LOST IN THE FOG

by

JAMES DE MILLE

1870

I. 

Old Acquaintances gather around old Scenes. --Antelope, ahoy!--How areyou, Solomon?--Round-about Plan of a round about Voyage. --The Doctorwarns, rebukes, and remonstrates, but, alas! in vain. --It must bedone. --Beginning of a highly eventful Voyage. 

It was a beautiful morning, in the month of July, when a crowd of boysassembled on the wharf of Grand Pre. The tide was high, the turbidwaters of Mud Creek flowed around, a fresh breeze blew, and if anycraft was going to sea she could not have found a better time. Thecrowd consisted chiefly of boys, though a few men were mingled withthem. These boys were from Grand Pre School, and are all oldacquaintances. There was the stalwart frame of Bruce, the Roman faceof Arthur, the bright eyes of Bart, the slender frame of Phil, and theearnest glance of Tom. There, too, was Pat's merry smile, and thestolid look of Bogud, and the meditative solemnity of Jiggins, not tospeak of others whose names need not be mentioned. Amid the crowd theface of Captain Corbet was conspicuous, and the dark visage of Solomon, while that of the mate was distinguishable in the distance. To allthese the good schooner Antelope formed the centre of attraction, andalso of action. It was on board of her that the chief bustle tookplace, and towards her that all eyes were turned. 

The good schooner Antelope had made several voyages during the past fewmonths, and now presented herself to the eye of the spectator not muchchanged from her former self. A fine fresh coat of coal tar had butrecently ornamented her fair exterior, while a coat of whitewash insidethe hold had done much to drive away the odor of the fragrant potato. Rigging and sails had been repaired as well as circumstances wouldpermit, and in the opinion of her gallant captain she was eminentlyseaworthy. 

On the present occasion things bore the appearance of a voyage. Trunkswere passed on board and put below, together with coats, cloaks, bedding, and baskets of provisions. The deck was strewn about with themultifarious requisites of a ship's company. The Antelope, at thattime, seemed in part an emigrant vessel, with a dash of the yacht andthe coasting schooner. 

In the midst of all this, two gentlemen worked their way through thecrowd to the edge of the wharf. 

"Well, boys, " said one, "well, captain, what's the meaning of all this?"

Captain Corbet started at this, and looked up from a desperate effortto secure the end of one of the sails. 

"Why, Dr. Porter!" said he; "why, doctor!--how d'ye do?--and Mr. Long, too!--why, railly!"

The boys also stopped their work, and looked towards their teacherswith a little uneasiness. 

"What's all this?" said Dr. Porter, looking around with a smile; "areyou getting up another expedition?"

"Wal, no, " said Captain Corbet, "not 'xactly; fact is, we're kine o'goin to take a vyge deoun the bay. "

"Down the bay?"

"Yes. You see the boys kine o' want to go home by water, rayther thanby land. "

"By water! Home by water!" repeated Mr. Long, doubtfully. 

"Yes, " said Captain Corbet; "an bein as the schewner was in goodrepair, an corked, an coal-tarred, an whitewashed up fust rate, I kineo' thought it would redound to our mootooil benefit if we went off onsich a excursion, --bein pleasanter, cheaper, comfortabler, an every waypreferable to a land tower. "

"Hem, " said Dr. Porter, looking uneasily about. "I don't altogetherlike it. Boys, what does it all mean?"

Thus appealed to, Bart became spokesman for the boys. 

"Why, sir, " said he, "we thought we'd like to go home by water--that'sall. "

"Go home by water!" repeated the doctor once more, with a curious smile. 

"Yes, sir. "

"What? by the Bay of Fundy?"

"Yes, sir. "

"Who are going?"

"Well, sir, there are only a few of us. Bruce, and Arthur, and Tom, and Phil, and Pat, besides myself. "

"Bruce and Arthur?" said the doctor; "are they going home by the Bay ofFundy?"

"Yes, sir, " said Bart, with a smile. 

"I don't see how they can get to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and PrinceEdward's Island from the Bay of Fundy, " said the doctor, "without goinground Nova Scotia, and that will be a journey of many hundred miles. "

"O, no, sir, " said Bruce; "we are going first to Moncton. "

"O, is that the idea?"

"Yes, sir. "

"And where will you go from Moncton?"

"To Shediac, and then home. "

"And are you going to Newfoundland by that route, Tom?" asked thedoctor. 

"Yes, sir, " said Tom, gravely. 

"From Shediac?"

"Yes, sir. "

"I never knew before that there were vessels going from Shediac toNewfoundland. "

"O, I'm going to Prince Edward's Island first, sir, with Bruce andArthur, " said Tom. "I'll find my way home from there. "

The doctor smiled. 

"I'm afraid you'll find it a long journey before you reach home. Won'tyour friends be anxious?"

"O, no, sir. I wrote that I wanted to visit Bruce and Arthur, and theygave me leave. "

"And you, Phil, are you going home by the Antelope?"

"Yes, sir. "

"You are going exactly in a straight line away from it. "

"Am I, sir?"

"Of course you are. This isn't the way to Chester. "

"Well, sir, you see I'm going to visit Bart at St. John. "

"O, I understand. And that is your plan, then?"

"Yes, sir, " said Bart. "Pat is going too. "

"Where are you going first?"

"First, sir, we will sail to the Petitcodiac River, and go up it as faras Moncton, where Bruce, and Arthur, and Tom will leave us. "

"And then?"

"Then we will go to St. John, where Phil, and Pat, and I will leaveher. Solomon, too, will leave her there. "

"Solomon!" cried the doctor. "What! Solomon! Is Solomon going? Why, what can I do without Solomon? Here! Hallo!--Solomon! What in theworld's the meaning of all this?"

Thus summoned, Solomon came forth from the cabin, into which he haddived at the first appearance of the doctor. His eyes were downcast, his face was demure, his attitude and manner were abject. 

"Solomon, " said the doctor, "what's this I hear? Are you going to St. John?"

"Ony temp'ly, sah--jist a leetle visit, sah, " said Solomon, veryhumbly, stealing looks at the boys from his downcast eyes. 

"But what makes you go off this way without asking, or letting me know?"

"Did I, sah?" said Solomon, rolling his eyes up as though horrified athis own wickedness; "the sakes now! Declar, I clean forgot it. "

"What are you going away for?"

"Why, sah, for de good oh my helf. Docta vises sea vyge; sides, I gotfrens in St. John, an business dar, what muss be tended to. "

"Well, well, " said the doctor, "I suppose if you want to go you'll findreasons enough; but at the same time you ought to have let me knownbefore. "

"Darsn't, sah, " said Solomon. 

"Why not?"

"Fraid you'd not let me go, " said Solomon, with a broad grin, thatinstantly was suppressed by a demure cough. 

"Nonsense, " said the doctor; and then turning away, he spoke a fewwords apart with Mr. Long. 

"Well, boys, " said the doctor, at last, "this project of yours doesn'tseem to me to be altogether safe, and I don't like to trust you in thisway without anybody as a responsible guardian. "

Bart smiled. 

"O, sir, " said he, "you need not be at all uneasy. All of us areaccustomed to take care of ourselves; and besides, if you wanted aresponsible guardian for us, what better one could be found thanCaptain Corbet?"

The doctor and Mr. Long both shook their heads. Evidently neither ofthem attached any great importance to Captain Corbet's guardianship. 

"Did you tell your father how you were going?" asked the doctor, aftera few further words with Mr. Long. 

"O, yes, sir; and he told me I might go. What's more, he promised tocharter a schooner for me to cruise about with Phil and Pat after Iarrived home. "

"And we got permission, too, " said Bruce. 

"Indeed!" said the doctor. "That changes the appearance of things. Iwas afraid that it was a whim of your own. And now, one thingmore, --how are you off for provisions?"

"Wal, sir, " said Captain Corbet, "I've made my calculations, an I thinkI've got enough. What I might fail in, the boys and Solomon have madeup. "

"How is it, Solomon?" asked the doctor. 

Solomon grinned. 

"You sleep in the hold, I see, " continued the doctor. 

"Yes, sir, " said Bruce. "It's whitewashed, and quite sweet now. We'llonly be on board two or three days at the farthest, and so it reallydoesn't much matter how we go. "

"Well, boys, I have no more to say; only take care of yourselves. "

With these words the doctor and Mr. Long bade them good by, and thenwalked away. 

The other boys, however, stood on the wharf waiting to see the vesseloff. They themselves were all going to start for home in a fewminutes, and were only waiting for the departure of the Antelope. 

This could not now be long delayed. The tide was high. The wind freshand fair. The luggage, and provisions, and stores were all on board. Captain Corbet was at the helm. All was ready. At length the word wasgiven, the lines were cast off; and the Antelope moved slowly round, and left the wharf amid the cheers of the boys. Farther and farther itmoved away, then down the tortuous channel of Mud Creek, until at lastthe broad expanse of Minas Basin received them. 

For this voyage the preparations had been complete. It had first beenthought of several weeks before, and then the plan and the details hadbeen slowly elaborated. It was thought to be an excellent idea, andone which was in every respect worthy of the "B. O. W. C. " CaptainCorbet embraced the proposal with enthusiasm. Letters home, requestingpermission, received favorable answers. Solomon at first resisted, butfinally, on being solemnly appealed to as Grand Panjandrum, he foundhimself unable to withstand, and thus everything was graduallyprepared. Other details were satisfactorily arranged, though notwithout much serious and earnest debate. The question of costumereceived very careful attention, and it was decided to adopt and wearthe weather-beaten uniforms that had done service amidst mud and wateron a former occasion. Solomon's presence was felt to be a securityagainst any menacing famine; and that assurance was made doubly sure bythe presence of a cooking stove, which Captain Corbet, mindful offormer hardships, had thoughtfully procured and set up in the hold. Finally, it was decided that the flag which had formerly flaunted thebreeze should again wave over them; and so it was, that as the Antelopemoved through Mud Creek, like a thing of life, the black flag of the"B. O. W. C. " floated on high, with its blazonry of a skull, which now, worn by time, looked more than ever like the face of some mild, venerable, and paternal monitor. 

Some time was taken up in arranging the hold. Considerable confusionwas manifest in that important locality. Tin pans were intermingledwith bedding, provisions with wearing apparel, books with knives andforks, while amid the scene the cooking stove towered aloft prominent. To tell the truth, the scene was rather free and easy than elegant; norcould an unprejudiced observer have called it altogether comfortable. In fact, to one who looked at it with a philosophic mind, an air ofsqualor might possibly have been detected. Yet what of that? Thephilosophic mind just alluded to would have overlooked the squalor, andregarded rather the health, the buoyant animal spirits, and thedetermined habit of enjoyment, which all the ship's company evinced, without exception. The first thing which they did in the way ofpreparation for the voyage was to doff the garments of civilized life, and to don the costume of the "B. O. W. C. " Those red shirts, decorated with a huge white cross on the back, had been washed andmended, and completely reconstructed, so that the rents and patcheswhich were here and there visible on their fair exteriors, served asmementos of former exploits, and called up associations of the pastwithout at all deteriorating from the striking effect of the present. Glengary bonnets adorned their heads, and served to complete thecostume. 

The labor of dressing was followed by a hurried arrangement of thetrunks and bedding; after which they all emerged from the hold andascending to the deck, looked around upon the scene. Above, the skywas blue and cloudless, and between them and the blue sky floated theflag, from whose folds the face looked benignantly down. The tide wasnow on the ebb, and as the wind was fair, both wind and tide united tobear them rapidly onward. Before them was Blomidon, while all aroundwas the circling sweep of the shores of Minas Bay. A better day for astart could not have been found, and everything promised a rapid andpleasant run. 

"I must say, " remarked Captain Corbet, who had for some time beenstanding buried in his own meditations at the helm, --"I must say, boys, that I don't altogether regret bein once more on the briny deep. Therewas a time, " he continued, meditatively, "when I kine o' anticipatedgivin up this here occypation, an stayin to hum a nourishin of theinfant. But man proposes, an woman disposes, as the sayin is, --an yousee what I'm druv to. It's a great thing for a man to have a companionof sperrit, same as I have, that keeps a' drivin an a drivin at him, and makes him be up an doin. An now, I declar, if I ain't gittin to bea confirmed wanderer agin, same as I was in the days of my halcyon anshinin youth. Besides, I have a kine o' feelin as if I'd be acontinewin this here the rest of all my born days. "

"I hope you won't feel homesick, " remarked Bart, sympathetically. 

"Homesick, " repeated the captain. "Wal, you see thar's a good deal tobe said about it. In my hum thar's a attraction, but thar's also arepulsion. The infant drors me hum, the wife of my buzzum drives meaway, an so thar it is, an I've got to knock under to the strongestpower. An that's the identical individool thing that makes the agedCorbet a foogitive an a vagabond on the face of the mighty deep. StillI have my consolations. "

The captain paused for a few moments, and then resumed. 

"Yes, " he continued, "I have my consolations. Surroundins like thesehere air a consolation. I like your young faces, an gay an airy ways, boys. I like to see you enjoy life. So, go in. Pitch in. Go ahead. Sing. Shout. Go on like mad. Carry on like all possessed, an you'llfind the aged Corbet smilin amid the din, an a flutterin of hisvenerable locks triumphant amid the ragin an riotin elements. "

"It's a comfort to know that, at any rate, " said Tom. "We'll give youenough of that before we leave, especially as we know it don't annoyyou. "

"I don't know how it is, " said the captain, solemnly, "but I begin tofeel a sort of somethin towards you youngsters that's very absorbin. It's a kine o' anxious fondness, with a mixtoor of indulgenttenderness. How ever I got to contract sech a feelin beats me. Is'pose it's bein deprived of my babby, an exiled from home, an so myvacant buzzom craves to be filled. I've got a dreadful talent for dointhe pariential, an what's more, not only for doin the pariential, butfor feelin of it. So you boys, ef ever you see me a doin of thepariential towards youns, please remember that when I act like ananxious an too indulgent parient towards youns, it's because I feellike one. "

For some hours they traversed the waters, carried swiftly on by theunited forces of the wind and tide. At last they found themselvesclose by Blomidon, and under his mighty shadow they sailed for sometime. Then they doubled the cape, and there, before them, lay a longchannel--the Straits of Minas, through which the waters pour at everyebb and flood. Their course now lay through this to the Bay of Fundyoutside; and as it was within two hours of the low tide, the currentran swiftly, hurrying them rapidly past the land. Here the scene wasgrand and impressive in the extreme. On one side arose a lofty, precipitous cliff, which extended for miles, its sides scarred andtempest-torn, its crest fringed with trees, towering overhead manyhundreds of feet, black, and menacing, and formidable. At its base wasa steep beach, disclosed by the retreating tide, which had been formedby the accumulated masses of rock that had fallen in past ages from thecliffs above. These now, from the margin of the water up to high-watermark, were covered with a vast growth of sea-weed, which luxuriatedhere, and ran parallel to the line of vegetation on the summit of thecliff. On the other side of the strait the scene was different. Herethe shores were more varied; in one place, rising high on steepprecipices, in others, thrusting forth black, rocky promontories intothe deep channel; in others again, retreating far back, and formingbays, round whose sloping shores appeared places fit for humanhabitation, and in whose still waters the storm-tossed bark might finda secure haven. 

As they drifted on, borne along by the impetuous tide, the shores oneither side changed, and new vistas opened before them. At last theyreached the termination of the strait, the outer portal of this longavenue, which here was marked by the mighty hand of Nature inconspicuous characters. For here was the termination of that longextent of precipitous cliff which forms the outline of Blomidon; andthis termination, abrupt, and stern, and black, shows, in aconcentrated form, the power of wind and wave. The cliff ends abrupt, broken off short, and beyond this arise from the water several giantfragments of rock, the first of which, shaped like an irregularpyramid, rivals the cliff itself in height, and is surrounded by otherrocky fragments, all of which form a colossal group, whose aggregatedeffect never fails to overawe the mind of the spectator. Such is CapeSplit, the terminus of Cape Blomidon, on the side of the Bay of Fundy. Over its shaggy summits now fluttered hundreds of sea-gulls; round itsblack base the waves foamed and thundered, while the swift tide pouredbetween the interstices of the rugged rocks. 

"Behind that thar rock, " said Captain Corbet, pointing to Cape Split, "is a place they call Scott's Bay. Perhaps some of you have heard tellof it. "

"I have a faint recollection of such a place, " said Bart. "Scott'sBay, do you call it? Yes, that must be the place that I've heard of;and is it behind this cape?"

"It's a bay that runs up thar, " said the captain. "We'll see it soonarter we get further down. It's a fishin and ship-buildin place. Theycatch a dreadful lot of shad thar sometimes. "

Swiftly the Antelope passed on, hurried on by the tide, and no longerfeeling much of the wind; swiftly she passed by the cliffs, and by thecape, and onward by the sloping shores, till at length the broad bosomof the Bay of Fundy extended before their eyes. Here the wind ceasedaltogether, the water was smooth and calm, but the tide still sweptthem along, and the shores on each side receded, until at length theywere fairly in the bay. Here, on one side, the coast of Nova Scotiaspread away, until it faded from view in the distance, while on theother side the coast of New Brunswick extended. Between the schoonerand this latter coast a long cape projected, while immediately in frontarose a lofty island of rock, whose summit was crowned with trees. 

"What island is that?" asked Tom. 

"That, " said Captain Corbet, "is Isle o' Holt. "

"I think I've heard it called Ile Haute, " said Bart. 

"All the same, " said Captain Corbet, "ony I believe it was named afterthe man that diskivered it fust, an his name was Holt. "

"But it's a French name, " said Tom; "Ile Haute means high island. "

"Wal, mebbe he was a Frenchman, " said Captain Corbet. "I won'targufy--I dare say he was. There used to be a heap o' Frenchmen aboutthese parts, afore we got red of 'em. "

"It's a black, gloomy, dismal, and wretched-looking place, " said Tom, after some minutes of silent survey. 

II. 

