CHAPTER TEN. · Part 1

CHAPTER TEN.

I CLING TO A PART OF THE WRECK, AND AM TOSSED IN THE SEA--PETER AND READY ARE ALSO SAVED--I IMPROVISE A RAFT, AND GET PETER AND READY ABOARD--WE REACH AN UNINHABITED ISLAND--SAM SNAG AND ANOTHER ALSO REACH LAND--FRIENDS OR FOES?--WATER! WATER!--WE LAND A CASK AND FIND IT CLARET--READY DISCOVERS A SPRING--THE MATE WANTS MEAT, AND MEANS TO EAT US.

My impulse--and I followed it--was to cling fast to the ring-bolt to which I was holding on when the ship struck. I heard a few piercing shrieks, some faint cries followed, and then all was silent. I felt that the vessel was breaking up, and plank after plank was torn away, till I judged that but a small portion of the wreck remained for me to hold to. I urged poor Peter to hold on tight to the last, and scarcely had I uttered the words than the remainder of the vessel was rent asunder, and I found myself floating alone on the plank through which the ring-bolt was run. I shouted to Peter--there was no answer; I called Ready, but, for the first time since his puppyhood, he did not reply. I felt very forlorn as I was tossed up and down in the darkness amid that raging sea, with a sensation of down-heartedness which I had never before experienced. The planks forming the part of the deck to which I clung seemed to hold well together, so that I was under no expectation of immediate destruction, and that fact gave me time to think more of the loss of my two faithful companions.

I was convinced that daylight must soon come, and I hoped then to be able to ascertain how near to land I was. I supposed that the vessel had struck on a coral reef, and that it formed a barrier or outside reef to some island, or islet, such as is common in those seas. I was confirmed in this belief from finding the sea so much calmer than it had been, judging by the comparatively easy movements of my raft. I wished and wished for day, and though the wishing did not bring it, it came at last--a grey, cold dawn at first; but as the sun rose, the wind fell, the black vapours cleared away, the blue sky appeared, and now--the raft floating so calmly that I was able to stand up on it--I saw, rising at no great distance above, a yellow sandy beach, a grove of cocoa-nut palms, bananas, and other trees of the tropics. On the opposite side, a line of breakers, showing the position of the reef, outside which the sea still tossed and tumbled from the effects of the hurricane.

Portions of the wreck, too, were floating about in the smooth water, and as I looked I saw that something was moving on one of them. I waved and shouted to draw attention to myself. A figure rose up and waved in return, and a faint bark reached my ear. Even at that distance my faithful Ready recognised me. I was indeed thankful that Peter and he had been thus far saved, though, as we were still some distance from the shore, we might both be starved before we could reach it. I could have swam to it with perfect ease, but I knew too much of the black fins of those seas to risk myself in the water, especially as I suspected that the monsters must have had their thirst for blood freshened by the meal they must have had off some of my late shipmates.

I longed to be able to communicate with poor Peter, but it seemed impossible that I could reach him. As the sun rose the hurricane completely ceased, and the water inside the reef became so perfectly smooth, that I could not only stand upright but could walk about. As I was doing so I saw, not far off, a boat's oar, and a little beyond it what I took to be a mast, with other spars, and a sail and cordage hanging to it. I was contemplating swimming towards the oar, at all events, when, as I was about to plunge in, the fin of a shark slowly gliding by, warned me of my danger. I looked at the oar with a longing eye, and tried if I could by running on the piece of wreck urge it forward. While thus employed without any effect, I felt the breeze, which had completely fallen, fan my cheek, and as it increased I saw that my body was acting as a sail, and the raft was approaching the oar, though very slowly. At length I was able to seize it, and giving it a flourish above my head in my satisfaction, I began to paddle towards the broken mast with the spars and sail.

As the breeze increased, my fear was that I should be driven past it on one side, and I had to paddle with all my might to steer for it. I shouted with satisfaction when I got up to it, and had hauled it upon the raft. By forcing out a bull's-eye in the deck I found a stop for the mast, and by carrying shrouds to the ring-bolts and to the splintered ends of the planks, I was able to secure it. I next hoisted my sail, and, infinitely to my satisfaction, found that I could direct my course for the part of the wreck to which Peter and Ready were clinging. They saw me coming. Peter waved his hands, and shouted and cried, and Ready jumped and barked, and nearly tumbled overboard in his agitation. I saw a shark waiting to catch him had he done so, and I entreated Peter to hold him down in case of an accident. They both, as I got up, sprang on to my raft at the same moment. Peter could scarcely speak to express his joy at my preservation, and Ready tried to lick me all over to show his love, though he could scarcely have understood how great was the danger we had run. The breeze which had carried me thus far, began to fail, and I feared that, after all, we should be unable to reach the shore.

We were very hungry, and as we had nothing to eat or drink, we were anxious to reach land as soon as possible. Peter suggested that we should make another paddle with one of the smaller spars I had picked up. To show that it was possible to do so he forced out some nails from the planks, and breaking off a piece of board, secured it to the spar. By this means we were able to paddle much faster than before, and, after considerable exertion, we reached the sandy beach with hearts thankful for our preservation.

To show his satisfaction, Ready scampered about on the sands, and then coming to lick my hands, lay down at my feet, with his tongue out, panting for water. My heart misgave me when I saw this. Had there been water his instinct would have conducted him to it, I fancied. I was already suffering severely from thirst, and so, I saw, was Peter, but he made no complaints. The cocoa-nuts, many of which strewed the ground, were yet too small to contain any milk, and we broke one after the other without finding one with any milk, although we allayed our thirst by chewing a little of the scarcely-formed fruit. A little refreshed, we set off in search of the much-desired water, but we had not gone many yards before the conviction forced itself on me that there was none to be procured.

Except the narrow belt of palm which I had at first seen, not another green thing was to be seen on the islet, the whole surface being little more than sand and coral rock.

As we stood outside the belt observing the inhospitable aspect of the country, I saw two objects moving along the beach in the distance. They were men, and there could be no doubt that they were part of the crew of the unfortunate _Weathercock_. I was thankful that some of the poor fellows had escaped, and we at once hurried on toward them. We had gone some distance when Peter slackened his speed, and even Ready hung back.

"What is the matter?" I asked of the former.

"Don't you see that it's that ill-doing mate fellow?" he answered. "No good'll come if he's to be with us."

"Possibly the peril he has escaped may have improved his character," I remarked, as I advanced towards the individual named, for I saw that he was no other than Sam Snag, and that the man with him was one of the most ill-favoured of the crew--a fellow with a stolid, hang-dog, evil countenance, who looked capable of committing any atrocity without the slightest compunction. Still, repulsive as were the two men, they were fellow-creatures, and I instinctively held out my hand to congratulate them on escaping from the terrific dangers we had gone through, when so many of our companions had perished.

Without either of them appearing to observe the motion they scowled fiercely at me, Snag greeting me with the remark, "Oh, so you've turned up, have you?"

"Yes, our lives have been spared as yet," I answered quietly, determined not to give any cause of offence. "But, friends, we are suffering greatly from want of water. Can you tell us if any is to be found on the island?"

"Friends! eh--well, that's as the case may be," growled Snag. "As to the water, there may or there may not be some; but as there isn't enough for all, it will be for those who have it and can keep it."

The two ruffians held pieces of a spar in their hands, and assumed so menacing an attitude that I felt that it would be hopeless to obtain the water they had found by force, and equally hopeless to obtain it by persuasion.

