER VI.

IN EXTREMITY.

"What? a ship really?" said Jonathan, sharing the
other's excitement. " Oh, I'm so glad, so glad!"

" Yes," said David, recovering a bit from his hys-
terical fit, and speaking in a more collected manner.
" But she's crossing our course, and if she does not see
us and take in sail, I'm afraid we won't be able to catch
her up ! "

What was a gale to those in the cutter, with a gun-
wale hardly a foot above the surface of the water, was
only just a fair wind to the full-rigged ship which was
sailing on a bowline away from them almost hull
down on the horizon, with all her canvas spread that
could draw, to take advantage of the breeze.

The boat's head was pointed right towards the vessel,
whose course was nearly at right angles to theirs, and
David put the helm up to bring them nearer the wind
so that they might intercept her; but the cutter dipped
so much in the waves, and shipped such a lot of water,
that he had to let fall oflT again and run free, much to
his mortification, as the stranger was steadily plough-
ing her way ahead; and, proceeding in the direction
they did, they would fetch far to leeward of her.

" Oh, it's cruel," said Jonathan, " to sail away like
that and leave us!"

" We mustn't accuse them wrongfully," said David,
who, of course, was more versed in nautical matters.
" Ships when far at sea don't keep much of a look-out,

266 DAVID AND JONATHAN.

as they would have to do in the channel or near land.
And,be,sides,old fellow, you must recollect, that although
we can see her plainly, we to those on board would
appear but the tiniest speck in the distance, if we were
seen at all, and would be taken for a wanderino- alba-
tross, or one of those Molly hawks like that we caught
this morning. They don't see us, evidently, or they
would take in sail."

Jonathan, however, would not give up hope, but
continued to wave his shirt — which he had taken off
for the purpose — in the bow of the boat, until she les-
sened as she drew away, and finally, disappeared below
the horizon as night came on with hasty footsteps —
as it always does in southern latitudes — shutting out
everything from their gaze.

The two boys were bitterly disappointed.

Up to the time of their sighting the ship they had
been almost contented with their lot, for the fear of
starvation, which had threatened them, had passed
away when their hunger had been appeased by the
cape pigeon that David had captured, and they subse-
quently secured another bird, besides the half-dozen
tish or so that had been brought within their reach by
the waterspout; to add to which the weather had not
been hot enough to cause them to make such inroads
on their stock of water — ^^■hich David had judiciously
apportioned from the first — as to arouse any dread of
thirst, which is far worse than want of food to ship-
wrecked mariners.

It was the fact of the means of escape from their
perilous position having been so unexpectedly brought
near them, and as suddenly taken away, that deprived
them of their courage and hopefulness for a time, and
made them forget the Eye that was watching over
them, and the hand that had already so miraculously
helped them when they seemed to be at death's door!
The weather, however, did not allow them to give

AN OCEAN CALM. 267

way to despondency, much as they might have been
inclined, for, as night came on, the darker it grew, the
wind and sea increasing so that David had an onerous
task to steer the boat in such a manner as to prevent
her being swamped; while Jonathan was as continually
busy in baling out the heavy seas that, partly, lurched
in over the gunwale, first on the port side and then to
starboard, as the cutter rocked to and fro in her course,
tearing madly up and down the hills and valleys
formed by the waves, and sometimes leaping clean out
of the water from one mountainous ridge to another.

And thus, the weary hours passed till morning, with-
out giving them a moment's rest from their anxious
labour, the constant fear of being overset and swallowed
up by the tiger-like billows that raced after them
banishing the feelina; of fatigue, and making them
forget for the while their disappointment.

When the sun rose, for the fourth time since they
had been left deserted on the deep, the boys were com-
pletely worn out.

David's leg, too, had got worse; whether from the
exposure or not they could not tell, but it had swollen
up enormou,sly, and he could hardly move; so, Jona-
than had to take his place at the steering oar, and act
under his directions carefullj', as the sea was still very
high, and it required critical judgment and a quick eye
to prevent the boat being taken broadside on by any
of the swelling waves that followed fast in their track,
raising their towering crests and foaming with im-
potent fury as far as the eye could reach, astern, and
to their right hand and their left, while in front the
waters sometimes uplifted themselves into a solid wall,
as if to stop their way;

With mid-day, came a change of scene.

The wind gradually died away, and there fell a
dead calm, while the sea subsided in unison; although
a sullen swell remained, in evidence of old Neptune's

268 DAVID AND JONATHAN.

past anger, and to show that he had a temper o£ his
own when he liked to use it — a swell that rocked the
boat like a baby's cradle, and flapped the loose sail
backwards and forwards across. their heads, in such a
disagreeable manner that David suggested their hauling
it down; which they did, the boat not rolling half so
much without its perpendicular weight, while it was
pleasanter for them.

" I tell you what, Dave," suggested Jonathan after a
while to his friend, who was stretched out on the stern-
sheets, resting his wounded legf on a seat, " I think if
you'd let me bandage your thigh with a strip of my
shirt, and keep it soaked with -^^ater, the evaporation
of the sun would take down the swelling and make it
feel better?"

"So it would probably," he assented; "and at the
same time, Jonathan, get those fish and the bird out of
the locker. I had almost forgotten them; — I suppose,
because I don't feel hungry yet! We will skin them and
split them in two: and if we expose them spread out on
top of the sail, which you can stretch across the thwarts,
our old friend can cook them while he is acting as my
physician."

Jonathan, who had been tearing a couple of long
strips off his shirt, and binding them round David's
log while he was speaking, now soused the bandages
with sea water, taking it up in the one uninjured boot
which he had kept for baling purposes, and then
propped it up in an easy position, so that it should be
directly exposed to the rays of the sun, which was now
almost vertical, and hotter than they had yet felt it.
He then unstepped the mast, and arranged the sail like
an awning over the rest of the boat, serving to shelter
themselves — with the exception of David's leg, of
course — from the heat, which was decidedly more com-
fortable, and act as a table for their culinary arrange-
ments.

"DIXNEE TIME." 269

On counting them, which they had not done before,
they found they had thirteen bonetas and skipjacks,
beside the molly hawk, which they determined to eat
while it was fresh; and then would have sufficient food,
as the fish would keep perfectly when dried, for quite
that number of days — a lucky number as Jonathan
said, as it was "a baker's dozen," and certainly not an
even one.

" An unlucky one, you mean," said David. " They
say that when thirteen people sit down at table to-
gether one is sure to die before the year is out."

" That will only apply to the fish," said Jonathan
laughing, "and they're dead already, and will be eaten
soon. And talkinfj of that, Dave, I think it's about
dinner time; what say you ? My clock here, patting
his stomach as he spoke, " warns me that it needs
winding up."

" All right, I feel peckish myself," answered David,
who was skinning and cutting open the fish leisurely
with his clasp knife, which he could do easily without
remo^-ing from his position or shifting his leg, while
Jonathan cleaned them and washed them in the sea
over the side of the boat preparatory to spreading them
out on the top of their awning to dry in the sun. "Just
wait till I finish this last beggar, and then I'll tackle
Miss Molly Hawk, and we'll begin. Do you know,
Jonathan, I don't think birds are half so bad eaten
i-aw? I did enjoy that cape pigeon j-esterdaj'."

" So did I," said the other. " It makes me hungrier
to think of it. Look alive, old boy, or I'll start on one
of these fish just to keep my hand in."

" No, you won't, or your teeth either, you cannibal,"
said David jocularly. "I'm captain, and purser too,
and I'm not so extravagant as to serve out two courses
for dinner. Chaffing aside," he added more seriously,
"we'll have to be rigidly economical, Jonathan, for we
can't tell how long it may be before we fall in with a

270 DAVID AND JONATHAN.

ship or reach land, and we've ah-eady experienced
something of what the pangs of starvation are like,
though, thank God, we were not put so severely to the
test as some have been! I wish, old fellow, we were
as well off for water as we are for grub. I don't think
there is a pint more in the beaker, now that we've
had that last drink, and I'm sure we've not been very
prodigal of it, and I've measured it out carefully every
day."

" Perhaps it will rain," said Jonathan cheerfully —
the sight of the molly hawk, which David had dexter-
ously plucked and cut in two, the same as he had done
the cape pigeon on the previous day, making him feel
ravenously hungry, and limiting all his considerations
to the present, instead of his being impressed with
their future needs, as was the case with his more re-
flective companion, "Perhaps it will rain, David. 'Suffi-
cient for the day is the evil thereof.' Let us set to
work; I'm starving!"