First Sight of a Place destined to be better known. --A FogMill. --Navigation without Wind. --Fishing. --Boarding. --UnderArrest. --Captain Corbet defiant. --The Revenue Officials frowneddown. --Corbet triumphant. 

The Antelope had left the wharf at about seven in the morning. It wasnow one o'clock. For the last two or three hours there had been butlittle wind, and it was the tide which had carried her along. Driftingon in this way, they had come to within a mile of Ile Haute, and had anopportunity of inspecting the place which Tom had declared to be sogloomy. In truth, Tom's judgment was not undeserved. Ile Haute aroselike a solid, unbroken rock out of the deep waters of the Bay of Fundy, its sides precipitous, and scarred by tempest, and shattered by frost. On its summit were trees, at its base lay masses of rock that hadfallen. The low tide disclosed here, as at the base of Blomidon, avast growth of black sea-weed, which covered all that rocky shore. Theupper end of the island, which was nearest them, was lower, however, and went down sloping to the shore, forming a place where a landingcould easily be effected. From this shore mud flats extended into thewater. 

"This end looks as though it had been cleared, " said Bart. 

"I believe it was, " said the captain. 

"Does anybody live here?"

"No. "

"Did any one ever live here?"

"Yes, once, some one tried it, I believe, but gave it up. "

"Does it belong to anybody, or is it public property?"

"O, I dare say it belongs to somebody, if you could only get him toclaim it. "

"I say, captain, " said Bruce, "how much longer are we going to drift?"

"O, not much longer. The tide's about on the turn, and we'll have aleetle change. "

"What! will we drift back again?"

"O, I shouldn't wonder if we had a leetle wind afore long. "

"But if we don't, will we drift back again into the Basin of Minas?"

"O, dear, no. We can anchor hereabouts somewhar. "

"You won't anchor by this island, --will you?"

"O, dear, no. We'll have a leetle driftin first. " As the captainspoke, he looked earnestly out upon the water. 

"Thar she comes, " he cried at last, pointing over the water. The boyslooked, and saw the surface of the bay all rippled over. They knew thesigns of wind, and waited for the result. Soon a faint puff came upthe bay, which filled the languid sails, and another puff came up morestrongly, and yet another, until at length a moderate breeze wasblowing. The tide no longer dragged them on. It was on the turn; andas the vessel caught the wind, it yielded to the impetus, and movedthrough the water, heading across the bay towards the New Brunswickshore, in such a line as to pass near to that cape which has alreadybeen spoken of. 

"If the wind holds out, " said Captain Corbet, "so as to carry us pastCape d'Or, we can drift up with this tide. "

"Where's Cape d'Or?"

"That there, " said Captain Corbet, pointing to the long cape whichstretched between them and the New Brunswick shore. "An if it goesdown, an we can't get by the cape, we'll be able, at any rate, to dropanchor there, an hold on till the next tide. "

The returning tide, and the fresh breeze that blew now, bore themonward rapidly, and they soon approached Cape d'Or. They saw that itterminated in a rocky cliff, with rocky edges jutting forth, and thatall the country adjoining was wild and rugged. But the wind, havingdone this much for them, now began to seem tired of favoring them, andonce more fell off. 

"I don't like this, " said Captain Corbet, looking around. 

"What?"

"All this here, " said he, pointing to the shore. 

It was about a mile away, and the schooner, borne along now by thetide, was slowly drifting on to an unpleasant proximity to the rockyshore. 

"I guess we've got to anchor, " said Captain Corbet; "there's no helpfor it. "

"To anchor?" said Bruce, in a tone of disappointment. 

"Yes, anchor; we've got to do it, " repeated the captain, in a decidedtone. The boys saw that there was no help for it, for the vessel wasevery moment drawing in closer to the rocks; and though it would nothave been very dangerous for her to run ashore in that calm water, yetit would not have been pleasant. So they suppressed theirdisappointment, and in a few minutes the anchor was down, and theschooner's progress was stopped. 

"Thar's one secret, " said the captain, "of navigatin in these herewaters, an that is, to use your anchor. My last anchor I used for nighon thirty year, till it got cracked. I mayn't be much on land, but putme anywhars on old Fundy, an I'm to hum. I know every current on thesehere waters, an can foller my nose through the thickest fog that theyever ground out at old Manan. "

"What's that?" asked Bart. "What did you say about grinding out fog?"

"O, nothin, ony thar's an island down the bay, you know, called GrandManan, an seafarin men say that they've got a fog mill down thar, wharthey grind out all the fog for the Bay of Fundy. I can't say as everI've seen that thar mill, but I've allus found the fog so mighty thickdown thar that I think thar's a good deal in the story. "

"I suppose we'll lose this tide, " said Phil. 

"Yes, I'm afeard so, " said the captain, looking around over the water. "This here wind ain't much, any way; you never can reckon on winds inthis bay. I don't care much about them. I'd a most just as soon goabout the bay without sails as with them. What I brag on is the tides, an a jodgmatical use of the anchor. "

"You're not in earnest?"

"Course I am. "

"Could you get to St. John from Grand Pre without sails?"

"Course I could. "

"I don't see how you could manage to do it. "

"Do it? Easy enough, " said the captain. "You see I'd leave with theebb tide, and get out into the bay. Then I'd anchor an wait till thenext ebb, an so on. Bless your hearts, I've often done it. "

"But you couldn't get across the bay by drifting. "

"Course I could. I'd work my way by short drifts over as far as this, an then I'd gradually move along till I kine o' canted over to the NewBrunswick shore. It takes time to do it, course it does; but what Imean to say is this--it CAN be done. "

"Well, I wouldn't like to be on board while you were trying to do it. "

"Mebbe not. I ain't invitin you to do it, either. All I was sayin is, it CAN be done. Sails air very good in their way, course they air, anwho's objectin to 'em? I'm only sayin that in this here bay thar'sthings that's more important than sails, by a long chalk--such astides, an anchors in particular. Give me them thar, an I don't care ahooter what wind thar is. "

Lying thus at anchor, under the hot sun, was soon found to be ratherdull, and the boys sought in vain for some way of passing the time. Different amusements were invented for the occasion. The firstamusement consisted in paper boats, with which they ran races, and thedrift of these frail vessels over the water afforded some excitement. Then they made wooden boats with huge paper sails. In this last Bartshowed a superiority to the others; for, by means of a piece of ironhoop, which he inserted as a keel, he produced a boat which was able tocarry an immense press of sail, and in the faint and scarce perceptiblebreeze, easily distanced the others. This accomplishment Bart owed tohis training in a seaport town. 

At length one of them proposed that they should try to catch fish. Captain Corbet, in answer to their eager inquiries, informed them thatthere were fish everywhere about the bay; on learning which they becameeager to try their skill. Some herring were on board, forming part ofthe stores, and these were taken for bait. Among the miscellaneouscontents of the cabin a few hooks were found, which were somewhatrusty, it is true, yet still good enough for the purpose before them. Lines, of course, were easily procured, and soon a half dozen baitedhooks were down in the water, while a half dozen boys, eager withsuspense, watched the surface of the water. 

For a half hour they held their lines suspended without any result; butat the end of that time, a cry from Phil roused them, and on lookinground they saw him clinging with all his might to his line, which wastugged at tightly by something in the water. Bruce ran to help him, and soon their united efforts succeeded in landing on the deck of thevessel a codfish of very respectable size. The sight of this wasgreeted with cheers by the others, and served to stimulate them totheir work. 

After this others were caught, and before half an hour more some twentycodfish, of various sizes, lay about the deck, as trophies of theirpiscatory skill. They were now more excited than ever, and all hadtheir hooks in the water, and were waiting eagerly for a bite, when anexclamation from Captain Corbet roused them. 

On turning their heads, and looking in the direction where he waspointing, they saw a steamboat approaching them. It was coming fromthe head of the bay on the New Brunswick side, and had hitherto beenconcealed by the projecting cape. 

"What's that?" said Bart. "Is it the St. John steamer?"

"No, SIR, " said the captain. "She's a man-o'-war steamer--the revenoocutter, I do believe. "

"How do you know?"

"Why, by her shape. "

"She seems to be coming this way. "

"Yes, bound to Minas Bay, I s'pose. Wal, wal, wal! strange too, --howsingoolarly calm an onterrified I feel in'ardly. Why, boys, I've seenthe time when the sight of a approachin revenoo vessel would make meshiver an shake from stem to starn. But now how changed! Such, myfriends, is the mootability of human life!"

The boys looked at the steamer for a few moments, but at length wentback to their fishing. The approaching steamer had nothing in it toexcite curiosity: such an object was too familiar to withdraw theirthoughts from the excitement of their lines and hooks, and the hopewhich each had of surpassing the other in the number of catchesanimated them to new trials. So they soon forgot all about theapproaching steamer. 

But Captain Corbet had nothing else to do, and so, whether it was onaccount of his lack of employment, or because of the sake of oldassociations, he kept his eyes fixed on the steamer. Time passed on, and in the space of another half hour she had drawn very near to theAntelope. 

Suddenly Captain Corbet slapped his hand against his thigh. 

"Declar, if they ain't a goin to overhaul us!" he cried. 

At this the boys all turned again to look at the steamer. 

"Declar, if that fellow in the gold hat ain't a squintin at us throughhis spy-glass!" cried the captain. 

As the boys looked, they saw that the Antelope had become an object ofsingular attention and interest to those on board of the steamer. Menwere on the forecastle, others on the main deck, the officers were onthe quarter-deck, and all were earnestly scrutinizing the Antelope. One of them was looking at her through his glass. The Antelope, as shelay at anchor, was now turned with her stern towards the steamer, andher sails flapping idly against the masts. In a few moments thepaddles of the steamer stopped, and at the same instant a gun was fired. 

"Highly honored, kind sir, " said Captain Corbet, with a grin. 

"What's the matter?" asked Bart. 

"Matter? Why that thar steamer feels kine o' interested in us, an thatthar gun means, HEAVE TO. "

"Are you going to heave to?"

"Nary heave. "

"Why not?"

"Can't come it no how; cos why, I'm hove to, with the anchor hard andfast, ony they can't see that we're anchored. "

Suddenly a cry came over the water from a man on the quarter-deck. 

"Ship aho-o-o-o-o-oy!"

"Hel-lo-o-o-o-o!"

Such was the informal reply of Captain Corbet. 

"Heave to-o-o-o, till I send a boat aboard. "

"Hoo-r-a-a-a-a-ay!"

Such was again Captain Corbet's cheerful and informal answer. 

"Wal! wal wal!" he exclaimed, "it does beat my grandmother--they'regoin to send a boat aboard. "

"What for?"

Captain Corbet grinned, and shook his head, and chuckled veryvehemently, but said nothing. He appeared to be excessively amusedwith his own thoughts. The boys looked at the steamer, and then atCaptain Corbet, in some wonder; but as he said nothing, they weresilent, and waited to see what was going to happen. Meanwhile Solomon, roused from some mysterious culinary duties by the report of the gun, had scrambled upon the deck, and stood with the others looking out overthe water at the steamer. 

In a few moments the steamer's boat was launched, and a half dozensailors got in, followed by an officer. Then they put off, and rowedwith vigorous strokes towards the schooner. 

Captain Corbet watched the boat for some time in silence. 

"Cur'ouser an cur'ouser, " he said, at length. "I've knowed the time, boys, when sech an incident as this, on the briny deep, would havefairly keeled me over, an made me moot, an riz every har o' my head;but look at me now. Do I tremble? do I shake? Here, feel my pulse. "

Phil, who stood nearest, put his finger on the outstretched wrist ofthe captain. 

"Doos it beat?"

"No, " said Phil. 

"Course it beats; but then it ony beats nateral. You ain't feelin theright spot--the humane pulse not bein sitooated on the BACK of thehand, " he added mildly, "but here;" and he removed Phil's inexperiencedfinger to the place where the pulse lies. "Thar, now, " he added, "asthat pulse beats now, even so it beat a half hour ago, before that tharsteamer hev in sight. Why, boys, I've knowed the time when this humanepulse bet like all possessed. You see, I've lived a life of adventoor, in spite of my meek and quiet natoor, an hev dabbled at odd times inthe smugglin business. But they don't catch me this time--I've retiredfrom that thar, an the Antelope lets the revenoo rest in peace. "

The boat drew nearer and nearer, and the officer at the stern lookedscrutinizingly at the Antelope. There was an air of perplexity abouthis face, which was very visible to those on board, and the perplexitydeepened and intensified as his eyes rested on the flag of the "B. O. W. C. "

"Leave him to me, " said Captain Corbet. "Leave that thar young man tome. I enjy havin to do with a revenoo officer jest now; so don't go anput in your oars, but jest leave him to me. "

"All right, captain; we won't say a word, " said Bruce. "We'll go onwith our fishing quietly. Come, boys--look sharp, and down with yourlines. "

The interest which they had felt in these new proceedings had causedthe boys to pull up their hooks; but now, at Bruce's word, they putthem in the water once more, and resumed their fishing, only castingsidelong glances at the approaching boat. 

In a few minutes the boat was alongside, and the officer leaped onboard. He looked all around, at the fish lying about the deck, at theboys engaged in fishing, at Captain Corbet, at Solomon, at themysterious flag aloft, and finally at the boys. These all took nonotice of him, but appeared to be intent on their task. 

"What schooner is this?" he asked, abruptly. 

"The schooner Antelope, Corbet master, " replied the captain. 

"Are you the master?"

"I am. "

"Where do you belong?"

"Grand Pre. "

"Grand Pre?

"Yes. "

"Hm, " he replied, with a stare around--"Grand Pre--ah---hm. "

"Yes, jest so. "

"What's that?"

"I briefly remarked that it was jest so. "

"What's the reason you didn't lie to, when you were hailed?"

"Lay to?"

"Yes. "

"Couldn't do it. "

"What do you mean by that?" asked the officer, who was rather ireful, and somewhat insulting in his manner. 

"Wal bein as I was anchored here hard an fast, I don't exactly see howI could manage to go through that thar manoeuvre, unless you'd kindlylend me the loan of your steam ingine to do it on. "

"Look here, old man; you'd better look out. "

"Wal, I dew try to keep a good lookout. How much'll you take for theloan o' that spy-glass o' yourn?"

"Let me see your papers. "

"Papers?"

"Yes, your papers. "

"Hain't got none. "

"What's that?"

"Hain't got none. "

"You--haven't--any--papers?"

"Nary paper. "

The officer's brow grew dark. He looked around the vessel once more, and then looked frowningly at Captain Corbet, who encountered hisglance with a serene smile. 

"Look here, old man, " said he; "you can't come it over me. Your littlegame's up, old fellow. This schooner's seized. "

"Seized? What for?"

"For violation of the law, by fishing within the limits. "

"Limits? What limits?"

"No foreign vessel can come within three miles of the shore. "

"Foreign vessel? Do you mean to call me a foreigner?"

"Of course I do. You're a Yankee fisherman. "

"Am I?"

"Of course you are; and what do you mean by that confounded rag upthere?" cried the officer, pointing to the flag of the "B. O. W. C. ""If you think you can fish in this style, you'll find yourselfmistaken. I know too much about this business. "

"Do you? Well, then, kind sir, allow me to mention that you've gotsomethin to larn yet--spite o' your steam injines an spy-glasses. "

"What's that?" cried the officer, furious. "I'll let you know. Iarrest you, and this vessel is seized. "

"Wait a minute, young sir, " cried Captain Corbet; "not QUITE so fast, EF you please. You'll get YOURSELF arrested. What do you mean by thishere? Do you know who I am? I, sir, am a subject of Queen Victory. My home is here. I'm now on my own natyve shore. A foreigner, am I?Let me tell you, sir, that I was born, brung up, nourished, married, ansettled in this here province, an I've got an infant born here, an I'mnot a fisherman, an this ain't a fishin vessel. You arrest me ef youdar. You'll see who'll get the wust of it in the long run. I'd likeprecious well to get damages--yea, swingin damages--out of one of yourevenoo fellers. "

The officer looked around again. It would not do to make a mistake. Captain Corbet's words were not without effect. 

"Yea!" cried Captain Corbet. "Yea, naval sir! I'm a free Nova Scotianas free as a bird. I cruise about my natyve coasts whar I please. Who's to hender? Seize me if you dar, an it'll be the dearest job youever tried. This here is my own private pleasure yacht. These are myyoung friends, natyves, an amatoor fishermen. Cast your eye down intoyonder hold, and see if this here's a fishin craft. "

The officer looked down, and saw a cooking stove, trunks, and bedding. He looked around in doubt. 

But this scene had lasted long enough. 

"O, nonsense!" said Bart, suddenly pulling up his line, and comingforward; "see here--it's all right, " said he to the officer. "We're notfishermen. It's as he says. We're only out on a short cruise, youknow, for pleasure, and that sort of thing. "

As Bart turned, the others did the same. Bruce lounged up, dragginghis line, followed by Arthur and the others. 

"We're responsible for the schooner, " said Bruce, quietly. "It's oursfor the time being. We don't look like foreign fishermen--do we?"

The officer looked at the boys, and saw his mistake at once. He wasafraid that he had made himself ridiculous. The faces and manners ofthe boys, as they stood confronting him in an easy and self-possessedmanner, showed most plainly the absurdity of his position. Even themysterious flag became intelligible, when he looked at the faces ofthose over whom it floated. 

"I suppose it's all right, " he muttered, in a vexed tone, and descendedinto the boat without another word. 

"Sorry to have troubled you, captain, " said Corbet, looking blandlyafter the officer; "but it wan't my fault. I didn't have charge ofthat thar injine. "

The officer turned his back without a word, and the men pulled off tothe steamer. 

The captain looked after the boat in silence for some time. 

"I'm sorry, " said he, at length, as he heaved a gentle sigh, --"I'msorry that you put in your oars--I do SO like to sass a revonooofficer. "

III. 

Solomon surpasses himself. --A Period of Joy is generally followed by aTime of Sorrow. --Gloomy Forebodings. --The Legend of PetticoatJack. --Captain Corbet discourses of the Dangers of the Deep, and putsin Practice a new and original Mode of Navigation. 

