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diff --git a/24904.txt b/24904.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..20b3e1e --- /dev/null +++ b/24904.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7477 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Golden Days for Boys and Girls, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Golden Days for Boys and Girls + Volume XIII, No. 51: November 12, 1892 + +Author: Various + +Editor: James Elverson + +Release Date: March 23, 2008 [EBook #24904] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOLDEN DAYS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope, Juliet Sutherland and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Transcriber's Note: + +This e-text comes in two forms, Latin-1 and ASCII-7. The only +differences are in the way fractions are displayed (as a single +character, or as "number/number") and the first vowel in "Caesar" +(one letter or two). + +Boldface text is shown with *asterisks*.] + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + + GOLDEN DAYS + + For Boys and Girls + + Vol. XIII--No. 51. November 12, 1892. + + Philadelphia: + JAMES ELVERSON, + Publisher. + + + * * * * * + +[Transcriber's Note: + +The notation [->] represents the pointing-finger symbol. Text +incorporated into advertising illustrations is shown in (parentheses); +where necessary, a brief description of the illustration is given in +{braces}. + +The layout of the advertising pages is shown after all text, along with +a list of file names for major illustrations. Typographical errors in +the original, whether corrected or not, are listed at the end.] + + * * * * * + + *SERVE YOURSELF, AND YOUR FRIENDS + WILL THINK MORE O' YOU* + + _You'll enjoy the good opinion + of YOUR friends if you use_ + + SAPOLIO + + TRY A CAKE OF IT AND JUDGE FOR YOURSELVES. + + * * * * * + +*From the Advocate, Londonville, Ohio.* + +Good reading matter is as essential to the young people as good +food--its effect is seen in after years. Especially do they need good, +pure fiction, which engages their attention and excludes mischievous +ideas, leaving a lasting impression. In its great variety of short and +continued stories, GOLDEN DAYS is among the foremost, and its +illustrations are artistic. Puzzledom delights the solvers, while the +Letter Box contains much information and is read by old and young. +Although the Exchange Column will not publish any notices of a dangerous +character, yet it is always crowded and has been used to advantage by +its readers. The publisher knows the wants of the young folks, and the +pens of the young people's favorite writers are employed for GOLDEN +DAYS. It can be purchased weekly, or bound in magazine form, at the end +of the month. Send to the publisher, James Elverson, Philadelphia, for a +sample copy. + + +*From The Argus, Ashton, Dakota.* + +To the young people of Spink County who enjoy first-class reading we can +truthfully recommend GOLDEN DAYS, published by James Elverson, +Philadelphia. It is a weekly publication, and filled with the purest of +reading matter, and yet the well-known desire of the young for stories +of adventure is not forgotten, for while the interest of the reader is +held by the power of the writers, yet there is nothing at any time that +could offend the most fastidious, while the youthful mind is led on to +emulate the good acts portrayed. Write for sample copies. + + +*From the Milton (Penna.) Economist.* + +GOLDEN DAYS is filled with a choice selection of original stories and +pure reading matter of the highest order, together with numerous +illustrations. The contributors are many of the best and most +widely-known story writers of the world. One grand feature of this +journal is that it contains nothing that will be in any way leading to +the tainting of the moral or religious life of the young, which is the +case with so many of the story papers of the present day. We commend the +paper to parents who wish to get the best juvenile paper; and those of +our young readers who wish to get and read serial stories of a pure and +moral tendency should not fail to subscribe to GOLDEN DAYS. + + * * * * * + +$45 SAFETY BICYCLES FREE. + +Stoddart & Co., 19 Quincy Street, Chicago, Ill., are giving away an +elegant $45 Safety Bicycle to boys and girls under eighteen, without one +cent of money, on very easy conditions, for advertising purposes. We +advise those who want one to write them at once. + + * * * * * + +*From the Daily News, Geneseo, N.Y.* + +We wish we could impress upon the mind of every father how cheaply he +could make the home circle doubly attractive by subscribing for the +GOLDEN DAYS, decidedly the most valuable and most interesting pictorial +newspaper we ever saw, not only for the children, but for the entire +family. For the sake of his children we sincerely urge every father to +send to the office for a specimen copy, when he can see for himself the +great value it will be in his family, and he will thank us in his heart +for calling his attention to it. Address James Elverson, publisher, +GOLDEN DAYS, corner Ninth and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia, Penna. + + +*From the Clifton and Landsdowne Times.* + +GOLDEN DAYS.--We would like to be able to place this weekly journal in +the hands of every girl and boy in the county who cannot afford to +subscribe for or buy it from news agents. But the girls and boys of that +kind, we fear, are "too many for us." A sad fact, too, by-the-way, when +we reflect that a little thought and a bit of economy on the part of +themselves or their parents would do what it is not in our power to +accomplish. Nevertheless, they ought to know what GOLDEN DAYS is, +namely, a sixteen-page weekly journal, with finely-illustrated articles +on various subjects of interest to young people, embracing natural +history, philosophy and other branches of education, together with +pleasing, instructive and moral stories by the best authors. It is just +what is wanted for the youthful mind seeking for useful information, and +ready at the same time to enjoy what is entertaining and healthful. If +all girls and boys could peruse and profit by its columns every week, +they in time would grow up to be women and men, intelligent, patriotic +and influential in their lives; and lest any who may read these words +are ignorant--which is hardly possible--of the whereabouts of GOLDEN +DAYS, we gladly give the address, James Elverson, Ninth and Spruce +Streets, Philadelphia. + + +*From the Star and News, Mount Joy, Pa.* + +GOLDEN DAYS is the title of a weekly publication for boys and girls, +published by James Elverson, Philadelphia, at $3 a year. Each issue is +filled with a choice selection of original stories and pure reading +matter of the highest order, together with numerous illustrations. The +contributors are many of the best and most widely known story-writers of +the world. One grand feature of this journal is that it contains nothing +that will be in any way leading to the tainting of the moral or +religious life of the young, which is the case with so many of the story +papers of the present day. We commend the paper to parents who wish to +get the best juvenile paper, and those of our young readers who wish to +get and read serial stories of a pure and moral tendency, should not +fail to subscribe for GOLDEN DAYS. + + +*From the Cincinnati Suburban News.* + +Twenty copies of the GOLDEN DAYS are sold weekly at Moore's book store. +The number ought to be forty, for it is the best juvenile publication we +know of. It is most beautifully illustrated, and the reading is of a +very high order, much of it historical and biographical. The price is +only six cents per week. + + +*From the Canton Press, Canton, Mo.* + +The GOLDEN DAYS is pushing forward to a position in the field of +juvenile journalism that will make it the _ne plus ultra_. Its stories +sparkle with originality and interest, and its poems are the best. +Published at $3 a year by James Elverson, Philadelphia, Pa. Send for a +free sample copy. + + * * * * * + +FREE! + +[Illustration] + +To any boy or girl, a Fifty Dollar Bicycle ($50), who will devote +a few hours' time in our employ. For further particulars write + + _GOLD STAR TEA CO. + GREENVILLE. PA._ + + +PRINTING OUTFIT 15c + +[Illustration] + +COMPLETE, 4 alphabets rubber type, type holder, bottle Indelible Ink, +Ink Pad and Tweezers. Put up in neat box with directions for use. +Satisfaction guaranteed. Worth 50c. Best Linen Marker, Card Printer, +etc. Sets names in 1 minute, prints 500 cards an hour. Send postpaid +15c; 2 for 25c. Cat. free. R. H. INGERSOLL & BRO. 65 Cortlandt St. N.Y. +City. + + +[Illustration] + + SOLID GOLD RINGS + +[Illustration] + +*Easily earned* by selling *5 and 10 pounds Tea.* +*SOLID SILVER WATCH* +A perfect timekeeper, earned by selling +*25 pounds Tea, Spices and Baking Powder combined.* +*SAFETY BICYCLE* (26-inch wheels) +earned by *selling 75 pounds Tea, etc.* + +[->] Write for *Order Blanks* and particulars to + + W. G. BAKER, + +*356 Main Street, Springfield, Mass.* + +As to our honorable dealing, we refer to the Second National Bank and +Lawson Sibley, Mayor, Springfield. + + + BICYCLES + ON EASY PAYMENTS + +[Illustration] + +No extra charge. All makes new or 2d hand. Lowest price guaranteed. +Largest stock and oldest dealers in U.S. Cata. free. Agts. wanted. +*_Rouse, Hazard & Co._, 34 _G St., Peoria, Ill._* + + +*CARDS* + +Finest Sample Book of Gold Beveled Edge, White Dove, Hidden Name Cards +ever offered, with Agents Outfit *for 2 cents*. 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CO., LYNN, MASS.* + + * * * * * + +*Children Cry for Pitcher's Castoria* + + * * * * * + + GALVANIZED + GEARED AERMOTOR + +Re-designed and much improved, furnishes power to + +*PUMP, GRIND, CUT FEED, and SAW WOOD.* + +Price cut to $75 + +[Illustration] + +For 12-ft. *Steel Geared Aermotor*. + +*Does the work of 4 horses* at half the cost of one, and is always +harnessed and never gets tired. With our Steel Stub Tower it is easy to +put on barn. Send for elaborate designs for putting power in barn. + +*AERMOTOR CO.* + +12th & Rockwell Sts., Chicago, & 29 Beale St., San Francisco. + + + [OLD COINS] + [WANTED] + +$13,388 Paid For 149 OLD COINS. Save all you get, coined before 1878, +and send 2 stamps for illustrated list. Shows the highest prices paid. +W. VON BERGEN. 91 SCOLLAY SQUARE, Boston, Mass. + + +*OPIUM* + +*Morphine Habit Cured in 10 to 20 days. +No pay till cured. Dr. J. Stephens, Lebanon, O.* + + +*ALL FOR 10 CTS.* + +We want to introduce our goods in all parts of the country, and +accordingly make this Great Offer: If you will send us *10 cents* +(silver dime, or stamps) we will mail at once, all the following, +complete: + +*Game of Authors*, 48 cards with full directions; *Set of Dominoes*, in +compact and handy form; *Chess Board*, with men; *Checker Board*, with +men; *Fox and Geese Board*, with men; *Nine Men Morris Board*, with men; +*Mystic Age Tablet*, to tell the age of any person, young or old, +married or single; *Real Secret of Ventriloquism*, whereby you can learn +to make voices come from closets, trunks, dolls, etc. This secret is +worth one hundred dollars; *The Beautiful Language of Flowers*, arranged +in alphabetical order; *Morse Telegraph Alphabet*, complete; *The +Improved* Game of *Forfeit*, for two or more. Will please the whole +family; *Parlor Tableaux*; *Pantomime;* *Shadow Pantomime*; *Shadow +Buff*; *The Clairvoyant*, how to become a medium. A pleasing game when +well played; *Game of Fortune*, for ladies and gentlemen. Amuses old and +young; *The Album Writer's Friend*, 275 select Autograph Album Verses, +in prose and verse, (new); *50 Choice Conundrums or Riddles*, with +answers, (new); *13 Magical Experiments*, astonishing, including Mind +Reading, Sleight of Hand Tricks, &c., Chemical Processes, Optical +Illusions; *11 Parlor Games*; *Magic Music*; Order of the *Whistle and +Game of* _Letters_. We guarantee package is worth ten times the amount +we ask for it. It is the best collection of Games, etc., ever offered by +any firm in America. Just think! It will amuse and instruct the whole +family circle for months. Remember that our price is only *10* _cents_ +for all the above, which are in one package. We will send *6* packages +for *50* cents. If you cannot write to-day, cut this out and send some +other time. Address all orders to + +*W. S. EVERETT & CO., LYNN, MASS.* + + +GUITAR + +Self-taught, without notes; *24 charts 50c.* +*BANJO* _without notes (80 pp., 100 pieces) $1_ +*Cir. & cat. of inst's free.* A. PARKE, 85 Fifth av. Chicago + + +A CENT SENT BENT. + +FREE [Illustration {organ}] + +FREE [Illustration {piano}] + +FREE [Illustration {sewing machine}] + +STRANGE BUT TRUE! *I give away Pianos, Organs and Sewing Machines* +for 10 lines of verse. Send your address, on postal, at once, +and learn how its done. Tell which you need. Ask *GEO. P. BENT* +(For Clerk No. 14 ), Chicago, Ill., Man'fr. of + +*"CROWN" Pianos and Organs*. (Estab. 1870.) + + * * * * * + +STAMPS. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration] + +*STAMPS!* + +*300* fine mixed Victoria, Cape of G. H., India, Japan, etc., with fine +Stamp Album, only *10c.* New 64-p. Price List *free*. _Agents wanted_ at +*50* per ct. com. STANDARD STAMP CO., 925 La Salle St., St. Louis, Mo. +Largest stamp firm in America. + + +STAMP COLLECTORS + +May learn something to their advantage and receive a Central American +stamp *FREE* by sending the addresses of stamp collectors. C. H. MEKEEL, +1009 Locust St., ST. LOUIS. Mo. + + +125 + +Different rare stamps, including West Australia, Hawaiian, Liberia, Hong +Kong, Jamaica, Colombian Republic, &c., 20c. Price list for stamp. E. F. +GAMBS, P.O. Box 2631, San Francisco, Cal. + + +500 + +Mixed, Australian, etc. 10c.; *105 varieties* and *nice* album, 10c.; 10 +Africa, 10c.; 15 Asia. 10c. New illustrated list free. F. P. Vincent, +Chatham, N.Y. + + +105 + +All diff., *Egypt, Japan,* etc., 10c.; 20 *Roumania,* 25c. Agts. wanted. +Sample stamp paper *FREE*. A. H. Crittenden, Detroit, Mich. + + +STAMPS--100 all diff., only 15c. Agents wanted, 33-1/3 per cent. com. +List free. C. A. STEGMANN, 2615 Dickson St., St. Louis, Mo. + + * * * * * + +Advertising Rates for "Golden Days." + + Single insertions, 75c. per Agate line. + Four insertions, 70c. per Agate line for each insertion. + Thirteen insertions, 65c. per Agate line for each insertion. + Twenty-six " 60c. per Agate line for each insertion. + Fifty-two " 50c. per Agate line for each insertion. + +_Eight words average a line. Fourteen lines make one inch._ +JAMES ELVERSON, Publisher. + +PHILADELPHIA, PA. + + * * * * * + + *NERVOUS DEBILITY* + + cured by the use of + + *AYER'S Sarsaparilla* + + Tones the system, makes the weak strong. + + *Cures Others* + + will cure you. + + +*THE GREAT "12 to 1" PUZZLE! 14 cents* by mail. DANIEL S. KLEIN, +Reading, Pa. + + + [Illustration: + (FREE! A NEW MUSIC BOX & + CLOCK COMBINED + PERFECT TIMEKEEPER RUNS 8 DAYS. + 1000 TUNES PLAYS PERFECT DANCE & SACRED MUSIC + WGT 23 LBS. HGT. 18 IN.)] + +*To introduce* it, one in every county or town furnished reliable +persons, (either sex) who will promise to show it. Send at once to +*Inventor*, 26 West 31st Street, N.Y. City. + + +*CANCER* and Tumors scientifically treated and cured. Book free. +163 Elm St., Dr. L. H. Gratigny, Cincinnati, Ohio. + + +SYLPH CYCLES RUN EASY + +Hollow Tires + +[Illustration] + +Perfection of cycle manufacture; no need now to ride springless cycles +or depend on tires alone for comfort. _Sylph Spring Frame_ destroys +vibrat'n. Light, simple, strong. Cata. free _Rouse-Duryea Cy. Co._ 34 G +St., Peoria, Ill. + +[Illustration] + +*_AGTS. WANTED._* + + + *GRANDEST OFFER EVER MADE.* + +[Illustration] + +A fine $25 watch to every reader of this paper. Cut this out and send it +to us with your full name and address, and we will send you one of these +fine 14-K. gold-plated inlaid watches. The base of the case is made of +fine JEWELER'S METAL, which is guaranteed to wear 20 years. The movement +is beautifully jeweled and damaskeened throughout. You examine it at the +Express, and if you are satisfied it is equal in appearance to any $25 +gold watch, you may pay the agent our sample price, $5.85, and it is +yours. If you will send the cash, $5.85, with your order, thereby saving +us the express charges, we will send you *FREE* a fine gold-plated chain +to match the watch. This offer will not be made again. Remember we send +our guarantee that the watch can be returned at any time within one year +if found otherwise than represented. Address + +*Keene's Mammoth Watch House,* + +1301 Washington St., Sample Dept. 31, Boston, Mass. + + + *15 cts.----ECHO MUSIC BOX. by mail----15 cts.* + *MAGIC LANTERNS WANTED + AND FOR SALE OR EXCHANGE. + HARBACH & CO. 809 Filbert St. Phila. Pa.* + + +*Do Your Own PRINTING.* + +[Illustration] + +Card Press, *$3.* Size for circulars or small newspaper, +*$22.* SAVES your money and MAKES money printing for +neighbors. Full PRINTED INSTRUCTIONS. + +Send stamp for catalogue of presses, type, cards, etc., +to the factory. *KELSEY & CO.,* *Meriden, Connecticut.* + + +*GUNS* + + DOUBLE Breech-Loader $7.50 + RIFLES $2.00 + WATCHES + BICYCLES* $15 + +All kinds cheaper than elsewhere. Before you buy, +send stamp for catalogue to *THE POWELL & CLEMENT CO.* +166 Main St., Cincinnati, O. + + +A FASCINATING BOOK! + +Don't let your big boys read novels, but something vastly more +interesting and helpful. *"The World's Fair City and Her Enterprising +Sons"* contains a truthful account of the big millionaires and their +business methods. Just the book for the growing lad. Send for +descriptive circular. United Publishing Co., Chicago, Ill. + + +BARNEY & BERRY + +[Illustration {ice skate}] + +CATALOGUE FREE. SPRINGFIELD, MASS. + + +*DEAFNESS & HEAD NOISES CURED* +by Peck's Invisible Tubular Ear Cushions. Whispers heard. +Successful when all remedies fail. Sold only by F. Hiscox, +853 B'way, N.Y. Write for book of proofs *FREE* + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + + GOLDEN DAYS + FOR BOYS AND GIRLS + +(Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1892, by +James Elverson, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at +Washington, D.C.) + + VOL. XIII. + + JAMES ELVERSON, Publisher. + N.W. corner Ninth and Spruce Sts. + + PHILADELPHIA, NOVEMBER 12, 1892. + + TERMS + $3.00 Per Annum, In Advance. + + No. 51. + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + + OFF SHORE, + + or + + Matt and Natt's Venture. + + BY WM. PENDLETON CHIPMAN, + + + Author of "The Mill Boy of the Genesee," + "The Young Linemen," etc. + + + CHAPTER I. + + MATT HIRES OUT. + +It was a raw, cold day in early April. Since morning, the clouds had +been gathering, and they now hung, dark and heavy, over both land and +sea. The wind, too, which had been steadily increasing for hours in +violence, now blew little short of a gale. It evidently was going to be +a terrible night, and that night was nearly at hand. + +No one realized this more than the boy who, with a small bundle in one +hand and a stout staff in the other, was walking rapidly along the road +that runs, for the greater part of the way, in sight of Long Island +Sound, from New Haven to New London. + +He was a youth that would have attracted attention anywhere. Tall for +his age, which could not have been far from eighteen years, he was also +of good proportions, and walked with an ease and stride which suggested +reserved strength and muscular development; but it was the boy's face +that was most noticeable. Frank, open, of singular beauty in feature and +outline, there was also upon it unmistakable evidences of intelligence, +resoluteness and honesty of purpose. A close observer might also have +detected traces of suffering or of sorrow--possibly of some great burden +hard to bear. + +The boy was none too warmly clad for the chilly air and piercing wind, +and now and then drew his light overcoat about him, as though even his +rapid walking did not make him entirely comfortable. + +He, moreover, looked eagerly ahead, like one who was watching for some +signs of his destination. Reaching at length the foot of a long hill, he +drew a sigh of relief, and said, aloud: + +"I must be near the place now. They said it was at the top of the first +long hill I came to, and this must be it." + +As he spoke, he quickened his pace to a run and soon reached the summit, +quite out of breath, but with a genial warmth in his body that he had +not experienced for some hours. + +Pausing now a moment to catch his breath, he looked about him. Dim as +was the light of the fast-falling evening, he could not help giving an +exclamation of delight at the view he beheld. + +To the west of him he saw the twinkling lights of several villages, +through which he had already passed. To the north, there was a vast +stretch of land, shrouded in darkness. To the south was the Sound, its +tossing waves capped with white, its islands like so many gems on the +bosom of the angry waters. + +"It must be a beautiful place to live in, and I hope to find a home +here," he remarked, as he resumed his journey. + +A few rods farther he reached a farmhouse and turned up to its nearest +door. As he was about to knock, a man came from the barn-yard, a little +distance away, and accosted him. + +"Good-evening!" + +"Good-evening!" responded the boy. Then he asked, "Is this Mr. Noman?" + +"No, I'm Mr. Goodenough," answered the man, pleasantly. "Noman lives on +the adjoining farm. You will have to turn into the next gateway and go +down the lane, as his house stands some distance from the road." + +"I was told," explained the boy, "that he wished to hire help, and I +hoped to get work there. Could you tell me what the prospect is?" + +The man had now reached the boy's side, and was looking him over with +evident curiosity. + +"Well," he replied, slowly. "I think he wants a young fellow for the +coming season, and hadn't hired any one the last I knew. But I think you +must be a stranger in these parts?" + +"Yes," the youth answered, briefly. + +And then, thanking the man for his information, he turned away. + +"I thought so," Mr. Goodenough called after him, "else you wouldn't want +to go there to work." + +The boy scarcely gave heed to the remark at the time; but it was not +long before he learned, by hard experience, the meaning of it. + +A quarter of a mile up the road he reached a gate, and, passing through +it, hastened down the narrow lane till he came to a long, low, +dilapidated house; but in the darkness, which had by this time fallen, +he was not able to form any definite idea of his surroundings. + +A feeble light issued from a back window, and, guided by that, he found +the rear door of the building. + +To his knock there was a chorus of responses. Dogs barked, children +screamed, and above the din a gruff voice shouted, "Come in!" + +A little disconcerted by the unusual sounds, the boy, instead of obeying +the invitation, knocked again. + +Then there was a heavy step across the floor, the door swung open with a +jerk, and a tall, raw-boned man, shaggy-bearded and shock haired, stood +on the threshold. + +Eying the boy a moment in surprise, he asked, somewhat surlily: + +"What do ye want, youngster?" + +"Are you Mr. Noman?" the boy asked. + +"Yes; what of it?" he answered, sharply. + +"I was told you wanted help, and I have called to see about it," +explained the boy. + +[Illustration: +"THEN CAME A SUDDEN BREAKER, ROLLING OUTWARD, THAT LIFTED THE CART +AND OXEN FROM THE ROAD-BED AND SWEPT THEM OUT INTO THE SOUND."] + +"Come in, then!" said Mr. Noman. + +And his tones were wonderfully modified. + +The boy now obeyed, and found himself in a large room, evidently the +kitchen and living-room all in one. There was no carpet on the floor, +and a stove, a table and a half-dozen chairs constituted its furniture. + +Three large dogs lay before the fire, growling sullenly. A woman and +four small children were seated at the table. An empty chair and an +unemptied plate showed that Mr. Noman had been eating when he was called +to the door. + +There was food enough upon the table, but its disorderly arrangement, +and the haphazard way in which each child was helping itself, caused the +boy to give an involuntary shudder, as his host invited him to sit down +"an' take a bite, while they talked over business together." + +Mr. Noman evidently meant to give his caller a flattering impression of +his hospitality, for he heaped the boy's plate with cold pork, brown +bread and vegetables, and even called on his wife to get some of that +"apple sass" for the young stranger. + +The boy was hungry, and the food was, after all, wholesome, and he +stowed away a quantity that surprised himself, if not his host. + +When supper was eaten, Mr. Noman pushed back his chair and abruptly +asked his guest: + +"Who air ye?" + +"Matt Rives," promptly replied the boy. + +"That's a kinder cur'us name, now, ain't it?" questioned Mr. Noman. +"I dunno any Riveses round here. Where be ye from?" + +"I came from New York State," replied Matt, with the air of one who had +studied his answer, but it seemed for some reason to be very +satisfactory to his questioner. + +"Any parents?" next inquired Mr. Noman. + +"No, sir--nor brothers nor sisters. I've no one but myself to look out +for." + +"I guess ye ain't used to farm work, be ye?" now inquired Mr. Noman, +doubtingly, and looking at Matt's hands, which were as white and soft as +a lady's. + +"No, sir; but I'm willing to learn," assured Matt. + +"Of course ye can't expect much in the way of wages," remarked Mr. +Noman, cautiously. + +"No, not until I can do my full share of work," replied Matt, +indifferently. + +A light gleamed for a moment in Mr. Noman's eyes. + +"I might give ye ten dollars a month an' board, beginnin' the fust of +next month, ye to work round for yer board till then," he ventured. + +"Very well," responded the boy; and immediately after he added, "I've +walked a good ways to-day, and if you don't mind I'll go to my room." + +"Perhaps we'd better draw up a paper of agreement an' both of us sign +it," suggested Mr. Noman, rubbing his hands vigorously together, as +though well pleased with himself and everybody else. + +"All right, if that is your custom," said Matt. "Draw up the paper to +suit you, and I'll sign it." + +After considerable effort, Mr. Noman produced the following document: + + "On this 10th day of April, Matt Rives, a miner of New York State, + agres to work for me, Thomas Noman. He's to begin work May fust, + an' work 6 munths at 10 dollers an' bord. He's too work till May + fust for his bord. If he quits work 'fore his time is up he's to + have no pay. To this we agre. + + "THOMAS NOMAN, on his part." + +Matt read the paper, and could scarcely suppress a smile as he signed +his name under Mr. Noman's, and, in imitation of him, added the words +"on his part" after the signature. + +He knew, however much importance Mr. Noman might attach to it, that as a +legal document it had no special force. He simply set down the whole act +as one of the whims of his eccentric employer, and gave no more thought +to the matter. But it was destined to serve that gentleman's purpose, +nevertheless, until taken forcibly from him. + +Mr. Noman now showed Matt up to a back room on the second floor, and, +telling him that he would call him early in the morning, bade him +good-night. + +The room Matt had entered was bare and cold; a single chair, a narrow +bedstead, a rude rack on the wall to hang his garments upon, were all it +contained. + +Yet it was evidently with some satisfaction that he opened his bundle, +hung up the few clothes it held and prepared for bed. + +As he drew the quilts over him, he murmured: + +"I don't think I ever had more uncomfortable quarters in my life, and +the outlook for the next six months at least is far from encouraging. +Still, I would not go back to what I have left behind for anything." + +He was tired. The rain that was now falling heavily upon the roof just +over his head acted as a sedative and lulled him to sleep. But his was +not an unbroken rest, for at times he tossed to and fro and muttered +strange, disconnected sentences. One was: + +"I know it was not he. I will pay it back to the last cent." + +After that the troubled sleeper must have had pleasanter dreams, for a +smile played about his lips, and he murmured: + +"It is all right now; I've a home at last." + +From these, however, he was rudely awakened by a gruff call: + +"Matt, Matt! git up an' come out to the barn." + +Sleepy, bewildered, he arose and groped about in the darkness for his +clothing. By the time he was dressed a full consciousness of his +situation had come back to him, and, with a stout heart, Matt went out +to begin what was to him equally new duties and a new life. + + +CHAPTER II. + +A LITTLE UNPLEASANTNESS. + +It was still dark and the rain fell in torrents as Matt opened the +kitchen door and ran hastily out to the barn, where Mrs. Noman, who was +making preparations for breakfast, had told him he would find her +husband. + +He noticed the kitchen timepiece as he passed through the room and saw +it was not yet four o'clock. Early rising was evidently one of the +things to be expected in his new home. + +Reaching the barn, Matt found Mr. Noman engaged in feeding a dozen or +more gaunt and ill-kept cows, which seized the musty hay thrown down to +them with an avidity that suggested on their part a scarcity of rations. + +The same untidiness that marked the house was to be seen about the barn +also, which, if anything, was in a more dilapidated condition than the +former. + +"Good morning, Mr. Noman. What can I do to help you?" asked Matt, +pleasantly, as soon as he entered the barn. + +"Hum! I don't suppose ye can milk?" was the rather ungracious response. + +"No, sir; but I'm willing to learn," replied Matt, good-naturedly. + +"Well, I'll see about that after awhile. I s'pose ye might as well begin +now as any time. But fust git up on that mow an' throw down more hay. +These pesky critters eat more'n their necks is wuth," said Mr. Noman, +kicking savagely at a cow that was reaching out for the forkful of hay +he was carrying by her. + +Matt obeyed with alacrity; and, when that job was finished, it was +followed by others, including the milking, wherein the boy proved an apt +scholar, until nearly six o'clock, when Mrs. Noman's shrill voice +summoned them to breakfast. + +That meal, possibly on account of Matt's want of the good appetite he +had had the night before, seemed to him greatly inferior to his supper. +The coffee was bitter and sweetened with molasses, the johnny-cakes were +burnt, and the meat and vegetables cold. + +He did his best to eat heartily of the unsavory food, however--partly +that he might not seem to his employer over-fastidious in taste, and +partly because the morning's work had taught him that he would need all +the strength he could obtain ere his day's task was over. Stormy though +it was, he felt sure Mr. Noman would find enough for him to do. + +In fact, long before the first of May came, Matt realized fully the +force of the words Mr. Goodenough shouted after him the night he stopped +there to inquire the way to Mr. Noman's. + +Had he really known his employer and family, he certainly would not have +been over-anxious to hire out to him for the season, for the dilapidated +condition of the buildings, and the untidiness and disorder that marked +everything about the place, were not, after all, the worst features with +which Matt had to deal. He soon found that his employer was a hard, +grasping tyrant, while his wife was a termagant, scolding and +fault-finding incessantly from morning until night. There was not an +animal on the place that escaped the abuse of the master, and not even +the master himself eluded the tirades of the mistress. + +Matt, by faithfully performing every task assigned him, and thus +frequently doing twice over what a boy of his age should have been +expected to do, tried to win the approval of both Mr. Noman and his +wife. He soon found this impossible, and so contented himself with doing +what he felt to be right, and cheerfully bore the scoldings that +speedily became an hourly occurrence. + +It was indeed astonishing with what good-nature Matt accepted the work +and the hard words put upon him. Mr. Noman attributed it to the paper he +had asked him to sign, and chuckled to himself at the thought that +Matt's fear of losing his wages kept him so industrious and docile. + +He confidentially admitted to his wife, one day, that the boy was worth +twice what he had agreed to pay him--"only I ain't paid him nothin' as +yit," he added, with a knowing look, which his wife seemed to +understand, for she replied: + +"Now yer up to another of yer capers, Tom Noman. There never was a man +on the earth meaner'n ye air!" + +But Mr. Goodenough, who knew his neighbors well, could in no way account +for the boy's willingness to endure what he knew he must be suffering, +and finally his curiosity got the better of him; for, meeting Matt one +day as he was returning from the nearest village, he drew up his horses +and said: + +"Matt, do you know you are the profoundest example of human patience I +ever saw?" + +"No; is that so?" replied Matt, with a laugh. "What makes you think so?" + +"Well," remarked Mr. Goodenough, leaning on his wagon-seat and looking +down into the smiling countenance before him, "I have lived here beside +Tom Noman and his wife for a dozen years, and know them well enough to +be sure that an angel couldn't long stand their fault-finding, and yet +you have actually been there six weeks, and are still as cheerful as a +lark on one of these beautiful spring mornings. Will you explain to me +how you manage to stand it?" + +While he was speaking a far-away look had come into Matt's eyes, and a +shudder shook his robust frame, as though he saw something very +disagreeable to himself; but he answered, quietly enough: + +"Mr. Goodenough, there are some things in this world harder to bear than +either work or unkind treatment, and I prefer even to live with Tom +Noman's family rather than to go back to the life I have left +behind me." + +With these words, Matt started up his oxen and went on, leaving Mr. +Goodenough to resume his way more mystified than ever. + +On the first day of June, Matt asked Mr. Noman for the previous month's +pay. + +They were at work in the cornfield, and the boy's request took his +employer so by surprise that his hoe-handle dropped from his grasp. + +"Me pay ye now!" he exclaimed. "What air ye thinkin' of?" + +Then, as though another idea had come to his mind, he said, +persuasively: + +"Ye don't need no money, an' 'twill be better to have yer pay all in a +lump. Jest think how much it'll be--sixty dollars! an' all yer own." + +"But I have a special use for the money," persisted Matt; "and, as I +have earned it, I should think you might give it to me." + +He spoke all the more emphatically because he knew that Mr. Noman had +quite a sum of money by him, and that he could easily pay him if he +chose to do so. + +For reply, Mr. Noman put his hand into his pocket, and, taking out his +wallet, opened it. From it he drew the paper of agreement that Matt and +he had signed. He slowly spelled it out, and, when he had finished, +asked: + +"Does this here paper say anythin' about my payin' ye every month?" + +"No, sir," Matt reluctantly admitted. + +"But it does say, if ye quit yer work 'fore yer time is up, ye air to +have no pay, don't it?" inquired the man, significantly. + +"Yes, sir," Matt replied, now realizing how mean and contemptible his +employer was, and what had been his real object in drawing up that +paper. + +"Well, how can I know ye air goin' to stay with me yer hull time till +it's up?" he asked, with a show of triumph in his tones. + +"Do you mean to say you don't intend to pay me anything until November?" +asked Matt, indignantly. + +"That's the agreement," answered Mr. Noman, coolly, returning the paper +to his wallet and placing it in his pocket. "If ye'll keep yer part I'll +keep mine." + +He then picked up his hoe and resumed his work. + +For the first time since he came to the farm Matt felt an impulse to +leave his employer. It was with great difficulty, indeed, that he +refrained from throwing down his hoe, going to the house after his few +effects, and quitting the place forever. But he did not, and went +resolutely on with his work. + +Fortunate for him was it--though he did not know it then--that he did +so. Later on, he could see that the ruling of his spirit that day won +for him, if not a city, certainly the happiest results, though severe +trials stood between him and their consummation. + +That night, at as early an hour as possible, Matt sought his little +room. Closing the door carefully after him, he walked over to the rude +rack on the wall and took down his light overcoat. From an inside pocket +he drew a long wallet, and from that, a postal card. Addressing it with +a pencil to "A. H. Dinsmore, 1143 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, N.Y.," he +wrote rapidly and in small characters on the reverse side, without +giving place or date, the following words: + + "DEAR SIR: My promise to send you some money every month until + the total amount due you was paid, I cannot keep for this reason: + Through a misunderstanding with my employer, I am not to have my + pay until the six months for which I have hired out are ended. At + that time you may expect a remittance from me. + + "Truly yours, + + "M. R." + +It was several days later, however, before Matt had an opportunity to go +to the neighboring village. When he did so, he took care not to drop the +postal into the post office, but handed it directly to a mail agent on a +passing train. + +His reason for this act could not be easily misunderstood. Evidently, he +did not care that the Mr. Dinsmore to whom he had written should know +his exact whereabouts. But his precaution was unnecessary; for, before +the summer months had run by, he was to meet Mr. Dinsmore under +circumstances most trying to himself. + + +CHAPTER III. + +SWEPT OUT TO SEA. + +Mr. Noman's farm was a large one, and ran clear down to the shore, +terminating there in a singular formation of sand and rocks, known +throughout that region as "The Camel Humps." A small cove lay west of +the formation, while the main waters of the sound stretched out to their +widest extent from the south and east. The only point, therefore, where +the "humps" touched the mainland was at the north, and even this point +of contact was so narrow as simply to furnish a roadway down upon the +"humps" themselves. + +Of these "humps"--for there were, as their name suggested, but two--the +northern one was much the smaller, embracing perhaps an acre of rough +soil, covered with a stunted grass, and dotted here and there with red +cedars. The southern one, on the other hand, covered also with a scanty +vegetation and scattered trees, broadened out so as nearly to land-lock +the cove behind it, and cause its waters to rush in or out, according to +the tide, through an exceedingly contracted passage at its extreme +southwestern end, popularly known as "the sluiceway." + +The point of contact of the southern with the northern hump, like the +northern hump with the mainland, was also very narrow, and to its +narrowness was added another feature--it was so low, or, in more +technical language, it was so nearly on a level with the high-water +mark, that when there happened to be a strong wind from any eastern +quarter, the waters of the sound, on the incoming tide, would rush with +great force over the slight barrier and mingle with the waters of the +cove, making an island, for the time, of the larger and more southern +hump. + +Three-quarters of a mile off shore, and a little to the northeast of +these humps, was an island of an irregular shape and a few acres in +extent, bearing the name of Sheep Island. The name had belonged to it +since colonial days, but the reason therefor was unknown, unless at that +early period some enterprising farmer had used the island as pasture +ground for animals of that kind, which gave the island its title. + +This island had in later years, however, a more illustrious inhabitant. +A gentleman of considerable means, tired of society, or for some reason +at enmity with it, crossed over from the main shore, erected a small +house, dug a well, set out trees, planted a garden and built a wharf--in +fact, set up thereon a complete habitation. But not long did he endure +his self-imposed solitude. Scarcely were his arrangements completed when +an unfortunate accident caused his death, and the island and its +improvements were left to be the home of the sea-fowls or the temporary +abode of some passing fisherman. + +This extended description has been given because it is essential that +the reader should form a definite idea of the island and its relation to +the "Camel Humps;" for on and about them no small portion of our young +hero's summer was destined to be spent. + +During the fall and winter months previous to Matt's coming to the farm, +owing to the repeated storms, there had been landed on the "humps" +immense quantities of seaweed, so highly prized by the farmer as a +fertilizer. Mr. Noman had contented himself, however, with simply +gathering it into a huge pile on the summit of the southern hump, above +high-water mark, intending to remove it to the barnyard in the spring. +Thus it fell to Matt's lot to cart from the heap to the yard as the weed +was needed, and the first week in June found him engaged in this work. + +It was a cloudy and threatening day. The wind was from the southeast, +and blew with a freshness that promised a severe storm before night. + +Perhaps it was on this account that Mr. Noman had directed the boy to +engage in this particular work. He was himself obliged to be away on +business, and this was a job at which Matt could work alone, and the +weather was hardly propitious for any other undertaking. So, immediately +after breakfast, Matt yoked the oxen to the cart and started for his +first load. + +"There ain't over four loads more down there, an' if ye work spry ye can +git it all up by night!" Mr. Noman shouted after him, as he drove off. + +The distance from the barn to the "humps" was such that, with the +roughness of the way, one load for each half-day had usually been +regarded as a sufficient task for the slow-walking oxen. + +But Matt knew he had an early start, and he determined to do his best to +bring all the weed home that day. He therefore quickened the pace of the +animals, and before nine o'clock had made his first return to the yard. + +Unloading with haste, he immediately started back for his second load. +When he crossed from the north to the south hump, he noticed the +incoming tide was nearly across the roadway, but thought little of it. + +On examining the heap of seaweed, he became convinced that by loading +heavily he could carry what remained at two loads. + +He therefore pitched away until in his judgment half of the heap was +upon the cart. It made a big load, but the oxen were stout, and, bending +their necks to the yoke, they, at Matt's command, started slowly off. + +As he approached the narrow roadway, he noticed the tide had gained +rapidly and was now sweeping over it with considerable force and depth. + +Jumping upon the tongue of the cart, he urged his oxen through the +tossing waves. To his consternation, the water came well up around the +patient animals' backs, and had he not quickly scrambled to the top of +his load he would have been thoroughly drenched. + +The cattle, however, raised their noses high as possible and plunged +bravely through the flood, soon emerging on the other side with their +load unharmed. + +The rest of the journey home was made without difficulty, and Matt at +dinner time had the satisfaction of knowing that two thirds of his +appointed work was already accomplished. + +Mr. Noman had not yet returned, and, hurrying through dinner, Matt +hastened off for his third and last load, hoping to get back to the yard +with it before his employer came. But hardly had he started when it +began to rain, and as he passed down upon the first hump the wind, +having shifted a point or two, was blowing with a velocity that made it +difficult for the oxen to stand before it. + +Slowly, however, the passage across the first hump was made, and Matt +approached the narrow roadway leading to the other, then he stopped the +team in sheer amazement. + +In front of him was a strip of surging water of uncertain depth, and he +instinctively felt that there was a grave risk in attempting to push +through to the other side. But he was anxious to secure his load. He had +passed through safely enough before, and he resolved to attempt the +crossing now, counting on nothing worse than a drenching. + +This was a grave mistake, and Matt would have realized it, had he only +stopped to think that there was quite a difference between his situation +now and when he had made his successful crossing before dinner. Then he +had a loaded cart, the wind and tide were both in his favor, and the +water had not reached either its present depths or expanse. Now his cart +was empty--a significant and important fact, the wind was blowing with +greater force and directly against him, while the tide--as he would have +seen had he watched it closely--had turned, and was rushing back from +the cove and out into the open sound with a strength almost +irresistible. + +But, unmindful of these things, Matt bade his oxen go on, and, though +they at first shrunk from entering the angry waters, he forced them +onward, and at last they began the passage. + +For a rod they went steadily on, though the waves dashed over their +backs and into the cart, wetting Matt to the knees. Then came a sudden +breaker, rolling outward, that lifted the cart and oxen from the +road-bed and swept them out into the sound. + +The moment Matt realized that the cart was afloat and the oxen swimming +for their lives, his impulse was not to save himself, but the +unfortunate animals that, through his rashness, had been brought into +danger. + +Springing, therefore, between them, he caught hold of the yoke with one +hand, and with the other wrenched out the iron pin that fastened it to +the tongue, and thus freed them from the cart. In the effort, however, +he lost his hold upon the yoke, and the next minute found himself left +alone, struggling with the angry billows. + +He was now forced to look out for himself and could not watch the fate +of the oxen, even had he had an inclination to do so, indeed with his +water-soaked clothing, which greatly impeded his efforts, there was +already a serious question whether he would be able to reach the shore, +good swimmer though he was. + +With a strength born from the very sense of the danger that overwhelmed +him, he turned his face toward the fast receding shore, and swam +manfully for it. + +For a time he seemed to be gaining, but the tide was too strong for him +and his strength was soon exhausted. Slowly he felt himself sinking. +Already the waves were dashing over his head. + +He made one desperate effort to regain the surface, then there was a +faint consciousness of being caught by a huge wave and hurled against +some hard object, and all was blank. + +[TO BE CONTINUED] + + + + +--The average duration of lives in the United States is 41.8 years for +storekeepers 43.6 years for teamsters, 44.6 years for seamen, 47.3 years +for mechanics, 48.4 years for merchants, 52.6 years for lawyers, and +64.2 years for farmers. + + + + +TALES OF BIG FISHES. + + +The whip ray, sea bat or devil fish, as it is variously named, is fairly +plentiful in Galveston Bay, so the appearance of four of these sea +monsters at one time the other day did not excite any special remark. +But they were seen by three boys, all under sixteen, and they determined +to get one and sell it. So one of the boys borrowed a Winchester rifle +while the other two got a rowboat and a harpoon, and out they went after +their prey. The boys rowed around awhile, and soon saw one of the +fishes, and pulled up within forty or fifty feet. One of the boys fired +a shot into the ray, which immediately breached, scooting fully twenty +feet out and ahead, like a flying fish. Two more shots were fired, and, +after beating the water furiously, it died. Then a harpoon was thrown +into the creature, and it was towed to the wharf, where it was slung and +hoisted out with a windlass. This fish measured fourteen feet from wing +tip to wing tip. + + +Another fish tale from the Gulf of Mexico relates to the adventures of +five sailors who were running a small schooner down the coast off Corpus +Christi. The vessel was gliding along smoothly when the monotony of the +voyage was broken by a six foot tarpon leaping upon the deck from the +water. The big fish at once began making things interesting on the boat, +and for a time it looked as if the crew would have to jump overboard to +escape being knocked lifeless. They finally regained control of their +nerve, however, and decided to have it out with the fish, so one of them +seized an axe and the others hand-spikes and at the tarpon they went. +The struggle was long and fierce, and one of the sailors was knocked +overboard by coming in contact with the tarpon's tail. A rope was thrown +him and he was pulled back on deck. At last the fish succumbed to the +repeated blows of the axe and hand spikes and lay along the deck as dead +as a mackerel. + + +When the steamer Dumois came into Boston recently, she brought as a +passenger a man named John Calder, who came on board under peculiar +circumstances. He was a Jamaica fisherman, and unwittingly hooked a +sword-fish. Mr. Calder didn't want that kind of a fish, but it would not +let go, and, as he did not want to lose a long and valuable line by +cutting himself away, both man and fish held on until forty miles at +sea. At this juncture the steamer came along, the fish was captured, and +the plucky fisherman sold the big catch to the marketmen. + + +"The prettiest battle I ever witnessed was between a young Cuban and two +sharks," said an American sea captain. "We had reached Havana and were +lying half a mile from the docks, awaiting the signal to go on. Several +fruit peddlers had boarded us, among them a swarthy, bare legged young +fellow who looked like a pirate. The purser was standing by the rail, +holding his five year old son in his arms, watching a couple of monster +sharks that were hanging about the vessel, when the child slipped from +his grasp and fell into the water. The father plunged overboard and +seized him, and the sharks at once made to the pair. The bare-legged +young buccaneer dropped the fruit-basket and went over the rail like a +flash. As the first shark turned on its back, the invariable prelude to +biting, the Cuban rose, and with a long, keen knife fairly disemboweled +it. The other was not to be disposed of so easily though. The purser and +his child had been pulled on deck, and the combatants had a fair field. +The Cuban dived, but the shark did not wait for him to come up and +changed his location. Finally the shark advanced straight upon his +antagonist, his ugly fin cutting through the water like a knife, turned +quickly upon his back, and the huge jaws came together with a vicious +snap, but the Cuban was not between them. He had sunk just in time to +avoid the shark, and, as the latter passed, shot the steel into it. The +old sea wolf made the water boil, and strove desperately to strike his +antagonist with his tail but the latter kept well amidships and +literally cut him in pieces." + + +As one of the Peninsular and Oriental steamers was steaming up the Red +Sea, the lookout forward called the attention of the officer of the +watch to the fact that a huge shark was jammed in between the +bobstay-shackle and the stem. Investigation showed that the monster, +which was over thirty feet long, was almost cut in two. The stem had +struck him just below the gills, and, while his head protruded on the +starboard side, his body had slewed in under the port bow. The sharp +iron stem had cut into the creature to the depth of a foot, and all +efforts to get it clear were unavailing. The captain at last ordered the +vessel full speed astern, and that sent the man eater adrift. The +accepted theory was that the shark had been asleep on the surface of the +sea when struck by the swiftly-moving steamer. + + + + +PUZZLEDOM. + +No. 663 + + +Original contributions solicited from _all_. Puzzles containing obsolete +words will be received. Write contributions on one side of the paper and +apart from all communications. Address 'Puzzle Editor,' Golden Days, +Philadelphia, Pa. + + +ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK'S PUZZLES + + + No. 1. Tied, diet, tide + + No. 2. C A L A M U S + A V E R I L L + L E G A L L Y + A R A M E A N + M I L E A G E + U L L A G E S + S L Y N E S S + + No. 3. Eve r + + No. 4. A + B A + A B J U R E S + A U G U R Y + R U M O R + E R O T I C + S Y R I N G E + C G + E + + No. 5. Beta, bet, be, bate, bat, at. + + No. 6. S + I S + N E T + G E N E R A T E + S E M I N A L + R E C O R D + D E N T S + + No. 7. F-all + + No. 8. P A D + P I L E D + P I C A M A R + A L A L I T E + D E M I S E D + D A T E R + R E D + + + No. 9. O we go + + No. 10. S + P A + S P E C T R E + A C T I O N + T I N T S + R O T A T E + E N S T A M P + E M + P + + No. 11. Edmund Dantes + + No. 12. R + C A R + C A M E L + R A M B L E R + R E L A T E D + L E T T E R S + R E E N A C T + D R A G O O N + S C O R N E D + T O N E D + N E D + D + + +NEW PUZZLES + + +NO. 1. CHARADE + + Whate'er my _one_ has brought to light + It never was a _whole_, + To think of it brings down my pride + And cuts me to the soul. + + My principles will not allow + That I am "obs." should _two_ + _Three_ any word that Webster calls + Not just exactly new. + + For those of course who patronize + Antediluvian lore + 'Tis easy quite to build _completes_ + And such like by the score. + +_New York city_ LUCREZIUS BORGERS + + +NO. 2. SQUARE + +1. Pain in the ear. 2. Town of France. 3. A body reflecting light +brightly. 4. A purchaser. 5. A sharp, shrill, harsh sound. 6. P.O. +Ontario N.Y. 7. Placed in regular form before a court. + +_Brooklyn N.Y._ MOONSHINE + + +NO. 3. DOUBLE WORD ENIGMA + + In "pine-clad hill," + In "harvest home," + In "cider mill," + In "star-lit dome." + + Indulged and spoiled in tender years + He grew a wicked youth + He early learned to curse and steal + And never spoke the truth. + + He did not love his books. He said, + "Catch me sitting on a stool + The livelong day! I'd rather be + A dunce than go to school." + + Instead of going to school, he'd hide + His books and run away, + With other bad boys like himself, + Into the fields to play. + + Or take his gun into the woods + The harmless birds to shoot, + Or climb the farmer's orchard trees, + And steal and eat their fruit. + + On Sundays, when he should have gone + To Sunday school or church, + He'd take his fishing rod and go + To fish for trout and perch. + + One day while fishing all alone + Down by the river side, + He tripped, and with a headlong plunge + Fell in the river wide. + + In vain he cried aloud for help, + No one was near to save, + The waters closed above his head-- + He found a watery grave. + + Now let this bad boy's fate teach us + _Complete_ is wicked in God's sight + And let us all henceforth resolve + To try and do what's right! + +_Charleston, S.C._ OSCEOLA + + +NO. 4. RIGHT STAR + +1. A letter. 2. A pronoun. 3. A spectre. 4. Quadrupeds of the genus +_Equus_. 5. Defensive arms. 6. Unsweet (_Obs._). 7. Startles (_Obs._). +8. A bone. 9. A letter. + +_Pontiac, Ill._ CAN'T TELL + + +NO. 5. SYNCOPATION + + A _one_ arose between some bees-- + Indeed of them 'twas very wicked-- + They fluttered in about the trees, + Among the grass and in the thicket + + Some thoughtless bees within the hive + A scheme upon the drones were working, + To make them labor they did strive + But "drones" were only made for shirking + + The queen now on the scene appeared, + A _fine_ her coming quickly making + For she among them all was feared-- + Their hearts were filled with fear and quaking + + Said she "A 'drone' can never toil, + A 'sinecure' is his position + He lives on those who till the soil, + Like any other politician." + +_New York city_ JEJUNE + + +NO. 6. HALF SQUARE + +1. Clairvoyance. 2. Computation. 3. Parts of a flower consisting of the +stalk and the anther (_Bot._) 4. Buffoons. 5. A hard amorphous mineral. +6. Open thefts (_Rare_.) 7. Belonging to it. 8. To see (_Obs. Word +Supp._) 9. A letter. + +_Rochester N.Y._ THEO LOGY + + +NO. 7. CHARADE + + An old man sat in his easy chair, + The _firsts_ of his life almost done + How thankful am I, in this world of care, + That my course is nearly run. + + My _second_ is waiting to greet me + In mansions so bright--far away + In the glorious house I shall soon be, + Where all is eternal day. + + This would have been a hard _total_ + From its cares I hope soon to be free + With me I think all things will be well + When the Son in His glory I see. + +_Iowa City, Iowa_ TANGANIKA + + +NO. 8. OCTAGON + +1. To destroy. 2. A venomous reptile inhabiting the East Indies. 3. The +bleak. 4. Little wheels. 5. Comely. 6. A friend. 7. An Arabian prince, +military commander and governor of a conquered province. 8. Drives +together (_Obs._). + +_Louisville, Ky._ X ACTLY + + +NO. 9. BEHEADMENT + + Palm tree boughs are lacing + Through which the moonlight steals, + And bathes the spot like silver + Where India's daughter kneels + Her white robes round her falling + Her hair as black as night + Has its coil of richest rubies + Like a crown of crimson light. + + A lamp on the shining water + It is a simple test, + Does he _prime_ live, her lover-- + Lone star on the river's breast? + See it nears the turning + Now it's rocking to and fro + In a splash, like liquid silver, + Then it flickers and grows low. + + India's white-robed maiden + Clasps her hands so tight + Her face grows pale with anguish, + _Fine_ brighter grows the light, + Then on through the lily masses, + Like a spark amid the blue, + Floating safely onward-- + Floating slowly from her view + +_Philadelphia, Pa._ SNOWBALL + + +NO. 10. NEWARK ICOSAHEDRON + +1. A small cask. 2. A genus of climbing shrubs. 3. A kind of cover for +the finger. 4. Exemption from oblivion. 5. To dye. 6. Images. 7. A genus +of acanthopterygious fishes. 8. A house whose walls are composed of +logs. 9. General figure. 10. To stir. 11. One who mingles. 12. +A surgeon's instrument for scraping bones. 13. To plow. + +_Newark, N.J._ JO HOOTY + + +NO. 11. NUMERICAL + + Edith, dear, do you not recall + How we stood long years ago + 2, 1, the bridge, one cold, bleak _all_ + Looking at the pool below? + + How we watched the dry leaves sailing, + 2, 3, 4, 8 its cold breast + While the breeze was softly wailing, + As it bore them to their rest? + + How you wondered, were they happy + Now their life was 2, 8, 4 _last?_ + How can they 6 and 7 happy + When their summer life is past? + + Ah! the years have fallen round me + Since we stood beside the stream + And I have shown the hopes that found me + Then to earth were but a dream. + + Oh, were you and I together + On that bridge, once 5, 2, 8, 4 + I would give a different answer, + Than I did in days of yore + + I would tell of summers fading-- + How the sun must set at night + And of all the thick mists shading, + Sun and summer from the sight + + I would tell of that deep yearning + Springing from the fading years + For a sun that has no turning-- + For a life that has no tears + + Yes! those little leaves that we recall, + Drifting on the streamlet's breast + They were glad, that bleak and chill _all_-- + They were glad for they had rest. + +_Charleston, W. Va._ R E FLECT + + +[->] Answers will appear in our next issue solvers in six weeks. + + +SOLVERS. + +Puzzles in PUZZLEDOM No. 657 were correctly solved by Madora Carl, Hello +Ian, Ran-de Ran, Night Owls, Lowell, Weesle, Charles Goodwin, Crovit, +Willie Wimple, Romulus, Night, Windsor Boy, Osceola, Flora Nightingale, +Addie Shun, Jejune, Stanna, Carrie Wolmer, Mary McK., Lucrezius Borgers, +Claude Hopper, Katie O'Neill, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, John Watson, +Dovey, Fleur de Lis, Rosalind, Little Nell, Spider, C. Saw, Legs, Joe-de +Joe, Flare, Dorio, Marcellus, Maxwell, Louise M. Danforth, Cora Denham, +Woggins & Co., Herbie O., Brig, War Horse, Essie E., B. Gonia, Mary +Roland, Theresa, Mary Pollard, Uncas, Duchess, Olive, Coupay, May De +Hosmer, Al Derman, Meandhim, Beta, Tanganika and Arcanum, V. I. Olin, +Lib Bee and A. L. Vin. + + *COMPLETE LIST--Madora.* + + + + + Easy Methods Of + + MAKING SLIDES FOR THE MAGIC LANTERN, + + By John Boyd. + + +The new three-wick and four-wick magic lanterns which are now made are +so good, and give so much better results than the old oil lanterns, that +they are coming largely into use, and for ordinary purposes they do +remarkably well. The better class of them stands comparison even with +the oxy-hydrogen light, although of course they are excelled by it. They +are so easily manipulated that many boys now possess them and work them +with good effect. The more expensive ones are fitted with first-class +lenses, and can be used also with the oxy-hydrogen light. + +Two years ago my boys became the happy owners of one, and many a +pleasant evening has been passed since, looking at photographs and +pictures by its aid. + +It has been used with good effect, even in large rooms, to show +diagrams, to illustrate lectures and to exhibit pictures to the +Sunday-school children. + +No sooner had the lantern been obtained, however, than a demand arose +for pictures to show with it. In most large towns they can be hired from +the opticians, but they cost at least twenty-five cents a dozen per +night and, apart from the expense, it is not always convenient to get +them; then to purchase them is more than most boys can afford, as the +commonest, full-sized chromolithographed slides cost from two and a half +to three dollars a dozen, while hand-painted pictures or photographs +vary from three to ten dollars a dozen. + +Accordingly we determined to try if we could not make slides for +ourselves, and, as our efforts were crowned with a fair measure of +success, I think it will interest the boy-readers of GOLDEN DAYS, many +of whom, I feel sure, own lanterns, to hear what systems we found to be +the best and easiest. I shall confine myself to those pictures that can +be made entirely by hand, and accordingly will leave photographs out +altogether. + +Bought hand-painted slides are usually first photographed on to the +glass from a large outline drawing, and then colored; but so few boys +have the means of making their slides in this manner that it will be +best to pass this system by, especially as I shall describe a method of +making the sketch which answers as well, and is much easier. + +At the very outset, we were met with a difficulty that we feared would +be insurmountable, and that was that it was almost impossible to make a +neat, fine-lined sketch with a brush and paint on plain, smooth glass; +and, even when this last had been managed, the coloring process often +washed out the outlines and made unsightly smudges, and, as every little +line, spot or smear shows with painful distinctness when magnified on +the sheet, we soon saw that amateur work on these lines would never do. +Fortunately I remembered a process, which I once saw used by a +microscopist, to make diagrams for the lantern to illustrate his +lectures, which answered admirably. + +This was simply to draw, with a very hard lead pencil, on ground glass, +then to cover the ground surface with varnish, which rendered the glass +perfectly transparent. + +I tried this plan, and got such good results from it that I can strongly +recommend it. By following out the instructions and hints I shall give, +any boy can readily and rapidly make a large series of excellent +pictures for his lantern, which will answer his purpose quite as well as +the most expensive bought slides. + +This system has four great advantages: 1. Pictures can easily be traced +on the ground glass, and to those who, like myself, would find it +difficult to invent their own pictures, or to copy them, this counts for +a great deal. 2. The outline can be made very fine, but still very +distinct. 3. The paint will not take on the lead-marks; this renders it +much easier to prevent the color going over the edge of an outline. +4. It is also very much easier to paint on the slightly rough surface of +the ground glass. + +There should be no difficulty in procuring this glass at any glazier's. +It need not be plate glass; ordinary ground glass will do, care being +taken to select that with a sufficiently fine and smooth surface, and +not too thick. + +I have found _water_ colors for lantern slides the best for painting +with. They are very much easier to use than the _oil_ colors, and are +quite as transparent. Ordinary paints will not do, as some of them come +out perfectly opaque, but a box of the special paints can be procured +for a dollar. A camel's-hair brush, however, is of no use; you must have +a stiff sable brush. One No. 3 or No. 4 will be a handy size, and will +answer for all purposes, even for the finest lines. + +In selecting subjects, use those where the outlines are clear and of a +size adapted to the usual sort of slides, which are invariably made now +three and a quarter inches square. + +First rub a dozen ground glasses perfectly clean with a wash-leather +that has been washed in water in which a little soda has been dissolved, +to make it quite free from grease. During this cleaning process, the +surface of the glass can be sufficiently moistened by breathing on it. + +Trace the entire series of outlines on the ground glasses with an H.H.H. +pencil, making the lines even lighter than the original, for it will be +found most convenient to have a number of slides, say a dozen, in +process at one time. Brush off any loose fragments of black lead, taking +care that they do not mark the glass. + +You are now ready to proceed with the coloring, but, as you will wish to +be sure as you go on that you are keeping them sufficiently transparent, +it will be found to be a great help if you can always see through them, +even while painting them. + + [Illustration: FIG. 1] + +You had better, therefore, make an inclined stand, and this can easily +be done, the only tools really required being a knife, a brad-awl and a +screw-driver. Procure one piece of wood 14 inches by 6 inches, one piece +of wood 12 inches by 6 inches, one piece of wood 14 inches by 12 inches, +all 3/8 inch or 1/4 inch thick. + +Divide the first piece along the dotted line A to B, by cutting right +through it with the point of your knife. These two pieces will make the +sides of your stand. The piece 14 inches by 12 inches will make the +bottom. + +Cut two laths 14 inches long, 1/2 inch wide, out of wood 1/4 inch thick, +and tack them along the upper inner edges of the two sides a quarter of +an inch below the top. These will form two ledges. Now fasten the piece +12 inches by 6 inches to rest on these ledges, which will serve to +support the hand. The upper portion remaining must be filled up by a +piece of strong, clear glass, 14 inches by 8 inches, which will rest +on the ledge at each side, and need not be fastened in, as it will +sometimes have to be removed to be cleaned. + +Fasten all the parts together with screws, so that you can take it to +pieces and pack it away flat when not in use. Those screws with a ring +at the end instead of a head, such as are used to fasten into the backs +of picture frames to hang them by, are the handiest, as they can be put +in with the fingers, and cost hardly any more than ordinary screws. + +This stand will be large enough to hold six slides at once, and enables +the light to shine right through them. A sheet of white paper should be +placed underneath to throw the light up. + +Should the light be too strong it can easily be modified by spreading a +sheet of thin, white tissue-paper between the glass and the slides. + +Of course daylight is best to work by, but I find you can get on very +nicely with an ordinary oil lamp, if placed at a convenient distance +from the stand. + +An ordinary paintbox will contain twelve colors--namely, two blues, +neutral, crimson, brown, yellow, scarlet, burnt sienna, orange, two +greens and black, all but the last being quite transparent. These will +be found sufficient for ordinary work, as they can be greatly varied by +judicious mixing. + +First of all the skies should be painted in on all twelve slides. As +long as you do not go over the outlines, great care need not be taken +about laying the color on evenly. + +Now cut off a small piece of clean washleather, which has an even, +smooth surface. Let the color become nearly dry, then proceed to dab it +all over with the washleather, held on the end of the finger, breathing +on the slide when necessary, in order to keep it sufficiently moist. + +This process must be continued carefully until the whole painted surface +is perfectly even and shows no mark of the brush, and only sufficient +paint must be left on to give a blue tint. + +You must always remember that if too darkly painted the pictures will be +too opaque. Clouds can be put in nicely also with the bit of +washleather, but extra work of this sort is hardly worth while. + +Then proceed to tint the other portions of the pictures with suitable +colors, doing one color at a time right through the set of slides, but +after applying each color, immediately dab with the washleather, to +render the color even and light. + +You will find that by keeping to one color at a time you will get along +much quicker, and will also make the pictures more uniform. + +When you have completely tinted all the pictures and "dabbed" all the +colored portions, you may then go over them all again and shade them up +where required with rather stronger colors, taking care, however, not to +overdo this. + +You will find for faces yellow, with a very slight addition of crimson, +answers the best. It may not look all right on the slide, but it will +when thrown on the sheet. + +You will need to consider the effect of the various colors, as some show +much more strongly than others. The next process is to varnish the +glasses to render them transparent. + +With most color boxes for painting magic lantern slides a bottle of +varnish for this purpose is supplied, which answers fairly well. It has +to be painted on, after the slides are thoroughly dry, with a large +camel's-hair brush. + +Lay one coat on by drawing the brush right across from one side to the +other, taking care that the lines of varnish so deposited slightly +over-lap one another. When this coat of varnish is perfectly dry and +hard, another and sometimes even a third coat must be applied, and it is +best to lay it on at right angles to the previous coat, so that all the +surface is sure to be covered. + +Make each coat as thin as possible, and to facilitate this keep the +brush soft by occasionally applying a little turpentine to it. This, +however, is a slow and tantalizing process of varnishing, and there is +an easier and better one. Procure a bottle of Canada balsam in benzole. +It is used for mounting microscopic objects in, and can be got from any +optician's. It should be quite fluid. Get a large wide-mouthed bottle +and pour the balsam and benzole into it. Then add to it as much again +pure benzole. It should now be nearly as fluid as water. This is your +varnish. Apply it just as a photographer coats his glass plate with +collodion. That is done in this manner. Take hold of the slide by one +corner and pour on to it a sufficient quantity of the balsam and benzole +to cover it. + +You may need to encourage it to flow by slightly tilting the slide, and +sometimes it may even be needful to take a clean quill toothpick and +direct it into some corners that otherwise would be missed. Then pour +back all the superfluous varnish into the bottle from one corner of the +slide; the varnish remaining will rapidly harden, as the benzole +evaporates quickly, and the hardening may be hastened by applying a +little heat, but while hardening the slides should be protected from +dust. + + [Illustration: FIG. 2.] + +I make mine perfectly hard by baking them on a thin iron plate fixed a +few inches above a small spirit lamp, but you need to take care not to +make the slides too hot, or they may crack. I can easily varnish and +harden a dozen slides in less than an hour. + +A thin plate of iron, such as is used for an oven plate, can be arranged +on blocks of wood, a sufficient height over the spirit lamp. One coat of +this varnish is usually sufficient to render the slides perfectly +transparent, but a second coat can be applied as soon as the first is +hard if necessary. + +The slides are now finished, but the varnished surface will easily +scratch, and must be protected by a piece of clean glass. Between the +glasses a thin paper mount should be laid, which may be a circle, an +oval, or a square, according to which is most suitable to the pictures, +and then the two glasses must be fastened together by narrow slips of +paper gummed round the edge. These mounts, and slips of paper ready +gummed, can be procured from any optician, and will save labor, +especially in fixing up the edges. + +Before you join the glasses together insert at the right hand top corner +a number, so that by looking at this number you can readily arrange the +pictures in their proper sequence, and also tell which is the right side +up when putting them into the lantern carrier. + +Sometimes you may wish to copy some other slides, but owing to their +having the covering glasses on you cannot trace them readily direct on +to your ground glasses. + +This difficulty is overcome by using tracing paper, making the lines +with a fine crow-quill and ink. Then you can easily trace from these +copies through the ground glass. We also made some very good sets of +shadow pictures by cutting out suitable sketches in paper from the comic +and other illustrated journals, and mounting them between two sheets of +glass. These answered admirably, and when carefully cut out, no one +would believe, when thrown on the sheet, that they had not been painted. + +We also made some sets of tracings on plain glass, of sketches in black +and white. Of course ink would not do, as a fine line could not be drawn +with it, and it was too transparent, but we found that, by using black +water color, in which a drop or two of thin gum had been mixed, it was +quite easy to draw upon plain glass with a fine pen, and then the solid +parts could be filled in with a sable brush. + +Comic sets copied from the illustrated papers were very easily made, and +came out exceedingly well on the sheet and afforded great amusement. +This system, and the cutting out in paper, is very simple, and of course +takes much less time than the colored and varnished drawings on +roughened glass. + + + + +THE AKHOOND OF SWAT. + +By J. H. S. + + +A number of years ago there came over the cable an announcement that the +Akhoond of Swat had died, and immediately there was an outburst of +merriment in the newspapers. No one could tell who or what he was, many +believed him to be a myth, and for a long time the Akhoond was a +standing joke among paragraph writers all over the world. + +But the Akhoond was a real personage and no joke, and it is only +recently that we have found out what a really great man he was. + +Swat itself is a considerable province of Afghanistan, bordering on +India, and just southwest of the Pamirs. The Akhoond was not, however, +its civil ruler. At any rate, he was not nominally so. The title Akhoond +merely means "teacher," and he was, primarily, a religious teacher and +nothing more. + +He lived in the town of Saidu, and he reached manhood and began to teach +the people more than half a century ago, when Dost Mohammed was Ameer of +Cabul. + +An intense fanatic and a mystic, he exerted a marvelous sway over the +people of Swat, who like all the Afghan tribes, are nervous, +imaginative, and given to mysticism. So he became not only their +spiritual prophet, but their military leader as well. + +He led the hosts of Islam against the Sikhs, in the days when Dost +Mohammed planned to conquer all India, and many are the stories told of +his prowess. + +Nor did he fight alone against the Indians, but in 1863 he led the +Afghans in their battle with the British at Umbeyla, and made himself +the most feared man in all the Afghan empire. + +When not busy in the wars, the Akhoond was always to be found at Saidu. +From sunrise to sunset he sat in his mosque, reproving the erring, +comforting the mourners, encouraging the faithful, and cursing the +obstinate unbelievers. + +Disputes of every sort were brought to him for settlement. Troubles of +all kinds were brought to him to be made right. Hundreds of miracles +were performed by him every day. The sick were made well in an instant. + +A man would come, lamenting that his horse was lost, and would find it +the next moment at the door of the mosque. A carpenter was bewailing +that a beam was three feet too short for the needed purpose, and in a +twinkling it grew to exactly the length required. + +A visitor in the city wished to return speedily to his home in +Constantinople, thousands of miles away. He was bade to close his eyes, +and the next moment opened them in his home. + +To tell the people of Swat that these things were not so, would have +been equivalent to telling them that light was darkness. No wonder, +then, that the Akhoond was a power in the land, and that Ameer after +Ameer sought his assistance. + +Shere Ali was the last. When he began his last struggle with the +British, he begged the Akhoond to lead his armies as of old. But death +stepped in, and the Akhoond passed into history. + +Yet still his virtues abide. The mosque in which he taught is the +holiest place in all Swat, and miracles are daily wrought there. The +Akhoond's son does not succeed him as a teacher, but he inherits the +worldly possessions of the Akhoond, and these are enough to make him the +richest man in all Swat. + + + + + [_This Story began in No.44._] + + A PLUCKY GIRL + or, + "For Father's Sake." + + A Story Of Prairie Land + + BY CELIA PEARSE, + + Author Of "Little Gothamites," "Will She + Win Her Way?" "A Wise Little Woman," + etc., etc. + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +Lottie was so vexed and indignant that, for a moment, she could neither +move nor speak. Eva, too, was perplexed, and whispered into Lottie's +ear: + +"What does the woman want? Is she going to take our things away +from us?" + +Before Lottie could reply, the man who had been loitering around the +barn and outside premises, came up to the door, and, with a smile meant +to be ingratiating, bade them good-morning. + +Lottie started at the sound of his voice. She thought she recognized it, +but was not quite sure. She rose from her chair and returned the +greeting. + +"I'm one of your new neighbors," continued the visitor, planting himself +in the doorway and resting a hand upon the frame upon either side. "The +old woman an' me thought we'd come over an' git acquainted. I reckon she +has told you who we air?" + +Lottie listened to this speech with intent ears. Yes, the voice was the +same she had heard that evening, weeks before, plotting to deprive them +of their home. + +She did not doubt that it was he who had persuaded Jimmy to run away; +that he was the "friend" who had promised the boy work and wages and +independence, and so had gotten him out of his way. + +Lottie crossed the room, Eva still clinging to her hand, and, when but a +few steps distant from the man in the doorway, stopped, and, looking him +straight in the eye, said: + +"Yes, Mr. Highton, I know who you are. Will you please tell me where my +brother Jimmy is?" + +Mr. Highton's hands dropped from the door-frame, and he took a step +backward. A dark flush spread over his countenance; his eyes wavered and +fell. But he recovered himself almost instantly, and, with a harsh, +disagreeable laugh, made answer. + +"Tell you where your brother Jimmy is? Why, miss, I didn't know you had +a brother Jimmy. Has the young man been gittin' himself lost?" + +"No, he has not been getting himself lost; but _some one_, pretending to +be his friend, has persuaded him to leave us, promising him money and +good times. And, Mr. Highton, I believe that _you are the man!