The appetites of the boys being hearty, they finished
every scrap of the bird, which, raw as it was, tasted
like roast goose to them, although it was not nearly so
large as it had appeared with all its feathers on; and
then both lay down in the boat and had a hearty sleep,
the first they had had without interruption since they
loft their bunks for the last time on board the Sea
Rover.

Poor fellows! they had need of rest, for the calm
lasted a week, during which time their water ran out,
and for more than two days they had not a single
drop, although they reduced their allowance to such an
infinitesimal quantity that their final draught did not
amount to more than a minim.

They now endured all the agonies of thirst, their
diet of dried fish making them feel it worse; and it
was as much as David could do to prevent Jonathan
from drinking the sea water and losing his senses.

"THE LAST STRAW." 271

as he would have done — like many others who would
not control their inclinations, but insisted on having
it, and afterwards went mad and died.

Then, in the very height of their sufferings, a storm
of rain came on which half filled the boat with water,
giving them plenty to drink, but spoiling the remainder
of their fish, so that they had to throw them overboard.

After the rain the wind sprang up again, and the
sail was once more hoisted, David trying to keep the
boat as nearly in the direction of the coast of South
Africa as he could guess, during the day steering by
the sun; but at night she went as the breeze willed,
and so it continued for days, the boys getting weaker
and weaker through starvation, although they had
saved plenty of water in their cask to assuage the
pangs of thirst, during which time they never saw a
bird or a fish to which they could get near.

They sighted several ships, but they were too far off
to attract their notice; and when, finally, a sudden
squall in the night blew away their mast and sail, and
left them tossing helplessly on the ocean, starving and
worn out with fatigue, they gave up all hope, and lay
down in the bottom of the boat to die — Jonathan being
the first to succumb.

"Good-bye, Dave!" said he, raising himself with a
feeble effort.

"Good-bye, Jonathan!" said the other, grasping his
companion's hand, as he thought, for the last time.

" I think I am goinof to die," continued Jonathan :
" my head is spinning round, and I feel faint. I will
lie down a bit until the end comes. Good-bye, Dave,

once more

And he sank down again into a restless sleep, the
other following his example a moment or two after-
wards; first giving one last haggard glance around the
horizon — on which not a single sail appeared in sight
— as if bidding it an eternal farewell.

CHAPTER VII.

EESCUED.

"Boat ahoy!"

The two boys might have been asleep for hours only,
or insensible for days, they never knew for certain
which, and nobody else could inform them; but that
shout ringing in their ears awoke theni, with a thrill
of agony that it might be merely a dream of their dis-
ordered imao-ination.

One look, however, satisfied them to the contrarj',
when they painfully raised themselves into a sitting
posture in the bottom of the boat — which they could
hardly do by reason of their weakness — holding on to
the gunwales on either side as they dragged up their
attenuated bodies, and directing their sunken eyes,
which rolled with incipient delirium, to the point from
whence the hail came.

They could have screamed for joy, but their voices
failed them, and their emotion found relief in tears and
stiflino; sobs.

A large shijJ laj- to about a hundred yards off; and
a boat, which had evidently just been lowered from its
side, was being pulled rapidly towards them.

As soon as the boat came alongside, the men in her,
who appeared to be foreigners, looked at the boys with
the deepest pity, and spoke to each other rapidly in
some guttural language, which Jonathan had a hazy
idea was German, as if expressing sympathy with their
emaciated condition.

COMING-TO. 273

One of them whom they took to be an officer, from
the gold band on his cap and the tone of authority in
his voice, stepped into their boat, and appeared to liave
the intention of hfting tliem out of it into tlie other;
but all at once he seemed to notice the name of the
Eric Strauss, and stopped short, with an expression of
sui'prised astonishment on his face.

"Wunderbar!" he exclaimed, pointing out the name
to his companions, ^vho also looked eagerly at it; and
then, while he remained with the boys in the cutter,
the painter of the latter was attached to the other
boat, which towed it alongside the ship ; and, after that
David and Jonathan remembered no more, as they
both fainted as they were being tenderly hoisted on
board.

Jonathan was the first to come to himself.

He was in a hammock in the 'tween decks of a ship,
which he could feel was in motion. At the slight move-
ment he made in raising his head and peering over the
side of the hammock, a man with a grave face came to
him, saying something he could not understand.

" Where s David?" inquired Jonathan, a little bit still
puzzled in his head.

The man evidently knew that he was asking after
his friend, as he pointed to another hammock, suspended
a short distance from his own, in which David was
calmly sleeping; after which he gave him some soup to
drink, and Jonathan dropped oft' to sleep too.

When he awoke again he felt much better, and mo-
tioning to the attendant that he would like to get out
of the hammock, the man assisted him on to his feet.
He was a little shaky at first, feeling sore all over; but
after walking up and down a few steps with the assist-
ance of the attendant's arm, he regained his strength,
and proceeded to the side of David's hammock to pay
him a visit.

At the sound of Jonathan's voice, the other — who

( 105 ) s

274 DAVID AND JONATHAN.

appeared to have been wide awake although he had
made no movement — at once jumped up, and without
any assistance got out and stood on the deck by Jona-
than's side.

"Well, old fellow!" said he.

"Well, Dave!" ejaculated the other; and they clasped
each other's hands with a tight grip, as they had never
expected to do again on earth. They fully appreciated
their rescue, and thanked God for it.

" And how do you feel, Dave V inquired Jonathan,
after they had had a long look at each other.

" First-rate," said he. " And you ? "

" Oh, I'm all right. But your leg, Dave, is it better?"

"To tell you the truth," answered he with a hearty
laugh, " I forgot all about it. It's quite well now — ■
look! and that black and blue appearance it had has
disappeared. I don't feel the slightest pain, so it must
be all riglit."

The attendant, seeing both the lads better and able
to move about, here brought them each a mess of some-
thing nice to eat, which they polished off in so hearty
a manner as to make him smile, and exclaim, " Sehr
gut!" with iiiucli satisfaction to himself; and he then
handed the boys their clothes, which had been carefully
dried and smoothed, and assisted them to dress.

'■' I wish," said David, as he completed his toilet by
pulling on a pair of Hessian boots, that the man
brought him in place of the solitary one which he re-
membered having on in the boat, " I wish we had
been picked up by an English ship, although these
chaps have been very kind, of course, and beggars
mustn't be choosers. They are Germans, I suppose,
eh? Do you know the lingo, Jonathan?"

"Yes, it's a German ship, Die. Ahnfrau" replied his
friend, likewise donning another pair of "loaned"
boots, and accepting a cap, which the attendant pro-
duced with a bow. " How polite this chap is, Dave ?

THE captain's INSPECTION. 275

I'm sorry I only know one or two words of the lan-
guage, or 1 would thank him, and get out all the infor-
mation I could about the vessel, and how they picked
us up."

" Oh we'll find that out somehow," said David care-
lessly, " all in good time, old follow." And the man at
that moment tapping him on the arm, and making a
motion that he should follow him, he and Jonathan
went after him up the companion stairs, from the cabin
in which they were, on to the upper deck.

They were in a large barque, as they could see,
under full sail, with royals, stay-sails, stun-sails, and
everything that could draw, set; but they had not
much time given them for observation.

" Wie heissen Sie?" said a short, stout man in spec-
tacles, speaking in a sharp imperative voice. He had
a very broad gold band on his cap, and the boys took
him for the captain of the vessel, as indeed he was.
He specially seemed to address Jonathan, as the at-
tendant who had escorted them on deck took them up
to him, where he was standing by the binnacle with
two or three others.

"John Liston," answered that worthy, speaking
almost involuntarily, as the phrase the captain used,
asking his name, was one of the few German ones with
which he was acquainted.

" Ah, ah!" exclaimed the captain, in a very meaning
tone, addressing an officer that stood by his side, and
whom David fixed as the first mate. " Sie sprechen
Deutsch! Ah, ha!"

" Nein, — no," said Jonathan, " I do not. I cannot
speak German, I assure you."

"Very veil," said the little captain, in pretty good
English, although with a strong foreign accent. " We
will suppose you cannot ! Tell me, how did you come
in that boat in which we picked you up?"

