initial commit of ebook 1406HEADmain

1 files changed, 2331 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/1406.txt b/1406.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5c908ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/1406.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2331 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Perils of Certain English Prisoners, by
+Charles Dickens
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Perils of Certain English Prisoners
+
+
+Author: Charles Dickens
+
+Release Date: April 3, 2005  [eBook #1406]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PERILS OF CERTAIN ENGLISH
+PRISONERS***
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcribed from the 1894 Chapman and Hall "Christmas Stories" edition by
+David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk
+
+
+
+
+
+THE PERILS OF CERTAIN ENGLISH PRISONERS
+
+
+CHAPTER I--THE ISLAND OF SILVER-STORE
+
+
+It was in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and forty-four,
+that I, Gill Davis to command, His Mark, having then the honour to be a
+private in the Royal Marines, stood a-leaning over the bulwarks of the
+armed sloop Christopher Columbus, in the South American waters off the
+Mosquito shore.
+
+My lady remarks to me, before I go any further, that there is no such
+christian-name as Gill, and that her confident opinion is, that the name
+given to me in the baptism wherein I was made, &c., was Gilbert.  She is
+certain to be right, but I never heard of it.  I was a foundling child,
+picked up somewhere or another, and I always understood my christian-name
+to be Gill.  It is true that I was called Gills when employed at
+Snorridge Bottom betwixt Chatham and Maidstone to frighten birds; but
+that had nothing to do with the Baptism wherein I was made, &c., and
+wherein a number of things were promised for me by somebody, who let me
+alone ever afterwards as to performing any of them, and who, I consider,
+must have been the Beadle.  Such name of Gills was entirely owing to my
+cheeks, or gills, which at that time of my life were of a raspy
+description.
+
+My lady stops me again, before I go any further, by laughing exactly in
+her old way and waving the feather of her pen at me.  That action on her
+part, calls to my mind as I look at her hand with the rings on it--Well!
+I won't!  To be sure it will come in, in its own place.  But it's always
+strange to me, noticing the quiet hand, and noticing it (as I have done,
+you know, so many times) a-fondling children and grandchildren asleep, to
+think that when blood and honour were up--there!  I won't! not at
+present!--Scratch it out.
+
+She won't scratch it out, and quite honourable; because we have made an
+understanding that everything is to be taken down, and that nothing that
+is once taken down shall be scratched out.  I have the great misfortune
+not to be able to read and write, and I am speaking my true and faithful
+account of those Adventures, and my lady is writing it, word for word.
+
+I say, there I was, a-leaning over the bulwarks of the sloop Christopher
+Columbus in the South American waters off the Mosquito shore: a subject
+of his Gracious Majesty King George of England, and a private in the
+Royal Marines.
+
+In those climates, you don't want to do much.  I was doing nothing.  I
+was thinking of the shepherd (my father, I wonder?) on the hillsides by
+Snorridge Bottom, with a long staff, and with a rough white coat in all
+weathers all the year round, who used to let me lie in a corner of his
+hut by night, and who used to let me go about with him and his sheep by
+day when I could get nothing else to do, and who used to give me so
+little of his victuals and so much of his staff, that I ran away from
+him--which was what he wanted all along, I expect--to be knocked about
+the world in preference to Snorridge Bottom.  I had been knocked about
+the world for nine-and-twenty years in all, when I stood looking along
+those bright blue South American Waters.  Looking after the shepherd, I
+may say.  Watching him in a half-waking dream, with my eyes half-shut, as
+he, and his flock of sheep, and his two dogs, seemed to move away from
+the ship's side, far away over the blue water, and go right down into the
+sky.
+
+"It's rising out of the water, steady," a voice said close to me.  I had
+been thinking on so, that it like woke me with a start, though it was no
+stranger voice than the voice of Harry Charker, my own comrade.
+
+"What's rising out of the water, steady?" I asked my comrade.
+
+"What?" says he.  "The Island."
+
+"O!  The Island!" says I, turning my eyes towards it.  "True.  I forgot
+the Island."
+
+"Forgot the port you're going to?  That's odd, ain't it?"
+
+"It is odd," says I.
+
+"And odd," he said, slowly considering with himself, "ain't even.  Is it,
+Gill?"
+
+He had always a remark just like that to make, and seldom another.  As
+soon as he had brought a thing round to what it was not, he was
+satisfied.  He was one of the best of men, and, in a certain sort of a
+way, one with the least to say for himself.  I qualify it, because,
+besides being able to read and write like a Quarter-master, he had always
+one most excellent idea in his mind.  That was, Duty.  Upon my soul, I
+don't believe, though I admire learning beyond everything, that he could
+have got a better idea out of all the books in the world, if he had
+learnt them every word, and been the cleverest of scholars.
+
+My comrade and I had been quartered in Jamaica, and from there we had
+been drafted off to the British settlement of Belize, lying away West and
+North of the Mosquito coast.  At Belize there had been great alarm of one
+cruel gang of pirates (there were always more pirates than enough in
+those Caribbean Seas), and as they got the better of our English cruisers
+by running into out-of-the-way creeks and shallows, and taking the land
+when they were hotly pressed, the governor of Belize had received orders
+from home to keep a sharp look-out for them along shore.  Now, there was
+an armed sloop came once a-year from Port Royal, Jamaica, to the Island,
+laden with all manner of necessaries, to eat, and to drink, and to wear,
+and to use in various ways; and it was aboard of that sloop which had
+touched at Belize, that I was a-standing, leaning over the bulwarks.
+
+The Island was occupied by a very small English colony.  It had been
+given the name of Silver-Store.  The reason of its being so called, was,
+that the English colony owned and worked a silver-mine over on the
+mainland, in Honduras, and used this Island as a safe and convenient
+place to store their silver in, until it was annually fetched away by the
+sloop.  It was brought down from the mine to the coast on the backs of
+mules, attended by friendly Indians and guarded by white men; from thence
+it was conveyed over to Silver-Store, when the weather was fair, in the
+canoes of that country; from Silver-Store, it was carried to Jamaica by
+the armed sloop once a-year, as I have already mentioned; from Jamaica,
+it went, of course, all over the world.
+
+How I came to be aboard the armed sloop, is easily told.  Four-and-twenty
+marines under command of a lieutenant--that officer's name was
+Linderwood--had been told off at Belize, to proceed to Silver-Store, in
+aid of boats and seamen stationed there for the chase of the Pirates.  The
+Island was considered a good post of observation against the pirates,
+both by land and sea; neither the pirate ship nor yet her boats had been
+seen by any of us, but they had been so much heard of, that the
+reinforcement was sent.  Of that party, I was one.  It included a
+corporal and a sergeant.  Charker was corporal, and the sergeant's name
+was Drooce.  He was the most tyrannical non-commissioned officer in His
+Majesty's service.
+
+The night came on, soon after I had had the foregoing words with Charker.
+All the wonderful bright colours went out of the sea and sky in a few
+minutes, and all the stars in the Heavens seemed to shine out together,
+and to look down at themselves in the sea, over one another's shoulders,
+millions deep.  Next morning, we cast anchor off the Island.  There was a
+snug harbour within a little reef; there was a sandy beach; there were
+cocoa-nut trees with high straight stems, quite bare, and foliage at the
+top like plumes of magnificent green feathers; there were all the objects
+that are usually seen in those parts, and _I_ am not going to describe
+them, having something else to tell about.
+
+Great rejoicings, to be sure, were made on our arrival.  All the flags in
+the place were hoisted, all the guns in the place were fired, and all the
+people in the place came down to look at us.  One of those Sambo
+fellows--they call those natives Sambos, when they are half-negro and
+half-Indian--had come off outside the reef, to pilot us in, and remained
+on board after we had let go our anchor.  He was called Christian George
+King, and was fonder of all hands than anybody else was.  Now, I confess,
+for myself, that on that first day, if I had been captain of the
+Christopher Columbus, instead of private in the Royal Marines, I should
+have kicked Christian George King--who was no more a Christian than he
+was a King or a George--over the side, without exactly knowing why,
+except that it was the right thing to do.
+
+But, I must likewise confess, that I was not in a particularly pleasant
+humour, when I stood under arms that morning, aboard the Christopher
+Columbus in the harbour of the Island of Silver-Store.  I had had a hard
+life, and the life of the English on the Island seemed too easy and too
+gay to please me.  "Here you are," I thought to myself, "good scholars
+and good livers; able to read what you like, able to write what you like,
+able to eat and drink what you like, and spend what you like, and do what
+you like; and much _you_ care for a poor, ignorant Private in the Royal
+Marines!  Yet it's hard, too, I think, that you should have all the half-
+pence, and I all the kicks; you all the smooth, and I all the rough; you
+all the oil, and I all the vinegar."  It was as envious a thing to think
+as might be, let alone its being nonsensical; but, I thought it.  I took
+it so much amiss, that, when a very beautiful young English lady came
+aboard, I grunted to myself, "Ah! _you_ have got a lover, I'll be bound!"
+As if there was any new offence to me in that, if she had!
+
+She was sister to the captain of our sloop, who had been in a poor way
+for some time, and who was so ill then that he was obliged to be carried
+ashore.  She was the child of a military officer, and had come out there
+with her sister, who was married to one of the owners of the silver-mine,
+and who had three children with her.  It was easy to see that she was the
+light and spirit of the Island.  After I had got a good look at her, I
+grunted to myself again, in an even worse state of mind than before,
+"I'll be damned, if I don't hate him, whoever he is!"
+
+My officer, Lieutenant Linderwood, was as ill as the captain of the
+sloop, and was carried ashore, too.  They were both young men of about my
+age, who had been delicate in the West India climate.  I even took _that_
+in bad part.  I thought I was much fitter for the work than they were,
+and that if all of us had our deserts, I should be both of them rolled
+into one.  (It may be imagined what sort of an officer of marines I
+should have made, without the power of reading a written order.  And as
+to any knowledge how to command the sloop--Lord!  I should have sunk her
+in a quarter of an hour!)
+
+However, such were my reflections; and when we men were ashore and
+dismissed, I strolled about the place along with Charker, making my
+observations in a similar spirit.
+
+It was a pretty place: in all its arrangements partly South American and
+partly English, and very agreeable to look at on that account, being like
+a bit of home that had got chipped off and had floated away to that spot,
+accommodating itself to circumstances as it drifted along.  The huts of
+the Sambos, to the number of five-and-twenty, perhaps, were down by the
+beach to the left of the anchorage.  On the right was a sort of barrack,
+with a South American Flag and the Union Jack, flying from the same
+staff, where the little English colony could all come together, if they
+saw occasion.  It was a walled square of building, with a sort of
+pleasure-ground inside, and inside that again a sunken block like a
+powder magazine, with a little square trench round it, and steps down to
+the door.  Charker and I were looking in at the gate, which was not
+guarded; and I had said to Charker, in reference to the bit like a powder
+magazine, "That's where they keep the silver you see;" and Charker had
+said to me, after thinking it over, "And silver ain't gold.  Is it,
+Gill?" when the beautiful young English lady I had been so bilious about,
+looked out of a door, or a window--at all events looked out, from under a
+bright awning.  She no sooner saw us two in uniform, than she came out so
+quickly that she was still putting on her broad Mexican hat of plaited
+straw when we saluted.
+
+"Would you like to come in," she said, "and see the place?  It is rather
+a curious place."
+
+We thanked the young lady, and said we didn't wish to be troublesome;
+but, she said it could be no trouble to an English soldier's daughter, to
+show English soldiers how their countrymen and country-women fared, so
+far away from England; and consequently we saluted again, and went in.
+Then, as we stood in the shade, she showed us (being as affable as
+beautiful), how the different families lived in their separate houses,
+and how there was a general house for stores, and a general reading-room,
+and a general room for music and dancing, and a room for Church; and how
+there were other houses on the rising ground called the Signal Hill,
+where they lived in the hotter weather.