_" + +Mr. Mart Highton laughed again, more harshly and boisterously than +before. Then he said, still pretending to be amused: + +"I declare I didn't expect to be treated this way, or I shouldn't 'a +come to see you. I'll send one o' the _boys_ next time, an' mebbe you'll +treat 'em better. You hain't so much as invited me in to take a seat!" + +Lottie turned indignantly away, and, without giving the solicited +invitation, retreated to the sitting-room. + +Here she found Mrs. Highton, seated in the big arm-chair, looking about +her with a self-satisfied air. + +As Lottie and Eva entered, she exclaimed: + +"Well, you an' Mart's been gittin' acquainted, I reckon. I heerd you +laughin' together. He's mighty friendly, an' easy to git acquainted +with. We all be, fer that matter. Some folks is so kind o' stuck up, or +somethin', that it takes a month o' Sundays to git to know 'em. But the +Hightons ain't that way!" + +Lottie made no reply to these remarks. She was troubled and disgusted, +and did not know how to get rid of her unwelcome visitors. She sank, +silently, upon the couch by the window. + +Mrs. Highton stopped her rocking, and turned her chair so that she could +face her listeners, and resumed: + +"Mart an' me's bin talkin' 'bout the way you children's situated here. +Mrs. Green told me all about it, afore she went away. An' she says to +me, says she, 'Them poor, motherless, orphant children hadn't orto be +livin' over there by theirselves,' says she; 'but the oldest +girl'--that's you, I reckon" nodding at Lottie--"'is mighty sot an' +determined, an' is bound to stick to the place.' + +"So Mart an' me, we've been talkin' it over, an' we concluded to come +an' hev a talk with you. He says to me, says he, 'If the children want +to go to their relations, we'll buy their housell stuff--fer we're +a-needin' the things--an' they kin take the money an' go. But if they'd +ruther stay, why, let 'em stay.'" + +Mrs. Highton paused a moment, as if expecting to be thanked for this +generous concession. But as Lottie made no response, she continued: + +"Him an' me thought that if you was so sot to stay here, mebbe you'd be +willin' to let us move in with you. His brother Ike's got a big family, +an' they're about took possession of the cabin the Greens moved out of. +The boys is goin' to put up shanties on their claims, but we'd like to +git settled quick as we kin, for we've been livin' jest 'anyhow' long +'nough. We could all live together in one family, an' that way your +livin' wouldn't cost you a cent. Mart says he'd look after things on the +place, an' I'd be a kind o' mother to you. It wouldn't be near so +lonesome fer you, an' it would be a 'commodation to us. Our gittin' the +use o' the house an' sich like would make you square about the +board-bill. Now, what do you say to our offer?" + +[Illustration: +MR. HIGHTON SHIFTED IN HIS SEAT, AND SAID, IN AN INSINUATING +TONE, "YOU SEEM TO HEV A VERY POOR OPINION OF ME, MISS."] + +Lottie shuddered at the idea of living in the house with these people. +And, being forewarned, she was quick to see that this was a plan +designed to entrap her--that the Hightons wished to get possession of +the house, and a hold upon the place, so as to oust her completely; for +that they would not scruple to get rid of herself and Eva, when it +suited them to do so, she was well assured. Jimmy, poor, credulous boy, +had already been gotten out of the way. Oh, why did not her father come? + +Her heart felt as if it would burst, and for a moment she could not +utter one word. But she struggled bravely for composure, and presently +said, in a voice that in spite of her trembled a little: + +"I cannot make any such arrangement. I hope and expect my father home +soon. And he would not be pleased to find his house filled with +strangers. Eva and I are getting along very well, and we have plenty to +live on." + +"It seems to me you orto be satisfied by this time that your father +ain't never goin' to come back," replied Mrs. Highton, in a harsh voice. +"It's orful silly of you to stick to that notion! An' you orto consider +'tain't fit fer you two girls to be livin' here alone. There ain't no +knowin' what might happen. It would be 'nough sight better if you had +somebody here to look after you. Then ag'in, you wouldn't be tied down +to home like you be now. You'd hev somebody to leave the little girl +with, an' could git out an' enjoy yourself like other young folks. You'd +better think twice afore you say 'no' fer good an' all." + +Lottie felt Eva's fingers closing tightly upon her own, the poor child +was imagining herself left to the care of Mrs. Highton! She pressed the +quivering little hand reassuringly and rose to her feet. + +"I don't need to think any more about it. I have given you my answer," +she said, firmly. + +At that moment a heavy step was heard crossing the porch, and Mr. +Highton, with a sneering smile upon his face, thrust his head through +the open window. + +"Come, old woman," he said to his wife, "you go along home an' see 'bout +gittin' dinner, an' _I'll_ settle this matter with little miss, here." + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +The stars were growing dim, and a faint light was dawning in the east, +when, at last, Jimmy Claxton's slumbers were disturbed and he opened his +sleepy eyes. + +There was a confusion of sounds filling his ears, a snapping and +snarling and growling that frightened and bewildered him. It was several +moments before he could remember where he was or why he was there, lying +on the ground beneath the open sky. + +But his brain cleared presently, and he sprang to his feet and looked +about him. Where was his friend and companion of the previous day? Where +were the horses he had himself so carefully picketed the evening before? +And what was that snarling, fighting mass just visible in the dawning +light but a few rods distant? + +Jimmy found himself very much awake about this time, for it had flashed +upon him that at least a score of prairie-wolves were there before him +and that the yelping that had awakened him came from their throats. + +He involuntarily opened his mouth to call out for Mr. Highton, but the +thought came quickly into his mind that a sound from him might draw the +attention of the pack to himself, and this restrained him. + +He wondered where Mr. Highton could be, and what it was that the wolves +were fighting over and feasting upon. A terrible fear took possession of +him. Had the creatures killed Mr. Highton while he lay sleeping, and +were they now devouring him? + +He dared not venture nearer to investigate. He was afraid to move at all +lest the beasts should hear him. But, after a little hesitation, he +resolved to try to get away to the opposite side of the ravine and there +conceal himself until the pack dispersed. + +Jimmy moved cautiously away, but had not gone far when, turning to look +back, he saw half a dozen of the wolves coming toward him at a gallop. + +He knew that he could not outrun them, and, looking about for any +possible refuge, he saw, not far away, projecting ten or fifteen feet +above the surface of the ravine, the scraggy branches of a tree, which +overhung the depths beneath it. + +With his best speed the boy dashed forward, and, scrambling down the +sides of the gorge until he reached the spot in which the tree was +rooted, he began to climb up its bent and twisted trunk. + +The tree was but a small one, and its upper branches were hardly strong +enough to bear his weight, but he climbed upward until they swayed and +bent, and threatened to snap beneath him; then, grasping the largest of +them, one in each hand, and resting his feet on the best support he +could find for them, Jimmy braced himself and awaited his pursuers. + +They soon came up, and leaped and howled and snarled about the tree, but +they could not reach their wished-for prey; and, after awhile, they +seemed to realize that they were losing their share--and a slender one +it must have been, or they would never have deserted it--of the feast +being enjoyed by their fellows, and trotted back, to renew their fight +over poor Cottontail's bones. + +Jimmy breathed freer for a few minutes after their departure, but his +situation was anything but comfortable or agreeable. It was a strain +upon his muscles to maintain his position, and there was constant danger +that the limbs he was supporting himself by would break and tumble him +to the bottom of the ravine. And yet he dared not descend to the ground, +because, the wolves might attack or pursue him at any moment. The day +grew brighter and the sun appeared, and still Jimmy clung to his +swaying, uncertain support, until it seemed to him that he _must_ +descend and give relief to his aching arms and feet. + +But he knew that a race between himself and the wolves upon the open +prairie would be a hopeless one for him; for, emboldened as the +naturally cowardly creatures always were by numbers, they would never +give up the chase until they had run him down. + +Thus two long hours passed, and meantime a painful consciousness grew +upon him that his usual morning meal was lacking. He thought, with +longing, of the delicious, mealy, baked potatoes and corn-fritters, with +their respective accompaniments of cream-gravy and fresh butter, that +had probably adorned Lottie's breakfast-table, and wondered if, when +released from his very unpleasant predicament, he would have strength +enough remaining to enable him to make his way to the ranch, ten miles +further on, according to Mr. Highton, where he could procure something +to fill the "aching void" that was making him more and more +uncomfortable. + +At length, to his great joy, the sounds of fighting and snarling grew +less and less, and although he was unable to see from his station the +place where the pack had congregated, Jimmy felt sure that they had +dispersed, and, wearied and cramped, he ventured to descend to the +ground. + +He stole cautiously out of the ravine to reconnoitre, and found his +surmise correct. There was not a wolf to be seen. They had stolen away +through the tall grass to their abiding-places, and the prairie showed +no sign of any living creature save himself. + +After waiting a short time to make sure that they were really gone, +Jimmy ran forward to discover what it was that they had been feasting +upon. As he neared the spot, he uttered a cry of dismay. The tall grass +had hidden the object until he was within a few yards of it, but now he +saw that it had been his pony. The bones were not yet picked clean, +although more than half of the carcass was eaten, and Jimmy wondered, as +he rushed forward, that the voracious beasts had left a morsel +undevoured. But he did not wonder long; for a low, peculiar sound, +seeming to rise from the earth at his very feet, startled him, and he +saw, stretched upon the ground like a great cat, not six yards away, an +animal the like of which he had never seen before. But he had heard of +the lions which sometimes came down from the mountainous and broken +country farther west, and knew that this creature must be one of them. + +He understood then what had driven the wolves away, and wished himself +safely back in his tree-top. The lion lashed its tail and partly rose +from its position on the ground, but it subsided again as Jimmy stood +stock-still, with eyes of horror fixed upon it. The probabilities are +that it was satiated with food, and only wished to guard the prey it had +already secured from further molestation. However that may be, it made +no other movement than to lift its head and swish its tail, as if in +warning, and Jimmy backed slowly away as long as he could endure the +strain of moving slowly; and then, when he felt that he _must_ run, he +turned and flew over the ground with the speed of a deer until he was +forced to stop from sheer exhaustion. + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +When Jimmy at length stopped running, he found that he had left the +ravine quite out of sight. The country about him was rolling, and as the +wind waved the tall grass before his eyes, it was as if he were looking +upon a great gray-green sea, and the ravine doubtless lay between the +billow-like swells of land that spread out in vast expanse before him. + +He looked about him and became more and more bewildered. He could not +determine which course he ought to take in order to reach the ranch +described to him by Mr. Highton. + +It never occurred to him that this great cattle ranch, where he was to +get "big wages" and have "lots of fun," had no existence, save in his +"friend's" imagination. + +Then again he fell to wondering where Mr. Highton could be. He could not +bring himself to believe that a man--a grown man--had been so frightened +by the lion that he had run away and left him--a boy--to take his +chances, unarmed and alone! + +And yet the last he knew of Mr. Highton, he was lying near him, with his +saddle and bridle beneath his head, apparently sleeping and settled for +the night. + +And now Jimmy recalled the fact that, when he was awakened that morning +and had looked about him, there was no saddle or other accoutrements to +be seen, and the natural conclusion was that Mr. Highton had ridden +deliberately away. It might be that he had gone upon some exploring +expedition of his own and knew nothing of the lion--that he meant to +return. + +But Jimmy found little comfort in these reflections, and he began to +wish most heartily that he was safely back in his own comfortable home. + +Then his thoughts took a different direction. He wondered what Lottie +and Eva would say, if they knew of the fate which had befallen poor +Cottontail, their pet and favorite! And what would Lottie think when she +discovered that he had abstracted papers from his father's desk? She had +always guarded the contents of the desk so jealously, that nothing +should be destroyed or mislaid that had been placed there by her parents +for safe keeping. + +His conduct had put on a new appearance to him, all at once, and he felt +miserable and ashamed. Mr. Highton had assured him that he wanted the +documents only for a short time, to compare some figures and numbers, +which would help him the better to locate a claim of his own, about +which there was some difficulty. + +But Jimmy's confidence in his whilom friend was weakening with a +rapidity that made him very uncomfortable; and the longer he meditated +the more certain he was that he had been fooled and that Mr. Highton had +purposely deserted him. + +He began to realize how much easier it is to take a wrong step than to +retrace it. It seemed to him that he could _never_ return home and tell +the dismal tale of the poor pony's fate, and of his own guilt in the +matter of taking those papers from his father's desk. + +What then was to be done? Jimmy did not know, and his unhappy +reflections became so unbearable that he could no longer rest, and he +hurried on again. + +The sun beat down upon him, his thirst increased and he grew faint with +hunger and weariness; but he walked on and on, hoping every moment to +see some sign of human habitation. But he hoped in vain; not so much as +a herder's hut met his eye. On every side stretched the sea-like +prairie, and no living thing was to be seen. + +And so for weary hours he toiled on, distracted with thirst, sick for +lack of food and growing more bewildered and disheartened with every +step. At length he sank down, utterly exhausted. + +It was then about four o'clock in the afternoon, and he had been walking +beneath a burning sun since early morning, and had had no morsel of food +or drop of water since the evening before. + +He fell into a sort of stupor, and while he thus lay dark clouds began +to gather, and mutterings of thunder rolled along the sky. And presently +the sun was obscured and a kind of weird twilight settled down upon the +prairie. + +For a time the thunder ceased, the air grew thick and close, and the +silence of death seemed to have fallen upon the world. + +Then came a mighty roar, as if the elements were defying each other, and +the rain was dashed upon the earth or swirled through the air with +furious force. + +The dashing of the rain upon his face aroused Jimmy, and he rose up, +fighting against the wind, which threatened to take him off his feet, +and, holding out his hands, he gathered enough of the down-pouring flood +to appease his thirst. + +Then he staggered on, buffeted by the wind and blinded by the driving +rain, turning this way and that to escape the lashings of the deluge +that swept over him, until his strength gave out, and he dropped to the +ground more dead than alive. + +At that instant he felt himself picked up and whirled through the air as +if he had been a feather. + +Then he knew no more until, opening his eyes, he found the sun shining +upon his face and the clear, blue sky above him. + +But the sun was not more than an hour high, and the thought that he must +pass another night alone upon the prairie was discouraging. + +His clothes were wet as they could be, and the cool wind, blowing upon +him, made him tremble and shiver. + +He was bruised and sore and weak, but happily his "ride upon the storm" +had not resulted in serious injury. There were no broken bones to +disable him. + +The water he had drank had refreshed him greatly, but oh, how hunger +gnawed upon him! + +He sat up and looked about him in shivering despair. He found that he +had been lying upon the verge of a fissure in the ground, such as are +often come upon in prairie countries. + +It was but a few feet deep and three or four wide at the top. He threw +himself forward, face downward, and looked listlessly into this cleft in +the earth, thinking that perhaps, if he had strength enough left to +gather an armful or two of grass to lie upon, a bed down there, +sheltered as it would be from the wind, would be more comfortable than +where he then was. + +But as his dull eyes roved over the bottom of the narrow chasm, they saw +something that put new life and hope into his despairing heart. + +A few yards from where he lay, evidently blown there by the storm that +had just passed, were three or four prairie-chickens, huddled together, +with drenched plumage, their lives drowned out of them. + +The trench had been filled with water by the tremendous fall of rain, +which had now soaked away through the fissures in its bottom, and the +chickens had lodged against some unevenness of surface, as the water +subsided. + +Jimmy descended into the gap and quickly secured one of the birds; then +he looked about for some means of cooking it. He was ravenously hungry, +but could he eat raw meat? + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +Lottie was startled out of her self-possession by Mr. Highton's speech +to his wife. She turned quickly, and stretching out an imploring hand +toward her, begged her not to go. + +But Mrs. Highton, with a coarse laugh, exclaimed, "Oh, you needn't be +afraid. He ain't a-goin' to hurt you!" and walked out of the room. + +There were a few whispered words between man and wife before the woman +left the house, and while these were being said, Lottie's courage was +coming back, and when Mr. Highton came in he found her seated composedly +upon the lounge, with Eva nestled close to her side. + +He threw himself into the arm-chair which his wife had vacated, and sat +for some minutes eying Lottie from under his shaggy eye-brows, without +speaking. Then he shifted in his seat, crossed one leg over the other +and said, in an insinuating tone. + +"You seem to hev a very poor opinion of me, miss." + +Lottie made no reply to this, and he continued, more roughly: + +"You think I had a hand in your brother's runnin' off. How did you come +by sech an idea as that?" + +"I have already told you that I know _some one_ persuaded him to go. No +one but you could have had any object in doing that," replied Lottie, +steadily. + +"Wal, I declare! What did _I_ want the boy to run off fer?" asked Mr. +Highton, in pretended surprise, while an angry flush rose to his cheek. + +"I can't answer that question." + +"Wal, it's best not to throw out insinerations that you can't prove. An' +it will be all the better fer you, if you make up your mind to be +friendly with me. Because, if you ain't, you'll find yourself in a +middlin' bad box before very long. My wife an' me, we wants to be +friendly, an' is willin' to do the best we kin fer you; that's what we +come over this morning to talk about." + +"I am getting along very well--I don't need any kind of help from any +one, at present," said Lottie coldly. + +"You're mighty inderpendent fer a bit of a girl; but when you come to +find out jest how you air fixed, you may change your tune," and Mart +Highton grinned maliciously. + +Lottie made no answer, and he continued: + +"We come to you, my wife an' I did, to let you know that this place +_belongs to us_; but, not wishin' to be too hard on you, we offered you +the privilege of stayin' on here with us till you could make some other +'rangements. I told my wife to be easy on you, an' not break the news +too suddint, but she didn't seem to work it jest right. So the next best +plan is to come out plain an' let you know exactly how you're situated." + +"I'd like to know, if there's anything I don't understand," said Lottie, +so quietly that Mr. Highton looked rather astonished at the way she was +taking the matter. + +"Wal, then, this is the way the business stands. When your father +settled down here, an' entered his quarter-section, he jest made a +mistake an' put his improvements on the wrong quarter. Nobody didn't +happen to discover the mistake, fer folks wasn't comin' in here to no +great extent; but, now a railroad is bein' talked of, people is lookin' +after things middlin' sharp. I found out how it was 'tother day, when I +was over to the land office, an' I jest clipped in an' filed on it +quicker'n a wink. So now I'm goin' to come right along an' take +possession. You kin stay, as I said afore, 'till you kin make other +'rangements--_purvided_ you're a mind to make yourself agreeable! 'Taint +everybody as would be so easy on you, you must remember!" + +"No, _it is not_ every one who would try to rob helpless children," +answered Lottie, scornfully. "I do not believe a single word of your +story. You have prepared a scheme to rob us of our home--to drive us +away from the only shelter we have; but you will not succeed in your +wicked plans. I intend to keep possession here, until father comes back, +and will defend his home against claim jumpers as long as there is life +in my body." + +Lottie had risen as she made this declaration, and stood cool and +resolute before the man whom she knew had determined to drive her out of +her father's house. Her cheeks glowed, her eyes gleamed, her form seemed +taller by an inch, and she looked quite unlike the bright-faced, merry +girl that she usually was. + +Eva clung to her hand and looked up at her in wonder. What had this +hateful visitor said that had made Lottie so angry? She was not able to +understand the meaning of his words, but Eva knew he had offended her +dear sister, and she bent her brows and sent indignant glances in his +direction. + +But Mart Highton paid little heed to the child; he was wondering how +this young girl, whom he had expected so easily to impose upon, had +penetrated his scheme, and how long she would hold out against him. + +He knew nothing of the solitary night watch when those words of his +which had put her on her guard had reached her ears. + +That a young girl like this should "show fight," as he phrased it to +himself, was a complete surprise, and for a moment he stared at her +silently. Then he burst into a loud laugh, and, when he had laughed long +enough, he said, jocosely: + +"An' so you're a-goin' to hold on to my quarter-section, be you? You're +a mighty peart sort of a girl! I declar' I admire your spunk! But if I +was you, I wouldn't look _too_ strong fer that father o' yourn. You'll +never set eyes on _him_ till Gabriel blows his horn: an' that'll be a +middlin' long spell to hold out agin me an' the land office." + +And Mart Highton laughed again at his own wit. + +Lottie was too indignant at his brutality to make any answer. She felt +her limbs trembling beneath her, and sat down again quickly that it +might not be noticed, for she really feared the man. + +But the gentleman in the arm-chair made no offensive movement, as she +had thought he might do; for in her eyes he was a wretch capable of any +crime, and, knowing that she and Eva were utterly alone and friendless +in this isolated spot, might he not have it in his heart to kill them +and so get them out of his way? + +She knew instinctively that he was a man who would hesitate at nothing +that would serve to gain his ends. If he could not get possession of the +property he coveted in any other way, what was there to hinder him if he +chose to take their lives? There was not a friend, not even an +acquaintance, within miles of them who would be interested to inquire +into their fate. And then a dreadful fear flashed upon her. Perhaps he +_had_ murdered Jimmy--had lured him away from home with fair promises, +and had then killed him. + +Her face blanched at the thought as she turned and looked searchingly at +the hateful countenance confronting her, and, almost without knowing +that she spoke, Lottie uttered the words, very nearly like those with +which she had first greeted him: + +"What have you done with my brother Jimmy?" + +Mart Highton sprang to his feet, pale with anger, and, with one great +stride, came to where Lottie was sitting. + +[TO BE CONTINUED.] + + + + + [_This Story began in No. 45._] + + EPHRAIM CLARK'S + FIRST AND ONLY VOYAGE. + + By E. Shippen, M.D. + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + EPH SEES GREAT PEOPLE. + +At midday the big "dug-out," called La Belle Acadienne, paddled up to +the landing, under the charge of an old creole, who was to take Eph +Clark to New Orleans and then to lodgings at a French house, when Eph +was to seek an interview with the governor and carry out the +instructions he had received. + +The Belle Acadienne had an awning over her after part, where the +passengers would be protected from the night-damp; and there were lots +of things to eat, with a cooking place forward, presided over by a +grizzled old negro, who produced some very nice dishes from his few pots +and pans. + +The "padron," or head of the boat, and six paddlers, made up, with Eph +and Eric and the old Creole, ten in all. + +As soon as the passengers were on board, the canoe went away, almost +north, up the bay. + +By nightfall they had entered a deep but narrow bayou, and then there +was a fresh surprise for Eph and Eric. + +In the bow of the canoe, hanging well over the water, was an iron crane, +which supported a grating, on which was kept burning, after dark, chunks +of fat pine, which lit up everything around with a rich, yellow light. + +As they got farther into the bayou, the banks seemed to disappear, and +they were, as it appeared to Eph--who had never been in such a +country--navigating between rows of huge trees, gray with moss, which +hung from the branches in long festoons, like giant cobwebs. + +The fire-light, glowing on the surroundings, showed the most surprising +things to the boys, although the crew seemed to think nothing of them. +Out of the darkness, among the trees and bushes, would peer two bright +marks, which the men said was a deer. + +Then would come a great plash in the still water of the bayou, and the +pine knots showed a huge alligator, sulkily sinking, and apparently +uncertain whether to make fight or not, at this invasion of his +territory. + +Great gar-fish shot away from the canoe as she went on, and big owls +hooted at being disturbed, sometimes flapping almost into the burning +knots. Herons, and other large birds flopped up from points where they +had been fishing, and sailed away up the bayou with great croaks and +hoarse calls, which were answered from the darkness of the dense bush +and high trees by paroquets and many other birds and animals, disturbed +in their slumbers by the unusual invasion. + +The canoe paddled steadily on, until some time late in the night they +reached a curious formation in the middle of the swampy forest. + +It was an island, not more than an acre in extent, and quite high, where +the padron said they were accustomed to stop to cook and sleep, for the +men had had a long pull. + +As soon as they had eaten the hot supper, which the cook served shortly +after landing, the boys lay down in the canoe on soft mats and slept +until the daylight began to show through the tops of the trees. + +The old padron soon had the cook up, and he made a pot of coffee such as +the boys, in their experience of ship's cooking, had never tasted, and +off they went again, threading the tortuous channels, which would be +entirely impassable to any one not accustomed to them. + +Once or twice they came into a great lake, full of cypress stumps and +knees, and of alligators also, and several times, on the edges of the +cane-brakes which they sometimes passed, were bears and deer and +quantities of smaller animals, as well as birds. + +Eph was so interested at all this that he almost forgot his new position +as a messenger carrying important letters, and it was only, at last, +when they pulled into a small canal, that he began to think about it. + +This canal led up to a place where the water communication seemed to +stop. The padron left them for a few moments, and then returned with a +dozen negroes, who came from some huts in a grove of trees, and they +quickly ran her up an incline, and were ready to launch her down again. + +Then Eph and Eric were really astonished. They were on a great +embankment, or levee, which seemed to hold in the water of a mighty +river, running with resistless force. + +The Mississippi, the padron told them; and then pointed to the other +side, below, where there appeared the buildings of a large town, with +towers and the masts of vessels. + +It seemed strange to Eph to emerge from a wilderness and to see such +evidences of civilization, but, young as he was, he had already passed +through many strange scenes, and braced himself up for the business with +which he was charged. + +The men launched the canoe down into the brimming river on the other +side of the levee--they were kept there for that purpose by Lafitte, Eph +found out--and then they paddled away for the city. + +It was a very different business from the navigation in the slack waters +of the bayous. The current of muddy water ran with great swiftness, and +great swirls, as of a whirlpool, sometimes almost turned the canoe +round. + +But she had Lafitte's best crew, and they shot her across the wide, +yellow expanse of water in a way which surprised Eph, as much as he had +seen of boats and canoes. + +As it was, they only brought up at the lower part of the town, where +they landed. + +There were some people there who seemed to know the canoe very well, and +one long-bearded old Frenchman led Eph and Eric up to his house, where +he gave them some dinner, and then told them they had better go to bed +and rest. + +He was Lafitte's principal agent, and when he had read the letter his +chief had sent him he at once began to prepare for an interview with the +governor. + +Everybody in New Orleans knew that an invasion by the British forces was +now near at hand. + +Governor Claiborne called his council together on the very day after Eph +Clark got there. + +Governor Claiborne was the first American governor of Louisiana, and he +had a pretty hard time to reconcile American notions and laws with the +long-settled customs of the district. + +But he had a powerful advocate in Judge Edward Livingston, who spoke the +language perfectly, and was a thorough lawyer. + +Then there was General Villere, of the Louisiana militia, a brave and +honest man. + +When the governor heard that there was a messenger from Lafitte, he was +at first much put out; but he called his council together, and summoned +Eph Clark to appear. + +Eph was under a sort of arrest--as two men followed him about--but he +kept up a good face, and at ten o'clock appeared before the governor and +his council with the letter Lafitte had charged him to deliver. + +With it he delivered the letter of the English Captain Lockyer, with its +proposals. They were opened and read aloud by a clerk, while Eph stood +at the foot of the table, gazed at by all the council. Then a member of +the council spoke and said: + +"I do not believe in making terms with pirates. This story about the +English captain is no doubt merely a scheme to get his brother, who is a +prisoner here, released. He is here on a charge of smuggling, as you all +know." + +Eph Clark's temper rose at hearing this speech, and, losing all shyness, +he replied: + +"If it pleases your excellency and the rest of the gentlemen, I may say +that I know there are some bad men at Barataria, who are there from +choice; but _I_ was taken there against my will. I could not help +myself. I am no particular champion of Lafitte, but he means right in +this matter, I know, and I myself went with him to meet the Englishmen +and bring them in. Captain Lockyer's letter is genuine, and they mean +all they say. Gambio and Johannot are bad men, but I believe Lafitte is +not, and, if the enemy come here, will be willing to do all he can for +our side." + +When Eph had got this far, and all the gentlemen had turned to listen, +he stopped and stammered and blushed, astonished at his own temerity. + +A thin, grave gentleman, whom he afterward knew to be Governor +Claiborne, answered at once: + +"Well spoken, lad! very well spoken!" + +And then two other gentlemen, whom he afterward knew to be Judge Edward +Livingston and General Villere, of the Louisiana militia, chimed in. + +Judge Livingston said that he believed that Lafitte was well disposed, +and that, as for his irregular trade, that was what was going on under +the old state of things, and must be put a stop to gradually. + +While he was speaking, a messenger hastily entered and gave the governor +a written dispatch which announced the arrival of the enemy's fleet, +with troop ships, at the passes of the Mississippi. + +In a few moments the feeling of the gentlemen who had opposed having +anything to do with Lafitte, suffered a change, and it was agreed that +Eph should hurry back by the way he came and bear a message accepting +Lafitte's offers of assistance in the defense of the city, as well as +thanks for having declined the British advances. + +When the letter was delivered to Eph, the governor and Judge Livingston +and General Villere asked him about himself, and when Eph modestly and +shortly told them his story, they were more astonished than ever. + +"All