"Very well, Mr Snag, what is your own you have a right to keep," I replied calmly. "But I thought that a common danger escaped, would have made us friends, and I certainly should not have treated you as you seem disposed to treat me." Saying this I turned aside towards the belt of palm trees. I was very glad that he had no firearms in his hand, for from the look he gave me, I felt very sure that he would have shot me at that moment, and would then probably have made Peter work for him as a slave, or have killed him also. I heard the ruffians giving way to shouts of hoarse laughter as I and Peter and Ready retired.

Such were the men who were to be my fellow islanders (I will not call them associates or companions), till we could make our escape from the islet. Their presence would greatly increase my difficulties. It would have been bad enough had I and Peter and Ready been alone. All we could do was to keep away from them, and to try and find something with which to quench our thirst.

After hunting about we found some young cocoa-nuts, blown down by the hurricane. The softest part of these afforded us sufficient moisture somewhat to allay our burning thirst. Ready shared with us, and without this would I think have gone mad. We then felt very hungry, and hoping to find some shell-fish on the rocks we returned to the beach. We were not disappointed, and were soon able to collect as many as we could require. While thus engaged I saw an object floating some way off in the lagoon. I pointed it out to Peter. He thought with me that it looked like a cask. We were seized with the hope that it might be filled with water, and therefore resolved forthwith to put off on our raft to try and obtain it. We had some difficulty in launching the raft, but at length getting it afloat we paddled out into the lagoon. I cannot describe the eagerness we felt as we neared what we hoped would prove a treasure incomparable. Only those who have been suffering from thirst as we then were, or in an open boat in the tropics, or when traversing the sandy deserts, can fully comprehend our sensations. We reached the cask. As I was paddling Peter ran to the fore part of the raft and seized it.

"It's heavy, sir, it's heavy," he shouted. "I hope it's water by the weight."

Putting down my paddle I eagerly ran to help him. It was indeed heavy, but we at length got it safe up on the raft. Though the cask had the appearance of a water-cask, I dared not broach it till we could get it back to the shore, as while engaged in doing it we might have drifted away from the land. Parched as were our mouths and throats, we refrained, therefore, till we reached the beach. We had then to find a piece of wood to serve as a hammer, with which I knocked a nail out of our raft, and having sharpened the point, with this instrument managed to make a hole in the cask. It was frill of liquid, but not the pure fluid we wished for--it was wine. I cannot describe my disappointment. For an instant I refrained even from tasting it, till Peter observed--

"Well, sir, sure wine ain't so bad a thing after all, is it?"

My month in a moment was at the hole. Instead of the strong wine I expected, it was claret. I quickly quenched my thirst, and bid Peter do the same. Though we valued it far less than water I hoped that after all it might serve to prolong existence if used with moderation, and keep us in health even better than water.

Our next thought was to conceal it from the other men, for of course should they find it, they would take care that we should not benefit by it. I was very anxious, however, about Ready--for though claret might keep us alive it would certainly not suit his taste.

We were not long in digging a hole in the sand and rolling our cask into it, and we then set to work to collect shell-fish to satisfy our hunger. Fortunately I had in my pocket a small article which I would advise every one travelling as I was to carry--a burning-glass--and with it we easily lighted a fire, so that we had not to eat our shell-fish raw. While we were employed as I have described, Ready disappeared. He had been absent for some time, and I began to fear that he had fallen into the power of Snag and the other man, who I felt sure would kill him if they could catch him. We were too hungry to wait, so we sat down to our mollusc meal.

While engaged in picking a shell-fish out of the ashes I felt Ready's nose poked under my arm. "You want to share our meal, and you shall, old fellow," I said, putting a full juicy mollusc into his mouth, which was, I felt, cool and moist, so that I had no doubt he had discovered some water, and taken care to avoid the villains who would not let us enjoy it. I suspected that they were either searching for food, or had fallen asleep, and that he had sagaciously taken the opportunity of approaching the spring. Supposing the latter idea to be correct, I allowed Peter to set off with Ready to try and find it, while I kept up the fire, which when they awoke was likely to attract the two men towards me and thus draw them away from the spring. Ready at once understood our wishes, and as soon as Peter got up he ran on before him as if to show the way.

I had on a Panama straw hat, which having been secured by a lanyard had been preserved. From its thick texture, it held water completely, and so I gave it to Peter to bring it back with as much as it could hold. I told him to cry out lustily should he be attacked that I might go to his assistance. I followed him a short distance till I could survey the greater part of the island through the grove of trees, but I could see nothing of the two men. Having made up the fire I took my post behind a tree, that I might watch for the two men. As the rock which formed the island was very unequal, Peter and Ready were soon lost to sight. I waited anxiously for their return. However, as the men did not appear, I hoped that they might, as we had supposed, be fast asleep in some cave, or under the shade of some rock, and that they would not interfere with us for the present. From the spot where I stood I could command a wide extent of the ocean's surface, and I eagerly scanned it in the possibility that a sail might appear in the horizon, when I intended, should she approach the island, to signalise her, and endeavour to escape from it.

My mind was greatly relieved when Ready appeared with that jaunty, active air which a dog assumes when he is well satisfied, and he was followed closely by Peter carrying my hat brimful of water. In an instant I had my head into it almost, and had drunk up a large portion before I asked any questions. Peter had found a stream of pure water bubbling up from a deft in a rock, not thirty yards from the sea, into which it ran in a clear rivulet, in sufficient quantity to fill any number of ship's casks. The landing on the beach, as far as I could judge from the lad's description, was very good. As he had also observed the staves and hoops of some casks lying about, I had no doubt that it was a spot frequented by vessels in those seas to obtain a supply of water, when kept out by baffling winds. Had it not therefore been for the presence of the mulatto mate and his associate, we should have had no great cause for anxiety, as we might hope in a short time to be rescued by some vessel visiting the spot. I must confess, however, that I dreaded what might occur before we could get away. A savage villain is the most difficult being in creation to deal with. A lion or a tiger may be seen approaching, and be destroyed, so may a bear, or even a mad dog, a snake may be avoided; but however strongly we may suspect that a fellow man is plotting against our life, we may not defend ourselves until some overt act is committed, or take his life, unless we would have the guilt of homicide or murder on our heads, till he attempts openly to take ours.

Such was the position in which I felt that I was placed with regard to Snag and his companion. All we could do was to be on our guard, for I felt sure that if they fancied it was to their interest to kill us they would do so without the slightest scruple. We had, however, an advantage over them in having Ready on our side, as we might sleep securely, depending on his awakening us on the approach of danger. Then again I felt certain they would try to kill him first if they wished to destroy us.

We had discovered some cocoa-nut shells, the produce of the last year, and though the fruit was dried up they were split in a way which enabled them to hold water. These we filled with the remainder of the contents of my hat, which afforded us a sufficient supply for some hours. We spent the remainder of the day in erecting a hut in which we could shelter ourselves during the night. We passed it, contrary to my expectations, undisturbed. The next day we several times saw our shipmates on the shore, but they did not come near us, and as before, Peter, accompanied by Ready, accomplished the journey to the spring without being seen by them. He told me that he was sure that from the marks he had before observed on the sand not being increased, that they had not been to the spring since his last visit. This, coupled with their quietness, made me suspect that they also had got hold of a cask of wine, and that as long as that lasted we might hope to escape any annoyance from them.

Several days thus passed, and each day I was more confirmed in my suspicious. At length, one day after we had seen them in the morning on the beach, Peter proposed that he should try and discover what they were about.