This interruption put an end to their attempts at fishing, and wassucceeded by another interruption of a more pleasing character, in theshape of dinner, which was now loudly announced by Solomon. For sometime a savory steam had been issuing from the lower regions, and hadbeen wafted to their nostrils in successive puffs, until at last theirimpatient appetite had been roused to the keenest point, and theenticing fragrance had suggested all sorts of dishes. When at lengththe summons came, and they went below, they found the dinner in everyway worthy of the occasion. Solomon's skill never was manifested moreconspicuously than on this occasion; and whether the repast was judgedof by the quantity or the quality of the dishes, it equally deserved tobe considered as one of the masterpieces of the distinguished artistwho had prepared it. 

"Dar, chil'en, " he exclaimed, as they took their places, "dar, cap'en, jes tas dem ar trout, to begin on, an see if you ever saw anythin tobeat 'em in all your born days. Den try de stew, den de meat pie, dende calf's head; but dat ar pie down dar mustn't be touched, nor eben somuch as looked at, till de las ob all. "

And with these words Solomon stepped back, leaning both hands on hiships, and surveyed the banquet and the company with a smile of sereneand ineffable complacency. 

"All right, Solomon, my son, " said Bart. "Your dinner is likeyourself--unequalled and unapproachable. "

"Bless you, bless you, my friend, " murmured Bruce, in the intervals ofeating; "if there is any contrast between this present voyage andformer ones, it is all due to our unequalled caterer. "

"How did you get the trout, Solomon?" said Phil. 

"De trout? O, I picked 'em up last night down in de village, " saidSolomon. "Met little boy from Gaspereaux, an got 'em from him. "

"What's this?" cried Tom, opening a dish--"not lobster!"

"Lobster!" exclaimed Phil. 

"So it is. "

"Why, Solomon, where did you get lobster?"

"Is this the season for them?"

"Think of the words of the poet, boys, " said Bart, warningly, --

 "In the months without the R, Clams and lobsters pison are. "

Solomon meanwhile stood apart, grinning from ear to ear, with hislittle black beads of eyes twinkling with merriment. 

"Halo, Solomon! What do you say to lobsters in July?"

Solomon's head wagged up and down, as though he were indulging in somequiet, unobtrusive laughter, and it was some time before he replied. 

"O, neber you fear, chil'en, " he said; "ef you're only goin to get sickfrom lobsters, you'll live a long day. You may go in for clams, anlobsters, an oysters any time ob de yeah you like, --ony dey mus becooked up proper. "

"I'm gratified to hear that, " said Bruce, gravely, "but at the sametime puzzled. For Mrs. Pratt says the exact opposite; and so here wehave two great authorities in direct opposition. So what are we tothink?"

"O, there's no difficulty, " said Arthur, "for the doctors are not ofequal authority. Mrs. Pratt is a quack, but Solomon is aprofessional--a regular, natural, artistic, and scientific cook, whichat sea is the same as doctor. "

The dinner was prolonged to an extent commensurate with its owninherent excellence and the capacity of the boys to appreciate it; butat length, like all things mortal, it came to a termination, and thecompany went up once more to the deck. On looking round it was evidentto all that a change had taken place. 

Four miles away lay Ile Haute, and eight or ten miles beyond this laythe long line of Nova Scotia. It was now about four o'clock, and thetide had been rising for three hours, and was flowing up rapidly, andin a full, strong current. As yet there was no wind, and the broadsurface of the bay was quite smooth and unruffled. In the distance andfar down the bay, where its waters joined the horizon, there was a kindof haze, that rendered the line of separation between sea and sky veryindistinct. The coast of Nova Scotia was at once enlarged andobscured. It seemed now elevated to an unusual height above the sealine, as though it had been suddenly brought several miles nearer, andyet, instead of being more distinct, was actually more obscure. EvenIle Haute, though so near, did not escape. Four miles of distance werenot sufficient to give it that grand indistinctness which was now flungover the Nova Scotia coast; yet much of the mysterious effect of thehaze had gathered about the island; its lofty cliffs seemed to tower onhigh more majestically, and to lean over more frowningly; its fringe ofblack sea-weed below seemed blacker, while the general hue of theisland had changed from a reddish color to one of a dull slaty blue. 

"I don't like this, " said Captain Corbet, looking down the bay andtwisting up his face as he looked. 

"Why not?"

Captain Corbet shook his head. 

"What's the matter?"

"Bad, bad, bad!" said the captain. 

"Is there going to be a storm?"

"Wuss!"

"Worse? What?"

"Fog. "

"Fog?"

"Yes, hot an heavy, thick as puddin, an no mistake. I tell you what itis, boys: judgin from what I see, they've got a bran-new steam injineinto that thar fog mill at Grand Manan; an the way they're goin togrind out the fog this here night is a caution to mariners. "

Saying this, he took off his hat, and holding it in one hand, hescratched his venerable head long and thoughtfully with the other. 

"But I don't see any fog as yet, " said Bart. 

"Don't see it? Wal, what d'ye call all that?" said the captain, givinga grand comprehensive sweep with his arm, so as to take in the entirescene. 

"Why, it's clear enough. "

"Clear? Then let me tell you that when you see a atmosphere like thishere, then you may expect to see it any moment changed into deep, thickfog. Any moment--five minutes 'll be enough to snatch everything fromsight, and bury us all in the middle of a unyversal fog bank. "

"What'll we do?"

"Dew? That's jest the question. "

"Can we go on?"

"Wal--without wind--I don't exactly see how. In a fog a wind is notwithout its advantages. That's one of the times when the old Antelopelikes to have her sails up; but as we hain't got no wind, I don't thinkwe'll do much. "

"Will you stay here at anchor?"

"At anchor? Course not. No, sir. Moment the tide falls again, I'lldrift down so as to clear that pint there, --Cape Chignecto, --thenanchor; then hold on till tide rises; and then drift up. Mebbe beforethat the wind 'll spring up, an give us a lift somehow up the bay. "

"How long before the tide will turn?"

"Wal, it'll be high tide at about a quarter to eight this evenin, Icalc'late. "

"You'll drift in the night, I suppose. "

"Why not?"

"O, I didn't know but what the fog and the night together might be toomuch for you. "

"Too much? Not a bit of it. Fog, and night, and snow-storms, an tidedead agin me, an a lee shore, are circumstances that the Antelope hasmet over an over, an fit down. As to foggy nights, when it's as calmas this, why, they're not wuth considerin. "

Captain Corbet's prognostication as to the fog proved to be correct. It was only for a short time that they were allowed to stare at themagnified proportions of the Nova Scotia coast and Ile Haute. Then achange took place which attracted all their attention. 

The change was first perceptible down the bay. It was first mademanifest by the rapid appearance of a thin gray cloud along thehorizon, which seemed to take in both sea and sky, and absorbed intoitself the outlines of both. At the same time, the coast of NovaScotia grew more obscure, though it lost none of its magnifiedproportions, while the slaty blue of Ile Haute changed to a grayershade. 

This change was rapid, and was followed by other changes. The thingray cloud, along the south-west horizon, down the bay, graduallyenlarged itself; till it grew to larger and loftier proportions. In aquarter of an hour it had risen to the dimensions of the Nova Scotiacoast. In a half an hour it was towering to double that height. In anhour its lofty crest had ascended far up into the sky. 

"It's a comin, " said Captain Corbet. "I knowed it. Grind away, youold fog mill! Pile on the steam, you Grand Mananers!"

"Is there any wind down there?"

"Not a hooter. "

"Is the fog coming up without any wind?"

"Course it is. What does the fog want of wind?"

"I thought it was the wind that brought it along. "

"Bless your heart, the fog takes care of itself. The wind isn't a bitnecessary. It kine o' pervades the hull atmosphere, an rolls itself onan on till all creation is overspread. Why, I've seen everythingchanged from bright sunshine to the thickest kind of fog in fifteenminutes, --yea, more, --and in five minutes. "

Even while they were speaking the fog rolled on, the vast accumulationof mist rose higher and yet higher, and appeared to draw nearer withimmense rapidity. It seemed as though the whole atmosphere wasgradually becoming condensed, and precipitating its invisible wateryvapor so as to make it visible in far-extending fog banks. It was notwind, therefore, that brought on the clouds, for the surface of thewater was smooth and unruffled, but it was the character of theatmosphere itself from which this change was wrought. And still, asthey looked at the approaching mist, the sky overhead was blue, and thesun shone bright. But the gathering clouds seemed now to have gained agreater headway, and came on more rapidly. In a few minutes the wholeoutline of the Nova Scotia coast faded from view, and in its placethere appeared a lofty wall of dim gray cloud, which rose high in theair, fading away into the faintest outline. Overhead, the blue skybecame rapidly more obscured; Ile Haute changed again from its grayishblue to a lighter shade, and then became blended with the impenetrablefog that was fast enclosing all things; and finally the clouds grewnearer, till the land nearest them was snatched from view, and allaround was alike shrouded under the universal veil; nothing whateverwas visible. For a hundred yards, or so, around them, they could seethe surface of the water; but beyond this narrow circle, nothing morecould be discerned. 

"It's a very pooty fog, " said Captain Corbet, "an I only wonder thatthere ain't any wind. If it should come, it'll be all right. "

"You intend, then, to go on just the same. "

"Jest the same as ef the sky was clear. I will up anchor as the tidebegins to fall, an git a good piece down, so as to dodge CapeChegnecto, an there wait for the rising tide, an jest the same as efthe sun was shinin. But we can't start till eight o'clock this evenin. Anyhow, you needn't trouble yourselves a mite. You may all go tosleep, an dream that the silver moon is guidin the traveller on thebriny deep. "

The scene now was too monotonous to attract attention, and the boysonce more sought for some mode of passing the time. Nothing appearedso enticing as their former occupation of fishing, and to this theyagain turned their attention. In this employment the time passed awayrapidly until the summons was given for tea. Around the festive board, which was again prepared by Solomon with his usual success, theylingered long, and at length, when they arose, the tide was high. Itwas now about eight o'clock in the evening, and Captain Corbet was allready to start. As the tide was now beginning to turn, and was on theebb, the anchor was raised, and the schooner, yielding to the pressureof the current, moved away from her anchorage ground. It was stillthick, and darkness also was coming on. Not a thing could bediscerned, and by looking at the water, which moved with the schooner, it did not seem as though any motion was made. 

"That's all your blindness, " said the captain, as they mentioned it tohim. "You can't see anything but the water, an as it is movin with us, it doesn't seem as though we were movin. But we air, notwithstandin, an pooty quick too. I'll take two hours' drift before stoppin, so asto make sure. I calc'late about that time to get to a place whar I canhit the current that'll take me, with the risin tide, up to oldPetticoat Jack. "

"By the way, captain, " said Phil, "what do you seafaring men believeabout the origin of that name--Petitcodiac? Is it Indian or French?"

"'Tain't neither, " said Captain Corbet, decidedly. "It's good English;it's 'Petticoat Jack;' an I've hearn tell a hundred times about itsoriginal deryvation. You see, in the old French war, there was anEnglish spy among the French, that dressed hisself up as a woman, anwas familiarly known, among the British generals an others that emply'dhim, as 'Petticoat Jack. ' He did much to contriboot to the defeat ofthe French; an arter they were licked, the first settlers that went upthar called the place, in honor of their benefacture, 'Petticoat Jack;'an it's bore that name ever sence. An people that think it's French, or Injine, or Greek, or Hebrew, or any other outlandish tongue, don'tknow what they're talkin about. Now, I KNOW, an I assure you what I'veben a sayin's the gospel terewth, for I had it of an old seafarin manthat's sailed this bay for more'n forty year, an if he ain't goodauthority, then I'd like to know who is--that's all. "

At this explanation of the etymology of the disputed term, the boyswere silent, and exchanged glances of admiration. 

It was some minutes after eight when they left their anchorage, andbegan to drift once more. There was no moon, and the night would havebeen dark in any case, but now the fog rendered all things still moreobscure. It had also grown much thicker than it had been. At first itwas composed of light vapors, which surrounded them on all sides, it istrue, but yet did not have that dampness which might have beenexpected. It was a light, dry fog, and for two or three hours thedeck, and rigging, and the clothes of those on board remained quitedry. But now, as the darkness increased, the fog became denser, andwas more surcharged with heavy vapors. Soon the deck looked as thoughit had received a shower of rain, and the clothes of those on boardbegan to be penetrated with the chill damp. 

"It's very dark, captain, " said Bruce, at last, as the boys stood nearthe stern. 

"Dradful dark, " said the captain, thoughtfully. 

"Have you really a good idea of where we are?"

"An idee? Why, if I had a chart, --which I haven't, cos I've got it allmapped out in my head, --but if I had one, I could take my finger anpint the exact spot where we are a driftin this blessed minute. "

"You're going straight down the bay, I suppose. "

"Right--yea, I am; I'm goin straight down; but I hope an trust, anwhat's more, I believe, I am taking a kine o' cant over nigher the NewBrunswick shore. "

"How long will we drift?"

"Wal, for about two hours--darsn't drift longer; an besides, don't wantto. "

"Why not?"

"Darsn't. Thar's a place down thar that every vessel on this here baysteers clear of, an every navigator feels dreadful shy of. "

"What place is that?"

"Quaco Ledge, " said Captain Corbet, in a solemn tone. "We'll get asnear it as is safe this night, an p'aps a leetle nearer; but, then, thewater's so calm and still, that it won't make any difference--in fact, it wouldn't matter a great deal if we came up close to it. "

"Quaco Ledge?" said Bruce. "I've heard of that. "

"Heard of it? I should rayther hope you had. Who hasn't? It's theone great, gen'ral, an standin terror of this dangerous and iron-boundbay. There's no jokin, no nonsense about Quaco Ledge; mind I tell you. "

"Where does it lie?" asked Phil, after a pause. 

"Wal, do you know whar Quaco settlement is?"

"Yes. "

"Wal, Quaco Ledge is nigh about half way between Quaco settlement andIle Haute, bein a'most in the middle of the bay, an in a terribledangerous place for coasters, especially in a fog, or in a snow-storm. Many's the vessel that's gone an never heard of, that Quaco Ledge couldtell all about, if it could speak. You take a good snowstorm in thisBay of Fundy, an let a schooner get lost in it, an not know whar sheis, an if Quaco Ledge don't bring her up all standin, then I'm aInjine. "

"Is it a large place?"

"Considerably too large for comfort, " said the captain. "They'vesounded it, an found the whole shoal about three an a half mile long, an a half a mile broad. It's all kivered over with water at high tide, but at half tide it begins to show its nose, an at low tide you see aspooty a shoal for shipwrecking as you may want; rayther low withpleasant jagged rocks at the nothe-east side, an about a hundred yardsor so in extent. I've been nigh on to it in clear weather, but don'twant to be within five miles of it in a fog or in a storm. In a thicknight like this, I'll pull up before I get close. "

"You've never met with any accident there, I suppose. "

"Me? No, not me. I always calc'late to give Quaco Ledge the widestkine o' berth. An I hope you'll never know anythin more about thatsame place than what I'm tellin you now. The knowlege which one hasabout that place, an places ginrally of that kine, comes better byhearsay than from actool observation. "

Time passed on, and they still drifted, and at length ten o'clock came;but before that time the boys had gone below, and retired for thenight. Shortly after, the rattle of the chains waked them all, andinformed them that the Antelope had anchored once more. 

After this they all fell asleep. 

IV. 

In Clouds and Darkness. --A terrible Warning. --Nearly run down. --Alively Place. --Bart encounters an old Acquaintance. --Launched into theDeep. --Through the Country. --The Swift Tide. --The lost Boy. 

The boys had not been asleep for more than two hours, when they wereawakened by an uproar on deck, and rousing themselves from sleep, theyheard the rattle of the chains and the crank of the windlass. As theirnight attire was singularly simple, and consisted largely of the dresswhich they wore by day, being the same, in fact, with the exception ofthe hat, it was not long before they were up on deck, and makinginquiries as to the unusual noise. That the anchor was being hoistedthey already knew, but why it was they did not. 

"Wal, " said Captain Corbet, "thar's a good sou-wester started up, an asI had a few winks o' sleep, I jest thought I'd try to push on up thebay, an get as far as I could. If I'd ben in any other place thanthis, I wouldn't hev minded, but I'd hev taken my snooze out; but I'mtoo near Quaco Ledge by a good sight, an would rayther get further off. The sou-wester'll take us up a considerable distance, an if it holds ontill arter the tide turns, I ask no more. "

Soon the anchor was up, and the Antelope spread her sails, and catchingthe sou-wester, dashed through the water like a thing of life. 

"We're going along at a great rate, captain, " said Bart. 

"Beggin your pardon, young sir, we're not doin much. The tide hereruns four knots agin us--dead, an the wind can't take us more'n six, which leaves a balance to our favor of two knots an hour, an that isour present rate of progression. You see, at that rate we won't gainmore'n four or five miles before the turn o' tide. After that, we'll gofaster without any wind than we do now with a wind. O, there's nothinlike navigatin the Bay o' Fundy to make a man feel contempt for thewind. Give me tides an anchors, I say, an I'll push along. "

The wind was blowing fresh, and the sea was rising, yet the fog seemedthicker than ever. The boys thought that the wind might blow the fogaway, and hinted this to the captain. 

His only response was a long and emphatic whistle. 

"Whe-e-e-ew! what! Blow the fog away? This wind? Why, this windbrings the fog. The sou-wester is the one wind that seafarin men dreadin the Bay of Fundy. About the wust kine of a storm is that thar veryidentical wind blowin in these here very identical waters. "

Captain Corbet's words were confirmed by the appearance of sea and sky. Outside was the very blackness of darkness. Nothing whatever wasvisible. Sea and sky were alike hidden from view. The waves wererising, and though they were not yet of any size, still they made noiseenough to suggest the idea of a considerable storm, and the wind, as itwhistled through the rigging, carried in its sound a menace which wouldhave been altogether wanting in a bright night. The boys all feltconvinced that a storm was rising, and looked forward to a dismalexperience of the pangs of seasickness. To fight this off now becametheir chief aim, and with this intention they all hurried below oncemore to their beds. 