+
+"Your officer has been carried up there," she said, "and my brother, too,
+for the better air.  At present, our few residents are dispersed over
+both spots: deducting, that is to say, such of our number as are always
+going to, or coming from, or staying at, the Mine."
+
+("_He_ is among one of those parties," I thought, "and I wish somebody
+would knock his head off.")
+
+"Some of our married ladies live here," she said, "during at least half
+the year, as lonely as widows, with their children."
+
+"Many children here, ma'am?"
+
+"Seventeen.  There are thirteen married ladies, and there are eight like
+me."
+
+There were not eight like her--there was not one like her--in the world.
+She meant single.
+
+"Which, with about thirty Englishmen of various degrees," said the young
+lady, "form the little colony now on the Island.  I don't count the
+sailors, for they don't belong to us.  Nor the soldiers," she gave us a
+gracious smile when she spoke of the soldiers, "for the same reason."
+
+"Nor the Sambos, ma'am," said I.
+
+"No."
+
+"Under your favour, and with your leave, ma'am," said I, "are they
+trustworthy?"
+
+"Perfectly!  We are all very kind to them, and they are very grateful to
+us."
+
+"Indeed, ma'am?  Now--Christian George King?--"
+
+"Very much attached to us all.  Would die for us."
+
+She was, as in my uneducated way I have observed, very beautiful women
+almost always to be, so composed, that her composure gave great weight to
+what she said, and I believed it.
+
+Then, she pointed out to us the building like a powder magazine, and
+explained to us in what manner the silver was brought from the mine, and
+was brought over from the mainland, and was stored here.  The Christopher
+Columbus would have a rich lading, she said, for there had been a great
+yield that year, a much richer yield than usual, and there was a chest of
+jewels besides the silver.
+
+When we had looked about us, and were getting sheepish, through fearing
+we were troublesome, she turned us over to a young woman, English born
+but West India bred, who served her as her maid.  This young woman was
+the widow of a non-commissioned officer in a regiment of the line.  She
+had got married and widowed at St. Vincent, with only a few months
+between the two events.  She was a little saucy woman, with a bright pair
+of eyes, rather a neat little foot and figure, and rather a neat little
+turned-up nose.  The sort of young woman, I considered at the time, who
+appeared to invite you to give her a kiss, and who would have slapped
+your face if you accepted the invitation.
+
+I couldn't make out her name at first; for, when she gave it in answer to
+my inquiry, it sounded like Beltot, which didn't sound right.  But, when
+we became better acquainted--which was while Charker and I were drinking
+sugar-cane sangaree, which she made in a most excellent manner--I found
+that her Christian name was Isabella, which they shortened into Bell, and
+that the name of the deceased non-commissioned officer was Tott.  Being
+the kind of neat little woman it was natural to make a toy of--I never
+saw a woman so like a toy in my life--she had got the plaything name of
+Belltott.  In short, she had no other name on the island.  Even Mr.
+Commissioner Pordage (and _he_ was a grave one!) formally addressed her
+as Mrs. Belltott, but, I shall come to Mr. Commissioner Pordage
+presently.
+
+The name of the captain of the sloop was Captain Maryon, and therefore it
+was no news to hear from Mrs. Belltott, that his sister, the beautiful
+unmarried young English lady, was Miss Maryon.  The novelty was, that her
+christian-name was Marion too.  Marion Maryon.  Many a time I have run
+off those two names in my thoughts, like a bit of verse.  Oh many, and
+many, and many a time!
+
+We saw out all the drink that was produced, like good men and true, and
+then took our leaves, and went down to the beach.  The weather was
+beautiful; the wind steady, low, and gentle; the island, a picture; the
+sea, a picture; the sky, a picture.  In that country there are two rainy
+seasons in the year.  One sets in at about our English Midsummer; the
+other, about a fortnight after our English Michaelmas.  It was the
+beginning of August at that time; the first of these rainy seasons was
+well over; and everything was in its most beautiful growth, and had its
+loveliest look upon it.
+
+"They enjoy themselves here," I says to Charker, turning surly again.
+"This is better than private-soldiering."
+
+We had come down to the beach, to be friendly with the boat's-crew who
+were camped and hutted there; and we were approaching towards their
+quarters over the sand, when Christian George King comes up from the
+landing-place at a wolf's-trot, crying, "Yup, So-Jeer!"--which was that
+Sambo Pilot's barbarous way of saying, Hallo, Soldier!  I have stated
+myself to be a man of no learning, and, if I entertain prejudices, I hope
+allowance may be made.  I will now confess to one.  It may be a right one
+or it may be a wrong one; but, I never did like Natives, except in the
+form of oysters.
+
+So, when Christian George King, who was individually unpleasant to me
+besides, comes a trotting along the sand, clucking, "Yup, So-Jeer!"  I
+had a thundering good mind to let fly at him with my right.  I certainly
+should have done it, but that it would have exposed me to reprimand.
+
+"Yup, So-Jeer!" says he.  "Bad job."
+
+"What do you mean?" says I.
+
+"Yup, So-Jeer!" says he, "Ship Leakee."
+
+"Ship leaky?" says I.
+
+"Iss," says he, with a nod that looked as if it was jerked out of him by
+a most violent hiccup--which is the way with those savages.
+
+I cast my eyes at Charker, and we both heard the pumps going aboard the
+sloop, and saw the signal run up, "Come on board; hands wanted from the
+shore."  In no time some of the sloop's liberty-men were already running
+down to the water's edge, and the party of seamen, under orders against
+the Pirates, were putting off to the Columbus in two boats.
+
+"O Christian George King sar berry sorry!" says that Sambo vagabond,
+then.  "Christian George King cry, English fashion!"  His English fashion
+of crying was to screw his black knuckles into his eyes, howl like a dog,
+and roll himself on his back on the sand.  It was trying not to kick him,
+but I gave Charker the word, "Double-quick, Harry!" and we got down to
+the water's edge, and got on board the sloop.
+
+By some means or other, she had sprung such a leak, that no pumping would
+keep her free; and what between the two fears that she would go down in
+the harbour, and that, even if she did not, all the supplies she had
+brought for the little colony would be destroyed by the sea-water as it
+rose in her, there was great confusion.  In the midst of it, Captain
+Maryon was heard hailing from the beach.  He had been carried down in his
+hammock, and looked very bad; but he insisted on being stood there on his
+feet; and I saw him, myself, come off in the boat, sitting upright in the
+stern-sheets, as if nothing was wrong with him.
+
+A quick sort of council was held, and Captain Maryon soon resolved that
+we must all fall to work to get the cargo out, and that when that was
+done, the guns and heavy matters must be got out, and that the sloop must
+be hauled ashore, and careened, and the leak stopped.  We were all
+mustered (the Pirate-Chace party volunteering), and told off into
+parties, with so many hours of spell and so many hours of relief, and we
+all went at it with a will.  Christian George King was entered one of the
+party in which I worked, at his own request, and he went at it with as
+good a will as any of the rest.  He went at it with so much heartiness,
+to say the truth, that he rose in my good opinion almost as fast as the
+water rose in the ship.  Which was fast enough, and faster.
+
+Mr. Commissioner Pordage kept in a red-and-black japanned box, like a
+family lump-sugar box, some document or other, which some Sambo chief or
+other had got drunk and spilt some ink over (as well as I could
+understand the matter), and by that means had given up lawful possession
+of the Island.  Through having hold of this box, Mr. Pordage got his
+title of Commissioner.  He was styled Consul too, and spoke of himself as
+"Government."
+
+He was a stiff-jointed, high-nosed old gentleman, without an ounce of fat
+on him, of a very angry temper and a very yellow complexion.  Mrs.
+Commissioner Pordage, making allowance for difference of sex, was much
+the same.  Mr. Kitten, a small, youngish, bald, botanical and
+mineralogical gentleman, also connected with the mine--but everybody
+there was that, more or less--was sometimes called by Mr. Commissioner
+Pordage, his Vice-commissioner, and sometimes his Deputy-consul.  Or
+sometimes he spoke of Mr. Kitten, merely as being "under Government."
+
+The beach was beginning to be a lively scene with the preparations for
+careening the sloop, and with cargo, and spars, and rigging, and water-
+casks, dotted about it, and with temporary quarters for the men rising up
+there out of such sails and odds and ends as could be best set on one
+side to make them, when Mr. Commissioner Pordage comes down in a high
+fluster, and asks for Captain Maryon.  The Captain, ill as he was, was
+slung in his hammock betwixt two trees, that he might direct; and he
+raised his head, and answered for himself.
+
+"Captain Maryon," cries Mr. Commissioner Pordage, "this is not official.
+This is not regular."
+
+"Sir," says the Captain, "it hath been arranged with the clerk and
+supercargo, that you should be communicated with, and requested to render
+any little assistance that may lie in your power.  I am quite certain
+that hath been duly done."
+
+"Captain Maryon," replied Mr. Commissioner Pordage, "there hath been no
+written correspondence.  No documents have passed, no memoranda have been
+made, no minutes have been made, no entries and counter-entries appear in
+the official muniments.  This is indecent.  I call upon you, sir, to
+desist, until all is regular, or Government will take this up."
+
+"Sir," says Captain Maryon, chafing a little, as he looked out of his
+hammock; "between the chances of Government taking this up, and my ship
+taking herself down, I much prefer to trust myself to the former."
+
+"You do, sir?" cries Mr. Commissioner Pordage.
+
+"I do, sir," says Captain Maryon, lying down again.
+
+"Then, Mr. Kitten," says the Commissioner, "send up instantly for my
+Diplomatic coat."
+
+He was dressed in a linen suit at that moment; but, Mr. Kitten started
+off himself and brought down the Diplomatic coat, which was a blue cloth
+one, gold-laced, and with a crown on the button.
+
+"Now, Mr. Kitten," says Pordage, "I instruct you, as Vice-commissioner,
+and Deputy-consul of this place, to demand of Captain Maryon, of the
+sloop Christopher Columbus, whether he drives me to the act of putting
+this coat on?"
+
+"Mr. Pordage," says Captain Maryon, looking out of his hammock again, "as
+I can hear what you say, I can answer it without troubling the gentleman.
+I should be sorry that you should be at the pains of putting on too hot a
+coat on my account; but, otherwise, you may put it on hind-side before,
+or inside-out, or with your legs in the sleeves, or your head in the
+skirts, for any objection that I have to offer to your thoroughly
+pleasing yourself."
+
+"Very good, Captain Maryon," says Pordage, in a tremendous passion.  "Very
+good, sir.  Be the consequences on your own head!  Mr. Kitten, as it has
+come to this, help me on with it."
+
+When he had given that order, he walked off in the coat, and all our
+names were taken, and I was afterwards told that Mr. Kitten wrote from
+his dictation more than a bushel of large paper on the subject, which
+cost more before it was done with, than ever could be calculated, and
+which only got done with after all, by being lost.
+
+Our work went on merrily, nevertheless, and the Christopher Columbus,
+hauled up, lay helpless on her side like a great fish out of water.  While
+she was in that state, there was a feast, or a ball, or an entertainment,
+or more properly all three together, given us in honour of the ship, and
+the ship's company, and the other visitors.  At that assembly, I believe,
+I saw all the inhabitants then upon the Island, without any exception.  I
+took no particular notice of more than a few, but I found it very
+agreeable in that little corner of the world to see the children, who
+were of all ages, and mostly very pretty--as they mostly are.  There was
+one handsome elderly lady, with very dark eyes and gray hair, that I
+inquired about.  I was told that her name was Mrs. Venning; and her
+married daughter, a fair slight thing, was pointed out to me by the name
+of Fanny Fisher.  Quite a child she looked, with a little copy of herself
+holding to her dress; and her husband, just come back from the mine,
+exceeding proud of her.  They were a good-looking set of people on the
+whole, but I didn't like them.  I was out of sorts; in conversation with
+Charker, I found fault with all of them.  I said of Mrs. Venning, she was
+proud; of Mrs. Fisher, she was a delicate little baby-fool.  What did I
+think of this one?  Why, he was a fine gentleman.  What did I say to that
+one?  Why, she was a fine lady.  What could you expect them to be (I
+asked Charker), nursed in that climate, with the tropical night shining
+for them, musical instruments playing to them, great trees bending over
+them, soft lamps lighting them, fire-flies sparkling in among them,
+bright flowers and birds brought into existence to please their eyes,
+delicious drinks to be had for the pouring out, delicious fruits to be
+got for the picking, and every one dancing and murmuring happily in the
+scented air, with the sea breaking low on the reef for a pleasant chorus.