"I can creep, creep along, Master Skipwith, for all the world like a snail; do, Mr Skipwith, do let me go."

With my permission he stole off, and Ready seemed to understand that this time he was not wanted. The sun had nearly reached the horizon, so the men would probably have taken up their quarters for the night. As before, I sat down in a sheltered spot, where, should the men by chance be wandering about, they would not be likely to discover me. I waited for some time till I calculated that Peter ought to have returned. Then the stars came out in the dark sky, bright and clear like drops of liquid fire, but still my young follower did not make his appearance. However, Ready remained perfectly quiet, and I was sure that had he fancied anything was wrong he would have shown signs of uneasiness. At length, despairing of seeing Peter, though I hoped he might have gone round some other way, I returned to our hut. It was empty, and I began seriously to fear that the lad had fallen into the wretches' hands, and I regretted having let him make the expedition.

I knew so little of the island that I could not venture to go in search of him, and all I could do, therefore, was to sit down and await his coming. I had fallen into an uneasy slumber when I was awoke by the sound of a voice in my ear, which I recognised as that of Peter.

"Oh sir, isn't it just lucky I went, or we'd all have been murdered and eaten by this time to-morrow evening," he said, still trembling with fear. "I heard them from beginning to end, but I'd like to make a long story short. They said one to the other as how they'd had no food, and that starve they wouldn't, and that they'd have the dog to eat, and after him they'd have one of us; that would have been me, but that wouldn't have so much mattered, may be, but they said they'd kill you too--indeed they did--and eat you too--yes--eat you! Oh, I felt my hair stand on end when I heard it, and was near crying out, but I didn't, and waiting till they were talking again to each other loudly, I crept away as I came."

I should have been inclined to doubt the truth of Peter's tale, but it was so circumstantial that I was compelled to believe that his fancy had not deceived him. I cross-questioned him, and found that he had heard the voices of the two men, and had crawled on hands and feet towards them, when he discovered them seated in a cave, which it was evident they had made their present abode. Unfortunately he had not heard them speak of the hour they proposed to attack us. We were thus compelled to be constantly on the watch, and to be prepared for a struggle at any moment. I can answer for it from experience that it is excessively trying to the nerves to be sitting all night long in the dark, with the expectation of being attacked by a couple of villains with heavy clubs who intend to knock out one's brains. I fully believed that Ready would prove faithful and watchful, but considering that my life and that of Peter were at stake, I could not bring myself to trust altogether to his sagacity. Sleep, of course, I could not, at least so I thought. The hours passed slowly by, the soft sighing of the wind in the trees over head, mingled with the low murmur of the ocean as it beat on the rocks, sounded in my ears, and then there came strange noises, and shrieks, and cries, and unearthly voices in the far distance, away out over the sea, and in spite of all my anxiety and intention of keeping awake till daylight, I was fast asleep. I must have slept soundly, and during more hours than I had supposed it wanted to daylight, when I was effectually aroused by a sharp bark from Ready, and a loud cry from Peter, and starting up I seized my staff and stood ready for action.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

A SKRIMMAGE FOR LIFE--A TRUCE--A SAIL, A SAIL APPEARS--MARCUS TO THE RESCUE--THE PIRATE TAKES US OFF--SAM SNAG'S FEARFUL END.

The grey dawn had just broken. It was the hour when even vigilant watchers are apt to doze, and deepen to sleep most soundly. I sprang out of our hut, in front of which I found Peter with his staff lifted ready to guard his head, at which the mulatto mate, Sam Snag, who had at that moment come up, was aiming a fierce blow, while his companion, who was a little behind, had also his stick uplifted, prepared to follow up the blow, or to inflict another on the dog, or on me. It was very evident that they had expected to find us both asleep, and to have murdered us without difficulty. So suddenly, indeed, did I appear, that I was able to turn aside the blow Snag was aiming at the lad, and to give him in return so severe a one on the right arm, that he dropped his stick; and this left me at liberty to defend myself against the other ruffian, who might have given me a great deal of trouble had not Ready, watching the moment that he was about to strike, seized him by the leg, which he tore away at with a fury which enabled me to gain an easy victory.

Peter, also, while Snag, unwisely despising his young antagonist, stopped to pick up his stick, dealt him so heavy a blow on his head, that he sent him rolling over, and before he could recover himself I gave him another blow, which very nearly finished him. I had, however, to turn my attention to his companion, who, in spite of Ready's jaws, was about to hit me, and while I warded off the blow Snag picked himself up and retreated, calling upon the other to follow his example. This he could not have done had not Ready at that moment opened his mouth to get a better grip, I fancy, when he sprang away with an agility I had not expected.

Had we followed them they would have had the advantage, for there were plenty of heavy pieces of coral about with which they could have settled Ready. Then, too, they were better prepared, for having only Peter to back me, who, though he had plenty of pluck, was but a boy in strength, I thought it prudent not to push matters to extremities. There we stood, the only four human beings on that desolate island, ready to take each others' lives, and I may say, literally, that our opponents were thirsting for our blood. After all, we were only doing, on a small scale, what nations are often doing on a large one. Perhaps we had more to fight about, namely, our opponents wanted to eat us, and we did not wish to be eaten. I moralised much in this strain as I waited to see what Snag and his companion would next do. They probably were considering how they could execute their purpose with least risk to themselves. Their eyes glared fiercely as they looked at us. They were evidently very hungry. I determined to try what pacific measures would effect. I shouted to them, and told them that we had found an abundance of shell-fish on our side of the island, and that we would not molest them if they wished to collect it. I told them, also, that they might take some fire from ours. The mate looked at me for some minutes without speaking, as if he did not exactly comprehend what I was saying.

"There isn't much to thank you for that," he at length answered. "However, if you don't wish to do us harm we'll let you alone, and so that's settled."

The reply was ungracious, but I only said, "Very well, it is so understood between us."

I did not, however, intend to trust the villains, for I was sure that, should they discover that we had the wine, they would make an attempt to possess themselves of it, and might, besides, very likely attack us again.

The excitement of the fight had not taken away our appetites, and so Peter and I set to work to collect shell-fish till the sun was high enough to allow of the use of the burning-glass. The two men, seeing how we were employed, followed our example; but even then, the way I saw them talking together and glancing towards us when they thought that they were not observed, convinced me that they would set upon us should they find a favourable opportunity. I had told Peter to keep near me, but he did not hear me, for, looking up, I saw that he had gone in the direction of the men, who at that moment were springing towards him with their clubs uplifted. I shouted out to him to avoid the danger, and just then, as I glanced seaward, my eyes fell on a vessel standing in under full sail towards the watering-place. I pointed her out to the men, and their attention being thus distracted, the lad escaped and got behind me, while they set off towards the watering-place, to be the first, I concluded, to welcome the strangers, and tell their own tale.

This mattered very little to me. If the strangers were honest, I felt sure that I could make my story good, and if not, I could scarcely be worse off than at present, and might, at all events, get rid of my unpleasant neighbours, waiting patiently till Peter and I could make our escape. Therefore, with some degree of tranquillity, I watched from a rock what was taking place. The schooner stood on like a vessel well accustomed to the place, and when close in brought up and furled all sails. Her crew were of a motley description; and as they approached in their boats, I was convinced of what I had before suspected--that the schooner was the very piratical vessel which had captured the _Shaddock_, and on board which I had found Marcus, the black. Though I could have wished him now, for his own sake, to have been in better company, I was anxious to ascertain if he was still with the pirates, as in that case I had no fear as to our safety. Peter also understood the state of the case.