right, lad!" said the governor. "Do you come back with any force +which may be sent, and, after this trouble is over, these gentlemen and +myself will promise to look out for you. Tell Lafitte that we know +General Jackson is close at hand, with a force of Tennessee and Kentucky +riflemen; but we need artillery for our works and men used to serving +large guns. Let him send us those, and we shall be glad. Go now, and +when you come back, let me see you." + +Eph was off at once to the agent's, where he found Eric and the canoe's +crew, and was across the river and winding through the bayous before the +sun went down. So full was he of his important message that he hardly +allowed a halt of a few hours to cook and rest, and arrived at Barataria +on the second morning after leaving New Orleans. + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +CONCLUSION. + +When the Belle Acadienne was announced as coming down the bay, Lafitte +himself went to the landing, so anxious was he to hear the news of which +Eph Clark was the bearer. + +As they walked back together to the chief's house, Eph told him all that +had occurred in the council. And Lafitte told him that Johannot had +reported the arrival of the British fleet, for he had been sent out to +reconnoiter, and that he had also sent a message to the English captain +which would prevent him from being certain whether they would be guided +through the bayous or not. + +While Eph got some needed refreshment, orders were sent to assemble all +the guns' crews of the pirate vessels in the fort. + +There were about two hundred selected, the best and most capable +gunners, and they were at once put under vigorous drill--Eph being made +a lieutenant of the battery. + +In the meantime canoes and boats were prepared to take the cannon and +their carriages, with ammunition and stores and utensils of all kinds, +through the secret route, and up to the plain of the east side of the +river, where great works had been thrown up to resist the invaders, +which works stretched between the river and the swamp on the left. + +When the artillery and men arrived they were immediately sent to this +work, where they found the battery of an American gun-boat, the +Carolina, also stationed. There was another gun-boat, the Louisiana, +afloat on the river, with a powerful battery of guns, which did good +service in the approaching fight. + +The long row of earth-works which the Americans occupied had not been +quite finished, so the top of a great deal of the line was made of +cotton bales, which protected the riflemen from the enemy's bullets to a +great extent, but were easily disarranged and set on fire by artillery. +Some people thought that they would have been better without the cotton +bales, but they were then, and they were always afterwards, associated +with the battle. + +When the firing actually began it was discovered that the British had +found a quantity of sugar hogsheads in the plantations, and had used +them in building their batteries, but they were not as good as the +cotton bales at resisting fire, as it turned out. + +Eph Clark had Eric as a sergeant in the battery of which he was +lieutenant, on the night of the 7th of January, 1814, by which time all +was ready. + +They lay in a rough hut, back of the battery, and the men were talking +and smoking, all around them, as they speculated on the chances of next +day's battle, for everybody knew it would occur then, probably at +daylight. + +At last they dropped off into an uneasy doze, and were roused from that +by the order passed to turn out and man the battery. + +They were hardly at their guns when General Jackson came along with a +large staff, carefully inspecting the preparations by the light of the +camp fires in the rear of the intrenchments. + +General Villere, of the New Orleans militia, who had seen Eph Clark +before, and who was accompanying General Jackson, said: + +"Here are Lafitte's men, general. And here is the youth I spoke to you +about, an American boy." + +General Jackson had too many weighty matters on his mind that morning to +do more than glance at Eph, in answer to the officer's remark. But he +did say: + +"All right! Glad to see such pluck and determination." + +Then he passed on to the left of the lines--and all stood firm--peering +into a dense mist, which had arisen as the day was near and obscured the +field in front. + +It was known that the flower of the British army was in front, and eager +eyes and ears kept open to detect the first movement. The invaders had +boasted that they would walk straight over the half-drilled riflemen +from Kentucky and Tennessee and the militia of Louisiana. They had not +quite heard of the artillery of Commodore Patterson and of Lafitte's +batteries, and were not prepared for them, while they had little idea of +what the riflemen could do, although they wore no such gorgeous uniform. + +Suddenly, before the sun had risen and while the haze still hung upon +the ground like a curtain, a gun was heard from the left of the +batteries--the one in which Eph Clark had charge of the guns. + +His sharp sailor-eyes and ears had detected the advance of the enemy +before any others, and, according to orders given beforehand, he fired a +round of grape-shot slap into the advancing foe. + +Just then the mist lifted a little, and, by the early light, could be +seen the serried lines of the British force, advancing to the attack in +magnificent order. + +There were two columns of troops, one on the right and one on the left. +At the head of each column was a regiment, bearing fascines for filling +up the ditch and scaling-ladders for reaching the crest of the defense. +Between the two columns were marching a thousand Highlanders, in their +picturesque garb, ready to support either column on their flanks, as +might be needed. + +At once the riflemen, with their unerring aim, began a rolling fire, +while the artillery, served with great steadiness and coolness, joined +in the battle. + +There was great slaughter and confusion among the attacking troops, but, +like veterans as they were, they rallied and came on again. + +At first, Eph Clark was shocked by the effect of the fire; but he soon +became excited, and, going from gun to gun of his battery, saw that each +was well loaded and well pointed. + +Up to the very ditch surged the brave men in front of them, and one +officer, a lieutenant, came over the breastwork uninjured. Seeing Eph +and a captain of infantry standing by their guns, close to him, he +called out: + +"Surrender! surrender! The place is ours!" + +Rather surprised at this speech from a single man, Eph replied: + +"Look behind you, sir!" + +The young English officer, whose name was Lavack, did as he was told, +and saw his troops either dead or wounded or in full retreat, and +already some distance away. + +"I'll have to trouble you for your sword, sir!" said Eph, after showing +him this sight. + +"And to whom do I surrender?" said the young officer, gazing at Eph's +rig of silk shirt and sash and loose white trowsers. + +"To Lieutenant Clark, of Lafitte's Battery." And the young officer was +led away, to be well treated. + +In the meantime, while the surviving British troops were retreating from +the front, Eph Clark and those about him heard the "advance" blown from +a bugle in front of them, and, seeing no one standing so near as the +notes seemed to come from, at last discovered, perched up in a small +tree--which must have been exposed to all the storm of balls and +bullets, for many of its branches were cut away--a small music-boy of +one of the British regiments, who had sat up there, sounding the +"advance," all the time the fight was going on, and continued to do so +when his regiment was half a mile away. + +Amused at the curious courage and persistency of the little fellow, Eph +and a lieutenant of Kentucky riflemen dropped down into the ditch, and +went out and captured the courageous lad, who was not more than +fourteen. + +When they brought him in, the stolid little Englishman, who was entirely +unhurt, was much astonished at the praises he received from those he +considered deadly enemies. + +The English did not renew their attack, but at once began preparations +for retreat to their ships. And there was good reason, for the actual +fighting had only lasted twenty-five minutes, and they had twenty-six +hundred men killed, wounded or prisoners, while the American loss was +just seventeen. + +General Packenham, the English commander, General Gibbs, Colonel Keene +and Colonel Dale, among the leaders, all lost their lives in that fatal +assault. + +And the worst of it all was that the battle was fought after a treaty of +peace had been made between England and the United States. But there was +no means of knowing that, as there would be in these days of steam and +electricity. + +That night Eph had the guard in his battery, for vigilance was not +relaxed, as the enemy, though beaten, had not yet retired entirely, and +he was pacing up and down the parapet, and wishing he could go to sleep, +after all the long excitement and labor, when he heard a challenge of a +sentinel at the rear, and soon a written order was brought by an +orderly, directing him to report at headquarters on the following day at +ten o'clock. + +This official notice made him uneasy, but he did not know anything wrong +which he had done, and he knew he had served his guns well. So, when the +time came for him to be relieved, he quietly lay down and slept the +sleep of a tired boy, until roused for the rough camp breakfast. + +At the appointed time he went to the headquarters in a plantation-house +in the rear of the lines, and reported himself. + +An aid-de-camp came out and said: + +"General Jackson wants to see you." + +Without a word, but with much inward perturbation, Eph followed the +officer into the room, where a large, rawboned man, with hair standing +straight up from his scalp, and clad in general's uniform and high +boots, was sitting at a table filled with papers. + +Several officers were standing about the room, and Eph recognized +General Villere and one or two others he had seen before. + +The general looked up sharply from his writing--he had a piercing +gray-blue eye--and said: + +"My lad, you have been much commended for your conduct. You are an +American?" + +"Yes, sir. I did not go to Lafitte's place of my own accord; but when I +saw that I could do some good for my country, I worked as hard as I +could." + +The general waved his hand and nodded approvingly. + +"Yes," he continued; "I have heard how you acted from Governor Claiborne +and Judge Livingston and General Villere. You are a sailor, I believe?" + +"Yes, sir. I have been a sailor for four years." + +"Do you like the life?" + +"I have not had such success that I should like it. I think I would +rather be a soldier." + +"Well said, lad," and the grim general chuckled. "You _shall_ be a +soldier. They will listen to me after this work, and I promise you a +lieutenantcy in one of the regular regiments. In the meantime I take you +on my staff as a volunteer, and you may go to any tailor in New Orleans +and be fitted out." + +"There is one thing I would like to say, general." + +"What is it? Speak quickly, for I have much to do." + +"There is a Danish youth, older than I am, who served in the battery, +and was taken out of the brig with me. I should like to see what becomes +of him." + +"Very good! I will give an order for his enlistment, and meantime he can +remain with you." + +Two months after this Ephraim Clark received his commission as second +lieutenant in the Second Regiment of United States Infantry, and Eric +Ericcsson was transferred as a private to the same regiment, the +headquarters of which were at the frontier town of St. Louis, in the +Territory of Missouri. + +[THE END.] + + * * * * * + + GOLDEN DAYS + + Issued Weekly. + +Our Subscription Price. + +Subscriptions to "GOLDEN DAYS," $3.00 per annum, $1.50 per six months, +$1.00 per four months, all payable in advance. + +Single numbers, six cents each. We pay postage on all United States and +Canada subscriptions. + +TO THOSE WHO DESIRE TO GET UP CLUBS. + +If you wish to get up a club for "GOLDEN DAYS," send us your name, and +we will forward you, _free of charge_, a number of specimen copies of +the paper, so that, with them, you can give your neighborhood a good +canvassing. + +OUR CLUB RATES. + +For $5 we will send two copies for one year to one address, or each copy +to a separate address. + +For $10 we will send four copies for one year to one address, or each +copy to a separate address. + +For $20 we will send eight copies to one address, or each copy to a +separate address. + +The party who sends us $20 for a club of eight copies (all sent at one +time) will be entitled to a copy for one year FREE. + +Getters-up of clubs of eight copies can afterward add single copies at +$2.50 each. + +Money should be sent to us either by Post Office order or Registered +Letter, so as to provide as far as possible against its loss by mail. + +All communications, business or otherwise, must be addressed to + + JAMES ELVERSON, + + Publisher. + + * * * * * + +COLUMBUS AND THE SCHOOL CHILDREN + +By Sidney. + + +October, 1892, will long be remembered as the quadricentennial +anniversary of America. It has been a festival month, and hardly a town +or hamlet in this country but has celebrated, in some way, the landing +of Columbus. New York devoted almost an entire week to land and water +pageants, and Chicago, in formally dedicating the Columbian Exposition, +had three days of impressive ceremonies. + +Two remarkable features are to be noted in connection with the October +celebrations. One is, that the United States, by common consent, have +monopolized the honors in connection with the discovery of this Western +Continent. + +Of course, Columbus did not discover the United States any more than +Canada. Every one knows now that he never put foot on North America at +all, his nearest approach being the West India Islands, and that he did +discover South America. + +Nevertheless it has always been recognized that here, if anywhere, +rested his claims as a discoverer, and here, therefore, it was fitting +that the quadricentennial should be celebrated. + +The second feature was the zeal with which the school children entered +into the celebration. Schools, we may be assured, were little known in +the days of Columbus, when monarchs thought it no shame to be unable to +write their own names. Nor had Columbus any special desire to educate or +civilize the people whom he found in the new lands he annexed to the +Spanish crown. + +Yet it may be said, without exaggeration, that of all the benefits +accruing to civilization that grew out of the discovery of America, not +one bears any comparison with the public school system of the United +States. Our forefathers were men who imbibed the love of liberty with +every breath, and they early realized that liberty without intelligence +was not possible, and that learning was a deadly foe to tyranny of any +kind--not the learning which is confined to the few, but the learning +which is free to all, without cost. + +There are nations, even at the present day, which designedly keep the +people in ignorance, for fear that they will know their rights and +demand justice. America has no such fear. Every avenue of knowledge has +been opened to the child of the humblest, and in the public schools all +meet on a plane of equality. + +So it was eminently fitting that the school children should celebrate +the discovery of this new world where they are rightly considered the +keystone of our national greatness. And they have celebrated it in a way +such as the world has never seen. + +In the great civic parade in New York city on October 10, twenty-five +thousand school children marched to the music of a hundred bands, before +the grand-stands, on which sat the dignitaries of the nation, and to the +admiring plaudits of half a million spectators who crowded the +sidewalks, balconies and windows along the route. + +Shoulder to shoulder, the pampered darling of Murray Hill and the "kid" +of the Bowery marched in accord, with flashing eyes and conscious pride +in being what they are, and at their head marched the mayor of the +Empire City. + +It was a sight long to be remembered, and one calculated to make the +dullest thrill with love of country. + +Later in the month, on the twenty-first, the schools all over the land, +from the primary to the high schools, joined in celebrating, each in its +respective schoolhouse. Speeches were made, odes sung and flags raised. + +Such a series of celebrations cannot fail to leave a deep impress on the +youthful mind, and one that will tend to instruct and elevate. + +In future years, when men and women, they will recall with justifiable +pride that they were part of the quadricentennial festivities, and that +the part they bore was second to none. + +It will be a legacy to be cherished, and it is certain that in no +portion of their lives will there be a brighter spot than when, as +school children, they emphasized the power and dignity of the Republic. + + + + +CONDENSED FOOD. + +By W. S. Bates. + + +In journeying through foreign lands, especially in the East, the English +or American traveler is constantly amazed to observe upon what meagre +diet the natives exist. Accustomed to meat at every meal, he sees +thousands of people who eat meat perhaps not once a year; used to an +abundance of vegetables and fruits of infinite variety, he encounters +people who live on two or three vegetables and as many fruits. + +In the mines of Hungary the workers dine on two slices of black bread +and an apple; the Italians are content with a little oil and a handful +of maccaroni; the Chinese exist almost entirely on rice, and the Arabs +will live for weeks on dried dates. The surprise is not so much that +these people exist, but that they are healthy and strong. Travelers +again and again have noted that the Turkish porters in Constantinople +will carry a burden that two strong Americans can hardly lift, and that +coolies can tire a horse in running with the jinrikisha in China or +Japan. + +Doubtless most of this abstemiousness is due to poverty, since all +nationalities soon fall into our ways of eating when they come to these +shores, but their sparingness is none the less a proof that much of what +we eat is an unnecessary burden to our stomachs. The primary purpose of +eating is to sustain life, not to please the palate. We need material to +replenish the waste of tissue, material to make blood and bone and +flesh, and that is all. + +Out of a pound of meat, not more than one tenth is of any value, and the +same proportion holds good with many other articles of food. Now, it is +evident that if some method existed by which the nutritious elements +could be extracted and concentrated, the process of eating would be +greatly simplified, and much to our advantage. + +The first effort in this line was made thirty years ago in the shape of +condensed milk, and the inventor was heartily laughed at. He lived, +however, long enough to laugh at other people, and died worth seven +millions of dollars. Now the condensing of milk has grown to be a very +large industry. + +The processes employed are very simple, the fresh milk being put into a +great copper tank with a steam jacket. While it is being heated sugar is +added, and the mixture is then drawn off into a vacuum tank, where +evaporation is produced by heat. + +The vacuum tank will hold, perhaps, nine thousand quarts. It has a glass +window at the top, through which the operator in charge looks from time +to time. He can tell by the appearance of the milk when the time has +arrived to shut off the steam, and this must be done at just the right +moment, else the batch will be spoiled. + +Next the condensed milk is drawn into forty-quart cans, which are set in +very cold spring water, where they are made to revolve rapidly by a +mechanical contrivance in order that their contents may cool evenly. + +When the water does not happen to be cold enough, ice is put in to bring +it down to the proper temperature. Finally the tin cans of market size +are filled with the milk by a machine, which pours into each one exactly +sixteen ounces automatically, one girl shoving the cans beneath the +spout, while another removes them as fast as they are filled. + +People in cities nowadays use condensed milk largely in preference to +the uncondensed, regarding it as more desirable because of the careful +supervision maintained by the companies over the dairies from which they +get their supplies. + +For their consumption the product is delivered unsweetened, but even in +this condition it will last fresh two or three times as long as the +ordinary milk by reason of the boiling to which it has been subjected. +Milk fresh from the cow contains eighty-eight per cent. of water, +condensed milk twenty-eight per cent. + +After condensed milks come condensed jellies. They are made in the shape +of little bricks, each weighing eight ounces, and with an inside wrapper +of oiled paper. According to the directions, the brick is to be put in +one pint of boiling water, and stirred until it is dissolved. + +The mixture is then poured into a mold or other vessel and put into a +cool place. In a few hours the jelly is "set" and ready to use, a pint +and a half of it. It never fails to "jell," which point is the cause of +so much anxiety to amateur jelly-makers. + +We have often heard that "one egg contains as much nourishment as one +pound of meat," which shows that nature has condensed the food +essentials in this instance. But man has condensed them still more, +mainly, however, because eggs have a bad habit of getting stale. + +Great quantities of eggs are bought up in summer when the price of them +goes down to almost nothing. They are broken into pans, the whites and +yolks separated and evaporated to perfect dryness. Finally, they are +scraped from the pans and granulated by grinding, when they are ready +for shipment in bulk. + +Bakers, confectioners and hotels use eggs in this form, which is an +important saving at seasons when they are dear in the shell. + +Extract of beef, although a liquid, is condensed beef; the vanilla bean +is now concentrated into an essence and cocoanuts are condensed by +desiccation; cider and lime juice are also condensed, so that a spoonful +mixed with water makes a pint of the original liquid. + +Finally, some genius has condensed coffee into lozenges weighing only +fifteen grains, one of which makes a generous cup of coffee. It is +merely necessary to put the lozenge or tablet in the cup, pour boiling +water on it and the coffee is made. + +What a boon for the housewife as well as the camper-out, the more so +since one hundred lozenges, weighing a little more than four ounces, +will make one hundred cups. + +The processes by which coffee is thus concentrated are very interesting. +To begin with, the beans are roasted in an enormous oven and ground in a +huge mill. Then they are put into a great iron vessel, which is nothing +more nor less than a gigantic coffee-pot, holding two hundred and forty +pounds at a time. Hundreds of gallons of filtered water are pumped into +the coffee-pot, which acts on the drip principle, and the infusion is +drawn off to an evaporating tank. A steam pump keeps the air exhausted +from this tank, so that the coffee is in vacuo, being heated meanwhile +to a high temperature by steam pipes. The water it contains rapidly +passes off, and the coffee is of about the consistency of molasses when +it is taken out. It is poured into trays of enameled ware, and these +trays are placed on shelves in another evaporator. + +When the trays are removed, a short time later, the coffee is a dry +solid, which is scraped off the trays, ground to powder, and moulded +into lozenges. + + + + +AN UNFORTUNATE EXPERIMENT. + + +Some weeks ago we chronicled in GOLDEN DAYS the particulars of a +competition race in Europe, which was unique in its rules and intended +to be scientific in its character. The Emperors of Austria and Germany +arranged for a contest between the officers of their respective armies +in the way of a long-distance ride between Berlin and Vienna, Austrian +officers to ride from Vienna to Berlin, and German officers from Berlin +to Vienna. + +This entire distance of four hundred miles was to be covered in the +shortest possible time, each rider using but one horse and choosing any +route which suited his fancy. + +Prizes were offered for the first man who covered the distance, and +another prize was to be given to the contestant who brought his horse to +the finish in the best condition. + +It was a purely military race, and the outcome was expected to prove a +great many things of value to Austria and Germany as to the endurance of +man and horse, and naturally excited great interest, not only in Europe, +but also in this country. + +The result, however, has been far from gratifying. The start was made on +time, and an Austrian officer was the first to cover the distance, in +three days, one hour and forty-five minutes. A notable victory, no +doubt, but at what a cost! + +Hardly had the applause died away, when the noble horse which had +accomplished the feat, died in his tracks; and this was only the +beginning. Since then fifteen or twenty horses have died, and every one +of the remainder are dying or rendered forever useless. + +Stories of pitiless cruelty on the part of the riders have been +reported--of whippings, spurrings, and even absolute torture, to urge on +the poor animals. + +Under the circumstances, it is not to be wondered that the press and +people are now unanimous in condemning the race as brutal and barbarous, +and claiming that no good purpose was served by the exhibition. + +It is true that a prize was offered to the rider who brought in his +horse in the best condition, but this chance seems to have been lost +sight of completely, and not a single horse arrived in a state less than +pitiable. + +Public sentiment in this age is quick to put the stamp of disapproval on +unnecessary cruelty of any kind, and however much the Emperors of +Austria and Germany may regard the result with satisfaction, or crown +the visitors with laurels, humane people everywhere will condemn the +exhibition and protest against any repetition. + + + + +OUR NEW PACIFIC STATION. + +By Anon. + + +In the days when the voyages and adventures of Captain Cook were read by +every schoolboy, there was a great deal heard of the Navigators' +Islands, in the Pacific. Lying between seven and eight hundred miles +south of the equator, this group of nine islands and some small islets +has been a favorite port for many years, and all seamen and explorers +unite in calling it an earthly paradise. The climate is perfection, the +soil is rich, and the natives always have been friendly. + +Similar conditions doubtless prevail in other islands of the Pacific, +but our interests at present centre on the islands just described, since +they are now known as the Samoan Islands, and in them lies the harbor of +Pago-Pago, which our government has at last acquired, after years of +negotiation. + +The chiefs of the Samoan Islands have more than once petitioned to be +taken under the protectorate of Great Britain or the United States, and +in 1878 a commercial treaty was concluded with this country, and in 1879 +Great Britain and Germany made almost similar treaties. + +Had the United States so desired, the Samoan group would have been ceded +to us years ago, but there is always vigorous opposition to this country +acquiring territory outside of its present coast lines. No such scruples +prevail in England or Germany, and, in consequence, both those powers +are industriously engaged in annexing stray islands, whether the +inhabitants desire protection or not. + +But they did not take Samoa, mainly because of a well defined idea that +the United States, although opposed to annexing these islands herself, +was as strongly opposed to any other nation taking them, and European +nations have, of late years, a wholesome respect for this nation. + +It is true that our trade in the Pacific is not large, but it is rapidly +increasing, and the need of a harbor has been apparent for some time. Of +course all the harbors in the Pacific are open to our ships in times of +peace, but there may come a time of war, when the ports will be closed +to our shipping, and we will sorely need some ports of our own. + +Then we need coal and supply stations for our men of war, such as +England has in all parts of the world, and such as we ought to have and +would have were it not for the perverse public sentiment which is +opposed to any acquisition of territory, however needful or just. + +Now at least we have Pago-Pago, and it is believed that Pearl Harbor in +Oahu, one of the Hawaiian Islands, will be acquired in somewhat the same +way. + +The Germans have a harbor in Samoa and the English are negotiating for +one, but Pago-Pago is believed to be the largest and best of all. + +Here a coaling, supply and repair station will be built, the title to +the land being vested absolutely in the United States. + +Other nations may use the harbor as they please, but the United States +will control it, and in case of any trouble in the Pacific it will be a +point of vantage of the greatest value to this country. + + + + +--On Mount Washington, in New Hampshire, lives a little colony of +butterflies that never descend below 2000 feet from the summit. They are +completely isolated from others of their kind, no butterflies being +found in any other spot in their immediate vicinity. It is supposed that +the remote ancestors of this curious race were stranded on the mountain +at the close of the glacial period. + + + + + [_This Story began in No. 48._] + + THE MUTINY + On Board of the Sea Eagle + + or, the + Adventures of a Homeless Boy. + + BY RALPH HAMILTON, + + Author Of "Chespa," "Off To The Southwest," + etc., etc., etc. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A SAIL--LAND. + +Since the night of the mutiny they had been flying a signal of distress, +and when Frank saw it fluttering at the mast-head, through his bitter, +blinding tears, he wondered if it would bring assistance to him, or must +he float on and on over this wide, silent sea till he, too, died? The +thought was an appalling one, and he threw himself on the deck in an +agony of despair. + +So intense was his strange fear and grief and loneliness that he did not +realize the fact that the schooner was driving through the water at the +rate of five miles an hour, though he heard the wash of the waves +against her sides, and felt the momentarily freshening wind blow cool on +his face and pipe lonesomely through the cordage. + +Weary, sick at heart, and worn out with watching, he finally fell +asleep, and when he awoke the wind was gone, the sails flapped idly +against the mast, and the sun, in unclouded splendor, was just beginning +to peep above the eastern horizon. + +He got up, feeling refreshed, but very hungry, went to the galley, +searched around till he found some bread and a bit of cheese, and then +came back to the shade of the awning to eat it. + +The long day passed, the night came and went, and another day dawned, +only to find Frank still drifting aimlessly on before any breeze that +chanced to blow. + +A little past noon he saw a sail a long way to windward, and so great +was his joy at the discovery that he shouted at the top of his voice, +and ran hither and thither about the deck in a mad transport of sudden +hope and delight. + +The vessel proved to be the British bark Swallow. Frank could hardly +restrain his gladness within rational bounds when he saw her change her +course and stand directly toward the Sea Eagle, with all the speed the +light wind that was blowing would permit her to make. + +When within speaking-distance, the stranger hove to and hailed: + +"What schooner is that, and where bound?" + +"The Sea Eagle, from Ruatan to Philadelphia!" piped the boy's voice from +the schooner's deck. + +"Where is your captain?" + +"Dead!" + +"His name and yours?" + +"Captain Calvin Thorne. My name is Frank Arden, and I am all alone. +First we had a mutiny on board, and then yellow fever, and now I am the +only one left." + +"Yellow fever!" The captain of the bark repeated the words with a kind +of terrified jerk. "Forward there, men! Bend on all sail and stand off!" +he shouted to his crew, as he turned from the rail, where he had stood +while speaking to Frank. "We can't help you, boy. Sorry, but we can't, +if it's yellow fever you have on board." + +And, to Frank's unspeakable amazement, the bark was instantly put about, +and was soon rapidly widening the distance between him and safety. + +He had not thought of the dread pestilence the Sea Eagle carried in her +every rope and spar and sail. + +For a moment he felt as if he should die, so great was the reaction from +eager hope and joy to bitterest disappointment and despair; but he +rallied his sinking heart, after a little, and watched the bark +disappear in the sun lit distance, with strangely-bright and tearless +eyes. + +[Illustration: +"FRANK WORKED UNCEASINGLY UNTIL NEAR SUNSET."] + +No one could, no one dared, to help him, when they knew it was yellow +fever that menaced them, and tainted the very air through which the Sea +Eagle sailed. He no longer need look for relief by means of a passing +vessel. That hope was gone utterly; for it would be wicked and cruel not +to tell of what it was the captain had died. And who would aid him, when +they knew it was to risk their life to do so? + +Yellow fever, and with good reason, is only another name for death to a +sailor, and Frank could not blame them for giving the schooner a wide +berth. + +When the Swallow was quite out of sight, he returned to his seat under +the awning. It was now almost sunset, and the haze and mist of early +twilight began to creep over the tossing waves. + +For the first time since he was left alone on the vessel, he sat himself +down to calmly think over the terrifying position in which he was placed +and gravely consider what it was best for him to do. + +He had passed through all there was, he thought, of sorrow, dismay, +disappointment and horror; and whatever there might be of suffering and +danger in store for him, he felt that, at most, they could give him no +greater pain than he had already endured. + +The reflection somehow was as comforting as it was sudden and startling +to his weary energies and overtaxed strength. He would not give up +again, and, from that moment, resolved to save both the vessel and +himself, if he could. + +Captain Thorne, when predicting his own speedy death, had spoken as if +he thought Frank would live to reach land; and in this belief he had +died, after giving into the lad's keeping his little all of wealth and +telling him what to do in case he survived the perils of this most +perilous voyage. + +And, oh, how faithfully would Frank carry out his dead benefactor's +wishes, if he but lived to set foot on the soil of Pennsylvania again! + +Buoyed up by this new hope and determined henceforth to make the best of +all and everything that might befall him, Frank went to the galley, made +himself a cup of strong coffee, and, with some hard biscuit, cheese and +dried beef that he found there, made a hearty supper. + +Everything remained in the galley just as poor Nat had left it, and +during the whole time he was on the schooner it constituted the limit of +Frank's foraging-ground, for he had not the courage to enter the cabin +yet, or search for other stores than the cook's room afforded. + +On the evening of the fifth day a brisk breeze sprang up, which set the +whitecaps to tumbling far and near and sent clouds of spray flying from +the schooner's bows. + +The sun set in the luminous west, leaving behind a long track of orange +and purple light; the growing moon flung its yellow rays across the +troubled waters, melting into the million phosphorescent gleams that +sparkled and quivered along the surface like living jets of fire. Frank +had never before seen so lovely a sunset, or one so utterly lonely and +sad. He stretched himself on the deck, with his two hands clasped under +his head, in lieu of a pillow, and watched the masts make eccentric +circles through the stars, and the few fleecy clouds, that for a time +had followed in the wake of the moon, vanish, as it seemed to him, into +the sea. + +"The vessel must be making six knots an hour, and doing it, too, +easily." + +Frank fell asleep with some such vague calculation drifting +disconnectedly through his mind. He was awakened about daylight by the +loud screaming of a number of gulls that were flying near the vessel in +anxious search of a morsel of food. + +He jumped up in great excitement, not on account of the noise made by +the gulls, but another sound he heard--a deep, continuous roar, not +unlike the moan of the wind through a pine forest. + +He looked around him, first confusedly and then with surprised wonder. +His eyes brightened, and a cry of joy broke from his lips, for there, +not a mile away, was land. A long, white line of surf marked the +boundary of the beach, and beyond it he saw the feathery tops of palm +and cocoanut trees, nodding in the fresh morning breeze. + +Land at last! + +Again Frank's jubilant shout echoed oddly clear and solitary above the +incessant booming of the breakers and the monotonous wash of the waves. + +Land, and no mistake, and the Sea Eagle was driving straight toward it +with a speed that would strand her in twenty minutes, if she kept on. + +And grandly determined upon her own destruction looked the staunch old +schooner, in the fast brightening rays of the rising sun, as, with all +sail set and never a hand at her helm, she plowed her way toward the +low, sandy shore stretching away like the shadow of doom before her. + +Frank meant to beach her, and take his chance on the island, for an +island he felt pretty certain it was. + +He flew to the cabin, and brought up the captain's glass. He could do it +now without superstitious fear. To the southward he saw a black, barren +ledge of rocks, rising abruptly out of the sea, but to the north and +east the shore was low, and there did not appear to be much surf. + +He ran to the wheel, and gave it a turn a point or two more to the north +and east. The vessel obeyed her helm splendidly. The tide was at the +flood, the wind fresh but steady, and blowing