+
+"Fine gentlemen and fine ladies, Harry?" I says to Charker.  "Yes, I
+think so!  Dolls!  Dolls!  Not the sort of stuff for wear, that comes of
+poor private soldiering in the Royal Marines!"
+
+However, I could not gainsay that they were very hospitable people, and
+that they treated us uncommonly well.  Every man of us was at the
+entertainment, and Mrs. Belltott had more partners than she could dance
+with: though she danced all night, too.  As to Jack (whether of the
+Christopher Columbus, or of the Pirate pursuit party, it made no
+difference), he danced with his brother Jack, danced with himself, danced
+with the moon, the stars, the trees, the prospect, anything.  I didn't
+greatly take to the chief-officer of that party, with his bright eyes,
+brown face, and easy figure.  I didn't much like his way when he first
+happened to come where we were, with Miss Maryon on his arm.  "O, Captain
+Carton," she says, "here are two friends of mine!"  He says, "Indeed?
+These two Marines?"--meaning Charker and self.  "Yes," says she, "I
+showed these two friends of mine when they first came, all the wonders of
+Silver-Store."  He gave us a laughing look, and says he, "You are in
+luck, men.  I would be disrated and go before the mast to-morrow, to be
+shown the way upward again by such a guide.  You are in luck, men."  When
+we had saluted, and he and the lady had waltzed away, I said, "You are a
+pretty follow, too, to talk of luck.  You may go to the Devil!"
+
+Mr. Commissioner Pordage and Mrs. Commissioner, showed among the company
+on that occasion like the King and Queen of a much Greater Britain than
+Great Britain.  Only two other circumstances in that jovial night made
+much separate impression on me.  One was this.  A man in our draft of
+marines, named Tom Packer, a wild unsteady young fellow, but the son of a
+respectable shipwright in Portsmouth Yard, and a good scholar who had
+been well brought up, comes to me after a spell of dancing, and takes me
+aside by the elbow, and says, swearing angrily:
+
+"Gill Davis, I hope I may not be the death of Sergeant Drooce one day!"
+
+Now, I knew Drooce had always borne particularly hard on this man, and I
+knew this man to be of a very hot temper: so, I said:
+
+"Tut, nonsense! don't talk so to me!  If there's a man in the corps who
+scorns the name of an assassin, that man and Tom Packer are one."
+
+Tom wipes his head, being in a mortal sweat, and says he:
+
+"I hope so, but I can't answer for myself when he lords it over me, as he
+has just now done, before a woman.  I tell you what, Gill!  Mark my
+words!  It will go hard with Sergeant Drooce, if ever we are in an
+engagement together, and he has to look to me to save him.  Let him say a
+prayer then, if he knows one, for it's all over with him, and he is on
+his Death-bed.  Mark my words!"
+
+I did mark his words, and very soon afterwards, too, as will shortly be
+taken down.
+
+The other circumstance that I noticed at that ball, was, the gaiety and
+attachment of Christian George King.  The innocent spirits that Sambo
+Pilot was in, and the impossibility he found himself under of showing all
+the little colony, but especially the ladies and children, how fond he
+was of them, how devoted to them, and how faithful to them for life and
+death, for present, future, and everlasting, made a great impression on
+me.  If ever a man, Sambo or no Sambo, was trustful and trusted, to what
+may be called quite an infantine and sweetly beautiful extent, surely, I
+thought that morning when I did at last lie down to rest, it was that
+Sambo Pilot, Christian George King.
+
+This may account for my dreaming of him.  He stuck in my sleep,
+cornerwise, and I couldn't get him out.  He was always flitting about me,
+dancing round me, and peeping in over my hammock, though I woke and dozed
+off again fifty times.  At last, when I opened my eyes, there he really
+was, looking in at the open side of the little dark hut; which was made
+of leaves, and had Charker's hammock slung in it as well as mine.
+
+"So-Jeer!" says he, in a sort of a low croak.  "Yup!"
+
+"Hallo!" says I, starting up.  "What?  You _are_ there, are you?"
+
+"Iss," says he.  "Christian George King got news."
+
+"What news has he got?"
+
+"Pirates out!"
+
+I was on my feet in a second.  So was Charker.  We were both aware that
+Captain Carton, in command of the boats, constantly watched the mainland
+for a secret signal, though, of course, it was not known to such as us
+what the signal was.
+
+Christian George King had vanished before we touched the ground.  But,
+the word was already passing from hut to hut to turn out quietly, and we
+knew that the nimble barbarian had got hold of the truth, or something
+near it.
+
+In a space among the trees behind the encampment of us visitors, naval
+and military, was a snugly-screened spot, where we kept the stores that
+were in use, and did our cookery.  The word was passed to assemble here.
+It was very quickly given, and was given (so far as we were concerned) by
+Sergeant Drooce, who was as good in a soldier point of view, as he was
+bad in a tyrannical one.  We were ordered to drop into this space,
+quietly, behind the trees, one by one.  As we assembled here, the seamen
+assembled too.  Within ten minutes, as I should estimate, we were all
+here, except the usual guard upon the beach.  The beach (we could see it
+through the wood) looked as it always had done in the hottest time of the
+day.  The guard were in the shadow of the sloop's hull, and nothing was
+moving but the sea,--and that moved very faintly.  Work had always been
+knocked off at that hour, until the sun grew less fierce, and the sea-
+breeze rose; so that its being holiday with us, made no difference, just
+then, in the look of the place.  But I may mention that it was a holiday,
+and the first we had had since our hard work began.  Last night's ball
+had been given, on the leak's being repaired, and the careening done.  The
+worst of the work was over, and to-morrow we were to begin to get the
+sloop afloat again.
+
+We marines were now drawn up here under arms.  The chace-party were drawn
+up separate.  The men of the Columbus were drawn up separate.  The
+officers stepped out into the midst of the three parties, and spoke so as
+all might hear.  Captain Carton was the officer in command, and he had a
+spy-glass in his hand.  His coxswain stood by him with another spy-glass,
+and with a slate on which he seemed to have been taking down signals.
+
+"Now, men!" says Captain Carton; "I have to let you know, for your
+satisfaction: Firstly, that there are ten pirate-boats, strongly manned
+and armed, lying hidden up a creek yonder on the coast, under the
+overhanging branches of the dense trees.  Secondly, that they will
+certainly come out this night when the moon rises, on a pillaging and
+murdering expedition, of which some part of the mainland is the object.
+Thirdly--don't cheer, men!--that we will give chace, and, if we can get
+at them, rid the world of them, please God!"
+
+Nobody spoke, that I heard, and nobody moved, that I saw.  Yet there was
+a kind of ring, as if every man answered and approved with the best blood
+that was inside of him.
+
+"Sir," says Captain Maryon, "I beg to volunteer on this service, with my
+boats.  My people volunteer, to the ship's boys."
+
+"In His Majesty's name and service," the other answers, touching his hat,
+"I accept your aid with pleasure.  Lieutenant Linderwood, how will you
+divide your men?"
+
+I was ashamed--I give it out to be written down as large and plain as
+possible--I was heart and soul ashamed of my thoughts of those two sick
+officers, Captain Maryon and Lieutenant Linderwood, when I saw them, then
+and there.  The spirit in those two gentlemen beat down their illness
+(and very ill I knew them to be) like Saint George beating down the
+Dragon.  Pain and weakness, want of ease and want of rest, had no more
+place in their minds than fear itself.  Meaning now to express for my
+lady to write down, exactly what I felt then and there, I felt this: "You
+two brave fellows that I had been so grudgeful of, I know that if you
+were dying you would put it off to get up and do your best, and then you
+would be so modest that in lying down again to die, you would hardly say,
+'I did it!'"
+
+It did me good.  It really did me good.
+
+But, to go back to where I broke off.  Says Captain Carton to Lieutenant
+Linderwood, "Sir, how will you divide your men?  There is not room for
+all; and a few men should, in any case, be left here."
+
+There was some debate about it.  At last, it was resolved to leave eight
+Marines and four seamen on the Island, besides the sloop's two boys.  And
+because it was considered that the friendly Sambos would only want to be
+commanded in case of any danger (though none at all was apprehended
+there), the officers were in favour of leaving the two non-commissioned
+officers, Drooce and Charker.  It was a heavy disappointment to them,
+just as my being one of the left was a heavy disappointment to me--then,
+but not soon afterwards.  We men drew lots for it, and I drew "Island."
+So did Tom Packer.  So of course, did four more of our rank and file.
+
+When this was settled, verbal instructions were given to all hands to
+keep the intended expedition secret, in order that the women and children
+might not be alarmed, or the expedition put in a difficulty by more
+volunteers.  The assembly was to be on that same spot at sunset.  Every
+man was to keep up an appearance, meanwhile, of occupying himself in his
+usual way.  That is to say, every man excepting four old trusty seamen,
+who were appointed, with an officer, to see to the arms and ammunition,
+and to muffle the rullocks of the boats, and to make everything as trim
+and swift and silent as it could be made.
+
+The Sambo Pilot had been present all the while, in case of his being
+wanted, and had said to the officer in command, five hundred times over
+if he had said it once, that Christian George King would stay with the So-
+Jeers, and take care of the booffer ladies and the booffer childs--booffer
+being that native's expression for beautiful.  He was now asked a few
+questions concerning the putting off of the boats, and in particular
+whether there was any way of embarking at the back of the Island: which
+Captain Carton would have half liked to do, and then have dropped round
+in its shadow and slanted across to the main.  But, "No," says Christian
+George King.  "No, no, no!  Told you so, ten time.  No, no, no!  All
+reef, all rock, all swim, all drown!"  Striking out as he said it, like a
+swimmer gone mad, and turning over on his back on dry land, and
+spluttering himself to death, in a manner that made him quite an
+exhibition.
+
+The sun went down, after appearing to be a long time about it, and the
+assembly was called.  Every man answered to his name, of course, and was
+at his post.  It was not yet black dark, and the roll was only just gone
+through, when up comes Mr. Commissioner Pordage with his Diplomatic coat
+on.
+
+"Captain Carton," says he, "Sir, what is this?"
+
+"This, Mr. Commissioner" (he was very short with him), "is an expedition
+against the Pirates.  It is a secret expedition, so please to keep it a
+secret."
+
+"Sir," says Commissioner Pordage, "I trust there is going to be no
+unnecessary cruelty committed?"
+
+"Sir," returns the officer, "I trust not."
+
+"That is not enough, sir," cries Commissioner Pordage, getting wroth.
+"Captain Carton, I give you notice.  Government requires you to treat the
+enemy with great delicacy, consideration, clemency, and forbearance."
+
+"Sir," says Captain Carton, "I am an English officer, commanding English
+Men, and I hope I am not likely to disappoint the Government's just
+expectations.  But, I presume you know that these villains under their
+black flag have despoiled our countrymen of their property, burnt their
+homes, barbarously murdered them and their little children, and worse
+than murdered their wives and daughters?"
+
+"Perhaps I do, Captain Carton," answers Pordage, waving his hand, with
+dignity; "perhaps I do not.  It is not customary, sir, for Government to
+commit itself."