"Yes, there he is; that's him standing up in the first boat," cried the lad. "He seems in an awful rage, though. If I thought he was a-threatening of me, I'd like to run away and hide myself."

Sure enough, there was Marcus; but what could have excited his anger? I soon learned, for, looking higher up the rock, I saw the huge mulatto mate, Sam Snag, and his companion, on their knees with uplifted hands, in the most abject state of terror, imploring mercy, while Marcus, as the boat approached, stood ready with a pistol in his hand to shoot, it appeared, one or the other of them.

As the boat's keel grated on the sand, he sprang on shore, gnashing his teeth like a wild beast, and I thought would have shot Snag dead at that moment, but seeing that he was really totally unarmed, he contented himself with hitting him in the face, and then kicking him over.

"Wretched slave-driver--overseer of your fellow-men--have I found you once again?" he exclaimed, literally foaming at the mouth, and striking him each time that he spoke. "Death is too good for a wretch like you. No fear, I'll not kill you," and seizing, as he spoke, the huge powerful man by the hair, he dragged him along over the sand. I never saw a man so completely prostrated by abject fear as was this would-be murderer and bully, Snag. Meantime some of the pirates had espied Peter and me, and with no very friendly gestures, thinking that we were of Silas Snag's gang, were hurrying towards us. I thought it was now time to claim the protection of Marcus. The moment he heard my voice his whole manner changed. He almost took me in his arms in the excess of his affectionate feelings, as he inquired by what wonderful circumstance I had come there. I told him of the shipwreck and the cause of it.

"Ah, and that villain unhung was at the bottom of the mischief! However, we shall settle accounts ere long. I would have killed him to-day but that death would be too happy a fate for a wretch like him."

I entreated Marcus not to stain his hands with the blood of the man, though I acknowledged that I had little reason for wishing to save him from punishment, as he had just before attempted to take my life and that of my companion.

"Well, I will promise to let him live on as long as he can on this islet," said Marcus, casting a glance of hatred and contempt at the mulatto mate, who stood literally trembling before him. "He knows that it's out of the track of most vessels, and that only those who are engaged as we are come off here occasionally for water, when they cannot venture elsewhere, so that his chance of escape is very small. If he wishes to prolong his life he must kill his companion, or his companion will kill him. Such things have been done on this island before now, and that is one of the reasons why it is so generally avoided."

To this mode of treating Snag I had no objection to make. I could scarcely propose that he should be taken away in the pirate vessel, and he certainly had brought his fate upon himself. I was glad to get away from him and from a spot of such ill-repute; at the same time I doubted whether I should not be leaping out of the frying-pan into the fire. How might I be treated should the pirate be captured by a man-of-war, either English or American, and I be found on board? I could not say that I did not know her character before I went on board, and it was a question whether the plea would hold good that I did so in preference to remaining on a desert island. Still I saw that I had no choice. If I remained with Snag and did not kill him, he would if he had the opportunity kill me, and Peter and Ready into the bargain; whereas if I embarked I might very possibly get safe on shore, and if we were captured I felt very sure that Marcus would give evidence in my favour, and I hoped that the other pirates would do so likewise.

I told Marcus, therefore, that I accepted his offer, hinting, however, at the predicament in which I should be placed should the schooner be captured.

"She will never be captured," he answered fiercely. "Sooner than that I would blow up the vessel, and all on board."

A pleasant prospect for me, I thought to myself; however, as I said, I had no choice. Accordingly, I and Peter and Ready embarked with Marcus in the first boat returning with water to the schooner. The crew received us without any questions, and we were soon discussing in the cabin such a meal as we had not eaten for many a day. I said nothing about the wine we had left on shore, as I thought that it would do the pirates no good, and might do harm. Great despatch was made in getting water aboard, and in a short time all that was required was obtained. Marcus did not return to the shore, but I heard him giving directions to the officer of one of the boats which went back for water. Meantime I was watching what was taking place on the beach. Snag, who had concealed himself from Marcus, now made his appearance, and was evidently exerting his powers of persuasion on the crew of the remaining boat, probably forgetting that though his words could not reach the schooner his gestures could be seen from her. Judging from his and his companion's manner, he appeared to have been successful; some flasks were produced from the boat, and they and the crew were seen to sit down, and to smoke and drink in a friendly manner.

The officer sent by Marcus, and several of his men, went heavily armed. On their reaching the beach the crew of the other boat were ordered into her, and then seizing the white man they carried him into their boat. Snag rushed after him but was driven back by the officer, who held a pistol towards his head as he approached the boat. In vain he pleaded with the very men with whom he had so lately been on friendly terms. The horror of his position burst upon him. He was to be left on the desert islet to die alone, without even the companionship of his former shipmate and associate in crime. In vain he pleaded. The pirates laughed at his terror and rage. He stamped--he gnashed with his teeth-- he shook his clenched fist. He was unarmed and helpless. The boats pushed off and were already some distance from the beach. He waved and shouted to them. For a minute he stood irresolute, apparently hoping that those he had seemed to gain over would take him on board.

Again he waved; some signal was made from the boat. He plunged headlong into the sea, and swam towards her. Still she pulled slowly towards the schooner, though, it seemed, he thought that he could overtake her. Too late he discovered that a barbarous trick had been played him, worthy of the wretches who were guilty of it. He might still have returned to the shore, but just then a dark fin, which had been hovering about the schooner, was seen to dash off in the direction of the boats. An instant after the mulatto mate threw up his arms--a fearful shriek was heard, and he disappeared beneath the water, an ensanguined circle on the surface marking the spot where he had gone down. Directly after the boats were hoisted in, the breeze sprang up, and the schooner made sail to the northward.

"Now, my friend, at which port do you wish to be landed?" asked Marcus.

"I was bound to New Orleans, and still wish to return there," I answered.

"It is not the place I would counsel you to go to," he observed. "Some of the people there have long memories, and they would treat you with Lynch law, and a scant allowance of that, if they caught you."

I told him that I was aware that there was some danger, but that I had resolved to push north up the Mississippi; besides which, as I had letters of credit on a mercantile house at New Orleans, I must go there for the sake of replenishing my purse and wardrobe. He replied that he must consult with the captain about it, as he had strong doubts as to the policy of the proceeding. Some hours afterwards Marcus told me that it was impossible to land me at New Orleans, but that they would put me on shore at Havanna, from whence I could easily get across to that city if I still desired to go.

"But can you venture into the Havanna? will not your schooner run a great risk of being recognised?" I asked.

"Oh no, our papers are all correct. We have powerful friends there who would get us out of trouble, if we got into it, and we depend much on our boldness to escape suspicions," he answered. "You shall see. With regard to you we shall only have the truth to tell. We found you cast away on an island, took you off, and wish to land you. We must depend on your discretion for the rest. For anything you know to the contrary, as far as you have seen, this vessel is perfectly honest. You understand me."

CHAPTER TWELVE.

THE PIRATE AND THE MAN-OF-WAR--THE CHASE--A CALM--FATAL SECURITY--THE PIRATE BLOWN UP--WE ARE CAPTURED--IN LIEUTENANT TREVOR OF THE SPITFIRE I FIND A DEAR OLD FRIEND, AND A WAY OF SERVING MARCUS, WHO REGAINS HIS LIBERTY--WE ARRIVE AT HAVANNAH.