directly on land. + +With firm, shut lips, watchful eyes and pale, resolute face, Frank kept +his small hand on the spokes, the rapid pulsations of his heart telling +away the seconds so audibly that he could count them. + +In less than ten minutes' time she struck, grounding lightly and getting +off again; then she plunged forward, driven high on the beach by an +incoming wave, and was as motionless as if she had never pitched and +tossed through mountainous billows or careened to the angry rush of the +storm-lashed sea. + +Frank relinquished his grasp of the wheel, and drew a long breath of +mingled regret and satisfaction. + +"Fast aground till a squall comes along and breaks you up," he said, as +if speaking to the vessel. "It's all there was left for either of us to +do, for we are death, it seems, to every one that comes near us." + +Hardly a dozen yards were between him and solid earth. Frank soon had +the ladder over the side, and in two minutes more was on shore. + +He ran up and down the beach a little way, shouting at intervals as loud +as he could, but there was no answer. + +Scores of beautiful little paroquets were chattering in the palm trees, +and numbers of long-legged sea-fowl stalking about on the reef, but no +human being, or any sign of one, did he see. + +It was necessary that he should know something about the size of the +island before deciding what next it was best to do, so he set out to +explore its wooded portion and ascertain what the prospects were for +living on it for an indefinite length of time. + +An hour's tramp showed him that it was perhaps two miles long by less +than half that distance wide, and to all appearance no human being other +than himself had ever set foot upon it. + +The northern part was simply a barren rock, fissured and seamed by the +action of the water, its base marked by a tossing line of foam of +ominous import, for it told of the sunken reefs hidden beneath its +restless ebb and flow, and extending far out to sea. The southern and +eastern end were covered with a dense growth of tropical vegetation, but +fresh water he did not find, or any animal, great or small. Many +varieties of brilliantly-plumaged birds flew screaming away at his +approach, but they were the only living things he saw. + +He came back to the schooner, clambered on board, went to the galley, +got himself a good breakfast, and, while he was eating it in the shade +of the awning, made up his mind what he would do. + +The rainy season was near at hand--a period which Captain Thorne had +told him was usually ushered in by frequent afternoon squalls, +accompanied by terrific thunder and lightning, which was more than +likely to be speedily followed by a hurricane of such violence as to +destroy in a second a vessel beached and helpless as was the Sea Eagle. +The tide was going out by this time, and the schooner's bow was buried +high and dry in the sand. + +Frank's first act after finishing his breakfast was to take in the sail. +Such of it as he could not handle he cut away, and then began to carry +it on shore. The captain's small boat still hung in the davits, but he +did not need it as yet. + +With the sails and spars he made a nice roomy tent, under the largest of +the palm trees nearest the shore, so he could always have the schooner +in sight, and also an unobstructed view of the open sea. + +His object now was to make himself as comfortable as he could on the +island, and then wait patiently for a sail to come and take him off, or +something to turn up in his favor of a nature calculated to restore him +again to the world and enable him to carry out to the letter Captain +Thorne's dying request. + +By noon he had his tent up; then he went to the vessel and quickly +removed to his new quarters one of the smallest of the casks of water on +deck, a case of ship biscuits and the tin box the captain had charged +him to guard with untiring care. + +He worked unceasingly until near sunset, and the surf was again +beginning to play around the stranded schooner's bow. + +He was so tired he could hardly stand, and made his last trip to the +vessel for that day just as the moon began to glimmer over the water. + +It looked so very friendly, hanging directly above the mainmast, like a +great golden world, that he thought it would be pleasant to eat his +supper on land, by the light of its mellow rays, though the fire he had +kindled an hour before flamed up brightly on the sand close by and the +fragrance of boiling coffee mingled appetizingly with the briny breath +of the sea. + +After partaking of his supper, he swung his hammock in the tent, for he +had no desire to pass another night on the schooner, and in five minutes +was fast asleep. + +He had a lively remembrance of the red ants, soldier-snails, gnats, +lizards, mosquitoes and sand-flies of Ruatan; but none of these winged +and creeping pests disturbed his slumber, and he slept on until the sun +was fully an hour high and the palm trees vocal with the chattering of +the paroquets. + +He awoke refreshed, sprang from his hammock and ran to see if the +schooner was all right. + +Yes, there she was! Her tapering masts shining like polished marble in +the brilliant sunshine, and the tide fretting and frothing against her +sides. + +After an exhilarating plunge in the surf, Frank set about getting his +breakfast. The day previous he had carried on shore all the galley +furniture, completely dismantling poor Nat's late quarters of stove, +cooking utensils, cups and plates, and everything portable, even to the +zinc covering of the floor. + +He had not ventured so far as the hold, but had taken everything of +value from the captain's cabin--his books and charts, the ship's +instruments, a fine eight-day chronometer clock, still going, and which +he wound up with no little pleasure. + +He carefully housed on shore the contents of the lockers, which included +a case of port wine, a little bag of Spanish reals, another of +doubloons, a case of canned meats, two of preserved fruits and jellies +and a small medicine chest. + +All the cargo, save the cocoanuts, was a rotten mass in the hold, the +larger part of which he eventually pitched overboard. + +There were coffee, chocolate, sugar, rice, beans, dried beef, barley, +vermicelli, a small quantity of tea, salt pork, hard biscuit, flour, +salt beef, lemons, honey, a cask of vinegar, a dozen sacks of salt and a +few other supplies, such as a sailing craft of the kind usually carries. + +In four days' time Frank had every movable article out of her, yet the +dreaded squall had not come nor a drop of rain fallen. + +There lay the Sea Eagle, blistering under the sun by day and gauntly +outlined under the stars by night, changed in no way since she stranded, +except that she had settled quite two feet in the sand and was aground +so firmly that it looked as if it would take a pretty strong gale to +blow her to pieces. + +So far, Frank had been too busy and too much engrossed by the novelty of +his situation to devote much time to thinking; but now, when the +excitement and hurry was over and he had leisure to turn his attention +to other matters, second only in importance to securing all there was of +value in the schooner, he concluded to make a thorough exploration of +the island and the grim, conical-shaped ledge of rocks that formed its +upper, or southern part. + +So, the fifth day of his landing on the island, he got ready the small +boat, placed in it a bottle of water and a good supply of food, and set +out to row around the reefs. + +He made a complete circuit of the island, and found it to be one of the +many results of volcanic eruption common throughout the Pacific Ocean +and the Caribbean Sea. + +At low tide, a long, black reef showed its frowning edge above the +restless surf, connecting with the higher point of rocks overlooking the +narrow strip of fertile land lying between it and the sandy beach, where +the Sea Eagle had stranded, and still maintained the strange and lonely +anchorage she had made for herself. + +Frank, curious and venturesome as he might be, was yet keenly alive to +hidden dangers, and, as he rowed around among the rocks, kept a sharp +lookout for treacherous currents and submerged ledges. + +The meridian sun was pouring down its fiercest rays, and he was thinking +of returning to his tent and the grateful shade of the palm-trees, when, +just as he had rounded the jagged spur of a particularly ugly-looking +coral reef, he suddenly saw before him a deep, dark line of perfectly +smooth water, over-arched by a natural bridge of grayish-white +limestone, and flowing, as it seemed to him, directly under the island. + +The entrance to this odd underground water-way was not more than four +feet in height by six wide, but he unhesitatingly entered the narrow +channel, bent upon seeing what there was of it and where it led to. + +Drawing a long breath of surprise and satisfaction, he ceased rowing, +and, as the boat came to a stand-still on the glassy surface of this +subterranean sea, he uttered an exclamation of wonder, and looked around +him in a maze of doubt and admiration. + +The cool, grotto-like atmosphere and dim, half-twilight contrasted +pleasantly with the heat and glare outside, though the silence was +something oppressive, and different from any he had ever before known. + +No sound of wave or sigh of wind or howl of tempest seemed ever to have +been heard here. The water along the edges of the rocks was absolutely +without motion, and the light from either extremity of the cave--as one +might call it--nearly lost itself before it reached the vaulted centre. + +Frank shouted loudly, and in answer the rocks sent back only the +faintest and most weirdly far-away echoes. + +When Frank had somewhat recovered from his astonishment, and his eyes +had become accustomed to the dim light, he found the cay, or channel, to +be some fifty yards in extent, cut through the soft, porous rock by the +action of the water, that for ages and ages of time had beaten against +its gradually-yielding base, until it had made for itself a passage such +as man, with all his marvelous ingenuity, could never have fashioned. + +Frank rowed the entire length of the cay--as the Bay Islanders call +these little wave-made inlets--coming out on the opposite side to that +which he had entered; and then, as it was getting late, he returned +home, as the brave-hearted boy termed the spot where he had pitched his +tent and stored his provisions. + +Apart from finding the channel, he had made no discovery worth +mentioning. With the exception of a few sea-birds, he saw no living +creature, great or small; but this he did not much mind, for he hoped a +sail would come his way soon, and solitude was no new thing to him. So +he ate his supper with hearty relish, and, when it was dark, clambered +into his hammock and fell peacefully asleep. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +A CHANGE OF PLANS. + +The morning of the tenth day of his residence upon the island Frank +rowed around to the grotto--as he called his new-found giant's +causeway--taking with him his fishing-tackle and a substantial luncheon +of bread and cheese and dried beef. + +Fish of various kinds abounded in the quiet waters of the inlet, and in +an hour he had caught as many as he wished to carry "home." + +He had seen no sharks anywhere near the reef, and so, when he saw a +beautiful pearly-white shell lying at the bottom of the water, which was +not more than five feet deep under any part of the natural arch of soft +porous stone, he threw off his clothes and unhesitatingly made a dive +for it. + +He got the shell, and made a very important discovery at one and the +same time. Happening to glance upward as he came to the surface, his +quick eye saw a low, narrow opening leading directly into what seemed to +be the solid rock. + +The mouth of the cavern was slightly shelving, and situated a little +less than mid-way of the centre of the arch. + +Frank lost no time in climbing into it, and was surprised to find +himself in a semi-dark, sea-scented cavern, in shape something like an +old-fashioned Dutch oven and fully seven feet in height. + +There was sufficient light to enable him to see that the floor of the +cave was thickly strewn with fragments of shells and gray-white coral, +the stone itself being so soft that he could easily penetrate it with +his jack-knife. + +These submarine caves or grottos are numerous in the Bermudas, and the +limestone rock of which they are mainly formed so extremely +impressionable as to be readily cut into blocks for building purposes +with a common saw. + +Frank remembered having heard Captain Thorne speak of them, but he +little thought at the time that he would ever be the discoverer of one +on an island in the midst of the Caribbean Sea. + +Solitude, and having to look out for himself, as the saying goes, if it +had done nothing else, had sharpened his wits, and he was not long in +coming to the conclusion that, by enlarging the cave inland, he could +make an opening quite near his tent, and thus have both a dry and +wet-weather habitation. + +He returned to the beach, where the Sea Eagle was daily sinking deeper +and deeper in the sand, full of his new plans. He could hardly prepare +his supper, so eager was he to begin work on his latest project and have +his stores securely housed before the rainy season set in. + +He went to bed early, but was up with the dawn, ate his breakfast while +yet the rays of the rising sun were but faintly illumining the east, and +then, with hatchet and hammer and saw, some coils of stout rope and a +plentiful supply of food, set out for the cave. + +He was not long in reaching it, and by noon had cut through five feet of +the calcareous stone, piling up the portion cut away in a kind of wall +on the lower side, where the rocky floor sloped somewhat precipitously, +forming a channel, through which a considerable rivulet stole silently +along, to join and lose itself in the great ocean that for miles and +miles surrounded it on every hand. + +For four whole days he worked like a Trojan, cutting away and piling up +the soft, limy stone, and on the fifth was rewarded by a glimmer of +sunlight shining through the aperture he had made in the landward part +of the rock. + +From the small opening he could see the tent, the tall palm trees that +sheltered it from the fierce rays of the meridian sun and the tapering +masts of the old schooner as she lay fast aground on the blistering +strand, and the landwash lazily undulating against her stern. + +A little way beyond, some gulls and a blue heron were watching for +flying-fish, great numbers of which would every once in awhile skim like +so many silver leaves over the surface of the water, coming up and going +down at short intervals, more in fear than play, for no doubt their +relentless enemies, the dolphins, were after them, with a view to making +a meal off as many as were so unfortunate as to come within their reach. + +Frank could not repress a shout of delight, in which there was mingled a +good deal of pardonable triumph, when he nimbly scrambled through the +narrow aperture he had made with so much patient toil, and stood on the +firm, warm earth without the gray, damp cavern. + +All about his feet grew luxuriant ferns, soft mosses and trailing vines, +the vegetation gradually lessening as it met the base of the dark rock +forming the roof of the cave, and disappearing altogether before it +reached the summit, or what Frank judged would be the summit if one were +to approach it from the direction of the tent. + +The next three days Frank spent in removing the most perishable part of +his goods to the cave, and this he did none too soon, for the afternoon +of the third day a dense black cloud suddenly arose in the northwest, +accompanied with ominous rumblings of thunder and quivering flashes of +lightning. + +There was no fresh water on the island, so far as he had been able to +discover, and the patter of the big rain-drops on the broad leaves of +the palms was not only a pleasant sound, but one that assured Frank that +for a time, at least, he was not likely to die of thirst. + +This warning foretaste of what he might expect for the next three +months, if he stayed so long on the island, admonished Frank to make +himself as comfortable as possible in the cave, and from its snug +shelter defy wind and wave. + +He had heard Dunham say that these sudden storms were diurnal in their +nature, and frequently of great fury and destructiveness, so the +following morning he moved all his belongings into the grotto, as he +liked best to call the cave, and set up housekeeping in a manner that no +hurricane, however severe, could interfere with. + +"Nobody can say I am in the way here," he said--for he had gotten into +the habit of talking to himself--surveying, as he spoke, his rocky home, +and smiling sadly. "I am neither a bother nor a burden to any one now. +I'm alone on an uninhabited island, and may die here, for all I can tell +to the contrary; but I don't know but what that is better than being +nagged by Aunt Susan, or driven about on the ocean, with nothing but an +old schooner between one and the bottom of the Caribbean Sea. It's just +eighteen days since I landed on this island, and I was five days on the +schooner--that makes twenty-three--and I'm alive yet. If I have to stay +here a year, that will not be very long. I've provision enough to last +that length of time, and it will give me an opportunity to grow and to +think. I'll read all Captain Thorne's books, and there's a good many of +them, including works on navigation, history and science. I'll fish and +row when the weather is fine, and when it isn't I'll amuse myself in +enlarging the grotto. I'll make a collection of all the plants and +flowers I find on the land and all the shells and seaweeds I find in the +sea, or that may drift on the shore. I've a whole island that I may +honestly call my own, a box of candles, plenty of matches, four cans of +oil, a lamp and a lantern, a good boat, and lots of other things +besides; so I am pretty well off, after all, and ought not to grumble at +the hard luck which has befallen me." + +And Frank _did_ try hard not to grumble; but, with the sea beating +eternally around his rocky home, and no change anywhere, day after day, +save in the scudding clouds and the waning of the old and the rising of +the new moon, he grew very weary of his utter loneliness, and there came +a time when he would have given his life to hear again a human voice and +see again a human face. + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +DANGEROUS VISITORS. + +Every hour in the day Frank scanned the horizon in hopes of seeing a +sail. He felt that he could not be more than a hundred miles from the +Bay Islands, and not altogether out of the track of sailing vessels. + +Once he saw what appeared to be a long, low cloud hovering midway +between the sky and water, and which he knew to be the smoke from a +steamer; but it was so far off that, even with the glass, he could only +make out the slow-moving line of smoke that marked her course. + +His boat he kept in the channel forming the water entrance to the +grotto, and during the roughest weather he had yet experienced on the +island the tide never once rose higher than from four to six inches, and +its ebb and flow was so silent that it was never heard, no matter how +loud and tempestuously the surf was roaring without. + +The rainfalls, though light, were more frequent, denoting the near +approach of the dreaded wet season, when for days together he might be +kept a prisoner in the cave, so he wisely took advantage of what +remained to him of fair weather, and was out on the reef every morning +as soon as it was light, looking, with longing eyes, for the hoped-for +sail. + +What wonder, then, after all this patient watching and waiting, that his +heart leaped with indescribable joy when he saw a sail, not three miles +away, and heading directly for the island! + +At first he thought it was a turtle-sloop, by its size and rig, but, as +it came nearer, it looked more like a pilot-boat, and somehow the sight +of it strongly reminded him of his old enemy, Juan Montes, the wrecker. + +They were beating up toward the point where the schooner lay, and their +object evidently was to land and take a look at the stranded vessel. + +A sudden fear seized Frank. It might be wreckers in search of spoils, +and, in that case, from the recent experience he had had among them, it +were better perhaps for him to retire to his cave until he knew +something more of their intentions. + +This he quickly did, taking care, however, not to break or bend a +feathery fern or crush a tuft of moss, as he hastened within his +retreat. + +Then he hurriedly pushed to its place the block of stone that served for +a door--or, rather, a window, for the aperture was only just large +enough to admit of Frank's crawling through--and, when this was done, he +took up his position at one of the two small loop-holes he had made, as +a precautionary means when stormy weather might make it necessary to +close the window. + +Both lookouts commanded an unobstructed view of the sea and that part of +the beach where the Sea Eagle lay. + +Frank watched the slow approach of the sailboat, with bated breath and +loudly-beating heart. + +It _was_ Juan Montes! and with him Dick Turpie, the mulatto, Sagasta and +Chris Lamberton. + +A chill of mortal fear crept over Frank, from head to foot. He could not +speak nor stir--scarcely to breathe--so great was his surprise and +terror. + +He saw them haul down the sail, drop the anchor, all four jump into the +small boat towing astern, cast off the line and pull for the shore. + +If discovered, he would surely be murdered, for as well might Frank hope +to escape the blood-thirsty jaws of a wild beast, if in its power, as to +expect mercy from these cruel, half-civilized, lawless men. + +With a yell of exultant joy and malignant triumph, Sagasta cried, as he +leaped on shore: + +"It's the Sea Eagle, by all that's lucky! Come on, mates. She's ours +now; and no mean prize, either!" + +The three quickly followed Sagasta's lead, and were soon clambering up +the side of the Sea Eagle, like so many overgrown, ill-favored monkeys. + +But their joy speedily changed to anger and disappointment, when they +discovered that the schooner had been already pillaged of everything of +value about her. Even the cabin door and windows were gone, and every +rope and spar and sail; the cook's galley, hold and forecastle plundered +of every article worth carrying off, and an air of general desolation +and ruthless ransacking pervaded her from stem to stern. + +"Somebody's been here afore us!" said the wrecker, with a quick look +shorewards. "I don't understand it. Where's her boat? What's become of +her captain? If he, or any of his crew, are a-hiding anywhere on the +island, I'll soon know it. Let's have a look around, lads, afore we +begins work. This way!" + +He drew his knife from its sheath as he spoke, the others following his +example, Sagasta alone of the formidable quartette producing a revolver +in addition to his knife; and thus armed, and ready to meet and +exterminate any foe who might happen to be near, they separated, Sagasta +going around to the southward, Turpie to the north, while Lamberton made +for the centre of the island and Montes bestowed all his attention on +the reef and its immediate neighborhood. + +Frank was pale with suspense and fear. If they should find the seaward +entrance to the cave, he was lost. Yet they might easily discover the +causeway, and even sail through it, and still fail to find the cavern +itself. He had found it only by the merest chance. + +The thought gave him new courage, and he dared to again fix his eyes on +the beach and the bit of sea where the wreckers' boat was gracefully +rocking on the short land-swells. + +All four returned in little more than an hour, and sat down under a wild +plantain tree, not three feet from Frank's place of concealment. + +"There's no one on the island, I'm certain of that," said Montes, whose +squat, ugly form was so near the loop-hole that it actually darkened +Frank's range of vision. "I can't just make it out, but I know this +much--that's the Sea Eagle, and she's ours dead sure! We'll get her off +to-morrow at flood-tide. There's a bit of a blow in that cloud a-comin' +up in the east, but it won't amount to much, so we'll light a fire, get +something to eat, and take it easy." + +"It's pretty nigh a month since she stranded, by the depth of the sand +around her," remarked Turpie, looking first at the schooner and then at +the fire he was kindling a little way from the others. "I'd like to know +what's become of the captain and the mate and Jack?" + +"I reckon Dunham's in Davy Jones' locker, for that air slash Dardano +gave him wasn't no scratch, I can tell you. They was short of hands, and +didn't have no time to attend to him; but that don't satisfactorily +account for the schooner bein' here, and dismantled as she is," rejoined +Montes, with a puzzled air. "Captain Thorne wasn't the man to abandon +his ship while a plank held together, and there's the Sea Eagle with as +sound a hull as ever floated, and a--" + +"And the better luck for us," roughly interrupted Sagasta. "I'd like to +have got a whack at the boy; but, since he's food for sharks, I'll call +it square. Wreckers have been here before us--there's no doubt of +that--and they've cleaned her out pretty thoroughly, too; but we'll take +the schooner, and she's a good enough prize to suit me," he laughed, +with a cunning glance at Montes. "Yes, good enough, and as lawful a one +as was ever picked up on the high seas," he continued, in a rather more +positive tone of voice. "All we have to do is to get her off, bend on a +sail or two, and head her for Bonacca or Barbette. Once there, we'll +just paint out her old name and paint in a new one, and then, with that +dark water-line transformed into a light blue, and I am Captain Sagasta, +if you please, with fair pay for your services, of course, mates." + +This last remark of Sagasta's did not seem to meet with much favor from +Chris and the mulatto, but they were prudently silent, for the Spaniard +was obviously the master-spirit of the unprepossessing gang. Even +Montes, cruel and greedy as he was, yielded him the palm of superiority +in matters of this sort. + +Having finished their hastily-prepared meal, Turpie acting both as cook +and steward, they cut down several of the largest of the palm trees that +grew in the vicinity, and began shaping them into rollers ready for +getting the schooner afloat. + +Frank was a frightened but very attentive watcher of all they did. Not +till he saw them repair to their boat for the night did he venture to +snatch a mouthful to eat. + +Every word of their conversation, while seated under the plantain tree, +he had heard, and the recollection of it, and the near proximity of such +dangerous neighbors, prevented him from closing his eyes the live-long +night. + +By the first peep of day the wreckers were astir, and so was Frank--that +is, he had taken up his station at the loophole, determined to let +nothing escape him in relation to their plans and purposes. + +As soon as the tide was out, they began shoveling away the sand that had +collected around the schooner's bow, the four of them working like +beavers till there was space made sufficient to allow of placing the +rollers under her, and, by this means, gradually extricating her from +the imprisoning sands. They were still working when the tide was up to +their knees and lapping high on the beach. + +"Hurrah! There she goes!" + +The shout startled Frank, and, with a sick heart and quivering lips, he +saw the Sea Eagle slowly turn broadside toward the sea, and then fall +off into deep water. The staunch old schooner was afloat once more, as +sound as the day she was launched. + +The pilot-boat was brought alongside and made fast, then they bent on +all the sail they could muster, and, as the hastily-rigged canvas caught +the wind, Sagasta waved his sailor-cap and exultantly exclaimed: + +"Here's to Captain Thorne, a hundred fathoms below soundings; and here's +to the Sea Eagle and her new commander!" + +All repeated Sagasta's shout with a hearty good will, for they were now +fairly under way--the Spaniard, Chris and the mulatto remaining on the +schooner, and Montes alone managing the pilot-boat. + +Frank never took his eyes off the vessels, which kept close company, +till both were nearly out of sight. Then he removed the stone, crept +through the opening, and ran to the spot where only the ashes of the +wreckers' fire were to be seen. + +He felt unutterably lonely. To look at the beach and not see the +schooner there was like missing for the first time the face of a dear +and only friend. He sat down on the sand and listened sadly to the moan +of the surf fretting along the beach and the hollow boom of the breakers +dashing against the reef. + +The Sea Eagle now was but the merest speck on the ocean. It disappeared +utterly, and the sun set in a bank of wrathy, black clouds. + +Frank returned to the cave, too miserable to care for any supper, lay +down on his bed, drew the blanket over his head and sobbed himself to +sleep. + +[TO BE CONTINUED.] + + + + +HOW MY CAMERA CAUGHT A BANK ROBBER. + +By Elton J. Buckley. + + +Lester Drake's detective camera first created the idea of photography in +my mind. Before that, I hadn't the slightest inclination toward the art +whatever, but when Lester purchased his neat little leather-covered box, +and went around merely pressing a button, and getting dozens of pictures +by no other means, I immediately decided that I, too, must have a +camera. + +Lester's was not an expensive one. His father had found it in one of the +photographic establishments in Philadelphia, and being of a slightly +scientific turn of mind himself, had purchased it and brought it home to +Lester. The latter fitted up a corner of the cellar as a dark-room, and +straightway launched himself as an amateur photographer. + +Lester's first attempts, revealed by the chemical development, were +surprisingly good, and inspired a strong feeling of envy in the breasts +of those of his comrades whose fathers were blind to the oft-repeated +advantages and delights of amateur picture-taking. Even more +exasperating, he straightway became the idol of all the girls at school, +whose zeal in posing for him was only equaled by the grotesqueness of +some of their postures. + +I brooded long and deep over this unpleasant condition of affairs, and +finally arrived at the conclusion that I would have a camera like Lester +at any cost. + +Lester was kind enough to initiate me into the mysteries of his +dark-room, and to allow me to examine the interior of his camera by ruby +light. With the knowledge thus gained, I resolved to manufacture one +myself. It wouldn't be as handsome as Lester's, perhaps, I thought, but +it might do just as good work. So I made the attempt, using the lenses +from an old microscope which I owned, but in vain. The instrument never +reached the second stage of its construction. + +The contrast between Lester's clean, smoothly-covered box, and what I +knew mine would appear, even if I could finally complete it, was too +great, and I abandoned it in despair. + +Then I tried another tack. My father was exceedingly skeptical +concerning the desirability of amateur photography, and flatly refused +to furnish the necessary funds. It was October then, so I conceived a +plan by which I would earn money during the fall by corn-husking among +the near-by farmers, so that when spring opened I would have the price +of the coveted camera. + +No one could have worked harder during the weeks through which the +season lasted than did I. Huskers were in demand that fall, and I +secured work wherever I applied. + +It is just possible that if Lester had grown tired of his camera in the +meanwhile, and had ceased to use it, my desire for one might likewise +have gone by the board, but the snap of his shutter was heard everywhere +and at all times, and even at night--by flash-light--in the barns, where +the frequent huskings were progressing. + +When, after a few weeks, the farmers ceased to require buskers, I struck +up a bargain with our grocer, whereby I was to spend Saturdays running +errands for him. The money from this helped out wonderfully, and, +according to my expectations, when April opened, a snug little sum +reposed as the fruit of my labors in one corner of my top bureau drawer. + +As soon as the weather moderated slightly, Lester, who now posed as a +photographic oracle, and myself, went to the city one fine morning to +buy the camera. + +The neat little leather-covered box was duly inspected and purchased, +together with the pamphlet of instructions that seemed so enticingly +mysterious to my uninformed mind. + +The camera was just like Lester's, with the exception of some minor +improvements, which had been effected since the time when he had +purchased his. + +On the way home, Lester and I drew up a compact whereby I was to have +the use of his dark-room and chemicals until I felt that I was fairly on +my photographic legs. Then I was to fix up one of my own. + +The camera had been sold loaded with plates, ready for use, and I lost +no time in snapping several views here and there as the fancy seized me. + +Lester taught me to develop them, and when the most of them came up +under the chemicals clear and sharp, my delight was great. + +And when I made prints from them, and the familiar home scenes and my +playmates' faces were there plainly before me, it seemed to me that the +universe could hold nothing more entrancing than amateur photography. Of +course I had failures, but they were few compared with the successes. + +One morning in May, after I had become thoroughly versed in the art of +using the camera and had fitted up a dark-room of my own in the attic, +Lester and I sallied out with our cameras, for no other purpose than to +secure a half-dozen snap-shots whenever desirable ones might present +themselves. + +It was an ideal day for picture-taking. Rain had fallen the night before +and had left the atmosphere clear and brilliant, with none of that dim +haze which is the camerist's Nemesis so often. + +We had strolled along the road, perhaps two miles out of the village, +and had caught three or four very pretty views. + +None had presented themselves, however, for some time, when, by a turn +of the road, we came upon a man drinking from a spring at the side of +the road. He was but a few feet away, and was stooping down with his +back toward us. + +"Let's get him," said I, in a low tone. + +"All right," replied Lester; "you do it, though. I've only got one plate +left." + +I had several unexposed plates remaining in my camera, so I pointed the +box toward the man and pressed the button. Just at the instant when the +shutter must have operated, the man heard us and turned his head, facing +us squarely. + +He evidently understood what we were about, for he scowled deeply and +walked rapidly away through the woods, without, however, offering to +molest us. He carried a small black grip with him. + +As the man's retreating figure disappeared through the trees, Lester and +I drew a long breath of relief, for we felt like criminals detected in a +crime, and we were a trifle afraid of the fellow beside. + +We wandered on a little further, snapping a few more wayside pictures, +and then turned toward home and retraced our steps. + +That afternoon, Lester came over to my father's house to witness the +development of the morning's pictures. + +As, one by one, we put the plates through the developer, a majority came +out well. One or two were a trifle under-exposed, and there were minor +defects in others; but, on the whole, they were very good. + +The star negative of the lot, however, was that of the stranger whom I +had photographed drinking, and who had turned his head and caught me in +the act. That was perfect. Everything was brilliantly sharp, and the +shutter had caught the man's full face. In the negative, even so small +an object as his eyes stood out beautifully. + +We made a blue-print of this negative, and both Lester and myself +recognized the faithfulness of the likeness, notwithstanding the fact +that we had seen the man but a moment. + +About the middle of the afternoon, my father returned from the +neighboring town, ten miles away, in one of the banks of which he was +clerk. He seemed to be much excited and perturbed about something. My +mother noticed it also, and immediately inquired as to the cause of his +uneasiness. + +"The bank was robbed last night," he answered, "and over fifty thousand +dollars stolen. Every cent I had in the world is gone with the rest." + +My mother made an exclamation of dismay. + +"And the worst of it is," went on my father, "that we are almost certain +who the thief is, but we haven't a thing in the world to trace him +by--not a vestige of a photograph or anything like it, which we could +give to detectives to guide them in the hunt. The man's gone, and the +money with him." + +And my father sank despondently into a chair. + +Meanwhile Lester and I stood by, listening silently, the still wet +blue-print in my hand. After a minute I went and pressed the print out +flat upon the table, on which my father's arm was leaning. At any other +time I would have proudly exhibited it to him, and would have been sure +of his interest and appreciation, but I did not feel like intruding upon +his present worriment. + +As I laid the picture face upward upon the table, my father turned his +head and looked at it indifferently. Suddenly he pushed me aside, and +bent over the print so closely that his face almost touched it. + +I recovered my balance with difficulty, and stared at him in frightened +bewilderment. My father had never acted in this manner before, and I was +almost afraid he had gone mad. + +"Great Scott!" he exclaimed. "The very thing!" + +Then, wheeling around, he grasped me by the shoulders, and wanted to +know where I got that picture. + +I was far too dazed by his strange actions to answer a word; so Lester +interposed and told my father, in as few words as possible, of our +morning expedition, and of the man whom we had photographed in the act +of drinking. + +"Bless the camera!" ejaculated my father, excitedly, "that's Eli Parker, +the thief! And the best likeness of him I ever saw, too!" + +Then he questioned