+
+"It matters very little, Mr. Pordage, whether or no.  Believing that I
+hold my commission by the allowance of God, and not that I have received
+it direct from the Devil, I shall certainly use it, with all avoidance of
+unnecessary suffering and with all merciful swiftness of execution, to
+exterminate these people from the face of the earth.  Let me recommend
+you to go home, sir, and to keep out of the night-air."
+
+Never another syllable did that officer say to the Commissioner, but
+turned away to his men.  The Commissioner buttoned his Diplomatic coat to
+the chin, said, "Mr. Kitten, attend me!" gasped, half choked himself, and
+took himself off.
+
+It now fell very dark, indeed.  I have seldom, if ever, seen it darker,
+nor yet so dark.  The moon was not due until one in the morning, and it
+was but a little after nine when our men lay down where they were
+mustered.  It was pretended that they were to take a nap, but everybody
+knew that no nap was to be got under the circumstances.  Though all were
+very quiet, there was a restlessness among the people; much what I have
+seen among the people on a race-course, when the bell has rung for the
+saddling for a great race with large stakes on it.
+
+At ten, they put off; only one boat putting off at a time; another
+following in five minutes; both then lying on their oars until another
+followed.  Ahead of all, paddling his own outlandish little canoe without
+a sound, went the Sambo pilot, to take them safely outside the reef.  No
+light was shown but once, and that was in the commanding officer's own
+hand.  I lighted the dark lantern for him, and he took it from me when he
+embarked.  They had blue lights and such like with them, but kept
+themselves as dark as Murder.
+
+The expedition got away with wonderful quietness, and Christian George
+King soon came back dancing with joy.
+
+"Yup, So-Jeer," says he to myself in a very objectionable kind of
+convulsions, "Christian George King sar berry glad.  Pirates all be blown
+a-pieces.  Yup!  Yup!"
+
+My reply to that cannibal was, "However glad you may be, hold your noise,
+and don't dance jigs and slap your knees about it, for I can't abear to
+see you do it."
+
+I was on duty then; we twelve who were left being divided into four
+watches of three each, three hours' spell.  I was relieved at twelve.  A
+little before that time, I had challenged, and Miss Maryon and Mrs.
+Belltott had come in.
+
+"Good Davis," says Miss Maryon, "what is the matter?  Where is my
+brother?"
+
+I told her what was the matter, and where her brother was.
+
+"O Heaven help him!" says she, clasping her hands and looking up--she was
+close in front of me, and she looked most lovely to be sure; "he is not
+sufficiently recovered, not strong enough for such strife!"
+
+"If you had seen him, miss," I told her, "as I saw him when he
+volunteered, you would have known that his spirit is strong enough for
+any strife.  It will bear his body, miss, to wherever duty calls him.  It
+will always bear him to an honourable life, or a brave death."
+
+"Heaven bless you!" says she, touching my arm.  "I know it.  Heaven bless
+you!"
+
+Mrs. Belltott surprised me by trembling and saying nothing.  They were
+still standing looking towards the sea and listening, after the relief
+had come round.  It continuing very dark, I asked to be allowed to take
+them back.  Miss Maryon thanked me, and she put her arm in mine, and I
+did take them back.  I have now got to make a confession that will appear
+singular.  After I had left them, I laid myself down on my face on the
+beach, and cried for the first time since I had frightened birds as a boy
+at Snorridge Bottom, to think what a poor, ignorant, low-placed, private
+soldier I was.
+
+It was only for half a minute or so.  A man can't at all times be quite
+master of himself, and it was only for half a minute or so.  Then I up
+and went to my hut, and turned into my hammock, and fell asleep with wet
+eyelashes, and a sore, sore heart.  Just as I had often done when I was a
+child, and had been worse used than usual.
+
+I slept (as a child under those circumstances might) very sound, and yet
+very sore at heart all through my sleep.  I was awoke by the words, "He
+is a determined man."  I had sprung out of my hammock, and had seized my
+firelock, and was standing on the ground, saying the words myself.  "He
+is a determined man."  But, the curiosity of my state was, that I seemed
+to be repeating them after somebody, and to have been wonderfully
+startled by hearing them.
+
+As soon as I came to myself, I went out of the hut, and away to where the
+guard was.  Charker challenged:
+
+"Who goes there?"
+
+"A friend."
+
+"Not Gill?" says he, as he shouldered his piece.
+
+"Gill," says I.
+
+"Why, what the deuce do you do out of your hammock?" says he.
+
+"Too hot for sleep," says I; "is all right?"
+
+"Right!" says Charker, "yes, yes; all's right enough here; what should be
+wrong here?  It's the boats that we want to know of.  Except for fire-
+flies twinkling about, and the lonesome splashes of great creatures as
+they drop into the water, there's nothing going on here to ease a man's
+mind from the boats."
+
+The moon was above the sea, and had risen, I should say, some half-an-
+hour.  As Charker spoke, with his face towards the sea, I, looking
+landward, suddenly laid my right hand on his breast, and said, "Don't
+move.  Don't turn.  Don't raise your voice!  You never saw a Maltese face
+here?"
+
+"No.  What do you mean?" he asks, staring at me.
+
+"Nor yet, an English face, with one eye and a patch across the nose?"
+
+"No.  What ails you?  What do you mean?"
+
+I had seen both, looking at us round the stem of a cocoa-nut tree, where
+the moon struck them.  I had seen that Sambo Pilot, with one hand laid on
+the stem of the tree, drawing them back into the heavy shadow.  I had
+seen their naked cutlasses twinkle and shine, like bits of the moonshine
+in the water that had got blown ashore among the trees by the light wind.
+I had seen it all, in a moment.  And I saw in a moment (as any man
+would), that the signalled move of the pirates on the mainland was a plot
+and a feint; that the leak had been made to disable the sloop; that the
+boats had been tempted away, to leave the Island unprotected; that the
+pirates had landed by some secreted way at the back; and that Christian
+George King was a double-dyed traitor, and a most infernal villain.
+
+I considered, still all in one and the same moment, that Charker was a
+brave man, but not quick with his head; and that Sergeant Drooce, with a
+much better head, was close by.  All I said to Charker was, "I am afraid
+we are betrayed.  Turn your back full to the moonlight on the sea, and
+cover the stem of the cocoa-nut tree which will then be right before you,
+at the height of a man's heart.  Are you right?"
+
+"I am right," says Charker, turning instantly, and falling into the
+position with a nerve of iron; "and right ain't left.  Is it, Gill?"
+
+A few seconds brought me to Sergeant Drooce's hut.  He was fast asleep,
+and being a heavy sleeper, I had to lay my hand upon him to rouse him.
+The instant I touched him he came rolling out of his hammock, and upon me
+like a tiger.  And a tiger he was, except that he knew what he was up to,
+in his utmost heat, as well as any man.
+
+I had to struggle with him pretty hard to bring him to his senses,
+panting all the while (for he gave me a breather), "Sergeant, I am Gill
+Davis!  Treachery!  Pirates on the Island!"
+
+The last words brought him round, and he took his hands of.  "I have seen
+two of them within this minute," said I.  And so I told him what I had
+told Harry Charker.
+
+His soldierly, though tyrannical, head was clear in an instant.  He
+didn't waste one word, even of surprise.  "Order the guard," says he, "to
+draw off quietly into the Fort."  (They called the enclosure I have
+before mentioned, the Fort, though it was not much of that.)  "Then get
+you to the Fort as quick as you can, rouse up every soul there, and
+fasten the gate.  I will bring in all those who are at the Signal Hill.
+If we are surrounded before we can join you, you must make a sally and
+cut us out if you can.  The word among our men is, 'Women and children!'"
+
+He burst away, like fire going before the wind over dry reeds.  He roused
+up the seven men who were off duty, and had them bursting away with him,
+before they know they were not asleep.  I reported orders to Charker, and
+ran to the Fort, as I have never run at any other time in all my life:
+no, not even in a dream.
+
+The gate was not fast, and had no good fastening: only a double wooden
+bar, a poor chain, and a bad lock.  Those, I secured as well as they
+could be secured in a few seconds by one pair of hands, and so ran to
+that part of the building where Miss Maryon lived.  I called to her
+loudly by her name until she answered.  I then called loudly all the
+names I knew--Mrs. Macey (Miss Maryon's married sister), Mr. Macey, Mrs.
+Venning, Mr. and Mrs. Fisher, even Mr. and Mrs. Pordage.  Then I called
+out, "All you gentlemen here, get up and defend the place!  We are caught
+in a trap.  Pirates have landed.  We are attacked!"
+
+At the terrible word "Pirates!"--for, those villains had done such deeds
+in those seas as never can be told in writing, and can scarcely be so
+much as thought of--cries and screams rose up from every part of the
+place.  Quickly lights moved about from window to window, and the cries
+moved about with them, and men, women, and children came flying down into
+the square.  I remarked to myself, even then, what a number of things I
+seemed to see at once.  I noticed Mrs. Macey coming towards me, carrying
+all her three children together.  I noticed Mr. Pordage in the greatest
+terror, in vain trying to get on his Diplomatic coat; and Mr. Kitten
+respectfully tying his pocket-handkerchief over Mrs. Pordage's nightcap.
+I noticed Mrs. Belltott run out screaming, and shrink upon the ground
+near me, and cover her face in her hands, and lie all of a bundle,
+shivering.  But, what I noticed with the greatest pleasure was, the
+determined eyes with which those men of the Mine that I had thought fine
+gentlemen, came round me with what arms they had: to the full as cool and
+resolute as I could be, for my life--ay, and for my soul, too, into the
+bargain!
+
+The chief person being Mr. Macey, I told him how the three men of the
+guard would be at the gate directly, if they were not already there, and
+how Sergeant Drooce and the other seven were gone to bring in the
+outlying part of the people of Silver-Store.  I next urged him, for the
+love of all who were dear to him, to trust no Sambo, and, above all, if
+he could got any good chance at Christian George King, not to lose it,
+but to put him out of the world.
+
+"I will follow your advice to the letter, Davis," says he; "what next?"
+
+My answer was, "I think, sir, I would recommend you next, to order down
+such heavy furniture and lumber as can be moved, and make a barricade
+within the gate."
+
+"That's good again," says he: "will you see it done?"
+
+"I'll willingly help to do it," says I, "unless or until my superior,
+Sergeant Drooce, gives me other orders."
+
+He shook me by the hand, and having told off some of his companions to
+help me, bestirred himself to look to the arms and ammunition.  A proper
+quick, brave, steady, ready gentleman!
+
+One of their three little children was deaf and dumb, Miss Maryon had
+been from the first with all the children, soothing them, and dressing
+them (poor little things, they had been brought out of their beds), and
+making them believe that it was a game of play, so that some of them were
+now even laughing.  I had been working hard with the others at the
+barricade, and had got up a pretty good breastwork within the gate.
+Drooce and the seven men had come back, bringing in the people from the
+Signal Hill, and had worked along with us: but, I had not so much as
+spoken a word to Drooce, nor had Drooce so much as spoken a word to me,
+for we were both too busy.  The breastwork was now finished, and I found
+Miss Maryon at my side, with a child in her arms.  Her dark hair was
+fastened round her head with a band.  She had a quantity of it, and it
+looked even richer and more precious, put up hastily out of her way, than
+I had seen it look when it was carefully arranged.  She was very pale,
+but extraordinarily quiet and still.
+
+"Dear good Davis," said she, "I have been waiting to speak one word to
+you."
+
+I turned to her directly.  If I had received a musket-ball in the heart,
+and she had stood there, I almost believe I should have turned to her
+before I dropped.
+
+"This pretty little creature," said she, kissing the child in her arms,
+who was playing with her hair and trying to pull it down, "cannot hear
+what we say--can hear nothing.  I trust you so much, and have such great
+confidence in you, that I want you to make me a promise."
+
+"What is it, Miss?"
+
+"That if we are defeated, and you are absolutely sure of my being taken,
+you will kill me."