Thereupon Jonathan told him of their being lost

276 DAVID AND JONATHAN.

from the Sea Rover, David adding, as Jonatlian leit
out that part of the story, how his friend had bravely
plunged overboard to his rescue. The German captain,
however, much to David's disgust, did not believe him.
He wasn't accustomed to heroism in his sphere evi-
dently!

" Oh, it's all very veil," he said sneeringly, " but will
you tell me how it vas that you two boys, belonging
to the Sea Rover, as you say, came to be in a boat be-
longing to the Eric Strauss, which boat was taken
away from that vessel by some of the crew — amongst
whom, we were informed at the Caj^e by the authori-
ties there, were two lads like yourselves — after a
mutiny in which they nearly murdered the master?"

Of course they explained; but the captain only
turned a deaf ear to all they said. He insisted that
they were the survivors of the mutineers of the Eric
Strauss, and told them he intended putting them in
irons, and taking them home for trial at Bremerhaven
— where Die Ahnfrau was bound from Batavia, having
only stopped at the Cape of Good Hope for fresh pro-
visions and water, and having there heard of the mu-
tiny on board the Eric Strauss, in which vessel the
captain of the former was deeply interested, being the
brother of the master, whom the crew had set upon, as
well as partner of the ship.

All remonstrances on the boys' part were useless ;
and, after being so miraculously preserved from the
perils of the deep, they wound up the history of their
adventures when "lost at sea," as David pathetically
remarked, by being "carried off prisoners to Germany
by a lot of cabbage-soup-eating, sourkrout Teutons,
who were almost bigger fools than they looked!" It
was all Jonathan's little knowledge of the German lan-
guage that did it, however.

Naturally, the mistake of Die Ahnfrau' s commander
was soon discovered on the arri\"al of the ship at Bre-

BRAVERY RKWARDED. 277

merhaven, when the boys were able to communicate
with their friends and the owners o£ the Sea Mover in
London, and they were released immediately. But the
insult rankled in their bosoms for some time after, and
did not completely disappear, from David's mind espe-
cially, until the Sea Rover — which, they heard from
the owners at the same time that they produced proof
of the boys' identity, had already left Melbourne on
her return voyage — had got back safely to the port of
London, and Johnny Liston's father and Captain Mark-
ham had greeted their young heroes as if they had
been restored from the dead.

Jonathan received the medal of the Royal Humane
Society for his bravery in plunging overboard to David's
assistance; and the two boys are still the closest and
dearest friends in the world, David being third mate,
and Jonathan, who took to the sea for the other's sake,
fourth officer of the Sea Rover, at the present moment,
" which, when found," as Captain Cuttle says, " why,
make a note on!"

"BLACK HAERY/

"The cap'en p'raps was in fault in the first instance;
but then, you know, it's no place for a man to argue
for the right or wrong of a thing aboard ship. When he
signs articles, he's bound to obey orders; and as every-
body must be aware, especially those in the seafaring
line, the captain is king on board his ship when once
at sea — king, prime minister, parliament, judge and
jury, and all the rest of it."

" But," said I, " he's under orders and under the law,
too, as well as any other man, isn't he?"

"Yes, when he's ashore," said the mate with the
shade over his eye. " Then he's got to answer for any-
thing he might have done wrong on the v'yage, if
the crew likes to haul him up afore the magistrates;
but at sea his word is law, and he can do as he pleases
with no hindrance, save what providence and the ele-
ments may interpose."

"And providence does interpose sometimes?" said I.

" Yes, in the most wonderful and mysterious ways,"
said the mate with the shade over his eye, speaking in
a solemn and awe - struck manner. " Look at what
happened in our case! But stop, as I don't suppose
you've heard the rights of it, I'll tell you all about it."

" Do," said I.

He was the mate of a vessel which had been picked
up at sea, disabled and almost derelict under most

CAPTAIN JARVIS. 279

peculiar circumstances, with only one other survivor,
besides himself on board, and brought into Falmouth
by the passing steamer which had rescued her. He
was a most extraordinary man to look at. Short, with
a dreamy face and lanky, whitish-brown hair, and a
patch or shade over one eye, which gave him a very
peculiar appearance, as the other eye squinted or
turned askew, looking, as sailors say, all the week for
Sunday.

"Do," said I. "There's nothing that I should like
better!"

Clearing his throat with a faint sort of apologetic
cough, and staring apparently round the corner with
his sound, or rather unshaded eye, he began without
any further hesitation.

" The cap'en p'raps was in the wrong at first, as I
said afore, sir. You see, some men are born to autho-
rity, and some isn't, and Captain Jarvis was one of
those that aren't. I don't wish to speak ill of a man,
when he's dead and gone to his account, and not here
to answer for himself ; but I must say, if I speak the
truth, that it was all through Cap'en Jarvis' fault the
Gulnare came to grief and all on board murdered each
other; and what weren't murdered were swept off the
ship and drowned in the storm that came on after-
wards, when everybody was seeking each other's blood,
and so met their doom in that way — all, that is, barrin'
little Peter and me, who only lived through the scrim-
mage and the gale to tell the story of the others' fate.
The cap'en had a bad temper and didn't know how to
keep it under; that was at the bottom of it all; and
yet, a nicer man, when the devil hadn't got the upper
hand of hira, and a handsomer chap — he was better
looking than me, sir," said the mate in an earnest
way, as if his statement was so incredible that he
hardly expected it to be believed — " yes, a nicer and
a handsomer chap you never clapped eyes on in a

280 "BLACK HARRY."

day's run than Cap'en Jarvis! He stood a trifle taller
than me, and had a jolly bearded face with merry blue
eyes; but with all that and his good-humoured manner
when everything was up to the nines and all plain
sailing, he had old Nick's temper and could show it
when he liked! We left Mobile short-handed; and
when you leave port to cross the Atlantic short-
handed at this time of the year, I guess, mister, you've
got your work cut out for you, you have! There
was only the cap'en; myself, first mate; the second
officer, boatswain, and ten hands all told, includin'
idlers, to navigate a ship of over eight hundred tons
from Mobile to Liverpool in the very worst time
of the year! A bad look-out when you come to
consider it fairly as I have; and when you have a
cap'en as is continually working the men to death and
a - swearin' and a - drivin' at them, and they under-
manned too, why it stands to reason that harm will
come: you're bound to have a muss, you bet, before
the v'yage is through!

" We'd hardly cleared the Gulf of Florida when the
weather got bad, with a foul wind and a heavy sea;
and we were driven past Cape Hatteras before we
could make a bit of easting in our longitude. You
never saw such a rough time of it as we had. The
watch below had no sooner turned in than they had
to be called up again to reef top-sails or make sail, for
there were too few hands to be of much use without
both watches worked together, and so the men had to
do double tides, as it were, with neither time to eat
nor sleep comfortably. To add to their hardships, they
were constantly in wet clothes, as it poured with rain
the whole time; besides which, the ship was so heavily
laden that we were continually taking in seas over the
bows as she laboured, the water washing aft of course,
and drenching them who might have escaped the rain
to the skin, so that not a soul aboard had a dry rag on.

MR. marling's story. 281

You can imagine, sir, how the men stomached this,
particularly when there was the skipper swearing at
'em all the time, and saying that they were lazy lub-
bers and not worth their salt, when they were trying
hard to do their best, as I must give them the credit
of ! I spoke to the cap'en, but it was of no use — not a
bit; you might just as well have expected a capstan
bar to hear reason!

"'Mr. Marling,' says he, in the still way he always
spoke when he was real angry. ' Mr. Marling, I'm
captain of my own ship, and always intend to be so as
long as I can draw my breath: I'll thank you to mind
your own business!'

"What could I say after that ? Nothing; and so I
said nothinc; more, althouijh I could almost foresee
what was coming, step by step!

