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diff --git a/18683-h/18683-h.htm b/18683-h/18683-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c198f9c --- /dev/null +++ b/18683-h/18683-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10619 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Ralph Granger's Fortunes, by William Perry Brown</title> +<style type="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: medium; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {font-size: small } + + hr.full { width: 100%; + height: 5px; } + a:link {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none; } + link {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none; } + a:visited {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none; } + a:hover {color:#ff0000; + text-decoration: underline; } + pre {font-size: 75%; } + +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1 align="center">The Project Gutenberg eBook, Ralph Granger's Fortunes, by William Perry +Brown, Illustrated by W. H. Fry</h1> +<pre> +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 <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Ralph Granger's Fortunes</p> +<p>Author: William Perry Brown</p> +<p>Release Date: June 26, 2006 [eBook #18683]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RALPH GRANGER'S FORTUNES***</p> +<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Al Haines</h3></center><br><br> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT=""Grandpa!" cried Ralph. "You shall not shoot, I say!"" BORDER="2" WIDTH="562" HEIGHT="379"> +<H3> +[Frontispiece: "Grandpa!" cried Ralph. "You shall not shoot, I say!"] +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +RALPH GRANGER'S FORTUNES +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +WILLIAM PERRY BROWN +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATED +<BR> +BY +<BR> +W. H. FRY +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AKRON, OHIO +<BR> +THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING CO. +<BR> +NEW YORK —— 1902 —— CHICAGO +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +COPYRIGHT, 1902, +<BR> +BY +<BR> +THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +TABLE OF CONTENTS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<CENTER> + +<TABLE WIDTH="80%"> +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">Ending the Feud</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">Ralph and his Grandfather</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">Ralph Continues his Journey</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">The Moonshiners and the Railroad</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">Ralph's First Railroad Ride</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">Ralph in Columbia</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">An Enraged Photographer</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">Captain Shard's Proposal</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">Ralph Arrives at Savannah</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">The Captain Talks with Ralph</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">Aboard the Curlew</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">The Curlew Puts to Sea</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">A Taste of Ship's Discipline</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">Bad Weather</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">Boarded by a Cruiser</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">Nearing the Gold Coast</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">Up the River</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">A Brush in the Wilderness</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">Left Behind</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">Ralph Stumbles on a Discovery</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">At Close Quarters</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap22">Trouble of Another Kind</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap23">Adrift</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap24">Ralph's Sufferings</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap25">The Second Mate's Story</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap26">Hard Times</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap27">Uncle Gideon</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS +</H2> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +"Grandpa!" cried Ralph. "You shall not shoot, I say!" . . . . . . . . . <I>Frontispiece</I> +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-160"> +"Mr. Duff," said Gary in his most grating tones, "who gave you the +authority to interfere with my designs regarding this insolent +youngster?" +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-203"> +Ralph's Winchester cracked and the raised arm fell shattered and +useless. +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-278"> +"Quick, Ralph, pull me through by the arms." +</A> +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +Ralph Granger's Fortunes. +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Ending the Feud. +</H3> + +<P> +"Must I do it, grandpa?" +</P> + +<P> +"Of course you must! I'm afraid you ain't a true Granger, Ralph, or +you wouldn't ask no such question." +</P> + +<P> +"But why should I do it, grandpa?" +</P> + +<P> +"Listen at the boy." +</P> + +<P> +The sharp-eyed, grizzled old man rose from his seat before the fire, +and took down an ancient looking, muzzle loading rifle from over the +cabin door. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll tell you why." +</P> + +<P> +He patted the gun, now lying across his knees. +</P> + +<P> +"This here was your father's gun. He carried it for many years. I had +it when the feud betwixt the Grangers and the Vaughns first began. He +had it with him when he was shot down at the Laurel Branch by John +Vaughn, just six years ago today." +</P> + +<P> +"Today is my birthday," commented Ralph, a sturdy-limbed, ruddy-faced +lad. +</P> + +<P> +"And you are fifteen. Think of that; 'most a man. I said I'd wait +till you was fifteen, and as it happens, his son's a goin' to mill +today." +</P> + +<P> +"What of that?" +</P> + +<P> +"You just wait and you'll see. All you've got to do is to obey orders." +</P> + +<P> +The old man got up, took down a leather shot pouch, and proceeded to +load the rifle carefully. After which he slung the pouch and a powder +horn round Ralph's neck, then went out and looked at the sun. +</P> + +<P> +He returned, placed the rifle in the lad's hands, and bade him follow. +Taking their hats they went out of the house. +</P> + +<P> +Steep mountain ridges cut off any extended view. An old field or two +lay about them, partially in the narrow creek bottom and partially +climbing the last rugged slopes. +</P> + +<P> +There was a foot log across the little brawling brook, beyond which the +public road wound deviously down the glen towards the far distant +lowlands. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph eyed the unusually stern expression of his grandfather's face +dubiously as they trudged along the road. +</P> + +<P> +Bras Granger was all of sixty-five years old, dried and toughened by +toil, exposure, and vindictive broodings, until he resembled a +cross-grained bit of time-hardened oak. His gait, though shambling, +was rapid for one of his age. +</P> + +<P> +"You said you'd tell me why," suggested Ralph, as they wound their way +along the crooked road. +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't I say that the son of the man as killed your father was comin' +by the Laurel Branch this mornin'? Haven't the Vaughns and the +Grangers been at outs for more than twenty year? What more d'ye want?" +</P> + +<P> +The boy frowned, but it was in perplexity rather than wrath. +</P> + +<P> +They came at last to a wooded hollow, through which another creek ran, +thickly shaded by thick overhanging shrubbery. The old man led the way +to a half decayed log of immense size, that lay behind a thick fringe +of bushes, at an angle just beyond where the road crossed the creek. +</P> + +<P> +It was a deadly spot for an ambuscade. +</P> + +<P> +"Lay down behind that log," said old Granger. "Now, can you draw a +good bead on him when he comes in sight?" +</P> + +<P> +Young Granger squinted along the rifle barrel, now resting across the +log. Though apparently concealed himself, he had a fair view of the +road for sixty yards in both directions. Where it entered the brook it +was barely thirty feet away. +</P> + +<P> +"Take him right forninst the left shoulder, 'bout the time his mule +crosses the creek; then your poor father'll rest easy in his grave." +</P> + +<P> +"Why ain't you killed him afore?" demanded Ralph. +</P> + +<P> +"My hand hasn't been steady these nine year; not since them Vaughns +burned our house down the night your grandmother died. It was cold and +snowin', and bein' out in it was more'n she could stand." +</P> + +<P> +"I remember," said the boy gloomily. "But that was a long time ago. I +can't stay mad nine year." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm madder now than I was then!" almost shouted the infuriated +mountaineer. "After they got your pap, I 'lowed I'd wait 'twel you was +fifteen. Then you'd be big enough to know how sweet revenge is. Heap +sweeter than sugar, ain't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hark?" interjected Ralph, without replying. "Some one is comin' up +the road." +</P> + +<P> +A trample of hoofs became audible, and presently a man mounted on a +mule, with a sack of corn under him, was to be seen approaching the +ambuscade. +</P> + +<P> +Seated before him was a child of perhaps four or five, who laughed and +prattled to the man's evident delight. Old Granger's eyes shown with a +ferocious joy. +</P> + +<P> +"That's him!" he exclaimed in tremulously eager tones. "He's got his +brat along. I wish ye could get 'em both, then there'd be an end of +the miserable brood for one while. Wait, boy—wait 'twel he gets to +the creek afore ye shoot. Think of your poor pap, when ye draw bead." +</P> + +<P> +But Ralph's face did not betoken any kindred enthusiasm. He was tired +to death of hearing about the everlasting feud between the families. +</P> + +<P> +If the Vaughns had fought the Grangers, it was equally certain that the +Grangers had been no whit behind in sanguinary reprisals. He +remembered seeing this same Jase Vaughn, now riding unsuspectingly +toward the loaded rifle, at a corn shucking once. Ralph then thought +him a very jolly, amusing fellow. +</P> + +<P> +"Now lad—now lad!" whispered the old man. "Get down and take your +sight. I've seen ye shoot the heads offn squirrels. Just imagine that +feller's head is a squirrel's. As for the child——" +</P> + +<P> +"Grandpa, I will not shoot. It would be murder. I'll meet him fair +and square, though, and if he's sorry for what his father done, I'll +let it pass. He couldn't help it anyhow, if he wanted to, I reckon." +</P> + +<P> +To the old man's intense disgust, Ralph leaped lightly over the log and +advanced into the road, rifle in hand. His grandfather followed him, +raving in his futile rage. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello!" exclaimed Jase Vaughn, thrusting his hand behind him quickly. +"Here's old Granger and his son's kid. I wish you was at home, Clelly." +</P> + +<P> +This last to his boy who, not at all alarmed, was smiling at Ralph in a +very friendly manner. +</P> + +<P> +When the lad saw Jase throw back his hand, he dropped his rifle into +the hollow of his left arm and brought the trigger to a half cock, +advancing at the same time squarely into the middle of the road. +</P> + +<P> +"Grandpa tells me that you are the son of the man who shot my father, +here, just six years ago," began the boy. "I knew it myself, but I +didn't 'low you was to blame, 'less you uphilt him in it." +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose I do; what then?" Jase eyed the two Grangers steadily, though +not in anger as far as Ralph could see. +</P> + +<P> +"Then we'll settle it right here," said the latter firmly. "I could +have shot you from the bushes, as your father did mine, but I wouldn't." +</P> + +<P> +"The more fool you!" hissed the vindictive old man. "I ought to have +kept the gun myself." +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose I don't uphold the deed?" added Vaughn, still totally +undisturbed. +</P> + +<P> +"Then you can go, for all of me. I'm sick of the feud." +</P> + +<P> +"Shake my boy!" Jase held out a large brown paw. "So am I. If I +could 'a' had my way your pap never would a been killed." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph hesitated an instant, when suddenly little Clelly reached forth +his small, chubby fingers, and the boy surrendered. He suffered Vaughn +to shake his hand, then frankly took the child's and pressed it warmly. +</P> + +<P> +"I like 'oo," cried the little fellow, whereat Jase gave a great horse +laugh of undisguised satisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +"These young uns has got more sense than all of us older fools," +exclaimed the gratified father. "Ain't that so, old man?" he added, +looking at the elder Granger. +</P> + +<P> +But the face of Ralph's grandfather became convulsed with a sudden +fury. He rushed upon Ralph with a celerity unlocked for in one so old, +and wrenched the rifle from the boy's hands. +</P> + +<P> +Then he turned upon Jase Vaughn who had witnessed this action in +astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," shouted old Granger, "reckon I'll get even for the loss of my +son. Here's at ye!" +</P> + +<P> +"Grandpa!" cried Ralph, springing between the old man and his intended +victim. "You shall not shoot, I say!" +</P> + +<P> +"Out of my way, you renegade," retorted the other leveling his gun. +</P> + +<P> +As the cap snapped, Ralph struck up the barrel, and was rewarded by a +furious imprecation from the aged but relentless relative. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Ralph and His Grandfather. +</H3> + + +<P> +Meanwhile Jase Vaughn sat on his mule looking quietly on, as if he were +entirely unconcerned in the result of the struggle between Ralph and +his grandfather. +</P> + +<P> +Old Granger, finding himself baffled, flung down the rifle upon the +ground and strode off up the road, muttering wildly to himself like one +demented. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold on, grandpa!" shouted Ralph, picking up the gun. "I'll be with +you in a minute." +</P> + +<P> +But the old man heeded not, and soon disappeared round a bend of the +road in the direction of his home. +</P> + +<P> +"He's too old to change," said Jase. "But I really don't see any +reason why you and me should keep up this foolishness. If my father +shot yourn, thar was a cousin of your father's fought a duel with my +dad 'way down in Georgy. Both on 'em were hurt so bad they never +walked again." +</P> + +<P> +"We heard of it," returned Ralph, "and I couldn't help thinking at the +time what fools our families were to keep up a feud started, I reckon, +by our great grandfathers." +</P> + +<P> +"Right, you are, young feller. Hit all come of doggin' hogs outn a +sweet tater patch; so I've heard." +</P> + +<P> +"Then there was a row, I reckon." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. One word brought on another, till at last some one got hurt, +then the shootin' begun. I never did take much to the business myself, +but somehow I didn't have the energy to set the thing straight. I'm +powerful glad ye done what ye have done today, and I passes you my word +that Jase Vaughn has done with the feud as well as you." +</P> + +<P> +This time it was Ralph's turn to offer his hand. After another hearty +shake little Clell threw himself upon the lad's neck with childish +abandon. +</P> + +<P> +"I like 'oo!" he cried again. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I swow!" exclaimed Jase. "He's takin' a plum likin' to you. +But we must be gettin' on. If ever I can do anything for you, don't +'low my bein' a Vaughn keep you from lettin' me know." +</P> + +<P> +Then Jase clucked to his mule and rode away, with little Clell craning +his neck to catch a last glimpse of Ralph, who, shouldering his rifle, +began to retrace his steps towards home. +</P> + +<P> +As he proceeded his face grew grave. How would his incensed relative +receive him? +</P> + +<P> +Since the grandmother's and his father's death Ralph and the old man +had lived principally by themselves. The boy's own mother had died +when he was a baby. Now and then some woman would be hired to do some +house-work, usually the wife or daughter of some tenant to whom Bras +Granger rented a portion of his land. But they seldom remained long, +and Ralph had, perforce, to take their place from time to time. +</P> + +<P> +He grew as expert at cooking and other simple household duties as he +was at shooting, trapping, and similar mountain accomplishments. Thus +the two had lived on together, with little outside society, relying +mainly on themselves for diversion as well as support. +</P> + +<P> +The maintenance of the feud was the old man's greatest wish. It was as +meat and drink to his soul. +</P> + +<P> +When Ralph showed the indifference he often felt on that subject, his +grandfather always flew into a rage. +</P> + +<P> +"To think that my only living descendant should go back on the family, +is too much to bear," he said. "There's only nephews and cousins +'sides you, Ralph. They are scattered here and yonder; they ain't a +carin' much about the family honor. Hit all depends on you, boy. I +wonder your pap's ghost ain't a haantin' you for bein' so careless." +</P> + +<P> +Then Ralph would vaguely promise to do better, and the subject would be +dropped, only to crop up again whenever the old man felt more savagely +inclined than usual. Today, however, was the first time that the two +had come to an open and violent rupture. +</P> + +<P> +When the boy came in sight of the cabin he beheld his grandparent +seated in the doorway absorbed, apparently in deep reflection. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph crossed the foot log, opened the gate and walked up to the door. +</P> + +<P> +"I am sorry I displeased you today," he began, "but I just couldn't do +what you wanted me to do——" +</P> + +<P> +"Shet your mouth!" interrupted Granger harshly. "You are a disgrace to +your kin. I never would a believed it if my eyes hadn't a seen and my +ears a heard. You are no longer a grandson of mine. D'ye hear?" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph's perplexed and distressed look seemed to again infuriate the old +man. +</P> + +<P> +"Pack up your traps and get outn here!" he raged, brandishing his +walking stick. "My house is no longer a home for such as you." +</P> + +<P> +"Wh—where shall I go?" asked Ralph, still dazed over this astounding +outcome of the Vaughn incident. +</P> + +<P> +"Mebbe you'd better go over to Jase Vaughn's," sneered old Granger. +"His father killed yourn, but you don't care for such a little thing as +that." +</P> + +<P> +"Grandpa," cried Ralph, stung to indignation at last, "it is cruel of +you to treat me so, simply because I wouldn't commit murder. +Yes—murder. I say it would have been murder! I'm no coward; and it +is cowardly to shoot down a man and him not knowing." +</P> + +<P> +"You reprobate!" gasped the obdurate old mountaineer. "I've a notion +to thrash you—right here." +</P> + +<P> +He again shook his cane and glared his hatred of Ralph's conduct. But +the boy only said: +</P> + +<P> +"I'd rather you beat me than do what I always would be miserable over. +Let's drop it, grandpa." +</P> + +<P> +He passed into the cabin and observed a small pile of clothing on the +floor. +</P> + +<P> +"There's your duds, boy," said Bras Granger grimly. "Pick 'em up and +pull your freight outn here." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph surveyed the old man curiously; but as he noted the latter's +stern, unyielding aspect he said no more until he had rolled up a clean +shirt and a pair of socks. A tear or two fell as he tied the bundle in +a large handkerchief. +</P> + +<P> +"Am I to take the gun?" asked he, gulping down his emotion as best he +could. +</P> + +<P> +"No!" almost shouted the old man. "What business you got with a gun? +Come now; are you ready?" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph nodded; his heart was too full to speak. +</P> + +<P> +The old man stood aside and pointed to the door. Ralph held out his +hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Good by," he managed to falter forth. "May God forgive you for +turnin' me out this day." +</P> + +<P> +He passed through the yard, feeling for the gate, for his eyes were dim +with moisture. Crossing the foot log, he walked on until he came to a +rise of ground just where the road made a sudden turn. +</P> + +<P> +Then he wheeled, dashed the tears away, and took a last look at the +place where he was born and had always lived. +</P> + +<P> +Shut in by wild and rugged mountains, far from the world's great life, +humble and homely, it was still the only place on earth where the +orphaned lad had felt that he had any natural right to be. And now, +even this slender thread had been rudely severed by his nearest living +relative. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-by, old home," said he audibly, as he waved his hand in a +farewell gesture. "I hate to leave you when it comes to the pinch, but +if I live I'll make my way somewhere's else. There's other places +beside these mountains where a boy can get on, I know." +</P> + +<P> +He resumed his way, forcing back the tears, and soon found his emotions +subside. +</P> + +<P> +A conviction that he had acted right throughout the altercation with +old Bras, helped him to bear more cheerfully the hard fact that he was +not only homeless but almost moneyless. This last misfortune did not +press on him heavily, as in that secluded region people were +universally hospitable. Ralph had never paid for a meal or a night's +lodging in his life. +</P> + +<P> +As he happened to take an easterly course he kept it merely because it +would lead him to the lowlands and the towns as quickly as any other +route. +</P> + +<P> +He had at once resolved to leave his native mountains. Inexperienced +as he was, he instinctively felt that there were better things in store +for an energetic lad in other parts of the country than he would be apt +to find anywhere near his home. +</P> + +<P> +He struck a lively pace and had walked nearly a mile, with his bundle +under his arm, when he met Jase Vaughn returning from the mill. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, youngster!" quoth that worthy man as cordially as if Ralph and +himself had been warm friends all along. "Where you carryin' yourself +to? Old man got in good humor yet?" +</P> + +<P> +"He has turned me out, lock, stock, and barrel," replied the boy, +swallowing his pride in this humiliating confession. +</P> + +<P> +"W-h-a-a-t?" ejaculated Jase thoroughly amazed, while Clell smiled at +Ralph in a most amiable manner. +</P> + +<P> +"Grandpa was so provoked because I declined to obey him," said Ralph, +"that he told me to pack up and get out." +</P> + +<P> +"For good and all?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, for good. At least I sh'an't go back any more—unless—he was to +send for me." +</P> + +<P> +"Bully for you! I wouldn't either. Give you the shake 'cause you +wouldn't let him put a bullet hole through me! Well, I swow!" +</P> + +<P> +Jase stared at Ralph in mingled admiration and compassion. +</P> + +<P> +"The dadburned old fool!" he continued. "'Scuse me, Ralph, no +reflections on your fambly, but hit kind o' teches my feelin's to see +you fired in this shape, long o' your actin' the gentleman with me. +Where be you goin'?" +</P> + +<P> +"Somewhere's down below; I don't know exactly where." +</P> + +<P> +"Got any money?" +</P> + +<P> +"A little. I'm going to hunt work; then I'll soon make more. I +sha'n't stay in the mountains." +</P> + +<P> +Jase drew forth a greasy leather wallet and extracted a five dollar +bill, which he eyed reflectively as if forcing himself to make up his +mind, then suddenly handed it to Ralph, who thanked him but shook his +head. +</P> + +<P> +"Dang it! Let me loan it to you then. Didn't you as good as save my +life? Look, Clell wants you to take it, don't you, Clell?" +</P> + +<P> +The little fellow laughed, seized the bill from his father's hand, and +tossed it towards Ralph, saying: +</P> + +<P> +"Take it; take it. I like 'oo, Walph." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph felt another rising in his throat as he stooped to pick up the +note; but he could not bring himself to the point of accepting so great +a favor from one of the Vaughns. +</P> + +<P> +"I—I really don't need it," said he. "Hold on! Jase! Do hold up a +minute." +</P> + +<P> +"Can't, old feller," called back Jase, who had suddenly spurred his +mule into a trot when he saw the note in Ralph's hand. "Pay me when +you get back, if you'd rather." +</P> + +<P> +"But I say! I can't keep this money——" +</P> + +<P> +"Good by," came floating back on the breeze. "I don't know nothin' +'bout no money. Take good care of yourself." +</P> + +<P> +Then Jase, boy, and mule, whipped round a crook of the road and were +seen no more. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph's first impulse was to throw the bill away. But sober second +thoughts prevailed, and somewhat reluctantly he placed it with the rest +of his slender stock of cash. +</P> + +<P> +"Jase means well," thought he, resuming his tramp. "I don't know that +either of us are to blame 'cause our families have been at outs for so +long. When I get to making something I'll send it back." +</P> + +<P> +All that day Ralph trudged manfully on. At times grief would be +uppermost in his heart when he thought of the way in which his +grandfather had treated him. +</P> + +<P> +Once, as he passed a cabin where a boy of about his own age stood +washing his hands on the porch, and he caught a glimpse of a cheerful +interior, with dinner smoking on the table, he felt very homesick. He +wished he was back, preparing his grandpa's noonday meal. +</P> + +<P> +As he did not feel hungry he did not stop anywhere until about sunset, +when he walked up to a double penned house that looked roomy and +hospitable. Several dogs ran out barking. +</P> + +<P> +"Here, you Boss! Git out'n thar, Louder! Pick up a stick and frail +the nation outn 'em, boy." +</P> + +<P> +A tall, shock headed, awkward man had come onto the porch and was +making these remarks with great vigor but entire good nature. The dogs +subsided, and Ralph ran lightly up the steps. +</P> + +<P> +"Come in. Take a chair by the fire. What mought your name be these +hard times?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm Ralph Granger, from over about Hiawassee Gap." +</P> + +<P> +"Son of old Bras?" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph assented, when the shock headed man called to his wife, who was +sifting meal for the supper: +</P> + +<P> +"Tildy this must be one of your kin folks." Then, turning to Ralph, "My +wife was a Granger; one of the Gregory branch. Well, tell us all about +yourself. Don't mind the children, they always are in the way, anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph, finding that he was among friends, related briefly the events of +the day and wound up by again expressing his detestation of the feud. +Mr. Dopples, for that was the shock headed man's name, nodded approval. +</P> + +<P> +"We mountain folks live too much outn the world," said he. "What you +goin' to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Anything honest, to make a living. I'm not going to stay in these +parts though." +</P> + +<P> +"If you've any notion of goin' down about Columbia, I can direct you to +a friend of mine as lives there. Comes up here every summer to fish +and hunt. Got lots of coin, and is always wantin' me to go down there +and take a regular town spree with him. Oh he's a sight!" +</P> + +<P> +"What is his name? I don't suppose he would care anything about me. +He never heard of me, anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +"Name is Captain Shard; he keeps a big livery stable. You just tell +him you're a friend of mine, and I'll bet my steers agin a coon skin +you're at home straight." +</P> + +<P> +Soon after supper Ralph was shown to his bed in a shed room at the rear +of the house. In the mountains the people go to bed and rise early +from habit. +</P> + +<P> +Before eight o'clock a sound of heavy breathing could be heard from +every room. Under the floor the very dogs were steeped in dreams of +coon and 'possum hunting. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly Ralph awoke, feeling a pressure on his chest. The room was +not so dark but that he could detect a shadowy figure at the bedside. +</P> + +<P> +A prickly chill ran through his veins, but before he could speak, a +voice whispered: +</P> + +<P> +"Give me your hand," and as the boy dazely obeyed, the pressure on his +chest was removed as another hand was lifted from there, that firmly +grasped his own. +</P> + +<P> +"I can feel your pulse jump; you're skeered, Ralph." +</P> + +<P> +"Wh—who are—you?" faltered Ralph, unable to make out as yet whether +it was a "haant" or a living person that had awakened him thus. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't know me?" There was a titter of nearly noiseless laughter. +"Felt me pressin' your chist, didn't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. At first I thought I must be stiflin', but——" +</P> + +<P> +"If you want to wake a person 'thout speakin', you press on their +chist. Hit always fetches 'em. Don't you know me yet?" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph murmured a low negative. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then, I'll tell you I'm——" +</P> + +<P> +A sound of feet striking the floor heavily was heard from one of the +other rooms, and was followed by the voice of Mr. Dopples, calling out: +</P> + +<P> +"Tildy! Oh, Tildy! Where be ye, Tildy?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Ralph Continues His Journey. +</H3> + + +<P> +The form at Ralph's bedside grasped his hand again in a warning +pressure. +</P> + +<P> +"Keep quiet," it said. "I'm your Aunt Tildy. I have something to say +to you by and by." +</P> + +<P> +The figure vanished, and presently the lad heard his aunt say: +</P> + +<P> +"What are you fussin' about, Mr. Dopples? Can't a body stir 'thout you +havin' a fit?" +</P> + +<P> +"I only wanted to know where ye were," was the shock headed man's +reply. "What are ye progin' round this time o' night for?" +</P> + +<P> +"Cause I want to. Now shet up and go to sleep." +</P> + +<P> +While Ralph was wondering what on earth his aunt, whom he had never +seen before, could want to say to him at such an hour, the talking in +the other room died away, and was succeeded soon by a resonant snoring, +that denoted Mr. Dopples' prompt obedience to his wife's last command. +</P> + +<P> +Shortly thereafter she swept softly into the boy's room, wrapped in a +shawl and seated herself at his side. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you awake?" she said in a whisper. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph said, "Yes;" and propped himself in a listening attitude. +</P> + +<P> +"You think strange, I reckon, at my comin' to you in this way," she +began. "You've never seen and hardly ever heard of us before. But +when I learned the way your grandpap have treated you, I felt sorry, +and I want to help you what little I can." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm mightily obliged, aunt," replied Ralph, still puzzled how to +connect this friendly wish with the object of such a visit as she was +making tonight. +</P> + +<P> +"Hit was a brother of mine as fought that fight with John Vaughn. I +used to believe in the feud, but I don't now. It's a wicked thing to +seek people's lives. Both sides have suffered enough, Ralph, and I say +let there be peace." +</P> + +<P> +"Amen," muttered the lad heartily. +</P> + +<P> +"But what I wanted to let you know was about this Captain Shard, as +Dopples wants you to go and see. My man never quarrels with +nobody—bless his old soul! Therefore, he never 'spicious that any of +his friends would want to, either. There's where he is wrong." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; but I don't see how that can apply to Captain Shard, whom I never +heard of before." +</P> + +<P> +"I know you don't, but I do. Captain Shard's mother was a Vaughn. +Now, do you see?" +</P> + +<P> +"Good gracious! But it seems to me as if that don't amount to much. +Why should this man want to hurt me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hold on. This man Shard's mother was sister to the Vaughn who killed +your father, and whom my brother had fought on account of it. Don't +you see? When Shard learns who you are, his Vaughn blood is more than +apt to prompt him to do you some harm." +</P> + +<P> +"They don't shoot people in the town the way we do in the mountains, +aunt. I've read that the law is too strong for that." +</P> + +<P> +"There's other ways of hurtin' a poor boy 'sides takin' a gun to him. +If he chose, he might harm you in other ways. I've heard it said that +folks with plenty of money can do 'most anything in the city." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, aunt, I'm much obliged to you for letting me know. If I strike +Columbia, and meet up with Captain Shard, I shall certainly remember +what you say." +</P> + +<P> +"Good night, then. Don't tell Dopples what I've said. He's a thinkin' +the world of Shard. I like him, too; but then he don't know I'm a +Granger, I reckon." +</P> + +<P> +After Mrs. Dopples retired, Ralph soon fell asleep. When he wakened +again daylight was at hand, and Mr. Dopples was kindling a fire. +</P> + +<P> +Breakfast came early, then Ralph bade his kindly friends farewell, and +resumed his journey as the sun was peeping over the easterly summits of +the Blue Ridge. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't forget to see Shard," called the shock headed man, as the boy +reached the public road. "He'll help you out." +</P> + +<P> +"I may see Shard," thought Ralph; "but I'll be careful how he sees me. +I'm going to get out of the range of this feud if I have to travel +clear to the seacoast." +</P> + +<P> +As he had a lunch along—given him by Mrs. Dopples—he did not stop +anywhere for dinner, but trudged resolutely on at a three mile an hour +gait. +</P> + +<P> +His young limbs, hardened by constant mountain climbing, did not tire +readily, while his experience of traveling enabled him to keep the +general course he wished to go, notwithstanding the branch trails and +the many windings caused by the ruggedness of the country. +</P> + +<P> +The latter portion of the afternoon was occupied in climbing a long +mountain range that overtopped most of the others in sight. The sun +was nearly setting as he reached the summit; then he uttered an +exclamation of astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +Behind him was a confused jumble of peaks and ridges as far as the eye +could reach. It was the region he had left—his own native wilds. +</P> + +<P> +Before him stretched an undulating panorama of plain, valley, and +gentle hills. There were patches of woodland, great plantations with +here and there variegated spots that Ralph supposed to be villages. +</P> + +<P> +It was his first view of the level country beyond the Blue Ridge, and +he surveyed it with intense interest. +</P> + +<P> +"They say it stretches that way clear to the seacoast," he said to +himself as he began to descend the mountain. "I don't see how they can +see any distance with no big ridges to look off from." +</P> + +<P> +This idea—otherwise laughable—was perfectly natural to a lad who had +never seen anything but wild and rugged mountains in his life. +</P> + +<P> +He quickened his pace, wishing to get down into the region of farms and +houses before darkness should come. A rising cloud in the southeast +also occasioned him some concern. +</P> + +<P> +"Looks mighty like there might be rain in that cloud," he thought. +"I've got matches, but I'd hate to have to spend a wet night out in +these woods." +</P> + +<P> +The gun went down and the black south-easterly haze came up, with +semi-tropical celerity. Ralph was still in the lonely region of forest +and crag, when a whirl of wind struck him in the face and a few drops +spattered on the leaves of the chestnuts around. +</P> + +<P> +The brief southern twilight was blotted out almost at once by the +overspreading clouds, and young Granger became conscious that he had +somehow missed the trail. +</P> + +<P> +"That is odd," he muttered. "It was just here a minute ago." +</P> + +<P> +Something like a yellow gleam caught his eye, and he plunged along in +its course in a reckless manner, for he was nervous with anxiety. +</P> + +<P> +Being in a strange region, with a storm on the point of breaking, was +not pleasant even to older nerves, when added to the natural terrors of +a night in the woods, without any other company than one's brooding +thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello! What's this?" he exclaimed as he almost ran against an +obstruction that looked not unlike a steep house roof. +</P> + +<P> +The odor of tar and resin pervaded the air. Ralph groped his way +around it, feeling here and there with his hands. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a tar kiln, sure as preaching!" ejaculated he, at length. "There +ought to be some kind of a shack about, looks like." +</P> + +<P> +He was still searching, when the wind, which had been increasing, +brought with it a sudden downpour of rain. Ralph was about to rush for +a tree to shelter himself, when a flash of lightning lighted up the +kiln and surrounding objects with a pale, brief glare. +</P> + +<P> +"Ha—there she is!" exclaimed Ralph, discovering the object of his +search. "I almost knew the man as put up this kiln must have had a +shelter of some kind." +</P> + +<P> +He made his way to a low, brush covered frame near by, arriving there +just in time. The darkness was intense, except when cloven by the +lightning, while the fall of rain was drenching and furious. +</P> + +<P> +The shack leaked some, but it was an immense improvement over a tree +for shelter. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's see where we are, anyhow," said Ralph, producing some matches, +one of which he struck. "Hello! There are some pine knots. Here's +luck at last." +</P> + +<P> +In a few minutes he had a small fire blazing brightly, and felt more +like contemplating his surroundings with cheerful equanimity. +</P> + +<P> +But as the rain increased, the leaks grew in number, threatening to put +out the fire, and converting the earth floor into a mushy mud puddle. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't do any sleeping here," thought he. "Might just as well make +up my mind for a night of it round this fire." +</P> + +<P> +By dint of careful watching he kept his fire from going entirely out, +and managed to keep himself dry by picking out the spots where the +leaks were fewest in which to stand. +</P> + +<P> +But it was a dreary, lonesome time. The wind whistled dolefully +through the pines, and the rain splashed unmercifully upon the bark and +boughs of the shack. +</P> + +<P> +After each flash of lightning, sharp peals of thunder added their harsh +echoes, until Ralph's ears ached, used as he was to mountain storms. +The rain began to slacken in an hour, while the wind gradually dwindled +to a light breeze. +</P> + +<P> +Still there was no chance to lie down, and the boy was growing sleepy. +</P> + +<P> +He had drooped his head between his knees as he sat on a pine block, +and was dropping into a doze when he heard something stirring at the +back of the shanty. He looked around in a drowsy way, but seeing +nothing, he again fell into an uneasy slumber. +</P> + +<P> +How long his nap lasted he did not know, but all at once he nodded +violently and awoke. The fire was low. Then a muffled rattling noise +at his feet sent the blood in a furious leap to his pulses. +</P> + +<P> +He threw on a rich knot, and as it blazed up his eye fell on an object +that caused him to spring up as if he had been stung. +</P> + +<P> +"Great Caesar!" he exclaimed, and as the rattle sounded once more, he +made a long leap for the doorway. "That was a narrow escape. S'pose I +hadn't a woke up?" +</P> + +<P> +Then he shuddered, but recovering, hunted up a cudgel and cautiously +returned within the hut. +</P> + +<P> +There, within a few inches of where the lad's feet had rested as he +slept, was a large rattlesnake still in its coil and giving forth its +ominous rattle. A dexterous blow or two finished the reptile, but the +odor given forth by the creature in its anger filled the hut. +</P> + +<P> +"Pah!" ejaculated Ralph. "I must get out of here. The place would +sicken a dog." +</P> + +<P> +He returned to the open air, now freshened by the vanished rain, and +round to his delight, that a moon several days old was visible in the +west. The clouds had disappeared, and there seemed every prospect of a +clear and quiet night. +</P> + +<P> +"It is light enough to see to travel if I can only find the road +again," he reflected. "Anything is better than staying here." +</P> + +<P> +Taking the direction in which it seemed to him that the trail ought to +be, he sought eagerly for the narrow strip of white that would indicate +the wished for goal. Presently he heard a distant sound. +</P> + +<P> +"It may be the deer a whistling," thought he, listening intently. +"But, no; that ain't made by no deer. I believe—it's—somebody a +coming along." +</P> + +<P> +Some distance to his left Ralph could now detect a connected sound as +if a tune were being whistled. In his eager desire for human +companionship, he cast prudence completely aside and ran forward +shouting: +</P> + +<P> +"Hold on! I'm coming. Hold on till I get there!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Moonshiners and the Railroad. +</H3> + + +<P> +The whistling stopped suddenly. Ralph kept on, however, in the +direction where he had last heard the sounds, and presently +distinguished two dim forms standing in an open space amid the trees, +through which ran the white thread that indicated the lost trail. +</P> + +<P> +"I say," began the lad, "are you fellows going down the mountain? If +you are, I'd like to go with you. Fact is, I believe I'm lost." +</P> + +<P> +"Halt, there, young feller!" was the reply, given in sharp, stern +tones. "One step further and you'll find half an ounce of lead under +your skin, mebbe." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph obeyed, somewhat puzzled and decidedly alarmed. The men—there +were two of them—drew something over their faces, then ordered the boy +to advance. +</P> + +<P> +He did so, and on drawing near saw that they now wore masks, and had +long sacks swung over their shoulders, with a load of some kind in +either end. When he saw the masks and the bags Ralph understood at +once what their business was. +</P> + +<P> +"Who are you?" demanded one of the men, and the lad could see that he +held a pistol in one hand. "No lyin', now!" +</P> + +<P> +"My name is Granger, and I'm from over on Hiawassee River way. Want to +get down into the low country. Got lost; stayed in a shack while it +rained, and—here I am." +</P> + +<P> +"Be you a son of old Bras Granger?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; grandson." +</P> + +<P> +The two whispered together a moment, then one of them said: +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon you're all right, boy. 'Taint wuth while to ast our names, +'cause d'ye see—we wouldn't tell." +</P> + +<P> +"You'd be fools if you did," returned Ralph, his self confidence now +fully restored. "I ain't a wanting to know who you are. I know +already what you are." +</P> + +<P> +"How's that?" came sharply back, and an ominous click was heard, which, +however, did not seem to alarm Ralph. +</P> + +<P> +"Moonshiners," said the boy briefly. "Haven't I been raised among 'em? +I've got kin folks as stills regular, I'm sorry to say." +</P> + +<P> +"Sorry! Ain't it a good trade?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not when it lands you inside of some dirty jail. Besides, I don't +like the stuff, anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +"No use to offer you a dram then?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not a bit. But I say, if you'll let me go on with you till we get +down where there's some houses, I'll think more of that than if you +gave me a barrel of whisky." +</P> + +<P> +"We're on our way back. We're goin' up the mountain. But you foller +this trail for about a mile, then take the first right hand turn. +Follow that 'twel you come to an old field. T'other side of that +you'll find the mud pike as runs to Hendersonville. After that you'll +find houses thick enough. But where are you bound for after you get +down there?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, anywhere most. I'm after work." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph concluded that he had better not be more explicit with strangers. +</P> + +<P> +The moonshiners soon grew quite friendly and seemed a little hurt over +Ralph's persistence in declining a drink. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going out among strangers," he said, "and I've got to keep my +head. The best way to do that is to let the stuff entirely alone. +Well, so long, men. I'm mighty glad I met up with you." +</P> + +<P> +He struck out down the trail whistling merrily. Now that he was on the +right road again, and with a clear night before him, he felt far more +cheerful than before. +</P> + +<P> +He found the old field without difficulty, and not far beyond he struck +the Hendersonville pike as the moonshiner had intimated. +</P> + +<P> +Here the country was more open. Large fields, interspersed with +patches of woodland, were on either hand. Now and then he would pass a +cabin, his approach being heralded by the barking of dogs. +</P> + +<P> +Once or twice large buildings came into view. These were the +residences of the more wealthy class of planters. Even in the dim +starlight, Ralph saw that they were larger than the log dwellings he +was accustomed to. +</P> + +<P> +Finally the moon went down. He would have stopped at some house and +asked for shelter, but the hour was so late that he shrank from +disturbing strangers. The night was not uncomfortably cool and he was +getting further on. +</P> + +<P> +Roosters began to crow. A few clouds glided athwart some of the +brightest stars and he found difficulty in traveling. +</P> + +<P> +Just beyond some buildings he stumbled over something hard and +immovable. As he picked himself up, his hand came in contact with cold +steel. +</P> + +<P> +Peering closely he saw two long lines running parallel as far as he +could distinguish on either hand. He found that they were of iron or +steel and rested on wooden supporters, half buried in the earth. +</P> + +<P> +"Dinged if this ain't queer!" he thought. "Let me see. I wonder if +this ain't one of them railroads I've heard folks tell about. They say +it'll carry you as far in one hour as a man'll walk all day." +</P> + +<P> +Pondering over this, to him, puzzling celerity of motion, he groped his +way along the track to where it broadened out into a switch. +</P> + +<P> +"Reckon this one must run somewhere else," thought Ralph, when he +suddenly detected a large dark object ahead. "What's that, I wonder. +Guess I'll look into that. Seeing I'm getting into a strange country +it won't do to be too careless." +</P> + +<P> +Going slowly forward, he walked completely round the unknown affair, +which he ascertained was on wheels that rested on the iron tracks. +</P> + +<P> +"This must be one of their wagons they ride so fast in," said the boy +to himself. "Hello! The door is open." +</P> + +<P> +It was an ordinary box car on a siding, the sliding door of which was +partially open. As Ralph strove to peer within, he detected the sound +of measured breathing. +</P> + +<P> +"Some one is in there," he decided, and drew back cautiously. +</P> + +<P> +The darkness had increased greatly and there seemed to be signs of +another rain coming up. No other place of shelter was in the immediate +neighborhood that he could discern. +</P> + +<P> +He thrust his head into the car and felt with his hands. Nothing could +he see, nor did he feel aught but the flooring of the car. While he +debated as to what he should do, the rain began again. +</P> + +<P> +"Gracious!" he exclaimed, "I don't like to go into another man's ranch +like this, but blamed if I am going to get wet, with a shelter within +two feet of me." +</P> + +<P> +He clambered inside and sat with his back against the wall, intending +to get out again after the shower should pass. +</P> + +<P> +But the shower did not pass on. Instead it settled into a steady +drizzle. When the rain began to beat inside he drew the door nearly +shut. +</P> + +<P> +The measured breathing came from one end of the car. There seemed to +be but one occupant besides Ralph. +</P> + +<P> +As the time passed, the lad grew drowsy. Inured though he was to an +active life, the walking he had done had fatigued him greatly. Now, as +he sat resting, waiting for the rain to cease, a natural drowsiness +asserted itself with a potency that would not be denied. +</P> + +<P> +As he nodded he awakened himself several times by a violent jerk of the +head, but at last slumber prevailed entirely, and Ralph was sleeping as +soundly as the other unknown occupant of the car. +</P> + +<P> +The unusual events of the last two days had kept his fancies at an +abnormal stretch. It was natural, therefore, for him to begin dreaming. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed as if he were going back instead of leaving his home. Every +one he met looked at him compassionately. Finally he saw Jase Vaughn, +and remembered that he owed Jase five dollars. He put his hand in his +pocket and drew out—a rattlesnake. +</P> + +<P> +Even this did not waken him, though he thought he was back at the shack +by the tar kiln. The ground seemed to be covered with snakes. He ran +ever so far, then all at once he was with Jase just as if he had been +with him all the time. +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't got no money," he said sorrowfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind," replied Vaughn. "You run home. Poor fellow; I'm sorry +for you." +</P> + +<P> +Much perplexed, he kept on until he stood before his grandfather's +cabin. He thought his Aunt Dopples was there, with her eyes red with +weeping. +</P> + +<P> +"Go in; go in," she urged, pushing him through the doorway. "He's been +waiting for you till he's about give out." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph dreamed that the first thing he saw was his grandfather propped +up in bed, with a ghastly pallor on his face. When he beheld his +truant grandson, the scowl upon his brow deepened, and he shook a +warning finger. +</P> + +<P> +"Wretched boy!" hissed the old man, while Ralph cowered like one in the +presence of a ghost, "you are no Granger. There never was a Granger +that acted the coward. You are a Vaughn—a Vaughn—a Vaughn!" +</P> + +<P> +The old man's tone towards the last rose into such a wild, weird +shriek, that Ralph's blood ran cold. He attempted to speak with a +tongue so tied by fear that words would not come. +</P> + +<P> +Under the agony of effort he screamed aloud, then suddenly awoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Here! Here! Wake up, I say!" +</P> + +<P> +These words, uttered shrilly in his ear, staggered his senses as he +opened his eyes and looked up. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Ralph's First Railroad Ride. +</H3> + + +<P> +A slender, thin faced, alert looking man was stooping over the boy, and +shaking him vigorously. Day had dawned. +</P> + +<P> +"Wake up, young fellow!" continued the stranger, as Ralph gazed at him +in a dazed sort of way. "How came you in here?" +</P> + +<P> +"I—I got in out of the rain," said Ralph, staggering to his feet, only +to be thrown down again by the jolting of the car, which was in rapid +motion. +</P> + +<P> +The sliding door was now open. Ralph glancing out, saw the landscape +slipping by at a furious rate of speed. +</P> + +<P> +The sight so astonished him, that he sank back again. To his +unaccustomed senses it was as if the earth were turning upside down. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter with you? Drunk?" +</P> + +<P> +"No!" almost shouted the boy, suddenly indignant. "I never took a +drink in my life. Neither was I ever on such a—a wagon as this +before. Lordy! How fast we're going!" +</P> + +<P> +The man roared with laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you are a curiosity. Where did you come from? Out of the +woods?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm from the mountains. Never was out of them before. Isn't there no +danger in going so fast? My! How my head swims when I look out!" +</P> + +<P> +"Not a bit of danger, unless in case of a collision, or when something +gives way. But come! Give me an account of yourself. When I find an +uninvited stranger aboard my private car, I ought to know something +about him, I reckon." +</P> + +<P> +While Ralph gave a brief account of himself and his affairs—omitting +the feud, however—his eyes rested first on one strange object, then +another. +</P> + +<P> +There was a large pile of canvas at one end of the car, neatly folded. +Several tent poles lay along the floor. A large and a small camera, +resting on tripods, especially puzzled the boy. There were also +several chests and a trunk or two. +</P> + +<P> +At the other end of the car there was a cot bedstead with mattress and +bedding, a chair or two, a small table, an oil cooking stove, together +with other household paraphernalia. +</P> + +<P> +The whole outfit was simple, yet complete, and did not take up much +room. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said the man, as Ralph concluded his statement, "you seem to be +an honest and a plucky lad, though an almighty green one, I guess. +Never been anywhere, you say?" +</P> + +<P> +"I've hunted for miles in the mountains, and I've been to a store or +two, and to meeting, and to the 'lections. Yes, and I've been to +school three months a year ever since I was so high," Ralph indicated +the height with his hand. "But grandpa would never let me go off any +very great distance from home." +</P> + +<P> +"So you finally took matters into your own hands and gave him leg bail. +Well, that ain't bad. But you mustn't go about breaking into people's +houses and cars as you did last night. It isn't safe." +</P> + +<P> +"I was lost, and it began to rain. I didn't mean no harm. I can pay +my way." +</P> + +<P> +He drew forth some money, under a dim idea that he had heard some one +say once, that below the mountains, folks made people pay for about +everything they got. +</P> + +<P> +"Keep your cash, my boy," said the man evidently having a better idea +of Ralph than at first. "Hold to all you've got. People are not as +free with their grub and beds down here as they are up in your country. +By the way, what's your name?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ralph Granger. What might be yours?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mine? Oh, my name is Quigg—Lemuel Quigg. I am a traveling +photographer." +</P> + +<P> +"What is that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Did I ever see such ignorance! Ralph, you are a curiosity. I take +pictures for a living. Usually I go by wagon. But I am bound for the +seacoast, so I hired this car to take me right through." +</P> + +<P> +"There was a fellow up in our parts once as took pictures for two bits +apiece." +</P> + +<P> +"Like these?" Mr. Quigg threw open one lid of a trunk, disclosing a +velvet lined show case filled with photographs of different sizes. +</P> + +<P> +They would now be considered antiquated affairs, but to Ralph the +life-like attitudes and looks of the sitters seemed wonderful. +</P> + +<P> +"Gracious, no!" he exclaimed. "That fellow only took little tintypes, +as we folks call them. These beat anything I ever saw." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, suppose we get breakfast," said Quigg, turning to his oil stove. +"We'll be in Hendersonville in an hour. Can you cook?" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph staggered to the stove, and took a puzzled look. +</P> + +<P> +"I've cooked on a fireplace all my life, more or less. But I don't +think much of that thing." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't, eh? Well, well! You'll do for a dime museum, you will. Go +and sit down, and watch me." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph took a seat near the door, and divided his time between Mr. +Quigg's culinary operations and the swiftly moving panorama outside. +</P> + +<P> +The dizzy, yet smooth, motion of the car, the—to him—miraculous +speed, the whirl and shimmer of the landscape—all this fascinated him +after his first nervousness wore off. +</P> + +<P> +The artist, however, recalled him from this sort of day dreaming, by +saying: +</P> + +<P> +"Ever make biscuit?" +</P> + +<P> +"We eat corn pones mostly at home." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you can fry some bacon and eggs, I guess." +</P> + +<P> +He gave the boy a small frying pan, showed him where to place it, then +lighted his lamp. +</P> + +<P> +"That beats pine knots, don't it?" he asked, while Ralph noted with a +new wonder the ease and rapidity with which Mr. Quigg managed +everything. +</P> + +<P> +While the meat and eggs were frying, the artist made coffee, thrust +some potatoes into the oven beside the biscuit, then completed his +morning toilet over a tin basin and a hand mirror. +</P> + +<P> +"Better take a wash and a brush," said he to Ralph. "I'll dish up the +breakfast." +</P> + +<P> +So, while Mr. Quigg set the table, the lad washed his face, brushed his +hair, and despite his homely looking jeans and rough brogans, presented +a very sightly appearance as he sat down opposite the little +photographer. +</P> + +<P> +At least so the latter thought, and remained in apparent deep +reflection while eating. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph saw the white granulated sugar for the first time, and, mistaking +it for salt, was about to sprinkle some on his egg. +</P> + +<P> +"That's a queer way to eat sugar," said Quigg, happening to notice the +move. +</P> + +<P> +"Goes pretty good that way, though," returned Ralph, determined to +martyr his palate rather than own up to any further ignorance. +</P> + +<P> +He was already beginning to divine the primitive nature of his native +manner of life, but the consciousness of this fact only strengthened +his desire to familiarize himself with these strange usages. +</P> + +<P> +Quigg laughed, then resumed his reverie. +</P> + +<P> +After the meal was over, Ralph washed the dishes, while the artist made +up his bed and otherwise tidied up the car. +</P> + +<P> +Two window sash of unusual size attracted the lad's attention. +</P> + +<P> +"Those are my skylights," said Quigg. "You might polish them up a bit +after we leave Hendersonville. That is, if you are going on further." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph had no definite idea as to where he wanted to go, except that he +thought of Captain Shard. Regardless of Mrs. Dopples' warning, he now +said that he had a notion of going on to Columbia. +</P> + +<P> +"All right," responded Quigg, who liked Ralph's appearance the more he +saw of him. "Go on with me. You can help me for your keep until +something better offers. I shall stay in Columbia a week, then strike +for the coast. What say?" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph assented gladly, and thought himself lucky in being afforded so +easy a chance to get forward. Presently he was rubbing away upon the +skylights, while Mr. Quigg produced a cornet from somewhere among his +belongings, and played sundry doleful airs with indifferent skill, +until the train arrived at Hendersonville. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you call that brass horn?" asked Ralph. +</P> + +<P> +"A brass horn! Come! That's good." Quigg laughed loudly. "That is a +cornet, and a good one, too! But here we are." +</P> + +<P> +Hendersonville, though but a moderate sized town, seemed to the +mountain boy to contain all the world's wonders. Both car doors were +thrown wide open, and as they had to remain on a siding until an +express went by, Ralph indulged his curiosity fully. +</P> + +<P> +The two and three story buildings, nicely painted and standing so close +together, the teams, the stores, the shouting negroes and hurrying +whites, were all a startling novelty to him. +</P> + +<P> +"Looks like everybody is a rushin' as if he'd forgot something," he +thought. "What a sight of niggers! Good Lord! What's that?" +</P> + +<P> +This last he uttered aloud as the express whizzed by them at a moderate +rate of speed. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the train we were waiting for. Now we'll get on, I guess. You +see, our train is a freight, and we have to make way for pretty much +everything." +</P> + +<P> +Presently their car began to move. As they passed the depot an engine +close by blew a whistle, at which the boy started. +</P> + +<P> +The hissing, steaming locomotive was to him the most wonderful thing of +all. Truly, the mountain people lived as in another world. +</P> + +<P> +"I am glad I left home," said he to himself. "Grandpa would never have +let me know anything. Down here there is a chance to do something and +be somebody." +</P> + +<P> +Soon they were again whirling through a semi-level country on their way +to the South Carolina line. The corn and cotton fields increased in +size, the plantation houses grew larger and began to have stately lawns +and groves of woodland about them. The log houses seemed to be mostly +inhabited by negroes. Ralph finished his skylights, then assisted Mr. +Quigg in getting dinner. The afternoon wore slowly away; then they ate +a cold supper, washed down by some warm coffee. The train moved +haltingly, having to wait at sidings for other trains that had the +right of way. Night came, and Ralph took a blanket and lay down for a +nap, having not yet "caught up with his sleep," as he said to the +artist. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Quigg lighted a lamp and sat down over a novel. Ralph slumbered on +with his bundle for a pillow. +</P> + +<P> +Once, when he wakened for a moment, he saw as in a dream, the strange +inside of the car with the photographer quietly reading; then he +dropped off again. +</P> + +<P> +The next thing he was conscious of was being pulled into a sitting +position, and hearing a voice in his ear calling: +</P> + +<P> +"Hello there! Wake up! Chickens are crowing for day!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Ralph in Columbia. +</H3> + + +<P> +"All right, grandpa," said Ralph, mechanically sitting up, though his +ideas were still mixed with his dreams. +</P> + +<P> +"I am not your respected grandparent," said Mr. Quigg from the stove, +where he was lighting the fire, "but I'll dare say he would call you +just as early." +</P> + +<P> +The lad laughed at himself as he sprang up and, after washing and +brushing, hastened to help Mr. Quigg with his morning tasks. +</P> + +<P> +He happened to glance out and noticed that their car was on a siding +and that numerous other tracks contained many coaches and freight cars +of different kinds. A small engine was puffing up and down among them, +while on every side beyond were tall buildings and vacant lots. +</P> + +<P> +"Where are we?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Where you said you wanted to go—Columbia." +</P> + +<P> +"Looks like a dirty place," commented Ralph, having had the raw edge of +his curiosity sufficiently dulled at Hendersonville to make him a +little critical already. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait till we get out where you can see something. It's a fine town. +I made a hundred dollars in a week here once." +</P> + +<P> +This sounded like a fortune to Ralph. +</P> + +<P> +"You see, one of the home artists was sick and the other one on a whiz +down at Charleston, and the Legislature was in session. So I just took +pictures and raked in the shekels. Here comes my dray. Shove all the +dishes into that chest, Ralph. We've lots to do today." +</P> + +<P> +A truck driven by a negro and drawn by two mules, hitched up tandem +fashion, now backed up to the open door of the car. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello Sam!" called out, Mr. Quigg. "Got my telegram, did you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yaas, suh. Marse Thompson, he read um." +</P> + +<P> +"Now, give us a hand, Ralph," continued the artist. "We'll put the +tent on first." +</P> + +<P> +The lad, having bestowed the dishes, lent willing aid in loading the +dray, while Mr. Quigg superintended operations. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess you will have to go along with Sam," said he to Ralph. "He'll +want some help at unloading. Then you must stay there and watch the +things until we come with the next load." +</P> + +<P> +So it was that Ralph found himself presently perched high up on the +dray and rattling through the streets, while Sam sat in front, guiding +his team by a single rein, and a deal of vociferation. +</P> + +<P> +They came finally to a vacant corner lot where they began to unload. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know of a man here called Captain Shard?" asked the boy, at +length remembering the individual he desired to find. +</P> + +<P> +"Reckon I does. Bless grashus! Ain't I a wukin' fer dat same man de +bigger heft er de time?" +</P> + +<P> +"What kind of a man is he?" +</P> + +<P> +"Fust rate; fust rate. Dat is if he don't hab nuttin' begainst yo'. +When he do, den—look out." +</P> + +<P> +This rather supported the tenor of Mrs. Dopples' cautions, and Ralph +paused a moment before he asked: +</P> + +<P> +"Where can I find him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yo' membah dat big liv'ry stable on de Main Street as we come erlong?" +</P> + +<P> +"Where there were so many wagons and carriages around?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yaas, suh. Dat's him. De cap'n he own um all. Disher team 'longs +ter de cap'n too. Dey some says—Hi yo! If he ain' a comin' right +now! Oh, cap'n! Say yo' wanter see him, suh?" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph would have declined such a sudden meeting, but before he could +think of any excuse, a portly, fine looking man, with flowing chin +beard and dark, piercing eyes, stopped as he was sauntering by. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, Sam?" he demanded, at the same time scanning Ralph +casually. +</P> + +<P> +"Dish yer white boy, he astin' where 'bout he kin find yo', suh. I up +an' tol' him, when—bless de land!—yere yo' is." +</P> + +<P> +Sam gathered up his reins, cracked his whip, and tore away down the +street without another word. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph, from the divided nature of his thoughts, could think of nothing +to say until the captain spoke again. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what is it you want of me—a—what is your name?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ralph Granger," blurted forth the boy, then was sorry he had committed +himself. +</P> + +<P> +Captain Shard glanced sharply at Ralph's coarsely clad figure, and +noticed the home made texture of his clothes. +</P> + +<P> +"Granger—Granger," he muttered as if to himself. "From the mountains, +ain't you?" he added quickly. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph was so unaccustomed to lying that he said "Yes," notwithstanding +the prickings occasioned by what Aunt Dopples had said. +</P> + +<P> +"Who sent you to me?" +</P> + +<P> +"A man by the name of Dopples, who married one of my kin folks." +</P> + +<P> +"Tildy Dopples a relative of yours?" The captain appeared surprised. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph, feeling that he was in for it, boldly told who and what he was, +omitting any allusion to the feud, however. As he continued, the +captain, who had been pondering as he listened, suddenly scowled. +</P> + +<P> +"Was your father's name Ralph, too?" asked he, and when the boy nodded +affirmatively, added: "And was his father's name Bras Granger?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," replied Ralph. "I lived with him after—after——" he +hesitated, conscious of speaking too frankly. +</P> + +<P> +"After a Vaughn killed him!" interposed the captain with emphasis, then +added: "Did you know my mother was a Vaughn, boy? And that a brother +of hers was killed in a duel by a cousin of your father's?" +</P> + +<P> +"So—I have—heard," faltered Ralph, feeling that he was by no means +beyond the reach of that wretched feud yet. +</P> + +<P> +"Finally, did you know that this brother of my mother was the man who +shot your father?" +</P> + +<P> +"I—never knew until Aunt Dopples told me. I call her aunt." +</P> + +<P> +"Yet, knowing this, they sent you to me. I like Dopples; would do +nearly anything for him I could. His wife was always rather distant. +If she is a Granger that accounts for it." +</P> + +<P> +"She told me you might not like me if you knew who I was, but I—I am +so sick of that useless old feud, that I thought you might not remember +it against me. Down here it seems as if you have too much else to +think of to be always wanting to shoot somebody." +</P> + +<P> +"Right you are, my boy." Captain Shard now shook Ralph's hand +cordially, though his eye held a rather sinister gleam. "What is the +use of forever brooding over old scores? Come round and see me. +Perhaps I can put you in the way of earning a living." +</P> + +<P> +The captain patted Ralph on the shoulder, started off, but called back: +"If my uncle and your great uncle made fools of themselves by carving +each other up, that is no reason you and I should keep up the folly. +We are not in the mountains now—thank goodness!" +</P> + +<P> +Though much relieved at Shard's apparently amicable way of taking +things, Ralph was not altogether comfortable. +</P> + +<P> +"It was a close pull," he thought. "Suppose he had got mad when he +pumped out of me who I was? If Mr. Quigg goes on to the coast, I'll +stick by him. I'm going to get away from that old feud, if I have to +go to Jericho." +</P> + +<P> +As he arrived at this vague geographical decision, he beheld Sam +approaching with a second load. While they were unloading, Mr. Quigg +came up on foot. He soon paid the darky off, then took a survey of +their surroundings. +</P> + +<P> +"This is not a bad stand for a day or two," said he to Ralph. "We'll +put up the tent first; then, while I fix up things inside, you can go +about and stick up some posters. I'll put a few ads. in the newspapers +and, there you are—see?" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph did not see except dimly, yet he assented readily and began to +feel quite an interest in his new occupation already. +</P> + +<P> +The tent was soon stretched and the large skylight adjusted. Some of +the idlers who are always present at any outdoor proceedings in town, +lent a hand now and then, being rewarded with a few nickels by the +artist. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Ralph," said Mr. Quigg, after the trunks and other movables had +been taken inside, "do you know what a poster is?" +</P> + +<P> +Without waiting for a reply, he lifted from a chest a pile of gaily +colored placards describing in florid style and with gorgeous +illustrations, the unrivaled perfections of Lemuel Quigg as an artist, +the cheapness of his prices, &c., &c. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think of these?" asked Quigg holding up one of the +largest. "Won't they take the town?" +</P> + +<P> +"It says you are one of the best artists in the world," said Ralph, +scanning the poster gravely. "Are you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why of course I am!" Here Mr. Quigg stared at Ralph a moment, then +smiled and winked knowingly. "You have to say those things, or people +will not think anything of you—see?" +</P> + +<P> +"Whether it is so or not?" +</P> + +<P> +"To be sure. You must blow your own horn, my boy, if you want to get +on. Humbug 'em right and left, if you look to see the scads come in +fast." +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't lie just to make a little money," said Ralph so earnestly +that the artist broke into a laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"You're in training for an angel, you are. Look out you don't starve +though, before your wings sprout. But—let's get to work." +</P> + +<P> +The artist selected a number of posters which he hung over a short +stick, to each end of which was attached a leather strap. This he +slung around Ralph's shoulder, after the manner of a professional bill +sticker. +</P> + +<P> +Then placing in his hand a bucket of paste, which he had prepared that +morning in the car, together with a brush, he inquired: +</P> + +<P> +"Think you can find your way round town without getting lost?" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph was not certain, but said he would try. +</P> + +<P> +"If you get lost, just inquire your way to Main and Third Streets. +That's here. Now come on, and I will show you how to stick bills. +Don't take long to learn this trade." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph followed Mr. Quigg to a vacant wall near by, where he took a +large poster, held it flat against the wall with one hand, gave a +dexterous swipe or two with the brush, reversed it, then with a few +more flourishes drew back and surveyed his work triumphantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Try a small one over yonder," he said to the boy. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph obeyed instructions in an awkward, though passable manner, +whereat the artist looked his approval. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll do, I guess. Be careful about the corners. If a corner +doubles on you, you're in trouble. I'll fasten up, and run round to +the newspapers with a few ads. then finish fixing up. Look sharp; +don't get lost, and be back as soon as you can." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph took his way down Main Street, feeling, as he expressed it, a +good deal like a duck out of water. +</P> + +<P> +Presently he stopped at a high board fence and stuck a couple of bills +without much trouble. Quigg had not instructed him where and where not +to place the posters, and he was pasting a large one against the front +of a closed warehouse, when some one at a near by corner called out: +</P> + +<P> +"Hey, there! Yo' white boy, there! What are yo' up to?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +An Enraged Photographer. +</H3> + + +<P> +Ralph continued his work, thinking some one else was referred to, when +he was seized by the shoulder and jerked rudely around. +</P> + +<P> +His mountain blood was aflame in an instant, and seeing only that his +assailant was a negro boy but little larger than himself, he let drive +with his fist and sent the other staggering against the wall. +</P> + +<P> +"Gret king!" exclaimed the darky, rubbing his ear, which had received +the blow, "What yo' do dat for, anyhow?" +</P> + +<P> +"To teach folks to mind their own business," replied Ralph, turning to +his half stuck poster again. +</P> + +<P> +"P'lice have you, when yo' stick dat up dar. Disher's private +proputty." +</P> + +<P> +"Can't I stick these wherever I want to?" asked Ralph, in surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"Cou'se not. Better tear dat one down." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph hesitated, then deeming that in his ignorance of city life, he +had better be prudent, he removed the offending poster, then turned to +the negro, who still stood angrily looking on. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sorry I hit you," said Ralph. "You see, you took hold of me +pretty rough and I—ain't used to it exactly." +</P> + +<P> +At this apology the colored lad grinned, then explained in his own +terse way that only certain places were set aside for bill sticking. +even these were rented out to regular bill posters who paid the city +for the privilege of using them. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph listened in astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I ain't really got a right to stick my bills anywhere, have I?" +</P> + +<P> +The darkey was not certain, but inclined to the belief that such was +the case, unless Ralph had arranged matters with those who rented these +privileges. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm much obliged for telling me," returned Ralph, picking up his +bucket of paste. +</P> + +<P> +"You are a good fellow, and I say again I'm sorry I hit you." +</P> + +<P> +He walked slowly away, hardly knowing what to do. Soon a feeling of +indignation took possession of him as he considered the peril to which +Quigg had exposed him. +</P> + +<P> +"He's used to towns and he must know it all. However, I'll ask this +man in blue. I reckon he must be one of them police that darky spoke +about." +</P> + +<P> +The big officer halted as Ralph began to question him concerning the +rights of bill stickers generally and his own in particular. +</P> + +<P> +"Have ye any license?" demanded the policeman gruffly. "How many bills +have you put up?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know what you mean by a license," said Ralph, whose only idea +regarding licenses was that they were something "to get married with." +</P> + +<P> +"Ye don't! Who's your boss?" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph explained as best he could Mr. Quigg's occupation and +whereabouts, and also intimated that he had posted probably half a +dozen bills. +</P> + +<P> +"Come with me, then," said the officer. "We'll look into this." +</P> + +<P> +He took Ralph by the arm and marched him back to the corner of Third +and Main Streets, followed by an increasing retinue of street Arabs, +both white and black. +</P> + +<P> +When Mr. Quigg saw the officer he shook his fist at Ralph. +</P> + +<P> +"Couldn't you keep yourself out of trouble?" he demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"Why didn't you tell me that the walls were not free?" retorted Ralph. +"I was told I had no right to post bills anywhere, and this man says I +ought to have a license." +</P> + +<P> +The artist assumed an air of injured innocence. +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't I tell you to go straight to the city hall and procure my +license?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; you didn't," said the boy, angered at this barefaced attempt to +place him in a false position. +</P> + +<P> +"You told me to go out and paste up these bills, and you didn't say a +word about license or anything else." +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I get for picking up a lad I know nothing about," remarked +Quigg, turning to the officer, with a shrug and uplifted eyebrows. "He +crept into my car night before last when I was asleep, and being sorry +for him I gave him some work. And now he gets me into this scrape." +</P> + +<P> +"That's betwixt you and him," replied the officer indifferently. "I'm +here to look out for the city. If you are going to take pictures, get +out your license at wanst. And you'd better be after seeing Bud +McShane the regular bill sticker, about the rint of what space ye want, +or he'll be in your hair, the nixt." +</P> + +<P> +With this the policeman walked leisurely away, swinging his club. +</P> + +<P> +Quigg surveyed Ralph with disgust. +</P> + +<P> +"Put down that bucket and brush," said he, "and unsling those posters. +You're too precious green for my business, by half." +</P> + +<P> +"Green I may be," returned the boy, disburdening himself at once, "but +I am no liar, and I can't say as I want to work for a liar either." +</P> + +<P> +"You impudent rascal!" cried Quigg, thoroughly enraged, "I'll teach you +to call names!" +</P> + +<P> +Quigg was small for a man, and Ralph large for a boy of his age. When +the former advanced threateningly, the mountain lad stood firm and eyed +his employer steadily. +</P> + +<P> +"You can talk as you please, Mr. Quigg; but—keep your hands off." +</P> + +<P> +The little artist stormed and threatened, but came no nearer. +</P> + +<P> +"If you had been sharp," said he "you would have posted those bills in +a hurry and dodged the police. I could have taken pictures for a few +days, then boarded the train before the authorities got onto the +scheme." +</P> + +<P> +"That wouldn't be honest, would it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Honest! Get out of here. What you've eaten is good pay for the +little you've done. As it is, I shall have a fine bill to settle with +the city on account of your folly." +</P> + +<P> +"You did not care whether I got into trouble or not, so you saved a +little by swindling the city. That's about what it amounts to, as far +as I can make out." +</P> + +<P> +"Get out, I say. Tramp! Scat with you!" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Quigg fairly danced with futile anger, while Ralph, seeing the +uselessness of further words, walked rapidly off. +</P> + +<P> +The small crowd disappointed in beholding a fight, slowly dispersed. +The last Ralph saw of his former "boss," the latter was trying to +secure another assistant from the idle boys looking on. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," thought the mountain lad, as he walked aimlessly up one of the +principal streets, "I am no worse off than I was before I met that +fellow. I'm further on my way, wherever I fetch up at, and I haven't +had to spend any money yet." +</P> + +<P> +The sights and sounds of city life so interested him for the next hour +or two, that he partially forgot the exigencies of his situation in +contemplating the strange scenes by which he was surrounded. +</P> + +<P> +The street cars, the drays, the carriages, and the other intermingling +vehicles puzzled his senses and deafened his ears. +</P> + +<P> +"What a racket they keep up," thought he. "It's a wonder they don't +run into each other! And the women! I never saw such dressin' before, +nor so many pretty girls. Our mountain folks on meeting day ain't +nowhere. The houses are so high I don't see how they ever climb to the +top. I'd just as soon crawl up old Peaky Top back of our cabin on +Hiawassee." +</P> + +<P> +Down at the railroad station he narrowly escaped being run over by a +swiftly moving engine. Its shrill whistle and the objurgations of the +fireman as it passed, startled him not a little. +</P> + +<P> +For some time he watched the movements of trains and the shifting of +cars, and finally found his way into the general waiting room for +passengers. A red shirted bootblack accosted him in a bantering tone. +</P> + +<P> +"Hey, country! Have your mud splashers shined? Only a nickel." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll shine your nose with my fist, if you don't let me alone," said +Ralph, with so fierce a scowl that the boy edged away. +</P> + +<P> +The mountain lad, though but half comprehending the bootblack's +meaning, was aware that he was being made game of. He paused before a +full length mirror in the toilet room, and for the first time in his +life obtained a good view of his entire person. +</P> + +<P> +"I declare! That looking glass is a sight. I'm a sight, too. I don't +wonder folks call me country." +</P> + +<P> +He was sharp enough to realize the difference in appearance, between +himself in his home made outfit and the generally smart youth of the +city. Yet he could hardly define wherein the contrast consisted. +</P> + +<P> +"I know I ain't no fool," was his reflection, "yet I know I must look +like one to these sassy town fellows." +</P> + +<P> +The sight of an Italian fruit and cake stand reminded him that he was +hungry, so he invested a nickel in a frugal supply of gingerbread, +which he munched as he stood on the curb. +</P> + +<P> +"Take banana. T'ree fo' five centa," urged the black eyed girl, with +large ear rings, who had supplied his wants. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph eyed the pendulous fruit dubiously. He had never seen anything +like it before. +</P> + +<P> +"Looks some like skinned sweet taters," he said to himself. "Are they +good?" he queried aloud. +</P> + +<P> +"Verra goot; go nice wiz shinger braad." +</P> + +<P> +"All right. Give me three," and he parted with another five cents, +then bit into the fruit without more ado. +</P> + +<P> +The girl tried in vain to smother her laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"Zat nota ze way. You peel um—so." She accompanied her words by +stripping the skin from one. "Now; be ready fo' eat." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph turned away with his relish for new delicacies embittered by +another reminder of his worldly deficiencies. +</P> + +<P> +"I never know'd before how ignorant we mountain folks are. Even that +foreign girl as can hardly talk at all, laughed at my way of doing." +He dropped the bananas into the paper bag holding the gingerbread, and +frowned heavily. Then he set his lips firmly together. "I will not +let 'em down me this way. I'll learn their ways or die a trying." +</P> + +<P> +After enunciating this resolve, he felt better. Presently he sat down +on a door step at the entrance to an alley and ate his lunch with a +better appetite. +</P> + +<P> +"These—what was it she called 'em?—these bernanas ain't so bad after +all," he said to himself. "Taste a little like apples, seems like." +</P> + +<P> +While he sat there some bells began ringing furiously and a steam fire +engine rushed by. The smoke, flame, roar and speed, stirred his blood, +while the singular, not to say splendid, appearance of the outfit, with +its bright brass work and powerful horses, was at once fascinating and +terrible. +</P> + +<P> +Having finished his lunch he followed the crowd that was surging along +the street and presently came in sight of the burning building, which +was a large cotton warehouse. He soon was in the midst of a pushing, +noisy mass of people, with eyes only for the fire, the rolling smoke, +and the puffing engines. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly he felt a touch upon his person, which, though light as +thistle down, almost thrilled him with an indefinite sense of alarm. +Reaching quickly downward he grasped a wrist that was not his own. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Captain Shard's Proposal. +</H3> + + +<P> +The arm Ralph seized was violently jerked and twisted, but the mountain +boy was strong for his age, and held on tight. +</P> + +<P> +Turning at the same instant he found himself facing the same negro boy, +who had probably saved him from arrest that morning by warning him +regarding the bill posting. +</P> + +<P> +"What did you want in my pocket?" demanded Ralph, feeling with his free +hand to assure himself that his money was safe. +</P> + +<P> +"Hush!" half whispered the darky. "I didn't see hit was yo'. Deed I +didn't, suh." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph regarded the negro steadily, as it dawned upon his crude +conceptions that the other was a thief. Then he thought of the service +the fellow had unwittingly done him, and at once released his grip. +</P> + +<P> +"Go," said he contemptuously. "Don't let me see you round here any +more." +</P> + +<P> +The negro disappeared in the crowd, one of whom said to the mountain +boy: +</P> + +<P> +"Why didn't you hand him over to yonder policeman?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well—because I sort of felt sorry for the fool," was the explanation +Ralph would vouchsafe as he, too, turned away and extricated himself +from the throng. +</P> + +<P> +After that he wandered about the city, finding something to excite his +wonder or admiration at every turn, until the lowness of the western +sun admonished him that he had better begin to look out for supper and +bed. +</P> + +<P> +First he stepped into an area way, and placed his money in an inside +pocket. +</P> + +<P> +"Best to be on the safe side," thought he, as he returned to the +street. "Looks like in these towns they'd steal a man's britches if +they could pull 'em off without his knowing it. Hullo! That must be +the captain's livery stable." +</P> + +<P> +Directly across the street was a large wooden building, on the front of +which, in enormous letters, were these words: +</P> + +<CENTER> +<P> +<B>SHARD'S LIVERY STABLE.</B> +</P> +</CENTER> + +<BR> + +<P> +While Ralph was debating whether he should again make himself known, +the captain drove forth from the stable in a buggy. His quick eye +lighted upon Ralph at once. +</P> + +<P> +"Come here," he called, beckoning also with his finger. "I see you are +still about," he added as Ralph crossed over. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but I ain't posting bills any more." +</P> + +<P> +"Then your job didn't last long?" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph frankly related the cause and manner of his discharge by Mr. +Quigg, whereat the captain laughed heartily. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said he, "I don't think you missed much, if that is the sort of +a man he is. I'm city auditor, and I will see that Quigg, or whatever +his name is, don't cheat the city. What are you going to do?" +</P> + +<P> +Shard bent his eyes sharply on Ralph, and once more the boy felt +uncomfortable. He replied, however, that he would find something +before long. +</P> + +<P> +"You stay with my foreman tonight," the captain said briskly. +"Emmons!" to some one inside. "This lad will eat and sleep with you. +I want you to take good care of him." +</P> + +<P> +Emmons, without appearing, grunted a distant assent. Ralph ventured a +protest. +</P> + +<P> +"I can find a lodging, captain," he began. +</P> + +<P> +"Hut tut! You're too green yet to be left alone all night in this +town. Not a word. You stay with Emmons. In the morning I will let +you know of a plan I am considering. It may be good for you." +</P> + +<P> +Captain Shard gathered up his reins, nodded carelessly, and went off +down the street in a small cloud of dust. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph went into the stable, not seeing clearly how to refuse, though +hardly at ease in his mind. As he stood in the doorway, looking along +a double line of vehicles of all sorts backed against the wall, a +hoarse voice bade him come into the office. +</P> + +<P> +"Rather a small hole, but large enough for two," remarked Emmons from a +high stool as Ralph entered a box of a place, about eight by ten, with +a desk, a chair, stool, and a few lap robes in a corner as the +furnishings thereof. +</P> + +<P> +Emmons was a squat, thick set personage, with most of his face hidden +behind a tremendous beard. He cast a careless glance at the boy, then +shutting a ledger said: +</P> + +<P> +"Let's go to supper." +</P> + +<P> +He seized an old palmetto hat, and leaving the stables, dived down a +side street, and into a cheap restaurant near by. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph followed. They seated themselves at one of a row of pine tables, +covered with oilcloth, and well sprinkled with crumbs and flies. +</P> + +<P> +"Better take beef stew," remarked Emmons, seizing some bread and eating +ravenously. "Get more if you're hungry." +</P> + +<P> +Two beef stews were therefore ordered, and brought with a great clatter +of table ware. Emmons fell to as if he had not broken his fast that +day. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph did not like the chicory coffee, though he did justice to the +stew. The crowd of rapid eaters, the noisy rush and yells of the +waiters, the steam fly fans, and the hard faced cashier, all excited +his curiosity. +</P> + +<P> +Two checks were thrown down. Emmons pounced upon both, though Ralph +did not understand what they meant, until he saw the stable man lay +them, accompanied by two dimes, upon the desk at the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Why did you not let me pay mine?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"All right. Boss's orders." +</P> + +<P> +The evening passed quietly, the foreman talking but little, though he +entertained Ralph for a time by playing on a French harp, or mouth +organ. +</P> + +<P> +When bedtime came he ushered the boy into a sort of cubby hole behind +the office that was barely large enough to afford space for undressing +beside the bed. In five minutes Emmons was snoring lustily, though +Ralph lay long awake, thinking over the various phases of his situation +and prospects. +</P> + +<P> +He was routed out early in the morning to help the foreman feed the +horses and mules in the stables underneath, and kept busy for an hour, +after which they took breakfast at the restaurant where they had +procured their supper. +</P> + +<P> +About nine o'clock Captain Shard arrived in his buggy from his home in +the suburbs. +</P> + +<P> +"Come in here, Ralph," said he, as Emmons took the horse. "I want to +have a talk with you." +</P> + +<P> +He led the way into the office, closed the door, and fixed his eyes +intently on Ralph, who followed. Then he frowned, appeared to ponder +for a moment, and finally cleared his brow as he looked up again. +</P> + +<P> +"How would you like to follow the sea for a living?" he at length +demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"Follow the sea?" repeated Ralph as if he hardly comprehended. "Do you +mean how would I like to be a sailor?" +</P> + +<P> +"Something of the kind. You would begin as cabin boy, probably. If +you are smart and willing you would soon climb up higher. By the time +you are eighteen, you should be an A 1 seaman, earning at least twenty +dollars a month and your keep." +</P> + +<P> +Among the few books the boy had somehow got hold of in the mountains, +one of the most treasured was a copy of Marryat's "Midshipman Easy." +He felt a thrill now, as he pictured himself in a position to emulate, +in a measure, some of the adventures therein so graphically depicted. +The distant ocean held up to his anticipation the stirring pleasures of +a life on the wave, while veiling from his boyish ignorance its +overmastering hardships. +</P> + +<P> +The captain saw his face light up, and proceeded to explain further. +</P> + +<P> +"I have a cousin who runs a schooner in the West Indies trade. He is +now at the Marshall House, Savannah. His vessel is somewhere near +there. Now I can get you a good berth with him, I know. I have done +him a few favors, and he is not ungrateful. +</P> + +<P> +"Emmons, here, is going to start today with a gang of mules for +Augusta. You can help him on that far, and in payment he will buy you +a ticket to Savannah. I will give you a letter to my cousin, and also +write him by mail that you are on the way. Now, what do you think of +that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sounds mighty nice—almost too nice," thought Ralph, who was shrewd +enough to wonder why Shard—whom he had been warned against—should put +himself out to serve a Granger. +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps he is sick of the feud, like me. I'm sure I would do him a +favor, if he is half a Vaughn. By granny! I believe I will take him +up. Aunt Dopples don't know everything." +</P> + +<P> +"Think over it well," added the captain, noticing the boy's reflective +manner. "A sailor's life is by no means easy, yet a bright, active lad +can rise. Many a captain began before the mast." +</P> + +<P> +Shard was smiling seductively, though his gaze seemed hard and +penetrating. He hung over the lad not unlike some bird of prey, +waiting for a favorable chance to pounce. +</P> + +<P> +"All right," said Ralph at last. "I will go and feel thankful for the +chance, if you will answer me one question. Why should you be so—so +willing to do a favor to me. In the mountains folks would think you +were crazy." +</P> + +<P> +"Ha! That miserable old feud again. My boy, I have outgrown it; have +been too much in the world. I see in you a bright lad, who only needs +to be started in order to make his own way. Why should I not start you +as well as any one else, especially when it costs me nothing but the +stroke of a pen? Besides your going to Augusta saves me the expense of +hiring an extra hand." +</P> + +<P> +All this seemed so reasonable that Ralph's weakening scruples entirely +vanished. He assented without further parley to Captain Shard's offer, +and was straightway placed under the supervision of the foreman, who +was in a rear stable yard haltering a small drove of mules together in +squads. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph lent active assistance, and in half an hour they were ready to +start. One mule in each bunch was saddled. Extra clothing was rolled +in blankets, and strapped behind the saddles. +</P> + +<P> +Emmons disappeared in the direction of the office. When he returned +the captain came with him, bearing in his hand a letter. +</P> + +<P> +"Here is your introduction to Captain Gary, the gentleman whom you will +find at the Marshall House in Savannah. Suppose you read it to see +that all is square and above board." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it's all right, I reckon," replied Ralph carelessly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it is all right, but I would rather you looked for yourself +before leaving. Should anything go wrong—which I do not anticipate at +all—I wish to feel exonerated in your mind, my boy." +</P> + +<P> +The captain's teeth gleamed almost fiercely as he smiled in a friendly +manner, though his eyes never relented in their hard, unfeeling stare. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph drew forth the note from the envelope and read:— +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MY DEAR COUSIN: +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +This will make you acquainted with a youth in whose welfare I already +feel a deep interest. He has made up his mind to learn to be a sailor, +and I shall take it very kindly if you will take charge of him, and see +what he can do. Give him as easy a berth as you can, and let me know +from time to time what progress he is making. His name is Ralph +Granger, and he is as plucky as he looks. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Your cousin and friend,<BR> + THEODORE SHARD.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +To CAPTAIN MARK GARY,<BR> + Marshall House, Savannah.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +This seemed flattering enough. As Ralph expressed his thanks, he +repressed a fleeting idea that the tone of the letter was most too much +that way. +</P> + +<P> +Shard shook him by the hand, and was about to retire when he appeared +to recollect something. +</P> + +<P> +"Need any money, for clothes, and so on?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have enough to do me," said Ralph. "You have done enough already, +and I——" +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind that. Emmons will settle board bills, and get your ticket +in Augusta. Good by. Let me hear a good account of you when Gary +writes." +</P> + +<P> +With a final nod and smile that was almost fatherly, the captain +disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +Emmons had already mounted. Ralph quickly did likewise, and the two, +with their four footed charges, rode out of the yard through a gate +that was closed behind them by a negro hostler. +</P> + +<P> +At first the five mules Ralph was leading, besides the one he rode, did +not travel well together. His arm was wrenched almost unbearably in +the effort to keep them up to the pace Emmons was setting. +</P> + +<P> +The latter, looking back, called out: +</P> + +<P> +"Make your halter fast to your saddle bow. Then lay the whip on." +</P> + +<P> +The boy did so, and they were presently clattering down the street at a +pace that made a stray policeman wave his club warningly. Soon they +were in the suburbs, and thence the open country came into view, where +truck farms and fruit orchards gave way to green fields of cotton and +corn. +</P> + +<P> +The negroes seemed to be everywhere. At a bridge a couple of black +fishermen bobbed up from behind an abutment, scaring the rear squad of +mules. +</P> + +<P> +The five lead ones pressed heavily upon the one Ralph was riding. +</P> + +<P> +"Look out!" cried one of the darkies. "Yo'se gwine over de bank! +Watch out, I say!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Ralph Arrives at Savannah. +</H3> + + +<P> +The warning was too late to be effectual. It might not have done any +good, anyhow, as under the pressure of five frightened mules, the one +Ralph bestrode was pushed to the very verge of the high embankment +leading up to the bridge. +</P> + +<P> +The boy saw the inevitable catastrophe that was coming. He released +his feet from the stirrups, unwound the halter from the saddle bow and +threw himself on the back of the next mule just as the one he had been +riding toppled over the embankment, down which it rolled clumsily to +the bottom. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph spurred the other on vigorously towards the bridge, while the two +negroes, who were responsible for the disaster, seized the rope that +held the animals and between the three further mischief was averted. +</P> + +<P> +But it was a very close shave. Had the whole bunch gone, Ralph's life +might have been sacrificed, to say nothing of damage to the mules. +</P> + +<P> +Emmons now came cantering back with his charges just as the fallen mule +regained its feet with the saddle between its legs. +</P> + +<P> +"What d'ye mean?" he scolded. "Hain't you learned to ride yet?" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph, rather provoked and much out of breath, was silent, but the +darkies gave loud and voluble explanations, tending mostly to exculpate +themselves. Then they brought up the fallen mule, fixed the saddle and +looked as if they would not have objected to a small reward. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurry, Ralph!" exclaimed Emmons, tossing them a dime. "We got no time +to lose. Glad there's no bones broken, but you must look sharp." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph remounted and they were soon on the way again. For the next two +or three days they passed through a mostly level country, where great +cotton plantations, with stretches of swamp between, alternated with +broad pine barrens. +</P> + +<P> +In these last the wind sighed mournfully, and the soil looked so poor +that the mountain boy felt that there was a section worse off than his +own steep and gravelly native land. +</P> + +<P> +They arrived in Augusta by way of a ferry across the dirty, narrow +river that flows near the city. The mules were duly delivered to the +proper parties and the two at last felt at leisure to do as they +pleased. +</P> + +<P> +Emmons took Ralph to a soda fountain. +</P> + +<P> +"What will you have?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know; whatever you like," said the boy, once more at sea as to +what he might expect. +</P> + +<P> +When the effervescent liquid foamed and fizzed, Ralph stared in +amazement. +</P> + +<P> +"Must I drink it?" he faltered, noticing the ease with which Emmons +swallowed his. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, you must. Did you think it was to wash with?" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph afterward averred that it tasted better than it sounded, but +again pondered over the—to him—increasing mysteries of civilization. +They had a late dinner, then made their way to the railroad depot, +where Emmons bought and gave to Ralph his ticket for Savannah by the +train which was to leave in an hour. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be goin' back to see about the money for them mules," said Emmons +at length. "Well, good by. Swing tight to your cash, and write to us +when ye get to Savanny." +</P> + +<P> +As the foreman took his big beard out of sight somebody out where the +cars were shouted: +</P> + +<P> +"All aboard! All aboard!" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph saw people rushing out and jumping on the train that was on the +point of starting. He suddenly was seized by an idea that he was about +to be left. So he ran out with the crowd and was about to climb into a +drawing room coach, when a trim colored man dressed in blue, who was +standing at the steps, stopped him. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's see your ticket please." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph drew it forth and was about to hurry on in, when the porter +handed it back. +</P> + +<P> +"Dis ain't your train, boy," said he with a somewhat contemptuous +accent. "Dis yere's a parlor coach fo' Atlanty." +</P> + +<P> +"Wh—where is my train then?" asked Ralph, not knowing what to do next. +</P> + +<P> +"Ain't made up yet," called the porter as the cars moved away, leaving +the lad looking about him rather foolishly. +</P> + +<P> +"Made a jack of myself again," said he, as he remembered that the agent +had told Emmons when they bought their tickets, that the Savannah train +would not leave for an hour. +</P> + +<P> +He returned to the waiting room and sat there very quietly until the +time was nearly up, then went out and found the proper car without +further difficulty. +</P> + +<P> +That long night's ride was interesting though tiresome. Ralph tried to +count the telegraph poles without understanding much about their uses. +</P> + +<P> +The low, level country, the tall trunks of the pines, the ever present +negroes, the sparks from the engine, and the occasional interruptions +from the conductor, kept him from sleep until long after midnight. +</P> + +<P> +Finally, however, he coiled himself up on the seat and knew nothing +more until some one shook him by the shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"Is yo' gwine ter stay in yere all day?" asked a voice. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph sat up and rubbed his eyes. The sun was shining and the car +empty, with the exception of himself and a negro brakeman, who had +awakened him from an unusually sound slumber. +</P> + +<P> +"Where are we?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"We'se in Savanny. Been yere nigh 'bout an hour. I seed yo' was +tired, an' I 'lowed I'd let yer sleep. But I'se got ter sweep out now." +</P> + +<P> +When Ralph emerged from the depot he found himself on a sandy unpaved +street, with many half shabby frame houses about and a number of tall +pines in the distance. +</P> + +<P> +He followed a line of trucks and drays towards the business part of the +city, and presently dropped into a cheap eating house for breakfast. +</P> + +<P> +After that he began to inquire for the Marshall House, which he found +to be a large, red brick hostelry, with a broad second story veranda in +front. The sidewalk beneath was sprinkled with chairs partially +occupied by men reading their morning papers or smoking. +</P> + +<P> +A few glanced curiously at the roughly dressed boy, who made his way +into a large hall and office combined, where trunks and grips were +stacked up by the score, and trim porters and waiters were gliding to +and fro. +</P> + +<P> +He instantly felt himself out of place amid those well dressed people, +and smart servants. It was his first experience with a first class +city hotel. +</P> + +<P> +So low did his courage ebb at first that he very nearly made up his +mind to retreat without attempting to see Captain Gary. In his +unwashed, uncombed condition, the contrast between himself and those +around was embarrassing enough even to his crude conception. +</P> + +<P> +He stood gazing about in a half helpless manner, not knowing to whom to +apply for information. +</P> + +<P> +"Where can I find Captain Gary?" he asked at length of a porter who +happened to be lounging near. +</P> + +<P> +The negro inspected Ralph from head to foot, then demanded: "Do he stop +yere?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. I have a letter for him." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! Dat all is it?" The porter had found it hard to reconcile +Ralph's appearance with any other connection with a guest of the hotel +than a menial one. "Yo' go right up to de office over dar and gin it +to the clerk. He see Cap'n Gary gits um." +</P> + +<P> +"But—but I have to see the captain myself," urged Ralph. +</P> + +<P> +"What yo' reckon a gen'lemun like he wanter sech a boy as you? Huh?" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph felt that his clothes were against him, but he did not propose to +be bullied by a servant and a negro at that. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here," said he. "I want to see Captain Gary and I'm going to see +him, too. I've got business with him—d'ye understand?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well den," replied the porter insolently, "s'posen yo' find where he +is yo'self." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph, without another word, marched straight to the clerk's desk. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Captain Talks With Ralph. +</H3> + + +<P> +Ralph's previous diffidence disappeared under the flush of anger +aroused by the porter's words. +</P> + +<P> +"Mister," said he addressing the stylish looking clerk, who at first +barely glanced at the lad, "I was sent here from Columbia to see a man +who stops here called Captain Gary. That nigger over there, when I +asked him where the man was, told me to hunt him up myself. I never +was in your tavern before. How can I find him, I'd like to know?" +</P> + +<P> +Before Ralph had concluded, the clerk was inspecting his person +curiously. Ralph again thought of his clothes. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't look very stylish," said he, "and I know it; but I've got +business with Captain Gary all the same." +</P> + +<P> +"Front!" called the clerk, without addressing Ralph. +</P> + +<P> +A smart mulatto boy, uniformed in blue and red, sprang from a bench +where several others similarly clad were seated. +</P> + +<P> +"Show this—this person to forty nine," directed the clerk, then turned +to another inquirer as if he had already forgotten Ralph's existence. +</P> + +<P> +"There's one thing certain," thought the lad, as he followed the call +boy down a long hall, up one flight of stairs and into a richly +carpeted corridor, "we mountain folks can beat these city dudes on +manners, if we can't in anything else." +</P> + +<P> +The boy knocked at a door and a voice almost feminine in musical +softness bade them "Come in." +</P> + +<P> +"Some one to see yo', suh," said the messenger, pushing Ralph inside +and closing the door. +</P> + +<P> +The mountain youth found himself alone with a slender, exceedingly +handsome man, so slight of figure and fair in complexion as to fully +bear out in his appearance the womanly resemblance suggested by his +voice. +</P> + +<P> +He was dressed in a walking suit of a subdued gray tint, with patent +leather gaiters, and his hands were white, while his fingers sparkled +with one or two jeweled rings. His linen was spotless and in his lemon +colored neck tie shone a large diamond. +</P> + +<P> +He was reclining in an easy chair, smoking a cigarette, and as he +languidly surveyed Ralph, the boy felt that here was a sea captain +different from those he had read of or imagined. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, my lad, what is it you want of me?" inquired the man. +</P> + +<P> +"My name is Ralph Granger. I have a letter for you from Captain Shard. +He said you would understand." +</P> + +<P> +Gary took the missive which Ralph now produced, opened it, and glanced +through it carelessly, then extended his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Glad to see you," said he softly. "So you want to try the sea, eh? +Well, any one coming from my cousin Shard is always sure of a welcome +from me." +</P> + +<P> +Here he smiled very sweetly and waved his beringed fingers. "Stand +more in the light, please. I want to take a good look at you, Ralph." +</P> + +<P> +As he inspected the boy from under his half closed lashes, his eyes +shone curiously. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Ralph," continued he with lazy cordiality, as if he had known the +youth for weeks instead of minutes, "what do you know about a sailor's +life?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know anything, except—except,"—Ralph hesitated. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" suggested the captain inquiringly, and with an enchanting smile. +</P> + +<P> +"I've read a book or two about sea life and ships, and all that. +Outside of that I ain't posted." +</P> + +<P> +"I see. Did you bring any kit along?" +</P> + +<P> +"What's that, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"Outfit, clothes, baggage, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"I've got a bundle of clothes down at the car shed." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah—yes." The captain reflected a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"My boatswain is to be here at eleven sharp. I guess you had better go +aboard with him." +</P> + +<P> +"Go where, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"Down to the ship. We call it going aboard, you see," and once more +Captain Gary smiled with almost infantile amiability. "Been to +breakfast? Yes? Well, then, suppose you take a stroll about and see +the town. Don't get lost, and be sure and be back by eleven. My room +is forty nine; can you recollect that?" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph thought he could, and was about to withdraw when the captain +pulled out a silver dollar. +</P> + +<P> +"You may need a little spending money," said he. "Only I hope you +won't buy tobacco. Lads of your age, you know, are best without it, +and as for cards——" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph hastened to assure him that he not only did not smoke or gamble, +but that he had some money of his own. +</P> + +<P> +"Take this, however. We will call it a slight advance on your wages." +</P> + +<P> +The captain insisted so genially that Ralph could not refuse. +</P> + +<P> +"Looks like I've dropped into a soft snap at last," thought he, as he +found his way to the street. "I wonder if many ship captains are like +him? Them as I have read of were mostly great, big, strapping, +swearing sort of fellows, ready to knock a body down when things don't +go to suit 'em. Well, I'm glad I've got such an easy going boss to +learn a sailor's trade under. I wonder where we will sail to first? I +hope it will be a good long voyage where I can see and learn a heap." +</P> + +<P> +After Ralph's departure Captain Gary sank back into his chair and +smoked his cigarette out. Then he produced another letter, addressed +in the same hand as the one given him by Ralph, and spread them out +together on his knees. +</P> + +<P> +"So," said he, half aloud, while certain hard lines appeared on his +face that changed its entire expression to one of callous severity, "my +good cousin wants me to put this lad through. What is there about the +boy that he dislikes? Well, Theodore has done me more than one good +turn. What is a lad more or less?" +</P> + +<P> +He stared at the wall before him, disclosing in his now widely open +eyes a brightness as of steel, for the feminine softness had vanished +utterly. "Tom Bludson will make him wish he had never been born as +quickly as even Shard could desire. To make sure, we might leave him +behind when we reach the Gold Coast. However, all this can be decided +later." +</P> + +<P> +The captain lighted another cigarette, rang for a mint julep, then +addressed himself to some writing, the materials for which were +scattered about on a table by the window. He wrote several letters, +made out some orders and accounts, smoking the while and sipping his +julep through a long rye straw from time to time. +</P> + +<P> +At last, promptly on the stroke of eleven, appeared a tall, brawny, +mahogany faced seaman, clad in blue flannels of a nautical cut. This +personage pulled off a round, flat, visorless cap, and made a half +military salute upon entering in obedience to the captain's summons. +</P> + +<P> +"That you, Ralph?" said the latter softly but without looking up. +"That's right. Always be prompt, and you will be—a—hello!" raising +his eyes. "What the dev—oh! It's you, is it, Tom?" +</P> + +<P> +"Me it are, sir," replied the tall sailor, again ducking his head. "I +was to report at 'leven—shore time." +</P> + +<P> +"I thought it was that cursed boy," returned the captain in a sharp, +quick tone, totally unlike the soothing drawl he had used in addressing +Ralph. "Where can he be, I wonder?" +</P> + +<P> +The boatswain, comprehending that the captain was making inquiry rather +of himself than his auditor, remained discreetly silent, merely +availing himself of a chance to throw a tremendous quid of "navy" into +the fireplace. +</P> + +<P> +"I want you to take him on board, Tom," added Gary, turning round. +"You must see him stowed before I go down." +</P> + +<P> +"Where will I find him, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"The deuce only knows. I told him to take a run round, but to show up +at eleven. He is a thorough backwoods rooster and he may have got +lost. Suppose you take a turn round the square and look him up. Don't +be gone long. I have stores yet to go down by tug." +</P> + +<P> +"Aye, aye, sir," quoth Bludson, and promptly vanished. +</P> + +<P> +The captain had hardly buried himself in his accounts again, before the +boatswain reappeared, holding Ralph by the collar. The lad had +resisted at first, but found himself helpless in the grasp of the +gigantic seaman and now ceased his struggles, though his face was red +with vexation. +</P> + +<P> +"Be this the chap?" asked Tom. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; you may turn him loose, however." +</P> + +<P> +The captain's teeth shone very white, so broad was the smile with which +he strove to conceal the scowl that had at first mantled his brow at +sight of Ralph. +</P> + +<P> +"My boy," continued he, "you will not feel hurt when I tell you that +punctuality is one of the first requisites of success in the calling +you have chosen." +</P> + +<P> +"I lost my way for a little while," began Ralph, but the captain +signified that the tardiness was pardoned already. +</P> + +<P> +"You see we sail tonight on the flood," he added, "and we have yet much +to do. This is our boatswain or bos'n—as we call them—Mr. Bludson. +He will accompany you to the ship. Perhaps you will not mind assisting +him a little in seeing to some stores that are yet to go down. Tom, +you must be careful of young Granger. We already take a great interest +in his welfare." +</P> + +<P> +Tom looked puzzled at first, but when the captain smiled once more he +seemed relieved. Evidently he understood that smile. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph thought he did too, and he again felt that he was lucky in having +so kind hearted a captain. +</P> + +<P> +After that Gary and Bludson conferred together over matters concerning +the ship, while Ralph twirled his cap and placed his bundle beside him +on the carpet. Some fifteen minutes might have thus passed, then the +boatswain straightened up, thrust some papers the captain had given him +into his hip pocket, and turned to the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, youngster," said he, "we'll get sail." +</P> + +<P> +"Stay with Bludson, Ralph," called the captain, waving his hand +gracefully; "he will see you through in fine shape." +</P> + +<P> +"Aye, aye. I warrant I see him through," echoed the boatswain hoarsely +as the two went out. +</P> + +<P> +In Ralph's opinion the captain was much more agreeable and "well +mannered" than his subordinate. In the hall below they encountered a +heavy set, bushy bearded man in navy blue, at sight of whom Bludson +touched his cap. The man looked so sharply at Ralph that the boy +inquired: +</P> + +<P> +"Who is that, Mr. Bludson?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's our first mate, and a rare un he is, too." +</P> + +<P> +"A rare one. What do you mean by that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! You'll find out soon enough. Best not ask too many questions. +Howsever, I'll give ye one bit of advice, as is worth a heap to +landsmen aboard ship, and it shan't cost 'e a cent. That is keep your +eyes peeled and your tongue betwixt your teeth. That's the way to larn +and keep a whole skin." +</P> + +<P> +All this was rather enigmatical, but Ralph understood that he was not +to ask any questions. +</P> + +<P> +After that Mr. Bludson maintained a dignified silence as he plunged, +with Ralph at his side, into the regions of the wholesale trade. They +called at several grocery and provision stores, and also at a ship +chandler's. The boatswain had sundry talks with sundry clerks and some +drays were loaded. +</P> + +<P> +Finally the two emerged upon the river front where lay, among other +craft, a steam tug with a gang plank ashore. Tom pulled off his coat +and gave it to Ralph, saying: +</P> + +<P> +"Climb aboard with this, then come back and bear a hand." +</P> + +<P> +The lad ran down the plank and deposited the boatswain's jacket and his +bundle in the helmsman's closet, then made his way back and took hold +of the incoming freight with a will. +</P> + +<P> +In half an hour the stores were on board, and the tug, casting loose, +began to steam swiftly down the river. +</P> + +<P> +It being Ralph's first experience afloat, the swift, gliding motion and +the noisy engine interested him greatly. The novelty was, in its way, +as exciting as his first car ride. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it makes things go?" he asked of Bludson, who was sprawled +upon a coil of cable, smoking a short black pipe. +</P> + +<P> +"The ingine and the propeller, ye lubber," replied the latter. "Did 'e +think it was wings?" +</P> + +<P> +"But what is a propeller?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! The ign'erance of land folks! It do beat all. The +propeller—why the propeller is a propeller, of course. What else did +'e think it were." +</P> + +<P> +"I know, but——" +</P> + +<P> +"Now look here, youngster. Watching is one thing and always wanting to +know is another. Stow your gaff, as I said afore, and use your +peepers." +</P> + +<P> +After this rebuff Ralph asked no more questions of his superior, but he +faithfully obeyed the injunction as to "keeping a bright lookout." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Aboard the Curlew. +</H3> + + +<P> +They steamed along between low marshy banks for an hour or two, then +the river began to widen into an irregularly shaped bay. Sundry low +lying islands, covered with strange semi-tropic vegetation, rose up +seaward, and by and by a sound as of muffled thunder could be heard. +</P> + +<P> +As they passed old Fort Pulaski, Ralph ventured to question the pilot +on the roof. This grizzled boatman was gruff, but obliging. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the roar of the breakers, you hear," said he. "That is an old +fort. Good for a siege once—no good now. And yonder—do you see that +low lying, black schooner under the lee of Tybee light?" +</P> + +<P> +"Where?" inquired Ralph, leaning out of the little pilot house window. +</P> + +<P> +The pilot pointed, but it was quite a minute before the boy could +distinguish the vessel. When he did, all his unaccustomed eye could +make out, was a narrow dark line surmounted by a dim tracery of spars +that were barely relieved by the white beach behind. +</P> + +<P> +Still further beyond rose the towering white lighthouse. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe I do see it," he said at length. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, that's the Curlew. She's a daisy on the wind, or for that +matter sailing free either. There ain't a sweeter looking +fore-an-after on this coast." +</P> + +<P> +"Is that Captain Gary's ship?" asked Ralph, for he had not heard the +name of the vessel mentioned before. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you are an ignoramus. Don't know the name of the craft you're +shipping on." +</P> + +<P> +The old pilot looked disgusted. "Where'd you get your trainin'?" +</P> + +<P> +When Ralph explained that this was his first sight of salt water, and +that he had seen the captain for the first time that morning, the pilot +shook his grizzled head doubtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Captain Gary is a deep one, that's what he is. He was mighty milk and +watery, wasn't he? I thought so. Know where you're bound for?" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph had not the least idea, but felt no uneasiness, as the captain +was so kind; had treated him almost like a son. +</P> + +<P> +"Did eh! Well, now see here. It's none of my business, but I believe +in a fair shake." The pilot glanced round and noticing the boatswain +sauntering toward them, he bent forward and concluded in an undertone: +"When you get aboard and out to sea, you keep your eyes open and watch +out for squalls. D'ye hear. Watch out for squalls." +</P> + +<P> +The boy heard but did not understand. The pilot's manner, however, +impressed him as unusual. He felt vaguely uncomfortable, as the old +man, after a knowing wink or two, fixed his eyes upon the course he was +steering, and thereafter ignored Ralph's presence entirely. +</P> + +<P> +Bludson cast a searching glance at them both, then ordered Ralph to go +below and bring up his coat. The lad obeyed and when he returned, the +tug had forged past an island headland, disclosing to them a fine view +of the open ocean. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph uttered an exclamation of wonder, and for five minutes or more he +leaned against the guard rail, feasting his eyes on the heaving expanse +of blue, foam dotted water near the inlet, where the rollers were +breaking upon the bar. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the greatest sight I ever saw," he said turning to Bludson, who +merely grunted. "How blue it looks! I suppose those changing lines of +white are the breakers. Well, well! This beats the mountains. I wish +I was out there right now." +</P> + +<P> +"You'd be wishing yourself ashore soon," returned Tom apathetically. +"Wait till 'e gets seasick." +</P> + +<P> +"What is that? Does the sea make you sick?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should say it do. But there's a mighty fine cure for all that. +Aye, 'tis a bracin', healthful cure." +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me, Mr. Bludson. You know I might get seasick, too." +</P> + +<P> +"Ye be bound to. Then cap'n 'e'll say lay forrid there and trice up +that fo'topmast stays'l brace; and there you is first 'e know fifty +feet above the fo' s'l boom, a takin' a good look of an hour or so at +old Neptune. Well, if that don't fetch 'e all right, cap'n 'e'll say +'Reeve a slip knot under his arms' which, no sooner done than overboard +you goes for a dip or two. That always brings 'em round." +</P> + +<P> +"Looks like a queer way to cure a sick man," commented Ralph, who but +half comprehended the boatswain's lingo. +</P> + +<P> +"It beats the doctor though all the same," said Tom with rather a +heartless grin. "But look round. What do 'e think of the Curlew now? +Ain't she a beauty?" +</P> + +<P> +The tug had got near enough to enable the proportions of the vessel to +be seen quite distinctly. +</P> + +<P> +Even to Ralph she was a graceful and pleasing sight. The long, low, +black hull exhibited curves as perfect as the flowing sweep of a +rainbow. The tall mast, the tapering tracery of spars, the snowy +canvas and the general trim and orderly air maintained, were all +attractive to the eye. +</P> + +<P> +In a brief time, the tug was lying alongside and the stores transferred +to the schooner's hold in short order. A dozen or more catlike sailors +assisted the crew of the tug, and Ralph made himself useful. +</P> + +<P> +When the tug sheered off, the boy leaning over the side of the +schooner, beheld the pilot shake his head in a doubtful way as he +answered Ralph's farewell wave of the hand. +</P> + +<P> +"So I must look out for squalls, must I?" he reflected. "I wonder what +the man meant. Never mind. I am young, stout, and I'm not afraid. So +I guess I won't worry. So nice a man as Captain Gary won't see a boy +put upon, I know." +</P> + +<P> +A heavy hand came down on his shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"Come now! We don't want no idlin' or staring over the side on this +craft. Come along and stow your kit and sling your hammock. Then +we'll eat a bite—you and me." +</P> + +<P> +Thus roused, he followed Tom Bludson into the forecastle, where a low +but roomy apartment was lighted both by a swinging lamp and the +daylight streaming through the narrow companionway. There was a double +row of bunks on either hand and overhead were hooks to swing hammocks +in the space between. +</P> + +<P> +Bludson unslung a hammock from the wall and tossed it to Ralph. There +was a blanket inside. +</P> + +<P> +"Wrap your clothes in that blanket and give the hammock a turn or +two—so." The boatswain accompanied his words by showing Ralph how a +hammock is folded and slung to the hooks overhead when not in use. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," he added, "it's stowed for the day. When bedtime comes you must +unsling and hang it as the rest do. You see there's not enough bunks +for the crew, so some has to use hammocks." +</P> + +<P> +After that Tom led the way to the cook's galley, a mere closet of a +place just abaft the foremast. In entering one went down two or three +steps. Here they found Neb (short for Nebraska), the cook, a short, +fat jolly looking negro, who with his stove and cooking utensils so +completely filled up the place that Ralph was puzzled to see how the +man ever managed to cook at all. Every bit of space was utilized, +however. There were drawers and lockers under shelves and tables, +while overhead were swinging racks for dishes and provisions. +</P> + +<P> +"Hi, Marse Tom, who be dat yo' got dar? One er dese yere shore kids?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, he's a shore kid, Neb. Him and me haven't had any dinner. Can't +you shake us up a bit of something. Salt horse and skilly will do, if +nothin' else is handy." +</P> + +<P> +Neb was acquiescent and the boatswain and his charge were soon +discussing a hearty meal with molasses, vinegar and water for a +beverage instead of coffee. +</P> + +<P> +After that Bludson took Ralph aft and introduced him to the second +mate, Mr. Duff, a slim, active, pleasant looking young man of four and +twenty, who was superintending the coiling of a spare cable in a cuddy +hole beneath the wheel. +</P> + +<P> +"New boy, eh," said he, giving Ralph a brief but keen inspection. "I +thought the captain swore that he wanted no more boys, after Bunty gave +him the slip." +</P> + +<P> +Bunty, Ralph afterward learned, had run away at a foreign port with a +small sum of money not his own. +</P> + +<P> +"Cap'n's changed his mind then, sir," returned Tom, "He said as 'e +wanted p'tickler care taken of this kid, and he was to wait in the +cabin till 'e gets his sea legs on so to speak." +</P> + +<P> +"What' your name?" To Ralph, then turning to the men: "Easy there. Lay +her even, can't you." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph replied and Bludson added: +</P> + +<P> +"Blest if the kid's ever seen the ocean before. He don't know a brace +from a marlin spike." +</P> + +<P> +"I can learn, I reckon," said Ralph so heartily that Mr. Duff took a +second look at the boy, then smiled to himself. +</P> + +<P> +"Run down to the cabin and fetch me up the doctor," said the mate. +"Yon's the way." +</P> + +<P> +He pointed towards the companionway. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph, somewhat puzzled, started down, but fancied he heard a sound of +smothered laughter as he passed from sight. +</P> + +<P> +"They're making fun of me," thought he. "I don't believe there is any +doctor here." +</P> + +<P> +The two men having finished with the cable went forward, just as Ralph +reappeared bearing a box of patent pills he had found below. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the nearest thing to a doctor I could find," said he. +</P> + +<P> +The mate roared with laughter, while Long Tom grinned broadly, and the +sailors snickered. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess you'll do, my lad," exclaimed Mr. Duff in high good humor. +"Come with me and I will show you what the doctor is. Bludson, have +that peak block on the foresail gaff slung a little higher. I think +she will hoist easier." +</P> + +<P> +"Aye, aye, sir," returned the boatswain, while Ralph, following the +mate, again descended to the cabin. +</P> + +<P> +The cabin was roomy, well carpeted, and contained a stationary table +through the center of which ran the mainmast of the schooner. At the +stern were two staterooms; one for the captain and the other for the +two mates. Lockers and drawers were scattered about, and a mirror with +a picture or two was attached to the walls. +</P> + +<P> +On a cushioned seat at one side lay a large white cat. +</P> + +<P> +"That's Doctor," said the mate. "He's a great pet, and while you are +aft you must see that he wants for nothing." +</P> + +<P> +The mate showed Ralph a small closet where were sundry brooms, brushes +and other implements for cleaning up. +</P> + +<P> +"As you are to be cabin boy, for a while at least," said Mr. Duff, "you +might as well begin by tidying up the cabin a bit. We want to have +things shipshape by the time the captain comes aboard." +</P> + +<P> +For an hour or so Ralph busied himself accordingly, until a commotion +on deck led him to look out at one of the stateroom windows. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Curlew Puts to Sea. +</H3> + + +<P> +These windows were mere bullseye affairs, swinging on pivots. +</P> + +<P> +Pushing one open, Ralph saw a four oared boat pulling rapidly for the +schooner. Presently he heard the rattle of oars under the vessel's +side, and an order or two issued by the second mate. +</P> + +<P> +He hastened up the companionway just in time to see Mr. Duff saluting +Captain Gary and Mr. Rucker as they came over the side, passing between +several seamen drawn up on either side of the gangway. The first mate +cast an eye aloft and to seaward, while the captain walked so quickly +down the companionway that he nearly overturned Ralph. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" exclaimed Gary, flinging the lad roughly aside. +"Have you no manners?" +</P> + +<P> +He disappeared in the cabin whither Ralph followed dumbfounded at this +unlooked for exhibition of temper on the part of his hitherto placid +superior. +</P> + +<P> +The captain was flinging down some papers on the table. Looking up he +recognized Ralph for the first time. +</P> + +<P> +"That you, Ralph?" he said, banishing a scowl in a smile that had no +mirth in it. "Was it you outside?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"I did not know it was you. But we learn to look sharp and be spry on +shipboard. Did Bludson treat you well? Ah—that's good. Had a +pleasant time? I always want my men to enjoy themselves. I see you +have tidied up things here. You must keep this cabin clean, and also +these staterooms. You will also wait on the cabin table and take your +meals here." +</P> + +<P> +The captain started for his own room, but looking back, said: +</P> + +<P> +"Go forward, Neb will show you about making ready for supper." +</P> + +<P> +From then on until flood tide, several hours later, both men and +officers were busy in stowing away and making things generally snug. +</P> + +<P> +After his duties at the table were over, Ralph had little to do but to +watch what was going on around, which he did eagerly, striving to +master, as well as he could, the mystery and duties of the strange life +upon which he was entering. +</P> + +<P> +As the hour grew late, only the watch on deck, together with the +officer in charge, remained above; that is except Ralph, who found +everything interesting. The first mate was in his berth, and the +captain writing in the cabin. Mr. Duff was walking to and fro near the +wheel, while in the forecastle the major part of the crew were in their +bunks. +</P> + +<P> +It might have been near midnight. Ralph, having seated himself on the +step between the quarter and the main decks, had at last fallen into a +doze, with his head against the bulwarks. +</P> + +<P> +Captain Gary came up, cast a look about and then consulted his watch. +</P> + +<P> +"We might as well make sail, Mr. Duff," said he in a low tone. "Call +all hands." +</P> + +<P> +Then he returned to the cabin. A moment later Bludson's shrill whistle +aroused Ralph with a start. +</P> + +<P> +The deck became alive with moving figures in answer to the boatswain's +hoarse summons. +</P> + +<P> +"Hoist away with a will, men. Yo—heave—ho! Up she goes." +</P> + +<P> +To such and similar cries, Ralph saw the great main sail unfold its +vast expanse in obedience to the measured hauling of a line of men, who +uttered a monotonous half shout as they bent to the work. Another gang +soon had the foresail going upward, after which the capstan was manned. +</P> + +<P> +To Ralph these proceedings were thrillingly attractive. It was his +first bewildering taste of the duties of a sailor's life. +</P> + +<P> +As the men pushed with a will at the capstan bars, and the ship drew +toward her anchor, some one struck up a song that ran somewhat as +follows: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"A bucklin' wind and a swashin' tide,<BR> + Yo ho, ho, boys, yo ho, ho!<BR> +If I had Nancy by my side,<BR> + With a yo ho, ho, ho, boys, yo ho, ho!"<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +While there did not seem to be much sense attached to the words, the +manner in which they were roared forth, and the push altogether with +which they drove the bars at the end of each line, made a vivid +impression on the mountain lad's imagination. +</P> + +<P> +He felt glad that he had elected to be a sailor, even though he began +as an humble cabin boy. There was an element of dash and danger +connected with the life that appealed to the natural daring of his +disposition. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall certainly see enough of the world," thought he, "and I shall +leave that miserable feud far, far behind." +</P> + +<P> +With the anchor a-trip, the men waited for the final signal. As a +light westerly puff swelled the mainsail, which was drawn flat, Mr. +Duff uttered a low "Now then," that was repeated loudly by the +boatswain, who acted also as a sort of sailing master. +</P> + +<P> +"Yo ho, ho! Heave 'er up, hearties!" +</P> + +<P> +The capstan was again manned, and as the schooner fell off before the +wind, Ralph, leaning over the forward bulwarks, saw the great anchor +hang dripping under the bow. Later on it would be stowed on deck. +</P> + +<P> +And now the three jibs were hoisted one after another, then the +topsails, and finally, as the breeze was light, a triangular staysail +was run well up to the weather side between the masts. +</P> + +<P> +Under the influence of the wind and tide the Curlew spun along at an +eight knot gait, trailing a glistening wake behind and with a briny +hissing along the side as the smooth hull cut the rippling water. +</P> + +<P> +Presently the north point of the inlet was abreast, and Ralph began to +notice a slow rocking motion which, as the vessel rose upon the swells, +made him feel as if the deck were sinking beneath his feet. At first +it was a pleasant sensation, and he leaned over the side, enjoying the +starlit view, the moist, balmy air and the gentle motion. +</P> + +<P> +Tybee was now well astern. On either hand the shore line was receding +while in front came a low, irregular roaring. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph walked back to where Mr. Duff was standing at the binnacle, +conning the ship. There was no pilot aboard, as for some reason, +Captain Gary did not wish the time of his departure publicly known. +</P> + +<P> +"What is that noise we hear ahead Mr. Duff?" asked the lad, whereat the +sailor at the wheel snickered, while the mate allowed himself to smile. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the surf on the bar," said he. "What did you suppose it might +be?" +</P> + +<P> +"I 'lowed it might be thunder, only I didn't see any clouds." +</P> + +<P> +At this Mr. Duff laughed outright, and the sailors nudged each other as +if highly tickled. Ralph looked from one to another, and his pulse +beat fast. +</P> + +<P> +"If I had you folks up in our mountains," said he, "mebbe I could show +you a thing or two that would puzzle you. I know I'm green, but I'm +not too green to learn." +</P> + +<P> +"You'll do," replied the mate shortly, as the boy turned away. +</P> + +<P> +A little later as he was standing by the after hatch, a hand was laid +on his arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Ralph," said the second mate, for it was he, "let me give you a bit of +advice. No matter what is said or done to you, take it and go along. +Hard words mend no bones. I'm giving you straight goods, my lad. You +seem to have the right kind of stuff in you, and all you need is to be +kept in line." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Bludson said something of the sort, I think. All right, sir. +I'll keep my mind on that, and I'm obliged to you." +</P> + +<P> +But after the mate had returned to the binnacle Ralph was conscious of +a fall in his spirits. Ocean life might be glorious after a while, but +at present he was apparently under everybody; he knew less than +anybody, and—suddenly he threw his hand to his head. +</P> + +<P> +The roar of the breakers was close at hand now, and as the Curlew began +to roll and pitch in quite a pronounced manner, the boy would have been +alarmed but for the overmastering wretchedness of his feelings. His +whole internal system seemed to be turning upside down. +</P> + +<P> +"It must be!" he groaned, staggering to the side. "I—I'm—sea—sick. +Oh—oh—oh—Lordy!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A Taste of Ship's Discipline. +</H3> + + +<P> +For an hour or more passing events were as naught to Ralph. Too ill to +sling his hammock, he finally crawled under one of the small boats on +the main deck, and at last fell asleep. +</P> + +<P> +The next thing he was conscious of was a terrible chill, a sensation of +drowning, and gasping for breath. As he woke he heard a gruff voice +say: +</P> + +<P> +"If that don't fetch him nothin' won't." +</P> + +<P> +As Ralph opened his eyes, several seamen were standing about, laughing, +one of whom held a half emptied bucket of water. +</P> + +<P> +The boy's head ached and he was thoroughly drenched and miserable. +</P> + +<P> +"Up you get!" said Long Tom, pausing in his walk to and fro in the +waist of the schooner, "Time you were gettin' breakfast on the cabin +table. Cap'n always raises thunder when breakfast is late." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph, on rising to his feet, nearly pitched down again, being brought +up with a round turn in the lee scuppers. +</P> + +<P> +"Easy now, and get 'e sea legs on," suggested Bludson, who was +balancing himself dexterously in his walk. +</P> + +<P> +The wind had stiffened, and a crisp plain of dancing white caps met +Ralph's gaze as he steadied himself by the bulwarks. The Curlew, under +a single reefed fore and mainsail and a single jib, was gracefully +rising and falling to the rhythmic motion of long and ponderous waves. +</P> + +<P> +The unaccustomed roll bewildered the lad from the mountains, the +singing of the wind through the shrouds buzzed strangely in his ears. +He made a dive for the cook's galley, where Neb was dishing up the +cabin meal. +</P> + +<P> +"Mind yo' steps, now," the negro cautioned him, as Ralph, with a waiter +full of dishes, started for the companionway. +</P> + +<P> +The boy, though wet and shivering, determined to do his duty, come what +might. By the assistance of Long Tom, who seized him by the collar and +propelled him roughly but safely across the deck, he managed to reach +the cabin. +</P> + +<P> +He got the table arranged somehow, placing the dishes in the rough +weather racks provided, then after washing his face, he made his way +back to the galley and started with another waiter full of eatables. +</P> + +<P> +This time something had drawn Long Tom away. Ralph did very well until +he came to the open space between one of the boats and the mainmast. A +rope really should have been stretched amid deck for his aid, but as +others did not need it, no one thought or cared for the cabin boy. +</P> + +<P> +Just as Ralph made a dive for the mast and the afterhatch beyond, the +captain emerged from the companionway. The boy reached the mast in +safety. Encouraged by this, he loosened his hold and started boldly +for the head of the stairs. +</P> + +<P> +Unfortunately the stern of the Curlew sank suddenly under the influence +of a receding wave of unusual proportions. Ralph and his waiter of +dishes were thrown violently forward against Captain Gary, who stood +like a rock, while the boy pitched one way and his dishes went another. +</P> + +<P> +All who saw the catastrophe looked on with suspended breath. +</P> + +<P> +The captain glared at Ralph as the lad picked himself up, then pointed +to the wreck of his breakfast. +</P> + +<P> +"Clean up that rubbish," he growled, a grimness as of death settling +over his face. +</P> + +<P> +Two sailors sprang forward with bucket and mop. The captain turned to +Ralph, who could now trace little resemblance in his superior's face +and mien to the bland, almost fatherly man who had welcomed him at the +Marshall House. +</P> + +<P> +"My lad," said Gary, and his voice grated harshly on the ear, "I don't +think the deck agrees with you. Suppose you try the fo'mast head for +an hour. Come! Up you go!" +</P> + +<P> +In his bewilderment Ralph attempted to mount the mainmast ratlines in a +lumbering way. +</P> + +<P> +"Start him up, Long Tom," roared the captain. "The fool don't even +know where the fo'mast is." +</P> + +<P> +Bludson again seized Ralph by the collar, propelled him the length of +the deck and gave him a long boost up the forward ratlines. +</P> + +<P> +Faint from sickness, shivering in his wet clothes, dizzy with the peril +of his position, yet with a rising passion in his heart, the boy began +to ascend. With a shifting foundation under his feet, a stiff wind +flattening him against the shrouds, and a deathly swaying to and fro +that increased as he went higher, he managed to reach the foretop. +Crawling through the lubber hole he rested and held on. +</P> + +<P> +"Up with you!" shouted the captain, but Ralph gave no heed. +</P> + +<P> +He was weak, faint and dizzy. The heaving plain below made his head +swin [Transcriber's note: swim?]. The schooner's deck looked fearfully +small. +</P> + +<P> +Casting his eye upward, he saw a narrowing ladder of rope shooting to a +mere dot of a resting place twenty feet above him. It did not look as +if a monkey could have held on there. +</P> + +<P> +"Why in the —— don't you go on!" roared Gary, who was now pale with +contained fury. +</P> + +<P> +"I think the lad is sick, sir," said Duff, who happened to be near. +"See—by heavens!—he has fainted." +</P> + +<P> +"The kid is shamming," growled the first mate, whose watch it now was. +"A dose of the paddle would bring him to, I'll warrant." +</P> + +<P> +"I think you are right, Rucker," said Gary without paying any heed to +the second mate. "Lay for'ard there two of you and lash him to the +topmast shrouds. He shall have his hour up there, dead or alive, then +we'll settle his shamming." +</P> + +<P> +Two sailors, seizing some loose line, ran up the foremast to where +Ralph had sunk back in a swoon, overcome by the combined effects of +illness and the terrors of his position. +</P> + +<P> +Lifting him to his feet, they bound him to the topmast ratlines so that +his feet rested on the little platform. As they came down one said to +the other: +</P> + +<P> +"He ain't shamming. The lad is sick enough for a doctor, that's what +'e is, mate." +</P> + +<P> +"Shet up," quoth his companion. "Let the captain hear you and he'll +put you on bread and water for three days, if no worse comes. Every +tub stands on its own bottom in this craft." +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile Neb had served breakfast in the cabin. Gary and Rucker went +down, Duff taking the first mate's place. +</P> + +<P> +This was the second mate's first voyage with Captain Gary, and he +furtively sympathized with Ralph, but such is the force of discipline +on shipboard that he dared not show his feelings openly. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a burning shame," thought he, "to punish a land lubber of a boy +the first day he ever spent at sea. Sugar wouldn't melt in Gary's +mouth when I went to him for a job, but now the tune is changed. And +to cap all, nobody seems to know where we're bound, unless it may be +Rucker. The crew know nothing, except that we're provisioned for a +long voyage, with a lot of stuff locked up in the hold as no one has +seen yet." +</P> + +<P> +He glanced up at the helpless boy, then shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Hut tut! Are you sick of this cruise already, Jacob Duff? This will +never do. You're in for it, so make the most of your luck, even if it +turns out you do have a fiend for a skipper." +</P> + +<P> +When Gary and his first officer returned, Duff went below. But as he +ate, his thoughts reverted so persistently to Ralph's predicament that +he grew impatient with himself. After finishing his meal he lay down +in his berth and tried to sleep. Some time had elapsed when he was +aroused by a sound of furious objurgation on deck. +</P> + +<P> +He rose, took his cap and crept up the companionway. Captain Gary was +standing by the weather rail of the quarter deck, where with clenched +hands and violent gestures, he was pouring forth a flood of profane +vituperation such as Duff had seldom heard equaled. +</P> + +<P> +Before him was Ralph, still so weak as to require the support which +Long Tom was roughly giving him, yet gazing on his infuriated commander +with a steady unflinching scorn. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me you won't, eh?" stormed the captain, his feminine air and +aspect completely lost in a mien of scowling ferocity. "By the +living—but what's the use of swearing! Down with him to the sweat +box, and if that don't tame him we'll try the paddle afterward. +</P> + +<P> +"Captain Gary," interrupted Ralph undauntedly, "if I had known you +yesterday as I know you now, I'd have seen you dead before I'd a been +here today. I'm weak, I know; you may tie and starve me, but if you +ever have me beaten—make it a good job." +</P> + +<P> +Gary seemed momentarily paralyzed at such independence, then out of +sheer amazement hissed forth sneeringly: +</P> + +<P> +"Will your impudence tell me why?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because I'll kill you!" exclaimed Ralph, with such concentrated energy +of tone and accent, that Duff trembled inwardly for the boy's safety. +"I know I'm in your power now, but I'd do it ten years from now if I +had to wait so long. I never knew a mountain man to take a beating +yet, without he got even—never!" +</P> + +<P> +Such unheard of insolence appeared to deprive Gary of words wherewith +to do the situation justice. +</P> + +<P> +"You know what I want!" he roared at Bludson, as he left the deck. +"See that it is done!" +</P> + +<P> +The boatswain at once collared Ralph and took him forward, where both +disappeared in the forecastle. +</P> + +<P> +While this scene was being enacted, Rucker leaned against the stern +rail idly picking his teeth, as his dull, hard eye glanced alternately +from the vessel's course to the parties most concerned. +</P> + +<P> +"What in heaven's name is it all about?" asked Duff, when the two men +were alone but for the man at the wheel, who appeared to give no heed. +"What has the boy done?" +</P> + +<P> +"He's too independent," replied the first mate. "He can't do nothing; +he couldn't even climb the fo'mast or walk the deck in a breeze. Such +green uns has no business bein' independent aboard ship. If I was +captain I'd a had him triced up to the mast and the paddle a going +afore now." +</P> + +<P> +"The lad never saw a ship till yesterday. Isn't it a little rough to +expect him to find his sea legs in half an hour? He was seasick to +boot." +</P> + +<P> +"Sea—thunder! You never sailed with Captain Gary afore, did you?" +Rucker regarded his junior with a peculiar smile. "I thought not. +Well—I have. I'll give you a pointer. He'd rather send this ship to +the bottom any time than stand any nonsense. That's him; and I'm sort +o' built that way myself." +</P> + +<P> +Duff made no response, and soon returned to his stateroom, where he +remained until his own watch was called. He was a good sailor and a +nervy sort of a man, but there was something so peculiarly devilish in +the contrast presented by Gary's slight, feminine person and his +abnormal exhibition of rage that the second mate began to doubt whether +he had done wisely in shipping with an unknown captain on an unknown +voyage for the sake of mere high wages. +</P> + +<P> +He finally fell asleep until wakened by the sound of two bells being +struck, followed by the hoarse cry of: +</P> + +<P> +"Starb'd watch on deck, ahoy!