+
+"I shall not be alive to do it, Miss.  I shall have died in your defence
+before it comes to that.  They must step across my body to lay a hand on
+you."
+
+"But, if you are alive, you brave soldier."  How she looked at me!  "And
+if you cannot save me from the Pirates, living, you will save me, dead.
+Tell me so."
+
+Well!  I told her I would do that at the last, if all else failed.  She
+took my hand--my rough, coarse hand--and put it to her lips.  She put it
+to the child's lips, and the child kissed it.  I believe I had the
+strength of half a dozen men in me, from that moment, until the fight was
+over.
+
+All this time, Mr. Commissioner Pordage had been wanting to make a
+Proclamation to the Pirates to lay down their arms and go away; and
+everybody had been hustling him about and tumbling over him, while he was
+calling for pen and ink to write it with.  Mrs. Pordage, too, had some
+curious ideas about the British respectability of her nightcap (which had
+as many frills to it, growing in layers one inside another, as if it was
+a white vegetable of the artichoke sort), and she wouldn't take the
+nightcap off, and would be angry when it got crushed by the other ladies
+who were handing things about, and, in short, she gave as much trouble as
+her husband did.  But, as we were now forming for the defence of the
+place, they were both poked out of the way with no ceremony.  The
+children and ladies were got into the little trench which surrounded the
+silver-house (we were afraid of leaving them in any of the light
+buildings, lest they should be set on fire), and we made the best
+disposition we could.  There was a pretty good store, in point of amount,
+of tolerable swords and cutlasses.  Those were issued.  There were, also,
+perhaps a score or so of spare muskets.  Those were brought out.  To my
+astonishment, little Mrs. Fisher that I had taken for a doll and a baby,
+was not only very active in that service, but volunteered to load the
+spare arms.
+
+"For, I understand it well," says she, cheerfully, without a shake in her
+voice.
+
+"I am a soldier's daughter and a sailor's sister, and I understand it
+too," says Miss Maryon, just in the same way.
+
+Steady and busy behind where I stood, those two beautiful and delicate
+young women fell to handling the guns, hammering the flints, looking to
+the locks, and quietly directing others to pass up powder and bullets
+from hand to hand, as unflinching as the best of tried soldiers.
+
+Sergeant Drooce had brought in word that the pirates were very strong in
+numbers--over a hundred was his estimate--and that they were not, even
+then, all landed; for, he had seen them in a very good position on the
+further side of the Signal Hill, evidently waiting for the rest of their
+men to come up.  In the present pause, the first we had had since the
+alarm, he was telling this over again to Mr. Macey, when Mr. Macey
+suddenly cried our: "The signal!  Nobody has thought of the signal!"
+
+We knew of no signal, so we could not have thought of it.
+
+"What signal may you mean, sir?" says Sergeant Drooce, looking sharp at
+him.
+
+"There is a pile of wood upon the Signal Hill.  If it could be
+lighted--which never has been done yet--it would be a signal of distress
+to the mainland."
+
+Charker cries, directly: "Sergeant Drooce, dispatch me on that duty.  Give
+me the two men who were on guard with me to-night, and I'll light the
+fire, if it can be done."
+
+"And if it can't, Corporal--" Mr. Macey strikes in.
+
+"Look at these ladies and children, sir!" says Charker.  "I'd sooner
+_light myself_, than not try any chance to save them."
+
+We gave him a Hurrah!--it burst from us, come of it what might--and he
+got his two men, and was let out at the gate, and crept away.  I had no
+sooner come back to my place from being one of the party to handle the
+gate, than Miss Maryon said in a low voice behind me:
+
+"Davis, will you look at this powder?  This is not right."
+
+I turned my head.  Christian George King again, and treachery again!  Sea-
+water had been conveyed into the magazine, and every grain of powder was
+spoiled!
+
+"Stay a moment," said Sergeant Drooce, when I had told him, without
+causing a movement in a muscle of his face: "look to your pouch, my lad.
+You Tom Packer, look to your pouch, confound you!  Look to your pouches,
+all you Marines."
+
+The same artful savage had got at them, somehow or another, and the
+cartridges were all unserviceable.  "Hum!" says the Sergeant.  "Look to
+your loading, men.  You are right so far?"
+
+Yes; we were right so far.
+
+"Well, my lads, and gentlemen all," says the Sergeant, "this will be a
+hand-to-hand affair, and so much the better."
+
+He treated himself to a pinch of snuff, and stood up, square-shouldered
+and broad-chested, in the light of the moon--which was now very bright--as
+cool as if he was waiting for a play to begin.  He stood quiet, and we
+all stood quiet, for a matter of something like half-an-hour.  I took
+notice from such whispered talk as there was, how little we that the
+silver did not belong to, thought about it, and how much the people that
+it did belong to, thought about it.  At the end of the half-hour, it was
+reported from the gate that Charker and the two were falling back on us,
+pursued by about a dozen.
+
+"Sally!  Gate-party, under Gill Davis," says the Sergeant, "and bring 'em
+in!  Like men, now!"
+
+We were not long about it, and we brought them in.  "Don't take me," says
+Charker, holding me round the neck, and stumbling down at my feet when
+the gate was fast, "don't take me near the ladies or the children, Gill.
+They had better not see Death, till it can't be helped.  They'll see it
+soon enough."
+
+"Harry!" I answered, holding up his head.  "Comrade!"
+
+He was cut to pieces.  The signal had been secured by the first pirate
+party that landed; his hair was all singed off, and his face was
+blackened with the running pitch from a torch.
+
+He made no complaint of pain, or of anything.  "Good-bye, old chap," was
+all he said, with a smile.  "I've got my death.  And Death ain't life.  Is
+it, Gill?"
+
+Having helped to lay his poor body on one side, I went back to my post.
+Sergeant Drooce looked at me, with his eyebrows a little lifted.  I
+nodded.  "Close up here men, and gentlemen all!" said the Sergeant.  "A
+place too many, in the line."
+
+The Pirates were so close upon us at this time, that the foremost of them
+were already before the gate.  More and more came up with a great noise,
+and shouting loudly.  When we believed from the sound that they were all
+there, we gave three English cheers.  The poor little children joined,
+and were so fully convinced of our being at play, that they enjoyed the
+noise, and were heard clapping their hands in the silence that followed.
+
+Our disposition was this, beginning with the rear.  Mrs. Venning, holding
+her daughter's child in her arms, sat on the steps of the little square
+trench surrounding the silver-house, encouraging and directing those
+women and children as she might have done in the happiest and easiest
+time of her life.  Then, there was an armed line, under Mr. Macey, across
+the width of the enclosure, facing that way and having their backs
+towards the gate, in order that they might watch the walls and prevent
+our being taken by surprise.  Then there was a space of eight or ten feet
+deep, in which the spare arms were, and in which Miss Maryon and Mrs.
+Fisher, their hands and dresses blackened with the spoilt gunpowder,
+worked on their knees, tying such things as knives, old bayonets, and
+spear-heads, to the muzzles of the useless muskets.  Then, there was a
+second armed line, under Sergeant Drooce, also across the width of the
+enclosure, but facing to the gate.  Then came the breastwork we had made,
+with a zigzag way through it for me and my little party to hold good in
+retreating, as long as we could, when we were driven from the gate.  We
+all knew that it was impossible to hold the place long, and that our only
+hope was in the timely discovery of the plot by the boats, and in their
+coming back.
+
+I and my men were now thrown forward to the gate.  From a spy-hole, I
+could see the whole crowd of Pirates.  There were Malays among them,
+Dutch, Maltese, Greeks, Sambos, Negroes, and Convict Englishmen from the
+West India Islands; among the last, him with the one eye and the patch
+across the nose.  There were some Portuguese, too, and a few Spaniards.
+The captain was a Portuguese; a little man with very large ear-rings
+under a very broad hat, and a great bright shawl twisted about his
+shoulders.  They were all strongly armed, but like a boarding party, with
+pikes, swords, cutlasses, and axes.  I noticed a good many pistols, but
+not a gun of any kind among them.  This gave me to understand that they
+had considered that a continued roll of musketry might perhaps have been
+heard on the mainland; also, that for the reason that fire would be seen
+from the mainland they would not set the Fort in flames and roast us
+alive; which was one of their favourite ways of carrying on.  I looked
+about for Christian George King, and if I had seen him I am much mistaken
+if he would not have received my one round of ball-cartridge in his head.
+But, no Christian George King was visible.
+
+A sort of a wild Portuguese demon, who seemed either fierce-mad or fierce-
+drunk--but, they all seemed one or the other--came forward with the black
+flag, and gave it a wave or two.  After that, the Portuguese captain
+called out in shrill English, "I say you!  English fools!  Open the gate!
+Surrender!"
+
+As we kept close and quiet, he said something to his men which I didn't
+understand, and when he had said it, the one-eyed English rascal with the
+patch (who had stepped out when he began), said it again in English.  It
+was only this.  "Boys of the black flag, this is to be quickly done.  Take
+all the prisoners you can.  If they don't yield, kill the children to
+make them.  Forward!"  Then, they all came on at the gate, and in another
+half-minute were smashing and splitting it in.
+
+We struck at them through the gaps and shivers, and we dropped many of
+them, too; but, their very weight would have carried such a gate, if they
+had been unarmed.  I soon found Sergeant Drooce at my side, forming us
+six remaining marines in line--Tom Packer next to me--and ordering us to
+fall back three paces, and, as they broke in, to give them our one little
+volley at short distance.  "Then," says he, "receive them behind your
+breastwork on the bayonet, and at least let every man of you pin one of
+the cursed cockchafers through the body."
+
+We checked them by our fire, slight as it was, and we checked them at the
+breastwork.  However, they broke over it like swarms of devils--they
+were, really and truly, more devils than men--and then it was hand to
+hand, indeed.
+
+We clubbed our muskets and laid about us; even then, those two
+ladies--always behind me--were steady and ready with the arms.  I had a
+lot of Maltese and Malays upon me, and, but for a broadsword that Miss
+Maryon's own hand put in mine, should have got my end from them.  But,
+was that all?  No.  I saw a heap of banded dark hair and a white dress
+come thrice between me and them, under my own raised right arm, which
+each time might have destroyed the wearer of the white dress; and each
+time one of the lot went down, struck dead.
+
+Drooce was armed with a broadsword, too, and did such things with it,
+that there was a cry, in half-a-dozen languages, of "Kill that sergeant!"
+as I knew, by the cry being raised in English, and taken up in other
+tongues.  I had received a severe cut across the left arm a few moments
+before, and should have known nothing of it, except supposing that
+somebody had struck me a smart blow, if I had not felt weak, and seen
+myself covered with spouting blood, and, at the same instant of time,
+seen Miss Maryon tearing her dress and binding it with Mrs. Fisher's help
+round the wound.  They called to Tom Packer, who was scouring by, to stop
+and guard me for one minute, while I was bound, or I should bleed to
+death in trying to defend myself.  Tom stopped directly, with a good
+sabre in his hand.
+
+In that same moment--all things seem to happen in that same moment, at
+such a time--half-a-dozen had rushed howling at Sergeant Drooce.  The
+Sergeant, stepping back against the wall, stopped one howl for ever with
+such a terrible blow, and waited for the rest to come on, with such a
+wonderfully unmoved face, that they stopped and looked at him.
+
+"See him now!" cried Tom Packer.  "Now, when I could cut him out!  Gill!
+Did I tell you to mark my words?"
+
+I implored Tom Packer in the Lord's name, as well as I could in my
+faintness, to go to the Sergeant's aid.
+
+"I hate and detest him," says Tom, moodily wavering.  "Still, he is a
+brave man."  Then he calls out, "Sergeant Drooce, Sergeant Drooce!  Tell
+me you have driven me too hard, and are sorry for it."
+
+The Sergeant, without turning his eyes from his assailants, which would
+have been instant death to him, answers.