Poor Peter was very unhappy when he found that we were to go to an island, instead of to the mainland.

"Oh dear, oh dear, or, when shall we ever go to a country where we can get along on our feet away from the sight of this ugly sea?" he exclaimed, wringing his hands, and well-nigh blabbering outright.

My chief anxiety was to get away from the schooner as soon as possible, as I feared that the pirates might be tempted to attack some other vessel, and that Peter and I might be brought in as participators in the crime. I had no doubt that our innocence would ultimately be triumphantly established, but that might be only after we had been hung, in which there would not be much satisfaction to ourselves.

A very unattractive recollection of the picture of a row of pirates hanging in chains on the banks of the Thames, which I had seen in my boyhood, would intrude itself on my memory, as I walked the deck in solitude, thinking it wise to speak as little as possible to any one, when the look-out man from aloft hailed to say that a sail was in sight to windward. To my concern, I found that the schooner's course was altered to meet her. We stood on, nearing her fast, when an officer who had gone aloft hailed that she was a large vessel with a wide spread of very white canvas. On this there was a consultation, glasses were directed towards the stranger, the schooner's head once more put before the wind, while all sail that could be packed on her was set, and away we went, with the stranger, which was pronounced to be either a British or American man-of-war, in full chase after us.

I must own that I felt very uncomfortable. My worst fears were about to be realised. This termination to my career was one I had not anticipated when I left home. Kind aunt Becky! how horrified she would be to hear that her favourite nephew had been hung as a pirate by mistake. It would be enough to break the good old creature's heart. From what I had seen and heard of the miscreants with whom I was at present associated, I felt that they would be a good riddance if captured and hung, with the exception of Marcus, who was, I was sure, fitted for a far different life to that into which circumstances had plunged him. I watched the countenances of the pirates to judge what they thought of the prospect of their escape. They had been so accustomed, it seemed, however, to consider their craft the fastest in those seas that they had no fears about the matter, but laughed and joked as if there was not an enemy who could sink their craft with a broadside close at their heels.

The schooner sailed well, but so did the man of war, and as it appeared in the course of time, even better. As her courses rose gradually out of the water, the pirates became less and less loquacious, and finally many of them began to make very long faces. The officers held earnest consultations, they looked anxiously round at the sky, they carefully examined the compass, and then trimmed and re-trimmed the sails. Still the big ship was gaining on us. At length there appeared to be little doubt that we should be overtaken if the wind held as it then was. Marcus was as cool and undaunted as ever, indeed from the unconcerned manner in which he paced the deck, it was difficult to believe that he apprehended the slightest danger. I asked him at last what he thought of the state of things.

"That we shall be taken, and if taken, unless we can effect our escape, or die beforehand, we shall be hung," he answered calmly. "I had heard that a very fast English man-of-war was expected out here expressly to look after us. That must be her."

I did not like to ask more, still I had a strong wish to entreat him not to blow up the vessel, as he had threatened to do, should her capture be inevitable. He seemed to divine my thoughts.

"You know what I would do if we are hard pressed rather than be taken and hung," he said to me. "Should the vessel in chase of us prove to be an American, my fate is sealed if we are taken. Still, I will do nothing to destroy your life if I can help it; but for my companions I cannot be answerable."

"Should she be American my chance of escape will, I suspect, too, be very small, especially if I am accused of having assisted at your escape," said I. "However, we will hope for the best."

I must confess, that though I endeavoured to appear calm and unconcerned, I began to feel most uncomfortable as the stranger drew nearer and nearer, and wished more than once that I had remained on the desert island, even with Snag as a companion. Still, a stern chase is a long chase.

The day was drawing to a close, and, should the night prove dark, we might have a chance of escaping. As the sun sunk towards the horizon the wind fell, and by night there was a perfect calm. The stranger, supposed to be a frigate, lay about eight or nine miles off, also, when last seen, perfectly becalmed. Our escape depended on our getting the breeze first. If the frigate got the wind before us, our capture was inevitable. The pirates, I observed, as sailors often do when expecting to be shipwrecked, went below and put on two suits of their best clothes, and stowed away round their waists and in their pockets as much money as they could carry. I have known instances of men being drowned who might, had they not have been thus overloaded, have been able to swim on shore. Had it not been for this circumstance I should not have supposed that the men had any great apprehension of being captured. Among the officers, however, there were earnest consultations, and it was even suggested by some that they should take to the boats and desert the vessel; but this proposal was overruled by the majority. The opinion seemed to be that the calm would last for some time, and that, as we were as likely as the frigate to get the breeze first, we had a good chance of escaping. Most of the crew, indeed, were so satisfied with the state of affairs, that they turned into their berths and went to sleep, the usual watch only being left on deck.

Though Marcus had provided a berth for me, it was so hot below that I preferred remaining on deck with Peter and Ready by my side, under a boat's sail, between two guns. After walking the deck till I was weary, admiring the bright constellations overhead, the calm, star-lit ocean, and enjoying the air so cool and refreshing after the heat of the day, I lay down, and was soon fast asleep, as was Peter too, and as Ready appeared to be, but the faithful fellow always slept with one eye open. I had slept for some time, when I heard him give a low warning bark close to my ear. I jumped up and looked about me, though still only half awake. A thick mist so closely surrounded the vessel that I could not see beyond the heel of the bowsprit, and could only just distinguish the calm silvery water alongside, though, at the same time, overhead I could still make out a few stars shining down out of the heavens on this ill-disposed world. Once more Ready gave a low bark, and stretched his neck out through a port over the water, but the watch took no notice. They were either asleep or drowsy and stupid. I felt sure from Ready's behaviour that something was approaching. I listened very attentively. The sound of a boat's keel gliding through the water and that of muffled oars pulled rapidly reached my ears. It was not for me to warn the pirates of the approach of danger, nor did I wish Ready to warn them, so I patted him on the head and put my hand on his mouth, to show him that I had understood his previous bark, and that I wished him to be quiet.

Meantime I was considering how I should act if the approaching boats, for there were several I was sure, proved to be, as I suspected they were, belonging to the man-of-war. I was not kept long in suspense. On a sudden, the watch on deck, at length hearing the sound of the boats, shouted out, "Keep off! keep off! or we'll fire." The pirates below jumped out of their berths, but before they could get their heads above the coamings several boats dashed alongside. Dark forms were seen climbing over the bulwarks, and a loud voice shouted out, "Yield, whoever you are, to her Britannic Majesty's frigate, _Spitfire_."

Before the words were well out of the mouth of the officer who uttered them, the pirates had rushed to their guns or seized their arms, and, instead of yielding, were desperately attempting to defend themselves and their vessel, the character of which it was very clear the assailants knew before they made the attack. On every side, instead of the silence which had before reigned, pistols were flashing, cutlasses were clashing, men were shouting and cursing, and thrusting boarding-pikes at each other, and big guns and muskets were going off as in the confusion they could be loaded. Though constitutionally fearless, I had no fancy to have my travels stopped by a stray bullet, or by a slash from a cutlass, so when the English seamen climbed up out of one of the boats, calling to Peter and Ready, who followed me, I tumbled into her, when without more ado we stowed ourselves away under the thwarts, where bullets were not likely to reach us.