"This dirty weather had been going on for about a
fortnight, or thereabouts ; the wind heading us every
now and then and veerino- back aa'ain to the southward
and westwards, accompanied by squalls of hail and rain
following each other with lightning rapidlj'; so that
no sooner had one cleared off than another was on to
us, and we had to clear up everything and let the ship
drive before the gale as she pleased, for it Avas of no
use trying to make a fair wind out of a foul one any
longer. As well as wo could make out our reckoning,
with the aid of some lunar observations Captain Jarvis
booked the night before, for we were unable to see the
sun long enough for our purpose, we were about some
three or four hundred miles to the west of Bermuda,
when, just as the clouds were breaking up blue-black
against the sky, and the barometer told us in its plain
language that it was coming on to blow harder, and
that we would have worse weather than we had yet
had, all the hands, as if with one accord, struck work
— with the exception of the man at the wheel, who
stuck to his post! There was no mistake aboAit it: the

282 "BLACK HARRY."

watch on deck refused point-blank to go aloft when
the skipper ordered them, for about the fourth time in
the hour, I should think it was, to take in sail; while
the watch below, in spite of the boatswain's hammer-
ing away at the fore-hatch and the capen's swearing,
declared that they wouldn't rouse up, not even if the
ship was sinking, and if they were shouted at any
more they would sarve him out. It was a mutiny,
there's no denying; a regular crisis, if ever there was
one; and just what I expected, seeing as how things
were going ever since we left Mobile, not three weeks
before."

" Captain Jarvis," he resumed after a brief pause,
" no sooner heard the men refuse to come on deck than
he went below. Not to where they were in the fore-
hatch — he knew a thins or two better than that — but

• • • 1

to his cabin, and in a minute he comes up again with
a revolver in each of his fists.

" ' Now,' says he in a firm, hard, but quiet voice, not
loud — he always spoke particularly quiet when he was
angry, as I've told you ; and he was angry now, if ever
a man was ' ' Now, you skulkers,' he says, addressing
first the hands on deck — 'Aloft every man-jack of
3'ou ! I'll shoot the last man that's up the shrouds''
They were up in the rigging pretty smart, you bet, at
that, when he had a revolver levelled dead at their
heads. ' See that you stow that main top-sail in a
brace of shakes ! And you lubbers below, wake up
there!' he exclaimed over the fore-hatch, firing a shot
down below as he spoke. 'Wake up there and on
deck; or, I'll riddle every mother's son of you before
I count ten. You, Black Harry, I know you've set
this pretty little scheme going ! Up with you, or
by the Lord Harry, your namesake, I'll put a bullet
through your carcass!'

" With that the watch below, knowing with whom
they had to deal, thought it best to give in; and up

THE CAPTAIN'S THREATS. 283

they came, Black Harry at their head, as sullen as a
lot of schoolboys going up to be flogged, who had just
thought they had barred out the master.

" ' It's no use your grunibling,' says Cap'en Jarvis,
with a queer grin on his face that was more angry-like
than a pain, ' It's no use your grumbling with me !
Aloft with you, and make that fore top-sail all snug,
and set storm stay- sails, for we've got something
rougher coming. I'll settle with you. Master Harry,
by-and-by.' "

"You haven't told me yet about this man, though I've
read his name in the papers. Who was Black Harry ? "
asked I.

" Haven't I told you about him yet ? No; then, I'll
tell you all about him now% for he had more to do with
the row aboard the Gulnare than anybody else! He
was a regular dare-devil of a pocket-a-win, as they are
called at Liverpool — a tall, lean, down-east Yankee
from Boston, with jet-black hair, and a swarthy face,
which made you think he had nigger blood in him
and got him his name of ' Black Harry.' A powerful
man and a good foremast hand ; but an all-fired lazy
devil about work, and as sulky as a bear when he
didn't get his grub regular. He was no coward though;
and no skulker in danger, as some white-livered chaps
are who ought to be ashamed to ship as sailors, for
he'd venture aloft sometimes when no one else would
dare, and was the first man at the weather-caring when
it was 'Reef top-sails'' But he had a temper as skittish
as the cap'en's, and couldn't stand being swore at. I've
heard him many a time mutter after the captain had
been going on at him. I know I'd not have liked to
have said half to him that Captain Jarvis did, for
Black Hariy looked like a man who would never for-
get nor forgive a grudge.

" Well, by-and-by the hands came down from aloft ;
and amongst them Black Harry, who lagged behind

284 "BLACK HARRY."

the rest, although he had licen the first in the foretop
going up.

"'Come here, you lubber!' said the cap'en to him,
singing out aloud as he touched the deck — 'you, 1
mean. Black Harry. I've got a little matter to settle,
I think, with you. Who incited the hands to mutiny
just now ? I don't forget. Master Harry — I don't forget I'

" ' Neither do I ! ' grumbled Harry below his voice.

'"What is that, you mutinous dog?' exclaimed the
cap'en, flying into a violent passion again, although he
had somewhat calmed down from his former rage — •
'Answer me to my teeth, you scoundrel? Take that''
and he hit a drive full fair in the centre of the fore-
head, with the butt-end of his revolver, holding it by
the barrel, felling Harry to the deck senseless, like a
bullock under the poleaxe !

''Some of the crew murmvired 'Shame!' But the
cap'en kept up his authority. ' Silence there!' he cried
out. ' Down with you, watch below, if you want to
see your bunks to-night, and take that hulking carcass
with you, or I'll throw it overboard!' And then the
men wont below, and took poor Black Harry, with
them; the vessel was made snug under her jib, storm
stay -sails, and close - reef ed main-sail; and Captain
Jarvis, Avho hadn't been off' the deck, except to fetch
his revolver that time, once in the twenty-four hours,
returned to his cabin to have a bit of sleep, leaving
me on the watch; the second oilicer and boatswain,
who acted also as third mate, having also turned in
for a caulk and gone down into the steerage.

" The sun, which we couldn't see, had set long since,
before indeed that little misunderstanding had occurred
about going aloft; and the moon shone feebly now and
then through an occasional opening in the clouds, which
had piled up atop of each other so heavy to windward
that they were like a pall in the sky.

" There was only myself and the steersman aft, the

jruTiNY. 285

rest of the watch, which were only five in number
altogether, being stowed somewhere under the bul-
warks amidships, trying to get an odd wink it' the seas
that were shipping in as the ship's bows fell would let
them. Not a sound was to be heard save the whistle
and screech of the wind throuo-h the cordage, and the
creak oi a block occasionally aloft; and I v.'as looking
out at the weather, wonderincr how soon the next
squall would tackle us, when my arms were seized by
somebody behind me, who held them down close to
my sides, and a gag of a reef-knot or some piece of
rope shoved into my mouth, so that I couldn't cry out.

'"Mr. Marling!' says a voice, which I recognized at
once as Black Harrj^'s, whispering in my ear, 'you
need not fear nothing, only keep quiet, and no harm
will be done to you; but if you tries to make a noise,
why, we'll have to quiet you in a way you won't like!'

" With that, you may bo sure, I was as tranquil as
a mouse, while they tied me down to a ring-bolt close
by the cabin skylight, so that I couldn't move; but
from my position I could see and hear everything that
■went on afterwards, althouij-h 1 couldn't eet the gag
out of my mouth so as to be able to speak.

"'Now, men,' I heard Black Harry then say aloud;
'now, we'll pay out that devil below! I wonder how
he'll like his mutinous dogs at close quarters ?' and he
lauglied a horrible bitter laugh.

" Then I heard them begin to descend the companion
ladder into the captain's cabin.

" They didn't go far enough ! No sooner had Black
Harry placed his foot on the first stair, followed by
the other mutineers, than there was a flash and a stun-
ning explosion from below. The captain, who had the
quick hearing of a hound, must have caught the sound
of their tussling with me on the deck, for he was ready
for them with his double-barrelled gun. I saw him
distinctly by the flash through the skylight, standing

286 "BLACK HARRY."

at the foot of the companion, while Gripper, the second
officer, was hurrying up behind him through the door
leading into the steerage where our berths were. Yes,
I saw the captain. He had fired one shot, and stood
waiting with the other barrel ready.

'"Come on, you dogs!' I heard him exclaim as he
discharged the gun. ' There's one dose of slugs, and
I've got another handy for you !'

" The men from the sound appeared to shrink back
for a second, but the next minute they rushed down in
a body; there was a second report of the captain's
gun, and I received, unbeknown to him, poor fellow —
for he didn't intend it, I know — a slug right in my
eye here; and for some time I was in such agony that
I didn't know what occurred below, although I heard
plenty of shots fired, and the sound of hand-to-hand
fighting mingled with oaths, and curses, and cries.

" When I recollected myself again there was Black
Harry near me surrounded by only four others, as
well as I could see after wiping the blood off" my face
with part of my arm, which I was able to do by
wriggling at my lashings ; the rest must have gone
under in the scrimmage.