+
+"No.  I won't."
+
+"Sergeant Drooce!" cries Tom, in a kind of an agony.  "I have passed my
+word that I would never save you from Death, if I could, but would leave
+you to die.  Tell me you have driven me too hard and are sorry for it,
+and that shall go for nothing."
+
+One of the group laid the Sergeant's bald bare head open.  The Sergeant
+laid him dead.
+
+"I tell you," says the Sergeant, breathing a little short, and waiting
+for the next attack, "no.  I won't.  If you are not man enough to strike
+for a fellow-soldier because he wants help, and because of nothing else,
+I'll go into the other world and look for a better man."
+
+Tom swept upon them, and cut him out.  Tom and he fought their way
+through another knot of them, and sent them flying, and came over to
+where I was beginning again to feel, with inexpressible joy, that I had
+got a sword in my hand.
+
+They had hardly come to us, when I heard, above all the other noises, a
+tremendous cry of women's voices.  I also saw Miss Maryon, with quite a
+new face, suddenly clap her two hands over Mrs. Fisher's eyes.  I looked
+towards the silver-house, and saw Mrs. Venning--standing upright on the
+top of the steps of the trench, with her gray hair and her dark eyes--hide
+her daughter's child behind her, among the folds of her dress, strike a
+pirate with her other hand, and fall, shot by his pistol.
+
+The cry arose again, and there was a terrible and confusing rush of the
+women into the midst of the struggle.  In another moment, something came
+tumbling down upon me that I thought was the wall.  It was a heap of
+Sambos who had come over the wall; and of four men who clung to my legs
+like serpents, one who clung to my right leg was Christian George King.
+
+"Yup, So-Jeer," says he, "Christian George King sar berry glad So-Jeer a
+prisoner.  Christian George King been waiting for So-Jeer sech long time.
+Yup, yup!"
+
+What could I do, with five-and-twenty of them on me, but be tied hand and
+foot?  So, I was tied hand and foot.  It was all over now--boats not come
+back--all lost!  When I was fast bound and was put up against the wall,
+the one-eyed English convict came up with the Portuguese Captain, to have
+a look at me.
+
+"See!" says he.  "Here's the determined man!  If you had slept sounder,
+last night, you'd have slept your soundest last night, my determined
+man."
+
+The Portuguese Captain laughed in a cool way, and with the flat of his
+cutlass, hit me crosswise, as if I was the bough of a tree that he played
+with: first on the face, and then across the chest and the wounded arm.  I
+looked him steady in the face without tumbling while he looked at me, I
+am happy to say; but, when they went away, I fell, and lay there.
+
+The sun was up, when I was roused and told to come down to the beach and
+be embarked.  I was full of aches and pains, and could not at first
+remember; but, I remembered quite soon enough.  The killed were lying
+about all over the place, and the Pirates were burying their dead, and
+taking away their wounded on hastily-made litters, to the back of the
+Island.  As for us prisoners, some of their boats had come round to the
+usual harbour, to carry us off.  We looked a wretched few, I thought,
+when I got down there; still, it was another sign that we had fought
+well, and made the enemy suffer.
+
+The Portuguese Captain had all the women already embarked in the boat he
+himself commanded, which was just putting off when I got down.  Miss
+Maryon sat on one side of him, and gave me a moment's look, as full of
+quiet courage, and pity, and confidence, as if it had been an hour long.
+On the other side of him was poor little Mrs. Fisher, weeping for her
+child and her mother.  I was shoved into the same boat with Drooce and
+Packer, and the remainder of our party of marines: of whom we had lost
+two privates, besides Charker, my poor, brave comrade.  We all made a
+melancholy passage, under the hot sun over to the mainland.  There, we
+landed in a solitary place, and were mustered on the sea sand.  Mr. and
+Mrs. Macey and their children were amongst us, Mr. and Mrs. Pordage, Mr.
+Kitten, Mr. Fisher, and Mrs. Belltott.  We mustered only fourteen men,
+fifteen women, and seven children.  Those were all that remained of the
+English who had lain down to sleep last night, unsuspecting and happy, on
+the Island of Silver-Store.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III {1}--THE RAFTS ON THE RIVER
+
+
+We contrived to keep afloat all that night, and, the stream running
+strong with us, to glide a long way down the river.  But, we found the
+night to be a dangerous time for such navigation, on account of the
+eddies and rapids, and it was therefore settled next day that in future
+we would bring-to at sunset, and encamp on the shore.  As we knew of no
+boats that the Pirates possessed, up at the Prison in the Woods, we
+settled always to encamp on the opposite side of the stream, so as to
+have the breadth of the river between our sleep and them.  Our opinion
+was, that if they were acquainted with any near way by land to the mouth
+of this river, they would come up it in force, and retake us or kill us,
+according as they could; but that if that was not the case, and if the
+river ran by none of their secret stations, we might escape.
+
+When I say we settled this or that, I do not mean that we planned
+anything with any confidence as to what might happen an hour hence.  So
+much had happened in one night, and such great changes had been violently
+and suddenly made in the fortunes of many among us, that we had got
+better used to uncertainty, in a little while, than I dare say most
+people do in the course of their lives.
+
+The difficulties we soon got into, through the off-settings and point-
+currents of the stream, made the likelihood of our being drowned,
+alone,--to say nothing of our being retaken--as broad and plain as the
+sun at noonday to all of us.  But, we all worked hard at managing the
+rafts, under the direction of the seamen (of our own skill, I think we
+never could have prevented them from oversetting), and we also worked
+hard at making good the defects in their first hasty construction--which
+the water soon found out.  While we humbly resigned ourselves to going
+down, if it was the will of Our Father that was in Heaven, we humbly made
+up our minds, that we would all do the best that was in us.
+
+And so we held on, gliding with the stream.  It drove us to this bank,
+and it drove us to that bank, and it turned us, and whirled us; but yet
+it carried us on.  Sometimes much too slowly; sometimes much too fast,
+but yet it carried us on.
+
+My little deaf and dumb boy slumbered a good deal now, and that was the
+case with all the children.  They caused very little trouble to any one.
+They seemed, in my eyes, to get more like one another, not only in quiet
+manner, but in the face, too.  The motion of the raft was usually so much
+the same, the scene was usually so much the same, the sound of the soft
+wash and ripple of the water was usually so much the same, that they were
+made drowsy, as they might have been by the constant playing of one tune.
+Even on the grown people, who worked hard and felt anxiety, the same
+things produced something of the same effect.  Every day was so like the
+other, that I soon lost count of the days, myself, and had to ask Miss
+Maryon, for instance, whether this was the third or fourth?  Miss Maryon
+had a pocket-book and pencil, and she kept the log; that is to say, she
+entered up a clear little journal of the time, and of the distances our
+seamen thought we had made, each night.
+
+So, as I say, we kept afloat and glided on.  All day long, and every day,
+the water, and the woods, and sky; all day long, and every day, the
+constant watching of both sides of the river, and far ahead at every bold
+turn and sweep it made, for any signs of Pirate-boats, or
+Pirate-dwellings.  So, as I say, we kept afloat and glided on.  The days
+melting themselves together to that degree, that I could hardly believe
+my ears when I asked "How many now, Miss?" and she answered "Seven."
+
+To be sure, poor Mr. Pordage had, by about now, got his Diplomatic coat
+into such a state as never was seen.  What with the mud of the river,
+what with the water of the river, what with the sun, and the dews, and
+the tearing boughs, and the thickets, it hung about him in discoloured
+shreds like a mop.  The sun had touched him a bit.  He had taken to
+always polishing one particular button, which just held on to his left
+wrist, and to always calling for stationery.  I suppose that man called
+for pens, ink, and paper, tape, and scaling-wax, upwards of one thousand
+times in four-and-twenty hours.  He had an idea that we should never get
+out of that river unless we were written out of it in a formal
+Memorandum; and the more we laboured at navigating the rafts, the more he
+ordered us not to touch them at our peril, and the more he sat and roared
+for stationery.
+
+Mrs. Pordage, similarly, persisted in wearing her nightcap.  I doubt if
+any one but ourselves who had seen the progress of that article of dress,
+could by this time have told what it was meant for.  It had got so limp
+and ragged that she couldn't see out of her eyes for it.  It was so
+dirty, that whether it was vegetable matter out of a swamp, or weeds out
+of the river, or an old porter's-knot from England, I don't think any new
+spectator could have said.  Yet, this unfortunate old woman had a notion
+that it was not only vastly genteel, but that it was the correct thing as
+to propriety.  And she really did carry herself over the other ladies who
+had no nightcaps, and who were forced to tie up their hair how they
+could, in a superior manner that was perfectly amazing.
+
+I don't know what she looked like, sitting in that blessed nightcap, on a
+log of wood, outside the hut or cabin upon our raft.  She would have
+rather resembled a fortune-teller in one of the picture-books that used
+to be in the shop windows in my boyhood, except for her stateliness.  But,
+Lord bless my heart, the dignity with which she sat and moped, with her
+head in that bundle of tatters, was like nothing else in the world!  She
+was not on speaking terms with more than three of the ladies.  Some of
+them had, what she called, "taken precedence" of her--in getting into, or
+out of, that miserable little shelter!--and others had not called to pay
+their respects, or something of that kind.  So, there she sat, in her own
+state and ceremony, while her husband sat on the same log of wood,
+ordering us one and all to let the raft go to the bottom, and to bring
+him stationery.
+
+What with this noise on the part of Mr. Commissioner Pordage, and what
+with the cries of Sergeant Drooce on the raft astern (which were
+sometimes more than Tom Packer could silence), we often made our slow way
+down the river, anything but quietly.  Yet, that it was of great
+importance that no ears should be able to hear us from the woods on the
+banks, could not be doubted.  We were looked for, to a certainty, and we
+might be retaken at any moment.  It was an anxious time; it was, indeed,
+indeed, an anxious time.
+
+On the seventh night of our voyage on the rafts, we made fast, as usual,
+on the opposite side of the river to that from which we had started, in
+as dark a place as we could pick out.  Our little encampment was soon
+made, and supper was eaten, and the children fell asleep.  The watch was
+set, and everything made orderly for the night.  Such a starlight night,
+with such blue in the sky, and such black in the places of heavy shade on
+the banks of the great stream!
+
+Those two ladies, Miss Maryon and Mrs. Fisher, had always kept near me
+since the night of the attack.  Mr. Fisher, who was untiring in the work
+of our raft, had said to me:
+
+"My dear little childless wife has grown so attached to you, Davis, and
+you are such a gentle fellow, as well as such a determined one;" our
+party had adopted that last expression from the one-eyed English pirate,
+and I repeat what Mr. Fisher said, only because he said it; "that it
+takes a load off my mind to leave her in your charge."
+
+I said to him: "Your lady is in far better charge than mine, Sir, having
+Miss Maryon to take care of her; but, you may rely upon it, that I will
+guard them both--faithful and true."
+
+Says he: "I do rely upon it, Davis, and I heartily wish all the silver on
+our old Island was yours."
+
+That seventh starlight night, as I have said, we made our camp, and got
+our supper, and set our watch, and the children fell asleep.  It was
+solemn and beautiful in those wild and solitary parts, to see them, every
+night before they lay down, kneeling under the bright sky, saying their
+little prayers at women's laps.  At that time we men all uncovered, and
+mostly kept at a distance.  When the innocent creatures rose up, we
+murmured "Amen!" all together.  For, though we had not heard what they
+said, we know it must be good for us.
+
+At that time, too, as was only natural, those poor mothers in our
+company, whose children had been killed, shed many tears.  I thought the
+sight seemed to console them while it made them cry; but, whether I was
+right or wrong in that, they wept very much.  On this seventh night, Mrs.
+Fisher had cried for her lost darling until she cried herself asleep.  She
+was lying on a little couch of leaves and such-like (I made the best
+little couch I could for them every night), and Miss Maryon had covered
+her, and sat by her, holding her hand.  The stars looked down upon them.