us closely as to the direction the man had taken when +discovered, and ended by confiscating the print and the negative, and +rushing out of the house to take the next train back to town. Lester and +I talked about it all the afternoon, and felt ourselves quite heroes for +having the temerity to stand before a real bank robber. + +Fifty prints were immediately struck off from the negative, and these +were given to detectives, who scoured the country in every direction. +After a two days' search, those nearest home were successful, and found +Parker in the same woods where Lester and I had first surprised him. He +had sought to evade capture by avoiding railroads, and hiding himself +until the first excitement of the robbery had passed. As the whole +amount of stolen funds was discovered in the little black grip which he +carried, he was convicted of the crime without difficulty, and sentenced +for a term of fifteen years in State prison. + +The sequel of the incident was the most agreeable and the most +astonishing of all. One day, a month subsequent, when Parker had been +safely housed in the penitentiary, my father came home, and, with a +mysterious smile upon his face, handed me an envelope. Upon being +opened, the discovery was made that "Howard Benton and Lester Drake were +authorized to draw upon the First National Bank of C----, for $100 +apiece, in slight recognition of their part in apprehending Eli Parker, +the perpetrator of the recent robbery upon that institution." + +I am still an ardent disciple of amateur photography. Who wouldn't be +under such circumstances? + + + + +--The umbrella is undoubtedly of high antiquity, appearing in various +forms upon the sculptured monuments of Egypt, Assyria, Greece and Rome; +and in hot countries it has been used since the dawn of history as a +sunshade--a use signified by its name, derived from the Latin _umbra_, a +shade. + + + + +GOOD RULES. + +By Rev. P. B. Strong. + + + If a mean thing you would do, + Always put it off a day; + If a noble act and true, + Do not e'en a moment stay. + + Ne'er by proxy do a deed. + Would you have it surely done; + It you'd never come to need, + Wait not wealth from any one. + + Deem no coin too small to save, + Quit not certainty for hope; + Good denied, you cease to crave, + Neither o'er the future mope. + + What you can't by bushels take, + Get by spoonfuls, if you can; + Never mounts from mole hills make; + Ere you leap, the distance scan. + + Shiver not for last year's snow, + Nor bemoan the milk that's spilt; + When you hasten, slowly go; + Keep your conscience clear of guilt. + + These old rules, which here in verse + You behold thus newly set, + Well it would be to rehearse, + Till not one you could forget. + + + + + A PERILOUS RIDE. + + By W. Bert Foster. + + +"So you boys think you came down here pretty fast, eh?" asked Randy +Bronson, crossing one wooden leg over the other and stretching them both +out toward the great fire of hickory logs that were roaring in the +chimney. + +Seven of us academy boys had piled into the only double cutter the +village livery stable possessed, and had covered the nine miles between +the school and Randy's place down on the river road in forty-five +minutes, and for a pair of farm horses we thought that pretty good time. +Randy's suppers, or rather his wife Maria's suppers, were famous, and +the doctor was always willing to let a party of us off for an evening at +their little establishment providing we were back in good season. Randy +and his wife were to be trusted to look out for the most harum-scarum +boy who ever attended the Edgewood Academy. + +While supper was being prepared we gathered about Randy and the wide +open fireplace to wait for the repast, with all the patience at our +command. + +If Maria Bronson's suppers had gained a reputation among us, so had +Randy's stories. He had been a sailor in his youth, and, indeed, in +middle life, until during a naval engagement on the lower Mississippi, +in the civil war, he had both legs shot away, and was doomed to "peg +about," as he jocularly called it, on wooden substitutes. + +"So you thought you came down here pretty fast?" asked Randy, repeating +the remark which opened this narrative. "And well you might, with the +roads in the condition they are now. But I've been sleighing faster than +any of you boys have traveled, unless it was on a railroad train, and +over the roughest sort of a track, too." + +We all foresaw a story at once and were eager enough to hear the tale. +So with little urging Randy began: + +"When I was a boy you know I went to sea," he said, and we all nodded +acquiescence, for about every story Randy told commenced with just that +remark. "My parents died when I was young and I was bound out to an old +uncle; but farming wasn't to my taste, and I was always longing so for +salt water that finally he told me I wasn't worth my board and clothes, +and to clear out and go to sea if I wanted to. + +"I didn't need any second bidding. I went off that very night, and I +never saw my Uncle Eb again. + +"After going two or three trips to 'the banks,' I shipped aboard the New +Bedford whaler Henry Clay, knowing well enough that whaling couldn't be +a great sight worse than fishing off Newfoundland in the dead of winter. + +"As luck would have it, though, the Henry Clay joined the North Atlantic +fleet and started for the Greenland fishing grounds. We lost the rest of +the fleet in a big blow off Cape Farewell and worked northward alone, +having the good fortune to fall in with several school of right whales, +out of which we captured three or four 'balleeners,'[*] the oil and bone +together being worth something like eighteen thousand dollars. + + [Footnote *: + All the large whales of the region referred to are called + "balleeners" as their mouths are furnished with the balleen + or whalebone of commerce.] + +"The captain had begun to crow over the fine season we were having, +when, early in October, we were caught in a nip in Cumberland Inlet, and +the ice piled in so solidly around us that we knew we were good for all +winter. There wasn't any particular danger, for the Henry Clay was a +well-built craft, strengthened to withstand just such a squeeze as the +ice-pack was giving us. + +"Captain Simon Lewis, as kind-hearted a man as ever I sailed under, made +all needed preparations for winter at once, and we boys before the mast +looked forward to a pretty jolly season. + +"We were warmly clad, the fo'castle grub was better than is common with +whalers, and there was every prospect for plenty of fresh meat and good +hunting, as soon as the ice about us should become firm. + +"After everything had been made ship-shape, we were given all the +freedom we needed, and the library brought aboard by the officers was +open to common use. Several days after this order of things had been +established, the mate took half a dozen of us younger fellows out for a +long tramp over the ice. There were three guns in the party, and we went +along like a parcel of schoolboys out on a frolic. + +"We made only about eight miles before noon, for the ice was so uneven +that the traveling was rougher than any I had ever experienced, when +suddenly, upon rounding an enormous ice hummock, we came in sight of a +group of Esquimaux, sledges and dogs, and were discovered before we +could retreat behind the hummock again. + +"The crowd raised a cry of '_Kabulenet! Oomeak! Kabulenet! Oomeak!_' +which means, 'White men and ships!' and a general rush was made in our +direction. + +"The mate told us there was nothing to fear, as they were quite +friendly, and he walked forward to meet them. He had been among them +before and knew some of their words, so we were quickly on excellent +terms with them. + +"They surrounded us, laughing and chattering like so many children, +shaking hands, examining our clothes and repeating, like parrots, the +words and expressions the white men whom they had met before had taught +them. + +"One old chap, Kalutunah by name, seemed especially kindly disposed +towards us, and, following his example, the entire party, finding the +white men's ship was so near, decided to make their winter quarters near +us, knowing that they would probably get what would be, to them, +valuable presents. + +"Captain Lewis was glad to have them for neighbors, too, for, if we +should happen to run short of fresh meat or should get smashed in the +ice--and there is always a possibility of that--the Esquimaux would be +of great assistance. + +"They built their _igloos_ not far from the ship, and we interchanged +frequent visits. Kalutunah and I became very intimate, and I tried to +teach him English words and their meaning in his language; but he never +got any farther than _ees_ and _noe_--his pronunciation of 'yes' and +'no.' + +"Two months of such an easy life as we led tired me more than cutting up +the biggest 'balleener' that was ever 'ironed.' Parties of the Esquimaux +went off hunting every day, and, finding that Kalutunah was making +preparations for a two days' hunt up the inlet, I begged the captain to +allow me to go with him, and permission was readily given. + +"The trip was to be made on Kalutunah's sledge, and if you have never +read about or seen a picture of an Esquimau sledge, you want to look it +up at once. It is one of the most ingeniously-built things I ever saw, +considering the means at the command of the Esquimaux. + +[Illustration: +"MY BULLET HAD TAKEN EFFECT ON ONE OF THE DOGS, +WHICH HAD IMMEDIATELY TANGLED UP THE REST OF +THE TEAM AND BROUGHT THE SLEDGE TO A STANDSTILL."] + +"The runners, which are of bone, are square behind and curved upward in +front, usually five feet or more in length, three-fourths of an inch +thick, and seven in height. They are not of solid bone, but composed of +many pieces of various shapes and sizes, yet all fitting together so +perfectly that they are as smooth as glass. + +"The shoe is of ivory from the walrus, and is fastened to the runner +with seal strings looped through counter-sunk holes, and in the same +manner the various bones making up the runner are fastened in place. + +"When you take into consideration the fact that all this fitting and +smoothing is done with stone implements, you will believe me when I say +the Esquimau sledge is a wonderful thing. + +"The runners are placed fourteen inches apart and are fastened together +by cross-pieces tightly lashed by sealskin strings. Two walrus ribs are +lashed to the after end of each runner in an upright position, and these +are braced by other bones, forming the back, and, with plenty of skins +and robes for cushions, the Esquimau sledge isn't the most uncomfortable +thing in the world to ride upon. + +"Kalutunah was going after walrus, and I borrowed a rifle of the mate, +thinking that I might do a little shooting on my own account on the way. + +"Seven of the hungriest-looking and ugliest dogs among the large number +belonging to the natives drew the sledge. The Esquimau usually hitches +seven dogs to his sledge, and never drives them tandem, each dog being +attached to the sledge by a single trace fastened to a breast-strap. + +"It doesn't matter how rapidly they are running or what the obstructions +are, they will keep their traces clear of one another. The dogs on +either side have the most work to do, and, after holding that position +for some time, a dog will jump over several of his fellows into the +centre of the pack and let some other have his place on the outside. + +"Kalutunah got on the sledge, and I sat between his knees, and, amid a +great deal of shouting and chaffing from the rest of the crew, the dogs +started off at Kalutunah's cry of 'Ka! Ka!' and a touch of the whip. + +"By-the-way, boys, that whip was a wonder. The lash was six yards long +and the handle but sixteen inches. Learning to throw the lasso isn't a +circumstance to learning the ins and out of that whip. + +"Of course, boy like, I wanted to try it before we had gone a mile. +While traveling, the lash trails along in the rear, and by a quick +motion of the hand and wrist is thrown forward like a great snake, +snapping like a gun-shot over the heads of the team. + +"The first time I tried it the end of the lash caught me on the arm, +and, although the member was thickly covered, I felt the blow +unpleasantly. + +"Kalutunah laughed immoderately at my failure, but dodged the next +instant as I tried it again, the lash this time coming within an ace of +taking him across the face. + +"The third time I essayed the feat, the end of the whip caught on a +jutting piece of ice, and I was 'snatched' off the sledge in grand +style, nearly wrecking it in my exit. + +"That was going a little too far, so Kalutunah thought, and he wouldn't +let me try it again, so I contented myself with nursing the various +bruises I had received in my tumble. + +"But how those dogs could travel! The frozen inlet was strewn with +hummocks and broken ice cakes, and I had to cling to the sledge with +both hands sometimes to keep from being thrown off. + +"I was profoundly grateful when we reached our stopping place about the +middle of the afternoon. A week before Kalutunah had seen a walrus near +this place, under some new ice that had formed over a breathing hole. + +"The dogs were left fastened to the sledge, so that their presence would +not disturb the walrus should one be near. The Esquimau got out his +harpoon and line and approached the thin ice, telling me to keep back. + +"I wasn't very eager to stay near the walrus should the old fellow be +lucky enough to iron one, for there had been one caught near the Henry +Clay, and a more ferocious-looking beast I never saw. + +"I stayed back near the sledge with my rifle, on the lookout for +something to try a shot at, and in the meantime keeping my eye on old +Kalutunah. He went forward carefully, dodging from hummock to hummock, +but gradually getting nearer the thin ice. All at once I caught sight of +another object on the ice a little to the right of the Esquimau. At +first I thought it was a seal, for it lay flat on the ice, and was about +to hurry after Kalutunah to tell him about it, when the figure rose up +and I saw that it was a man--another Esquimau. + +"The stranger walked rapidly toward Kalutunah, and had almost reached +his side before the old fellow noticed him. Then he sprang up, and +although they were too far away for me to hear them, even if my ears had +not been covered with my hood, I saw that they were talking together. + +"The stranger continued to advance, holding out his hand as though to +shake Kalutunah's. + +"Having arrived quite near, he took a quick stride forward, and instead +of offering his hand, as Kalutunah had evidently expected, suddenly +raised a short club and struck Kalutunah on the head. + +"It was a most brutal act, and so unexpected was it that for an instant +I was stupefied. + +"Kalutunah threw up his arm, and fell backward without a cry. The +treacherous wretch leaned over him to repeat the blow, but I had found +my senses by that time, and, raising my rifle, fired at him. The bullet +probably flew wide of its mark, but it scared the rascal. Evidently he +had not noticed me before, and least of all expected to find a white boy +with the old man he had so cruelly attacked. + +"With a wild yell, he ran at the top of his speed, expecting no doubt +another shot every instant. + +"I hurried forward to where Kalutunah was lying senseless on the ice. He +was not dead, and, as I reached him, he raised up, with an evident +effort, and cried: + +"'See-ne-mee-utes! See-ne-mee-utes!' + +"I remembered then what the mate of the Henry Clay had once told me +about a tribe of bloodthirsty men in the interior, called by the +well-disposed Esquimaux See-ne-mee-utes. These wretches approach a +stranger to all appearances in a friendly manner, and, taking him +unawares, assault him in the treacherous way that Kalutunah had been +attacked. + +"The old man was brave if he was an Esquimau, for I could understand by +his motions that he wanted me to fly and leave him. But I wouldn't hear +of that. + +"From the direction in which the See-ne-mee-ute had fled I saw a dozen +figures approaching. Evidently there were plenty of reinforcements at +hand, and, even with my rifle, I could not keep them at bay. + +"Kalutunah was not a large man--Esquimaux seldom are--and the dog sledge +was not far in our rear. I had strong arms and two good legs under me in +those days, so, lifting the poor fellow, I carried him to the sledge. + +"The dogs were up and excited, I could see by their actions; but I had +no time to fool with them. I placed Kalutunah, who had again become +unconscious, on the sledge and got on before him. By this time my +pursuers were close at hand, and I was horrified to see two dog sledges +following in the rear. Unfamiliar as I was with the management of +Kalutunah's team, the See-ne-mee-utes would overtake us in spite of all +I could do. + +"I raised my rifle and gave them a parting shot, and the dogs, +frightened by the report so near them, started off like mad over the ice +toward the distant ship. + +"Again my bullet must have been badly aimed, for it only brought forth a +howl of rage from my pursuers, as they saw me escaping. Hastily boarding +their sledges, four of them started after me. + +"I had a little start, but my dogs, having had only an hour's rest, +would likely be no match in speed for those attached to the +See-ne-mee-ute sledges; but they started nobly, spreading out like a fan +before the sledge and tugging at the breast-straps. + +"Had Kalutunah been able to drive them, there might be more chance for +us, I thought; but Kalutunah remained unconscious, and I had all I could +do to hold both him and myself upon the swaying sledge. + +"Without Kalutunah's voice and whip to guide them, the dogs turned aside +for very few obstructions, but tore over them all, nearly wrecking the +sledge at every leap. The pursuing sledges, guided by skillful drivers, +were therefore able to gradually creep up on us. + +"I knew very few Esquimaux words, but I yelled to the dogs at the top of +my voice and managed to get 'em infused with some of my own fear, for +they sped over the ice-field as I had never seen them travel before. + +"On, on we went! The wind cut my face--from which the hood had fallen +back--like a knife. I grew dizzy with the rush of air and the swaying of +the sledge. It was impossible to get a shot at my pursuers, while the +dogs were traveling at this rate; but I determined to make a desperate +stand against the four men, should they overtake us. + +"For some reason or other, their dogs were not so superior in endurance +to Kalutunah's as I had feared. After first gaining on us a little, they +barely kept their pace for the first six miles. Then the speed began to +tell on my dogs and skillful driving on my pursuers'. My animals were +getting fagged out, and slowly but steadily I was being overhauled. + +"Old Kalutunah had all the appearance of a dead man. For one dreadful +moment I was tempted to throw him off the sledge. Their burden thus +lightened, the dogs might be able to carry me safely back to the ship, +still far down the inlet. + +"But this cowardly thought possessed me only an instant. I recalled the +old Esquimau's unselfishness in wanting me to escape and leave him when +he was wounded, and determined that, if I ever reached the Henry Clay +again, he should. + +"The See-ne-mee-utes were close behind me now, urging their dogs on with +exultant cries. The foremost sledge was within fifty feet, and the other +directly behind it. + +"Risking a disastrous tumble upon the ice, I rose upon my knees and +turned toward them, holding by one hand to the back of the sledge. +Kalutunah lay on the bottom, and I held his body from rolling off by the +pressure of my knees. + +"The wretches saw my head appear above the back of the sledge, and they +uttered a loud shout of rage, shaking their spears and urging on their +dogs to still greater exertions. An extra heavy lurch of the sledge +almost threw me overboard, but I braced myself and raised my rifle to my +shoulder. + +"As soon as they saw my weapon the two men in the foremost sledge +burrowed like rats among the robes. Those in the rear were hidden +from me. + +"I had but an instant to reflect. We were rapidly approaching a terribly +rough piece of ice, and I should be thrown out did I not sink down into +the sledge again. + +"The dogs were between me and the crouching occupants of the pursuing +sledge, and kept me from getting a correct aim at the men. + +"Quick as a flash I fired right into the pack, and then dropped into the +bottom of my own sledge. The next instant we struck the rough stretch of +ice, and I had all I could do to cling on until we had passed it. Then I +looked back. + +"Judge of my surprise when I saw that, by a fortunate accident, my +pursuers had been stopped. + +"My bullet had taken effect on one of the dogs, which had immediately +tangled up the rest of the team and brought the sledge to a standstill. + +"The sledge behind seemed to be completely mixed up in the disaster, and +the two sets of dogs were fighting furiously, while the Esquimaux were +running about trying to separate them. + +"I was safe! Another two miles and the Henry Clay would be in sight, +and, unless some accident happened to my own team, my pursuers would not +be able to gain the vantage they had lost. + +"When I reached the ship, the moon was high and all hands had turned in +long before, but they roused out, as did the Esquimaux from their huts, +at my halloo. + +"Poor old Kalutunah was carried into the cabin, and the captain and mate +worked over him a long time before they brought him to. He had been +almost frozen in addition to his wound, so that he had a hard fight for +life. But when he was finally on his pins again, how thankful he was to +me! And the whole tribe was the same way. + +"One bad result of my adventure, however, was that Captain Lewis would +allow no more extended trips away from the vessel, and although we never +saw anymore See-ne-mee-utes, every party that went out for even a short +tramp was fully armed and under the command of an officer. + +"Now you can't tell me anything about rapid sledding," concluded Randy. +"I've had my day at it, and I must say that it was about as +uncomfortable an experience as I ever had." + + + + + [_This Story began in No. 43._] + + The PURPLE PENNANT + or + ALAN HEATHCOTE'S FORTUNE. + + A Foot-Ball Story. + + BY A PRINCETON GRADUATE. + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +MR. MACKERLY REVIVES AND GRANT ATTEMPTS TO SEND ALAN TO COVENTRY. + +The sudden collapse of Mr. Mackerly, while in conversation with his son, +was a great shock to the latter, who could scarcely believe that the +news he had just been relating should have such an extraordinary effect +upon his imperious and lofty father. Was it possible that the statements +at which he had scoffed had some plausibility, and that there was a +grain of hidden truth in the charge brought by his rival, Alan +Heathcote? There was no mistaking the fact that something external had +caused the magnate's startling indisposition, and Grant, even though he +was badly scared at his father's plight, drew his own conclusions in +regard to the matter. Meanwhile he stood helplessly calling until he +collected presence of mind enough to go around to the other side of the +table and raise his father's inanimate form to a more comfortable +position. + +"Help! Help!" he cried distractedly. "Father's dying! Aunt Annie! +James!" + +He was warranted in his belief that his parent was breathing his last, +for his face was of a deathly pallor, and to Grant's inexperienced eye +this was a symptom of the gravest import, and he gave his father up for +lost immediately. + +He did not stand long alone in his helplessness, for in another moment +James, the butler, and Grant's Aunt Annie came hurrying in. They both +took in the situation at a glance, and while the first mentioned opened +the window, in order to admit the fresh cold air, the latter bathed his +temples with water and cologne. + +Mr. Mackerly had fallen into a swoon of unusual severity, and the +process of reviving him was slow and tedious. It was nearly a half hour +before he was strong enough to speak to them. + +"Shall I send for a doctor?" inquired his sister anxiously. + +"No, by no means," he feebly replied. "It's one of my ordinary fainting +spells. I've had them before. I'll--I'll be all right in a few minutes. +Lay me on the couch in the library and--let me alone. What time is it?" + +"Nearly half-past seven," answered his sister. + +"Where is Grant?" was his next query. + +"Here I am, father," and his son stepped before him. "What's wanted?" + +"Come to the library at eight o'clock. I want to speak to you. I will be +much better then. Don't forget." + +Grant promised, and with the help of the butler and the gardener his +father was carried to the library and placed upon a couch, where he was +left by himself in spite of his sister's expostulations. + +She was a widow, as Mr. Mackerly was a widower, and they made their home +together in that magnificent residence on the hill back of Whipford. + +Promptly on the chime of eight, Grant marched into the library, and +found his father, pale but steady, seated at the secretary, busily +examining a heterogenous mass of papers. + +"Are you better, father?" he asked, solicitously. + +"Don't you see I am?" was the cross response. "That spell was only +temporary. I am afraid of them, as they are coming on more frequently. +Doctor Sedgwick tells me I must take more exercise or I'll fall sick in +earnest." + +"I thought you took plenty," said Grant, guardedly. + +His father did not seem to hear his remark, but went on searching busily +among the papers. Grant grew impatient and asked: + +"Well, what do you want of me, father?" + +"Oh, yes, I did ask you to come in, Grant, didn't I?" he replied, as if +just recollecting the fact. "Why, what were we talking about when that +dizzy feeling came over me? Do you remember the conversation?" + +"Why, of course," replied the son, considerably astonished at his +parent's alleged forgetfulness. "It was about that little affair between +Alan Heathcote and myself. Just as I told you he denied his father owed +you anything, you fainted, and I hadn't a chance to finish. You--" + +"Oh, I remember!" interrupted Mr. Mackerly. "You told me he stated that +he had an envelope containing papers, didn't you?" + +"Not that I know of," answered Grant. "I never said anything about an +envelope, and he didn't, either. He said he had papers to prove that you +owed his father money, and that's all. There was something more about +witnesses--just what it was I don't recollect." + +"Well, you had quite a wordy quarrel. What else did he say?" + +The tone of anxiety with which this was asked was but barely concealed. + +"Oh, all sorts of tough things, together with that little imp, Dick +Percy!" responded Grant, bluntly. "But I gave them as good as I got, and +don't you mistake. Pretty soon that big chump Teddy Taft came up and put +in his say, and, as I couldn't stand up against three, I took my leave." + +"From what you say, this Heathcote boy is a determined fellow, is he +not?" inquired Mr. Mackerly, toying with a paper-cutter. + +"Bull-headed, I call him," was his son's vindictive reply. "He's no +gentleman, and I've told him so. What makes me so mad is that Cole and +Mr. Nicholson have put me off the eleven, and put him in my place. Him! +He can't play football, the country jay!" + +"It's favoritism, that's what it is," remarked Mr. Mackerly, shortly. + +He had heard rumors of the matter in the village, but held his counsel. + +"They can do as they please," asserted his son; "but if I don't make +that fellow sick, my name's not what it is, that's all. The idea of him +saying he had proof that you were a rascal. It's a mean, bold lie, and +he ought to be drummed out of school." + +"You have my authority for branding it as a malicious falsehood," said +his father, "and if it is repeated, I shall take measures to have young +Heathcote punished. But don't say anything of it, Grant, until some one +informs you. You needn't take the trouble to deny it if he hasn't told +anybody. Perhaps he has been afraid to spread the tale among the boys at +Whipford." + +"I guess he was afraid of the licking he knew he'd get from me," said +Grant, vauntingly; "so I don't think he's told anything like that." + +It was for another reason unknown to him that Alan had kept +silent--because Beniah Evans had cautioned him to that effect--and not +that he feared the vain-glorious Grant. + +"Well," remarked the magnate, "that may be. I hope he has kept a close +tongue in his head for his own good, if nothing else. It will save him +trouble. Go and tell James to pack my grip," he directed, suddenly, as +he scattered the raft of papers with a quick move of his arm and closed +and locked the secretary. "Hurry up. I must catch that ten o'clock +train." + +"Where are you going this time of night?" asked Grant, who, though used +to his father's absences, and caring little whether he was home or +abroad, felt somewhat curious as to this rapid determination to travel. + +"I'm going to Philadelphia and then possibly further south to see a man +on very important business," responded Mr. Mackerly. "I am restless and +can't stay at home. I originally did not intend to start until next +week, but I've changed my mind." + +"But you aren't well. What will Aunt Annie say?" + +"She needn't know," was the short reply. Then, hastily, "You run and get +the buggy out for me, and I'll call the butler. I must catch that ten +o'clock train at the Junction at all hazards. Stop at O'Brien's house +and tell him to come and drive me over. If he isn't there, James will +have to try his hand at the reins." + +Grant hastened to obey his father's directions, and in the space of a +few minutes the team was ready, with O'Brien, the stable-man, and Mr. +Mackerly as its occupants; and soon they were out of sight in the +darkness, speeding for the train. + +"There's something up, that's dead sure!" soliloquized Grant, as he +stood in the doorway. "Father's never in all that hurry for nothing. +I wonder what the racket is? I'll go a fiver that it has something to do +with that Heathcote matter. He's a perfect nuisance, and I hope father +will squelch him this time, once and for all, the booby!" + +Soon dismissing his father's departure from his mind, Grant went up to +his room and retired to bed. + +The next morning he went over to the Hall very early, considering his +past record, and was one of the first to take his seat in the assembly +room. + +Archer and Shriver, with whom he desired to speak, were somewhat tardy, +and he got no chance to address them until the end of the first +recitation. + +"Hello, Grant!" called the former. "Where've you been all the time? +Haven't seen you for an age." + +"Been up at the house," replied Grant, briefly. "Any practice to-day, +George?" + +"Yes," answered Shriver; "at half-past twelve. You're with Wilcox on the +second eleven. Sorry that Heathcote dished you out of half-back, but it +can't be helped. I took Runyon's place, and he was angry at first, but +he came up to-day and shook hands with me like a little man, and said he +hoped I would get along first rate, and that he'd try and oust me next +year. He's one of the substitutes this year, and you are to play +substitute half-back with Wilcox." + +"I am, am I?" growled Grant, sneeringly. "Who says so?" + +"Cole gave it out last night," put in Lewis Archer, "so it's settled." + +"It's not settled as far as I am concerned," declared the turned-down +player, firmly. "I play on the regular team or not at all. That's my +proper place, and no miserable upstart like Alan Heathcote is going to +crow over me." + +"Well, what are you going to do about it?" asked Archer, with a careless +drawl. + +Grant Mackerly was steadily dropping from the high place, he once held +in his estimation, and every action now exhibited his selfishness to +Archer, who, with all his laziness, was a boy of fine feelings. + +"Why, let's boycott him altogether," said Grant, eagerly. "Let's put all +the fellows against him and show him up for just what he is. If he sees +nobody speaks to him he'll soon come down from his high horse. What do +you say to it, fellows?" + +Instead of making any immediate reply in words, his companions at first +gave him looks of incredulity and amazement, and then burst into loud +peals of laughter. It was some time before they sobered down. + +"What?" demanded Shriver. "Boycott Alan Heathcote? Send him to Coventry? +Ha! ha! Why, you'd have the heaviest contract on your hands you ever had +in your life. It's all nonsense." + +"There's not a fellow in the whole school who would be fool enough to +join you," said Archer, plainly and in disgust. "Why, you might as well +try that scheme on Cole or Mr. Nicholson. No, no, my dear boy, that plan +of yours won't work. The fellows, as a rule, like Heathcote pretty well. +He attends to his own business, stands well in his class, or will when +the next exam. takes place, and to add to it all he's as fleet of foot +as a deer on the foot-ball field; so you would be the solitary duck in +the puddle if you tried to freeze him out." + +Grant Mackerly listened to these responses of his friends in silence. +Then his face assumed a determined look, and without another word to +either of them he turned away and walked quickly out of the door to the +campus and disappeared among the trees. + +"Mad as a hornet," observed Archer, carelessly. + +"He'll cool down by to-morrow," remarked Shriver. + +And they went into the recitation-room talking it over. + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +RIPLEY FALLS INVADES THE TOWN. + +The story of Grant Mackerly's attempt to place a boycott on Alan soon +leaked out among the boys, and great was the merriment it aroused at the +Hall. + +In the ridicule and disgust which the incident produced the prestige of +the rich man's son was lost forever. No one pitied him. It was all his +own fault, and even his quondam friends deserted him, while his +appearance would have been the signal for a universal grin. + +Strange to say, he had not been seen at the Hall since he had made that +proposition to Archer and Shriver, and now a couple of days had passed +and no sign of him. + +He did not respond to his name either in the assembly or +recitation-rooms, and Doctor Bostwick began to think something was +wrong. + +He summoned Lewis Archer one day in passing and asked him if he could +call at the Mackerly residence and obtain some news of the missing boy. + +"I am afraid that he is ill," said the good principal, "or something +unusual has happened to him. I have never known him to have been absent +for so long a time without sending in an excuse or asking for leave." + +Archer called that very afternoon at the house on the hill, and, after +repeated ringings, Mrs. Weldon, Grant's aunt, came to the door. + +"What's become of Grant?" asked Archer. "Doctor Bostwick sent me up to +inquire about his absence. He's been away from the Hall for three days." + +"Yes, I know he has," answered Mrs. Weldon; "but please tell Doctor +Bostwick I don't know the reason for his absence, except that one day he +came home and said he was too ill to stay at school, and the day before +yesterday he borrowed some money from me and went to Buffalo, where his +uncle lives. I hope Doctor Bostwick will be patient with him. His father +is away, too, and won't return till over a week." + +"Well," cogitated Lewis, as he carried this information to the doctor, +"that's very satisfactory, I must say. I wonder what Doctor Bostwick +will think?" + +The principal of Whipford Hall looked puzzled as Archer related to him +the account of Mackerly's whereabouts, but said nothing except, "I will +communicate with Grant's father on his return," and thanked his +schoolmate for the call he had made and bowed him out. + +When the examination took place, Grant Mackerly was still absent, and it +was understood that no word had been received from either himself or his +father. + +As a consequence he was dropped to the foot of the class, and a poor +report was sent to his home. + +Alan was overjoyed to find that he was very near the head, and still +more so when he saw the accounts of his progress in study which was to +be sent to Beniah Evans. The principal complimented him on his good +work, and hoped he would keep it up. + +Alan inwardly resolved to do so, and remit no exertion which would cause +him to forge to the front at Whipford. + +It was now the first week of November, and he had been at the Hall for +nearly two months and was getting along famously with both the pupils +and teachers. + +As far as his intimacy with Cole, Taft and Kimball was concerned, it +continued with unabated ardor and remained unbroken. The four of them +conned their studies over to each other in their rooms, and Alan got +many an idea from the older and more experienced genius of King Cole. + +As for football, they were the backbone of the team, and many a new +trick in the game was invented by one of them as they sat together in +the autumn nights over the sputtering lamp. + +By the boys of the school they came to be known as the "Big Four," and +it was to them that every one looked to uphold the honor of the Hall, +both in study and athletics. + +The team kept on practicing with persistent regularity, and the interest +in the championship, which had somewhat abated after the Jamesville +game, now began to arouse, for the Ripley Falls contest was at hand. + +For three weeks the eleven had had a holiday, and played no heavy games +except on two occasions, when a delegation from the Whipford Athletic +Club had given them a sample of hard playing, and, sad to say, beaten +them on both meetings. It was no wonder, though, for their team was +composed of full-grown young men, some of whom had been to college and +all of whom were in business or lived in the neighborhood. + +It was no disgrace to be defeated by such good material, and while the +Hall team went into the fight with no expectation of winning, they came +out with a great stock of experience and many new points. It was a good +practice to them, and a couple of the Athletic Club players took their +eleven in hand and coached them for a whole week. Every boy was +developing into a fine all-around player. + +One Saturday afternoon in the middle of November, on a dull and