So completely had the _Spitfire's_ crew taken the pirates by surprise that they gained an easy victory. Some were driven overboard, others below, and many more were cut down even before I had made my escape out of the schooner. I saw Marcus defending himself bravely, and would gladly have gone to his assistance had I had the power. I had not long taken up my quarters in the boat, when I heard a loud shout of, "Back! back! all of you." And men came leaping into the boat--combatants of both sides--tumbling over and almost suffocating me; and there was a loud roar, then a bright glare, and shrieks and groans, and fearful cries, and the boat rocked to and fro, and, I thought, was sinking. Human beings, and burning fragments of wood, and rope, and canvas rained thickly down over us; and when I managed to scramble up and look around me the schooner was not to be seen, and the British crew were throwing the burning wood and the mangled bodies of the dead pirates overboard, and securing the living ones.

"Light a lantern," I heard an officer sing out. "We shall better see what we are about."

Peter and I were very soon afterwards seized on, when Ready set up a true English bark of indignation, and had I not calmed him would have bitten right and left at our captors, and probably have been knocked on the head and thrown overboard for his pains.

"Halloo, who have we here?" exclaimed the officer, holding the lantern to my face. "A renegade Englishman, a perfect villain by his countenance."

"Thank you for the compliment, though concealed under a somewhat dubious turn of expression," I answered ironically. "I am an Englishman, but one who had no wish to be on board the vessel out of which I have just escaped. I will explain matters when we get on board the frigate."

"Very likely, my fine fellow," observed the officer, an old salt who had seen much service, and had been disappointed in not obtaining his promotion. "And who are you, friend?" he asked next, coming to Peter.

"A true Englishman, like my master; and, sir, I'd just advise you to be treating Mister Skipwith here civilly, for he's an Englishman, and a gentleman born and bred into the bargain," he answered; boldly adding, "And I'll tell you what, sir,--he's not the man to tell a lie to you, nor to any man."

Peter's remarks had considerable effect on the officer, who immediately addressed me in a more civil tone, and desired the men to let me come aft and sit in the stern sheets, where I should be more comfortable. As I was about to move I heard a groan, and just then the light of the lantern fell on the countenance of poor Marcus, who lay near me badly wounded. I entreated that I might be allowed to attend to him, explaining that by his means my life, and that of my attendant, had been preserved. The officer, who was naturally humane, not only permitted this but gave every assistance in his power.

The other boats had been rowing about picking up the survivors of the pirates, and looking for some of the English seamen who were missing. I was glad to hear that the greater number of the latter had escaped in time to the boats, a small warning explosion having taken place before the magazine itself blew up. The order was now given to return to the frigate, the commanding officer's boat leading the way. As he passed the boat in which I was, he asked the old officer in ours how many prisoners he had got. The reply was "Six; but one of them says he is a gentleman, and the other is his servant, captured by the pirates, and that their lives have been saved by a black man whom we have also on board."

"A likely story indeed," observed the officer in command of the expedition. "However, look to them, Mr Mudge, and `treat them as men should men, and not as Rome treats Britain.'"

"That's my old friend, Dick Trevor, to the life," I exclaimed. "I am right, am I not?"

"Yes," he said.

"I thought I must be!" said I. "Oh! Dick, Dick! Is that the way you would treat your friends when you find them out all desolate and alone on the wide ocean?"

"Who can that be?" I heard him exclaim. "`Speak, I charge thee, speak!'"

"Still stage-struck as of yore," I answered. "Is my voice so strangely changed then?"

"Yes! it must be Harry Skipwith, turned up out here in the Gulf of Mexico," he exclaimed. "Come on board my boat, Harry, and tell me all about it as we pull back to our ocean-home on the briny wave. That's not the right quotation, but never mind."

The next instant I was shaking hands with my old school-fellow, the eccentric but gallant second lieutenant of H. M. S. _Spitfire_. I need hardly say that I was most hospitably and kindly received on board the frigate, which was going to put into the Havanna to gain further evidence for the conviction of the pirates; and, what was of no little importance to me, the captain offered to endorse any bill I might wish to draw at that city for the replenishment of my wardrobe.

I enjoyed the luxury of a wash and shave in Trevor's cabin, and a clean shirt, which I had not obtained on board the pirate, and more than all, the pleasant conversation of men of my own rank and education, of which I had been deprived for many a long day. I got the surgeon of the ship to look to Marcus, who rapidly recovered from his wounds, and when I told the captain his history, he declared that it would be a shame to let him be hung as a pirate, which it was plain that he was not of his own free will.

"You must arrange some plan to allow him to escape, only take care that he does not join any fresh band of pirates."

I thanked the captain for his kind feeling towards my brave preserver, and promised that he should not be found on board another pirate vessel.

A week after the scenes I have described we entered the picturesque harbour of Havanna. While the frigate remained there I lived on board her, because I had many friends who pressed me to do so, and because the sleeping accommodations in the hotels in that capital of Cuba are far from satisfactory. At length the time arrived for the frigate to proceed to Jamaica, where the pirates were to be tried. I was thankful to find that all the evidence procured against them related to a period anterior to the time that Marcus had joined them, when I could prove that I had met him in the character of a slave in the United States. I bade farewell to Trevor and my other friends, and took up my quarters at one of the hotels. Though the best in the place it was far from comfortable; for though the provisions and public rooms were tolerable, the bed-rooms were much the contrary. In mine there were five beds; one occupied by a man who walked in his sleep, and who if he had not committed a murder, by his gestures looked as if he would. In another, the sleeper snored like a rhinoceros; and in the third lay an Irishman, who would talk, awake or asleep, generally to me and at the rest of the party. Nothing could make him keep silent; a boot-jack flung at his head had no effect; he seemed to know what was coming and bobbed under the bed-clothes. The fourth was occupied by a Portuguese dying of consumption, far away from his kindred and friends. Nothing could be done for him.

I have but a word or two to say of Havanna as a city. The streets are numerous, but narrow and dirty; there is a tolerably large palace for the governor, a good opera-house for the people on the evenings of most days in the week, and a very ugly big cathedral for the Sunday mornings, and a _paseo_, or public drive, for the afternoons. On this paseo are seen various antique vehicles, called _volantes_, each carrying two or three dames in full dress. A volante is built like a cabriolet on two wheels, with very long shafts, the points resting in a sort of saddle on a horse's back,--which horse is ridden by a huge negro in vast leather leg coverings reaching, as he sits, almost up to his ears, and no feet to them, though with silver spurs, white breeches, a gold-laced red jacket, and a broad-brimmed straw hat. Everybody knows that cigars are manufactured in Havanna, that the slave trade is winked at, if not encouraged, by the authorities, who find it not altogether unprofitable to their own pockets, and that piracy, for the same reason, is not held in absolute disrepute by the same respectable gentlemen.

I had gone down to see the last of the frigate as she sailed out of the harbour, when, as I was about to return hotel-wards, I saw a black head rise slowly out of the fore-peak of a Spanish brig lying near, and soon the whole figure of Marcus appeared in view. He saw me, and as the vessels in that harbour are moored stem on to the quays, side by side, he came along over the bowsprit and swung himself down close to me. He congratulated himself on being once more at liberty, though he thought it best not to tell me how he had obtained his freedom. I told him that I was very glad to see him at liberty, and offered to supply him with funds, slender as mine were, to enable him to undertake some honest calling. He replied that he had ample means for his support, a thick roll of gold round his waist, besides a purse full of coin. "Indeed," he added, "I hope that I shall not offend you, sir, when I tell you that I purposed offering you money, to enable you to proceed on your travels till you could reach some place where you may replenish your purse." I thanked Marcus for his generous offer, but I felt doubly obliged to my friend the captain, who had enabled me to supply myself with funds, lest I should have been tempted to accept it; for I could not help reflecting how that money must have been obtained.