+As for me, I guarded them.
+
+"Davis!" says Miss Maryon.  (I am not going to say what a voice she had.
+I couldn't if I tried.)
+
+"I am here, Miss."
+
+"The river sounds as if it were swollen to-night."
+
+"We all think, Miss, that we are coming near the sea."
+
+"Do you believe now, we shall escape?"
+
+"I do now, Miss, really believe it."  I had always said I did; but, I had
+in my own mind been doubtful.
+
+"How glad you will be, my good Davis, to see England again!"
+
+I have another confession to make that will appear singular.  When she
+said these words, something rose in my throat; and the stars I looked
+away at, seemed to break into sparkles that fell down my face and burnt
+it.
+
+"England is not much to me, Miss, except as a name."
+
+"O, so true an Englishman should not say that!--Are you not well
+to-night, Davis?"  Very kindly, and with a quick change.
+
+"Quite well, Miss."
+
+"Are you sure?  Your voice sounds altered in my hearing."
+
+"No, Miss, I am a stronger man than ever.  But, England is nothing to
+me."
+
+Miss Maryon sat silent for so long a while, that I believed she had done
+speaking to me for one time.  However, she had not; for by-and-by she
+said in a distinct clear tone:
+
+"No, good friend; you must not say that England is nothing to you.  It is
+to be much to you, yet--everything to you.  You have to take back to
+England the good name you have earned here, and the gratitude and
+attachment and respect you have won here: and you have to make some good
+English girl very happy and proud, by marrying her; and I shall one day
+see her, I hope, and make her happier and prouder still, by telling her
+what noble services her husband's were in South America, and what a noble
+friend he was to me there."
+
+Though she spoke these kind words in a cheering manner, she spoke them
+compassionately.  I said nothing.  It will appear to be another strange
+confession, that I paced to and fro, within call, all that night, a most
+unhappy man, reproaching myself all the night long.  "You are as ignorant
+as any man alive; you are as obscure as any man alive; you are as poor as
+any man alive; you are no better than the mud under your foot."  That was
+the way in which I went on against myself until the morning.
+
+With the day, came the day's labour.  What I should have done--without
+the labour, I don't know.  We were afloat again at the usual hour, and
+were again making our way down the river.  It was broader, and clearer of
+obstructions than it had been, and it seemed to flow faster.  This was
+one of Drooce's quiet days; Mr. Pordage, besides being sulky, had almost
+lost his voice; and we made good way, and with little noise.
+
+There was always a seaman forward on the raft, keeping a bright look-out.
+Suddenly, in the full heat of the day, when the children were slumbering,
+and the very trees and reeds appeared to be slumbering, this man--it was
+Short--holds up his hand, and cries with great caution: "Avast!  Voices
+ahead!"
+
+We held on against the stream as soon as we could bring her up, and the
+other raft followed suit.  At first, Mr. Macey, Mr. Fisher, and myself,
+could hear nothing; though both the seamen aboard of us agreed that they
+could hear voices and oars.  After a little pause, however, we united in
+thinking that we _could_ hear the sound of voices, and the dip of oars.
+But, you can hear a long way in those countries, and there was a bend of
+the river before us, and nothing was to be seen except such waters and
+such banks as we were now in the eighth day (and might, for the matter of
+our feelings, have been in the eightieth), of having seen with anxious
+eyes.
+
+It was soon decided to put a man ashore, who should creep through the
+wood, see what was coming, and warn the rafts.  The rafts in the meantime
+to keep the middle of the stream.  The man to be put ashore, and not to
+swim ashore, as the first thing could be more quickly done than the
+second.  The raft conveying him, to get back into mid-stream, and to hold
+on along with the other, as well is it could, until signalled by the man.
+In case of danger, the man to shift for himself until it should be safe
+to take him on board again.  I volunteered to be the man.
+
+We knew that the voices and oars must come up slowly against the stream;
+and our seamen knew, by the set of the stream, under which bank they
+would come.  I was put ashore accordingly.  The raft got off well, and I
+broke into the wood.
+
+Steaming hot it was, and a tearing place to get through.  So much the
+better for me, since it was something to contend against and do.  I cut
+off the bend of the river, at a great saving of space, came to the
+water's edge again, and hid myself, and waited.  I could now hear the dip
+of the oars very distinctly; the voices had ceased.
+
+The sound came on in a regular tune, and as I lay hidden, I fancied the
+tune so played to be, "Chris'en--George--King!  Chris'en--George--King!
+Chris'en--George--King!" over and over again, always the same, with the
+pauses always at the same places.  I had likewise time to make up my mind
+that if these were the Pirates, I could and would (barring my being shot)
+swim off to my raft, in spite of my wound, the moment I had given the
+alarm, and hold my old post by Miss Maryon.
+
+"Chris'en--George--King!  Chris'en--George--King!  Chris'en--George--King!"
+coming up, now, very near.
+
+I took a look at the branches about me, to see where a shower of bullets
+would be most likely to do me least hurt; and I took a look back at the
+track I had made in forcing my way in; and now I was wholly prepared and
+fully ready for them.
+
+"Chris'en--George--King!  Chris'en--George--King!  Chris'en--George--King!"
+Here they are!
+
+Who were they?  The barbarous Pirates, scum of all nations, headed by
+such men as the hideous little Portuguese monkey, and the one-eyed
+English convict with the gash across his face, that ought to have gashed
+his wicked head off?  The worst men in the world picked out from the
+worst, to do the cruellest and most atrocious deeds that ever stained it?
+The howling, murdering, black-flag waving, mad, and drunken crowd of
+devils that had overcome us by numbers and by treachery?  No.  These were
+English men in English boats--good blue-jackets and red-coats--marines
+that I knew myself, and sailors that knew our seamen!  At the helm of the
+first boat, Captain Carton, eager and steady.  At the helm of the second
+boat, Captain Maryon, brave and bold.  At the helm of the third boat, an
+old seaman, with determination carved into his watchful face, like the
+figure-head of a ship.  Every man doubly and trebly armed from head to
+foot.  Every man lying-to at his work, with a will that had all his heart
+and soul in it.  Every man looking out for any trace of friend or enemy,
+and burning to be the first to do good or avenge evil.  Every man with
+his face on fire when he saw me, his countryman who had been taken
+prisoner, and hailed me with a cheer, as Captain Carton's boat ran in and
+took me on board.
+
+I reported, "All escaped, sir!  All well, all safe, all here!"
+
+God bless me--and God bless them--what a cheer!  It turned me weak, as I
+was passed on from hand to hand to the stern of the boat: every hand
+patting me or grasping me in some way or other, in the moment of my going
+by.
+
+"Hold up, my brave fellow," says Captain Carton, clapping me on the
+shoulder like a friend, and giving me a flask.  "Put your lips to that,
+and they'll be red again.  Now, boys, give way!"
+
+The banks flew by us as if the mightiest stream that ever ran was with
+us; and so it was, I am sure, meaning the stream to those men's ardour
+and spirit.  The banks flew by us, and we came in sight of the rafts--the
+banks flew by us, and we came alongside of the rafts--the banks stopped;
+and there was a tumult of laughing and crying, and kissing and shaking of
+hands, and catching up of children and setting of them down again, and a
+wild hurry of thankfulness and joy that melted every one and softened all
+hearts.
+
+I had taken notice, in Captain Carton's boat, that there was a curious
+and quite new sort of fitting on board.  It was a kind of a little bower
+made of flowers, and it was set up behind the captain, and betwixt him
+and the rudder.  Not only was this arbour, so to call it, neatly made of
+flowers, but it was ornamented in a singular way.  Some of the men had
+taken the ribbons and buckles off their hats, and hung them among the
+flowers; others had made festoons and streamers of their handkerchiefs,
+and hung them there; others had intermixed such trifles as bits of glass
+and shining fragments of lockets and tobacco-boxes with the flowers; so
+that altogether it was a very bright and lively object in the sunshine.
+But why there, or what for, I did not understand.
+
+Now, as soon as the first bewilderment was over, Captain Carton gave the
+order to land for the present.  But this boat of his, with two hands left
+in her, immediately put off again when the men were out of her, and kept
+off, some yards from the shore.  As she floated there, with the two hands
+gently backing water to keep her from going down the stream, this pretty
+little arbour attracted many eyes.  None of the boat's crew, however, had
+anything to say about it, except that it was the captain's fancy.
+
+The captain--with the women and children clustering round him, and the
+men of all ranks grouped outside them, and all listening--stood telling
+how the Expedition, deceived by its bad intelligence, had chased the
+light Pirate boats all that fatal night, and had still followed in their
+wake next day, and had never suspected until many hours too late that the
+great Pirate body had drawn off in the darkness when the chase began, and
+shot over to the Island.  He stood telling how the Expedition, supposing
+the whole array of armed boats to be ahead of it, got tempted into
+shallows and went aground; but not without having its revenge upon the
+two decoy-boats, both of which it had come up with, overhand, and sent to
+the bottom with all on board.  He stood telling how the Expedition,
+fearing then that the case stood as it did, got afloat again, by great
+exertion, after the loss of four more tides, and returned to the Island,
+where they found the sloop scuttled and the treasure gone.  He stood
+telling how my officer, Lieutenant Linderwood, was left upon the Island,
+with as strong a force as could be got together hurriedly from the
+mainland, and how the three boats we saw before us were manned and armed
+and had come away, exploring the coast and inlets, in search of any
+tidings of us.  He stood telling all this, with his face to the river;
+and, as he stood telling it, the little arbour of flowers floated in the
+sunshine before all the faces there.
+
+Leaning on Captain Carton's shoulder, between him and Miss Maryon, was
+Mrs. Fisher, her head drooping on her arm.  She asked him, without
+raising it, when he had told so much, whether he had found her mother?
+
+"Be comforted!  She lies," said the Captain gently, "under the cocoa-nut
+trees on the beach."
+
+"And my child, Captain Carton, did you find my child, too?  Does my
+darling rest with my mother?"
+
+"No.  Your pretty child sleeps," said the Captain, "under a shade of
+flowers."
+
+His voice shook; but there was something in it that struck all the
+hearers.  At that moment there sprung from the arbour in his boat a
+little creature, clapping her hands and stretching out her arms, and
+crying, "Dear papa!  Dear mamma!  I am not killed.  I am saved.  I am
+coming to kiss you.  Take me to them, take me to them, good, kind
+sailors!"
+
+Nobody who saw that scene has ever forgotten it, I am sure, or ever will
+forget it.  The child had kept quite still, where her brave grandmamma
+had put her (first whispering in her ear, "Whatever happens to me, do not
+stir, my dear!"), and had remained quiet until the fort was deserted; she
+had then crept out of the trench, and gone into her mother's house; and
+there, alone on the solitary Island, in her mother's room, and asleep on
+her mother's bed, the Captain had found her.  Nothing could induce her to
+be parted from him after he took her up in his arms, and he had brought
+her away with him, and the men had made the bower for her.  To see those
+men now, was a sight.  The joy of the women was beautiful; the joy of
+those women who had lost their own children, was quite sacred and divine;
+but, the ecstasies of Captain Carton's boat's crew, when their pet was
+restored to her parents, were wonderful for the tenderness they showed in
+the midst of roughness.  As the Captain stood with the child in his arms,
+and the child's own little arms now clinging round his neck, now round
+her father's, now round her mother's, now round some one who pressed up
+to kiss her, the boat's crew shook hands with one another, waved their
+hats over their heads, laughed, sang, cried, danced--and all among
+themselves, without wanting to interfere with anybody--in a manner never
+to be represented.  At last, I saw the coxswain and another, two very
+hard-faced men, with grizzled heads, who had been the heartiest of the
+hearty all along, close with one another, get each of them the other's
+head under his arm, and pommel away at it with his fist as hard as he
+could, in his excess of joy.