But the water was not rough, the motion of the schooner was gentle, andthough there was much noise above, yet they did not notice any approachof the dreaded sea-sickness, and so in a short time they all fellasleep once more. 

But they were destined to have further interruptions. The interruptioncame this time in a loud cry from Solomon, which waked them all at once. 

"Get up, chil'en! get up! It's all over!"

"What, what!" cried the boys; "what's the matter?" and springing up inthe first moment of alarm, they stood listening. 

As they stood, there came to their ears the roaring of the wind throughthe rigging, the flapping of the sails, the dashing and roaring of thewaters, in the midst of which there came also a shrill, penetratingsound, which seemed almost overhead--the sound of some steam whistle. 

"Dar, dar!" cried Solomon, in a tone of deadly fear. "It's a comin! Iknowed it. We're all lost an gone. It's a steamer. We're all run downan drownded. "

Without a word of response, the boys once more clambered on deck. Allwas as dark as before, the fog as thick, the scene around asimpenetrable, the wind as strong. From a distance there came over thewater, as they listened, the rapid beat of a steamboat's paddles, andsoon there arose again the long, shrill yell of the steam whistle. They looked all around, but saw no sign of any steamer; nor could theytell exactly in which direction the sound arose. One thought it camefrom one side, another thought it came from the opposite quarter, whilethe others differed from these. As for Captain Corbet, he said nothing, while the boys were expressing their opinions loudly and confidently. 

At last Bart appealed to Captain Corbet. 

"Where is the steamer?"

"Down thar, " said the captain, waving his hand over the stern. 

"What steamer is it? the revenue steamer?"

"Not her. That revenoo steamer is up to Windsor by this time. No; thisis the St. John steamer coming up the bay, an I ony wish she'd take usan give us a tow up. "

"She seems to be close by. "

"She is close by. "

"Isn't there some danger that we'll be run down?"

As those words were spoken, another yell, louder, shriller, and nearerthan before, burst upon their ears. It seemed to be close astern. Thebeat of the paddles was also near them. 

"Pooty close!" said the captain. 

"Isn't there some danger that we'll be run down?"

To this question, thus anxiously repeated, the captain answeredslowly, --

"Wal, thar may be, an then again thar mayn't. Ef a man tries to dodgeevery possible danger in life, he'll have a precious hard time of it. Why, men air killed in walkin the streets, or knocked over bysun-strokes, as well as run down at sea. So what air we to do? Do?Why, I jest do what I've allus ben a doin; I jest keep right straighton my own course, and mind my own biz. Ten chances to one they'llnever come nigh us. I've heard steamers howlin round me like allpossessed, but I've never ben run down yet, an I ain't goin to be at mytime o' life. I don't blieve you'll see a sign o' that thar steamer. You'll only hear her yellin--that's all. "

As he spoke another yell sounded. 

"She's a passin us, over thar, " said the captain, waving his hand overthe side. "Her whistle'll contenoo fainter till it stops. So youbetter go below and take your sleep out. "

The boys waited a little longer, and hearing the next whistle soundingfainter, as Captain Corbet said, they followed his advice, and weresoon asleep, as before. 

This time there was no further interruption, and they did not wake tillabout eight in the morning, when they were summoned to breakfast bySolomon. 

On reaching the deck and looking around, a cry of joy went forth fromall. The fog was no longer to be seen, no longer did there extendaround them the wall of gloomy gray, shutting out all things with itsmisty folds. No longer was the broad bay visible. They foundthemselves now in a wide river, whose muddy waters bore them slowlyalong. On one side was a shore, close by them, well wooded in someplaces, and in others well cultivated, while on the other side wasanother shore, equally fertile, extending far along. 

"Here we air, " cried Captain Corbet. "That wind served us well. We'vehad a fust-rate run. I calc'lated we'd be three or four days, butinstead of that we've walked over in twenty-four hours. Good agin!"

"Will we be able to land at Moncton soon?"

"Wal, no; not till the next tide. "

"Why not?"

"Wal, this tide won't last long enough to carry us up thar, an so we'llhave to wait here. This is the best place thar is. "

"What place is this?"

"Hillsborough. "

"Hillsborough?"

"Yes. Do you see that thar pint?" and Captain Corbet waved his armtowards a high, well-wooded promontory that jutted out into the river. 

"Yes. "

"Wal, I'm goin in behind that, and I'll wait thar till the tide turns. We'll get up to Moncton some time before evenin. "

In a few minutes the Antelope was heading towards the promontory; andsoon she passed it, and advanced towards the shore. On passing thepromontory a sight appeared which at once attracted the whole attentionof the boys. 

Immediately in front of them, in the sheltered place which was formedby the promontory, was a little settlement, and on the bank of theriver was a ship-yard. Here there arose the stately outline of a largeship. Her lower masts were in, she was decorated with flags andstreamers, and a large crowd was assembled in the yard around her. 

"There's going to be a launch!" cried Bart, to whom a scene like thiswas familiar. 

"A launch!" cried Bruce. "Hurrah! We'll be able to see it. I'venever seen one in my life. Now's the time. "

"Can't we get ashore?" said Arthur. 

"Of course, " said Phil; "and perhaps they'll let us go on board and belaunched in her. "

The very mention of such a thing increased the general excitement. Captain Corbet was at once appealed to. 

"O, thar's lots of time, " said he. "Tain't quite high tide yet. You'llhave time to get ashore before she moves. Hullo, Wade! Whar's thatoar?"

The boys were all full of the wildest excitement, in the midst of whichSolomon appeared with the announcement that breakfast was waiting. 

To which Bart replied, --

"O, bother breakfast!"

"I don't want any, " said Bruce. 

"I have no appetite, " said Arthur. 

"Nor I, " said Pat. 

"I want to be on board that ship, " said Phil. 

"We can easily eat breakfast afterwards, " said Tom. 

At this manifest neglect of his cooking, poor Solomon looked quiteheart-broken; but Captain Corbet told him that he might bring thethings ashore, and this in some measure assuaged his grief. 

It did not take long to get ready. The oar was flung on board theboat, which had thus far been floating behind the schooner; and thoughthe boat had a little too much water on board to be comfortable, yet nocomplaints were made, and in a few minutes they were landed. 

"How much time have we yet?" asked Bart, "before high tide?"

"O, you've got fifteen or twenty minutes, " said Captain Corbet. 

"Hurrah, boys! Come along, " said Bart; and leading the way, he wentstraight to the office. 

As he approached it he uttered suddenly a cry of joy. 

"What's the matter, Bart?"

Bart said nothing, but hurried forward, and the astonished boys saw himshaking hands very vigorously with a gentleman who seemed like thechief man on the place. He was an old acquaintance, evidently. In afew minutes all was explained. As the boys came up, Bart introducedthem as his friends, and they were all warmly greeted; after which thegentleman said, --

"Why, what a crowd of you there is! Follow me, now. There's plenty ofroom for you, I imagine, in a ship of fifteen hundred tons; and you'vejust come in time. "

With these words he hurried off, followed by all the boys. He led theway up an inclined plane which ran up to the bows of the ship, and onreaching this place they went along a staging, and finally, coming to aladder, they clambered up, and found themselves on the deck of the ship. 

"I must leave you now, Bart, my boy, " said the gentleman; "you go tothe quarter-deck and take care of yourselves. I must go down again. "

"Who in the world is he, Bart?" asked the boys, as they all stood onthe quarter-deck. 

"Was there ever such luck!" cried Bart, joyously. "This is the shipSylph, and that is Mr. Watson, and he has built this ship for myfather. Isn't it odd that we should come to this place at thisparticular time?"

"Why, it's as good as a play. "

"Of course it is. I've known Mr. Watson all my life, and he's one ofthe best men I ever met with. He was as glad to see me as I was to seehim. "

But now the boys stopped talking, for the scene around them began togrow exciting. In front of them was the settlement, and in the yardbelow was a crowd who had assembled to see the launch. Behind them wasthe broad expanse of the Petitcodiac River, beyond which lay theopposite shore, which went back till it terminated in wooded hills. Overhead arose the masts, adorned with a hundred flags and streamers. The deck showed a steep slope from bow to stern. But the scene aroundwas nothing, compared with the excitement of suspense, and expectation. In a few minutes the hammers were to sound. In a few minutes themighty fabric on which they were standing would move, and take itsplunge into the water. 

The suspense made them hold their breath, and wait in perfect silence. 

Around them were a few men, who were talking in a commonplace way. Theywere accustomed to launches, and an incident like this was as nothingin their lives, though to the boys it was sufficient to make theirhearts throb violently, and deprive them of the power of speech. 

A few minutes passed. 

"We ought to start soon, " said Bart, in a whisper; for there wassomething in the scene which made them feel grave and solemn. 

The other boys nodded in silence. 

A few minutes more passed. 

Then there arose a cry. 

And then suddenly there came to their excited ears the rattle of ahundred hammers. Stroke after stroke, in quick succession, was dealtupon the wedges, which thus raised the vast structure from herresting-place. For a moment she stood motionless, and then--

Then with a slow motion, at first scarce perceptible, but which everyinstant grew quicker, she moved down her ways, and plunged likelightning into the water. The stern sank deep, then rose, and then theship darted through the water across the river. Then suddenly theanchor was let go, and with the loud, sharp rattle of chains, rushed tothe bed of the river. With a slight jerk the ship stopped. 

The launch was over. 

A boat now came from the shore, bringing the builder, Mr. Watson; andat the same time a steamer appeared, rounding a point up the river, andapproaching them. 

"Do you want to go to St. John, Bart?"

"Not just yet, sir, " said Bart. 

"Because if you do you can go down in the ship. The steamer is goingto take her in tow at once. But if you don't want to go, you may goashore in the boat. I'm sorry I can't stay here to show you thecountry, my boy; but I have to go down in the ship, and at once, for wecan't lie here in the river, unless we want to be left high and dry atlow tide. So good by. Go to the house. Mrs. Watson'll make youcomfortable as long as you like; and if you want to take a drive youmay consider my horses your own. "

With these words he shook hands with all the boys for good by, andafter seeing them safely on board the boat, he waited for the steamerwhich was to tow the Sylph down the bay. The boys then were rowedashore. By the time they landed, the steamer had reached the ship, astout cable was passed on board and secured, her anchor was weighed, and then, borne on by steam, and by the tide, too, which had alreadyturned, the Sylph, in tow of the steamer, passed down the river, andwas soon out of sight. 

Bart then went to see Mrs. Watson, with all the boys. That lady, likeher husband, was an old acquaintance, and in the true spirit ofhospitality insisted on every one of them taking up their abode withher for an indefinite period. Finding that they could not do this, sheprepared for them a bounteous breakfast, and then persuaded them to gooff for a drive through the country. This invitation they eagerlyaccepted. 

Before starting, they encountered Captain Corbet. 

"Don't hurry back, boys, " said he, "unless you very pertik'l'ry wish togo up to Moncton by the arternoon tide. Don't mind me. I got severalthings to occoopy me here. "

"What time could we start up river?"

"Not before four. "

"O, we'll be back by that time. "

"Wal. Ony don't hurry back unless you like. I got to buy someship-bread, an I got to fix some things about the boat. It'll takesome time; so jest do as you like. "

Being thus left to their own devices, and feeling quite unlimited withregard to time, the boys started off in two wagons, and took a longdrive through the country. The time passed quickly, and they enjoyedthemselves so much that they did not get back until dusk. 

"It's too late now, boys, to go up, " said the captain, as he met themon their return. "We've got to wait till next tide. It's nearly hightide now. "

"All right, captain; it'll do just as well to go up river to-night. "

"Amen, " said the captain. 

But now Mrs. Watson insisted on their staying to tea, and so ithappened that it was after nine o'clock before they were ready to go onboard the Antelope. Going down to the shore, they found the boatready, with some articles which Captain Corbet had procured. 

"I've been fixing the gunwales, " said he; "an here's a box ofpilot-bread. We were gettin out of provisions, an I've got in asupply, an I've bought a bit of an old sail that'll do for a jib. I'mafeard thar won't be room for all of us. Some of you better stayashore, an I'll come back. "

"I'll wait, " said Bart, taking his seat on a stick of timber. 

"An I'll wait, too, " said Bruce. 

The other boys objected in a friendly way, but Bart and Bruce insistedon waiting, and so the boat at length started, leaving them behind. 

In a short time it reached the schooner. 

Captain Corbet secured the boat's painter to the stem, and threw theoar on board. 

"Now, boys, one of you stay in the boat, an pass up them things tome--will you?"

"All right, " said Tom. "I'll pass them up. "

On this Captain Corbet got on board the schooner, followed by Arthur, and Phil, and Pat. Tom waited in the boat. 

"Now, " said Captain Corbet, "lift up that thar box of pilot-bread fust. 'Tain't heavy. We'll get these things out afore we go ashore for theothers. "

"All right, " said Tom. 

He stooped, and took the box of biscuit in his arms. 

At that time the tide was running down very fast, and the boat, caughtby the tide, was forced out from the schooner with such a pressure thatthe rope was stiffened out straight. 

Tom made one step forward. The next instant he fell down in the bottomof the boat, and those on board of the schooner who were looking at himsaw, to their horror, that the boat was sweeping away with the tide, far down the river. 

V. 

A Cry of Horror. --What shall we do?--Hard and fast. --Bart andBruce. --Gloomy Intelligence. --The Promontory. --The Bore of thePetitcodiac. --A Night of Misery. --A mournful Waking. --Taking Counsel. 

A cry of horror escaped those on board, and for some time they stoodsilent in utter dismay. 

"The rope wasn't tied, " groaned Arthur. 

"Yes, it was, " said Captain Corbet; "it bruk; catch me not tyin it. Itbruk; see here!" and he held up in the dim light the end of the ropewhich still was fastened to the schooner. "I didn't know it wasrotten, " he moaned; "'tain't over ten year old, that bit o' rope, anI've had it an used it a thousand times without its ever thinkin o'breakin. "

"What can we do?" cried Arthur. "We must do something to save him. "

Captain Corbet shook his head. 

"We've got no boat, " said he. 

"Boat! Who wants a boat?"

"What can we do without a boat?"

"Why, up anchor, and go after him with the schooner. "

"The schooner's hard and fast, " said Captain Corbet, mournfully. 

"Hard and fast?"

"Yes; don't you notice how she leans? It's only a little, but that's asign that her keel's in the mud. "

"I don't believe it! I won't believe it!" cried Arthur. "Come, boys, up with the anchor. "

As the boys rushed to the windlass, Captain Corbet went there, too, followed by the mate, and they worked at it for some time, until atlast the anchor rose to the surface. 

But the Antelope did not move. On the contrary, a still greater listto one side, which was now unmistakable, showed that the captain wasright, and that she was actually, as he said, hard and fast. This facthad to be recognized, but Arthur would not be satisfied until he hadactually seen the anchor, and then he knew that the vessel was reallyaground. 

"Do you mean to say, " he cried at last, "that there is nothing to bedone?"

"I don't see, " said Captain Corbet, "what thar is to be done till theschewner muves. "

"When will that be?"

"Not till to-morrow mornin. "

"How early?"

"Not before eight o'clock. "

"Eight o'clock!" cried Arthur, in horror. 

"Yes, eight o'clock. You see we had to come in pooty nigh to theshore, an it'll be eight o'clock before we're floated. "

"And what'll become of poor Tom?" groaned Arthur. 

"Wal, " said the captain, "don't look on the wust. He may get ashore. "

"He has no oar. The oar was thrown aboard of the schooner. "

"Still he may be carried ashore. "

"Is there any chance?"

"Wal, not much, to tell the truth. Thar's no use of buo-oyin ofourselves up with false hopes; not a mite. Thar's a better chance ofhis bein picked up. That thar's likely now, an not unnatooral. Let'sall don't give up. If thar's no fog outside, I'd say his chances airgood. "

"But it may be foggy. "

"Then, in that case, he'll have to drift a while--sure. "

"Then there's no hope. "

"Hope? Who's a sayin thar's no hope? Why, look here; he's gotprovisions on board, an needn't starve; so if he does float for a dayor two, whar's the harm? He's sure to be picked up eventooally. "

At this moment their conversation was interrupted by a loud call fromthe promontory. It was the voice of Bruce. 

While these events had been taking place on board the schooner, Bruceand Bart had been ashore. At first they had waited patiently for thereturn of the boat, but finally they wondered at her delay. They hadcalled, but the schooner was too far off to hear them. Then they waitedfor what seemed to them an unreasonably long time, wondering what keptthe boat, until at length Bruce determined to try and get nearer. Burtwas to stay behind in case the boat should come ashore in his absence. With this in view he had walked down the promontory until he hadreached the extreme point, and there he found himself within easy hailof the Antelope. 

"Schooner ahoy!" he cried. 

"A-ho-o-o-o-y!" cried Captain Corbet. 

"Why don't you come and take us off?" he cried. 

After this there was silence for some time. At last Captain Corbetshouted out, --

"The boat's lost. "

"What!"

"The boat's adrift. "

Captain Corbet said nothing about Tom, from a desire to spare him forthe present. So Bruce thought that the empty boat had drifted off, andas he had been prepared to hear of some accident, he was not muchsurprised. 

But he was not to remain long in ignorance. In a few moments he heardArthur's voice. 

"Bruce!"

"Hallo!"

"The boat's gone. "

"All right. "

"TOM'S ADRIFT IN HER!"

"What!" shouted Bruce. 

"TOM'S ADRIFT IN HER. "

At this appalling intelligence Bruce's heart seemed to stop beating. 

"How long?" he dried, after a pause. 

"Half an hour, " cried Arthur. 

"Why don't you go after him?" cried Bruce again. 

"We're aground, " cried Arthur. 