" ' Now, you villain,' I heard Black Harry say again
in a voice full of spite and anger, 'I've got you!' Lash
him up there in the lee rigging!' says he to his fellow-
murderers; and in a trice I saw the poor cap'en, quite
pale and exhausted, fixed like a spread eagle in the
mizzen shrouds to leeward. ' Now, you villain!' says
Black Harry again, cocking one of the captain's re-
volvers which he had ready in his hand, ' you said you
would riddle us just now if we didn't go aloft after
treating us like dogs ever since we came on board
your cursed ship ! Well, Jarvis, you dog — Cap'en Jar-
vis, I beg your pardon! — I intend to riddle you now!'

" The cap'en didn't say a word ; he only looked at
him; but if looks could kill, his would then!

hakry's revenge. 287

" 'You dog!' said Black Harry again, after a stop to
see if the captain would speak. ' I've got three slugs
in my stomach, and you've swore three times at me
to-day like a dog — that makes six in all ; I intend to
send six shots through your vile carcass without kill-
ing you if I can help it. You knocked me down on
the deck with the butt-end of your pistol, and ordered
my body to be taken below by the hands, or else you
said you'd throw it overboard. For that outrage I'll
take my last revenge, after riddling you like a sieve,
by smashing in your skull, and pitching your vile car-
cass to the sharks — Dog!'

" With that the ruffian fired his first shot with the
revolver at his powerless victim. The captain M-inced
slightly, and I saw the bullet had carried off part of
one of his ears.

" ' Ha !' said Black Harry, ' nervous, are you ? Here's
another fillip for you.'

" But at the same moment the storm, which I had
seen browing up to windward, burst over the ship;
and a tremendous wave seemed to flatten me down on
the deck, the ringbolt to which I was lashed prevent-
ing me from slipping away. When the rush of water
had subsided, and I was able to hold up my head once
more, my wounded eye smarting worse than ever, I
saw that the mizzen and main masts with part of the
foremast had been washed clean away with the shrouds,
running-gear, and all their hamper, and, of course, the
body of the poor captain, Black Harry, and all his com-
panions in crime had been carried off too in the general
wreck.

"How long I remained lashed to the deck of the
crippled vessel Avith the waves dashing over me, the
sport of the sea and the mark of the weather, I know
not. The first thing I recollect after what appeared
to be an eternity of torture, was that I found myself
on board the tiaracen, a screw steamer bound from

288 "j;lack iiarky."

iVew York to Southampton, which had sighted, the
Gulnarc tossing at the lucrey of tlie wind and \^'aves,
and sent a boat to see whether tliere was anybody alive
on board. I was on board, alive though senseless for a
time, and brought to after much kindly solicitude; so,
too, was little Peter, the cabin-boy, whom the mutineers
had tied up in his bunk in the forecastle, and who was
also alive, though nearly starved to death. Besides our
two selves, there was no other living thino: ; but the
bodies of Gripper, the second officer. Painter, the boat-
swain, and those of the mutineers who had not been
washed overboard, were found floating about in the
cabin, all with the marks of bullet and shot wounds
and other injuries, to show that they had come by a
\'iolent death after a hard struggle.

"When my senses were to the fore again, naturally
I informed my salvors of all that had occurred ; and
as the cargo of the Gidnare was a valuable one, her
hull not very much damaged, and the weather calm
and favourable, the captain of the Saracen, which had
so providojitially come across her — and a right good
fellow he lias been to iric! — made up his mind to sal-
vage my old ship if he could.''

"And so be towed her in here at Falmouth, and you
made your depositions along with the cabin-boy, Peter,
the only survivors of the catastrophe, about the facts
of the case, for the benefit of the underwriters and the
clearance of your own character?"

"Ju.st so, mister," said the man with the shade over
his eye, who it strikes me from certain circumstances
was of American nationality; "and that's the whole
story about 'Black Harry,' I guess!"

THE END.

BlACKIE & SON'S

New Publications.

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By ASCOTT R. HOPE.

Stories of Old Renown:

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By G. a. HENTY.

Under Drake's Flag:

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Ob the Hero of the Vauohan Pit : a Tale op
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Life's Daily Ministry:

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t'. t th>> ant; 11 h n i

I'l htit ti ti<asi orea- '

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1:8S

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UNDER DRAKE'S FLAG.

A Tale of the Spanish Main. By G. A. Henty, author of "Tiie
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" Under Drake's Flag," is a story of the days when England and Spain
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The heroes of the story sail as lads with Drake in the expedition in which
the Pacific Ocean was first seen by an Englishman from a tree-top on the
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historical portion of the story is absolutely to be relied upon, but this,
although very useful to lads, will perhajjs be le.ss attractive than the great
variety of exciting adventure through which the young adventurers pass
in the course of their voyages.

" A stiiTing book of Drake's time, and just such a book as the youth of this mail-
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IN THE KING'S NAME:

Or the Cruise of the Kestrel. By G. Manville Fenn, author
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"In the King's Name" is a spiiited story of the Jacobite times, con-
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preventive service off the coast of Sussex, on board the Kestrel. Leigh
is taken prisoner by the adherents of the Pretender, amongst whom is an
early friend and patron who desires to spare the lad's life, but will not release
him. The narrative is full of exciting and often humorous incident.

'■Mr. Manville Fenn has already won a foremost place among writers of stories
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ductions in this field. It has the great quality of always * moving on' — adventure
following adventure in constant succession." — Daily News.

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STORIES OF OLD RENOWN.

Tales of Knights and Heroes. By Ascott R. Hofe, Author of
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A Series of the best of the Stories of Noble Knighthood and Old Ro-
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attractions, especially for
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FACING DEATPl:

Or the Hero of the Yaughan Pit. A Tnle of the Coal Mines.
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"Facing Death" is a story with a purpose. It is intended to show that
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colliery lad, is a character that boys will deUght in. He is a typical British
boy, dogged, earnest, generous, and though "shamefaced " to a degree, is
read}'^ to face death in the discharge of duty. His is a character for imita-
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the narrative.

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NAT THE NATUEALIST:

Or a Boy's Adventures in the Eastern Seas. By Geo. Manvillm
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8 full-page Pictures executed in black and tint. Crown 8vo,
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This is a pleasant story of a lad who, though he is brought up in a strictly
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comes home from distant land.s, whence he brings a beautiful collection.
The boy Nat and his uncle Dick go on a voyage to the remoter islands of
the Eastern seas, and their adventures there are told in a truthful and
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GAENEEED SHEAVES.

A Tale for Boys. By Mrs. Emma Eaymond Pitman, author of
"Mission Life in Greece and Palestine/' &c. With 4 full-
page Illustrations printed in black and tint. Crown 8vo, cloth
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This Tiilc g-ives in narrative form the history and adventures of a class of
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we are taken to America, during the civil war, and mingle in scenes relat-
ing to the battle-field ; while, in other chapters, we listen to the quiet
teachings of one of God's faithful servants, who strove to "gai'ner sheaves
for Christ. " The wide difference between the honourable upright youth, and
one who is clover and cunning, but dishonest, is here depicted by incidents
from the life; and it is proved that "godliness hath promise of the life
that now is," as well as of that which is to come. From this tale Sunday-
school teachers may learn that their "labour shall not be in vain in the
Lord."

"'Garnered Sheaves' is a charming story of the after life and labours of two
Sunday-school scholars whose careers were diverse iu their character and influence."
— Chn.<ian Union.

*' The incidents are well depicted, and the characters are true to life. . . . We
shall be glad of more such sheaves as theBG."^ Freeman.

" It should be read by every youth who is leaving school and home for business." —
Literary World.

MY GOVEENESS' LIFE:

Or Eiirning my Living. By Mrs. Emma Eaymond Pitman
autlior of "Mission Life in Greece and Palestine," "Heroines
of the Mission Field," " Vestina's Martyrdom," " Profit and
Loss," &c. &o. With 4 full-page Illustrations. Cloth neat, 3s. 6rf.

This Story, told in the first person, is largely concerned with a young
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her living by the exercise of whatever talent she possesses. Some of the
minor characters in the narrative are skilfully depicted, notably the old
Cornish couple who figure in the little Methodist chapel; and the young-
man of science, who is shown to have missed his way in substituting
science for faith in a personal God, but by painful chastening is recovered
and led to the cross of Christ as a humble believer. Finally, he marries
the heroine of the story _, and turns out a good and useful man. The aged
clergyman is a fine specimen of culture and Christian charity. The scenes
of boarding-school life here depicted are full of vivacity and reahty.