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Bad Weather. +</H3> + + +<P> +When the second mate reached the deck the wind had freshened still +more. In the southwest a low lying bank of slate colored cloud was +slowly diffusing itself over that quarter of the heavens. +</P> + +<P> +Under its lower edge, was a coppery hued, wind streaked border, that +glistened in a dull way. +</P> + +<P> +"The barometer is falling," remarked Rucker as he prepared to go below. +"We're going to have a nasty spell, I guess. You might take a double +reef in that jib if it gets worse. If there's any shortnin' of sail +beyond that, call the captain." +</P> + +<P> +In his walk to and fro the second mate's thoughts reverted to Ralph +occasionally and he took pains later on, to ask Neb if the boy had had +anything to eat. +</P> + +<P> +"Nuttin' but braid an' water, suh. Capn's orders." +</P> + +<P> +"It's a shame," thought Duff. "The lad's sick, so I don't reckon he's +hungry; but he ought to have something more strengthening than that. I +wonder what kind of a hole this sweat box is?" +</P> + +<P> +But as the weather grew worse, Mr. Duff's attention was necessarily +given entirely to the management of the vessel when on watch, and +during his hours off, he usually slept away his fatigue. +</P> + +<P> +The storm that gradually rose lasted, with varying fury, for three +days. The Curlew proved herself a stanch and buoyant craft, easily +controlled and as stiff under sail as a two decker. +</P> + +<P> +It was well for all hands that this was so, for the cyclone was a +dangerous one, being a stray tempest from that center breeding place of +storms, the West Indies. On the second day the two strong men who were +required to steer had to be lashed to the wheel. Great combers +occasionally swept the decks from bow to stern. After one of these the +little schooner would rise, staggering not unlike a drunken man, the +brine pouring in torrents from the scuppers, and the very hull +quivering from the shock of the impact of those tons of water. +</P> + +<P> +The hatches were battened down and after the first day Captain Gary +never left the deck. He had food and drink brought to him, as he swung +to the weather shrouds, where he at times lashed himself, to avoid +being washed overboard. +</P> + +<P> +He was the coolest man on the ship, never losing either presence of +mind or a certain lightness of spirits, totally unlike the apparently +ungovernable fury that possessed him when crossed by any one under his +authority. His slight figure and gloved white hands seemed endowed +with muscles of steel; he was, to all appearance, impervious to fatigue +or fear. +</P> + +<P> +"He's a sailor, right," exclaimed Duff one day to Rucker, after Gary +had brought the schooner unscathed through a mountainous wave that had +threatened to overwhelm everything. "I will say this for him, he knows +how to handle a ship." +</P> + +<P> +"I should say!" declared the first mate. "There ain't his ekal +nowhere. I've sailed with him and I know." +</P> + +<P> +When the weather moderated and the schooner, after being tidied up, was +plunging along with a double reefed fore and single reefed mainsail, +and every one was breathing freely, Duff again thought of Ralph. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor fellow," said he to himself, "it's been tougher on him than any +of us. He must have thought we were going to Davy Jones any time these +three days." +</P> + +<P> +Not long after this he saw Long Tom bearing away a covered tin dish +from the galley, and hastened to join the boatswain. +</P> + +<P> +"Is that the kid's grub?" he demanded, taking off the lid and surveying +the contents. "Tis, eh? Well, see here, Bludson, I call it a crying +shame. Bread and water still! Heave ahead. I am going to see what +kind of a place this sweat box is." +</P> + +<P> +The boatswain would have remonstrated, but Duff ordered him on +peremptorily. He led the way therefore to a trap door in the floor of +the men's quarters in the forecastle. +</P> + +<P> +Passing through this with a lighted lantern they pushed forward into +the very bow of the vessel, where a small space—three cornered—was +walled in. Inside was a form crouched in a corner. +</P> + +<P> +The whole area was a mere closet, not only pitch dark within, but +several feet below water level and with but a couple of inches of +planking between a prisoner and the swashing, gurgling billows outside. +</P> + +<P> +"Ralph," called Duff, "are you all right, my lad?" +</P> + +<P> +"Here, boy," said Tom, setting down the tin vessel, "wake up and eat a +bite. Mayhap cap'n will let you out before long. He's in a good humor +today." +</P> + +<P> +But Ralph did not move. Duff raised him in his arms. +</P> + +<P> +The boy was insensible, either from fright, exhaustion, or the lack of +suitable food. The mate's anger rose within him like a torrent. +</P> + +<P> +"This is simply brutal!—it is infamous. Lead the way out of here, +bos'n; or—stay! Go to Captain Gary and say that Mr. Duff wants him to +come here right away." +</P> + +<P> +"It's as much as my life's worth, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Go on I tell you!" Duff was white to the lips, "D'ye want to see +murder done? This lad's life is at stake, I say." +</P> + +<P> +While Tom went off grumbling, the second mate bathed Ralph's face with +water from a jug he found, and chafed his hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor fellow! If I lose my job and am put here with him, I will speak +out. The boy hasn't had a decent thing to eat since he came aboard." +</P> + +<P> +Presently the flicker of Tom's lantern was seen again. The captain was +behind him, and in no good humor over the message he had received. +</P> + +<P> +The dash and swirl of water outside was incessant and deafening. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Duff," said Gary in his most grating tones, "who gave you the +authority to interfere with my designs regarding this insolent +youngster?" +</P> + +<A NAME="img-160"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-160.jpg" ALT=""Mr. Duff," said Gary in his most grating tones, "who gave you the authority to interfere with my designs regarding this insolent youngster?"" BORDER="2" WIDTH="379" HEIGHT="630"> +<H3> +[Illustration: "Mr. Duff," said Gary in his most grating tones, <BR> +"who gave you the authority to interfere with my designs <BR> +regarding this insolent youngster?"] +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Duff's first reply was to bring Ralph's pale, inanimate face under the +light. +</P> + +<P> +"Captain Gary," said he, "I profess to be a man—not a brute. I +recognize your authority, but when I see murder about to be done—it's +time to say something." +</P> + +<P> +The captain looked around as if to find a weapon wherewith to strike +his subordinate down, while in his eye shone a dull spark. He did not +look at Ralph, but controlled himself by a mighty effort. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," he was able to say at last, "if the kid is in any danger, +that alters the state of the case. But I dare say he is shamming." +</P> + +<P> +"Shamming! Look at his eyes; feel of his pulse." +</P> + +<P> +The captain declined these offices. He bit his nether lip instead and +regarded Duff in a peculiar way, as the latter continued his efforts to +resuscitate the boy. +</P> + +<P> +"We have no ship's doctor on board as you know," said Gary. "However, +take him to a bunk in the men's quarters and tell the cook to make him +some broth. He'll come round; then we will see how he behaves. Do you +understand, Mr. Duff?" +</P> + +<P> +"Aye, aye, sir. Give the boy a chance and I think he will come out all +right." +</P> + +<P> +Here Ralph showed signs of animation. He twisted himself as if in +pain, then muttered: +</P> + +<P> +"If he beats me I—I—shall—kill him! Shan't I—grandpa? You +drove—me—away—cause I wouldn't—cause I—wouldn't——" He became +unintelligible for a moment, but finally burst forth with feeble energy +again. "Let him starve me—shut me up—but—let him keep his hands +off—hands off." +</P> + +<P> +The dull spark in Captain Gary's eyes seemed to enlarge and twinkle as +the boy uttered these words in a semi-drowsy, spasmodic way. Presently +the partially rolled up eyes opened in a natural manner and blinked +feebly at the light. +</P> + +<P> +At this juncture a loud cry was heard from aloft of: +</P> + +<P> +"S-a-i-l h-o!" +</P> + +<P> +The captain turned away as if the interruption were a welcome one to +him. +</P> + +<P> +"Stow that lad and see to him," he repeated, then added sternly: "Be +assured of one thing, Mr. Duff, I will not forget your part in this +affair." +</P> + +<P> +"Aye, aye, sir," replied the second mate, as the captain walked off. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Boarded by a Cruiser. +</H3> + + +<P> +Ralph was borne up into the men's quarters and placed in one of the +most comfortable bunks. +</P> + +<P> +Pretty soon down came Neb with a steaming dish of stewed chicken, and a +good supply of broth. This, with a ship's biscuit and a cup of coffee, +were fed slowly to the lad by one of the sailors, until he was strong +enough to help himself. +</P> + +<P> +"That's cabin grub, lad," remarked the sailor. "Second mate ordered it +himself." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph, with the horror of those three days of darkness, and pitching, +and churning seas still upon him, thanked his stars that he seemed to +have one friend on board. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, on deck all hands were watching the approach of a large +steamship that was bearing down upon the Curlew to windward. The +schooner was sailing with the wind abeam. +</P> + +<P> +Presently the captain, who was examining the stranger through a glass, +ordered the helmsman to "ease away a bit." +</P> + +<P> +The Curlew fell off more before the wind, when it was seen that the +steamer slightly changed her course so as to meet the altered movements +of the schooner. +</P> + +<P> +Gary and Rucker now put their heads together, then the first mate, +summoning the boatswain, disappeared below. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold her up a little, Mr. Duff," said the captain to the second +officer, who was once more at his post. "She is a man of war, I think, +and though I have no love for their prying ways, we must not seem to +want to avoid her, now that she evidently intends to speak us." +</P> + +<P> +So the schooner's head was put to windward, and the two vessels rapidly +drew near each other. +</P> + +<P> +It could soon be seen that the stranger was an armored cruiser, of +great power and speed. +</P> + +<P> +"Run up the Stars and Stripes," said Gary. "Let him see what we are. +Perhaps he'll be satisfied and pass on." +</P> + +<P> +This was done, but evoked no response from the cruiser, now less than a +mile away. Suddenly the warship swung gracefully around, showing along +her dull gray side a row of guns, while over bow and stern loomed two +immense cannon of a caliber sufficient to sink the Curlew at a single +discharge. +</P> + +<P> +Several little flags followed one another up to the cruiser's mastheads. +</P> + +<P> +"Get out the code, Mr. Duff," ordered the captain. "He's signaling. +What in the mischief can he want?" +</P> + +<P> +Duff plunged into the cabin, reappearing a moment later with the signal +book. Opening this, he compared the flags as seen through the glass +with similar ones in the book, and their meanings. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" said the captain impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +"He orders us to heave to under his quarter. Says he is going to send +a boat aboard. +</P> + +<P> +"The deuce he is! Well, I suppose we might as well do as he says. +Strikes me as a pretty high handed proceeding though, in time of peace. +Look! There go his colors at last. British, by thunder!" +</P> + +<P> +As the cross of St. George unfolded to the breeze, Captain Gary, +looking somewhat anxious, bade Duff obey the cruiser's order; then +hastened below in the wake of his first mate and boatswain. +</P> + +<P> +By the time the Curlew had rounded to, a boat was leaving the warship's +side as she lay broadside, hardly a quarter of a mile off. Though the +sea was still rough, six pair of oars brought the boat spinning over +the waves. +</P> + +<P> +Two officers were in the stern sheets, one of whom—a young third +lieutenant—was soon on the deck of the schooner. +</P> + +<P> +At this juncture Captain Gary reappeared, followed by Rucker. Long Tom +had already gone forward. +</P> + +<P> +"What schooner is this?" demanded the officer, after the first +salutations had passed. +</P> + +<P> +"I should like to know first what right you have to ask that question," +replied Gary in his most suave manner. "These are times of peace, when +every one is privileged to attend to his own affairs, I believe." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, when his affairs are not injurious to others. There is surely no +harm in asking a vessel's name." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it customary to stop them on the high seas, and send a boat aboard +to find out?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, yes—under certain circumstances." The lieutenant smiled. +"Especially so when we are under orders to that effect. To be plain, +sir, we suspect you of being engaged in an unlawful enterprise." +</P> + +<P> +As may be supposed, Duff was paying the closest attention, for he and +most others on board had shipped, not knowing the object of the voyage, +but tempted by the high wages. +</P> + +<P> +"You do, eh." It was Gary's turn to smile now. "You men o' war's men +often make mistakes as well as other people. This is the Curlew, four +days out of Savannah, in ballast, and bound for Bermuda." +</P> + +<P> +"You are clear out of your course, if that is the case." +</P> + +<P> +"The storm did that for us. We had a three days' siege of it." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, let me see your papers and take a look through the hold. It can +do no harm." +</P> + +<P> +"None in the least," replied the captain. +</P> + +<P> +He then ordered the main hatch opened as he escorted the officer down +to the cabin in order to inspect the ship's papers. +</P> + +<P> +Rucker followed. Duff, impelled by curiosity, watched the opening of +the hatch, which had remained closely sealed ever since he had been +aboard. +</P> + +<P> +An apparently empty hold was all that rewarded his eye, except for the +usual stores and provisions necessary for a long voyage. +</P> + +<P> +"If Bermuda is really our port, we've got grub enough, and to spare," +thought he as he returned to the quarter-deck. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile the lieutenant, after a thorough inspection of the hold, +returned to the open air. He still seemed unsatisfied, and cast +curious glances here and there over the vessel's trim proportions. +Finally he gave it up. +</P> + +<P> +"Your papers seem to be all right," he said, "and you certainly have no +cargo, though you are provisioned for a voyage round the world, I +should say." +</P> + +<P> +"Barrels of meal," said the captain. "My owner had a lot on hand, and +thought it might fetch a better price in the Bermudas than at home. We +can trade it for potatoes." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I wish you success," added the officer, pausing at the ladder, +and touching his cap to Gary and the mates. "Pardon whatever +inconvenience we may have occasioned." +</P> + +<P> +He went down the side, the boat pulled back to the cruiser, and the +latter steamed away westward. +</P> + +<P> +The Curlew, holding east, soon helped to place her dangerous neighbor +hull down, when Captain Gary gave the order for all hands to be +summoned aft. The crew came tumbling back into the waist, a swarthy, +brawny, reckless looking set of men. Two of them brought Ralph up and +set him down on a coil of rope. +</P> + +<P> +The warm meal, the sight of human faces, the sounds of life and light, +had already renewed his strength and spirits. He was no longer so ill, +and the bright sunlight and the heaving waves sent a sort of thrill +through him. The sea was not all terrible after all. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, men," began the captain, when all had assumed a decorous silence, +"what do you think that war ship supposed we were?" +</P> + +<P> +There was no reply to this, though the men looked at each other, then +turned to their commander, as if expecting an answer. The captain +broke into a harsh laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Why," he continued, "they thought this ship was the famous slaver, the +Wanderer. I guess you've all heard of the Wanderer." +</P> + +<P> +Yes, they had. Duff noticed that Rucker and Long Tom were the only two +who seemed to be indifferent to this announcement. +</P> + +<P> +One or two of the sailors winked at each other as if the news that was +to come would not be very much of a surprise, after all. +</P> + +<P> +"We are so far advanced on our way," continued the captain, "that I +have concluded to let you know who and what we are and where we are +bound. In case we are liable to another overhauling you can better +assist in throwing the intermeddlers off the true scent. +</P> + +<P> +"We fooled them this time, but that was because the boarding officer +was a green one. If an old hand at the business comes aboard it may be +necessary to chuck him over the side and run for it. Therefore it is +right you should know things, in order the more intelligently to obey +orders. +</P> + +<P> +"This schooner is the Wanderer, men. You have shipped on the Wanderer, +bound for the coast of Guinea after negroes for the Cuba market. How +does that suit you? +</P> + +<P> +"If there are any grumblers, speak up. You've got high wages, light +work, good grub, and a chance—if you stand by the ship—to share in +the profits at the end of the voyage. Now, what d'ye say?" +</P> + +<P> +There was some muttering and laying of heads together on the part of +the crew, then one old salt pulled off his cap, ducked his head, and +after carefully transferring a quid of tobacco from his mouth to his +pocket, said: +</P> + +<P> +"If so be the rest don't care, I don't. If so be some on us had knowed +afore we shipped what kind of cargo we was after, we might have thought +twice afore we signed. Niggers is niggers. Some say they is humans, +some say they ain't. But this here shippin' 'em like two legged cattle +be mighty resky nowadays. Less'n we make a heap." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you shut up!" interrupted the captain, laughing. "All the +scruples any of you have is concerning the money there is in the +cruise. Am I right?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, a man's obleeged to look out for number one, cap'n," responded +the fellow, falling back and restoring his quid to his left jaw. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph seemed about to speak, but as Gary's cold, hard eye fell on the +lad, prudence bade him hold his peace. Besides he did not more than +half comprehend the nature of the captain's explanation. +</P> + +<P> +The face of the second mate was a picture of disgust and irresolution. +He said nothing, however, until the captain went below. Then he +followed. +</P> + +<P> +"Captain Gary," said he, when the two were alone in the cabin, "you +should have had my right hand sooner than have got me off on such a +cruise had I known its object before I signed with you." +</P> + +<P> +"I know you," replied Gary somewhat scornfully. "You have just about +conscience enough not to violate your word when the sacrifice would be +too great. Of course you don't approve. I never asked for your +approval; wouldn't give a cent for it if I had it. But you signed—for +high wages—to go wherever I choose to sail. Is not that so?" +</P> + +<P> +"In one sense, yes. But a slaver now is little better than a pirate. +You should have been more open." +</P> + +<P> +"And you less greedy for money. I say you are in for it. There is no +chance to secure another mate, and I intend to see that you do your +duty." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Nearing the Gold Coast. +</H3> + + +<P> +The two men regarded each other steadily for a moment, then the mate +heaved a sigh. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't care for your threats," said he. "It's that same conscience +of mine which you think so little of that troubles me. As long as I am +your second mate I shall do my duty. But I give you fair warning: when +we get to port, if there is another ship where a man can get a job I +shall leave you." +</P> + +<P> +"You'll leave without your pay, then," retorted the captain. +</P> + +<P> +Duff, without replying, left the cabin. He had explained his +sentiments, and that was all he could do at present. In his succeeding +round of ship inspection he was halted in the forecastle by Ralph, who +had lain down again. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mr. Duff, won't you please explain to me what the captain meant +when he said we were bound after negroes for the Cuban market." +</P> + +<P> +"It's plain as your nose, my lad. We are going to the west coast of +Africa—somewhere about the Congo, I guess. There we take on a load of +Gold Coast darkies, fetch 'em over to Cuba, run 'em in after night, +then get away—if we can. If we get captured we'll all get a term in +Morro Castle or some other Spanish hole, and lose everything we've got. +Oh, it's a nasty business the——" +</P> + +<P> +Here Mr. Duff broke off, remembering that he was saying too much before +a cabin boy. But Ralph detained him by the sleeve. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought the negroes were all freed." +</P> + +<P> +"At home they are. But in Cuba and Brazil they are not, although the +prospect is that they will be set at liberty before long. The best +sentiment of the world is against slavery, you know.' +</P> + +<P> +"And what we're up to is worse than all the rest, isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; it is a vile business. But look here, my lad. Whether you like +the job or not, you've shipped, and that means everything on shipboard. +Make the best of it while you're with us; when you're away it's another +thing." +</P> + +<P> +"If you think so badly of it," persisted Ralph, "why did you ship, Mr. +Duff?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because, like most of the others, I went it blind for the sake of high +wages. I had an idea we were on a smuggling trip. I suppose you were +too green to know anything." +</P> + +<P> +"I left everything to Captain Gary. But I say, Mr. Duff, I think with +you that it is a low, mean business." +</P> + +<P> +"H-s-s-h!" The mate made a warning gesture and turned away, just as +Mr. Rucker thrust his bushy beard down the fore hatch, preceded by his +burly legs and body. +</P> + +<P> +The first officer looked sharply at Ralph as the boy lay in his +hammock, which he had at last slung. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll report for duty in the cabin tomorrow, my lad," said he. +"Captain's orders. There won't be much shirking on this ship, whether +or no." +</P> + +<P> +After the storm, the wind and weather remained fair for many days, +during which the Wanderer (as she was now called) glided into the +tropics, and justified her fame on the score of speed. +</P> + +<P> +One day a cry of "Land ho!" was raised. Half an hour later the +irregular heights of the Cape Verde Islands began to be visible from +the deck. But the schooner bore away to the southeast and no close +view was obtained. +</P> + +<P> +It was a lonely voyage. Scarcely any vessels were passed, and the +captain avoided these in so far as he could. It was his policy to +follow a route as little traveled as possible. +</P> + +<P> +The glaring sun, bright skies, and even trade winds of these regions +were like a new world to Ralph. At night the extreme brilliancy of the +stars, framed in new and strange constellations, and the vivid play of +phosphorescent waves, kept him on deck with Mr. Duff at times for hours. +</P> + +<P> +These two, though so widely separated by rank, were congenial in a +furtive way. Perhaps the mutual knowledge that both so heartily +disapproved of the object of the voyage, was a subtle link between them. +</P> + +<P> +Though awkward enough at first, Ralph persevered so faithfully in +acquiring a knowledge of his new duties, that he slowly won the +approval of every one on board, unless it might have been the captain. +Gary preserved a sphinx-like attitude, never sparing the boy, never +praising him, nor manifesting by any sign an atom of that feminine +graciousness of manner that had on shore first won the lad over. +</P> + +<P> +But Ralph's growing proficiency in a seaman's tasks was such, that on +Rucker's advice, he was put before the mast altogether, after one of +the sailors had broken several ribs by falling from aloft during a +squall. The injured man, as soon as he was able, took Ralph's place in +the cabin. +</P> + +<P> +As they approached the African coast, alternate fogs and calms delayed +their progress somewhat. The fogs were a protection from prying +vessels, but the calms proved to be an unmitigated nuisance. +</P> + +<P> +The ocean would be like shining glass beneath a vertical shower of the +sun's rays that, at times, rendered the deck almost unendurable. +Awnings were stretched and for hours and even days the Wanderer would +lie almost motionless, except for the impalpable swell from which the +bosom of the sea is never entirely free. +</P> + +<P> +One dull, damp morning, when the decks were slippery with moisture and +a curtain of mist veiled everything beyond a hundred yards, Ralph, who +was in the foretop on the lookout, fancied that he detected a sound +somewhat different from the usual noises surrounding a vessel even in a +calm. +</P> + +<P> +They were nearing the land, as the captain's last reckoning showed, yet +soundings taken not half an hour previous, had discovered no bottom at +a depth of several hundred feet. Ralph called to a sailor below to ask +the second mate to come forward. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what now, Granger?" demanded Duff from the main deck. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph had hardly explained, before the mate sprang up the rigging to +the lad's side. The trained ear of the officer instantly divined what +might be the matter. +</P> + +<P> +"Down with you, Ralph," said he, hurrying to the deck himself. "Pipe +up all hands and shorten sail!" he shouted to the boatswain, then +emerging from the forecastle. "Lively now!" +</P> + +<P> +The schooner was under full canvas, with the purpose of making the most +of what little air might be stirring. A moment before, the most +profound repose was reigning, but with the shrill call that instantly +rang out, all was changed to a scene of the most intense activity. +</P> + +<P> +Men came tumbling up to join the watch on deck in lowering two of the +jibs, and reefing a third, while the great fore and aft sails were +reduced to less than half their size in a twinkling. +</P> + +<P> +Orders came sharp and fast, three seamen in each top were hastily +lowering and lashing the topsails, when the sound heard by Ralph, and +which had rapidly increased to a sputtering roar, was split as it were +by a crash of thunder. The fog melted away like a dissolving dream, +showing beyond the burst of sunlight, a coppery cloud that swept the +ocean to windward, driving before it a line of hissing foam. +</P> + +<P> +By this time captain and first mate were up. The Wanderer lay without +headway, though bobbing slowly as a slight whiff of air stirred the +flattened mainsail. +</P> + +<P> +"Meet her! Meet her, Mr. Duff!" shouted Gary, instantly realizing the +coming peril. +</P> + +<P> +The men were tumbling from the tops, Ralph among the last, for though +ordered down by the considerate mate, he returned with the others when +the topsails were to be stowed. +</P> + +<P> +Duff and two old hands were at the wheel; others were lashing loose +articles, when with a scream and a screech, the squall was upon them. +</P> + +<P> +At that season and on that coast, these sudden commotions are +especially treacherous and full of peril. Coming, as it were from +nowhere, either on the heels of fog or calm, their advent is doubly +dreaded by the unwary mariner. When the blast struck the schooner, +over she heeled, and in a trice the lee scuppers were seething with +brine. Each man clung to something for life, as the deck sloped like a +house roof. +</P> + +<P> +"Ease her! Ease her!" roared the captain from the main weather +bobstays. "For your lives, men! Shove her nose up in the wind." +</P> + +<P> +The scud, as it struck the port bow, flew like shot across the deck. +So acute was the shriek of the wind, even shouted orders could hardly +be heard. +</P> + +<P> +The Wanderer, trembling like a living thing, slowly—at first almost +imperceptibly—rose from the blows hammering at her sides like thunder. +There was a long moment of intense, even agonizing suspense, then she +began to forge ahead, buffeted, battered, heeling dizzily still to +leeward, yet—saved, for the time being at least. +</P> + +<P> +"That was a close call, captain," remarked Duff as the two stood +together five minutes later, clinging to the weather shrouds. +</P> + +<P> +"I should say so. Who first heard the thing coming?" +</P> + +<P> +"Young Granger, I believe. There's good stuff in that lad, I make bold +to say." +</P> + +<P> +These words shouted into Gary's ear, for the squall was still at its +height, caused a deep scowl to settle on the captain's brow. He turned +away without a word. +</P> + +<P> +"Gary doesn't like that boy for some reason," was the mate's inward +comment. "I wonder why?" +</P> + +<P> +After twenty minutes of wind so furious that the sea was fairly +flattened, the squall ceased almost as suddenly as it had begun, before +the great ocean billows had time to rise. But in that short interval a +jib had been blown into ribbons and the foresail torn loose from its +treble reefing points. A great rent was made by its violent flappings +before it could be again secured. In the struggle one man was knocked +insensible, so severe were the surgings of the boom, as the heavy +canvas jarred the whole ship with its cannon-like reports. +</P> + +<P> +One result was a fair after breeze and a clear sky. The schooner +bowled along at a nine knot gait, while the men worked cheerily to +repair the slight injuries occasioned by the squall. +</P> + +<P> +That day the trailing smoke of a steamer was indistinctly seen in the +southern horizon. The helm was instantly put about and the Wanderer +hauled up on a northeast course, which was maintained all day. +</P> + +<P> +The captain and first mate took careful reckonings more than once, +verifying each other's castings of their latitude and longitude. It +became generally understood that land was close at hand and an air of +expectancy became general on board. +</P> + +<P> +The succeeding night was cloudless in the earlier part. Later on a +mist slowly inclosed them as they neared the coast. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph sat up late, for he was vaguely excited at the prospect of +beholding what was to him a new world. But he gave out at last and +turned in, intending, however, to be on deck at the first notice of +land. Youth sleeps sound, and his next conscious sensation was that of +being rudely shaken. +</P> + +<P> +"On deck with you, boy," said the sailor who had roused him. "Going to +snooze all day?" +</P> + +<P> +He leaped from his hammock, and ran up the companionway. Then an +exclamation of astonishment burst from his lips. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Up the River. +</H3> + + +<P> +The Wanderer lay in a small, land locked harbor, densely surrounded by +a strange and wonderful growth of forest, that completely concealed the +shore behind. +</P> + +<P> +Near by, though hidden beyond a neck of land, one could hear the roar +of breakers. At the opposite extremity, the harbor was elongated, as +if some stream were entering beneath a giant growth of overhanging +foliage. +</P> + +<P> +The little bay was no more than a quarter of a mile across, nor was +there any sign of human presence other than that presented by the +schooner and her crew. She was anchored mid-stream, and Ralph could +perceive a sluggish, muddy current making towards an inlet that was +partially concealed by several small islets, densely covered by +mangroves. +</P> + +<P> +"Granger, I want you," said the second mate from the quarter deck. +"Take three hands and make ready the ship's yawl alongside." +</P> + +<P> +In obedience to this, Ralph, with the requisite aid, soon had the large +boat that rested amid-ships, swinging by a painter to the schooner's +side. Mr. Duff then directed two pair of oars, a keg of water and some +cooked provisions and bedding to be placed aboard. +</P> + +<P> +"I want you, Ralph, and you, Ben, to go along." +</P> + +<P> +The Ben to whom the mate alluded was a broadfaced Englishman, who had +been the spokesman on the occasion when Gary had made known to the crew +the object and destination of his voyage. He had expressed himself +once or twice since then unfavorably, to his mates, and had been +rebuked by Long Tom in consequence. +</P> + +<P> +Duff disappeared below, but soon returned with three Winchester rifles +and the same number of cutlasses. He handed one of each to the other +two, saying to Ralph: +</P> + +<P> +"I guess you can shoot, can't you? I hear you mountaineers are hard to +beat with a long rifle." +</P> + +<P> +"I can shoot a squirrel's head off with grandfather's old gun four +times out of five. But this here short, double barreled thing don't +look good for much." +</P> + +<P> +Duff laughed, then briefly explained the purpose of the magazine and +showed him how to work the mechanism. Ralph, though still dubious, +said nothing, and resolved to test for himself the wonderful qualities +of the modern breech loader, which the average mountaineer distrusts in +proportion to his ignorance. +</P> + +<P> +The boy noticed that the most of the crew, together with the captain +and first mate, were absent. Only Bludson, with three or four sailors, +were left on board, after Duff and his boatmen were pulling towards the +mouth of the river above. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, lads," said Long Tom, "look alive. We've got to get the hold +ready against cap'n gets back with the first batch. We're rid of the +squeamish ones, I reckon. 'Fore they come in with their meat we'll be +loaded; that is, s'posin' they show up in time." +</P> + +<P> +The boatswain grinned in a knowing, mirthless way, that his assistants +seemed to understand, for they responded in kind. The main hatch was +then opened and an iron grating substituted. +</P> + +<P> +Between the main hold and the cabin was a strong bulkhead with a double +door, strongly barred and padlocked. This was thrown open and a four +pound howitzer mounted in the gangway in such a manner that when the +upper half of the door was thrown open, the gun could rake the hold +from end to end. +</P> + +<P> +Water butts were set up where water could be handed inside by the +bucket. From store rooms on either side of the gangway, long chains +with short fetters attached at intervals were brought out and stretched +across the hold about seven feet apart and about a foot from the floor. +Ankle cuffs that closed with spring locks were attached to these +fetters. +</P> + +<P> +In these storerooms were placed the barrels of provisions that had +deceived the lieutenant. Then Bludson and his assistants passed the +next few hours in throwing overboard the ballast that had been stowed +at Tybee Island in far away America. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile Duff and his companions entered the river, which seemed to be +a small stream flowing deviously through a low, half swampy region, +where insects swarmed and many kinds of strange animals and bird life +were to be seen. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph, to try his Winchester, shot at a blue heron on the wing and made +the feathers fly. +</P> + +<P> +"Try it again," urged Duff sharply. "Quick now." +</P> + +<P> +A second shot brought down the bird, and Ralph's opinion of breech +loaders was raised at once. +</P> + +<P> +For several hours they pulled up stream, the mate taking his turn at +the oars with the others. The trees rose to a gigantic height, while +the interlacing undergrowth was at some places impenetrable. +</P> + +<P> +About eleven they halted, mooring the boat to a fallen tree half +imbedded in the water. Deep shadows from the overhanging foliage +screened them from the now scorching sunlight. After a lunch on dried +beef and biscuit, the mate suggested a siesta for an hour or two until +it should be cool enough to proceed. Ralph volunteered to keep watch, +though there did not seem to be much necessity for vigilance. The +whole vast forest and all life within its folds appeared to be steeped +in tropical midday repose. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said the mate, as he and Ben bestowed themselves in the bottom +of the boat on some blankets, "if you get too sleepy call Ben. We'll +have to cover our heads on account of these wretched gnats and +mosquitos." +</P> + +<P> +While the two slumbered, Ralph amused himself at first by examining the +mechanism of his Winchester. Tiring of this he fell into a reverie so +deep that he hardly realized that he was dozing until roused to +wakefulness by a slight pressure upon his hat, which was pulled forward +over his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +His first impulse was to start up, but a long, skeleton leg with tiny +claws at the end—horribly hairy in a miniature way—slowly protruded +over the front brim of his headgear, sending a curdling chill through +his veins as he wondered what kind of a creature its owner might be. +</P> + +<P> +Thoughts of the strange, poisonous insects of abnormal size, which he +had read of as being common in certain warm countries, coursed through +his mind. If he stirred, the thing might claw or bite, and the merest +scratch was said, in some kinds of these venomous species, to be fatal. +</P> + +<P> +He dared not move, but lay there in a sort of physical coma, though +with every nerve strung to the point of agonized apprehension. +</P> + +<P> +After feeling first with one claw, then another, the creature began to +descend. The first touch upon his face was indescribably loathsome to +Ralph, and as its round, egg-like body came in view, he closed his eyes +and held his breath. +</P> + +<P> +Down to his breast the thing crawled, while the skin of his face +prickled sharply under an imaginary pain. Then he opened his eyes and +beheld a gigantic spider slowly making its way down his clothing. +</P> + +<P> +With a body quite as large as the egg of a hen, and legs in proportion, +it moved slowly, in a groping manner, as if uncertain of its +whereabouts. Ralph fancied he could see its dull, cruel eyes. He lay +as if dead, until the thing had left his person, then recovered his +breath and courage by a vigorous inhalation. +</P> + +<P> +But upon his first move the creature ran along the bottom of the boat +with extraordinary rapidity, and thence along Ben's blanket and body, +pausing only as it reached the sailor's now uncovered head. +</P> + +<P> +There it seemed to look back at Ralph, who did not dare attempt to kill +it, lest it should attack Ben. To his horror the sailor stirred and +opened his eyes drowsily. +</P> + +<P> +"Ben," whispered Ralph, "for goodness sake don't move, as you value +your life. Do as I tell you. It—it may bite you, if you stir." +</P> + +<P> +Ben felt the creature as the boy had done. He lay shivering. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly the great insect turned and made its way from the sailor's neck +to the flooring, then up the side of the boat. Ralph, seizing a rope's +end, struck a furious blow, but missed. With lightning-like speed the +spider ran up the side of the boat, sprang upon the water where it +floated like a feather, and pushed towards shore. +</P> + +<P> +But Ben had seized an oar and now came down with a splash that sent a +shower of spray about and momentarily blinded them both. +</P> + +<P> +"There! Look yonder, Ben!" cried Ralph. "Confound the luck!" +</P> + +<P> +The spider was swiftly crawling up the bank, where it quickly +disappeared beneath a tussock. +</P> + +<P> +"That beats all the creatures I ever seen," said Ben. "He must be the +great grandfather of all the spiders hereabout." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Duff, also awakened by the noise, now suggested that it was time +they were going on. While proceeding up stream Ralph related his own +and Ben's experience with the spider, whereat the mate laughed heartily. +</P> + +<P> +"I am familiar with the species," said he. "True, they do look scary +enough, but, strange to say, they are perfectly harmless. Instead of +teeth, their mouth is supplied with a kind of suction apparatus by +which they suck the blood from smaller insects. But they cannot bite, +nor is their touch poisonous. There are other, smaller kinds of +spiders about here, however, whose bite is fatal." +</P> + +<P> +"We were jist as bad scared as if it had been a rattlesnake," returned +Ben. "I could feel me bloomin' hair turnin' gray when the thing was +cocked upon me shoulder." +</P> + +<P> +Towards night they came to a dozen or more small huts made of palm +leaves and elephant grass, from which issued a number of nearly naked +blacks, who made the air hideous with shouts of welcome. +</P> + +<P> +Here was where they were to trade for fresh meat and vegetables—the +object of their river trip. +</P> + +<P> +One tall savage, with a pair of bullock's horns as a head dress, and +with his hair reeking with grease, coiled round the same, appeared to +be the head man of the village. +</P> + +<P> +He wore a long red flannel shirt as an additional badge of dignity. +The rest, men as well as women, wore little else but cloths about the +loins. +</P> + +<P> +They were a jolly, sociable set though, and gave our party a hut to +themselves, after supplying them with a bountiful supper of "mealies," +bull beef, and a kind of bread made from ground maize and the grated +buds of the cabbage palm. +</P> + +<P> +After that Mr. Duff and the chief began a laborious trade for meat and +vegetables that lasted for an hour or more, and was carried on +principally by signs and gestures. Some red blankets, beads, and cheap +hand mirrors constituted the offers on the part of the mate. +</P> + +<P> +In this way several bushels of potatoes and a lot of green corn were +secured and placed by the natives in the yawl. Meanwhile another +party, taking torches, proceeded to a corral near by, and slaughtered a +fat ox, with great dexterity. This, in its turn, was placed in the +boat, after which all hands prepared to turn in. +</P> + +<P> +"One of us must sleep in the yawl," remarked Duff, "and I guess it +ought to be the lightest sleeper." +</P> + +<P> +Ben volunteered, saying that he would waken, as he expressed it, "at +the bat of a cat's eye." +</P> + +<P> +Leaving Ben in the boat with a blanket and Winchester, the other two +retired to the hut prepared for their reception, and lay down, as they +thought, for the night. Duff was soon asleep, but Ralph remained +wakeful. +</P> + +<P> +To add to his restlessness he soon found his blankets alive with fleas, +from which these native huts are hardly ever free. After fighting and +scratching for an hour or more, he got up and returned to the open air +for relief. +</P> + +<P> +The scene was both weird and dismal. The small clearing, densely +walled in by the forest where the trees sprang nearly two hundred feet +in the air, seemed to be stifling under the compression, though the +feeling was but the resulting languor of a tropic night without a +breeze. Sundry strange and melancholy calls issued in varying cadences +from the wilderness, and an occasional splash from the river denoted +the passage of some huge marine animal. Crocodiles were bellowing +sullenly up stream, and from the closed huts issued the sounds of heavy +slumber. +</P> + +<P> +He was thinking it strange that no one should remain on guard amid a +life so savage and isolated as that of these simple people, when he was +aroused by a touch on his arm, as he sat musing on a log before the +embers of their fire. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A Brush in the Wilderness. +</H3> + + +<P> +Ralph leaped to his feet and presented his ready rifle. But it was +only Ben. The sailor's rugged face wore a look of alarm. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad ye're up," was his first remark. "I don't like the look of +things, though what's stirrin' is more nor I can make out." +</P> + +<P> +"What have yon seen—or heard, for that matter? One can't see much +under this wall of woods all about." +</P> + +<P> +"Divil a bit! So I pricked up me ears for list'nin. The crocydiles +kep' up such a hullabaloo I could hardly hear meself think, but somehow +I caught on to the sound of paddles a goin'. Hist now! Can't 'e hear +that?" +</P> + +<P> +They were at one edge of the village, which was not defended by a +kraal, or stockade, as is often the custom where enemies are feared. +The dense forest undergrowth was not over thirty yards away. +</P> + +<P> +They could now hear certain stealthy sounds, as of some one or +something moving within the timber. +</P> + +<P> +"I will wake Mr. Duff," whispered Ralph. "You go back to the boat, +Ben. They may see us by the fire." +</P> + +<P> +The sailor returned to his post. The lad soon had the mate awake, +listening to his explanation of their uneasiness. +</P> + +<P> +"I will rouse the chief," replied Duff. "You had better rejoin Ben and +wait for me there. If some enemy is really prowling around, our first +duty, after alarming these people, is to defend our boat." +</P> + +<P> +"Hadn't I better remain with you?" suggested Ralph, with the idea that +the greatest danger was in lingering on shore. +</P> + +<P> +"You had better obey orders, lad," returned the mate, not unkindly, +however. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph accordingly gathered the bedding in a bundle and stole down to +the boat, the bow of which was drawn upon the gravelly bank. Hardly +had he reached it when a series of hideous yells issued from the forest +on every side, and a rush of unknown forms could be dimly seen making +for the huddle of huts near the river. +</P> + +<P> +Other figures of men, women, and children, naked and all but +defenseless, emerged from their egg-shaped shelters, some fighting as +best they could, others flying, and all apparently surrounded by a band +of vociferous demons. +</P> + +<P> +"Ben," called Ralph, "keep the boat with your gun. I must go and see +what has become of Mr. Duff." +</P> + +<P> +He sprang ashore, but had hardly climbed the bank when the mate +appeared rifle in hand, cool and collected. +</P> + +<P> +"They are surprised by some predatory party of savages," said Duff. "I +don't think there are much if any firearms on either side, however. I +think we had better help our dusky friends, don't you, boys? They've +treated us white enough." +</P> + +<P> +This was assented to, and the three crawled through the tall grass to +the verge of the village, where more of a massacre than a battle was +now going on. +</P> + +<P> +The villagers were taken at a sad disadvantage, and were surrounded +evidently by superior numbers. The red-shirted chief was on the point +of being clubbed by one tall savage, while desperately engaged with +another. Ralph, seeing this, leveled his gun with a swiftness that +came of long practice amid the wilds of his native Hiawassee. +</P> + +<P> +"Well done!" exclaimed the mate, as, after a sharp report, the negro +with a club dropped his weapon and hopped away with a ball in his +shoulder. "Now, let us spread out ten paces or so apart and advance. +Pump the balls into 'em, boys, but don't hit our black friends." +</P> + +<P> +"How can we tell which is which when they're all alike as two +ha'pence?" growled Ben, but he received no answer, as both Mr. Duff and +Ralph were intent on the duty before them. +</P> + +<P> +The crack of the Winchesters soon diverted attention from the villagers +to an extent that enabled them to recover somewhat from their panic. +The rapid hail of balls that hardly ever missed their aim disconcerted +the enemy. +</P> + +<P> +The three whites, acting under Duff's orders, kept back in the tall +elephant grass at the edge of the huts; but also within close and +deadly range. Some of the blacks had thrown wood on the fires, and the +light was now sufficient to enable the raiders to be distinguished +clearly by their dress and adornments. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't shoot to kill, if you can help it, lads," called Duff. "Maim +'em and lame 'em if you can. It isn't our quarrel you know, only as +we——" +</P> + +<P> +Here further utterance was choked off, as a powerful negro, who had +made a detour, leaped upon the unwary mate from behind as he was +delivering his merciful order. The knife was uplifted as the mate felt +the grip of the man upon his collar, but the blow was not struck. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph's Winchester cracked and the raised arm fell shattered and +useless, while the knife dropped from the relaxing fingers. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-203"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-203.jpg" ALT="Ralph's Winchester cracked and the raised arm fell shattered and useless." BORDER="2" WIDTH="589" HEIGHT="395"> +<H3> +[Illustration: Ralph's Winchester cracked and the raised arm <BR> +fell shattered and useless.] +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The attacked villagers, inspirited by the assistance they were +receiving, fought with renewed energy. +</P> + +<P> +In those days repeating breech loaders were much less commonly used +than in more recent years. The savages became terror stricken at guns +which seemed to be always loaded. +</P> + +<P> +A final and despairing yell gave the signal for retreat, and in a +moment or two more, none of the enemy were to be seen, except the dead +and wounded left behind. +</P> + +<P> +Our three adventurers were then overwhelmed by the rude but expressive +manifestations of thanks on the part of the villagers. The wounded +were soon despatched, and it became evident to Duff, who partially +understood their practices, that a cannibal feast would be next in +order. +</P> + +<P> +The very idea sickened Ralph, though Ben announced that he had no +objections to see one "black nigger eat up another." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we have, if you haven't," said Duff, "so, as it is pretty near +day and we're loaded, I think we had better be getting back to the +ship, Captain's in a hurry to leave the coast anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +But when the natives heard of this determination, they one and all +tried to persuade the whites to remain at least until day. The +red-shirted chief pleaded almost with tears, in the very few words of +English at his command. +</P> + +<P> +"You—me—brothers!" He pointed from Duff to himself. "You—stay. +All—stay. Eat War-i-ka-ri much; eat—heap!" +</P> + +<P> +But when he found that all persuasion was useless, he bade his people +fill the yawl with vegetables and such meat as was on hand. He would +have butchered another ox, but as the boat would now hold no more, Duff +with difficulty made him stop. +</P> + +<P> +As the whites were pushing off he came running down to the landing, +bearing on his shoulder a human leg severed from the body at the hip. +</P> + +<P> +"Take!" he shouted, but Ralph made haste to shove the boat off. "Take!" +</P> + +<P> +Seeing that they would not return, he heaved the toothsome delicacy at +the lad, who, instead of catching it, knocked it into the river, +whereat the chief became highly excited, and evidently somewhat wroth. +The last they saw of him, he and others were trying to recover it by +the aid of a pole. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it horrible?" said Ralph, feeling nauseated at the idea and the +sight. "They seem friendly enough, yet—they eat one another. Pah!" +</P> + +<P> +Duff, at the tiller, laughed. Ben shook his head as he took a fresh +quid. +</P> + +<P> +"Many of these coast tribes are cannibals I've heard," commented the +mate. "In times of famine they eat the old folks and the girl babies. +Queer world, isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +By the time the firelight had disappeared, and only the stars afforded +a relief to the darkness, the wall of forest on either hand grew vague +and indistinct. +</P> + +<P> +Having the current with them, their progress was more rapid than their +ascent of the stream, and by the time daylight appeared they were well +on their way towards the mouth of the river. +</P> + +<P> +Once, as they were rounding a bend, and were nearer the shore than +usual, a deep, harsh, though distant roar met their ears. Ralph and +Ben wondered what it was, but the mate replied by one significant word: +</P> + +<P> +"Lions." +</P> + +<P> +"I would like to see one," said Ralph. "But I thought lions were found +mostly in Central and Southern Africa. At least so I've read." +</P> + +<P> +"Right you are. But now and then they frequent the Gold Coast. I have +heard them in Natal, and down about the diamond regions. Once you hear +a wild lion roar, you never forget the sound." +</P> + +<P> +As the sun mounted above the forest, the odorous mists that infest +those regions were drawn upward, giving out as the air grew warm a +sickening and malarious influence. Vast and gloomy cypress, bay, swamp +palm, ironwood, and other tropical woods reared their columnar trunks, +from out a dark and noisome undergrowth, to an immense height. In +those leafy depths no sun ever shone, and the absence of bird life was +noticeably depressing. +</P> + +<P> +"I hardly wonder the captain wants to get away as soon as possible," +remarked Duff, as they at last neared the narrow point where the river +entered the little harbor. "A week in this place and half of us would +be down with coast fever." +</P> + +<P> +An exclamation from Ralph, who was in the bow, came next, as the yawl +passed the last leafy point, and the surface of the anchorage became +visible. +</P> + +<P> +"What now?" demanded Duff. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Left Behind. +</H3> + + +<P> +No reply was necessary, for in another instant both the mate and the +sailor comprehended the cause of Ralph's surprise and alarm. +</P> + +<P> +The Wanderer was nowhere to be seen. +</P> + +<P> +The entire surface of the small, landlocked bay was as deserted and +seemingly untouched by man's presence, as if human eyes had never +beheld its solitude. A glimpse of the inlet and the breakers far out +on the bar beyond was visible between two islets. +</P> + +<P> +They could hear the monotonous thunder of the surf and discern a glassy +ocean farther out, for the morning was calm, promising also to be +intensely hot. +</P> + +<P> +The surprise of each was so supreme that for an instant nothing was +said. Finally the mate, with an expression of deep perplexity on his +countenance, said: +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot understand it at all. Let us row to the landing. Perhaps we +may gain some clue to the mystery." +</P> + +<P> +So they pulled across to the part of the harbor where the schooner had +been anchored when Duff, heading the boat for the shore, plunged them +into the leafy recesses that overhung the water. Having once +penetrated this outer curtain, Ralph saw they were close to a rude +landing made of logs sunk endways into the oozy bottom, and floored +with large canes similar to bamboo. +</P> + +<P> +A sort of corduroy road led into the swamp, and disappeared amid the +trees. Upon a post near by was an old marlin spike with something +white fluttering beneath. This attracted the mate's eye. +</P> + +<P> +"Here we are," said he, detaching the bit of paper. "Perhaps this will +give us a little light." +</P> + +<P> +And he read as follows: +</P> + +<P> +"3 bells sekund dog watch. gOt to git out. Uncle Sam on the Lookoute. +cap ses yu must shift fer yure selves." +</P> + +<P> +"That looks as if a fo'c'stle fist had written it," remarked Duff +ruminatively. "I have felt for some time that Gary wouldn't object to +being rid of a few of us." +</P> + +<P> +"'E's a bloomin' fool," quoth Ben, evidently feeling that this exigency +had removed all restraint of speech as regarded the captain. "Wot will +'e do short handed with a hundred or more black devils aboard in case +trouble comes? Barrin' I were out o' here though, I wouldn't care if I +never touched a halyard of the Wanderer again." +</P> + +<P> +"You see," said Duff, "we three were known to disapprove of the whole +business. He needed me to get over here, for I know the coast. But he +can get along without me going back." +</P> + +<P> +"What does that mean about Uncle Sam," asked Ralph. +</P> + +<P> +"That is to make us think some Yankee cruiser is in the neighborhood, +and that they left for safety's sake. I half believe that is a blind. +But come. We must be stirring, and see if they are really gone, and +also if we can cross the bar in a calm, loaded as we are. I know we +can't, should a breeze spring up." +</P> + +<P> +Presently they were aboard again, pulling for the inlet. As they +passed between a number of mangrove islets Ralph, looking down, could +see an occasional shark or sawfish leisurely prodding about ten or +fifteen feet below the surface. +</P> + +<P> +But as they neared the bar the water grew clouded, though a dark dorsal +appendage thrusting itself here and there above the wave indicated the +terrible result that would probably follow should the boat capsize. +</P> + +<P> +When they rounded the last intervening point and the open ocean was +disclosed, the first object that met their eyes was the Wanderer with +all sails set, about two miles in the offing. She lay motionless, for +the calm was complete. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," remarked Duff, "we're all right if we pass the bar. There +would be no trouble about that with a lighter load. We can try it as +we are, for our supplies will be needed; but if necessary—over they +go." +</P> + +<P> +They were already nearing the first line of breakers, when the mate +detected a second sail to the left and much nearer the shore. +</P> + +<P> +This stranger was a full rigged ship hardly a mile away and to the +southward, while the Wanderer was almost due west from the inlet. +</P> + +<P> +"She's a sailing corvette, or I'm much mistaken," said the mate, +"but—mind yourselves, men! Pull with a will." +</P> + +<P> +The first line of breakers was passed without trouble. The second was +rougher, and the men strained at the oars to give the yawl as much +headway as possible. +</P> + +<P> +The last wave came "quartering" and threw a hatful of water into +Ralph's face, whereat Mr. Duff laughed cheerily. +</P> + +<P> +"One ducking!" he cried. "But now comes the tug of war. Jump her, +boys! Jump her, I say!" +</P> + +<P> +The third and last line was longer, larger, and in every way more +formidable, owing to the sudden deepening of the water. Both Ben and +Ralph were rather exhausted from their previous exertions, and Duff +yelled himself hoarse in his repeated entreaties to: +</P> + +<P> +"Give way! G-g-give wa-a-a-y I tell you! Don't you see—we're gone? +Keep her nose up! K-e-e-p it u-u-u-p-p! Sharks and sawfish, men! are +you going to let her broach? Now then! All together, a-n-d—over +she—good heavens!" +</P> + +<P> +A barrel or two of brine hurled over the starboard quarter choked off +the mate's adjurations. But it was the last of the angry combers and +the next minute the three were wiping the salt water from their faces +while the yawl was riding easily on the glassy swell just beyond the +bar. +</P> + +<P> +"Now head her for the schooner, boys," said Duff, bailing with one hand +as he steered with the other. "If we hadn't had the ebb with us, we'd +have had to lighten her. Now—give me your oar, Ralph. You steer. +We've no time to lose, for if a breeze starts before we reach the side, +I fear they're not so fond of our company but what they might give us +the slip yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Couldn't we ship on that other vessel?" asked Ralph, by no means +reluctant to change his berth to a ship less liable to the law's +penalties. +</P> + +<P> +"We probably could," replied Duff dryly. "We probably might also have +to spend several months in jail somewhere as slavers, or for aiding and +abetting in the traffic. I think we'd better overhaul the schooner and +wait for better times." +</P> + +<P> +The sun was now high in the heavens, and the growing heat already +almost unbearable. They stripped to their shirt and trousers while the +sweat rolled in streams from the faces of the oarsmen. +</P> + +<P> +While nearing the Wanderer rapidly they noticed a faint, dark line +approaching up from the southeast along the line of the coast. +</P> + +<P> +"A wind, by thunder!" exclaimed Duff, renewing his efforts at the oar. +"Look! the corvette already feels it. Give way, Ben? Gary is none too +good to leave us yet if the wind reaches him before we do." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph, now rested, sprang forward. +</P> + +<P> +"Take the tiller, Ben," said he. "I'm good for a sharp pull." +</P> + +<P> +But the old sailor, whose muscles were like whipcord, shook his head +and fairly made the yawl spring beneath his redoubled strokes. +</P> + +<P> +For the next three or four minutes Duff kept his eye upon the advancing +line, behind which a sea of steely ripples danced in the sunlight. +</P> + +<P> +The cruiser, slowly heeling to leeward, veered her bow round to her +course, and Duff could see the dash of water about her cutwater as she +forged ahead. Still the Wanderer lay motionless, like a beautiful +picture, every sail that would draw set to catch the first whiff of the +breeze that was bringing the corvette slowly within range. +</P> + +<P> +Less than three miles separated the vessels, while the yawl, scarcely +four hundred yards from the schooner, was lessening the distance +rapidly. But the breeze traveled faster. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph could see Gary in the rigging watching the cruiser through a +glass. No attention seemed to be paid to the boat. +</P> + +<P> +Three hundred yards—then two hundred—one hundred; and as the distance +lessened their spirits rose. They were, however, half a cable length +away, when a sullen boom was heard, and a solid shot came skipping +along the surface of the sea to the left of the schooner. +</P> + +<P> +"That is an order to 'stay where you are'," remarked Duff. "Ah! here +comes our wind," he added, as a cool, refreshing whiff fanned their +brows. "Any other time and I would welcome it; but—come down on her, +Ben!" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph, fancying that he saw the Wanderer's sails beginning to fill, +sprang forward, seized an extra oar and pulled with all his might. The +tired muscles were strained in a final effort, and the moist veins +bulged about their temples. +</P> + +<P> +"Boat ahoy!" came from the schooner. "Look alive or we'll leave you." +</P> + +<P> +"Leave——" the rest of Duff's exclamation was lost as he threw his +whole effort into a last spurt. +</P> + +<P> +The shadow of the lofty sails was towering over the yawl when the +Wanderer began to glide ahead. Another gun from the cruiser, and the +ball drove between boat and schooner, missing the first by but a few +yards. +</P> + +<P> +"Boat there! Make ready for a rope!" +</P> + +<P> +A sailor sprang upon the taffrail and the next instant a slim line +uncoiled itself over the water. Duff, springing up, caught the end on +his oar blade, and by a dexterous twist brought it within reach. +</P> + +<P> +As he rose from making it fast, the yawl was spinning through the water +in the schooner's wake, as the latter, heeling to the wind, responded +like a thing of life to the wishes of those on board. +</P> + +<P> +Hand over hand the mate drew the heavily laden boat under the +Wanderer's lee, made fast the davits as they were lowered, and a moment +or two later the three tired boatmen found themselves safely on deck. +</P> + +<P> +When the ample supply of meat and vegetables was hoisted over the +bulwarks, the few who had time to look were loud in their expressions +of approval. Captain Gary hardly vouchsafed them more than a glance. +To Duff, however, he briefly said: +</P> + +<P> +"We had warning in the night that the Adams" (a sailing vessel in the +old United States navy) "was making up the coast, and we had to pull +out. We're short of water. Your grub comes in handy, though." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose then we might have been left, had we been a little later, or +the wind had sprung up sooner." +</P> + +<P> +The captain shrugged his shoulders, then glowered at Ralph, who was +relating his adventures to several men about the cook's galley. +</P> + +<P> +"When John Bull or Uncle Sam are as close as that fellow yonder, a +slaver has to look out for himself. Now, Mr. Duff, you are a gunner, I +understand. I want you to make ready our stern chaser. If they keep +on firing we must try to cripple their sailing powers if we can. It's +lucky she didn't happen to be a steamer." +</P> + +<P> +But Duff, already somewhat piqued by Gary's apparent indifference as to +whether the yawl was picked up or not, drew himself up stiffly. +</P> + +<P> +"When I shipped with you, Captain Gary," he replied, "there was nothing +said about my serving as a gunner. I must respectfully decline to fire +on an American ship. I am too much of an American myself." +</P> + +<P> +Without waiting for the burst of anger which he knew would follow this +mutinous(?) delivery, the second mate wheeled and made his way to the +galley, where he ordered Neb to serve him breakfast in the cabin. +</P> + +<P> +Gary gave vent to a subdued oath or two, then bottled his wrath for a +more auspicious occasion. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile the Wanderer, when once fully under way, began to evince her +remarkable sailing qualities, especially in light winds. She steadily +drew away from the cruiser, whose people, having obtained the range, +were sending shot after shot, with a view of crippling the schooner's +sailing powers. +</P> + +<P> +One round shot tore a great hole through the mainsail, as it went +shrieking by. Gary himself, aided by Rucker, got ready one of the two +guns wherewith the Wanderer was equipped and soon returned their fire, +though no effect was manifest. +</P> + +<P> +The cruiser must have been informed of the character of the slaver, or +she would not have attempted to cripple her so persistently. Duff, +after eating, returned to the quarter-deck, where he watched with +folded arms the rather unskillful efforts to handle the long twelve +pounder pointed sternwards from the Wanderer's waist. At each +discharge a chorus of cries from the hold reminded him of their living +cargo, deepening still more his disgust at the nature of the venture +into which he had been inveigled. +</P> + +<P> +The breeze began to freshen and whip somewhat to the southwest. Duff +went forward to where Gary and Rucker were trying to sight the loaded +gun. +</P> + +<P> +"Shall I have the sheets trimmed, Captain Gary," he asked. +</P> + +<P> +Gary surveyed the mate from head to foot with cool insolence. Then he +stamped his foot. +</P> + +<P> +"You shall either go before the mast as a common sailor, or you can +remain a prisoner in your stateroom during my pleasure. If I gave you +your deserts, I'd have you clapped in irons." +</P> + +<P> +"As a sailor you would probably put me in irons for again refusing to +fire, should you order me to; so I will go to the cabin. Take notice, +however, Captain Gary, I protest against your treatment. To fire on an +American man-of-war under these circumstances is piracy, and I submit +that no captain has a right to issue such orders to true American +seamen." +</P> + +<P> +Gary's fury was such that he laid hold of one of the cutlasses in the +rack at the foot of the mainmast, but the screech of a shot and the +crash of a splintered topsail boom, diverted his attention. +</P> + +<P> +Duff, laying aside his own weapon, descended to the cabin. +</P> + +<P> +"Up with you!" shouted the captain. "Lay out along the fo's'l gaff +there. Lively now!" +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Ralph Stumbles on a Discovery. +</H3> + + +<P> +Three nimble sailors were soon stretched along the slanting gaff of the +great foresail, a perilous and quivering berth, with nothing for the +hands to grasp but the shivering leech and shivered boom of the +topsail. The crippled boom was soon lashed with pieces of spun yarn, +and the damage thus temporarily repaired. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph, after a comfortable meal in the galley for himself and Ben, was +attracted to the grating over the main hatch by the strange noises that +issued thence. Shading his eyes from the light, he peered below, and +through the semi-darkness saw a sight that made him heartsick and +disgusted. More than ever he wished that he had never gone on this +luckless cruise. +</P> + +<P> +The main hold was a place, perhaps sixty feet long by less than +twenty-five wide. Into this "black hole," where the upright space +between decks was less than seven feet, were crowded one hundred and +seventy naked creatures, like hogs in a stock car. +</P> + +<P> +They could not lie down unless a portion stood up to make room, neither +could all remain seated except by drawing up their limbs in cramping +and painful postures. The odors already arising from this pit of +torture were such that the lad had to turn his face away for fresh air. +</P> + +<P> +"It's awful!" he gasped to himself. "It's simply awful. I never had +very much liking for niggers—as niggers, but such as this is enough to +bring God's punishment on every one of us that have helped to bring it +about. Jeemineddy! I wouldn't care much if that ship did overhaul us. +Want water, do you?" +</P> + +<P> +This last remark was brought out by Ralph's noticing several of the +negroes make signs to him as of drinking from their hands. Ralph +walked straight to Captain Gary and saluted. +</P> + +<P> +"May I give those people below some water, sir?" he asked. "They seem +to want some." +</P> + +<P> +"No!" shouted Gary, not sorry to vent his spleen on so inviting an +object as Ralph. "We'll all be wanting water if that fellow there +drives us from the coast without another chance to fill the butts. Get +forward there and don't let me hear from you till you're spoken to. +D'ye understand?" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph retreated, and Gary, after another unsuccessful trial at the +cruiser's masts, gave orders to cease firing. +</P> + +<P> +The wind was now a stiff breeze, and the Adams was holding her own. +With the rising of the sea it was probable that the larger vessel would +gain on the smaller one. +</P> + +<P> +The cruiser also stopped firing, as the increased rolling of the ship +rendered a long range shot too ineffective. +</P> + +<P> +For an hour or more the relative positions of the two vessels remained +comparatively unchanged. If there was any advantage it was on the side +of the cruiser, though the Wanderer behaved beautifully. +</P> + +<P> +But the wind steadily rose, and by the time eight bells was struck, and +Neb announced dinner, the Adams was perceptibly gaining. +</P> + +<P> +"Send that boy aft," ordered Gary, and when Ralph appeared the captain +said sneeringly: "You seem to think so much of those black brutes +below, I guess you can help deal out their rations. Go to Long Tom." +</P> + +<P> +That worthy was buckling a brace of revolvers about his person, and had +in his hand a sharp rawhide. Two sailors bore a great basket of corn +bread and ship's hard bread. To Ralph was given a smaller one, +containing meat minutely divided into about two ounce slices. +</P> + +<P> +"'Ere we go," remarked the boatswain, heading for the lower gangway +door. +</P> + +<P> +At this place an armed sentinel stood day and night. As the four +entered, a howl arose not unlike that of caged wild beasts. But it was +more for water than for food. +</P> + +<P> +"Eat first; drink afterwards," said Bludson, striking lightly right and +left to restrain their eagerness. "That's the law aboard here. Mind, +Ralph; one bit of meat apiece—no more." +</P> + +<P> +One sailor bore a lantern, for the only light afforded outside of that +was from the grated hatch above. Amid the half obscurity Ralph saw a +jumble of swart, brutish faces and wildly gleaming eyes, and heard a +babel of guttural sounds suggestive of a savage Bedlam where violence +was restrained only by fear. +</P> + +<P> +Up and down the rows of naked forms they passed, dealing to each one a +ration of bread and meat, scanty and coarse enough, yet sufficient to +sustain life. Then half a pint of water was served out to each. +</P> + +<P> +Here the struggle to keep order was fiercest. The strong would attempt +to deprive the weak of their share, and Bludson's whip was kept +constantly going. +</P> + +<P> +Once a brawny negro made a strong effort to seize the bucket, +regardless of the cowhide, when Long Tom felled him at a blow with his +pistol butt, then cocking the weapon, glanced sternly around at the +circle of angry faces by which they were surrounded. +</P> + +<P> +The negroes would have torn them in pieces had they dared, for the want +of water was already rendering them desperate in that fetid hole. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph returned to the deck pale, nauseated, and sick at heart. The +captain noticed this and it angered him, as did nearly everything which +the boy now did. +</P> + +<P> +"Hark ye!" he growled. "D'ye think you'd like to spend all your time +down there?" +</P> + +<P> +"I would rather be dead," said Ralph half angrily, for his whole being +rebelled against the atrocity of which he was being made, perforce, one +of the perpetrators. +</P> + +<P> +"Would, eh?" The captain eyed him with leering malevolence. "You'll +mind your eye then while you're on this craft, and you'll obey orders, +without a word, or—down you go among those demons for punishment. Go +to my room and bring up my small glass—the double one. Stay—while +you're there make up the berth and tidy things up a bit. Lively now!" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph went below burning with a sense of futile rage. It was useless +to rebel, however, for on a ship a boy is the most helpless of +creatures. +</P> + +<P> +As he moodily arranged things in the captain's stateroom, wondering for +the hundreth time why Gary should appear to wish to persecute him after +having been so courteous at Savannah, Ralph's eye fell on an open +letter lying on the floor before the half open door of a small iron +safe. Evidently Gary, in his haste or excitement over the approach of +the warship, had left the safe in this condition. The letter had +probably fallen there unnoticed. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph picked it up, intending to lay it on the table, when a certain +familiarity in the handwriting struck him as peculiar and he started to +read the contents. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear Cousin:—" it began; but after getting thus far the boy threw +the sheet down upon the table. +</P> + +<P> +"Why should I be reading the captain's letters?" thought he, and a +flush of shame crept momentarily to his forehead. "And yet—it doesn't +seem to be the one I gave him." +</P> + +<P> +He remembered that Shard had mentioned an intention to write Gary by +mail. +</P> + +<P> +As Ralph hesitated, a desire strengthened within him to read further, +despite the monitions of conscience. A vague idea that the strange and +contradictory behavior of Gary might be explained was perhaps at the +bottom of the lad's mental persistence. +</P> + +<P> +He hesitated until his fingers burned, then made a sudden grasp at the +letter. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +At Close Quarters. +</H3> + + +<P> +Without giving himself time to think, Ralph now read as follows: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +My Dear Cousin: +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +If he does not get lost on his way you will be apt to see an awkward +country boy in Savannah in a day or two, who is quite anxious to go to +sea. I have recommended him to apply to you, and you will do me a +great favor, not only to take him, but to see that he never comes back. +Mind you—no violence. I know your devilish temper. But you can +either wear him out with hard work, or leave him in Africa, or get rid +of him in some way which may gratify the hatred which I and mine have +felt for his whole generation for years, and yet avoid difficulty with +the law. We have enough to contend with as it is, in our Cuban venture. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +Frankly now, if you wish any more cash advances from me, you must see +to this lad, and contrive to make something out of this cargo of live +stock. Shipping wild niggers is growing riskier every year, especially +as Cuba and Brazil (our only markets left) threaten to free their +slaves. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +Look sharp, dodge all warships, and attend to that brat of a boy. I +have soft soaped him by giving him a letter to you which you will +interpret by this. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Your Cousin,<BR> + Theodore Shard.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Ralph's first hot impulse was to go up and make known to Gary that he +now saw through the eccentricities of the latter's behavior, and that +Shard's treachery was also known. A second thought convinced him that +such a course in the captain's present mood, would most likely, only +precipitate some act of violence of which he would be the victim. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph now saw why he had been sent up the river on a perilous errand, +and why he and his companions were so readily deserted on the first +inkling that a sloop of war was near. +</P> + +<P> +Gary's unchanging severity and dislike were explained, and as the boy +contrasted his present treatment with the honeyed manner which had so +deceived him in Savannah, he felt that he was justified in using any +means to counteract such methods. +</P> + +<P> +As he flung the letter down, a slight noise made him turn. Duff was +standing at the door. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph, feeling that here was his best friend aboard, resolved to +acquaint the mate with all that had occurred relating to Shard's and +Gary's conspiracy against himself. This he did as briefly as possible, +clinching his remarks by holding out the letter. +</P> + +<P> +"I won't read it, though it's right enough you should, seeing it +concerns your safety," replied Duff. "I'm in disgrace, too, so it +might be a good plan for us to stick together—for self preservation, I +mean. We don't want to hurt any one, unless they try to hurt us. +We're scarce in water, and that cruiser ain't going to let us back to +the coast again. You can bank your life on that. +</P> + +<P> +"Captain is in his worst mood, and he ain't likely to get better. +He'll begin on the crew next. They say he is a perfect fiend for +punishment once he gets mad all through. These poor niggers will keep +him half crazy as their want of water grows, and the hot calms strike +us in the doldrums. It's my frank opinion, lad, that we'll be having a +little floating place of torment of our own here before many days have +passed." +</P> + +<P> +The captain's voice hurled down the companionway, interrupted them +harshly. +</P> + +<P> +"He wants his glass," said Ralph, seizing the instrument in question. +"I must go." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," concluded Duff as he returned to his own stateroom, "lay low +and look out for squalls. That's all we can do at present." +</P> + +<P> +When Ralph returned to the deck the wind was stiffening to a gale, and +half a dozen men were putting a single reef into the mainsail, while +several more were laying out along the bowsprit doing the same office +for one of the jibs. +</P> + +<P> +The outermost one, called the flyaway, was being furled, though the +sailor stretched out upon the stay beneath the bowsprit was drenched by +each downward plunge of the schooner's bow. The Adams still carried a +heavy press of canvas, though black specks of men could be seen on the +yards shortening the loftier sails. The larger vessel rode the rising +seas more easily, and had already come within close range. +</P> + +<P> +Gary seized the glass and leveled it at the cruiser, then at the +southwestern horizon, where a dull gray film of vapor was settled upon +the sea. +</P> + +<P> +He handed the glass to Rucker and swore impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +"If we have half an hour more of this wind we're gone up," he growled. +"Our only chance is a fog." +</P> + +<P> +A puff of smoke belched from the port bow of the warship. +</P> + +<P> +"They understand what that fog might do for us as well as we do," +remarked Rucker, as a shell exploded some distance to leeward. +"They'll get the range in a few minutes, and when one of those twelve +pound bombs explodes in our tops——" +</P> + +<P> +"They see that solid shot won't do," interrupted Gary fiercely. "It is +quick work they are after." +</P> + +<P> +Down in the hold the labored pitching of the schooner was adding +seasickness to the sufferings of the poor wretches there. Doleful +cries resounded, among which one at all conversant with their language +would have heard calls for water predominate. +</P> + +<P> +At night, when darkness reigned, the misery of such a scene would be +augmented. +</P> + +<P> +Several shells were fired by the cruiser, each one coming nearer to the +mark, until at last an explosion just forward of the foretopmast +shivered a double throat block, and down came the foresail, the leech +trailing in the sea as it fell. +</P> + +<P> +Another piece of the shell tore off a sailor's arm, and still another +disabled one of the boats. +</P> + +<P> +Orders from the captain came thick and fast; men flew hither and +thither to repair the damage; while the wounded man lay writhing and +neglected for some time. The Adams all at once slowly yawed, being +within easy range, as the Wanderer lay helpless with her nose in the +wind's eye. +</P> + +<P> +"Look out!" shouted Rucker. "She's making ready to give us a +broadside." +</P> + +<P> +"Lively there, men!" roared Gary, nearly frantic. "Do you want to +spend a year or so in a Yankee jail?" +</P> + +<P> +A redoubled roar from the cruiser followed, and a small tempest of iron +hurtled around them. +</P> + +<P> +One shot passed through the after hold, terrifying anew the negroes, +who yelled fearfully. A rent or two in the sails was all the damage +beside, that was inflicted. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph, who was assisting to reeve a new block at the foretop, saw that +the fog was almost at hand. But before it came a change of wind; +preceding which, as the southeaster died, there were a few moments of +calm. +</P> + +<P> +The lull reached the Wanderer first, and the cruiser, swinging to her +course, forged so far ahead that, before the schooner could again hoist +her foresail, the Adams rounded to, less than half a mile away and +presented a frowning row of shotted guns to the slaver's stern. It was +a fair raking position. +</P> + +<P> +Rucker threw down his speaking trumpet in despair, though Gary's eyes +were fixed keenly upon the advancing fog. A signal for the slaver to +lie to was followed by a peremptory shot athwart the schooner's bow. +</P> + +<P> +At the same time a boat was lowered away, filled with armed men, and +started towards the Wanderer. +</P> + +<P> +"Heave to, men!" ordered the captain. "But be ready to hoist the +fo's'l when I give the word. Down with your helm—down, man!" This to +the man at the wheel. "We mustn't give those fellows any cause to +suspect us—now." +</P> + +<P> +While the boat approached, it was at times lost in the hollows of the +seas, but always rose again nearer than before. Meanwhile the Wanderer +lay to, with her mainsail flattened and her topsails aback. +</P> + +<P> +Apparently she was merely awaiting the arrival of the cruiser's boat to +surrender herself. Many on board thought so now, and, in certain +quarters, bitter were the grumblings over their "hard luck." All this +time Gary, standing at the compass, alternately watched the cruiser and +the approach of the fog, while the schooner, deprived of headway, +rolled in seeming helplessness in the trough of the sea. +</P> + +<P> +"Lad," said Ben to Ralph as the two slid down the ratlines when their +task aloft was done, "I almost wish we were back among those bloody +niggers ashore. 'Twould be better than standin' trial for bein' caught +on a blackguard of a slaver—bad luck to her." +</P> + +<P> +"We must make the best of it," began Ralph, when Gary's voice +interrupted him. +</P> + +<P> +"Hoist away there, men!" cried the captain, brandishing his arms +furiously. "Up with that fo's'l! Up with it, I say! Ease away on +those tops'ls. Lively now! Haul away on that jib. Flatten 'em, boys!" +</P> + +<P> +The men worked like demons, for on the instant they apprehended the +daring nature of Gary's maneuver. Rucker, seizing the trumpet, echoed +the captain's orders in stentorian tones. +</P> + +<P> +It was not until the schooner fell off broadside that these actions +were noticeable to those on the warship. But she could not now fire +without endangering her own boat, which was scarcely fifty yards from +the slaver. +</P> + +<P> +So nicely had Gary calculated, that the breeze bearing the fog struck +the Wanderer's sails just as she was trimmed to fall off. The cruiser, +stricken by the brief calm which had previously palsied the schooner's +movements, lay helpless in a double sense, being unable to either move +or fire. +</P> + +<P> +"Make ready to go about," said the captain to the first mate, who +bellowed the order through his trumpet. +</P> + +<P> +They were nearly abreast of the cruiser's boat, which, seeing at once +what was up, fired an ineffectual volley of small arms as the Wanderer +gracefully swept by, hardly a pistol shot off. +</P> + +<P> +"About ship!" said Gary quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"Hard a lee!" sang out the mate, and as the schooner rushed up into the +wind, Gary, walking to the stern, kissed his hand satirically to the +officers in the boat. +</P> + +<P> +"I've a notion to sink you," he muttered. "One solid shot would do the +business; but perhaps 'twill be best for us to get away, doing as +little damage as possible. It might be safer in case of subsequent +trouble with the authorities." +</P> + +<P> +Close hauled upon her other tack, the schooner was heading diagonally +towards the fog which was just at hand, like a dense, advancing wall. +</P> + +<P> +As they drew away from the boat the cruiser began to fire one gun after +another. Each discharge sent apprehensive thrills through the slaver's +crew. Finally a whole broadside of the warship's upper battery came +shrieking over the water. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Trouble of Another Kind. +</H3> + + +<P> +"That was a close call," exclaimed Rucker, as a shot cut away one of +the jib stays, carrying down the flying jib. +</P> + +<P> +Even as he spoke the film of the fog enveloped them, and though the +sloop of war continued to fire, her shots did no further damage, for +the Wanderer almost immediately lost sight of her pursuer. +</P> + +<P> +Gary then had the course altered to disconcert the aim of the corvette, +which soon after ceased firing. +</P> + +<P> +The breeze that bore the fog with it, was a light one, and as the mist +was liable to rise at any time the captain made the most of his +opportunity by carrying all the sail he could spread. He dared not +return to the coast, bad as he needed water; for the alarm once given, +other cruisers would be on the watch there. So he determined to make +for the Cape Verdes, and risk the chance of being able to water in +those islands. Should no prying war ships happen along he anticipated +little difficulty. +</P> + +<P> +The day wore away slowly. It was about an hour by sun in the afternoon +before the fog began to lift. A sailor was at each mast head watching +for the Adams, as the course of the corvette was entirely unknown. +</P> + +<P> +"Sail ho!" sang out one of these lookouts as the mist, rolling +eastward, began to show a clear horizon towards the north. +</P> + +<P> +In a minute both captain and mate were aloft. There was the Adams +about four miles away, and somewhat astern to the lee quarter. Almost +at the same time the Wanderer was observed from the cruiser, as the +latter began to pile up her canvas with a rapidity that evinced a +sudden cause therefor. As the mate returned to the deck Gary called: +</P> + +<P> +"Ease away, Mr. Rucker. We've got just the wind that suits us, and I +think we have the advantage this time." +</P> + +<P> +With the light breeze that continued, and with the sheets free, the +Wanderer was at her best. By the time the sun went down it could be +seen that the war ship was losing ground. +</P> + +<P> +When night closed in she was fully five miles astern. With a heavier +wind the advantage would have been on her side, but as it was, when +morning dawned the Adams was not in sight. +</P> + +<P> +After that came several days of light, baffling winds, alternating with +calms. The sun, as they drew nearer the equator, became more and more +unbearable. +</P> + +<P> +In the close hold the heat and stench were frightful. The constant +cries for water rendered the crew nervous and the captain irritable. +He now punished the men severely for the slightest infraction of duty. +</P> + +<P> +"If we don't reach the Verdes," said Duff to Ralph one day, as the lad +was sweeping the cabin, "there will be an outbreak of some kind. Come +to the gangway and listen." +</P> + +<P> +The second mate, who still remained below—his place being taken by +Bludson after a fashion—now led Ralph to the grated door where stood +the loaded howitzer. The sentry was not there; another sign of the +crew's demoralization. He had slipped into one of the store rooms, now +left unlocked, to tap a water butt unseen, for all hands were on short +water rations. +</P> + +<P> +When Duff and the boy halted, they could hear a sort of rasping sound +from underneath like the boring or cutting of wood. +</P> + +<P> +"What is that?" asked Ralph. +</P> + +<P> +"Mischief," said the mate sententiously. "Those wretches in the hold +are up to some trickery. These stupid sentries are too dull or +careless to investigate. They are crazy for water in there, and it is +my opinion they have got hold of something and are trying to cut a way +out—God knows where!—perhaps through the bottom of the vessel." +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose you tell the captain." +</P> + +<P> +"He is that obstinate he'd simply curse me, and probably give no heed. +But some one else might speak with better effect." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think I had better?" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph spoke doubtfully, realizing that he also was no favorite with +Gary. +</P> + +<P> +"You might bring it about in some way. I certainly owe Captain Gary no +favors, yet I should hate to stand by and see those fiends cut their +way out, and say nothing. They would murder every soul on board." +</P> + +<P> +Later on, Ralph found a chance to tell the captain what Duff had told +him. Gary's scowl deepened. +</P> + +<P> +"Duff told you this, did he?" demanded the skipper suspiciously. "Out +with the truth." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph acknowledged that the second mate was his informant. +</P> + +<P> +"Stuff! Haven't we a sentry there constantly?" +</P> + +<P> +"But the sentry isn't always at his post, so Mr. Duff says. He was +away today when we heard the noises." +</P> + +<P> +"And you heard them, too! The mate tattling to the cabin boy, and both +peaching on the poor sentry, who is, I dare say, more trusty than +either one of you two. Go forward, and stay there until you are bidden +back. Rank mutiny, by thunder!" +</P> + +<P> +Gary stamped his foot, more with the air of one demented than that of a +sane and sober commander. Indeed the situation was sufficiently grave +without this new complication. +</P> + +<P> +Several of the negroes had already died, and more were down helpless +beneath the feet of their thirst-tortured but more able-bodied fellow +sufferers. The howls and lamentations that continually ascended +through the grating were trying to the nerves, aside from +considerations of profit and loss. The combined effect on Gary was to +render him more unreasonable and tyrannical than ever. +</P> + +<P> +Oh, for more wind! They were hardly up into the trades yet, and at +that season, even the trades were uncertain. +</P> + +<P> +But it was certain that unless enough favorable wind did come, and come +soon, they would hardly reach the Cape Verdes in time. Already crew, +negroes and all, were down to one pint of water to the man every +twenty-four hours. In that hot and stifling weather their tortures +grew almost unbearable. +</P> + +<P> +One night Rucker, happening to want a night glass, left the deck for a +moment to go below for it, and passing close to the sleepy sentry, he +heard the same sounds which had aroused Duff's suspicions. After +Ralph's rebuff the second mate had made no further attempt to have the +thing investigated. +</P> + +<P> +"What's that?" said he sharply to the sailor, who sat leaning against +the bulkhead, but the man made no answer. +</P> + +<P> +Rucker shook him sharply, and at the same time scented the odor of +liquor about the fellow. +</P> + +<P> +"Wake up. What have you been drinking? What noise is that?" +</P> + +<P> +But receiving only unintelligible replies, and having to return +immediately to his watch on deck, he reported the circumstances to the +captain, who broke into a storm of invective. Rucker discreetly +withdrew. +</P> + +<P> +Shortly thereafter Duff heard from his stateroom an uproar in the +gangway. Looking out, he saw the captain standing over the prostrate +form of the sentry, whom he had knocked down with the man's own gun. +One of the storeroom doors was open. +</P> + +<P> +"I see now!" foamed Gary, nearly beside himself. "You fellows on watch +have been tapping this rum barrel night and day, I reckon, and mischief +going on right under your feet. But I'll even you up. Where is the +bo's'n?" +</P> + +<P> +Receiving no answer to this last shouted demand, Gary sprang up the +stairway, leaving the insensible sentry stretched upon the floor. +</P> + +<P> +Duff, still watching from his stateroom through the open cabin door, +saw a gaunt, dusky face thrust itself from the storeroom and peer +wildly round. Other faces joined it, and in an instant a dozen naked +black forms were crowding the gangway. +</P> + +<P> +They saw Duff. Several made for him, brandishing short chains from +their fetters, which they had managed somehow to loosen and sever. +Others beat the sentry's brains out, and overthrew the howitzer. +</P> + +<P> +The noise thus made, and Duff's loud calls to alarm the ship, caused +Rucker and one or two seamen to run hastily down the companionway. +Being unarmed they were forced into the cabin or back up the gangway, +by a horde of frantic savages, who were being continually reinforced +from the hold by way of the two holes, which they had somehow cut +through the bulkhead into the storeroom, where among other things, was +the barrel of rum. +</P> + +<P> +The drinking must have been going on secretly for a day or two. In +fact others of the crew were now discovered to be tipsy, and that the +officers had not found it out before was doubtless owing to the growing +laxness of discipline, despite the captain's severity. +</P> + +<P> +Gary, accompanied by Bludson and others, now appeared, armed with +pistols and cutlasses; but the door leading into the hold was already +broken down. Scores of half crazy negroes swarmed into the gangway, +bearing back the whites by sheer weight of numbers, notwithstanding the +weapons of the crew. Revolver and cutlass played an active part, but +the slaves seemed absolutely indifferent to life. +</P> + +<P> +When one was shot down, half a dozen took his place. Even the few +women fought like tigresses. The truth was they were crazed for want +of water. +</P> + +<P> +In the cabin, Rucker and one seaman had been literally torn limb from +limb. The remaining man escaped into the captain's room. +</P> + +<P> +Duff, who was without weapons, clambered through the stern window of +his room, and gained the deck by way of the vessel's stern post and a +rope thrown him by Ralph, who had been summoned to the wheel when the +alarm was given. The lad was chafing at his inactivity. +</P> + +<P> +"There's hardly any breeze," said Duff. "Lash the wheel, my lad, and +bear a hand. If those niggers gain the deck we're gone up sure." +</P> + +<P> +It was but the task of a moment to obey, seize a cutlass from the rack +and follow the mate to the companion-way, where Gary and what was left +of the men with him were being forced up the steps. +</P> + +<P> +The captain was covered with blood from a scalp wound, but he was equal +to several ordinary men. Skillfully parrying the blows directed at his +life, he had laid more than one burly savage low. +</P> + +<P> +But the number and fury of the yelling crowd were irresistible. +Seizing the weapons of their dead and wounded assailants, they fought +with the blind energy of desperation. +</P> + +<P> +"Batten down the main hatch," called Gary, seeing Duff and Ralph. +"Bludson is gone, but we can hold them until you return." +</P> + +<P> +The order was swiftly executed. Then the second mate and Ralph, +assisted by one sailor, brought forward the heavy storm covering of the +after companion-way and placed it in readiness. A charge down was then +made and the negroes driven back a little. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, men," cried Gary, springing up to the deck, at the rear of his +men, "down with it! Jump on it, and batten her—batten her!" +</P> + +<P> +With both hatches thus secured, they were in undisputed possession of +the deck, though the whole interior of the ship, except the forecastle, +was at the mercy of the negroes. The triumphant howls of the latter +were deafening. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly a shriek was heard. The savages had entered the captain's +stateroom and fallen upon the sailor who had taken refuge there. +</P> + +<P> +On deck Gary counted his help. He found that besides Bludson and +Rucker five sailors were missing. His available force, including +himself, Duff and Ralph, amounted only to ten. +</P> + +<P> +Two of these were desperately wounded, one having his throat actually +torn by the teeth of the cannibals below. +</P> + +<P> +The arms were mostly on deck, but the ammunition, provisions, and most +of their scanty supply of water was below. +</P> + +<P> +They were in a terrible situation. What deed of desperation the +negroes might do it was impossible to tell. There were matches; they +might fire the ship. There was the rum; they might still gain the +upper hand of all, when nerved and further crazed by liquor. +</P> + +<P> +Two lanterns shed a melancholy light fore and aft. The wind had died +away and the heavens were sprinkled with stars. +</P> + +<P> +Gary placed two men fully armed, at each hatch, then called the rest to +the quarter-deck for a consultation. He was calm, cool, yet heartless +and vindictive as ever. +</P> + +<P> +Without caring for the men already sacrificed, he seemed only anxious +to save his vessel and as many of his mutinous victims as he might now +be able to carry into port. For Duff and Ralph he, even now, scarcely +veiled his dislike as he sat upon the hatch, binding his wounded head +with a handkerchief. +</P> + +<P> +But before much was said, a sailor ran back crying: +</P> + +<P> +"This way! This way! The fiends are after us again." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Adrift. +</H3> + + +<P> +Seizing their weapons, the wearied men ran forward to the forecastle, +where the negroes had nearly cut another hole through the bulkhead +separating the crew's quarters from the hold. +</P> + +<P> +One of the main hatch guards was holding them at bay, and had managed +to seize the implement with which they had gained their liberty, from +the savage who happened to be using it last. It was part of an old +hand saw, that had, by some neglect, been left unnoticed on the floor +of the hold. +</P> + +<P> +Several shots drove back the blacks, then the hole, which was a small +one, was nailed up and another guard stationed. +</P> + +<P> +Gary's next move was to order the two sound boats lowered and attached +by ropes to the side. He was impressed by this last effort of the +blacks that the worst might happen, and that they had better be +prepared. Once the horde of savages gained the decks, the vessel would +afford no refuge to their hated oppressors. +</P> + +<P> +The night was somewhat advanced. In the horizon a few darker spaces +denoted the presence of clouds, though all above was clear. +</P> + +<P> +The Wanderer's sails hung limp, unless now and then a feeble expansion +caused by some desultory puff be excepted. Gary divided the remainder +of the men into two watches, one of whom he caused to lie down on deck +for a little rest, with their arms at their sides. +</P> + +<P> +Below, amid the darkness, a single light shone from the cabin. Some +one of the blacks, evidently acquainted with the use of matches +(through traders or missionaries, doubtless), had found a way of +lighting the cabin lamp. Pandemonium reigned there. Inflamed by rum, +furious efforts were made from time to time to burst through the +hatches. +</P> + +<P> +Along towards morning, however, a certain degree of quiet began to +prevail. Perhaps the negroes were growing weary. +</P> + +<P> +A light breeze had arisen that sent the schooner ahead. Gary had +determined to make for the nearest port, provided they could hold out +to reach it. He saw no chance to do aught to subdue and confine the +blacks with his reduced force. If they saved the vessel and their own +lives, they would do more than some of them expected. +</P> + +<P> +One of the boats was chafing against the weather side of the ship. +Gary directed Ralph to drop both boats astern and fasten one behind the +other. +</P> + +<P> +The boy obeyed, climbing down into the first boat in order to attach +the second to its stern. He made, as he thought, a half hitch of the +painter, then, drawing the second boat close to the first, he stepped +into it, and began bailing out the water that had filtered in through +the seams shrunken by exposure to the sun on the schooner's deck. +</P> + +<P> +As he worked away, thoughts of his mountain home intruded strangely, +perhaps incongruously, upon his mind. Looking eastward a narrow rim of +moon was protruding over the ocean's rim. +</P> + +<P> +Something reminded him of the way it used to rise above "Old Peaky +Top," just back of the cabin on Hiawassee. He straightened himself to +obtain a better view. A sharp report rang out behind him from the +vessel, and he felt a numbness under his shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"Reckon they must be trying to get out again," he muttered, glancing at +the ship's stern. +</P> + +<P> +He was then sensible of a dizziness and a roaring in his ears. A black +savage face was glaring upon him from the window of the captain's +stateroom, from whence protruded the barrel of a rifle. After that his +sight grew dim; something wet trickled down on one of his hands, and +outward things became a blank. His last sensation was a comfortable +kind of sleepiness. +</P> + +<P> +When Ralph came to himself he was lying in the bottom of the boat with +his head jammed uncomfortably under one of the thwarts. As he +scrambled up, his first thought was of what the captain would say to +his falling asleep in that way. But instead of rising, he stumbled and +fell. Then he realized that it was morning and that he was +unaccountably weak. Pulling himself up again with more care, he stared +around for an instant, then sank back against the thwart. +</P> + +<P> +The Wanderer was nowhere to be seen. After another moment he pulled +himself up on the seat, in order to assure himself that he was not +dreaming. What his eyes had told him was a fact. +</P> + +<P> +He was alone in that little boat, with not a sail or other sign of +man's presence anywhere within view. The surprise held him mute and +breathless at first, then he began to wonder how he came to be left in +such a plight. +</P> + +<P> +His left arm felt stiff and sore. Looking down, he saw the blood had +dried on his left hand, while under that shoulder something smarted +with every movement. +</P> + +<P> +It came to him then. The report, the numbness, the fleeting glimpse of +that savage face, and the gun barrel, were now accounted for. +</P> + +<P> +"While I was mooning away about grandfather and home, that fellow shot +me. Lucky he didn't strike closer. But how did I get loose?" +</P> + +<P> +Examination showed him the painter trailing idly in the water +alongside. He must have made that half hitch carelessly. During his +swoon it had worked loose. +</P> + +<P> +His friends on board had doubtless had their attention too much taken +up by the blacks, to give heed to him. The whiffs of air had slowly +swept the schooner out of sight and he had lain senseless until +daylight. +</P> + +<P> +"I am surely in a bad fix," he reflected. "Wounded—in an open +boat—without an oar, or a bite to eat or drink." +</P> + +<P> +He had read enough of the perils of the sea to comprehend the terrible +possibilities of his situation, and at first his blood chilled and his +courage sank. Resolute as he was by nature, there was a deadly +difference between the loneliness of his present condition and the +solitude of his native mountains. +</P> + +<P> +In the woods he was at home; he knew where to go to find people +there—but here! In his weakened condition tears started to his eyes. +But he soon dashed them away, and, rising, set about dressing his wound. +</P> + +<P> +He removed his jacket and shirt, and bathed the wound with ocean water, +as he knew that salt was good to allay possible inflammation. The +bullet had grazed his side just under the shoulder, making a painful +though not a dangerous injury. +</P> + +<P> +"Lucky it didn't lodge," he thought, as he tore up his handkerchief and +bound up the place by passing the bandage over his opposite shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +A good deal of blood had flowed both down his arm and side. This +accounted for his present weakness. +</P> + +<P> +After resuming his clothes, he sat down to consider the situation. +</P> + +<P> +There was a light breeze from the northeast, with a straggling fleece +of clouds, expanding like a fan towards the zenith. Ralph knew that +the appearance indicated more wind, but he determined not to borrow +trouble from the future. +</P> + +<P> +A slow, majestic heaving of the ocean, on which the yawl gently rose +and fell was counter crossed by the shorter ripples stirred up by the +light wind then blowing. The dead swell evinced the neighborhood of +some previous gale. +</P> + +<P> +"I might as well search the lockers," he said to himself. "There might +be something eatable in them." +</P> + +<P> +There was nothing to eat aboard; but in the locker at the stern he +discovered a small keg filled with water, overlooked probably when the +boat was unloaded, for it was the same craft in which the trip up the +African river had been made. +</P> + +<P> +"That's a good find," he ejaculated. "Crickey! what is this?" +</P> + +<P> +He drew forth from under the bow a strip of canvas and an old rusty +hatchet. The possession of these articles raised his spirits for a +time, so that he set to work to rig up a sort of jury mast and sail. +There were three thwarts. From one of these he managed to split two +pieces some six feet long without impairing its strength as a brace to +stiffen the boat. He lashed the three together with a few bits of spun +yarn from his pocket, making a mast nearly ten feet long. +</P> + +<P> +Next he split from the other thwarts a piece or two for a boom, then he +turned his attention to the sail. +</P> + +<P> +Part of the canvas he tore into strips, and by the help of these he +manufactured a sort of lug sail of sufficient size to keep the boat +steady in a seaway, and in running with a fair wind to make two or +three miles an hour. +</P> + +<P> +To step and wedge the mast with the aid of the hatchet and more +splinters from the thwarts, did not take long. The only thing that +bothered him was the main sheet, or—to explain—the rope which should +hold the sail taut and trim. +</P> + +<P> +His eye happened to rest on the knot of the painter where it was +fastened to a ring bolt at the bow. He drew the wet line aboard, +untied the knot and soon had his main sheet fastened to the boom. +</P> + +<P> +There was a cleat near the tiller and Ralph, hauling in, brought the +yawl a little up in the wind and soon had the craft under headway. +</P> + +<P> +"By jolly!" he exclaimed, "but this isn't so very bad, after all. If I +only knew where to head now, I might strike the Cape Verdes. I suppose +I might hit Africa if I went east long enough; that is, supposing I +didn't capsize or founder, or starve, or something. Heigho! How weak +I feel. Believe I'll take breakfast." +</P> + +<P> +So he took up the keg and drank heartily, for his wound had made him +slightly feverish. +</P> + +<P> +"I must touch it lighter than this," he said as he put down the keg. +"Lord only knows when or where I will get it filled again." +</P> + +<P> +As the sun came up, a flaming red ball, the wind slowly increased. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph, though by no means experienced in boat sailing, had learned how +to steer. The sail was too small and weakly fastened to render it +liable to endanger the safety of the craft and for a time the interest +aroused by the novelty of sailing by himself kept his spirits up. +</P> + +<P> +But in an hour or so he felt weary. The sea had slowly risen so that +an occasional dash of water flew over the bow whenever he headed in the +least to windward. +</P> + +<P> +"What is the use of tiring myself out?" he thought at last. "It don't +make any difference where I go, or whether I go at all." +</P> + +<P> +So he unstepped his mast, stowed it in the boat's bottom, and lay down +on the sail. The sun dazzled him and he drew his hat over his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Probably his wound and weakness made him drowsy, for he fell asleep. +When he again awoke the sun was nearly overhead. The hot glare was +stifling. His very clothing seemed to burn his flesh. He staggered to +his feet and looked around the horizon wearily. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly his eyes brightened and his whole figure became animated and +eager. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap24"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIV. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Ralph's Sufferings. +</H3> + + +<P> +Low down in the northwestern horizon was a faint speck of white. +Everywhere else the blue of the sky and ocean was unrelieved. The +"mares' tails" of clouds had disappeared and the sea was a gently +heaving plain of glass. +</P> + +<P> +"A sail!" exclaimed the boy. "It must be a sail." +</P> + +<P> +He hurriedly set up his mast again and hastened back to the tiller. +But there was no wind; the canvas hung limp, while the sun was broiling +the paint on the little forward deck. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't suppose they can see me," thought he dejectedly. "It must be +only their topsails that I see, and so small a boat as this would be +invisible. Perhaps if they had a glass at the mast head, they might +find me. Oh, if I only had a wind!" +</P> + +<P> +Reflection, however, convinced him that a breeze would be as apt to +carry the strange vessel off as to bring it nearer, so he was fain to +sit still and idly watch the tiny dot of white, which meant so much, +yet might do so little. +</P> + +<P> +The isolation of his position pressed upon him harder than ever. He +felt, for a time, that if that elusive bit of white should disappear he +would certainly break down. The heat and glare in the air added to his +misery, and he took another drink from the keg, despite his previous +abstemious resolve. +</P> + +<P> +"I just can't help drinking," he said to himself in justification of +his act. "I reckon it's the wound makes me burn so." +</P> + +<P> +For a long while matters remained much the same, except that his hunger +increased and his general state of discomfort grew to a point that +rendered his exposure to the sun's rays unbearable. He would have +taken his sail and made some sort of awning but for the faint hope that +it might be seen. +</P> + +<P> +He crawled under the bow, where the deck sheltered the upper half of +his person, and found some relief. From time to time he crept out and, +standing on the thwarts, watched the unchanging speck of white, with +longings which at times were almost akin to despair. +</P> + +<P> +Towards the middle of the afternoon, after a longer stay beneath the +deck than usual, he heard a slight thump against the side of the boat. +Scrambling up, he saw that a light breeze had arisen, sending little +ripples over the sea. +</P> + +<P> +The wind was fair towards the distant sail, and Ralph again stepped his +mast and trimmed his sheet, while his heart beat fast. If he could +only get near enough to the stranger to be recognized! +</P> + +<P> +But his progress was slow and many times the distant spot would +disappear momentarily, sending painful thrills through his veins. +Then, when it was visible once more, the sense of relief was almost as +hard to bear, so greatly were his nerves wrought up. +</P> + +<P> +After a time it seemed to him that the sail was growing larger. At +first he doubted, then became assured of that fact. +</P> + +<P> +He rose and shouted in sheer exultation. For a time the white spot +increased in size until he felt that he would certainly be seen a +moment or two later. But that longed-for moment did not come. +</P> + +<P> +At last he perceived that the stranger was sailing at right angles to +his own course, which would naturally expose to his view a larger +expanse of sail. Would he be able to forge far enough ahead to be +recognized? +</P> + +<P> +The period of suspense was almost an agony; nor was the after +conviction that the ship was slowly but surely leaving him, as she +passed on her course, much more painful by comparison. But as long as +she was in sight Ralph sailed on. +</P> + +<P> +He could not voluntarily give up even the last glimpse of what appeared +to be the only link connecting him with his fellow creatures. But as +the dot of white was finally lost to view, he sank to the boat's bottom +in despair, letting the sail flap listlessly and the tiller swing +unguided. +</P> + +<P> +"It is no use," he faltered, as his eyes momentarily filled under a +sinking feeling of utter loneliness. "I might as well give up." +</P> + +<P> +But pain is at times a great reviver. As hope dwindled, the irritation +of his wound and the gnawing of his stomach forced their discomfort +upon his attention. He drank again, and later on, again, with a +persistent disregard of future consequences which only the overwhelming +disconsolation of his situation could have inspired. +</P> + +<P> +The wind stiffened and at last he was obliged to take down his sail, +out of sheer lack of energy to continue his battle with fate. He lay +down under the bow for a long time. +</P> + +<P> +The pitching of the yawl increased. Finally a larger sea than usual +sent nearly a barrel of water over the deck, that streamed down upon +his legs. Fear roused him to action once more. +</P> + +<P> +He began bailing frantically with his hat, and soon had the boat dry +again. As he remained aft, no more seas were shipped, though the wind +was increasing, and by certain signs he felt that rougher weather might +be imminent. Clouds were rising, and though he did not like their +appearance, it was some relief when they shaded him from the now +declining heat of the sun. +</P> + +<P> +As night approached, the wild waste of waters looked terribly stern and +forbidding. Occasionally a distant breaking of some white capped wave +would send his heart into his mouth, only to sink again despairingly. +</P> + +<P> +Just at sunset the great luminary peered gloriously forth. Torturing +as was its power at midday, now it seemed to Ralph as if a friend were +bidding him farewell. When the last of its golden surface had +vanished, he felt as if that friend had departed, never to return, at +least to him. +</P> + +<P> +For hours he sat after that, while a gloom as of death settled over the +ocean, broken only by the plash of waves and the constant creaking of +the yawl as it rolled and pitched in the trough of the sea. +</P> + +<P> +Once a shower of rain, accompanied by a slight flurry of wind, set him +to trembling, as he remembered the fury of the squalls in those +latitudes. He felt that his frail shallop would never live through one. +</P> + +<P> +Though in the tropics, he became chilly as the night advanced, while +the pain of hunger was but partially eased by the drafts of water of +which he still partook from time to time. He finally lay down in the +stern and wrapped himself in the sail. +</P> + +<P> +The pitching and rolling soon sent him to sleep, in a merciful relief +to the gnawing sense of misery that now never left his mind while awake. +</P> + +<P> +A ship's yawl, being both broad and deep, is one of the safest of small +boats in a seaway. Therefore Ralph passed the hours in temporary +security while unconscious. Unless a gale should rise, there was +little danger of his craft's swamping, nor, except from hunger, was his +physical situation any worse than during the day. +</P> + +<P> +The most appalling thing connected with such a position was the +feelings which it must necessarily arouse, and until day Ralph was +exempted from these. +</P> + +<P> +When he rubbed his eyes at dawn he lay there dreading to rise. The +loneliness of the sea renewed its terrors at once, and he feared to +look upon a scene of which he was the sole living element. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm getting to be a regular baby," he said aloud. "I wonder what +grandfather would say could he see me now. I am at least away from +that old feud, if I never was before." +</P> + +<P> +This allusion led him into a reverie upon the strangeness of the fate +that had led him half across the world in order to free himself from a +senseless quarrel, and to be pursued by it to an extent that had left +him free from its influence only when he was facing death in his +present forlorn condition. +</P> + +<P> +He had been sent to Shard, whom he should have avoided as a relative of +the Vaughn faction. Shard had sent him to Gary, while Gary, five +thousand miles away, was wreaking upon the boy all the hatred inspired +by the haters of his family far back in the Southern mountains. +</P> + +<P> +At last he raised his head and peered out upon the watery waste. As +his gaze swept from one side to the other an exclamation of amazement +dropped from his lips and he sprang to his feet. +</P> + +<P> +Scarcely a quarter of a mile away was the Wanderer, with her sails all +spread and flapping idly from side to side as she rolled gently upon +the dead swell of the sea. The wind had died away and the slaver lay +between the yawl and the eastern dawn, a dim yet recognizable bulk. +Her dark, graceful proportions were not to be mistaken. +</P> + +<P> +"This beats the nation!" was Ralph's next ejaculation. "This is what +one might call pure luck. Now if I only had a pair of oars." +</P> + +<P> +Not having any, he tried his sail, but found the attempt useless, and +he was compelled to sit there thrilling with impatience to be aboard +once more. Finally, as he was about to rise and shout, he noticed +something white being waved from one of the stern windows. +</P> + +<P> +While he was puzzling his brain over the meaning of this, a line of +black heads appeared above the bulwarks, and sundry black, naked forms +ran up the rigging. At the same time a chorus of barbaric yells rang +out, that chilled the boy's blood, even at that distance. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if the blacks have got possession of the ship at last," and +with the thought his heart sank as he realized the certain death to all +in case such a thing had taken place. "If this be so, they have +undoubtedly killed every white aboard." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph's situation now became doubly trying. To venture to board the +schooner might prove his destruction. To remain in the yawl was to +court a lingering and terrible death. +</P> + +<P> +Already the pangs of hunger were almost unendurable. He drank from the +keg, then measured the contents with a splinter. It was half empty. +Twenty-four more hours of this and then—— +</P> + +<P> +"Come what will," he resolved, "I shall try to board the vessel. One +may as well die one way as another." +</P> + +<P> +After some reflection he took apart his mast and used the six foot +strips as oars, finding that he made a little progress, though the task +was fatiguing and the movement exasperatingly slow. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile the noise on the Wanderer grew hideous. The idle, untrimmed +manner in which the sails swung, was a fearful indication that the +untrained negroes were masters. When within two hundred yards he took +a careful survey. The whole deck and the lower rigging were alive with +blacks shouting, gesticulating, acting more like lunatics than sane +beings. +</P> + +<P> +Something at the stern window again attracted his notice. It was a +handkerchief being waved. He answered the signal by waving his hat. +Then to Ralph's surprise and delight a white face was cautiously +protruded. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll help that man off or die for it," was his next thought as he bent +once more to the task of rowing. +</P> + +<P> +Had not the ocean been calm he would have made no headway. As it was, +when he drew up some thirty yards from the schooner's stern, he was for +the moment completely exhausted. +</P> + +<P> +Turning round, he recognized with joy the pale blood-stained face at +the window. +</P> + +<P> +"In heaven's name!" cried the boy. "What has happened? Are any more +of you alive?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap25"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXV. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Second Mate's Story. +</H3> + + +<P> +The face at the window was that of Jacob Duff, the second mate. He +shook his head in a melancholy way and beckoned with his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Come a little closer. The blacks are drunk and have exhausted their +ammunition. The magazine is in the lower hold, double locked and they +haven't found it yet." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph slowly pulled under the stern where he would be protected from +missiles. Over his head was a screaming crowd of savages who, however, +confined themselves to unintelligible threats. +</P> + +<P> +The other boat was gone. Duff, leaning out, motioned with his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"There is no time for explanations now," said he. "Let us get away +from here while those demons are too drunk to know how to hinder us. +Heavens, but what a time we've had!" +</P> + +<P> +While speaking he handed out a pair of oars, a bag of ship's biscuit, +and a breaker of water. +</P> + +<P> +Meantime the negroes evidently discovered that the boy was +communicating with some one on board. The cries and uproar redoubled. +The noise of a crowd surging down the companionway and into the main +cabin could be heard. Then came a tremendous crash against the door of +the stateroom. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurry up!" exclaimed Duff coolly, handing out the things all in a heap +and scrambling to get through the small aperture himself. "I braced +the door, but they are battering it down. Quick, Ralph, pull me +through by the arms." +</P> + +<A NAME="img-278"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-278.jpg" ALT=""Quick, Ralph, pull me through by the arms."" BORDER="2" WIDTH="369" HEIGHT="600"> +<H3> +[Illustration: "Quick, Ralph, pull me through by the arms."] +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The boy was none too swift. Tugging with might and main, he dragged +the mate through and both fell heavily to the bottom of the yawl, +nearly capsizing the craft, just as the stateroom door gave way. +</P> + +<P> +A stream of frantic blacks swarmed into the little apartment, one of +whom, thrusting his hideous face out at the window, was unceremoniously +pushed through by his comrades. He fell across the gunwale of the boat +and was shoved overboard by Duff, while Ralph, seizing an oar, placed +an end against the schooner's stern-post and threw all his waning +strength upon it, sending the yawl out from under the shelter of the +ship. +</P> + +<P> +When the negroes saw two whites instead of one they appeared beside +themselves with rage. A few missiles were thrown; among other articles +a Winchester, which the boy strove in vain to reach as it rebounded +from the boat's bow into the sea. Duff was struck with a marlin-spike, +but he still clung to the oar he was trying to use. Another black +plunged through the window into the water, while several threw +themselves from the deck and began swimming towards the boat. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph noticed that Duff could not stand. He took both oars, and, +notwithstanding his weak condition, soon placed the boat beyond the +reach of pursuit. +</P> + +<P> +The blacks, realizing this, turned and were swimming back to the +schooner, when one of them rose half his length from the water, sending +forth a piercing cry of agony. Then he was suddenly jerked beneath the +waves, as if by some powerful though unseen agency. +</P> + +<P> +"What did that?" exclaimed Ralph, horror stricken. +</P> + +<P> +"Sharks," returned Duff sententiously, pointing to several dark pointed +fins that now appeared, all making for the schooner. "The rascals are +never far away from a ship in these latitudes." +</P> + +<P> +"This is horrible!" exclaimed the lad, pulling on one oar to turn the +boat round. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you doing?" demanded Duff. +</P> + +<P> +"I am going to try and save some of those niggers. I know they are +bad; but we made them so. I can't stand it, I tell you, to see them +eaten up in that way. Look!" +</P> + +<P> +There came another shriek, and a second trail of blood rose to the +surface of the sea as another victim was dragged beneath. +</P> + +<P> +"I know," replied Duff. "But—self preservation first. Lock there, +will you!" +</P> + +<P> +Regardless of their screaming comrades who were trying to reach the +ship, the blacks on board were striving to turn the big Long Tom +amidships so as to bring it to bear upon the yawl. +</P> + +<P> +"That cannon is loaded—with slugs and scrap iron. Captain had it done +in order to sweep the decks, if necessary. But they gave us no chance +and the load is in it yet. Give me an oar. Pull now—for your life! +Lucky it is they don't know much about sighting a gun." +</P> + +<P> +Suiting his action to his words the mate literally forced the lad to +obey. Other cries sounded, and Ralph caught a glimpse of two or three +scrambling on board again by the aid of a rope that happened to hang +over the side. +</P> + +<P> +His strength was nearly gone, and only an intense resolution kept him +to his task at the oar. Duff, behind Ralph, also pulled away, though +the strain caused him to groan now and then. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you hurt?" asked the boy as they drew rapidly away from the now +dreaded ship. +</P> + +<P> +"Leg broke. Shot below the knee. Hist! They are going to try it now." +</P> + +<P> +A large negro was hastening from the cook's galley with a flaming +brand. The instant of suspense that followed was awful. A bright +flash followed, and as the accompanying roar met their ears a harsh +spattering and hissing beyond relieved their anxiety immensely. +</P> + +<P> +Not a thing touched the boat or its occupants. +</P> + +<P> +"Overshot—by thunder!" cried Duff with an exulting whoop, that ended +in a groan of pain. "We are all right now; the beggars can never +reload. They don't know how, and be hanged to 'em!" +</P> + +<P> +After that, while resting, Ralph briefly related his own adventures, +though touching lightly upon his suffering for food and the pain of his +wound. +</P> + +<P> +"You've had a time of it, sure," replied Duff. "Yet it was lucky for +you and me both that you parted company with us as you did. Ah! 'twas +a very trying day yesterday and a fearful time last night. Eat a bite, +lad. I can't till I've tried to do something for my leg." +</P> + +<P> +So Ralph fell to on the bag of biscuit and the keg of water, while Duff +bathed and bound up his leg as best he could. The bone had been +fractured just above the ankle by a bullet. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately it was an easy though painful matter to straighten the +limb, as nothing had been unjointed. A spare shirt and some of the +canvas sufficed to keep the bone in place after a fashion. As Duff +said grimly: +</P> + +<P> +"It will do until we're picked up; and if we ain't picked up, it will +do anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +Ralph, after eating, dressed his own wound, and the two made themselves +as comfortable as possible under the circumstances. The mate's account +of what happened after Ralph's drifting away was in substance as +follows. +</P> + +<P> +Things remained tolerably quiet for several hours after the defeat of +the attempt on the part of the blacks to gain the deck by way of the +forecastle. It was concluded that the negroes were sleeping off the +effect of the rum they must have taken. As most of the water was +below, they probably quenched their thirst without stint. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, on deck things looked more blue than ever. The whites were +without provisions, nearly everything in that line being in the store +rooms below. A large breaker of water was on tap in the waist, which, +with some ship's biscuits, formed their only diet that morning. +</P> + +<P> +No sail was sighted all that day. Ralph's absence was detected only +when it was found that one of the boats was gone. Gary swore some at +the loss of the last, but seemed relieved rather than otherwise over +the fate of the boy. +</P> + +<P> +"He's gone and a good riddance," said he. "We're short of help, but we +can stand the loss of the cub better than that of the boat." +</P> + +<P> +During the day the blacks below threw overboard the bodies of the +slain, having no fire wherewith to indulge their cannibalistic tastes. +One of the wounded seamen died and was consigned to the deep by his +desperate comrades. +</P> + +<P> +The hours wore on until the strain of anxiety lest the blacks should +fire the ship, or renew their assaults, grew unendurable. Some +proposed a desperate charge down the gangway with cutlasses and loaded +rifles. Could they once force the blacks into the main hold, the +howitzer might again be trained on them. One fatal discharge, said +these bolder ones, would cow the negroes into submission. +</P> + +<P> +But Gary, who was no coward, would not allow any such rashness. What +could seven men do against a hundred? The negroes now had a few +weapons; they had all the ammunition but what was in the magazines of +the Winchesters. +</P> + +<P> +"We must wait, keep cool, and watch for a sail," said the captain. "In +rescue and in keeping these beggars below decks lies our hope." +</P> + +<P> +"What will we do when our grub gives out?" asked some one. +</P> + +<P> +"Die like men when the time comes, I hope," replied Gary, with grim +determination. +</P> + +<P> +He was as game as he was heartless and cruel. But later on one of the +men found a demijohn of liquor in the cook's pantry. Neb, thoroughly +cowed by his uncivilized brethren below, had deserted his post and was +in hiding somewhere. The liquor was secretly hidden away, and the men +began drinking. +</P> + +<P> +By the time Gary found out what was up, every one but himself and Duff +was recklessly intoxicated. He made a search for the stuff, but was +recalled by another effort of the blacks to force open one of the +hatches. +</P> + +<P> +The attempt was foiled, but night had fallen before Gary found where +the liquor was hidden. He promptly broke the demijohn, and was knocked +down thereupon by one of the drunken sailors. This led to a general +melee on the quarter deck, where the row began. +</P> + +<P> +The forecastle was entirely deserted by the men, who were maddened by +the destruction of their liquor. Duff used his efforts to part them, +but growing uneasy over the unguarded state of the ship, he started to +go forward. +</P> + +<P> +He had hardly reached the main deck when he saw a black form leaping +out of the forecastle. The blacks, taking advantage of the fight +overhead, and the absence of a guard, had battered down the bulkhead +between the main hold and the sailors' sleeping quarters with the very +howitzer which had been mounted below for their subjection. +</P> + +<P> +Duff raised the alarm, but it was too late. Scores of negroes poured +upon the decks, now dimly lighted by ship's lanterns, and fell upon +their oppressors with a fury intensified by rum and a sense of +cruelties that had been inflicted upon them when bound and helpless. +</P> + +<P> +They had armed themselves with knives, pieces of furniture converted +into clubs—anything that could be had. Those who had Winchesters +opened a wild though almost useless fire on the whites, then clubbed +their guns. +</P> + +<P> +One ball did indeed strike the second mate, and another put out the two +lanterns, leaving the after part of the ship in darkness. But the +terrible conflict was over soon. +</P> + +<P> +The last Duff saw of Gary he was backed against the main mast defending +himself. One arm hung useless, as he faced a circle of savage, +merciless faces. Then one of the negroes felled the captain from +behind, and a shower of blows was rained upon his prostrate figure. +</P> + +<P> +Duff, who had done his part during the fighting, managed to make his +way to the quarter deck by striking down a negro or two who opposed +him. It was then that he was shot. +</P> + +<P> +Realizing that all was over, and determined to sell his life as dearly +as possible, he limped to the stern, and awaited his fate. As if by an +inspiration, he thought of his stateroom which, as far as he knew, +might have remained locked after he had abandoned it upon the first +breaking forth of the blacks. +</P> + +<P> +For the moment he was unobserved in the darkness that now reigned aft. +The negroes had just brought forth Neb's body, and were manifesting +their disapproval of his association with the whites by beating and +kicking the inanimate clay. +</P> + +<P> +Duff, despite the pain of his fractured limb, lowered himself by a rope +to the still open window, and managed to pull himself through into his +stateroom, and drag his body to his berth. Here the agony of his wound +overcame him, and he fell into a deep swoon. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap26"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVI. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Hard Times. +</H3> + + +<P> +When the second mate revived there were sounds of high rejoicing +overhead. He saw that the fastenings of his door had not been +disturbed. +</P> + +<P> +After dressing his wound as best he could, he set about securing the +best possible means of prolonging and perhaps saving his life. If the +drink-crazed blacks could be kept out of his stateroom, it might be +that he would not be molested until some passing vessel, noting the +unseaman-like appearance and maneuvers of the Wanderer would come to +his rescue. +</P> + +<P> +The blacks evidently did not know of his whereabouts, but considered +that all of their whilom masters had been put to death. But the chance +for ultimate safety was slight, he felt. +</P> + +<P> +When the schooner might be fired or dismantled in a gale, through +ignorance, he knew not, but he realized that the negroes were liable to +commit almost any blunder. Again, the passing ships might not stop. +</P> + +<P> +He also must have something to eat and drink, his wound rendering him +especially thirsty. +</P> + +<P> +Limping to the door he listened long and intently. As far as he could +tell, the entire crowd of blacks were on deck, carousing over their +victory and enjoying the fresh air of which they so long had been +deprived. +</P> + +<P> +He unlocked and peered through the door. Then he quickly slipped into +the cabin and reconnoitered. All seemed to be quiet. +</P> + +<P> +Without wasting time he went into the store rooms, secured a bag of +biscuit and filled a breaker with water from one of the butts. +Carrying these into his room he returned and took a pair of spare oars +wherewith to brace his door. +</P> + +<P> +The confusion and waste wrought by the blacks were extreme. Bread, +meat, and vegetables lay upon the floor. Boxes and barrels were broken +open and their contents recklessly thrown about. The rum barrel had +been conveyed to the deck. +</P> + +<P> +Overhead Duff could hear barbaric dancing, whooping and singing. A +noise at the head of the companion-way caused him to retreat hastily to +his own room, where he softly locked the door and used both oars as +braces. For the present he was probably safe, as his presence had not +yet been discovered. +</P> + +<P> +All that day the negroes gave themselves over to eating and drinking. +The sails swung idly in the passing breezes, and as the weather was not +boisterous the schooner fared very well. +</P> + +<P> +Duff slept, thought, and nursed his wound. At times he would look from +his little window for a sail, and when night came he curled down in his +bunk so snugly, that it seemed at times as if things were going on as +usual before the mutiny. When he looked out in the morning at daylight +the first object he saw was the yawl. +</P> + +<P> +At first he thought it might be the second boat which had been loosened +somehow during the fierce battle on deck. But when Ralph rose and +looked around, the mate recognized the lad and waved his handkerchief. +</P> + +<P> +He was not a little astonished at the boy's re-appearance, having heard +the shot which wounded Ralph, and having given both lad and yawl up for +lost. +</P> + +<P> +"Well now," remarked Ralph, on the conclusion of the story, "what are +we to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"When the sun gets well up, we will take an observation and make a +reckoning. Then we'll lay our course for the nearest land. Perhaps we +may be picked up—perhaps we won't be. Whatever happens we will make +the grub and water go as far as possible, keep a stiff lip, and trust +to Providence." +</P> + +<P> +While speaking Duff drew forth from the bundle of bedding he had thrown +out, a leather bag. From this he produced a compass and a sextant. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, lad," said he, "let us enlarge this here sail a bit, and get +ready to do some traveling when the breeze comes." +</P> + +<P> +For an hour or two both man and boy worked until they had the yawl in +as good trim as possible. Then the mate took an observation by the +sun, cast a reckoning, and informed Ralph that as far as his knowledge +of geography would serve, they were some two hundred miles from the +Cape Verdes. +</P> + +<P> +"We have a fair wind, Ralph, so square away west by nor'west, and leave +this bloody slaver to her fate. I'm sorry for those niggers, for bad +as they treated us, we got 'em in the fix they're in. If we speak a +vessel we can go back." +</P> + +<P> +"Mebbe they won't want to," suggested Ralph. +</P> + +<P> +"Salvage," returned Duff briefly. "There's money in it, you see. Men +will do about anything for money enough." +</P> + +<P> +For the next two days they kept their course and took turn about in +sailing. As the last glimpse of the slaver faded into nothingness, +both felt relieved. They nursed their wounds and endured their +sufferings and privations as best they could. +</P> + +<P> +The third day sundry signs betokening a storm lent an anxious +expression to Duff's face, that soon transferred itself to Ralph's. +</P> + +<P> +The wind stiffened gradually into half a gale and night closed in, +around an ominous and threatening horizon. Though worn and wearied, +the mate never gave up the tiller all during that black and perilous +siege of darkness. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph bailed and held the main sheet. When the squalls came he +slackened up or drew in around the cleat as became necessary. +</P> + +<P> +The scene was intensely depressing, hopeless, terrible. Hardly a word +was spoken save in reference to the management of the boat. +</P> + +<P> +Morning found them greatly exhausted and barely able to keep their +small craft from broaching to. Had this happened they would have +foundered undoubtedly. +</P> + +<P> +The clouds seemed to press the ocean, confining the view to less than +half a mile in any direction. The sea was a tumbling mass of gray, +seething billows, that tossed the yawl at pleasure hither and thither, +the rag of sail barely sufficing to keep her head to windward. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph had endured the terrors of the night without a murmur. But he +had been aboard the yawl now about five days on a diet of bread and +water. Nature was giving way under the strain. +</P> + +<P> +As he gazed around on the angry scene, where no sign of relenting on +the part of the storm was evident, he turned to Duff and fixed on him a +hopeless look. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think I can stand it much longer, sir," he said. +</P> + +<P> +The mate's plight was almost as bad; indeed his wound was worse than +Ralph's. But he was tougher; he had been shipwrecked twice previously. +</P> + +<P> +"Lad," he replied, somewhat sternly, "never give up as long as you can +bat an eye. That's my doctrine." +</P> + +<P> +And he looked it; so did Ralph a moment later, nor did the boy complain +again. +</P> + +<P> +All that weary day they fought a losing battle against wind and wave, +and when night once more closed in without any sign of clearing +weather, the hearts of both were at the lowest ebb of hope. Had the +gale increased they must inevitably have been swamped. +</P> + +<P> +Along about two bells in the first night watch the mate, who had never +uttered one word of complaint, groaned aloud. +</P> + +<P> +"Give—me—water," he faltered. "I—I——" And he sank forward +against Ralph, and from there to the boat's bottom, where he lay +apparently insensible from exhaustion and pain. +</P> + +<P> +The boy seized the tiller, or the yawl, broaching, would have shipped a +fatal sea. There was nothing to do but to hold to his post; so after +throwing a blanket over Duff he turned his attention to the boat, +keeping the shred of sail taut, and the bow as much to windward as +possible. +</P> + +<P> +Later on he nodded, but found on awaking that the wind was decreasing. +This cheered him into renewed activity for a time, then he fell asleep +again, and so continued, with brief interludes of wakefulness, until he +felt himself sinking from the seat he had held so long. Once he +fancied he caught a gleam of stars; and it seemed that a stillness was +pervading the air as the whistle of the wind died into melancholy +murmurings. After that he remembered nothing more until a voice +penetrated his brain like a trump of doom. +</P> + +<P> +He started up, but fell back weakly. The mate was steering and half +lying on the bottom of the boat, while shading his eyes with one hand +as he stared over the gunwale. +</P> + +<P> +"Rouse up a bit, lad!" cried Duff, his tones quivering with excitement +and weakness. "It's a sail—a sail!" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph struggled to his knees and beheld a large ship bearing down upon +them scarcely half a mile away. The sun was up, and the sky bright and +fair, with a ragged patch of cloud here and there. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurray!" he cried weakly, then his head swam, and he fell back +motionless. +</P> + +<P> +Duff held grimly to his post, even after consciousness had departed. +The rescuing party found him with head drooped upon his arm, while his +nerveless fingers still rested on the tiller. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap27"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Uncle Gideon. +</H3> + + +<P> +The day was well spent when Ralph again came to his senses. He raised +his head and looked about in a half stupefied wondering way. +</P> + +<P> +The lad was in a small, but well lighted stateroom, plainly yet +comfortably furnished. A grave looking, middle aged man was feeling +his pulse, while a sailor, neatly dressed in a blue jacket and white +duck trousers, stood behind with a towel over his arm and a bowl of +broth in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +The other was in a navy blue uniform. The gold lace on his cap and the +shoulder straps betokened one in authority. Outside, the sun was +shining brightly, while a sound of measured tramping and an occasional +order in commanding tones, indicated something of military precision in +the surroundings. +</P> + +<P> +"Where am I?" asked Ralph, noticing that his hands were rather white +and wasted. +</P> + +<P> +"You are on the United States sloop of war, the Adams, homeward bound," +replied the officer. "You were picked up six days ago, and have been +ill ever since. I am the ship's surgeon." +</P> + +<P> +"Is—is——" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Mr. Duff is well," said Dr. Barker, anticipating the boy's +inquiry; "that is except his leg, which is progressing finely. You +must not talk much—yet. We ran upon the Wanderer after picking you +up. Duff related his own adventures and yours, and gave us his +reckoning, taken just after you and he left her. We found her after a +two days' search, partially dismasted, and the blacks thoroughly cowed +by the gale. We sent her to St. Paul De Loando, where she will be +appraised and sold. +</P> + +<P> +"It is likely that your share and Mr. Duff's of the prize money will be +considerable, as but for you two we would not have made the capture. +As you were deceived when shipping on her as to the object of her trip, +you can not be held responsible for the crime committed by her captain +and owner in violating the law against slave trading. The negroes of +course will be set free." +</P> + +<P> +The door here opened and Duff entered on crutches, followed by a tall, +sandy whiskered officer, who went up to Ralph at once. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, nephew," said he in a cordial, hearty tone, "how are you? Well +enough to stand a stiff surprise?" +</P> + +<P> +Ralph wondered weakly, but his perplexity ended in a smile. It seemed +as if every one was very cordial and that his lines were falling in +pleasant places at last. +</P> + +<P> +He greeted Duff eagerly and looked at the two naval men inquiringly, +remembering the surgeon's warning as to talking. +</P> + +<P> +"This is Chief Quartermaster Gideon Granger, Ralph," said Duff. "Now +do you know who he is?" +</P> + +<P> +"Gideon Granger was my father's half brother," replied the lad at once. +"He left home before I was born. Grandfather thought he went to Texas, +but as he never heard from him, we all supposed he was dead. So—you +are—Uncle Gid." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, my lad," said Granger. "You see your grandfather and I didn't +get on together somehow, so one day I tripped anchor and made sail, as +I thought, for the West; but the sight of salt water was too much for +me. I drifted into a sailor's life, got into the navy, was promoted +during the war, and—here I am. +</P> + +<P> +"Meeting up with you, however, is about the strangest streak of luck I +have happened with yet. But I am none the less glad to fall in with +one of my own kin. You're as welcome to me, lad, as I reckon we were +to you and Duff, the morning we sighted you off the Cape Verdes. When +he told me who you were I was all broke up. You were pretty well done +for." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess I must have given you some trouble since then," returned +Ralph, reaching for his uncle's hand. "We did have rather a tough time +in that old boat." +</P> + +<P> +"You did that. As soon as you were hoisted aboard, Dr. Barker +pronounced you down with coast fever. That trip up the river Duff +tells me about, probably planted the seeds, and exposure did the +rest—eh, Doc." +</P> + +<P> +The surgeon nodded, then the chief quartermaster added: "But we will be +at Norfolk in a week, then I'll apply for shore leave and you and I +will go down and see the old man." +</P> + +<P> +"He won't want to see me," remarked Ralph, who then briefly related the +circumstances under which he had been driven from home, his encounter +with Shard, and the latter's mode of placing him at Gary's mercy. +</P> + +<P> +The old warrant officer laughed over the silly feud, while sympathizing +with the boy over its sad results. +</P> + +<P> +"You shall take me home," he concluded. "Father will forgive us both +and we'll liven the old gent up a bit. Perhaps we can get him down +where he can taste a whiff of salt air, especially if I make a +man-'o-war's man out of his grandson." +</P> + +<P> +The doctor now interposed, and said that Ralph had talked, and been +talked to, enough that day. So the boy was left to another refreshing +sleep, after enjoying his bowl of chicken broth. +</P> + +<P> +Two days later he was out on deck, where the neatness, precision, and +martial splendor of everything he saw, quite captivated his young +imagination. When they entered the harbor at Fortress Monroe and +salutes were fired, yards manned, and flags dipped by the Adams and the +friendly foreign war ships anchored there, Ralph felt more than ever +that his vocation was that of a sailor. +</P> + +<P> +True to his word, Uncle Gideon soon started with his nephew for the old +mountain home that he had not seen for more than thirty years. When +Ralph stood aside, and the stern old man gazed upon his first born, the +meeting and recognition were touching in the extreme. +</P> + +<P> +Ralph was forgiven for outliving the feud, and the final result was +that son and grandson carried the lonely old man with them back to +Norfolk, where he was made comfortable in the "Old People's Home," his +own means, supplemented by Gideon's savings, paying all expenses. +</P> + +<P> +One day the quartermaster came into their boarding-house, and on +entering Ralph's room slapped the lad heartily on the back. +</P> + +<P> +"I've fixed it, nephew," said he jovially. "My ship sails in three +days, and I was afraid I might not pull you through in time. But our +captain gave us a lift. You know he stands in with some of the big +bugs in the navy department at Washington. +</P> + +<P> +"What!" exclaimed Ralph enthusiastically, his eyes glowing, "am I +really to get a berth on the training ship as a naval apprentice?" +</P> + +<P> +"Better than that. When I made known that your share of the Wanderer +prize money, and what I could spare would pay your way, captain wrote +to his friend at Washington, and the upshot of it all is you're to go +to Annapolis. Think of that! One year to prepare for your +examination—four years as a cadet—then an ensign. Ah, lad! If I'd +had your chance at your age I might have been at least a lieutenant. +During the war there was more than one such rose to be commodore. But +bear in mind: I can renew my youth in watching you. So bear a hand, +lad, and do your best. You may live to walk your own quarter-deck yet." +</P> + +<P> +"If I do," replied Ralph, seizing his uncle's hard and weather beaten +hand, "it will all be owing to you." +</P> + +<P> +The old veteran grinned, then seemed to remember something. +</P> + +<P> +"Put on your hat, lad," said he. "We will lay a course for the old man +over at the Home. You must ask him if fighting for Uncle Sam on sea +isn't better than bushwhacking your neighbors in the mountains." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RALPH GRANGER'S FORTUNES***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 18683-h.txt or 18683-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/8/18683">http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/6/8/18683</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>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. 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