The whole situation was now explained, and Bruce was filled with hisown share of that dismay which prevailed on board of the schooner; fora long time nothing more was said. At length Arthur's voice soundedagain. 

"Bruce!"

"Hallo!"

"Get a boat, and come aboard as soon as you can after the tide turns. "

"All right. How early will the tide suit?"

"Eight o'clock. "

"Not before?"

"No. "

After this nothing more was said. Bruce could see for himself that thetide was falling, and that he would have to wait for the returning tidebefore a boat could be launched. He waited for some time, full ofdespair, and hesitating to return to Bart with his mournfulintelligence. At length he turned, and walked slowly back to hisfriend. 

"Well, Bruce?" asked Bart, who by this time was sure that some accidenthad happened. 

"The boat's adrift. "

"The boat!"

"Yes; and what's worse, poor Tom!"

"Tom!" cried Bart, in a horror of apprehension. 

"Yes, Tom's adrift in her. "

At this Bart said not a word, but stood for some time staring at Brucein utter dismay. 

A few words served to explain to Bart the situation of the schooner, and the need of getting a boat. 

"Well, " said Bart, "we'd better see about it at once. It's eleveno'clock, but we'll find some people up; if not, we'll knock them up. "

And with these words the two lads walked up from the river bank. 

On reaching the houses attached to the shipyard, they found that mostof the people were up. There was a good deal of singing and laughtergoing on, which the boys interpreted to arise from a desire tocelebrate the launching of the ship. They went first to Mrs. Watson'shouse, where they found that good lady up. She listened to their storywith undisguised uneasiness, and afterwards called in a number of men, to whom she told the sad news. These men listened to it with veryserious faces. 

"It's no joke, " said one, shaking his head. The others said nothing, but their faces spoke volumes. 

"What had we better do?" asked Bruce. 

"Of course ye'll be off as soon as ye can get off, " said one. 

"The lad might have a chance, " said another. "The return tide maydrift him back, but he may be carried too far down for that. "

"He'll be carried below Cape Chignecto unless he gets to the land, "said another. 

"Isn't there a chance that he'll be picked up?" asked Bart. 

The man to whom he spoke shook his head. 

"There's a deal of fog in the bay this night, " said he. 

"Fog? Why, it's clear enough here. "

"So it is; but this place and the Bay of Fundy are two differentthings. "

"A regular sou-wester out there, " said another man. 

"An a pooty heavy sea by this time, " said another. 

And in this way they all contributed to increase the anxiety of the twoboys, until at last scarce a ray of hope was left. 

"You'd better prepare yourselves for the worst, " said one of the men. "If he had an oar he would be all right; but, as it is--well, I don'tcare about sayin what I think. "

"O, you're all too despondent, " said Mrs. Watson. "What is the use oflooking on the dark side? Come, Bart, cheer up. I'll look on thebright side. Hope for the best. Set out on the search with hope, anda good heart. I'm confident that he will be safe. You will pick himup yourselves, or else you will hear of his escape somewhere. Iremember two men, a few years ago, that went adrift and were saved. "

"Ay, " said one of the men, "I mind that well. They were Tom Furlongand Jim Spencer. But that there boat was a good-sized fishing boat; ansuch a boat as that might ride out a gale. "

"Nonsense, " said Mrs. Watson. "You're all a set of confirmed croakers. Why, Bart, you've read enough shipwreck books to know that little boatshave floated in safety for hundreds of miles. So hope for the best;don't be down-hearted. I'll send two or three men down now to get theboat ready for you. You can't do anything till the morning, you know. Won't you stay here? You had better go to bed at once. "

But Bart and Bruce could not think of bed. 

"Well, come back any time, and a bed will be ready for you, " said Mrs. Watson. "If you want to see about the boat now, the men are ready togo with you. "

With those words she led the way out to the kitchen, where a couple ofmen were waiting. Bart and Bruce followed them down to a boat-house onthe river bank, and saw the boat there which Mrs. Watson had offeredthem. This boat could be launched at any time, and as there wasnothing more to be done, the boys strolled disconsolately about, andfinally went to the end of the promontory, and spent a long timelooking out over the water, and conversing sadly about poor Tom'schances. 

There they sat late in the night, until midnight came, and so on intothe morning. At last the scene before them changed from a sheet ofwater to a broad expanse of mud. The water had all retired, leavingthe bed of the river exposed. 

Of all the rivers that flow into the Bay of Fundy none is moreremarkable than the Petitcodiac. At high tide it is full--a mightystream; at low tide it is empty--a channel of mud forty miles long; andthe intervening periods are marked by the furious flow of ascending ordescending waters. 

And now, as the boys sat there looking out upon the expanse of mudbefore them, they became aware of a dull, low, booming sound, that cameup from a far distant point, and seemed like the voice of many waterssounding from the storm-vexed bay outside. There was no moon, but thelight was sufficient to enable them to see the exposed riverbed, farover to the shadowy outline of the opposite shore. Here, where in themorning a mighty ship had floated, nothing could now float; but thenoise that broke upon their ears told them of the return of the watersthat now were about to pour onward with resistless might into the emptychannel, and send successive waves far along into the heart of the land. 

"What is that noise?" asked Bruce. "It grows louder and louder. "

"That, " said bart, "is the Bore of the Petitcodiac. "

"Have you ever seen it?"

"Never. I've heard of it often, but have never seen it. "

But their words were interrupted now by the deepening thunder of theapproaching waters. Towards the quarter whence the sound arose theyturned their heads involuntarily. At first they could see nothingthrough the gloom of night; but at length, as they strained their eyeslooking down the river, they saw in the distance a faint, white, phosphorescent gleam, and as it appeared the roar grew louder, androunder, and more all-pervading. On it came, carrying with it thehoarse cadence of some vast surf flung ashore from the workings of adistant storm, or the thunder of some mighty cataract tumbling over arocky precipice. 

And now, as they looked, the white, phosphorescent glow grew brighter, and then whiter, like snow; every minute it approached nearer, until atlast, full before them and beneath them, there rolled a giant wave, extending across the bed of the river, crescent-shaped, with its convexside advancing forwards, and its ends following after within shortdistance from the shore. The great wave rolled on, one mass ofsnow-white foam, behind which gleamed a broad line of phosphorescentlustre from the agitated waters, which, in the gloom of night, had acertain baleful radiance. As it passed on its path, the roar came upmore majestically from the foremost wave; and behind that came the roarof other billows that followed in its wake. By daylight the scenewould have been grand and impressive; but now, amid the gloom, thegrandeur became indescribable. The force of those mighty waters seemedindeed resistless, and it was with a feeling of relief that the boysreflected that the schooner was out of the reach of its sweep. Itspassage was swift, and soon it had passed beyond them; and afar up theriver, long after it had passed from sight, they heard the distantthunder of its mighty march. 

By the time the wave had passed, the boys found themselves excessivelyweary with their long wakefulness. 

"Bart, my boy, " said Bruce, "we must get some rest, or we won't beworth anything to-morrow. What do you say? Shall we go back to Mrs. Watson's?"

"It's too late--isn't it?"

"Well, it's pretty late, no doubt. I dare say it's half past two; butthat's all the more reason why we should go to bed. "

"Well. "

"What do you say? Do you think we had better disturb Mrs. Watson, ornot?"

"O, no; let's go into the barn, and lie down in the hay. "

"Very well. Hay makes a capital bed. For my part, I could sleep onstones. "

"So could I. "

"I'm determined to hope for the best about Tom, " said Bruce, rising andwalking off, followed by Bart. "Mrs. Watson was right. There's no useletting ourselves be downcast by a lot of croakers--is there?"

"No, " said Bart. 

The boys then walked on, and in a few minutes reached the ship-yard. 

Here a man came up to them. 

"We've been looking for you everywhere, " said the man. "Mrs. Watson isanxious about you. "

"Mrs. Watson?"

"Yes. She won't go to bed till you get back to the house. There'sanother man out for you, up the river. "

"O, I'm sorry we have given you all so much trouble, " said Bart; "butwe didn't think that anybody would bother themselves about us. "

"Well, you don't know Mrs. Watson that's all, " said the man, walkingalong with them. "She's been a worrytin herself to death about you;and the sooner she sees you, the better for her and for you. "

On reaching the house the boys were received by Mrs. Watson. One lookat her was enough to show them that the man's account of her was true. Her face was pale, her manner was agitated, and her voice trembled asshe spoke to them, and asked them where they had been. 

Bart expressed sorrow at having been the cause of so much trouble, andassured her he thought that she had gone to bed. 

"No, " said she; "I've been too excited and agitated about your friendand about you. But I'm glad that you've been found; and as it's toolate to talk now, you had better go to bed, and try to sleep. "

With these words she gently urged them to their bedroom; and the boys, utterly worn out, did not attempt to withstand her. They went to bed, and scarcely had their heads touched the pillows before they were fastasleep. 

Meanwhile the boys on board the Antelope had been no less anxious; and, unable to sleep, they had talked solemnly with each other over thepossible fate of poor Tom. Chafing from their forced inaction, theylooked impatiently upon the ebbing water, which was leaving themaground, when they were longing to be floating on its bosom after theirfriend, and could scarcely endure the thought of the suspense to whichthey would be condemned while waiting for the following morning. 

Captain Corbet also was no less anxious, though much less agitated. Heacknowledged, with pain, that it was all his fault, but, appealed toall the boys, one by one, asking them how he should know that the ropewas rotten. He informed them that the rope was an old favorite of his, and that he would have willingly risked his life on it. He blamedhimself chiefly, however, for not staying in the boat himself, insteadof leaving Tom in it. To all his remarks the boys said but little, andcontented themselves with putting questions to him about the coast, thetides, the wind, the currents, and the fog. 

The boys on board went to sleep about one o'clock, and waked atsunrise. Then they watched the shore wistfully, and wondered why Bartand Bruce did not make their appearance. But Bart and Bruce, worn outby their long watch, did not wake till nearly eight o'clock. Then theyhastily dressed themselves, and after a very hurried breakfast theybade good by to good Mrs. Watson. 

"I shall be dreadfully anxious about that poor boy, " said she, sadly. "Promise me to telegraph as soon as you can about the result. "

Bart promised. 

Then they hurried down to the beach. The tide was yet a considerabledistance out; but a half dozen stout fellows, whose sympathies werefully enlisted in their favor, shoved the boat down over the mud, andlaunched her. 

Then Bart and Bruce took the oars, and soon reached the schooner, wherethe boys awaited their arrival in mournful silence. 

VI. 

Tom adrift. --The receding Shores. --The Paddle. --The Roar of Surf--TheFog Horn. --The Thunder of the unseen Breakers. --A Horror of greatDarkness. --Adrift in Fog and Night. 

When the boat in which Tom was darted down the stream, he at first feltparalyzed by utter terror; but at length rousing himself, he lookedaround. As the boat drifted on, his first impulse was to stop it; andin order to do this it was necessary to find an oar. The oar whichCaptain Corbet had used to scull the boat to the schooner had beenthrown on board of the latter, so that the contents of the boat mightbe passed up the more conveniently. Tom knew this, but he thought thatthere might be another oar on board. A brief examination sufficed toshow him that there was nothing of the kind. A few loose articles layat the bottom; over these was the sail which Captain Corbet had boughtin the ship-yard, and on this was the box of pilot-bread. That wasall. There was not a sign of an oar, or a board, or anything of thekind. 

No sooner had he found out this than he tried to tear off one of theseats of the boat, in the hope of using this as a paddle. But theseats were too firmly fixed to be loosened by his hands, and, after afew frantic but ineffectual efforts, he gave up the attempt. 

But he could not so quickly give up his efforts to save himself. Therewas the box of biscuit yet. Taking his knife from his pocket, hesucceeded in detaching the cover of the box, and then, using this as apaddle, he sought with frantic efforts to force the boat nearer to theshore. But the tide was running very swiftly, and the cover was only asmall bit of board, so that his efforts seemed to have but littleresult. He did indeed succeed in turning the boat's head around; butthis act, which was not accomplished without the severest labor, didnot seem to bring her nearer to the shore to any perceptible extent. What he sought to do was to achieve some definite motion to the boat, which might drag her out of the grasp of the swift current; but thatwas the very thing which he could not do, for so strong was that grasp, and so swift was that current, that even an oar would have scarcelyaccomplished what he wished. The bit of board, small, and thin, andfrail, and wielded with great difficulty and at a fearful disadvantage, was almost useless. 

But, though he saw that he was accomplishing little or nothing, hecould not bring himself to give up this work. It seemed his only hope;and so he labored on, sometimes working with both hands at the board, sometimes plying his frail paddle with one hand, and using the otherhand at a vain endeavor to paddle in the water. In his desperation hekept on, and thought that if he gained ever so little, still, bykeeping hard at work, the little that he gained might finally tell uponthe direction of the boat--at any rate, so long as it might be in theriver. He knew that the river ran for some miles yet, and that sometime still remained before he would reach the bay. 

Thus Tom toiled on, half despairing, and nearly fainting with hisfrenzied exertion, yet still refusing to give up, but plying his frailpaddle until his nerveless arms seemed like weights of lead, and couldscarce carry the board through the water. But the result, which at theoutset, and in the very freshness of his strength, had been buttrifling, grew less and less against the advance of his own weaknessand the force of that tremendous tide, until at last his feebleexertions ceased to have any appreciable effect whatever. 

There was no moon, but it was light enough for him to see theshores--to see that he was in the very centre of that rapid current, and to perceive that he was being borne past those dim shores withfearful velocity. The sight filled him with despair, but his armsgained a fresh energy, from time to time, out of the very desperationof his soul. He was one of those natures which are too obstinate togive up even in the presence of despair itself; and which, even whenhope is dead, still forces hope to linger, and struggles on while aparticle of life or of strength remains. So, as he toiled on, andfought on, against this fate which had suddenly fixed itself upon him, he saw the shores on either side recede, and knew that every passingmoment was bearing him on to a wide, a cruel, and a perilous sea. Hetook one hasty glance behind him, and saw what he knew to be the mouthof the river close at hand; and beyond this a waste of waters washidden in the gloom of night. The sight lent new energy to hisfainting limbs. He called aloud for help. Shriek after shriek burstfrom him, and rang wildly, piercingly, thrillingly upon the air ofnight. But those despairing shrieks came to no human ear, and met withno response. They died away upon the wind and the waters; and thefierce tide, with swifter flow, bore him onward. 

The last headland swept past him; the river and the river bank were nowlost to him. Around him the expanse of water grew darker, and broader, and more terrible. Above him the stars glimmered more faintly from thesky. But the very habit of exertion still remained, and his faintplunges still dipped the little board into the water; and a vague ideaof saving himself was still uppermost in his mind. Deep down in thatstout heart of his was a desperate resolution never to give up whilestrength lasted; and well he sustained that determination. Over himthe mist came floating, borne along by the wind which sighed aroundhim; and that mist gradually overspread the scene upon which hisstraining eyes were fastened. It shut out the overhanging sky. Itextinguished the glimmering stars. It threw a veil over the recedingshores. It drew its folds around him closer and closer, until at lasteverything was hidden from view. Closer and still closer came themist, and thicker and ever thicker grew its dense folds, until at lasteven the water, into which he still thrust his frail paddle, wasinvisible. At length his strength failed utterly. His hands refusedany longer to perform their duty. The strong, indomitable willremained, but the power of performing the dictates of that will wasgone. He fell back upon the sail that lay in the bottom of the boat, and the board fell from his hands. 

And now there gathered around the prostrate figure of the lost boy allthe terrors of thickest darkness. The fog came, together with thenight, shrouding all things from view, and he was floating over a widesea, with an impenetrable wall of thickest darkness closing him in onall sides. 

As he thus lay there helpless, he had leisure to reflect for the firsttime upon the full bitterness of his situation. Adrift in the fog, andin the night, and borne onward swiftly down into the Bay of Fundy--thatwas his position. And what could he do? That was the one questionwhich he could not answer. Giving way now to the rush of despair, helay for some time motionless, feeling the rocking of the waves, and thebreath of the wind, and the chill damp of the fog, yet unable to doanything against these enemies. For nearly an hour he lay thusinactive, and at the end of that time his lost energies began toreturn. He rose and looked around. The scene had not changed at all;in fact, there was no scene to change. There was nothing but blackdarkness all around. Suddenly something knocked against the boat. Hereached out his hand, and touched a piece of wood, which the nextinstant slipped from his grasp. But the disappointment was not withoutits alleviation, for he thought that he might come across some bits ofdrift wood, with which he could do something, perhaps, for his escape. And so buoyant was his soul, and so obstinate his courage, that thislittle incident of itself served to revive his faculties. He went tothe stern of the boat, and sitting there, he tried to think upon whatmight be best to be done. 

What could be done in such a situation? He could swim, but of whatavail was that? In what direction could he swim, or what progresscould he make, with such a tide? As to paddling, he thought of that nomore; paddling was exhausted, and his board was useless. Nothingremained, apparently, but inaction. Inaction was indeed hard, and itwas the worst condition in which he could be placed, for in such astate the mind always preys upon itself; in such a state trouble isalways magnified, and the slow time passes more slowly. Yet to thisinaction he found himself doomed. 