Blackie & Son's N'ew Publications.

LIFE'S DAILY MINISTEY.

A Story of Everyday Service for Others. By Mrs. Emma Ray-
mond Pitman, author of '' Mission Life in Greece and Pales-
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A Story of self-sacrifice in various forms, and of some touching expe-
riences of life. Some of the characters are very attractive, others very
repulsive ; but all tend to show that true honour and happiness are to be
found in serving others, according to our capacity, and so imitating Him
** who went about doing good," Some experiences of a sincere and gifted,
but doubting youth, helpless through spinal disease and destined to early
death, and his attainment of faith, light, and peace, are pecnliarly affect-
ing. His brother, the medical student, is eventually brought back to faith
in his mother's God, after wandering very far in sin and folly, Olive
Forrester, the chief heroine of the story, presents an example of saintly
self-denial for the sake of her dead sister's children.

FLOEENCE GODFREY'S FAITH.

A Story of Australian Life. By Mrs. Emma Paymond Pitman,
author of " Heroines of the Mission Field," &c, AVith 4 full-
page Illustrations printed in black and tint. Crown 8vo, clotli
extra, price 35. Qd.

This Tale traces the career and adventures of a family who were forced
to leave ^Manchester during the time of the cotton famine, and seek a home
in Australian wilds. Florence, the central character of the story, is a very
lovely one ; and in spite of girlish timidity, girlish fear, and natural shrink-
ing, succeeds in raising a Christian church in the wilderness. The story
teaches the lesson of perseverance in well-doing, and shows how faithful
effort is rewarded.

"This is a clever, and what is better still, a good book, written with a freshness
and power which win the reader's sympathies, and carry the story along >nill;iggingly
to the close " — Christian Globe.

" A story w hich will be eagerly read by boys, and which cau hardly fail to promote
the growth of a manly type of Christiau character." — Literary World.

*'This is a very interesting book, and a suitable present for young men or wo iien.
The influence of the tale is pure and bracing." — Freeman.

"Mrs. Pitman's works are all to be prized for their ennoblJDg character— pure,
elevating. Interesting, and intellectual." — Christian Union.

Blaekie & Son's New Publications.

BROTHER AND SISTER:

Or the Trials of the Moore Family. By Elizabeth J. Lysaght,
author of '* Nearer and Dearer/' &c. "With 6 full-page Illus-
trations in black and tint. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, price 35. 6d.

An interesting- story for young people, showing by the narrative of the
vicissitudes and struggles of a family which has "come down in the world,"
and of the brave endeavours of its two younger members, how the pressure
of adversity is mitigated by domestic affection, mutual confidence, and
hopeful honest effort.

"A i)retty story, and well told. The plot is cleverly constructed, and the moral
is excellent." — AtJienaum.

*' A charming story, admirably adapted for young people, which relates the brave
endeavoui-s of tlie two youngest members of a family which has become reduced in
circumstances to mitigate the pressure of adversity."— Si^ckiy.

DORA:

Or a Girl without a Home. By ]\Irs. E. H. IaEAd, author of
'*The Lawyer's Daughter," &c. &c. With tJ full-page Illus-
trations. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant^ ?)S. (kl.

The story of a friendless oi']ihan girl, who is j.laced as pupil-teacher at
the school in which she was educated, but is suddenly removed by hard
and selfish relatives, who employ her as a menial as well as a governess.
Through a seiies of exciting adventures she makes discoveries respecting a
largo property which is restored to its rightful owners, and at the same
time she secures her escape from her persecutors. The character of Dora
is a very sweet one, and the interest of the story is so sustained that it can
scarcely fail to please the reader.

UNRAVELLED SKEINS:

Or Tales for the Twilight. By Gregson Gow. Illustrated by
four facsimile Desigos in black and tint. Crown 8vo, clotli
elegant, price 'is. 6d.
*' For a volume of neat stories carefully told commend us to this." — ScoUman.

MYTHS AND LEGENDS
OF ANCIENT GKEECE AND EOME.

A Hand-book of Greek and Roman Mythology, by E. M. Berens.
Illustrated from Antique Sculptures in a highly interesting
and instructive manner. Cloth elegant, price Zs. 6d.
"Written in a spirit of reverent sympathy and of well-sustained interest, while its
absolute purity should secure it a place in every family." — Schoolmaster.

10 Blachib (£• Son's New Publications.

THE BALL OF FORTUNE;

Or Ned Somerset's Inheritance. By Charles Pearce, author of
"Frank the Fisher-boy " &c. With 4 full-page JJIustratious
i:)rinted in bLack and tint. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, price
2s. 6d.

A story of plot and character dealing with some out of the many scenes
of London life, and founded on the strange bequest left by a sea captain,
and the endeavours of some unscrupulous persons to obtain possession of
it "before the discovery of the true heir in the ])erson of a neglected street
Arab. The story is lively and attractive, and the incidents move so quickly
that the attention of the reader is sustained throug-hout.

" It is a briglit genial story, which boys will thoroughly enjoy. . . . The moral
lies in the story itself, and is not administered iu a succession of pious pills with
r^weet draughts of rncy fiction between to take the taste away. We have seen few
lietter stories fur boys tiiis season." — Binaiwjhavi Duibj Pust.

" A story boys will delight in."— Schooiiiio---tei\

THE FAMILY FAILING.

By Darley Dale, author of "Little Bricks," '*TJie Black
Donkey," "A Tearful Victory," &c. &c. With 4 full-page
Illustrations. Cloth elegant, 2s. 6d.

This is a lively and amusing account of a family, the members of ^phich
while they lived in affluence were remarkable for their discontent, but who,
after the loss of fortune has compelled them to seek a more humble home
in Jersey, become less selfish, and develop very excellent traits of char-
acter under the pressure of comparative adversity. Their escapades and
naiTow escapes from serious dangers form an exciting part of the narrative,
which contains many pleasant episodes of life in the Channel Islands.

EPISODES OF FOREIGN LIFE AND MANNERS,

And Pictures of Foreign Lands. A Book for Youth. With
engraved Title and Frontispiece. Cloth elegant, 2s. 6d.

The object in this work is to whet the appetite rather than to satiate the
mind of the readers— to create within them a desire to know more of the
strange countries and peoples here mentioned.

Blackie & Son's New Pttblicatio?is. 11

EPISODES OF THE SEA IN FORMER DAYS:

Records of Suffering and Saving. A Book for Boys. With
engraved Title and Frontispiece. Cloth elegant, 2^. 6d.

Stories of shipwreck, famine, mutiny, and the other misfortunes which
befall the mariner, will always be appreciated by those who love to read of
deeds of darings, and to ponder on the lessons which may be drawn from
them. This volume comprises narratives of occurrences which have become
historical, such as the ever-memorable mutiny of the Bounty, and many
others of equal interest.

EPISODES OF CAPTIVITY AND EXILE

111 various Parts of Europe. A Book for Boys. With engraved
Title and Frontispiece. Cloth elegant, 25. Qd.

Captivity and Escape is at all times an attractive subject for youthful
minds, presenting as it does to them scenes of adventurous daring-, hai'd-
ship, and suffering, calculated to excite their natural ardour and draw
forth their ready sympathies. The tales embodied in this volume will be
found to comprise those of the most fascinating description.

EPISODES OF HISTORY:

stirring Incidents in the Lires of Men and Nations. A Book
fc- Youth. With engraved Title and Frontispiece. Cloth
elegant, 2s. 6c?.

In the compilation of this volume the object has been to give a series of
sketches stretching over a long term of time, rather than a finished picture
of any definite period. These have been collected during an extensive
course of reading, and the only attempt made at classification has been
to place the articles in chronological order.

EPISODES OF DISCOVERY IN ALL AGES.

A Book for Youth. With engi-aved Title and Frontispiece.
Cloth extra, is. 6d.

In this work will be found accounts of a few of the most famous dis-
coverers and explorers of former days. The materials from which this
volume has been compiled were gathered from scarce records and other
trustworthy sources ; and the whole forms a series of incidents of unex-
ampled interest in the world's history.

1 2 Blackie & Son's New Fublications.

EPISODES OF PERSONAL ADVENTURE

In Field, Flood, and Forest. A Book for Boys. With engraved
Title and Froutisj^iece. Cloth elegant, 2s. 6d.