chilly +day, the team from the High School at Ripley Falls came over with a full +complement of players, and the whole school to a boy following on their +footsteps. + +They were an enthusiastic but orderly crowd, and had the most implicit +confidence in their team. In truth, their eleven deserved it, for they +had met both Davenport and Jamesville and whipped those teams by good +scores--the former by 16 to 4, the latter by 25 to 8, thus rendering +their chances for the pennant null. + +So far, they had won the same number of games as either the Whipford or +Weston, and stood neck to neck with them in the race. + +There was more uncertainty about to-day's game than any the Hall boys +had yet played, but none of them would hear of defeat for an instant. + +"What!" exclaimed Ike Smith, who was worked up to the shouting point, +and who had heard one of the boys express a doubt as to the team's +ability to win except by a stroke of luck. "What do you say? Our eleven +be frozen out? I guess not, young fellow. Look at Cole, just coming out +of the gymnasium. Why, he's cooler than most of us. There comes +Heathcote now and Kimball, and there's Teddy Taft. Hooray for the Big +Four! Come, fellows, let's give them a cheer." + +The group of Hall boys whom Ike headed followed his instructions and +gave the four players a rousing yell of encouragement, which was duly +appreciated. + +As the four made their way to the scene of the conflict, Percy's field, +Ike and his company got together and marched up to the station, with the +purpose of meeting the visitors. + +When the train rolled in, carrying the High School boys, the latter, on +alighting, were both surprised and pleased to see a whole line of Hall +boys drawn up with military precision on the other side of the road, and +saluting the newcomers with uplifted hands. + +The fellows from Ripley Hall formed in twos in short order, and, +escorted by their opponents, proceeded down the road to Percy's field. +Ike Smith, who was in his element, led the procession, and his proud +strut was something comical to see. + +The appearance of the two contending factions in one parade was a +surprise to the town's-people who had gathered to see the game, and they +greeted the young collegians with applause. + +After a few preliminary movements, the boys of the opposing schools +settled in one place of their leaders' choosing, and waited for the +contest to begin. + +The grounds were in fair condition, and had been put in good order by a +number of the boys the day before. They had been measured off under the +supervision of Mr. Nicholson, so that the field was a perfect rectangle +of three hundred and thirty feet in length by one hundred and sixty in +width, the five-yard lines and bounds being marked with streaks of lime, +so that there could be no mistaking them. + +Some of the boys had borrowed a roller from Mr. Percy, and by dint of +much work had succeeded in leveling the field and pressing down the +uneven spots. Although it was a fair place for playing, and, as the +small field directly back of the Hall could not be utilized, this was of +very good service. Unlike the Davenport grounds there was no stand, and +the spectators moved from one end of the field to the other, keeping +pace with the players. As the boys would rather stand than sit, it made +no difference to them, and the majority of the others had vehicles in +which they stood to view the play. + +"Oh, if we only had the athletic grounds!" remarked Archer, who was +gotten up in the height of fashion and carried a cane on which was a +yard or so of blue ribbon. "That's the place for a game." + +"It costs too much," replied Ike, "and we can't very well charge an +admission." + +"They're fine grounds and no mistake," said another. "But here come the +teams. Little Dick Percy is running ahead." + +In another moment the two elevens had vaulted the rails and burst into +the grounds amid the cheers of their respective schoolmates. + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +A CLOSE CONTEST WITH THE HIGH SCHOOL. + +The visiting team had changed their clothing in the gymnasium, and in +company with some of the Hall eleven had set off for the grounds. Cole +and Kimball had been trying for goals for some time, and when the rest +came on they ceased practice and joined the eleven. After a few minutes' +preparatory work in kicking and passing, the two teams stopped while the +captains tossed up for choice of the ball or position. Cole won and +decided to keep the ball. The referee was a member of the Whipford +Athletic Club and the umpire was from Davenport. As both were well +acquainted with the rules of the game, there was no question of any +disputed point remaining unsettled. Time for the play was called. + +"Oh, now, fellows," pleaded Ike Smith, "do your level best and beat +'em." + +"You bet they will," said Archer, emphatically. "Look at George Shriver +getting ready to spring at the ball. George means business and no +mistake." + +"And look at little Dick Percy dancing around with his hands ready for +service," added Ike. "Isn't he a little wonder now?" + +The ball was placed in the centre of the field. The rushers of the High +School eleven stood leaning forward expectantly, waiting the moment of +charging. They were obliged to stand ten yards from the front of the +leather sphere, the movements of which decided the fate of the game. It +was plain to be seen they knew their business and were of much superior +stuff to the members of the Davenport and Jamesville teams. Their +captain held the position of right half-back, and from that place gave +his commands to the players, who were well trained and drilled in the +intricacies of team work. On the other side the Hall team was the same +that had played the game at Jamesville and looked like sure winners to a +disinterested outsider. Wilcox and Mackerly were the substitute +half-backs, and there were a dozen other players to be put on in case of +necessity. But the latter named was still absent, much to the disgust of +everybody, and as his non-appearance was unexplained, it was naturally +put down to sulkiness and lack of school patriotism. + +In the first exciting minutes his absence was not noticed by all, and +attention was earnestly concentrated on the opening of the match that +was to decide if Ripley Falls or Whipford should have the best chance +for the pennant and should battle with the presumably successful Weston. + +Teddy Taft, amid a death-like silence, advanced to the middle of the +field, followed by all his supporters, and slowly picked up the ball. + +He was the apex of a triangle of boys, who were ready to rush down the +field the instant the ball was put into play. Dick Percy crouched behind +him with extended hands ready to receive it. + +The centre-rusher held the ball for a moment, and then passed it to the +active quarter-back, who in turn passed it to Harry Kimball, and in the +centre of the V, and protected by its side, the latter tore diagonally +down the field for a gain of forty feet, until he was held by the +rushers of the other side, who had finally broken through. + +Quickly the teams lined up in the scrimmage, and Alan ran around the +ends for a good gain. + +Then, unfortunately, the Hall boys could not advance another yard, owing +to the active tackling of the High School players, and on four downs, +without a five-yard gain, the ball went to their opponents. + +Then ensued a battle royal for the next quarter of an hour. Ripley Falls +struggled hard to advance the leather into Whipford's land, with some +small success, but being in danger of losing the ball on downs, it was +passed to their full-back, who punted it away up the field close to the +blue's goal-line. + +It was caught by Cole, who no sooner clutched it than he was seized and +held by the boys of the white and purple--the colors of the High School. +He grasped it firmly, and was allowed a fair catch. + +This gave Whipford the kick-off, and the ball was punted up the field +with the whole eleven on its track. + +Upon lining up for the scrimmage, McKenzie, the right end of the Hall +team, broke through and was down on the captain of their opponents +before the latter could run with the ball. + +It was a big loss for Ripley, and when Adams, the left end, did the same +thing an instant later, the noise from the Hall boys along the bounds +was ear-piercing. + +When it looked as if the captain of the High School eleven was good for +a run the whole length of the field, with only Heathcote and Cole in +front of him, and was very neatly stopped by the former with a gain of a +few yards only and the loss of the ball, the racket was tremendous. + +Then the blues did some tall playing. They had the ball and meant to +keep it, and surely was it forced to within a couple of yards of the +goal-line of the purple and white. + +The next play of the Hall team settled the question, for when Dick Percy +received the ball from Teddy Taft, instead of throwing it to Heathcote, +as the enemy expected, it was passed over to Adams, who, with Shriver, +Heathcote and Cole pushing him, crossed the line and touched the ball +down amid the plaudits of their schoolmates. + +As the touch-down was made near the centre of the goal immediately under +the cross-bar, Cole had no difficult task to kick a goal. + +It had been hard work, but was accomplished nicely, and the boys from +Whipford felt highly elated, while the High School fellows looked +mournful. + +The first half ended without any further scoring, and the contestants +threw their sweaters over their shoulders and retired to their benches +for a rest, while their supporters talked the game over. + +"I don't see Grant Mackerly," remarked a boy, looking over all the +wearers of football costumes. "What in the world has become of him?" + +"Well, he might as well stay away," declared the ever-ready Ike. "He's +not needed in this game, anyhow. Alan Heathcote is doing the work of two +like him. Now look how he stopped that half-back of the Ripley's! Wasn't +that fine? Just like clock-work!" + +"No question about that," admitted Archer. "I thought for sure that +fellow was headed for a touch-down, but Heathcote brought him to grass +as neat as a whistle. He certainly is a plucky player." + +The sentiment among all the boys was practically to the same effect. + +Meanwhile the conversation among the members of the team was of a +decidedly earnest character. None of them shared the confidence of their +schoolfellows in regard to winning by a large score, for they knew that +the boys of the striped stockings had played a skillful and a bold +game--a game that was persistent and wearing, and which might turn the +tables the other way in the next half. So they took counsel together as +they collected about their captain. + +"Play a defensive game next half," directed the latter. "Don't try to +roll up points, but let them do the struggling. We're ahead, and we must +keep ahead. And, by all means, keep your eyes on those half-backs. +I tell you that captain of theirs--Young, I think his name is--is a +splendid player. He's full of tricks, and he hasn't showed us them yet, +and I look for a surprise in the next half." + +"I tell you," said Shriver, as he wiped the perspiration from his +forehead, "that fellow opposite me is giving me all I care to attend to. +I'm pretty nearly done up trying to get past him." + +Cole looked alarmed. + +"You're not going to peg out, are you?" he questioned. "I told you, +Shriver, that you didn't pay enough attention to your training and kept +too late hours. Now you see the result of it." + +"I'll stand up against them," declared Shriver, "if I have to be carried +off the field in a wheelbarrow. Never worry for me, Cole." + +"Time!" called the umpire at this point. + +"Well, now for the pennant, boys," said Cole, encouragingly. + +And the two elevens walked out for the last effort. + +"High School's ball," announced the referee. + +And on the word that team pounced upon it and carried it ten yards down +the field toward Whipford's goal. + +The vim and energy of their playing was certainly phenomenal, and they +dashed aside the opposition like charging war horses. Next a most +alarming thing occurred, and it was no easy matter to say how it +happened. It was one of the tricks of that captain of the High School +eleven. His team had gained no ground since the first rush, and, rather +than give the ball to his adversaries openly, it was expected that on +the eve of the fourth down he would send it to the full-back for a kick. +But before any one could realize the trick, the quarter-back threw the +oval to the left half-back, and that player dashed through an opening in +the rush line between Emmons and Blake, respectively the right guard and +right tackle of the Hall, and, before he could be stopped by Kimball and +Cole on that side, had made fully thirty yards. + +Everybody was dumfounded but the High School boys, who waved their +purple and white flags and shrieked themselves hoarse. It was certainly +a fine play, and merited all the applause it received. + +It brought the ball to within a yard of Whipford's goal-line. Do all +they could, it was an impossibility to stop the next move, which was to +force the right-guard of the Ripley Falls team across the line and score +a touch-down. + +As the goal was kicked from it, a sigh of despair arose from three-score +youthful Whipford followers, and three-score hearts felt as heavy as +lead. + +Their eleven had lost the lead, and the points were even on each +side--six to six. + +What would the rushing team of the High School do next? + +[TO BE CONTINUED.] + + + + +COLORADO SNOW FLEA. + + +The observing Colorado miner cannot furnish you scientific names, yet he +will tell you at once that red snow is caused by the snow flea. The snow +flea is very small. It would require about fifty of them to equal their +larger brother of the East in size. + +A person walking upright might think the snow covered by a very fine +dust, but if your eyes are good, and you place your face within eighteen +or twenty inches of the snow, you can easily discern the snow flea. +Although so small as to be almost imperceptible to the naked eye, yet +they are most active, jumping from twelve to fifteen inches. + +To the naked eye they appear to be dark brown in color, but under a good +microscope they would be found to be a reddish brown. During cold +weather they stay under the bark of trees, but when it is a nice, warm +day, and the sun shines brightly, you can find them on the southern and +eastern slopes of the mountains, where they can get the direct rays of +the sun. + +During the day they will ascend the mountains, sometimes far above the +timber line. When the sun disappears and it gets cold, the snow flea +freezes to death. During the winter great numbers will be thus frozen, +and their dead bodies color the snow. + +Foot trails upon the south and east sides of the mountains will, if it +be a hard winter, be colored, for when the snow flea strikes a deep +trail through the snow, millions upon millions of them never get out, +but perish from the cold dining the night. Besides, a man with a +good-sized foot might kill from one thousand to ten thousand of them +every step. + +The snow flea favors the south and east sides of the mountains, and it +is there you will find the red snow. The non-observing will say there is +no such thing as snow fleas, because they have never seen them, but you +can easily prove to them, if you will look upon the right kind of a day, +that they do exist in countless numbers. + + + + +A QUARREL, AND HOW IT ENDED. + +By Abbie M. Gannett. + + +Father was mad clear through! He gave Mr. Ridlet one look and walked off +without a word. + +That broke up everything between Bub Ridlet and me. + +Was Bub going to speak to a boy whose father stole from his father? Was +I going to speak to Bub, when his father accused mine of stealing? + +We'd been great chums, chestnutted, set snares, skated, fished and gone +winters to the district school together. Our houses were within a +stone's throw of each other, and no others nearer than a quarter of a +mile. Never had an evening come but I was at Bub's or Bub with us. + +The change came hard, and it came hard on our mothers. + +Mrs. Ridlet would come over to ask if mother could spare a couple of +eggs. Mother would run to the barn and come back with half a dozen, +saying: + +"Don't mind about returning them. I've so many, I like to get rid of +them." + +Mother would go to Mrs. Ridlet's and say she'd like to borrow a pound or +two of butter. Her cream didn't "come good" these cold days. Bub's +mother would give her a big pat, with a bunch of grapes stamped on it. + +"Don't you fetch it back, Mrs. Pomfrey," she would say. "I've so much +that I shall never miss it." + +Now, when they met, they would not look at each other. + +Six months passed, and we were lonesome as could be. But we would have +bitten our tongues off rather than speak to the Ridlets. + +I didn't have a speck of fun. I'd go swimming, but what's swimming all +to yourself? or tramping, but what's tramping alone? or setting snares, +or anything? + +I knew father missed Mr. Ridlet on wet days, when they had used to sit +in the barn talking over crops and stock, but he never let on. + +Mother would look out of the window as if expecting some one; then she'd +turn away and sigh. But she never spoke Bub's mother's name--not once. + +I saw Bub running toward our house one day, and thought he was coming +in. But no. He ran past without looking up. + +It didn't seem much use to do anything--that is, if you wanted to get +any fun out of it. + +I never knew exactly what Mr. Ridlet accused father of stealing, and it +seems mother didn't know, either, until one day, six months after the +quarrel, when father said: + +"I'd like to know if Ridlet's found his wife's silver dollars." + +"Was it those he lost?" asked mother, speaking quickly. + +"Yes." + +"Mrs. Ridlet's been three years saving them. She said she meant to have +a dozen as nice silver forks as could be made. She thought it would take +about thirty-six dollars." + +"She had just thirty-six. She'd sent them to town by Ridlet, but the +jeweler wouldn't agree to make the forks for less than forty dollars. +Ridlet says he brought them back, but it seems they were gone when he +got home." + +"And he accused you of taking Mrs. Ridlet's money," said mother. "Now, +I'll _never_ speak to her." + +"It's odd where the money went," continued father. "You know I borrowed +his wagon to go to town, a few minutes after he came home. He said he +put the package on the wagon-seat, and got out to unharness the horse. +Before he had done so, Elijah Bangs came in at the south door of the +barn, all excitement about his sick cow. He wanted Ridlet to see the +animal--he had been so unlucky about curing his own sick cattle. While +they were talking, I came in to borrow the wagon. Ridlet, who was going +off with Bangs, said 'Yes,' hurriedly, forgetting all about the silver +dollars, so he says; and he says nobody came into the barn but me and +Mr. Bangs, and, as Bangs came in at the south door, he wasn't near the +wagon. Ridlet never thought of the silver till he was half-way to Mr. +Bangs'; but he did not worry, knowing it was safe with me." + +"Did he say, out-and-out, you'd taken it?" asked mother. + +"No; but he said it was mighty queer a man could miss seeing a package +as big as that. There was no use looking for it, or advertising for it; +he knew that it was on that wagon-seat. I fired up and said, 'Do you +think I took it?' He didn't answer; and that settled it." + +"Well, if ever he does find it, I'll never have anything to do with +them," said mother. "Suspect you of keeping her fork-money!" + +"It's very odd where it went," repeated father. + +"I am glad you've spoken at last. It's been on my mind more than +anything. I thought you might have misunderstood him, and was over +touchy; but--her money!" + +Father made no reply; and from that time mother stopped looking down the +road. + +Finding out just what Mr. Ridlet accused father of, made the +estrangement between Bub and me seem worse. Our going together would +never be fixed up now. I had hoped our fathers would, some time, settle +things. It was tough. I couldn't put my mind to anything, mother +noticed. + +"What's the matter, Seth?" she asked. "Aren't you well?" she went on, +seeing I didn't answer. "You don't eat much, and you are moping all the +time. How would you like your Cousin Mel to visit you a while?" + +I rushed off. Mel was a real softy, with shining shoes, slick hair, and +all that. About as ready to go on a tramp as a girl. I couldn't bear the +thought of him. + +I went under the grape vine that grows over the trellis between Mr. +Ridlet's garden and ours. + +I threw myself down, looking up into the leaves, making a mat overhead, +and counting the green bunches, as if that was great fun. + +It was a hot day--such a day as one likes to creep along barefooted in +the wet grass by the brooks, fishing-pole in hand. + +I thought of Bub, and how, if things had been all right, we'd been ready +to start off, and, well-- + +Then I heard some one pulling apart the vines against the fence, and the +next minute I sprung up as if I was shot, for Bub's voice, rather shaky, +called: + +"Seth!" + +I turned my back on him. + +"Please, Seth!" + +I wouldn't speak. + +"Say, father will give me a licking, and if you'll only speak to your +father--say, Seth! Seth!" + +I was half-way to the house. + +His voice ought to have made anybody turn back, but I wouldn't stop. He +hadn't spoken to me for over six months and his father was to blame, and +now he spoke because he was going to get a licking. I didn't think any +boy would be such a coward. It didn't seem like Bub. + +Once I felt like running over to his house--I had seen him sneak +back--then I was mad at myself for wanting to go there. + +What wouldn't I have given afterwards if I had gone? + +After supper, as father and I were passing the Ridlets', we heard Bub's +howls. They came from the barn. + +Father had been almost as fond of Bub as of me. When he heard the cries, +he stopped short. For a minute we didn't hear any more, only Mr. Ridlet +scolding hot and heavy, and Bub trying to put in a word or two. + +He was a dreadful quick-tempered man, and, when angry, hardly knew what +he did. + +Bub's howls began again. Father couldn't stand it. He made for the barn. + +"What's this?" said he. + +There stood Bub, with his jacket off, and his father, with a big, tough +switch in his hand. + +"This?" responded Mr. Ridlet, his teeth fairly chattering in his wrath. +"This? It's that this boy deserves the confoundedest whipping a boy ever +had--and I'm giving it to him!" + +He lifted the switch, and Bub yelled before it touched him. I knew he +had been hurt pretty bad. + +"Oh, now, neighbor," said father, putting out his hand to prevent the +switch from coming down, "your boy can't have done anything so terribly +bad. I've always thought a lot of your boy. Haven't you punished him +about enough?" + +"Hasn't done anything bad, hasn't he? Oh, no! He hasn't been the one to +know about his mother's fork money, and not say a word, and let the +mischief be to play between two families? Take that!" + +Down came the switch. Poor Bub's screams made my ears ring. I would not +have got that crack for twice the money in question. + +"There, neighbor," interposed father, taking hold of the rod. "I insist +on your telling me all about Bub and the money, since I was accused of +having it. Bub didn't steal it?" + +"No, no, no!" protested Bub. "I forgot, that's all. I took it and forgot +it. That's all, Mr. Pomfrey. Father knows that's all." + +He took on awfully, but it was the pain. I could see he'd done no wrong. + +"How did you take it? Come, Bub, tell me all about it," coaxed father. + +"It's a pretty story," burst out Mr. Ridlet. "A boy old enough to know +something takes a package of silver dollars for nails! Nails! Takes it +and tosses it into the old carriage room, where it gets covered up, and +never comes to sight till to-day. And our two families set together by +the ears in consequence, and not speaking for half a year. Tell me a boy +doing such a senseless thing as that doesn't deserve a whipping?" + +"But I forgot it, father," pleaded poor Bub. + +"Has your wife's money been found?" said father, looking real pleased. +"Why, that's the best news I've heard this long while. You and your wife +must be glad. I would hear Bub's story through before giving him such a +whipping. Found it in the old carriage room? He put it there by +mistake?" + +"Mistake!" roared Mr. Ridlet. "If it was by mistake, why didn't he +remember it? It's a likely story! I asked him over and over again where +he was that morning." + +"You see I clean forgot it, Mr. Pomfrey," sobbed Bub, not daring to +speak to his father, "for I just ran in to see if father had got the +nails I wanted, when I heard Seth outside. He'd come to get me to go out +in his new boat. We had agreed to go that day. You see I asked father to +get the nails for Seth to finish up the boat with; but Seth had found +some. The good time I had that day just put everything else out of my +mind. Then, not having anything more to do with Seth kinder mixed me up +afterwards," explained Bub; "made me forget worse, I suppose." + +"How happened it to turn up at last?" asked father. + +"Why, Bub was rummaging round this morning, and he lighted on it, he +says," replied Mr. Ridlet. "Says he was so scared, he didn't dare to +tell me till to-night." + +Here Bub looked at me, and I understood how he wanted me to tell father +when he had spoken to me under the grape vine. That would make it easier +with his father. + +I felt mighty mean then, I can tell you. + +"Throw down your switch, neighbor," said father. "You've got an honest +boy, and that's a fact. When I found you whipping him, I was dreadfully +afraid of something bad. Why, neighbor, we're all liable to forget; it's +human nature." + +Mr. Ridlet looked down. + +"Your boy's an honest boy," repeated father. (How thankfully Bub looked +at him!) "You yourself, Mr. Ridlet, forgot the silver, when you started +for Mr. Bangs'," continued father, with a laugh. + +Mr. Ridlet looked foolish. He drew a step nearer father, dropping the +switch. + +"There's one thing I'm not likely to forget," said he, "and that is, my +wronging you as I did. But I wish _you'd_ forget it, neighbor. I offer +my apologies." + +He held out his hand. Father took it, smilingly. + +"Perhaps we'd both better forget the whole thing," rejoined he. + +"Bub," said Mr. Ridlet, "run into the house and tell your mother that +I've asked Mr. and Mrs. Pomfrey to spend the evening with us. Tell her +to set out her best cake and that basket of blackhearts." + +Bub and I looked at each other, and then we ran in together. + +"Why, Seth! Why, Seth!" exclaimed his mother. + +When my mother came over, the two women hugged each other and cried a +little. + +Father and Mr. Ridlet sat side by side the whole evening long, talking +stock. + +Mother and Mrs. Ridlet sewed industriously, now and then looking up at +each other and laughing. + +After Bub and I had filled up on cake and cherries, we made molasses +candy and planned for a tramp up Wachuset next morning. + +Getting put out with folks is bad, but isn't making up about O.K? + + + + +UNLUCKY DAYS FOR ROYALTY. + + +Thursday, the day upon which the late Prince Albert Edward died, is an +unlucky day for English royalty, four sovereigns--Henry VIII, Edward VI, +Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth--having died on that day, but a far more +fatal day is Saturday. + +During the past two hundred years, for instance, William III died on +Saturday, March 18, 1702; Queen Anne died on Saturday, March 14, 1714; +George I died on Saturday, June 10, 1727; George II died on Saturday, +October 25, 1760; George III died on Saturday, January 29, 1820; George +IV died on Saturday, June 26, 1830; the Duchess of Kent, the present +queen's mother, died on Saturday, March 16, 1861; the Prince Consort, +Queen Victoria's husband, died on Saturday, December 14, 1861, and the +Princess Alice, her daughter, died on Saturday, December, 14, 1878. + + + + +DROLL AND DELIGHTFUL. + + +--Now is the time to kick. The football season is here. + +--Any loafer will tell you that half a loaf is better than none. + +--"A little of this will go a grate weigh," said the man who was +preparing a load of coal. + +--Bertha breaks her doll, and it is sent out to be repaired. A few days +later, Bertha goes to the store after it, but it cannot be found. +"Her name is Marguerite," she explains, to facilitate the search. + +--"Well, Tommy," said the visitor, "how do you like your baby brother?" +"Oh, lots and lots--only I don't think he's very bright!" +"Why not?" +"We've had him nearly two weeks now, and he hasn't said a word to +anybody." + +--The letter S, we must confess. + Was never made in vain, + For, take it from your "stars and stripes," + But tar and tripe remain. + +--"Is that really a glass eye?" said Maude to the optician. +"Yes, miss." +"How strange! it is not transparent. How does the wearer see +through it?" + +--A little girl, aged nine, called her father to her bedside the other +evening. +"Papa," said the little diplomat, "I want to ask your advice." +"Well, my little dear, what is it about?" +"What do you think would be best to give me on my birthday?" + +--Little Girl: "I wish I was an angel." +Little Boy: "Why?" +Little Girl: "Then I wouldn't be 'fraid of ghosts." + +--Small boy: "Been fishing, mister?" +Man: "Yes." +Small boy: "Can't I sell you some fish?" + +--Perry has a very musical father and mother, and the little lad knows +good music from bad. His parents live in a city flat, and in the flat +just above it one afternoon a young lady was trying to sing and not +succeeding at all. Perry listened with a frowning brow for some time, +and then said to his grandmother: +"If this keeps up much longer, grandma, I shall die. And what do you +think you'll do?" + +--Little Harold, out walking with his mamma, saw some men lifting a +square piano from which the legs had been taken, as usual, for +convenience in removal, and a happy thought struck him. +"Mamma, didn't you tell me the other day that our piano was an upright?" +"Yes, dear. Why?" +"Well, if ours is an upright, this must be a downright." + +--The small boy taunts the teacher new, + And she in vain may fret, + She knows, whatever he may do, + He's "mommer's little pet." + +--Mamma lay on the lounge, with her face toward the ceiling, when Jamie, +who lay beside her, asked her to "look." Mamma turned her eyes and +looked at him, without moving her head. +"No, no, mamma!" burst out the little fellow. "I want you to look at me +with your nose." + +--"Did you ever take a bicycle trip, Smithers?" +"Once." +"Where did you go?" +"Straight over on my neck." + +--"Cousin Edith, you can't send money in a letter." +"Why, Bessie, what ever made you think that? I've sent it that way lots +of times." +"Well, I'm sure it's wrong, because I've seen it printed on the fences +to 'post no bills.'" + +--Contentment makes pudding of cold potatoes. + +--"That wall-paper has a very cold look," said a customer to a dealer. +"Well, you see, it is intended for a frieze," was the dealer's reply. + +--"I have a notion to break your face," said the boy to his watch. +"You may even do that," said the watch, bravely, "but you can never make +me run." + +--A copper trust--Giving a policeman credit for peanuts. + +--Lady: "A ticket for me and two halves for my sons." +Ticket seller: "Excuse me, madam, but one of your sons is much older +than twelve years." +Lady: "What of that? The other is as much under twelve years as the +older is over twelve, so they only aggregate twelve years." +Ticket-seller: "Excuse me; not to-day." + +[Illustration: CIVIL ENGINEERING IN THE TROPICS--BRIDGING THE RAPIDS.] + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + +OUR LETTER BOX. + +[->] The postal laws requite all manuscripts to be prepaid at letter +rates--two cents for each ounce or fraction thereof--and manuscripts, +sent in rolls or open wrappers, are not exempt from this provision. The +large number of manuscripts reaching this office every day, on which +postage is due, compels us in future to allow such matter to remain in +the post office, unclaimed. + +DECLINED.--October--A Talk With Santa Claus--Nina--A Hallowe'en +Night--Sleep On--Who?--Blue-Eyed Nell--Mama, Sew the Pieces In. + +BERT E.--Postage-stamp mucilage is prepared as follows: Gum dextrine, 2 +parts; acetic acid, 1 part; water, 5 parts. Dissolve in a water-bath and +add 1 part of alcohol. + +ALAN HEATHCOTE.--A. A. Zimmerman made a mile on a Safety bicycle in 2 +min. 6 4-5 secs. at Springfield, Mass., September 9, 1892. W. Windle, on +September 29, 1892, at the same place, made 3 miles in 7 min. 4 3-5 +secs; 4 miles in 9 min. 26 3-5 secs., and 5 miles in 11 min. 41 secs. + +CAMDEN.--1. His Royal Highness Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, is alive +and hearty, at the age of fifty-one. 2. A silver dollar of 1827 has no +premium value. 3. See "The Average Boy," No. 50, Vol. 12, GOLDEN DAYS. +4. There are a number of dealers in printers' supplies in Philadelphia, +and your best plan would be to go to them for a list of prices. + +A. W. OULDBE.--1. See answer to "Doc," No. 41, Vol. 13. 2. The salary of +an electrical engineer varies with his knowledge, position and scope of +his duties. There are always positions for experts, but, as in every +other profession, the beginner must commence at the foot and work his +way up. Colleges do not secure situations for their graduates; they must +do that for themselves. + +A. G. M. AND OTHERS.--GOLDEN DAYS is pleased to receive letters of +commendation of the excellent serials which are a feature of the paper, +but for obvious reasons we cannot remove the disguises which the authors +choose to throw around their characters. It frequently happens that +living characters are portrayed, who, though they do not object to +having their adventures described, might not like the publication of +their real names, residence or other personal particulars. + +A. T. REYNOLDS.--The largest bell in the world is the "Czar Kolokol," or +King of Bells, cast in Moscow in 1734, during the reign of the Empress +Anna. It is 21 feet high and the same in diameter, and weighs 193 tons. +During a fire in 1737 it fell to the ground, a large piece being broken +out in the fall and remained sunk in the earth until 1837. In that year +it was raised and now forms the dome of a small chapel made by +excavating the space below it. The worshipers enter through the opening +where the bell was broken by the fall. It is very unlikely that any +attempt will ever be made to restore it to its former use. + +H. O. A.--In light oak graining, the ground coat is yellow ochre and the +graining coat raw umber. House painters are not thoroughly agreed on +graining for oak and walnut, so that they do not always mix the same +shades; in fact, since there is no school of house painting, it is +largely a matter of individual taste and skill. + +T. P.--The first and second volumes of GOLDEN DAYS, being out of print, +are not for sale at this office, and naturally command a premium when +sold by other parties. Bound volumes are usually quoted at ten dollars, +and higher prices may have been given. They may be had, however, +occasionally through the medium of our exchange columns. + +A SUBSCRIBER.--1. The U.S. navy now has 116 vessels of all kinds, of +which 44 are building or not in commission. 2. The greatest war ship of +the English navy, and also the greatest in the world, is the Royal +Sovereign, 380 feet in length, 75 feet in breadth, and of a displacement +of 14,150 tons. The armament consists of four 13-1/2-inch guns, ten +6-inch quick-firing guns, and twenty-five 6-pounder and 3-pounder +machine guns. + +DON'T KNOW.--Upon meeting a young married woman, upon her return from +her wedding journey, it would be proper to congratulate her and wish her +happiness in her new relation; but, if you had not previously known her +in a single state, a simple acknowledgment of the introduction is all +that would be necessary. + +ARCHY TECT.--A knowledge of geometry is essential to a successful +architect; in fact, he should be expert in all branches of mathematics, +as well as a good draughtsman. See answer to "Arch-I-Tect," in No. 42, +Vol. 13, for your other questions, to which it is only necessary to add +that architects are paid according to contract only. + +J. B. McF.--A tun is a certain measure for liquids, as for wine, and its +capacity equals two pipes, or four hogsheads, or 252 gallons. Being a +measure, a tun may be made of any shape, so that the capacity is neither +increased or diminished. Any school arithmetic treats of this subject +under the head of "measures." + +AN OLD READER.--We do not think it would serve any good purpose to +publish a list of the serial stories which have appeared in GOLDEN DAYS +since the first issue. They average more than twenty complete serials to +the volume, and the titles are included in the annual index. If you, who +have read the paper since the first volume, wish to refresh your memory, +indexes will be sent you free, on receipt of your real name and address. + +D. EMBE.--Rotting tree-stumps may be easily removed in this way: With a +one-and-a-quarter-inch auger, bore a hole in the centre of the stump, +eighteen inches deep, and put in twenty ounces of saltpetre; fill the +hole with water and plug it tight. In the spring, take out the plug, +pour into the hole a half-pint of crude petroleum and set it on fire. +The stump will burn and smolder to the end of the roots, leaving nothing +but ashes. + +H. H. P. L.--From No. 1, of Vol. 13, up to No. 33, of the same volume, +the following-named serials were begun. The Young Engineer, The Hermit's +Protege, Little Miss Muffet, An Unpremeditated Journey, Johnny Henry's +Cruise on the Spanish Main, The Mystery of Valentine Stanlock, Lost In a +Ceylon Jungle, Adrift From Home, Crowded Out, In Hostile Hands, In the +Homes of the Cliff Dwellers, Una, Lost in the Slave Land, Smack Boys and +Judge Dockett's Grandson. + +NO NAME.--1. When tinware is worn until the iron shows, it can be +retinned by dipping it again; but the process would be too expensive, +except as an experiment. It would first have to be washed in a chemical +bath, and then dipped the same as tin plates. 