He floated on now for hours, motionless and filled with despair, listening to the dash of the waves, which were the only sounds thatcame to his ears. And so it came to pass, in process of time, that byincessant attention to these monotonous sounds, they ceased to bealtogether monotonous, but seemed to assume various cadences andintonations. His sharpened ears learned at last to distinguish betweenthe dash of large waves and the plash of small ones, the sighing of thewind, the pressure of the waters against the boat's bows, and theripple of eddies under its stern. Worn out by excitement and fatigue, he lay motionless, listening to sounds like these, and taking in them amournful interest, when suddenly, in the midst of them, his ears caughta different cadence. It was a long, measured sound, not an unfamiliarone, but one which he had often heard--the gathering sound which breaksout, rising and accumulating upon the ear, as the long line of surffalls upon some rocky shore. He knew at once what this was, andunderstood by it that he was near some shore; but what shore it mightbe he could not know. The sound came up from his right, and thereforemight be the New Brunswick coast, if the boat had preserved its properposition. But the position of the boat had been constantly changing asshe drifted along, so that it was impossible to tell whether he wasdrifting stern foremost or bow foremost. The water moved as the boatmoved, and there was no means by which to judge. He listened to thesurf, therefore, but made no attempt to draw nearer to it. He now knewperfectly well that with his present resources no efforts of his couldavail anything, and that his only course would be to wait. Besides, this shore, whatever it was, must be very different, he thought, fromthe banks of the Petitcodiac. It was, as he thought, an iron-boundshore. And the surf which he heard broke in thunder a mile away, atthe foot of giant precipices, which could only offer death to thehapless wretch who might be thrown among them. He lay, therefore, inactive, listening to this rolling surf for hours. At first it grewgradually louder, as though he was approaching it; but afterwards itgrew fainter quite as gradually, until at length it could no longer beheard. 

During all these lonely hours, one thing afforded a certainconsolation, and that was, the discovery that the sea did not growrougher. The wind that blew was the sou-wester, the dreaded wind offog and, storm; but on this occasion its strength was not put forth; itblew but moderately, and the water was not very greatly disturbed. Thesea tossed the little boat, but was not high enough to dash over her, or to endanger her in any way. None of its spray ever came upon therecumbent form in the boat, nor did any moisture come near him, savethat which was deposited by the fog. At first, in his terror, he hadcounted upon meeting a tempestuous sea; but, as the hours passed, hesaw that thus far there had been nothing of the kind, and, if he weredestined to be exposed to such a danger, it lay as yet in the future. As long as the wind continued moderate, so long would he toss over thelittle waves without being endangered in any way. And thus, with allthese thoughts, sometimes depressing, at other times ratherencouraging, he drifted on. 

Hours passed away. 

At length his fatigue overpowered him more and more, and as he satthere in the stern, his eyes closed, and his head fell heavily forward. He laid it upon the sail which was in front of him, so as to get aneasier position, and was just closing his eyes again, when a sound cameto his ears which in an instant drove every thought of sleep and offatigue away, and made him start up and listen with intense eagerness. 

It was the sound of a fog horn, such as is used by coasting vessels, and blown during a fog, at intervals, to give warning of theirpresence. The sound was a familiar one to a boy who had been broughtup on the fog-encircled and fish-haunted shores of Newfoundland; andTom's hearing, which had been almost hushed in slumber, caught it atonce. It was like the voice of a friend calling to him. But for amoment he thought it was only a fancy, or a dream, and he sat listeningand quivering with excitement. He waited and listened for some time, and was just about to conclude that it was a dream, when suddenly itcame again. There was no mistake this time. It was a fog horn. Someschooner was sailing these waters. O for day-light, and O for clearweather, so that he might see it, and make himself seen! The sound, though clear, was faint, and the schooner was evidently at aconsiderable distance; but Tom, in his eagerness, did not think ofthat. He shouted with all his strength. He waited for an answer, andthen shouted again. Once more he waited, and listened, and then againand again his screams went forth over the water. But still no responsecame. At last, after some interval, the fog horn again sounded. AgainTom screamed, and yelled, and uttered every sound that could possiblyconvey to human ears an idea of his presence, and of his distress. 

The sounds of the fog horn, however, did not correspond with his cries. It was blown at regular intervals, which seemed painfully long to Tom, and did not seem to sound as if in answer to him. At first his hopewas sustained by the discovery that the sounds were louder, andtherefore nearer; but scarcely had he assured himself of this, when heperceived that they were growing fainter again, as though the schoonerhad approached him, and then sailed away. This discovery onlystimulated him to more frantic exertions. He yelled more and moreloudly, and was compelled, at last, to cease from pure exhaustion. Buteven then he did not cease till long after the last notes of thedeparting fog horn had faintly sounded in his ears. 

It was a disappointment bitter indeed, since it came after a revivinghope. What made it all the worse was a fixed idea which he had, thatthe schooner was no other than the Antelope. He felt confident thatshe had come at once after him, and was now traversing the waters insearch of him, and sounding the horn so as to send it to his ears andget his response. And his response had been given with this result!This was the end of his hopes. He could bear it no longer. The stoutheart and the resolute obstinacy which had so long struggled againstfate now gave way utterly. He buried his face in his hands, and burstinto a passion of tears. 

He wept for a long time, and roused himself, at last, with difficulty, to a dull despair. What was the use of hoping, or thinking, orlistening? Hope was useless. It was better to let himself go whereverthe waters might take him. He reached out his hand and drew the sailforward, and then settling himself down in the stern of the boat, heagain shut his eyes and tried to sleep. But sleep, which a short timebefore had been so easy, was now difficult. His ears took in once morethe different sounds of the sea, and soon became aware of a deeper, drearer sound than any which had hitherto come to him. It was thehoarse roar of a great surf, far more formidable than the one which hehad heard before. The tumult and the din grew rapidly louder, and atlength became so terrific that he sat upright, and strained his eyes inthe direction from which it came. Peering thus through the darkness, he saw the glow of phosphorescent waves wrought out of the strife ofmany waters; and they threw towards him, amid the darkness, a balefulgleam which fascinated his eyes. A feeling came to him now that allwas over. He felt, as though he were being sucked into some vortex, where Death lay in wait for him. He trembled. A prayer started to hislips, and burst from him. Suddenly his boat seemed caught by someresistless force, and jerked to one side; the next instant it rose onsome swelling wave, and was shot swiftly forward. Tom closed his eyes, and a thrill of horror passed through every nerve. All at once a rudeshock was felt, and the boat shook, and Tom thought he was going down. It seemed like the blow of a rock, and he could think only of theingulfing waters. But the waters hesitated to claim their prey; therushing motion ceased; and soon the boat was tossing lightly, asbefore, over the waves, while the hoarse and thunderous roar of thosedread unseen breakers, from which he had been so wondrously saved, arose wrathfully behind, as though they were howling after theirescaped victim. A cry of gratitude escaped Tom, and with tremblinglips he offered a heart-felt prayer to that divine Power whose mightyhand had just rescued him from a terrible doom. 

Tom's agitation had been so great that it was long before he couldregain his former calm. At last, however, his trembling subsided. Heheard no longer the howling surf. All was calm and quiet. The windceased, the boat's motion was less violent, the long-resisted slumbercame once more to his eyes. Still his terror kept off sleep, and ashis eyes would close, they would every moment open again, and he wouldstart in terror and look around. 

At length he saw that the darkness was less profound. Light wascoming, and that light was increasing. He could see the dark waters, and the gloomy folds of the enclosing mist became apparent. He gave aheavy sigh, partly of terror at the thought of all that he had gonethrough, and partly of relief at the approach of light. 

Well might he sigh, for this light was the dawn of a new day, andshowed him that he had been a whole night upon the waters. 

And now he could no longer struggle against sleep. His eyes closed forthe last time. His head fell forward on the wet sail. 

He was sound asleep. 

VII. 

Lost in the Fog. --The Shoal and its Rocks. --Is it a Reef?--TheTruth. --Hoisting Sail. --A forlorn Hope. --Wild Steering. --Where amI?--Land, ho!

Tom slept for many hours; and when he at length awoke, he was stiffenedin every limb, and wet to the skin. It was his constrained positionand the heavy fog which had done this. He sat up and looked aroundwith a bewildered air; but it did not take a long time for him tocollect his wandering faculties, and arrive at the full recollection ofhis situation. Gradually it all came before him--the night of horror, the long drift, the frantic struggles, the boom of the surf, theshrill, penetrating tone of the fog horn, his own wild screams forhelp, the thunder of the breakers, and the grasp of the giant wave; allthese, and many more, came back to his mind; and he was all too soonenabled to connect his present situation with the desperate position ofthe preceding night. 

In spite of all these gloomy thoughts, which thus rushed in oneaccumulated mass over his soul, his first impulse had nothing to dowith these things, but was concerned with something very different fromuseless retrospect, and something far more essential. He found himselfravenously hungry; and his one idea was to satisfy the cravings of hisappetite. 

He thought at once of the box of biscuit. 

The sail which he had pulled forward had very fortunately covered itup, else the contents might have been somewhat damaged. As it was, theupper edges of the biscuits, which had been exposed before beingcovered by the sail, were somewhat damp and soft, but otherwise theywere not harmed; and Tom ate his frugal repast with extreme relish. Satisfying his appetite had the natural effect of cheering his spirits, and led him to reflect with thankfulness on the very fortunate presenceof that box of biscuit in the boat. Had it not been for that, howterrible would his situation be! But with that he could afford toentertain hope, and might reasonably expect to endure the hardships ofhis situation. Strange to say, he was not at all thirsty; whichprobably arose from the fact that he was wet to the skin. 

Immersing one's self in water is often resorted to by shipwreckedmariners, when they cannot get a drink, and with successful results. As for Tom, his whole night had been one long bath, in which he hadbeen exposed to the penetrating effects of the sea air and the fog. 

He had no idea whatever of the time. The sun could not be seen, and sothick was the fog that he could not even make out in what part of thesky it might be. He had a general impression, however, that it wasmidday; and this impression was not very much out of the way. Hisbreakfast refreshed him, and he learned now to attach so much value tohis box of biscuit, that his chief desire was to save it from furtherinjury. So he hunted about for the cover, and finding it underneaththe other end of the sail, he put it on the box, and then covered itall up. In this position the precious contents of the box were safe. 

The hour of the day was a subject of uncertainty, and so was the stateof the tide. Whether he was drifting up or down the bay he could nottell for certain. His recollection of the state of the tide atPetitcodiac, was but vague. He reckoned, however, from the ship launchof the preceding day, and then, allowing sufficient time for thedifference in the tide, he approximated to a correct conclusion. If itwere midday, he thought that the tide would be about half way down onthe ebb. 

These thoughts, and acts, and calculations took up some time, and henow began to look around him. Suddenly his eye caught sight ofsomething not far away, dimly visible through the mist. It looked likea rock. A farther examination showed him that such was the case. Itwas a rock, and he was drifting towards it. No sooner had heascertained this, than all his excitement once more awakened. Trembling from head to foot at this sudden prospect of escape, hestarted to his feet, and watched most eagerly the progress of the boat. It was drifting nearer to the rock. Soon another appeared, and thenanother. The rocks were black, and covered with masses of sea-weed, asthough they were submerged at high tide. A little nearer, and he saw agravelly strand lying just beyond the rocks. His excitement grewstronger and stronger, until at last it was quite uncontrollable. Hebegan to fear that he would drift past this place, into the deep wateragain. He sprang into the bows, and grasping the rope in his hand, stood ready to leap ashore. He saw that he was drawing nearer, and sodelayed for a while. Nearer he came and nearer. At length the boatseemed to pass along by the gravelly beach, and move by it as though itwould go no nearer. This Tom could not endure. He determined to waitno longer. He sprang. 

He sank into the water up to his armpits, but he did not lose his holdof the rope. Clutching this in a convulsive grasp, he regained hisfoothold, which he had almost lost, and struggled forward. For a fewmoments he made no headway, for the boat, at the pressure of thecurrent, pulled so hard that he could not drag it nearer. A terriblefear came to him that the rope might break. Fortunately it did not, and, after a short but violent struggle, Tom conquered the resistanceof the tide, and pulled the boat slowly towards the shore. He thentowed it near to the rocks, dragged its bows up as far as he could, andfastened it securely. 

Then he looked around. 

A few rocks were near him, about six feet high, jutting out of thegravel; and beyond these were others, which rose out of the water. Mostof them were covered with sea-weed. A few sticks of timber were wedgedin the interstices of the nearest rocks. As to the rest, he saw only arocky ledge of small extent, which was surrounded by water. Beyondthis nothing was visible but fog. 

At first he had thought that this was a beach, but now he began todoubt this. He walked all around, and went into the water on everyside, but found no signs of any neighboring shore. The place seemedrather like some isolated ledge. But where was it, and how far awaywas the shore? If he could only tell that! He stopped, and listenedintently; he walked all around, and listened more intently still, inhopes of hearing the sound of some neighboring surf. In vain. Nothingof the kind came to his ears. All was still. The water was not rough, nor was there very much wind. There was only a brisk breeze, whichthrew up light waves on the surface. 

After a time he noticed that the tide was going down, and the area ofthe ledge was evidently enlarging. This inspired hope, for he thoughtthat perhaps some long shoal might be disclosed by the retreating tide, which might communicate with the main land. For this he now watchedintently, and occupied himself with measuring the distance from therock where his boat was tied. Doing this from time to time, he foundthat every little while the number of paces between the rock and thewater's edge increased. This occupation made the time pass rapidly;and at last Tom found his stopping-place extending over an area ofabout a hundred yards in length, and half as many in breadth. Therocks at one end had increased in apparent size, and in number; but theledge itself remained unchanged in its general character. 

This, he saw, was its extreme limit, beyond which it did not extend. There was no communication with any shore. There was no moreindication now of land than when he had first arrived. This discoverywas a gradual one. It had been heralded by many fears and suspicions, so that at last, when it forced itself on his convictions, he was notaltogether unprepared. Still, the shock was terrible, and once morepoor Tom had to struggle with his despair--a despair, too, that was allthe more profound from the hopes that he had been entertaining. Hefound, at length, in addition to this, that the tide was rising, thatit was advancing towards his resting-place, and that it would, nodoubt, overflow it all before long. It had been half tide when helanded, and but a little was uncovered; at full tide he saw that itwould all be covered up by the water, --sea weed, rocks, and all, --andconcealed from human eye. 

In the midst of these painful discoveries there suddenly occurred tohim the true name and nature of this place. 

Quaco Ledge!

That was the place which Captain Corbet had described. He recalled nowthe full description. Here it lay before him; upon it he stood; and hefound that it corresponded in every respect with the description thatthe captain had given. If this were indeed so, and the descriptionwere true, --and he could not doubt this, --how desperate his situationwas, and how he had been deceived in his false hopes! Far, far awaywas he from any shore!--in the middle of the bay; on a place avoided byall--a place which he should shun above all other places if he hopedfor final escape!

And now he was as eager to quit this ill-omened place as he had oncebeen to reach it. The tide was yet low. He tried to push the boatdown, but could not. He saw that he would have to wait. So he gotinside the boat, and, sitting down, he waited patiently. The timepassed slowly, and Tom looked despairingly out over the water. Something attracted his attention. It was a long pole, which hadstruck against the edge of the shoal. He got out of the boat, and, securing it, he walked back again. It was some waif that had beendrifting about till it was thus cast at his feet. He thought of takingit for a mast, and making use of the sail. The idea was an attractiveone. He pulled the sail out, unfolded it, and found it to be the jibof some schooner. He cut off one end of this, and then with his knifebegan to make a hole in the seat for his mast. It was very slow work, but he succeeded at last in doing it, and inserted the pole. Then hefastened the sail to it. He was rather ignorant of navigation, but hehad a general idea of the science, and thought he would learn byexperience. By cutting off the rope from the edge of the sail heobtained a sheet, and taking off the cover of the biscuit box a secondtime, he put this aside to use as a rudder. 

But now, in what direction ought he to steer?

This was an insoluble problem. He could tell now by the flow of thecurrent the points of the compass, but could not tell in whichdirection he ought to go. The New Brunswick coast he thought wasnearest, but he dreaded it. It seemed perilous and unapproachable. Hedid not think much better of the Nova Scotia coast. He thought ratherof Cape d'Or, as a promising place of refuge, or the Petitcodiac. So, after long deliberation, he decided on steering back again, especiallyas the wind was blowing directly up the bay. 

By the time that he had finished these preparations and deliberationsthe boat was afloat. Eagerly Tom pushed it away from the shoal;eagerly, and with trembling hands, he let the sail unfold, and thrustthe board into the water astern. The boat followed the impulse of thewind, and the young sailor saw with delight that his experiment wassuccessful, and before long the dark rocks of Quaco Ledge were lost toview. 

Now, where there is a definite object to steer by, or a compass toguide one, and a decent rudder, even an inexperienced hand can manageto come somewhere near the point that he aims at. But take a boat likeTom's, and a rude and suddenly extemporized sail, with no other rudderthan a bit of board, with no compass, and a surrounding of thick fog, and it would puzzle even an experienced sailor to guide himself aright. Tom soon suspected that his course was rather a wild one; his board inparticular became quite unmanageable, and he was fatigued with tryingto hold it in the water. So he threw it aside, and boldly trusted tohis sail alone. 

The boat seemed to him to be making very respectable progress. Thewind was fresh, and the sea only moderate. The little waves beat overthe bows, and there was quite a commotion astern. Tom thought he wasdoing very well, and heading as near as possible towards thePetitcodiac. Besides, in his excitement at being thus saved from mereblind drifting, he did not much care where he went, for he felt assuredthat he was now on the way out of his difficulties. 

In an hour or two after leaving the ledge it grew quite dark, and Tomsaw that it would be necessary to prepare for the night. Hispreparations were simple, consisting in eating a half dozen biscuit. He now began to feel a little thirsty, but manfully struggled againstthis feeling. Gradually the darkness grew deeper, until at last itassumed the intense character of the preceding night. But still Tomsat up, and the boat went on. The wind did not slacken, nor did theboat's progress cease. Hours passed by in this way. As to the tides, Tom could not tell now very well whether they were rising or falling, and, in fact, he was quite indifferent, being satisfied fully with hisprogress. As long as the wind distended his sail, and bore the boatonward, he cared not whether the tide favored or opposed. 

Hours passed, but such was Tom's excitement that he still bore up, andthought nothing of rest or of sleep. His attention was needed, too, and so he kept wide awake, and his ears were ever on the stretch tohear the slightest sound. But at last the intense excitement and thelong fatigue began to overpower him. Still he struggled against hisweakness, and still he watched and listened. 

Hours passed on, and the wind never ceased to fill the sail, and theboat never ceased to go onward in a course of which Tom could have noidea. It was a course totally different from the one which beintended--a course which depended on the chance of the wind; and one, too, which was varied by the sweep of the tide as it rose or fell; butthe course, such as it was, continued on, and Tom watched and waiteduntil, at last, from sheer exhaustion, he fell sound asleep. 