The incidents in this ToUime are wholly founded on the real experiences
of those who figure in them. They have been carefully selected from
numerous sources.

THE NEWSPAPER READER.

Selections from leading Journals of the Nineteenth Century on
Events of the Day. By Henry Findlater BtissEr and T.
Wilson Reid. With engraved Frontispiece. Foolscap 8vo,
clotli elegant, 2s. 6d.

"The idea of the book is admir.ible, and its execution is excellent. It is extremely
interesting. It may be read not merely by young people, but by old ones, and tliey
will tind profit to tliemselves in its perusal. The work is well done." — BcoUnian.

THE BRITISH BIOGRAPHICAL READER:

Brief Biographies of prominent British Heroes, Statesmen, Dra-
matists, Poets, Scientific Men, &c. With Introductory Notes
by the Editor. Illustrated by numerous Authentic Portraits.
Foolscap 8vo, cloth elegant, 2s. 6d.

"A number of excellent portiaits add considerably to the attractiveness of the
work, whicti may safely be pronounced one of the most interesting of the Series." —
Abtrdetn Journal.

LONDON, PAST AND PRESENT.

Being Notices Historical and Descriptive of Ancient and Modern
London, and of the Counties on wliich it stands. With nume-
rous authentic Illustrations. Foolscap 8vo, cloth extra, 2s. 6d.

*' A compilation from which a variety of interesting information may be gathered
with regard to the past history and present condition of the metropolis." — Atfteiueum.

Blachie & Son's New Publications. 13

FOUR LITTLE MISCHIEFS.

By EosA MuLHOL^LAND, autlior of " Five Little Farmers," &c.
With 3 full-page Illustrations in colours. Crown 8vOj clotli
extra, price 2s.

What is called Mischief may often be reg'arded as the experimental
adventures of children, and this story of child-life is, from this point of
view, one of the most amusing: of the author's excellent little books. Its
fun, is innocent, its incident both captivating and instructive.

" Will be read with absorbing interest by the youngsters." — Land and Water

OUR DOLLY:

Her Words and Ways. By Mrs. R. H, Read. Illustrated by
many Woodcuts in the text, and a Frontispiece printed in
colour. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, price 2^.

A story for children, showing the growth and development of character
in a little girl, and describing the surroundings of the family and a series
of entertaining small adventures suitable for very juvenile readers.

"Prettily told and prettily illucitrated.'' — Guardian.

FAIRY FANCY:

What she Heard and what she Saw. By Mrs. R. H. Read.
With many Woodcut Illustrations in the text, and a Frontis-
piece printed in colours. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, price 2s.

" Fairy Fancy" is a story for juvenile readers, recounting the experiences
of a fairy who dwells amidst the children of a family, and observes not
only their conduct but the singular behaviour of "Toph,"the raven, and
other creatures associated witli them. The tale is designed to show the
influence of character even among little children, and the narrative is such
as to awaken and sustain the interest of the younger readers.

" The authoress has very great insight into child nature, and a sound healthy tone
pervades the book. Both boys and girls will read it with interest and profit." — -
Glus(j<nc Herald.

'* All is pleasant, nice reading, with a little knowledge of natural liistory and otlier
dry mntters gently introduced and thus divested of dryness. Tlie book is well
printed, well bound, and well illustrated."— P('flc(ic«i Teacher.

14r Blackie & Son's New Publications.

ADVENTURES OF MRS. WISHING-TO-BE.

By Alice Corkran, authoress of " Latheby Towers," " Bessie
Lang," &c. Illustrated by 3 full-page Pictures printed in
colours. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, price 2s.

The strange adventures of a very young lady, showing how she met with
the wonderful people of nursery legend and the manner of her introduction
to them. A tale for the Little Ones.

"Simply a charmiug book for little girls. We have a good deal of confidence in
recommending the book, which is, moreover, well illustrated." — ScUurday Review.

NAUGHTY MISS BUNNY:

Her Tricks and Troubles. A Story for Little Children. With
3 Illustrations in colours. By Clara Mulholland. Crown
8vo, cloth extra, price 25.

This is a book which will amuse quite little folks, as a story of the v,-cij-
ward tricks of a spoiled child, and the scrapes into which they lead her.
The story consists of small incidents such as please small listeners, who will
be interested not only in Miss Bunny's naughtiness, but in her reformation.

"This naughty child is positively delightful. Papas should not omit 'Naughty
Miss Bunny' from their list of juvenile presents." — La7id u7id Water.

NEW LIGHT THROUGH OLD WINDOWS.

A Series of Stories illustrating Fables of ^sop. By Gregson
Gow, author of " Tales for the Twilight," &c. Illustrated by
3 full-page Pictures in coloiu's. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, 2^,

A series of stories designed to bring before the young mind, in a new
and entertaining form, some of the shreds of wit and wisdom which have
come down to us from ancient times in the guise of fables. The fables
here chosen for texts are old friends, familiar to us from our earliest years;
and the tales, although amusement has been a chief end aimed at, will be
found most of them to suggest some important truth, or teach some sound
lesson in practical morality,

'■ Racy, pointed, and fitted to delight young folks." — Fneucn.
"Entertaining fur young und old alike." — Li/c.

Blackie & Sons New Publications. 15

TROUBLES AND TRIUMPHS OF LITTLE TIM.

A City Story. By Gkegsox Gow, author of "Tales for the
Twilight." With two Ilhistratious in colour. Foolscap Syo,
192 p})., cloth extra, Is. Qd.

"Strong in character and full of incident, and the narrative all through is in-
teresting and touching." — Edinburgh Daily Heview.

"An unmistakable tmdercurrent of sympathy with the stniggles of the poor, and
an ability to describe their feelings iinder various circumstances, eminently charac-
teristic of Dickens, are marked features in Mr. Gow's story." — North British Mail.

THE HAPPY LAD.

A Story of Peasant Life m Norway. From the Norwegian of
Bjornstjerne Bjorusoii. With Frontispiece in colour. Fools-
cap 8vo, 192 pp., cloth extra, Is. Gd.

" The lad is happy from being a plucky boy, a good bod, and a successful lover."—
■Glofigoic Htn-ald.

INTO THE HAVEN.

By Ankie S. Swan, author of " Shadow Lives," " Thankful Rest,"
&c. With two Illustrations printed in colour. Foolscap 8vo,
192 pp., cloth extra, Is. 6d.

"No story more attractive ... by reason of its breezy freshness and nnfoi-ced
pathos, as well as for the wholesome practical lessons it conveys." — Chrutian Leader.

BOX OF STORIES.

Packed for Young Folk by Horace Happtman. A Series of
interesting Tales for the Young. With 2 Illustrations printed
in colours. Foolscap 8vo, 192 pp., cloth extra, 1.?. Qd.

JEANNE D'ARC, THE PATRIOT MARTYR:

And other Narratives of Female Heroism in Peace and War.
Illustrated by 2 Pictures printed in colours. Foolscap Svo,
cloth extra, \s. %d.

16 Jlladie cD Son's New I'tihlications.

THE NEW BOY AT MERRITON.

hj Julia Goddard. With Frontispiece in colour. F'cap 8vo^
128 pp., clotli extra, jiricc Is.

"A storv of English stltofil life. It is uii attempt to teach a somewhat higher code
of honour than that whii^h prevails aniout^ tlie general run of sclioolboyB, and the

]e.>Miu niake^ a very go<5d story." — School Board Chronicle.

THE BLIND BOY OF DRESDEN.

With Frontispiece in colour. F'cap 8vo, 128 pp., cJoth extra,,
price Is.
"Tliia is a family story of gi-eat patlioa. It does not obtitisively dictate its lesson,
but it quietly introduces, and leaves it witliin the heart." — Aberdeen Journal.

JON OF ICELAND:

A True Story. "With Frontispiece in colour. F'cap 8vo, 128 pp.^
cloth extra, price l5.

" 'Jon of Iceland' is a sturdy, well educated young Icelander, who becomes a suc-
cessful teacher. It gives cliildren a clear idea of the chief physical features of th&
island, and of the simple and manly character of its inhabitants." — School Guardian.

STORIES FROM SHAKESPEARE.

By Macfarlaxd and Abby Sage. With Frontispiece in colour.
. F'cap Svo, 128 pp., cloth extra, price l.s.