"We may, I hope," said Marcus, "meet again, though in what part of the world I know not; but I have one favour to ask,--it is that you will give me your address in England, and that should I ever again reach that country of true freedom, I may be allowed to visit you."

I need scarcely say that I agreed to what Marcus proposed. There was something about him which strangely attracted me, and with regret I bid him farewell, scarcely expecting ever to see him again.

Havanna had no charms for me, and I was therefore glad once more to embark on the fickle ocean in an attempt to reach New Orleans.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

FROM CUBA TO NEW ORLEANS, AND HENCE UP THE MISSISSIPPI ON TO ST. LOUIS-- OUR VOYAGE UP THE OHIO--KENTUCKY SHOTS--CINCINNATI--AWAY TO TORONTO--THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY'S TERRITORY DESCRIBED.

After we had lost sight of Cuba I could scarcely help expecting to see some rakish-looking craft hearing down on us, and I must own that it was with inward satisfaction that I remembered the fact that the black schooner and most of the scoundrels on board her were blown up, and unable any more to trouble voyagers over the deep sea. Poor Peter was continually on the look-out for an enemy, and if he saw a sail in the horizon he would come up to me and ask if we hadn't better get ready to fight, lest it should be "another on them cut-throat gentlemen a-coming to look for us."

Notwithstanding all the lad's prognostications of evil, we reached, without any misadventure, the Crescent City, as New Orleans is not inappropriately called, on account of the shape it presents, built along the curving shore of the river. I hastened at once on landing, followed by Peter and Ready, to the office of the merchant on whom I had letters of credit, fortunately forwarded originally in duplicate by post, and having obtained a supply of cash, and such necessaries as I required, I was in a few hours on my way up the Mississippi, earnestly hoping that on this voyage I should escape being snagged, and not be blown up, as Aunt Becky had predicted would be my fate.

I have not been complimentary to New Orleans, but I must say that it is a very grand city. It is divided into two parts by Canal Street--the Old and the New--the Old, built by original French and Spanish founders, contains narrow and dirty streets and the worst class of the population, while in the New are numerous fine buildings, broad streets, and wealthy and respectable inhabitants. It is not nearly so unhealthy as is supposed when once a person is acclimatised,--but to be sure a good many die in the process. And so I make my bow to New Orli_ee_ns, as the natives call it. Although I had not many fears on the subject, I was glad to get away without being recognised, nor did anyone on board the steamer take especial notice of me, that I could discover. It was curious to go paddling on day after day, and night after night, and still to find oneself floating on the same broad stream, sometimes with rich level land on either side, and at others with light bluffs, or towns, or villages; also to pass the mouths of large rivers, and to be told that one was navigable eight hundred or a thousand miles up, and that five or six tributaries, each also navigable for six hundred miles or so, while others fell into it. Truly the eastern, southern, and northern parts of North America present a wonderful river system, suited for internal navigation.

We had a curious collection of passengers on board--five hundred at least in the main cabin--some of them, I judged by their physiognomies, not the most respectable portion of the human race. A party of them got round me, and in the most insinuating manner invited me to join them in a friendly game of cards, or dice, or dominoes, indeed they were not particular, anything that would enable me to pass the time agreeably. In spite of all their arguments I persevered in declining their polite invitations, and at length, in reply to no very polite remarks on my manners and appearance, and a strong expression of doubt as to whether I had anything to lose--

"You've hit it, gentlemen," I remarked, quietly looking up at them. "It's dull work to skin a flint, and I did not wish to give you the trouble."

"You did well to keep clear of those fellows," observed a gentleman to me shortly afterwards. "If they could catch you on a dark night near the side of the vessel, they wouldn't scruple to rob you and heave you overboard."

In many places the banks of the Mississippi exhibit high bluffs of an earthy nature, sometimes broken into the most fantastic forms, representing castles, towers, church steeples, and ruins of every description.

On the morning of the sixth day we were off the mouth of the Ohio, which river can be ascended for nine hundred miles to Pittsburg, and it must be remembered that I had already come upwards of a thousand miles from New Orleans. The next day, after paddling against stream two hundred miles farther, I landed at St. Louis, in the State of Missouri. It is a handsome city, built on ground sloping up from the Mississippi, about twenty miles distant from the mouths of the two mighty streams of the Missouri and Illinois, while the Mississippi itself has there already pursued a course of nearly seventeen hundred miles. It is a very busy place, and vessels of every description crowd its quays. Proceeding up the Ohio, I landed at Louisville, the chief town in Kentucky. Everyone has heard what Kentucky riflemen can do with their weapons. Understanding that a match was going forward outside the town I went to see it. To my disappointment it was over, but I saw two men shooting away as fast as they could load, at two cocks in a sort of enclosure, with an open space towards us, through which they kept constantly coming into view. Nearly a dozen shots had been tired, and the birds ran about as lively as at first. "Well, sir, I think with uncle's old fowling-piece I could knock over them barn-doors a precious sight faster than that," observed Peter, eyeing the marksmen with a glance of contempt.

"Now I guess, stranger, if you was to look closer you wouldn't be quite so ready to boast of what you could do," observed a stout, good-natured looking man near us. "Understand, just what you say you could do, they don't want to do. Their business is to knock the feathers out of them birds' tails, and do them no mortal injury. There's a chalked line on their tails, inside of which a shot mustn't go, or the man who fires it loses the match. Each man, too, has his bird and it requires a sharp eye to know which is which."

Such I found to be the case. One man had shot all but one short feather away, and he was afraid of killing his bird; the other had shot all but two very long thin ones away, and his bullets constantly flew between them.

The next day we stopped at Cincinnati, a very handsome, civilised-looking city, and one of the most important west of the Alleganies. Here we embarked on board a much smaller steamer than any which had before carried us, though we had still four hundred miles farther to go up the stream to Pittsburg, from whence it was my intention to proceed to Toronto, and so find my way into the Hudson's Bay Territory, in the best way I could. The boat drew very little water, for we had rapids and shallows to pass over; not so little, however, as a builder on board boasted was the case with one he had constructed--"Six inches, sir! why you know well enough, I guess, that if you was to attempt to send a craft drawing six inches of water up some of our streams, she'd be grounding every day in the week, and ten times in the day," I heard him exclaim, in a tone of contempt, to a fellow-passenger. "Talk of inches, sir--what do you say to one I built, sir--why, she'd go along right slick across the prairie, provided the dew was thick enough on the grass in the morning. Why, sir, nothing could stop that craft if she could but get a taste of water." Whether or not his assertion was believed I do not know, but as he was a big strapping fellow, and carried a formidable-looking bowie-knife in his waistcoat pocket, with which he used to pick his teeth and carve his meat, or indeed, what was not so pleasant, any dish intended for the public before him, nobody chose to call his assertion in question.

The country in which I was now about to seek for adventures, is a region which must before long become of importance on account of the great highway between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans passing over it. Through that region indeed will be found the true and only practicable North-west passage, but it will be across the rolling prairie instead of the rolling ocean, and over rocky mountains instead of mountainous billows. The land I speak of is Central British America, also known as "Rupert's Land," "the North West Territory," and the "Hudson's Bay Company's Territory."