His dreams were much disturbed, but he slept on soundly, and when heawaked it was broad day. He looked around in deep disappointment. Fogwas everywhere, as before, and nothing could be seen. Whether he wasnear any shore or not he could not tell. Suddenly he noticed that thewind was blowing from an opposite direction. How to account for thiswas at first a mystery, for the fog still prevailed, and the oppositewind could not bring fog. Was it possible that the boat had turnedduring his sleep? He knew that it was quite possible. Indeed, hebelieved that this was the case. With this impression he determined toact on the theory that the boat had turned, and not that the wind hadchanged. The latter idea seemed impossible. The wind was the chill, damp fog wind--the sou-wester. Convinced of this, Tom turned the boat, and felt satisfied that he had resumed his true course. 

After a time the wind went down, and the sail flapped idly against themast. Tom was in a fever of impatience, but could do nothing. He felthimself to be once more at the mercy of the tides. The wind had failedhim, and nothing was left but to drift. All that day he drifted, andnight came on. Still it continued calm. Tom was weary and worn out, but so intense was his excitement that he could not think of sleep. Atmidnight the wind sprung up a little; and now Tom determined to keepawake, so that the boat might not again double on her track. He blamedhimself for sleeping on the previous night, and losing so muchprogress. Now he was determined to keep awake. 

His resolution was carried out. His intense eagerness to reach someshore, no matter where, and his fear of again losing what he hadgained, kept sleep from his eyes. All that night he watched his boat. The wind blew fitfully, sometimes carrying the boat on rapidly, againdying down. 

So the next morning came. 

It was Thursday. 

It was Monday night when he had drifted out, and all that time he hadbeen on the deep, lost in the fog. 

And now, wearied, dejected, and utterly worn out, he looked around indespair, and wondered where this would end. Fog was everywhere, asbefore, and, as before, not a thing could be seen. 

Hours passed on; the wind had sprang up fresh, and the boat went onrapidly. 

Suddenly Tom sprang upright, and uttered a loud cry. 

There full before him he saw a giant cliff, towering far overhead, towards which the boat was sailing. At its base the waves weredashing. Over its brow trees were bending. In the air far above heheard the hoarse cries of sea-gulls. 

In his madness he let the boat drive straight on, and was close to itbefore he thought of his danger. He could not avoid it now, however, for he did not know how to turn the boat. On it went, and in a fewmoments struck the beach at the base of the cliff. 

The tide was high; the breeze was moderate, and there was but littlesun. The boat was not injured by running ashore there. Tom jumpedout, and, taking the rope in his hands, walked along the rough andstony beach for about a hundred yards, pulling the boat after him. There the cliff was succeeded by a steep slope, beyond which was agentle, grass-grown declivity. Towards this he bent his now feeblesteps, still tugging at the boat, and drawing it after him. 

At length he reached the grassy slope, and found here a rough beach. He fastened the boat securely to the trunk of a tree that grew near. 

Then he lifted out the box of biscuit, and over this he threw the sail. 

He stood for a few moments on the bank, and looked all around for signsof some human habitation; but no signs appeared. Tom was too exhaustedto go in search of one. He had not slept for more than thirty hours. The country that he saw was cleared. Hills were at a little distance, but the fog which hung all around concealed everything from view. Onelook was enough. 

Overwhelmed with gratitude, he fell upon his knees, and offered up afervent prayer of thankfulness for his astonishing escape. 

Then fatigue overpowered him, and, rolling himself up in the sail, hewent to sleep. 

VIII. 

Off in Search. --Eager Outlook. --Nothing but Fog. --Speaking aSchooner. --Pleasant Anecdotes. --Cheer up. --The Heart of Corbet. 

After the arrival of Bruce and Bart, Captain Corbet did not delay hisdeparture much longer. The vessel was already afloat, and though thetide was still rising, yet the wind was sufficiently favorable toenable her to go on her way. The sails were soon set, and, with thenew boat in tow, the Antelope weighed anchor, and took her departure. For about two hours but little progress was made against the strongopposing current; yet they had the satisfaction of reaching the mouthof the river, and by ten o'clock, when the tide turned and began tofall, they were fairly in the bay. The wind here was ahead, but thestrong tide was now in their favor, and they hoped for some hours tomake respectable progress. 

During this time they had all kept an anxious lookout, but without anyresult. No floating craft of any kind appeared upon the surface of thewater. Coming down the river, the sky was unclouded, and all thesurrounding scene was fully visible; but on reaching the bay, they sawbefore them, a few miles down, a lofty wall of light-gray cloud. Captain Corbet waved his hand towards this. 

"We're in for it, " said he, "or we precious soon will be. "

"What's that?" asked Phil. 

"Our old friend--a fog bank. You'd ought to know it by this time, sure. "

There it lay, a few miles off, and every minute brought them nearer. The appearance of the fog threw an additional gloom over the minds ofall, for they saw the hopeless character of their search. Of whatavail would it be to traverse the seas if they were all covered by suchthick mists? Still nothing else was to be done, and they tried to hopefor the best. 

"Any how, " said Captain Corbet, "thar's one comfort. That thar fog maygo as quick as it come. It ony needs a change of wind. Why, I'veknowed it all vanish in half an hour, an the fog as thick as it is now. "

"But sometimes it lasts long--don't it?"

"I should think it did. I've knowed it hang on for weeks. "

At this gloomy statement the boys said not a word. 

Soon after the schooner approached the fog bank, and in a little whileit had plunged into the midst of its misty folds. The chill of thedamp clouds, as they enveloped them, struck additional chill to theirhearts. It was into the midst of this that poor Tom had drifted, theythought, and over these seas, amidst this impenetrable atmosphere, hemight even now be drifting. In the midst of the deep dejectionconsequent upon such thoughts, it was difficult for them to find anysolid ground for hope. 

The wind was moderate, yet adverse, and the schooner had to beatagainst it. As she went on each tack, they came in sight of theshores; but as time passed, the bay widened, and Captain Corbet keptaway from the land as much as possible. All the time the boys neverceased to maintain their forlorn lookout, and watched over the sides, and peered anxiously through the mist, in the hope that the gloomywaters might suddenly disclose to their longing eyes the form of thedrifting boat and their lost companion. 

"I tell you what it is, boys, " said Captain Corbet, after a long andthoughtful silence; "the best plan of acting in a biz of this kind isto pluck up sperrit an go on. Why, look at me. You mind the time whenthat boat, that thar i-dentical, individdle boat, drifted away onstafore, with youns in it. You remember all about that, --course. Well, look at me. Did I mourn? Did I fret? Was I cast down? Nary down;not me. I cheered up. I cheered up Mr. Long. I kep everybody in goodsperrits. An what was the result? Result was, you all turned up inprime order and condition, a enjyin of yourselves like all possessed, along with old O'Rafferty. 

"Again, my friends, " he continued, as the boys made no remark, "consider this life air short an full of vycissitoods. Ups an downsair the lot of pore fallen hoomanity. But if at the fust blast ofmisforten we give up an throw up the game, what's the good of us? Thequestion now, an the chief pint, is this--Who air we, an whar air wegoin, an what air we purposin to do? Fust, we air hooman beins;secondly, we air a traversin the vast an briny main; and thirdly, wehope to find a certain friend of ourn, who was borne away from us bythe swellin tide. Thar's a aim for us--a high an holy aim; an now Iask you, as feller-critters, how had we ought to go about it? Had weought to peek, an pine, an fret, an whine? Had we ought to snivel, andgive it up at the fust? Or had we ought, rayther, to be up andoin, --pluck up our sperrits like men, and go about our important workwith energy? Which of these two, my friends? I pause for a reply. "

This was quite a speech for Captain Corbet, and the effort seemed quitean exhaustive one. He paused some time for a reply; but as no replywas forthcoming, he continued his remarks. 

"Now, see here, " said he; "this here whole business reminds me of astory I once read in a noospaper, about a man up in this here identicalriver, the Petticoat Jack, who, like a fool, pulled up his boat on thebank, and wont off to sleep in her. Wal, as a matter of course, hefloated off, --for the tide happened to be risin, --an when he woke upout of his cool an refreshin slumbers, he found himself afar on thebriny deep, a boundin like 'a thing of life, ' o'er the deep heavin sea. Besides, it was precious foggy, --jest as it is now, --an the mancouldn't see any more'n we can. Wal, the story went on to say, how thatthar man, in that thar boat, went a driftin in that thar fashion, inthat thar fog; an he drifted, an drifted, an derifted, for days andays, up an down, on one side an t'other side, an round every way, --an, mind you, he hadn't a bit to eat, or to drink either, for thatmatter, --'t any rate, the paper didn't mention no such thing; an so, you know, he drifted, an d-e-e-e-rifted, --until at last he druv ashore. An now, whar d'ye think he druv?"

The boys couldn't think. 

"Guess, now. "

The boys couldn't guess. 

"D'ye guv it up?"

They did. 

"Wal, the paper said, he druv ashore at Grand Manan; but I've my doubtsabout it. "

The captain paused, looked all around through the fog, and stood for amoment as though listening to some sound. 

"I kine o' thought, " said he, "that I detected the dash of water on theshore. I rayther think it's time to bring her round. "

The vessel was brought round on another tack, and the captain resumedhis conversation. 

"What I was jest sayin, " he continued, "reminds me of a story I onstheard, or read, I forget which (all the same, though), about two boyswhich went adrift on a raft. It took place up in Scott's Bay, I think, at a ship-yard in that thar locality. 

"These two unfortunate children, it seems, had made a raft in a playfulmude, an embarkin on it they had been amoosin theirselves with paddlinabout by pushin it with poles. At length they came to a pint wherepoles were useless; the tide got holt of the raft, an the ferrailstructoor was speedily swept onward by the foorus current. Very well. Time rolled on, an that thar raft rolled on too, --far over the deepbellew sea, --beaten by the howlin storm, an acted upon by theremorseless tides. I leave you to pictoor to yourselves the sorrow ofthem thar two infant unfortunits, thus severed from their hum anparients, an borne afar, an scarce enough close on to keep 'em from theinclemency of the weather. So they drifted, an drifted, ande-e-rifted, until at last they druv ashore; an now, whar do you thinkit was that they druv?"

The boys couldn't say. 

"Guess now. "

The boys declined. 

"Try. "

They couldn't. 

"Name some place. "

They couldn't think of any. 

"D'ye guv it up?" asked the captain, excitedly. 

They did. 

"Well, then, " said he, in a triumphant tone, "they druv ashore on BrierIsland; an ef that thar ain't pooty tall driftin, then I'm a Injine. "

To this the boys had no reply to make. 

"From all this, " continued the captain, "you must perceive that thishere driftin is very much more commoner than you hev ben inclined tobleeve it to be. You also must see that thar's every reason for hope. So up with your gizzards! Pluck up your sperrits! Rise and lookfortin an the footoor squar in the face. Squar off at fortin, an hav itout with her on the spot. I don't want to hev you go mopin an whininabout this way. Hello!"

Captain Corbet suddenly interrupted his remarks by an exclamation. Theexclamation was caused by the sudden appearance of a sail immediatelyto windward. She was coming up the bay before the wind, and cameswiftly through the fog towards them. In passing on her way, she cameastern of the Antelope. 

"Schooner, ahoy!" cried Captain Corbet; and some conversation tookplace, in which they learned that the stranger was the schooner Wave, from St. John, and that she had not seen any signs whatever of anydrifting boat. 

This news was received sadly by the boys, and Captain Corbet had toexert his utmost to rouse them from their depression, but without mucheffect. 

"I don't know how it is, " said he, plaintively, "but somehow your bluesair contiguous, an I feel as ef I was descendin into a depression asdeep as yourn. I don't remember when I felt so depressed, cept lastMay--time I had to go off in the Antelope with taters, arter I thoughtI'd done with seafarin for the rest of my life. But that thar vesselwar wonderously resussutated, an the speouse of my buzzum druv me awayto traverse the sea. An I had to tar myself away from the clingingerasp of my weepin infant, --the tender bud an bulossum of an old man'slife--tar myself away, an feel myself a outcast. Over me hoveredcontennooly the image of the pinin infant, an my heart quivered withresponsive sympathy. An I yearned--an I pined--an I groaned--an I feltthat life would be intoll'ble till I got back to the babby. An so itwas that I passed away, an had scace the heart to acknowledge youryouthful cheers. Wal, time rolled on, an what's the result? Here Iair. Do I pine now? Do I peek? Not a pine! Not a peek! As tender aheart as ever bet still beats in this aged frame; but I am no longer apurray to sich tender reminiscinsuz of the babby as onst used toconsume my vitals. "

Thus it was that the venerable captain talked with the boys, and it wasthus that he sought, by every possible means, to cheer them up. In thisway the day passed on, and after five or six hours they began to lookfor a turn of tide. During this time the schooner had been beating;and as the fog was as thick as ever, it was impossible for the boys totell where they were. Indeed, it did not seem as though they had beenmaking any progress. 

"We'll have to anchor soon, " said the captain, closing his eyes andturning his face meditatively to the quarter whence the wind came. 

"Anchor?"

"Yes. "

"What for?"

"Wal, you see it'll soon be dead low tide, an we can't go on anyfurther when it turns. We'll have wind an tide both agin us. "

"How far have we come now?"

"Wal, we've come a pooty considerable of a lick now--mind I tell you. 'Tain't, of course, as good as ef the wind had ben favorable, but arterall, that thar tide was a pooty considerable of a tide, now. "

"How long will you anchor?"

"Why, till the next tarn of tide, --course. "

"When will that be?"

"Wal, somewhar about eleven o'clock. "

"Eleven o'clock?"

"Yes. "

"Why, that's almost midnight. "

"Course it is. "

"Wouldn't it be better to cruise off in the bay? It seems to meanything is better than keeping still. "

"No, young sir; it seems to me that jest now anythin is better thantryin to cruise in the bay, with a flood tide a comin up. Why, whard'ye think we'd be? It would ony take an hour or two to put us on CapeChignecto, or Cape d'Or, onto a place that we wouldn't git away from ina hurry, --mind I tell you. "

To this, of course, the boys had nothing to say. So, after a halfhour's further sail, the anchor was dropped, and the Antelope stoppedher wanderings for a time. 

Tedious as the day had been, it was now worse. The fog was as thick asever, the scene was monotonous, and there was nothing to do. EvenSolomon's repasts had, in a great measure, lost their attractions. Hehad spread a dinner for them, which at other times, and under happiercircumstances, would have been greeted with uproarious enthusiasm; butat the present time it was viewed with comparative indifference. Itwas the fog that threw this gloom over them. Had the sky been clear, and the sun shining, they would have viewed the situation withcomparative equanimity; but the fog threw terror all its own aroundTom's position; and by shutting them in on every side, it forced themto think of him who was imprisoned in the same way--their lostcompanion, who now was drifting in the dark. Besides, as long as theywere in motion, they had the consciousness that they were doingsomething, and that of itself was a comfort; but now, even thatconsolation was taken away from them, and in their forced inaction theyfell back again into the same despondency which they had felt atPetitcodiac. 

"It's all this fog, I do believe, " said Captain Corbet. "If it wantfor this you'd all cheer up, an be as merry as crickets. "

"Is there any prospect of its going away?"

"Wal, not jest yet. You can't reckon on it. When it chooses to goaway, it does so. It may hang on for weeks, an p'aps months. Thar's notellin. I don't mind it, bein as I've passed my hull life in themiddle of fog banks; but I dare say it's a leetle tryin to youns. "

The repast that Solomon spread for them on that evening was scarcetasted, and to all his coaxings and remonstrances the boys made noreply. After the tea was over, they went on deck, and stared silentlyinto the surrounding gloom. The sight gave them no relief, and gave nohope. In that dense fog twilight came on soon, and with the twilightcame the shadows of the night more rapidly. At last it grew quite dark, and finally there arose all around them the very blackness of darkness. 

"The best thing to do, " said Captain Corbet, "is to go to sleep. In allkinds of darkness, whether intunnel or extunnel, I've allus found thebest plan to be to sleep it off. An I've knowed great men who war ofmy opinion. Sleep, then, young sirs, while yet you may, while yeryoung blood is warm, an life is fresh an fair, an don't put it off toold age, like me, for you mayn't be able to do it. Look at me! Howmuch d'ye think I've slep sence I left Mud Creek? Precious little. Idon't know how it is, but bein alone with you, an havin therespons'bility of you all, I kine o' don't feel altogether able tosleep as I used to do; an sence our late loss--I--wal, I feel as thoughI'd never sleep agin. I'm talkin an talkin, boys, but it's a solemntime with me. On me, boys, rests the fate of that lad, an I'll scourthese here seas till he turns up, ef I hev to do it till I die. Anxious? Yes, I am. I'm that anxious that the diskivery of the lostboy is now the one idee of my life, for which I forget all else; butallow me to say, at the same time, that I fully, furmly, anconshuentiously bleve an affum, that my conviction is, that that tharlad is bound to turn up all right in the end--right side up--withcare--sound in every respect, in good order an condition, jest as whenfust shipped on board the good schooner Antelope, Corbet master, forPetticoat Jack, as per bill ladin. "

The captain's tones were mournful. He heaved a deep sigh as heconcluded, and relapsed into a profound and melancholy silence. 