*' The stories are told in such a way tiiat young people liaving read them will desire
to study the works of Shakespeare in theii' original form." — T/t€ Schoolmistress.

EVERY MAN IN HIS PLACE:

The Story of a City Boy and a Forest Boy. With Frontispiece
ill colour. F'cap 8vOj 128 pp., cloth extra, price \s.

"This is the history of the son of a \\L'althy Hamburg merchant, who wished to
foliow ill tlie steps of Robinson C'nisue. He visited Heligoland and the Hartz Moun-
tains, and was put to the test, and became convinced in the end tliat it is better to
live the life of a uealtliy merchant in a trre^t c^tv tlian to endiu'e hardship by choice."
■ — Sch'Ol Board Vhv<in<cle.

Blackie & Son's New 1' ablications.

FIRESIDE FAIRIES axd FLOWER FANCIES:

Stories for Girls. Witli Frontispiece in colour. F'cap 8vo,
128 pp., cloth extra, price Is.

" Nine stories are included, all for girls, encouraging tliem to try and do their
duty. Young servants would find this book very interesting." — The Schoolmistress.

TO THE SEA IN SHIPS:

Stories of Suffering and Saving at Sea. With Frontis-
piece in colour. F'cap 8vo, 128 pp., clotli extra, price Is.

*' To the Sea in Shii-is records several noted disasters at sea, 8iich as the foundering
of the London and the wreck of the Atlanta: It also contains nanatives of success-
ful rescues. This is a capital book for boys." — School Guardian.

JACK'S VICTORY:

And other Stories about Dogs. With Frontispiece in colour.
F'cap 8vo, 128 pp., cloth extra, price Is.

" Every boy, and some girls, take great delight in reading about dogs. "Well, Jack
was a dog ; a famous and wtaiderful one, too. He became leader of a team in Green-
laud, and some rare exploits he took part in. He would not sleep in a house; he
would not hide from an enemy; he would not harm the defenceless. Besides ' Jack's
Victory' there ai'e ten other stories about dogs in tiiis volume. These narratives are
not old ones, but are fresh and pleasing. "^ — The Schoolmistress.

THE STORY OF A KING,

Told by one of his Soldiers. With Frontispiece in colour.
F'cap 8vOj 128 pp., cloth extra, price Is,

" This book recounts the boyhood and reign of Charles XIL of Sweden. The ware
in which he was engaged and the extraordinary victories he won are well described,
and eqxially so are the misfortunes which latterly came on him and his kingdom
through his uncontrollable wilfulness."— J /'cn/ceft Journal.

Blackie & Son's New Puhlkations.

LITTLE DANIEL:

A Story of a Flood ou the Khiiie. With Frontispiece in colour.
F'cap 8vo, 128 pp., cloth extra, price \s.

"A simple and touching story of a flood ou the Rhine, told as well as George
Eliot so graphically wrote of The Mill on the Fioss."— Governess.

PRINCE ALEXIS:

A Tale of Old Russia. With Frontispiece in colour. F'cap Svo,
128 pp., cloth extra, price Is.

This is a legend wrought into a story, rendering a fiction of Life in
Russia, something more than a hundred years ago; a state of things which,
as the author says, "is now impossible, and will soon become incredible."
It is like a romance of Old Bagdad, in which the colouring and the charac-
ters and manners are Eussian instead of Arabian.

SASHA THE SERF,

And other Stories of Russian Life. With Frontispiece in colour.
F'cap Svo, 128 pp., cloth extra, price Is.

The stories in the volume comprise :— The Life of Sasha, a poor boy who,
by his Jove of knowledge and bis industry, saved the life of his lord, and
finally rose to wealth and gained his freedom,— Incidents of remarkable
personal bravery in the Eussian ai'my, — An interesting story of humble life
in Bussia,— A story of Eussian mining life, — A bear-hunt in Eussia, &c. &c.

TRUE STORIES OF FOREIGN HISTORY.

A Series of Interesting Tales. With Frontispiece printed in
colours. F'cap Svo, 128 pp., cloth extla,^price U.

The book contains stories — Of some of the early printers, — How Quentin
Matsys the Antwerp smith became a great painter,— The rise and fall
of Jean Ango the fisherman of Dieppe,— The early trials of Fritz Kiimer
the tailor's son, who could not learn his father's trade but who became
commaader-iu-ohief of the Brunswick forces,— Of Polish patriotism,— The
heroism of Casablanca the little French midshipman, &c. &c.

Blackie & Sun's Xew I'ubUatlioiu.

THE LITTLE BROWN BIRD:

A Story of Industry. With Frontispiece in colours. Medium
8vo, cloth elegant, price 6d.

This book contains two tales, the first intended to inculcate habits of
industry, and the other to show that mediocrity with perseverance achieves
a more honourable career than " talent" wasted or misapplied.

THE MAID OF DOMREMY:

And other Tales. With "Frontispiece in colours. Medium 8vo,
cloth elegant, price 6d.

" The Maid of Domremy " is in fact Joan of Arc, whose story is well ren-
dered into something less than twenty pages. Other sections of the little
volume treat of the "Feast of Cherries;" "Something about Eoyal Chil-
dren;" "The Black Douglas;" "What a Boy Did," and "Johanna Sebus."
These are all narratives of fact.

LITTLE ERIC:

A Story of Honesty. With Frontispiece in colours. Medium 8vo,
cloth elegant, price 6d.

This is a pure juvenile fiction, illustrative of truthfulness and honesty.
It is full of interest from beginning to end, and well suited as a reward
book for Sunday Schools.

UNCLE BEN THE WHALER:

And other Stories. With Frontispiece in colours. Medium 8vo,
cloth elegant, price 6d.

" Uncle Ben the Whaler" is an *'old salt" who tells a group of children
a very interesting tale of his career as a seaman in the Arctic waters. The
other stories in the volume are : — Three Handfuls of Grain, — The Golden
Rule, — The Broken Jar.

iJlackie & Son's Neiv Puhlications.

PALACE OF LUXURY:

Medium 8vo,

THE

And other Stories. With Frontispiece iu colours,
cloth elegant, price Gd.

A youth named Seekpeace is shown under the guidance of the fairy
Pureheart all the deceptions in the Palace of Luxury, — Madam Sunshine's
parable about the Swan of Fortune, — The Colorado beetle's talk with the
weathercock, — and other short amusing stones.

THE CHARCOAL BURNER:

Or Kindness Repaid. With Frontispiece in colours. Medium 8vOj
cloth elegant, price Qd.

This is a most interesting story of a poor charcoal-burner in a German
forest, who discovers and reHeves a wounded officer, and is himself after-
wards strangely delivered from death by the same officer. The tale incul-
cates the duty of always showing kindness and of forgiving an injury.

WILLIE BLACK:

A Story of Doing Eight. With Frontispiece in colours. Medium
8vo, cloth elegant, ])rice 6d.

It is a tale of a little Shoe-black to whom a gentleman gave half-a-crown
by mistake for a penny, and it shows all tht; good that came to this little
boy through seeking to restore the silver coin to its owner. Proving how
it is always best to do right.

THE HOESE AND HIS WAYS:

Stories of Man and his Best Friend. With Frontispiece in coloui's.
Medium 8vo, cloth elegant, price Gd.

A series of interesting anecdotes about the courage of the horse ; its
friendship, its docility, its sagacity, and its power of memory.

Blackie & Son's New Publications.

THE SHOEMAKER'S PRESENT:

A Legendary Story. With Frontispiece in colours. Medium 8vo,
cloth elegant, price Qd.

A legendary story of "How a boy became obedient." The tale is told
in a semi-magical tone, and is very interesting.

LIGHTS TO WALK BY:

Stories for the Young. With Frontispiece in colours. Medium
8vo, cloth elegant, price 6(1.

The book contains : Willy Monta^ie's Lesson — The Visit of the Prince —
The Conscript of Lyons — My Friend .Jacques — Honesty and Usefulness —
God's Promise. They are all lively little narratives, each with a wholesome
moral. They are well wi-itten and very attractive.

THE LITTLE MERCHANT:

And other Stories. With Frontispiece in colours. Medium 8vo,
cloth elegant, price 6c^.

This book contains a Kcries of little stories of English life and of tlie
experience of young- peojile in this land. They are all designed to enforce
some important moral lesson, such as honesty, industry, kindness, &c. &c.

NICHOLINA:

A Story about an Iceberg. With Frontispiece in co