+
+When we had well rested and refreshed ourselves--and very glad we were to
+have some of the heartening things to eat and drink that had come up in
+the boats--we recommenced our voyage down the river: rafts, and boats,
+and all.  I said to myself, it was a _very_ different kind of voyage now,
+from what it had been; and I fell into my proper place and station among
+my fellow-soldiers.
+
+But, when we halted for the night, I found that Miss Maryon had spoken to
+Captain Carton concerning me.  For, the Captain came straight up to me,
+and says he, "My brave fellow, you have been Miss Maryon's body-guard all
+along, and you shall remain so.  Nobody shall supersede you in the
+distinction and pleasure of protecting that young lady."  I thanked his
+honour in the fittest words I could find, and that night I was placed on
+my old post of watching the place where she slept.  More than once in the
+night, I saw Captain Carton come out into the air, and stroll about
+there, to see that all was well.  I have now this other singular
+confession to make, that I saw him with a heavy heart.  Yes; I saw him
+with a heavy, heavy heart.
+
+In the day-time, I had the like post in Captain Carton's boat.  I had a
+special station of my own, behind Miss Maryon, and no hands but hers ever
+touched my wound.  (It has been healed these many long years; but, no
+other hands have ever touched it.)  Mr. Pordage was kept tolerably quiet
+now, with pen and ink, and began to pick up his senses a little.  Seated
+in the second boat, he made documents with Mr. Kitten, pretty well all
+day; and he generally handed in a Protest about something whenever we
+stopped.  The Captain, however, made so very light of these papers, that
+it grew into a saying among the men, when one of them wanted a match for
+his pipe, "Hand us over a Protest, Jack!"  As to Mrs. Pordage, she still
+wore the nightcap, and she now had cut all the ladies on account of her
+not having been formally and separately rescued by Captain Carton before
+anybody else.  The end of Mr. Pordage, to bring to an end all I know
+about him, was, that he got great compliments at home for his conduct on
+these trying occasions, and that he died of yellow jaundice, a Governor
+and a K.C.B.
+
+Sergeant Drooce had fallen from a high fever into a low one.  Tom
+Packer--the only man who could have pulled the Sergeant through it--kept
+hospital aboard the old raft, and Mrs. Belltott, as brisk as ever again
+(but the spirit of that little woman, when things tried it, was not equal
+to appearances), was head-nurse under his directions.  Before we got down
+to the Mosquito coast, the joke had been made by one of our men, that we
+should see her gazetted Mrs. Tom Packer, _vice_ Belltott exchanged.
+
+When we reached the coast, we got native boats as substitutes for the
+rafts; and we rowed along under the land; and in that beautiful climate,
+and upon that beautiful water, the blooming days were like enchantment.
+Ah!  They were running away, faster than any sea or river, and there was
+no tide to bring them back.  We were coming very near the settlement
+where the people of Silver-Store were to be left, and from which we
+Marines were under orders to return to Belize.
+
+Captain Carton had, in the boat by him, a curious long-barrelled Spanish
+gun, and he had said to Miss Maryon one day that it was the best of guns,
+and had turned his head to me, and said:
+
+"Gill Davis, load her fresh with a couple of slugs, against a chance of
+showing how good she is."
+
+So, I had discharged the gun over the sea, and had loaded her, according
+to orders, and there it had lain at the Captain's feet, convenient to the
+Captain's hand.
+
+The last day but one of our journey was an uncommonly hot day.  We
+started very early; but, there was no cool air on the sea as the day got
+on, and by noon the heat was really hard to bear, considering that there
+were women and children to bear it.  Now, we happened to open, just at
+that time, a very pleasant little cove or bay, where there was a deep
+shade from a great growth of trees.  Now, the Captain, therefore, made
+the signal to the other boats to follow him in and lie by a while.
+
+The men who were off duty went ashore, and lay down, but were ordered,
+for caution's sake, not to stray, and to keep within view.  The others
+rested on their oars, and dozed.  Awnings had been made of one thing and
+another, in all the boats, and the passengers found it cooler to be under
+them in the shade, when there was room enough, than to be in the thick
+woods.  So, the passengers were all afloat, and mostly sleeping.  I kept
+my post behind Miss Maryon, and she was on Captain Carton's right in the
+boat, and Mrs. Fisher sat on her right again.  The Captain had Mrs.
+Fisher's daughter on his knee.  He and the two ladies were talking about
+the Pirates, and were talking softly; partly, because people do talk
+softly under such indolent circumstances, and partly because the little
+girl had gone off asleep.
+
+I think I have before given it out for my Lady to write down, that
+Captain Carton had a fine bright eye of his own.  All at once, he darted
+me a side look, as much as to say, "Steady--don't take on--I see
+something!"--and gave the child into her mother's arms.  That eye of his
+was so easy to understand, that I obeyed it by not so much as looking
+either to the right or to the left out of a corner of my own, or changing
+my attitude the least trifle.  The Captain went on talking in the same
+mild and easy way; but began--with his arms resting across his knees, and
+his head a little hanging forward, as if the heat were rather too much
+for him--began to play with the Spanish gun.
+
+"They had laid their plans, you see," says the Captain, taking up the
+Spanish gun across his knees, and looking, lazily, at the inlaying on the
+stock, "with a great deal of art; and the corrupt or blundering local
+authorities were so easily deceived;" he ran his left hand idly along the
+barrel, but I saw, with my breath held, that he covered the action of
+cocking the gun with his right--"so easily deceived, that they summoned
+us out to come into the trap.  But my intention as to future operations--"
+In a flash the Spanish gun was at his bright eye, and he fired.
+
+All started up; innumerable echoes repeated the sound of the discharge; a
+cloud of bright-coloured birds flew out of the woods screaming; a handful
+of leaves were scattered in the place where the shot had struck; a
+crackling of branches was heard; and some lithe but heavy creature sprang
+into the air, and fell forward, head down, over the muddy bank.
+
+"What is it?" cries Captain Maryon from his boat.  All silent then, but
+the echoes rolling away.
+
+"It is a Traitor and a Spy," said Captain Carton, handing me the gun to
+load again.  "And I think the other name of the animal is Christian
+George King!"
+
+Shot through the heart.  Some of the people ran round to the spot, and
+drew him out, with the slime and wet trickling down his face; but his
+face itself would never stir any more to the end of time.
+
+"Leave him hanging to that tree," cried Captain Carton; his boat's crew
+giving way, and he leaping ashore.  "But first into this wood, every man
+in his place.  And boats!  Out of gunshot!"
+
+It was a quick change, well meant and well made, though it ended in
+disappointment.  No Pirates were there; no one but the Spy was found.  It
+was supposed that the Pirates, unable to retake us, and expecting a great
+attack upon them to be the consequence of our escape, had made from the
+ruins in the Forest, taken to their ship along with the Treasure, and
+left the Spy to pick up what intelligence he could.  In the evening we
+went away, and he was left hanging to the tree, all alone, with the red
+sun making a kind of a dead sunset on his black face.
+
+Next day, we gained the settlement on the Mosquito coast for which we
+were bound.  Having stayed there to refresh seven days, and having been
+much commended, and highly spoken of, and finely entertained, we Marines
+stood under orders to march from the Town-Gate (it was neither much of a
+town nor much of a gate), at five in the morning.
+
+My officer had joined us before then.  When we turned out at the gate,
+all the people were there; in the front of them all those who had been
+our fellow-prisoners, and all the seamen.
+
+"Davis," says Lieutenant Linderwood.  "Stand out, my friend!"
+
+I stood out from the ranks, and Miss Maryon and Captain Carton came up to
+me.
+
+"Dear Davis," says Miss Maryon, while the tears fell fast down her face,
+"your grateful friends, in most unwillingly taking leave of you, ask the
+favour that, while you bear away with you their affectionate remembrance,
+which nothing can ever impair, you will also take this purse of money--far
+more valuable to you, we all know, for the deep attachment and
+thankfulness with which it is offered, than for its own contents, though
+we hope those may prove useful to you, too, in after life."
+
+I got out, in answer, that I thankfully accepted the attachment and
+affection, but not the money.  Captain Carton looked at me very
+attentively, and stepped back, and moved away.  I made him my bow as he
+stepped back, to thank him for being so delicate.
+
+"No, miss," said I, "I think it would break my heart to accept of money.
+But, if you could condescend to give to a man so ignorant and common as
+myself, any little thing you have worn--such as a bit of ribbon--"
+
+She took a ring from her finger, and put it in my hand.  And she rested
+her hand in mine, while she said these words:
+
+"The brave gentlemen of old--but not one of them was braver, or had a
+nobler nature than you--took such gifts from ladies, and did all their
+good actions for the givers' sakes.  If you will do yours for mine, I
+shall think with pride that I continue to have some share in the life of
+a gallant and generous man."
+
+For the second time in my life she kissed my hand.  I made so bold, for
+the first time, as to kiss hers; and I tied the ring at my breast, and I
+fell back to my place.
+
+Then, the horse-litter went out at the gate with Sergeant Drooce in it;
+and the horse-litter went out at the gate with Mrs. Belltott in it; and
+Lieutenant Linderwood gave the word of command, "Quick march!" and,
+cheered and cried for, we went out of the gate too, marching along the
+level plain towards the serene blue sky, as if we were marching straight
+to Heaven.
+
+When I have added here that the Pirate scheme was blown to shivers, by
+the Pirate-ship which had the Treasure on board being so vigorously
+attacked by one of His Majesty's cruisers, among the West India Keys, and
+being so swiftly boarded and carried, that nobody suspected anything
+about the scheme until three-fourths of the Pirates were killed, and the
+other fourth were in irons, and the Treasure was recovered; I come to the
+last singular confession I have got to make.
+
+It is this.  I well knew what an immense and hopeless distance there was
+between me and Miss Maryon; I well knew that I was no fitter company for
+her than I was for the angels; I well knew, that she was as high above my
+reach as the sky over my head; and yet I loved her.  What put it in my
+low heart to be so daring, or whether such a thing ever happened before
+or since, as that a man so uninstructed and obscure as myself got his
+unhappy thoughts lifted up to such a height, while knowing very well how
+presumptuous and impossible to be realised they were, I am unable to say;
+still, the suffering to me was just as great as if I had been a
+gentleman.  I suffered agony--agony.  I suffered hard, and I suffered
+long.  I thought of her last words to me, however, and I never disgraced
+them.  If it had not been for those dear words, I think I should have
+lost myself in despair and recklessness.
+
+The ring will be found lying on my heart, of course, and will be laid
+with me wherever I am laid.  I am getting on in years now, though I am
+able and hearty.  I was recommended for promotion, and everything was
+done to reward me that could be done; but my total want of all learning
+stood in my way, and I found myself so completely out of the road to it
+that I could not conquer any learning, though I tried.  I was long in the
+service, and I respected it, and was respected in it, and the service is
+dear to me at this present hour.
+
+At this present hour, when I give this out to my Lady to be written down,
+all my old pain has softened away, and I am as happy as a man can be, at
+this present fine old country-house of Admiral Sir George Carton,
+Baronet.  It was my Lady Carton who herself sought me out, over a great
+many miles of the wide world, and found me in Hospital wounded, and
+brought me here.  It is my Lady Carton who writes down my words.  My Lady
+was Miss Maryon.  And now, that I conclude what I had to tell, I see my
+Lady's honoured gray hair droop over her face, as she leans a little
+lower at her desk; and I fervently thank her for being so tender as I see
+she is, towards the past pain and trouble of her poor, old, faithful,
+humble soldier.
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+
+{1}   Dicken's didn't write the second chapter and it is omitted in this
+edition.  In it the prisoners are firstly made a ransom of for the
+treasure left on the Island and then manage to escape from the Pirates.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PERILS OF CERTAIN ENGLISH
+PRISONERS***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 1406.txt or 1406.zip *******
+
+
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/0/1406
+
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+