2. Poultry raising is +undoubtedly a profitable business, if followed intelligently, and is +best done on an extensive scale, with the benefit of modern appliances. +In Eastern cities, eggs and poultry bring very high prices during nine +months of the year, and the demand is always in excess of the supply. +You may gain some valuable hints on this subject by reading "Practicable +and Profitable Poultry Keeping," Nos. 13 and 14, and "Nell's Chicken +Farm," No. 18, Vol. 13, GOLDEN DAYS. + +DETECTIVE.--If you have any serious notion of being a detective, the +best thing for you to do is disabuse your mind of the idea. A boy who +can speak three languages and writes shorthand should secure a situation +in the office of a steamship company or a large importing house which +has foreign correspondents. Such talents would be thrown away in the +detective business, which is not the lucrative profession you imagine. +The best detectives are now in the employ of the national government or +city authorities, and the supply at all times exceeds the demand. At the +beginning you could not expect more than three or four dollars a day, +and only during the time you were employed, and the rewards of which you +have read so much would go to the agency, and not to the men who do the +work. + +C. O. P.--1. The famous liberty bell still hangs in the corridor of +Independence Hall, in Philadelphia, although it is proposed to take it +to Chicago to exhibit during the Columbian Exposition. No proposition +has ever been made to melt it and recast the metal into two smaller +bells, as such a proceeding would justly be regarded as little short of +sacrilege. 2. There are many kinds of pigeons, but only two kinds--the +common pigeon and the turtle dove--have been tamed. All the fancy breeds +now raised come from the common pigeon, which is descended from the wild +rock pigeon or rock dove. The carrier pigeon is a special breed, larger +than the common pigeon, with a long, slim neck, with a piece of naked +skin across its bill and hanging down on each side. Carrier pigeons have +been known from the most ancient times, especially in the East. + +F. C.--1. By the census of 1890, the Indian population of the United +States, exclusive of Alaska, is set down at 249,273. Of these, 133,382 +are at schools or on reservations, under the control of the Indian +Bureau; 66,289 are included in the five civilized tribes of Cherokees, +Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks and Seminoles; the pueblos of New Mexico +contain 8278; the Cherokees of North Carolina and the Six Nations of New +York number 6189; Indians taxed or taxable, 32,567; and the remainder +are prisoners of war or in jail for state offenses. 2. Admission to the +Columbian Exposition has been fixed at fifty cents, for young and old. +3. The London-Paris telephone is open to the public on week days from 8 +A.M. to 8 P.M., and the charge is two dollars for three minutes' +conversation. The distance by wire is nearly 170 miles. 4. The nearest +telephone office in your city will give you distances and rates. 5. Your +handwriting is plain and legible. + +NAPOLEON I.--1. Although Napoleon Bonaparte is still idolized by the +French nation and has elsewhere many ardent admirers it is now generally +conceded that all his deeds sprung from personal ambition and that he +had little of that love of country which characterized Washington. No +one can call him a patriot; he was a soldier imbued with the love of +conquest, and as such was merciless and even cruel. In his private life +he was by no means a model, and his divorcing Josephine for State +reasons has been generally condemned. He was perhaps the greatest +soldier that ever lived, at any rate dividing the honors with Julius +Caesar, but many greater men have lived, if we may define greatness as +that which confers the most good upon mankind. 2. If a boy could have +the personal tuition of an expert civil engineer he could learn the +profession, but the easiest and quickest way is to take a college course +and then go to work as an assistant. + +AN OLD SUBSCRIBER.--When training for a bicycle race, the rider should +first get his stomach in good condition. He should begin the exercise +easily, and work up day by day as his strength and agility increases. He +must indulge in plenty of wholesome food, but never touch pastry or +tobacco in any shape. Having got into good condition, he should decide +what distance he proposes to race, and turn his whole attention to it, +never striving to become a long and a short-distance rider at one and +the same time. Two or three trials of speed, at forty or fifty yards +distances, should be made every day, after getting in fair form, slowing +up gradually each time. Then he should finish up the day with a run of +from one hundred and fifty to two hundred yards at three-quarter speed, +and so on, day after day, until the stipulated distance is covered at +full speed. The same method should be pursued in training for a foot +race, boat race or swimming contest. On the day of the race, if the +contest occurs in the afternoon, the only exercise should be a gentle +ride for a mile or two. + +DARKEY.--1. Architects' assistants are paid salaries in accordance with +their experience and skill, which varies greatly. 2. Government +postage-stamp mucilage is not for sale, but can be easily made as +follows: Gum dextrine, 2 parts; acetic acid, 1 part; water, 5 parts. +Dissolve in a water bath and add 1 part alcohol. 3. William H. McKinley +is an American. 4. We do not advertise periodicals of any kind in this +department. 5. Detective agencies are private affairs, except those +connected with the police department of various cities. The salaries are +not by any means munificent, and are earned by a vast amount of +privation, exposure and hard work. 6. There are now built or in +commission 24 armored vessels, 11 unarmored vessels, 4 gunboats and 4 +special class vessels of the new navy, and 59 iron and wooden vessels of +the old navy, of which 30 are in commission. 7. Major Andre, on August +1, 1780, wrote "The Battle of Cow Chace." It was in three cantos, and +was a parody on the English ballad of "Chevy Chace." 8. On the 1st of +June, 1785, John Adams was introduced by the Marquis of Carmathen to the +King of Great Britain as first ambassador extraordinary from the United +States of America to the Court of London. 9. A considerable portion of +the United States yet remains to be surveyed, but no portion remains +unexplored. There are doubtless large tracts of forest and mountain land +which are in primeval wildness, but the general topography is known. In +Alaska, however, there are thousands of square miles which have never +been visited by a white man, mainly in the interior; in fact, with the +exception of a strip of sea-coast and the lands bordering on the Yukon +River, all Alaska is _terra incognito_. + +LOUIS GRANAT.--Read "Some Points About West Point," No. 12, Vol. 7 +GOLDEN DAYS.--C. B. GOLDEN DAYS has never published directions how to +make a star puzzle out of wood.--CURIOSITY SHOP. See "Leaf +Skeletonizing" in No. 39 Vol. 13.--S. W. Sir Moses Montefiore died July +28, 1885.--F. P. B. Electro-plating was described in No. 23, Vol. 11, +and in answer to "Gualy Dids," No. 38, Vol. 13, a method is explained of +electro-plating without a battery.--A READER. The ever-recurring +question as to which goes faster, the top or the bottom of a wheel, was +answered in Our Letter Box, No. 31, Vol. 13, in reply to "Three Boys." + +[->] Several communications have been received which will be answered +next week. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration] + +Mr. L. B. Hamlen. + +Of Augusta, Me., says "I do not remember when I began to take Hood's +Sarsaparilla; it was several years ago and I find it does me a great +deal of good in my declining years. + +*I Am 91 Years* + +2 months and 26 days old, and my health is perfectly good. I have no +aches or pains. + +*Hood's Sarsaparilla* + +regulates my bowels, stimulates my appetite, and *helps me to sleep +well*. I doubt if a preparation was ever made so well suited to the +wants of *old people*." L. B. HAMLEN, Elm St., Augusta, Me. + +N.B.--Be sure to get Hood's. + + +*HOOD'S PILLS* cure sick headache, biliousness, assist digestion, the +best after-dinner pills. + + * * * * * + +*BAD COMPLEXIONS* + +Pimples, blackheads, red, rough, and oily skin, red, rough hands with +shapeless nails and painful finger ends, dry, thin, and falling hair, +and simple baby blemishes are prevented and cured by the celebrated + +*CUTICURA SOAP* + +[Illustration] + +Most effective skin-purifying and beautifying soap in the world, as well +as purest and sweetest of toilet and nursery soaps. The only medicated +*Toilet* soap, and the only preventive and cure of facial and baby +blemishes, because the only preventive of inflammation and clogging of +the pores, the _cause_ of minor affections of the skin, scalp, and hair. +Sale greater than the combined sales of all other skin and complexion +soaps. Sold throughout the world. + +POTTER DRUG AND CHEM. CORP., Boston. + +[->] "All about the Skin, Scalp, and Hair" free. + + +*HOW MY BACK ACHES!* + +[Illustration] + +Back Ache, Kidney Pains, and Weakness, Soreness, Lameness, Strains, and +Pains *relieved in one minute* by the *Cuticura Anti-Pain Plaster*, the +only pain killing strengthening plaster. + + * * * * * + +Notices of Exchange. + +[->] The publisher will positively take no responsibility concerning +exchanges effected by means of this department, neither will the +reliability of exchangers be guaranteed. To avoid any misunderstanding +in the matter, it would be advisable for those contemplating exchanging, +to write for particulars to the addresses, before sending the articles +desired. + +[->] Exchange notices, containing offers of or for _shot guns, air guns, +pistols, poisons, rifles, dangerous chemicals, animals, odd numbers of +papers, valueless coins and curiosities, birds' eggs_, or "offers" will +_not_ be inserted. + +*Exchange Notices, conforming with the above rules, are inserted free of +charge.* + + +R. Pier, West Hill, Dubuque, Iowa, hair-clippers, tent, U.S. and foreign +stamps and $30 worth of other articles for boxing gloves or Indian +clubs. + +H. A. Cutting, Wakefield, Mass., books, papers or a piccolo for a +Simplex or World or other good small typewriter. + +F. L. Bebont, Addison, N.Y., Vol. 2 GOLDEN DAYS for a Safety bicycle +head-lamp or an Ordinary bicycle hub lamp. + +W. G. Crease, 2043 Ridge Ave, Pa., Vols. 7, 8 and 9 GOLDEN DAYS and a +pair of mahogany drum-sticks for a piccolo. + +H. C. Head, 185 Oakwood Boulevard, Chicago, Ill., a 4-1/4 x 6-1/2 +portrait and view camera and outfit for a self-inking printing press, +a mandolin or a cornet (vicinity offers preferred). + +W. T. Fuller, care of DAVIS BROS. CO., Henderson, N.C., $15 worth of +complete volumes of story papers for a watch with gold-filled case. + +E. P. Huff, Box 38, Aida, Ohio, about $65 worth of goods, including +telegraph instruments, electrical goods books, etc., for a Safety +bicycle, 30 inch, ball bearing. + +C. Boyce, Troy, Pa., a hand-inking printing press (chase, 3x5), 6 fonts +of type and outfit for a B flat or E flat cornet or viola. + +B. Cornell, 427 Main St., Owego, N.Y., Vol. 65 of "Youth's Companion" +for a Harvard or a Glen camera and outfit in good order. + +J. Havens, Box 212, Tom's River, N.J., a New Rogers scroll saw with saw +blades, or a bracket saw with saw-blades and a base-ball bat, for a New +England Hawk camera and outfit or other 4x5 camera and outfit. + +J. A. Bollinger, 1001 Dickinson St., Phila., Pa., a self-winding +electric clock (value, $45), a C. & C. motor, 1/8 H.P. and 4 cells Mason +battery (value, $28), a telegraph key and sounder, 3 cells blue stone +battery, lightning arrester and ground-switch, 3 box bells and 6-cells +open circuit battery for a High Grade Safety bicycle or an improved +Remington typewriter and stand. + +A. J. Smith, Jr., 99 Mercer St., Jersey City, N.J., 4 batteries, a push +button, a book on electricity and a pair of American club skates for +Vols. 11 and 12 of GOLDEN DAYS. + +C. B. Gilliland, 114 Fifth St., Renovo, Pa., novels valued at $1, a pair +of ice skates, 100 stamps and 25 cards for any vol. of GOLDEN DAYS, in +good condition, prior to the 9th. + +C. S. Bontecou, 80 Broadway, New York, a cushion tire Credenta bicycle, +1892 model, with double chime bell (Harrison) and Orient lamp, in +perfect condition, for a one-horse-power boat engine or a 5x7 photo +camera of equal value. + +R. W. McMichael, Rockland, Maine, set of chessmen, Vol. 12 GOLDEN DAYS +and a bound book, all valued at $4.50, for a set of boxing gloves. + +C. Whitney, 825 Jefferson Ave., Detroit, Mich., a pair of Indian clubs +for a Rugby football, or self-inking Baltimorean press, chase 2-1/2 x +3-1/2, with type, quads, cuts, joints, ink and 300 cards, for 22 inch +Rugby football. + +C. Renfert, 456 E. Madison Ave., Cleveland, Ohio, a 6-1/2 x 8-1/2 camera +with rising front, a fine lens, 3 double plate holders, tripod and +carrying case, for a Kodack, Hawk Eye or Premier camera. + +J. C. Baxter, 2207 Memphis St., Philada., Pa., a 4x5 photograph camera, +tripod, carrying case and complete outfit, and a set of boxing gloves +for a B flat cornet (city offers preferred). + +E. W. Putnam, 118 N. Terrace Ave., Chattanooga, Tenn., a dark lantern +for books. + +W. G. Holboron, 634 8th Ave., N.Y. city, Vols. 6 and 7 GOLDEN DAYS and +40 Nos. of Vol. 8 for a banjo. + +J. Neubauer, 407 E. 87th St., N.Y. city, a lot of boys weekly papers and +other reading matter, for some musical instrument in good condition +(zither preferred). + +F. F. Cooke, 218 Menlo Ave., Sioux Falls, S.D., a magic lantern with 12 +slides, a fountain pen, $3 worth of job type and a flute, for a 20-ohm +telegraph key and sounder, any vol. of GOLDEN DAYS prior to the 9th, a +telescope or a collection of stamps. + +E. A. Fellingham, West Side, Crawford Co., Iowa, 12 numbers Frank +Leslie's "Pleasant Hours," a book called "Plain Facts," a Domestic +Encyclopedia and 2 story books for a telescope or field glass. + +H. L. Maitland, Bordentown, N.J., a No. 3 catcher's mask (A. J. Reach) +for a Rugby football. + +C. E. Proctor, 223 Ford St., Ogdensburg. N.Y., a bound book by Jas. Otis +for "Looking Backward," by Edward Bellamy. + +G. J. Frick, 2093 Fairhill St., Phila., Pa., a cornet, clarionet, pair +of opera glasses, 10 vols. of Journal Franklin Institute, 3 vols. of +GOLDEN DAYS, 1 vol. "Leisure Hours," and sporting goods to the value of +$15, for a Safety Bicycle, tuck-up boat, camera or typewriter. + +M. Hulings, Mt. Pleasant, Henry Co., Iowa, 6 mos. of Vol. 13 GOLDEN +DAYS, a pair of ice skates and a fountain pen for a 14 inch (or larger) +snare drum, with sticks. + + + + +"GOLDEN DAYS." + + +The title of GOLDEN DAYS was an inspiration, and the paper itself has +been a revelation. Our golden days are childhood and youth, when all +nature is bright and the future shows no cloud. It is the period when +the mind is formed for good or evil, and, in many respects, is the most +important period of life. + +There was a time when anything was good enough for young +people--cast-off clothing, second place at table and the poorest +sleeping-room, with snubbing at every hand. As for literature, it made +no difference how dull or prosy were the books, young people had to read +them or none at all. + +But the world moves, and GOLDEN DAYS was the pioneer in recognizing that +young people have tastes that must be consulted, if it is sought to +interest and amuse them. They will absorb knowledge, as a sponge does +water; but they will discriminate, as a sponge does not. A scientific +article can be as interesting as a novel, and yet be as full of +instruction as an egg is of meat; stories may point a moral unerringly +and yet thrill with romantic adventure, like Robinson Crusoe; natural +history teems with wonders far surpassing the Arabian Nights, and they +are all true! + +These are the principles upon which GOLDEN DAYS is founded, and from +which it has never deviated; and that is why it is to-day the most +popular juvenile paper in the world. Do you wonder why? There is no +mystery about its popularity. + +Its broad and generous pages, coming every week all the year round, +contain more reading than any other periodical in America. That is one +reason; but the other and better reason is, that all the reading is just +what the boys and girls want. + +To keep GOLDEN DAYS up to this standard, to make it bright, breezy and +abreast with the times, requires writers who understand boy-and-girl +nature; and it has them. + +Every regular number of GOLDEN DAYS contains liberal instalments of + +*Four Serials, together with Stories of Adventure, Articles on Science +and Natural History, Our Letter Box, Puzzles, Humorous Miscellany, +Illustrated Sketches,* + +and other interesting matter, and there is not a dull or common-place +line from the first page to the last. + + * * * * * + + Children Cry for Pitcher's Castoria. + + + CONSUMPTION + Relieved By + SCOTT'S EMULSION + + * * * * * + +J. McKeough, 1621 Ave. B, New York city, "Tom Brown's School Days At +Rugby" and "Perils By Land and Sea" for any vol. of GOLDEN DAYS up to +the 11th. (City offers only.) + +W. Troutman, 121 18th St., S.S., Pittsburgh Pa., a set of draughting +tools for a guitar. + +J. A. Brearley, 306 10th St., S.E., Washington D.C., Vol. 11 GOLDEN DAYS +(bound) for any other vol. (bound) prior to the 11th, except vol. 6 +or 7. + +L. P. Addison, Box 699, Saginaw, Mich., 5 fonts of type, 1 set of +numbers and a foot-power scroll-saw, with patterns, saw blades, and a +set of 6 finishing files, for a World typewriter or one of equal value. + +F. Bennett, 202 West 134th St., New York city, a small typewriter, a +magic lantern with slides and 2 games for a rugby football (city offers +preferred). + +L. C. Hamlin, Grand Junction, Mich., a U.S. flag 5 feet by 3 feet and a +pair of extension, nickel-plated ice-skates for a watch. + +A. McLean, Jr., 88 Highland Ave., Jersey City, N.J., a book of games and +sports, 200 varieties rare stamps, 2 fonts short type and a fishing reel +with line for a vol. of the GOLDEN DAYS prior to Vol. 10. + +H. S. Dunning, 314 Brodhead Ave., South Bethlehem, Pa., a 50-inch +Columbia Volunteer bicycle, with all the tools, almost as good as new, +for books, telescope, typewriter or camera. + +F. A. Newcomb, Jr., 97 Cross St., Somerville, Mass., a printing press +and outfit for a guitar or mandolin (guitar preferred). + +W. P. Shaw, cor. 7th Ave. and Garfield Place, Brooklyn, N.Y., 10 books, +an electric bell, a picture, 50 feet of copper wire, a solid rubber +ball, a camera worth $15, a thermometer, 2 vols. GOLDEN DAYS and 2 vols. +"Youths' Companion" for a tintype camera and outfit, making 4 pictures +on an 8x4 plate. + +A. Garrigues, 155 Lex'n Ave., N.Y. city, a foot-power scroll saw, a +guitar, a set of boxing gloves and a stamp album containing 900 +varieties of postage stamps for a bicycle. (Safety preferred). + +W. Rieder 500-1/2 East 80th St., N.Y. city, a magic pocket-lamp outfit, +a Star Safety razor, a small pocket printing outfit with 3 fonts of +rubber type, a gold scarf pin and some sporting goods for a small motor +and battery, or telegraph key and sounder, or small steam engine or +propeller. + +C. A. Hayn, box 268 Manitowac, Wis., Vol. 12 or 13 GOLDEN DAYS for any +previous vol. of same paper. + +W. F. Slusser, Rochester, Ind., a scroll saw and outfit, a collection of +stamps worth $200, a pair of Indian clubs, a sketching camera, a +collection of 500 covered stamp papers, an anchor puzzle, 1000 old +postal cards, 40,000 mixed U.S. stamps, 1 vol. "Youth's Companion," +a solid gold pencil, a steel engraver's outfit, a silk watch chain, a +pair of solid gold cuff buttons, a rubber printing outfit and dating +stamp, 2 pocket banks and 5 games for U.S. stamps (rare), a 1 horsepower +engine (marine), a printing press and outfit or a photographer's outfit. + +C. Wass, Kansas, Edgar Co., Ill., GOLDEN DAYS from No. 33, Vol. 10, to +No. 46, Vol. 13, a scroll saw and an electric motor of sewing-machine +power for No. 18 or 20 magnet wire. + +C. J. Deibert, 2009 N. 8th St., Phila., Pa., a foot power scroll saw for +a set of boxing gloves. + +A. Gross, 24 Stanton St., N.Y. city, a small hand printing press, +complete, a few types missing, for any volume of GOLDEN DAYS. + +J. W. Neveil, 2317 Sepviva St., Phila., Pa., a rare collection of U.S. +and foreign stamps, a collection of minerals and an actor's make-up book +for a nickel plated rim banjo. + +M. Ross, 41 Maiden Lane, N.Y. city, a collection of 106 different U.S. +and foreign stamps in Challenge Album, "Winter Evening Tales" (bound), +"Stories About Animals" (bound), and Vere Foster's "Animal Drawing Book" +for a zither of 15 strings. + +R. C. Morris, Box 473, Greenville, Bond Co., Ill., 4 vols. GOLDEN DAYS +for a banjo, guitar or B flat clarionet. + +J. W. M. Schmitt, 1112 E. Monroe St., Springfield, Ill., a 4x5 view +camera and complete outfit and some books for a good self inking +printing press and outfit. + +L. C. Hamlin, Grand Junction, Mich., a pair of extension ice skates and +2 vols. of "Youth's Companion" for a watch or a small steam engine and +boiler. + +L. D. Brace, Nunda, N.Y., a silver Elgin watch, 1 vol. "Youth," 23 books +by Optic and Alger and 12 magazines for a self-inking printing press. + +H. M. Emerick, 633 Putnam St., Brooklyn, N.Y., a $40 26-inch Safety +bicycle for any 4x5 hand camera and outfit worth $15 or more. + +W. Kolle, 438 First St., Brooklyn, N.Y., a 4x5 camera and outfit, a set +of boxing gloves, a printing press and stage costumes for a camera worth +at least $30. + +G. B. Bissell, 306 W. 137th St., N.Y. city, a magic lantern and slides, +2 games and 5 books for a Rugby football (city offers preferred). + +R. A. Epperson, 344 Hudson Av., Chicago, Ill., a catcher's mask, a +league ball and 2 cloth-bound books for a Rugby football. + +C. E. Rice, Sardinia, N.Y., vols. of "N.Y. Weekly," "N.Y. Ledger" and +"Family Story Paper" for vols. of GOLDEN DAYS or "Saturday Night." + + * * * * * + +_All_ who use Dobbins' Electric Soap praise it as the _best_, cheapest +and _most economical_ family soap made; but if you will try it once it +will tell a still stronger tale of its merits _itself_. _Please_ try it. +Your grocer will supply you. + + * * * * * + +*From the West Philadelphia Press.* + +GOLDEN DAYS is far ahead of any weekly paper published in the United +States having for its object the culture and amusement of the youthful +mind. Now, in its Twelfth Volume, it exhibits every sign of strength, +permanency and progression. Mr. Elverson, the proprietor and editor, is +one of those men who believe it a duty to do what they can for their +race, and wisely he is doing for the "rising generation" a work which, +for him, is "a work of love." Aiming to benefit our youth, through +history, science, philosophy, geography, mechanics, etc., in a manner +easily comprehended, he has made his journal the efficient instrument of +his noble purpose. Could he see the anxiety on the faces of his young +friends awaiting the arrival of GOLDEN DAYS by the mail or the news +agent, he would feel that his efforts to please them were not in vain, +and that the running of his great presses, day and night, at Ninth and +Spruce Streets, was indeed to them a gratification and blessing. + + +*From the Christian Advocate. Richmond, Va* + +Any boy's or girl's days must be golden who reads that charming paper, +published in Philadelphia, styled GOLDEN DAYS. The day it comes, and +every day after, while its contents are not exhausted, will be golden +with the charming adventures, incidents of travel and thrilling stories +of childhood and youth. The children of every family should have it. +Parents cannot make a better investment than to subscribe for GOLDEN +DAYS for their young folks. It is sent to any address for $3 per year. +James Elverson, Publisher, Philadelphia, Pa. + + +*From the Albany Evening Post.* + +GOLDEN DAYS is one of the very best publications for boys and girls in +this country. Every number contains a valuable amount of information on +athletic sports, fishing, hunting, and short stories on all kinds of +interesting subjects. The best writers are engaged, and they give their +best work to GOLDEN DAYS. James Elverson has produced a weekly paper for +young people that finds a warm welcome in every city, town and village +from Maine to California. GOLDEN DAYS can be found at all our bookstores +and news rooms throughout the United States. + + +*From Uncle Sam, El Dorado Springs, Mo.* + +Our opinion of GOLDEN DAYS is very plain and straight, as follows: It is +one of the purest publications to be found in the hands of the reading +young people of the present day. It is full of short sketches that are +interesting and instructive to the young and the old as well. The serial +stories are all perfectly pure and are very interesting, besides setting +good examples and morals for all who read them. I have read GOLDEN DAYS +more or less for seven or eight years, and I unhesitatingly pronounce it +pure and instructive enough to be in the home circle of every family in +the reading world. + + +*From the Southern World.* + +Mr. James Elverson, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, deserves the thanks +of parents who desire to see the minds of their children fed on healthy +reading matter. His GOLDEN DAYS, for boys and girls, is one of the +handsomest and best weekly publications of the kind in the country, and +should supplant the vile, sensational trash with which the country is +flooded. The hope of our republic is in her youth, and if their moral +characters are not elevated and made noble by a pure and lofty type of +literature for boys and girls, we may expect serious trouble in the +future of our race. + + +*From the Advocate of Peace, Boston.* + +GOLDEN DAYS.--"To merit is to insure success," is certainly verified in +the publication of GOLDEN DAYS, by James Elverson, Philadelphia. This +admirable weekly for the youth of this great land is now well +established, and has an increasingly large and well-deserved patronage. +Its readers are not treated with trashy matter, but with pictures and +puzzles and stories of thrilling adventure and useful knowledge. GOLDEN +DAYS is supplanting a poisonous literature, and performing a wholesome +mission in this day, when too much good seed cannot be sown by the +friends of humanity. + + +*From the News, Bloomfield, Ind.* + +GOLDEN DAYS.--"To merit is to insure success" is certainly verified in +the publication of GOLDEN DAYS, by James Elverson, Philadelphia. This +admirable weekly for the youth of this great land is now well +established and has a large and well-deserved patronage. It is +supplanting a poisonous literature, and performing a wholesome mission +in this day when too much good seed cannot be sown by the friends of +humanity. Parents wishing to put valuable reading matter into the hands +of their children should subscribe. It is only $3 per annum, and can be +had weekly or monthly as may be desired. + + +*From the Journal, Philipsburg, Pa.* + +James Elverson, corner Ninth and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia, publishes +a handsome illustrated and interesting youth's paper called GOLDEN DAYS, +only $3 per year. It should find a welcome in every home for the young +folks, for the reading is wholesome, and such literature should be +encouraged by prompt subscriptions. If the youngsters catch a glimpse of +it they will find they need it as a recreation after study hours. Send +for sample copy. + + +*From the Gazette, Charlotte Court-House Virginia.* + +GOLDEN DAYS.--Of all the publications for little boys and girls, GOLDEN +DAYS stands most conspicuous to the front, while its columns abound with +stories and tales well calculated to entertain, amuse and please the +youthful reader. There is a moral in its articles well calculated to +make the young reader better for having read its columns. The +subscription price is $3 per year, two copies for $5. Send for specimen +copy, and you will be sure to take it. + + +*From the Philadelphia Times.* + +Of all illustrated juvenile periodicals published in this country, none +is more deservedly popular than GOLDEN DAYS, published by James +Elverson, this city. It strikes that happy medium which appeals to the +masses of school children whose tastes have not been spoiled by +overstrained appeals to their fancy, and while it is bright and varied, +it aims to be instructive in a pleasant, homelike way. The monthly part, +made up of the four weekly parts, is quite a treasury of short stories, +pictures and puzzles. + + +*From the Buckeye Vidette, Salem, Ohio.* + +GOLDEN DAYS.--This deservedly popular paper begins the autumn ripe with +golden fruit. Its stories and miscellany are rare gems of interest, +being instructive and pure, and it completely accomplishes the delicate +task of satisfying a boy's taste for adventure without being +sensational. The pictures are handsomely executed. Its articles on +scientific subjects are of the best, its short stories good, and, in +fact, it is a masterly combination of useful and fascinating literature. + + +*From the Standard, Belvidere, Ill.* + +James Elverson, Philadelphia, publishes a handsomely illustrated and +interesting youth's paper called GOLDEN DAYS. It should find a welcome +in every home for the young folks, for the reading is wholesome, and +such literature should be encouraged by prompt subscriptions. If the +youngsters catch a glimpse of it they will find they need it as a +recreation after study hours. + + +*From the Pipe of Peace, Genoa, Neb.* + +GOLDEN DAYS fills a want that no other magazine attempts to supply. +Pure, clean, instructive and amusing, it furnishes reading matter, both +for young and old, which is not surpassed by any other publication. + +Published in attractive form, beautifully illustrated and in clear type, +the mechanical work is in keeping with the reading matter it contains. +Address for sample copies, James Elverson, Philadelphia, Pa. + + +*From the Methodist, New York.* + +James Elverson, Philadelphia, publishes a handsome, illustrated and +interesting youth's paper, called GOLDEN DAYS. It should find a welcome +in every Christian home for the young folks, for the reading is +wholesome, and such literature should be encouraged by prompt +subscriptions. If the youngsters catch a glimpse of it, they will find +they need it as a recreation after study-hours. + + +*From the Record, Union, Mo.* + +GOLDEN DAYS, published by James Elverson, Philadelphia, is a weekly +journal of literature and fiction for the rising generation. The paper +is not of dime novel order, but its serials and short stories are +instructive, moral and entertaining. The youths of this land must have +reading, and Mr. Elverson, in printing such an exalted and high-toned +paper, is winning the support and thanks of the people. + + +*From the Republican Journal, Belfast, Me.* + +GOLDEN DAYS, the leading juvenile weekly (and monthly) continues to grow +in interest and circulation, and is a welcome visitor to homes over all +this broad land. The publisher's claim that it is "pure, instructive and +entertaining" will be conceded by all who read it. James Elverson, +publisher, Philadelphia. + + +OUR PREMIUM KNIFE! + +[Illustration {Golden Days knife}] + +Ivory handle, beautifully finished, EXACTLY AS ILLUSTRATED. Made to our +own order, and can ONLY be had by subscribing to "GOLDEN DAYS." + +[->] We will make this Knife *a Present* to any one who sends us THREE +DOLLARS + +*For One Year's Subscription to "Golden Days."* + +[->] The money must be sent *direct* to this office. Address + +*JAMES ELVERSON*, Publisher "GOLDEN DAYS," Phila., Pa. + +*Special Notice.--WHEN TEN CENTS FOR REGISTERING IS SENT, we consider +ourselves responsible for the safe delivery, though we have sent several +thousand Knives without one in a thousand being lost.* + + * * * * * + + Binding "Golden Days" + + Covers for Binding + + Volume 12, + + "GOLDEN DAYS," + +Stamped in gilt and black lines, will be sent by mail, +postage paid, to any address, on receipt of + + SIXTY CENTS. + +[->] These covers can only be attached properly by a practical +book-binder. + +With the cover will be sent a handsome title-page and complete index. +Address. + + JAMES ELVERSON, Publisher, + PHILADELPHIA + + * * * * * + + *Something That + YOU Want*! + +_Thousands have asked for it_. + +A HANDY BINDER! + +That will hold 52 "Golden Days." + + [Illustration] + +Heavy, embossed cloth covers, with flexible back. GOLDEN DAYS stamped in +gold letters on the outside. Full directions for inserting papers go +with each Binder. We will send the HANDY BINDER and a package of Binder +Pins to any address on receipt of *50 cents*. Every reader should have +one. + + Address JAMES ELVERSON, + Philadelphia, Pa. + + * * * * * + + [Illustration: + (The + READY BINDER + for binding + THREE MONTHS + of the + GOLDEN DAYS + Price 10 Cents.)] + +*THIS BINDER* is light, strong and handsome, and the weekly issues of +GOLDEN DAYS are held together by it in the convenient form of a book, +which can be kept lying on the reading-table. It is made of two white +wires joined together in the centre, with slides on either end for +pressing the wires together, thus holding the papers together by +pressure without mutilating them. We will furnish the Binders at Ten +Cents apiece, postage prepaid. + + Address JAMES ELVERSON. + + Publisher, Philadelphia, Pa. + + * * * * * + + JUST OUT + + "Golden Days," Vol. XII + +Is a Magnificent Book of 832 pages. A perfect mine of everything +that will interest young people. It is + + Superbly Illustrated! + +CONTAINING + +Over 400 Finely-executed Wood Engravings--making, without question, the + +*Most Attractive Book of the Season!* + + +[->] This volume will be sent to my address, prepaid, on receipt of +price, $4.00. + + JAMES ELVERSON, + Publisher "GOLDEN DAYS," + PHILADELPHIA + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + +Illustrations: + +Readers who are unable to use the fully illustrated html version of +this text may wish to view some individual images, located within the +"images" directory of the html file. The major illustrations are: + + Cover pic01.jpg + Off Shore pic03.jpg + A Plucky Girl pic07.jpg + A Perilous Ride pic14.jpg + The Purple Pennant (decorative title) pic15.jpg + The Mutiny on Board of the Sea Eagle pic11.jpg + Civil Engineering in the Tropics pic18.png + + +Layout of Advertising Pages: + +inside front: + + +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+ + | Sapolio | Aermotor | Ayer's | + +---------------+---------------+ | Sarsaparilla | + |(testimonials) | FREE! +---------------+ | + // // // // // + | +---------------+ Stamps | | + | |(testimonials) | | | + |(testimonials) +---------------+---------------+ | + | | Pitcher's Castoria | Deaf ... | + +---------------+-------------------------------+---------------+ + + +inside back: + + +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+ + | Hood's | Cuticura | (exchanges) | Scott's | + | Sarsaparilla +---------------+ +---------------+ + | | My Back Aches | | (exchanges) | + | +---------------+---------------+ | + +---------------+ "Golden Days" | | + | (exchanges) | | | + // // // // + | | | | + | +-------------------------------+ | + | (exchanges) | Pitcher's Castoria | (exchanges) | + +---------------+-------------------------------+---------------+ + + +back cover: + + +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+ + |(testimonials) |(testimonials) |(testimonials) | Handy Binder | + // // // // // + | | | +---------------+ + | | +---------------+ Ready Binder | + |(testimonials) |(testimonials) | Binding | | + | | +---------------+---------------+ + +---------------+---------------+ "Golden Days" Vol. XII | + | Our Premium Knife | | + +-------------------------------+-------------------------------+ + + +Errata (noted by transcriber) + +Missing or incorrect punctuation was silently corrected. Typographical +errors in the advertising sections were left unchanged; those in the +main text were corrected. Both are noted here. The "cents" symbol was +not used; prices use the simple letter "c". + + +Advertising, Front Section: + + (For Clerk No. 14 ) + [_space in original, as if number was inserted later_] + *CANCER* and Tumors ... Book free. 163 Elm St. + [_printing unclear: possibly 168_] + +Off Shore + + but the reason therefor was unknown [_"therefor" is not an error_] + Mr. Noman had contented himself [Norman] + +Big Fishes + + sent the man eater adrift [_printing unclear: possibly "man-eater"_] + +Puzzledom + + No. 3. Eve r [_spaced as shown_] + +Slides for the Magic Lantern + + and to facilitate this [faciliate] + +A Plucky Girl + + he dared not descend to the ground, because, the wolves might attack + [_commas as printed_] + +Ephraim Clark + + Eric Ericcsson was transferred as a private + [_spelling of name unchanged: earlier parts of serial unavailable + for comparison_] + +Condensed Food + + a handful of maccaroni [_spelling unchanged_] + condensed by desiccation [dessication] + +The Mutiny + + it will give me an opportunity [me give] + +A Perilous Ride + + three-fourths of an inch thick, and seven in height [heighth] + a little shooting on my own account on the way. + [_comma for period_] + while the Esquimaux were running about + [_text unchanged: error for "See-ne-mee-utes"?_] + +The Purple Pennant + + who could scarcely believe that the news [belive] + busily examining a heterogenous mass of papers + [_text unchanged: probably error for unrelated word + "heterogeneous"_] + steadily dropping from the high place, he once held + [_comma in original_] + +A Quarrel + + fishing-pole in hand [in had] + +Replies to Correspondents + + neither increased or diminished [_error for "nor"?_] + Alaska is _terra incognito_ [_unchanged: error for "incognita"_] + +Advertising, End + + This volume will be sent to my address + [_unchanged: error for "any address"_] + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Golden Days for Boys and Girls, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOLDEN DAYS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS *** + +***** This file should be named 24904.txt or 24904.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/9/0/24904/ + +Produced by Louise Hope, Juliet Sutherland and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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