The earlier French settlers in Canada believed, and not without reason, that the high road to China would be found along the course of the mighty river on the banks of which they had located themselves. Their idea was ridiculed, and the name of La Chine was given to a village to the west of Montreal by those who believed that the explorers would never get farther in that direction, little supposing that ere long a rich province, full of wealthy cities, would have its eastern limits beyond the point in question; while only of late years the truth has dawned on a few far-sighted individuals that in that direction will be found the shortest and safest high road not only to China, but to provinces fast rising into importance, to British Columbia and Vancouver's Island, to the wide-spreading shores of the Pacific, and to the numberless islands which stud its bosom; that it will afford a western outlet to the commercial enterprise of the British North American Confederation, which will raise it to a position of great wealth and power.

Let me try and map-down this great country. Following up the course of the St. Lawrence across Lake Ontario, and passing over a broad isthmus, where a deep canal is to be formed, we reach lake Huron. Still going west some two thousand miles distant from the month of the St. Lawrence, we arrive at the Saulte St. Marie, where the waters of the great Lake Superior fall into that of Huron. Here is a free port, and a free settlement has been formed; but we have yet Lake Superior to cross, when we shall reach Fort William, in Thunder Bay, where the most western British American settlement has lately been established. From Thunder Bay, a spot of great picturesque beauty, a good map will show us a succession of lakes, joined by rivers, and known as Dog Lake, Lac des Milles Lacs, Rainy Lake, and Lake of the Woods, the chain, extending till the extensive Lake Winnipeg is reached, having again numberless other lakes and rivers farther west. A journey of about eighty miles beyond the extreme west of the lovely Lake of the Woods carries us to a settlement of British people; not of people who have cast off their allegiance to the British crown, but true subjects, who desire to live under British laws and institutions, and to enjoy all the privileges which Britons justly value as their birthright; yet it is not too much to say that no community of the British race is more completely debarred from the advantages possessed by Englishmen at large than are the inhabitants of the settlement in question.

A glance at our map will show us a river rising in the State of Minnesota, and running nearly due north, entering the British territory at the forty-ninth parallel of latitude, and finally falling into Lake Winnipeg. This is the Red River, and the British settlements on its banks are known as the Selkirk, or Red River settlements. Here are located about six thousand white inhabitants. The spiritual wants of the people have not been neglected, and a bishop, called the Bishop of Rupert's Land, and about eight Protestant clergymen are placed there, besides a Roman Catholic bishop and several priests. The productions of the district are valuable and numerous, and the climate, though cold enough in winter to ensure a supply of snow, and very warm in summer, is healthy in the extreme, and admirably adapted to British constitutions. The Red River is navigable from the States to the settlements, and again thence to Lake Winnipeg, from which there is a ramification of water communication by lakes and rivers, navigable for steamers for many hundred miles.

The Hudson's Bay Company have a strongly-fortified post at the junction of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers, called Fort Garry, which serves as the citadel or capital of the settlements, for town or village there is not. The general aspect of the country here is that of a rich level prairie, with the river cutting its way tortuously through it towards Lake Winnipeg, forming steep or cliff-like banks. Belts of trees, however, are to be seen near the river, and woods scattered about, and to the east ranges of hills, while along the sides of both rivers are homesteads, substantial farm-houses, mills, stores, churches, parsonages, and school buildings. These settlements are about four hundred miles west of Thunder Bay, in Lake Superior, and the country for this distance must be the first opened up, and about three hundred miles of it is by far the most difficult part of the undertaking; yet the engineering difficulties for forming such a road as is required are trifling compared to those which have been overcome in numerous works in Canada.

It is a country peculiarly of lakes, and rivers, and forests, the timber being very fine. The timber, by means of the lakes and rivers, can be carried to the settlements, while it is most valuable for the formation of the roads, dams, canals, and villages about to be constructed. I am speaking of the first three hundred miles of road to be formed, whether that road is by lake, river, canal, or on the firm earth. The great object is to get a way opened up with the greatest expedition and at the least expense. Now let us turn our eyes west of the settlements, and we shall see a belt of fertile land, in some places one hundred, in others fifty miles wide, extending for eight hundred miles, to the very base of the Rocky Mountains. This magnificent belt of land has already been traversed from one end to the other by exploring expeditions, and emigrant parties with carts, dragged by oxen travelling at the rate of twenty miles a day. It is intersected by many rivers. The carts were unladen, formed into rafts, and towed across; the cattle swam or waded. The once declared impassable Rocky Mountains were passed with perfect ease, in several places, and British Columbia entered.

To understand clearly the nature of the country, let us suppose ourselves standing on the banks of the Red River, looking west. In front we have the fertile belt stretching out before, us, consisting chiefly of rich level prairie land, ascending gradually towards the Rocky Mountains. Rivers and streams run directly across it at intervals, invariably lined with trees, and here and there are forests of considerable extent, though generally trees are found in small clumps or copses, covering a few acres, having escaped the ravages of the fires which destroyed the primeval forests.

On the left, running from west to east, there is the Assiniboine River, connected by the Calling River with the south branch of the Saskatchewan. On the right, extending in a north-easterly direction, is a range of wood-covered mountains known as the Riding, Duck, and Porcupine Mountains, and on the other side of these are three large lakes, the Winnipeg, Manitobah, and Winnepegosis. Into the northern end of the first falls the important river Saskatchewan, navigable by steamers for two or more hundred miles, and, with certain breaks, up to the very; foot of the Rocky Mountains. The Saskatchewan gives its name to the greater portion of the fertile territory, which is known as the valley of the Saskatchewan. This wonderful chain of rivers and lakes abounds in a great variety of excellent fish, on which once numerous tribes of natives entirely subsisted--so that they thus afford a never-failing supply of food, abundant irrigation, and extensive water inter-communication.

Compared with the latitude of the British North American Provinces, the climate may be supposed to be severe, but it should be understood that as the west is approached the climate improves, and the fact is that near the Rocky Mountains, farther north, and at a far greater elevation, the climate is not more severe than at the Red River. Thus there is uniformity of temperature and natural productions throughout the territory. The cold is great, but not greater than in Lower Canada, and sometimes the winters are so mild that, as Mr Ross, an old settler, states, he has known ploughs at work at Christmas. When spring begins, the heat becomes considerable; thus all the productions of the earth ripen with wonderful rapidity, and from sowing to harvest time is often but three months.

Professor Hind, of the University of Toronto, stated some years ago that the valley of the Saskatchewan, or rather the basin of Lake Winnipeg, contains an area available for cultivation of eighty thousand square miles--a territory very nearly as large as England--and that it is capable of supporting an agricultural population exceeding fifteen millions of souls. "The outlying patches of fertile land lying within the limits of the great plains, together with the deep, narrow valleys of the rivers which run through those arid regions (that is, to the south of the fertile belt), the east flanks of the Rocky Mountains, and the low lands in the region of the great lakes, might support another ten millions, so that the present available area of arable soil--the greater portion of which is susceptible of being at once turned up by the plough--would sustain an agricultural population equal to that of Prussia." Indeed, vast as is Canada, the professor's calculations show an excess of land fitted for the permanent abode of man, in favour of the basin of Lake Winnipeg over Prussia, before its recent accessions of territory, of five million five hundred thousand acres. If the whole quantity of land fit for cultivation in Canada were occupied, it would sustain a population of eighteen millions, while in the same proportion the territory under discussion would sustain nineteen millions of people. Including the Red-men, who slaughter the buffaloes which roam over its rich pastures for the sake of their skins alone, it scarcely now supports twenty thousand souls.