The boys waited on deck for some time longer, and finally followed hisadvice, and sought refuge below. They were young and strong, and thefatigue which they felt brought on drowsiness, which, in spite of theiranxiety, soon deepened into sleep. All slept, and at length CaptainCorbet only was awake. It was true enough, as he had said, the fate ofthe lost boy rested upon him, and he felt it. His exhortations to theboys about keeping up their courage, and his stories about lost men whohad drifted to a final rescue, were all spoken more with reference tohimself than to them. He sought to keep up his own courage by thesewords. Yet, in spite of his efforts, a profound depression came overhim, and well nigh subdued him. No one knew better than he the manyperils which beset the drifting boat in these dangerous waters--theperils of storm, the perils of fog, the perils of thick darkness, theperils of furious tides, the perils of sunken rocks, of shoals, and ofiron-bound coasts. The boys had gone to sleep, but there was no sleepfor him. He wandered restlessly about, and heavy sighs escaped him. Thus the time passed with him until near midnight. Then he roused themate, and they raised the anchor and hoisted the sails. It was now theturn of tide, and the waters were falling again, and the current oncemore ran down the bay. To this current he trusted the vessel again, beating, as before, against the head wind, which was still blowing; andthus the Antelope worked her way onward through all that dark anddismal night, until at last the faint streaks of light in the eastproclaimed the dawn of another day. 

Through all that night the boys slept soundly. The wind blew, thewaves dashed, but they did not awake. The anchor was hoisted, and thesails were set, but the noise failed to rouse them. Weariness of bodyand anxiety of mind both conspired to make their sleep profound. Yetin that profound sleep the anxiety of their minds made itself manifest;and in their dreams their thoughts turned to their lost companion. They saw him drifting over the stormy waters, enveloped in midnightdarkness, chilled through with the damp night air, pierced to the boneby the cold night wind; drifting on amid a thousand dangers, now swepton by furious tides towards rocky shores, and again drawn back byrefluent currents over vast sunken sea-ledges, white with foam. Thusthrough all the night they slept, and as they slept the Antelope dashedon through the waters, whose foaming waves, as they tumbled against hersides and over her bows, sent forth sounds that mingled with theirdreams, and became intermingled with poor Tom's mournful cries. 

IX. 

Awake once more. --Where are we?--The giant cliff. --Out toSea. --Anchoring and Drifting. --The Harbor. --The Search. --NoAnswer. --Where's Solomon?

Scarce had the streaks of light greeted Captain Corbet's eyes, andgiven him the grateful prospect of another day, when the boys awakedand hurried up on deck. Their first act was to take a hurried look allaround. The same gloomy and dismal prospect appeared--black water andthick, impenetrable fog. 

"Where are we now, Captain?" asked Bruce. 

"Wal, a con-siderable distance down the bay. "

"What are you going to do?"

"Wal--I've about made up my mind whar to go. "

"Where?"

"I'm thinkin of puttin into Quaco. "

"Quaco?"

"Yes. "

"How far is it from here?"

"Not very fur, 'cordin to my calc'lations. My idee is, that the boatmay have drifted down along here and got ashore. Ef so, he may havemade for Quaco, an its jest possible that we may hear about him. "

"Is this the most likely place for a boat to go ashore?"

"Wal, all things considered, a boat is more likely to go ashore on theNew Brunswick side, driftin from Petticoat Jack; but at the same time'tain't at all certain. Thar's ony a ghost of a chance, mind. I don'tfeel over certain about it. "

"Will we get to Quaco this tide?"

"Scacely. "

"Do you intend to anchor again?"

"Wal, I rayther think I'll hev to do it. But we'd ought to get toQuaco by noon, I calc'late. I'm a thinkin--Hello! Good gracious!"

The captain's sudden exclamation interrupted his words, and made allturn to look at the object that had called it forth. One glance showedan object which might well have elicited even a stronger expression ofamazement and alarm. 

Immediately in front of them arose a vast cliff, --black, rocky, frowning, --that ascended straight up from the deep water, its summitlost in the thick fog, its base white with the foaming waves thatthundered there. A hoarse roar came up from those breaking waves, which blended fearfully with the whistle of the wind through therigging, and seemed like the warning sound of some dark, drear fate. The cliff was close by, and the schooner had been steering straighttowards it. So near was it that it seemed as though one could haveeasily tossed a biscuit ashore. 

But though surprised, Captain Corbet was not in the least confused, anddid not lose his presence of mind for a moment. Putting the helm hardup, he issued the necessary commands in a cool, quiet manner; thevessel went round, and in a few moments the danger was passed. Yet soclose were they, that in wearing round it seemed as though one couldalmost have jumped from the stern upon the rocky shelves which appearedin the face of the lofty cliff. 

Captain Corbet drew a long breath. 

"That's about the nighest scratch I remember ever havin had, " was hisremark, as the Antelope went away from the land. "Cur'ous, too; Idon't see how it happened. I lost my reckonin a little. I'm a milefurther down than I calc'lated on bein. "

"Do you know that place?" asked Bart. 

"Course I know it. "

"It's lucky for us we didn't go there at night. "

"Yes, it is rayther lucky; but then there wan't any danger o' that, cos, you see, I kep the vessel off by night, an the danger couldn't hevriz. I thought we were a mile further up the bay; we've been a doinbetter than I thought for. "

"Shall we be able to get into Quaco any sooner?"

"Wal, not much. "

"I thought from what you said that we were a mile nearer. "

"So we air, but that don't make any very great difference. "

"Why, we ought to get in all the sooner, I should think. "

"No; not much. "

"Why not? I don't understand that. "

"Wal, you see it's low tide now. "

"The tides again!"

"Yes; it's allus the tides that you must consider here. Wal, it's lowtide now, an the tide's already on the turn, an risin. We've got toanchor. "

"Anchor!"

"Yes. "

"What, again?"

"Yes, agin. Even so. Ef we didn't anchor we'd only be drifted upagain, ever so far, an lose all that we've ben a gainin. We're notmore'n a mile above Quaco Harbor, but we can't fetch it with wind antide agin us; so we've got to put out some distance an anchor. It's myfirm belief that we'll be in Quaco by noon. The next fallin tide willcarry us thar as slick as a whistle, an then we can pursue ourinvestigations. "

The schooner now held on her course for about a mile away from theshore, and then came to anchor. The boys had for a moment lost sightof this unpleasant necessity, and had forgotten that they had beenusing up the hours of the ebb tide while asleep. There was no help forit, however, and they found, to their disgust, another day of fog, andof inaction. 

Time passed, and breakfast came. Solomon now had the satisfaction ofseeing them eat more, and gave manifest signs of that satisfaction bythe twinkle of his eye and the lustre of his ebony brow. After thisthe time passed on slowly and heavily; but at length eleven o'clockcame, and passed, and in a short time they were once more under way. 

"We're going to Quaco now--arn't we?" asked Phil. 

"Yes; right straight on into Quaco Harbor, fair an squar. "

"I don't see how it's possible for you to know so perfectly where youare. "

"Young sir, there ain't a nook, nor a corner, nor a hole, nor a stun, in all the outlinin an configoortion of this here bay but what's mappedout an laid down all c'rect in this here brain. I'd undertake tonavigate these waters from year's end to year's end, ef I was never tosee the sun at all, an even ef I was to be perpetooly surrounded by allthe fogs that ever riz. Yea, verily, and moreover, not only this herebay, but the hull coast all along to Bosting. Why, I'm at home here onthe rollin biller. I'm the man for Mount Desert, an Quoddy Head, anGrand Manan, an all other places that air ticklish to the ginrality ofseafarin men. Why, young sir, you see before you, in the humble anunassumin person of the aged Corbet, a livin, muvin, and sea-goinedition of Blunt's Coast Pilot, revised and improved to a precioussight better condition than it's ever possible for them fellers inBosting to get out. By Blunt's Coast Pilot, young sir, I allude to acelebrated book, as big as a pork bar'l, that every skipper has in hislocker, to guide him on his wanderin way--ony me. I don't have no callto use sech, being myself a edition of useful information techin allcoastin matters. "

The Antelope now proceeded quickly on her way. Several miles weretraversed. 

"Now, boys, look sharp, " said the captain; "you'll soon see thesettlement. "

They looked sharp. 

For a few moments they went onward through the water, and at lengththere was visible just before them what seemed like a dark cloudextending all along. A few minutes further progress made the darkcloud still darker, and, advancing further, the dark cloud finallydisclosed itself as a line of coast. It was close by them, and, evenwhile they were recognizing it as land, they saw before them theoutline of a wharf. 

"Good agin!" cried the captain. "I didn't come to the wharf I wanted, but this here'll do as well as any other, an I don't know but whatit'll do better. Here we air, boys. Stand by thar, mate, to let fallthe jib. "

On they went, and in a few minutes more the Antelope wore round, andher side just grazed the wharf. The mate jumped ashore, lines weresecured, and the Antelope lay in safety. 

"An now, boys, we may all go ashore, an see if we can hear anythingabout the boat. "

With these words Captain Corbet stepped upon the wharf, followed by allthe boys, and they all went up together, till they found themselves ona road. There they saw a shop, and into this they entered. No timewas to be lost; the captain at once told his story, and asked hisquestion. 

The answer was soon made. 

Nothing whatever was known there about any boat. Two or threeschooners had arrived within two days, and the shopkeeper had seen theskippers, but they had not mentioned any boat. No boat had driftedashore anywhere near, nor had any strange lad arrived at the settlement. 

This intelligence depressed them all. 

"Wal, wal, " said the captain, "I didn't have much hopes; it's jest as Ifeared; but, at the same time, I'll ask further. An first and foremostI'll go an see them schooners. "

He then went off with the boys in search of the schooners justmentioned. These were found without difficulty. One had come from upthe bay, another from St. John, and a third from Eastport. None ofthem had encountered anything like a drilling boat. The one from upthe bay afforded them the greatest puzzle. She must have come down thevery night of Tom's accident. If he did drift down the bay in hisboat, he must have been not very far from the schooner. In clearweather he could not have escaped notice; but the skipper had seennothing, and heard nothing. He had to beat down against the wind, andanchor when the tide was rising; but, though he thus traversed so greatan extent of water, nothing whatever attracted his attention. 

"This sets me thinkin, " said the captain, "that, perhaps, he mayn'thave drifted down at all. He may have run ashore up thar. Thar's achance of it, an we must all try to think of that, and cheer up, aslong as we can. "

Leaving the schooners, the captain now went through the settlement, andmade a few inquiries, with no further result. Nothing had been heardby any one about any drifting boat, and they were at last compelled tosee that in Quaco there was no further hope of gaining any informationwhatever about Tom. 

After this, the captain informed the boys that he was going back to theschooner to sleep. 

"I haven't slep a wink, " said he, "sence we left Grand Pre, and that'smore'n human natur can ginrally stand; so now I'm bound to have mysleep out, an prepare for the next trip. You boys had better emplyyourselves in inspectin this here village. "

"When shall we leave Quaco?"

"Wal, I'll think that over. I haven't yet made up my mind as to what'sbest to be done next. One thing seems certain. There ain't no usegoin out in this fog, an I've half a mind to wait here till to-morrow. "

"To-morrow!"

"Yes, --an then go down to St. John. "

"But what'll poor Tom be doing?"

"It's my firm belief that he's all right, " said Captain Corbet, confidently. "At any rate, you'd better walk about now, an I'll try angit some sleep. "

As there was nothing better to be done, the boys did as he proposed, and wandered about the village. It was about two miles long, withhouses scattered at intervals along the single street of which it wascomposed, with here, and there a ship-yard. At one end was a long, projecting ledge, with a light-house; at the other there was a romanticvalley, through which a stream ran into the bay. On the other side ofthis stream were cliffs of sandstone rocks, in which were deep, cavernous hollows, worn by the waves; beyond this, again, was a longline of a precipitous shore, in whose sides were curious shelves, alongwhich it was possible to walk for a great distance, with the seathundering on the rocks beneath. At any other time they would havetaken an intense enjoyment in a place like this, where there were somany varied scenes; but now their sense of enjoyment was blunted, forthey carried in their minds a perpetual anxiety. None the less, however, did they wander about, penetrating up the valley, exploringthe caverns, and traversing the cliffs. 

They did not return to the schooner till dusk. It would not be hightide till midnight, and so they prolonged their excursion purposely, soas to use up the time. On reaching the schooner they were welcomed byCaptain Corbet. 

"I declar, boys, " said he, "I'm getting to be a leetle the biggest oldfool that ever lived. It's all this accident. It's onmanned me. Ihad a nap for two or three hours, but waked at six, an ever sence I'vebeen a worretin an a frettin about youns. Sence that thar accident, Ican't bar to have you out of my sight, for I fear all the time that youar gettin into mischief. An now I've been skeart for two mortal hours, a fancyin you all tumblin down from the cliffs, or a strugglin in thewaters. "

"O, we can take care of ourselves, captain, " said Bart

"No, you can't--not you. I wouldn't trust one of you. I'm getting tobe a feeble creetur too, --so don't go away agin. "

"Well, I don't think we'll have a chance in Quaco. Arn't we going toleave to-night?"

"Wal, that thar is jest the pint that I've been moosin on. You seeit's thick; the fog's as bad as ever. What's the use of going outto-night? Now, ef we wait till to-morrow, it may be clear, an then wecan decide what to do. "

At this proposal, the boys were silent for a time. The experiencewhich they had formed of the bay and its fogs showed them how uselesswould be any search by night, and the prospect of a clear day, and, possibly, a more favorable wind on the morrow, was very attractive. The question was debated by all, and considered in all its bearings, and the discussion went on until late, when it was finally decided thatit would be, on the whole, the wisest course to wait until thefollowing day. Not the least influential of the many considerationsthat occurred was their regard for Captain Corbet. They saw that hewas utterly worn out for want of sleep, and perceived how much heneeded one night's rest. This finally decided them. 

Early on the following morning they were all up, and eager to see ifthere was any change in the weather. The first glance around eliciteda cry of admiration from all of them. Above, all was clear and bright. The sun was shining with dazzling lustre; the sky was of a deep blue, and without a cloud on its whole expanse; while the wide extent of thebay spread out before them, blue like the sky above, which it mirrored, and throwing up its waves to catch the sunlight. A fresh north windwas blowing, and all the air and all the sea was full of light and joy. 

The scene around was in every respect magnificent. The tide was low, and the broad beach, which now was uncovered by the waters, spread afarto the right and left in a long crescent that extended for miles. Onits lower extremity it was terminated by a ledge of black rocks, withthe light-house before spoken of, while its upper end was bounded bycavernous cliffs of red sandstone, which were crowned with tuftedtrees. Behind them were the white houses of the village, stragglingirregularly on the borders of the long road, with here and there theunfinished fabric of some huge ship; while in the background werewooded hills and green sloping fields. Out on the bay a grander sceneappeared. Far down arose a white wall, which marked the place wherethe fog clouds were sullenly retreating; immediately opposite, andforty miles away over the water, arose the long line of the Nova Scotiacoast, which bounded the horizon; while far up arose Cape Chignecto, and beside it towered up the dark form of a lonely island, which theyknew, in spite of the evident distortion of its shape, to be no otherthan Ile Haute. 

The wondrous effects which can be produced by the atmosphere were nevermore visible to their eyes than now. The coast of Nova Scotia rosehigh in the air, dark in color, apparently only half its actualdistance away, while the summit of that coast seemed as level as atable. It seemed like some vast structure which had been raised out ofthe water during the night by some magic power. Ile Haute arose to anextraordinary height, its summit perfectly level, its sides perfectlyperpendicular, and its color a dark purple hue. Nor was Cape Chignectoless changed. The rugged cliff arose with magnified proportions to amajestic height, and took upon itself the same sombre color, whichpervaded the whole of the opposite coast. 

Another discussion was now begun as to their best plan of action. Aftertalking it all over, it was finally decided to go to St. John. Therethey would have a better opportunity of hearing about Tom; and there, too, if they did hear, they could send messages to him, or receive themfrom him. So it was decided to leave at about eleven o'clock, withoutwaiting for high tide; for, as the wind was fair, they could go onwithout difficulty. After coming to this conclusion, and learning thatthe tide would not be high enough to float the schooner until eleven, they all took breakfast, and stimulated by the exhilarating atmosphereand the bright sunshine, they dispersed down the village towards thelight-house. 

By ten o'clock they were back again. The tide was not yet up, and theywaited patiently. 

"By the way, captain, " asked Bart, "what's become of Solomon?"

"Solomon? O, he took a basket an went off on a kine o' foragin tower. "

"Foraging?"

"Yes. He said he'd go along the shore, and hunt for lobsters. "

"The shore? What shore?"

"Why, away up thar, " said the captain, pointing towards the headland atthe upper end of the village. 

"How long since?"

"Wal, jest arter breakfast. It must hev ben afore seven. "

"It's strange that he hasn't got back. "

"Yes; he'd ought to be back by this time. "

"He can't get any lobsters now; the tide is too high. "

"That's a fact. "

They waited half an hour. The rising tide already touched theAntelope's keel. 

"Solomon ought to be back, " cried Bart, starting up. 

"That's so, " said Captain Corbet. 

"I'm afraid something's happened. He's been gone too long. Two hourswere enough. "

The boys all looked at one another with anxious faces. 

"If he went up that shore, " said Bart, "he may have got caught by thetide. It's a very dangerous place for anybody--let alone an old manlike him. "

"Wal, he did go up thar; he said partic'lar that he wanted to findsomethin of a relish, an would hunt up thar. He said, too, he'd beback by nine. "

"I'm certain something's happened, " cried Bart, more anxiously thanbefore. "If he's gone up there, he's been caught by the tide. "

Captain Corbet stared, and looked uneasy. 

"Wal, I must say, that thar's not onlikely. It's a bad place, adreadful bad place, --an him an old man, --a dreadful bad place. He'd bedown here by this time, ef he was alive. "

"I won't wait any longer, " cried Bart. "I must go and see. Comealong, boys. Don't let's leave poor old Solomon in danger. Dependupon it, he's caught up there somewhere. "

"Wal, I think you're right, " said Captain Corbet, "an I'll go too. Butef we do go, we'd better go with some preparations. "

"Preparations? What kind of preparations?"

"O, ony a rope or two, " said Captain Corbet; and taking a coil of ropeover his arm, he stepped ashore, and all the boys hurried after him. 

"I feel kine o' safer with a kile o' rope, --bein a seafarin man, " heremarked. "Give a seafarin man a rope, an he'll go anywhar an doanythin. He's like a spider onto a web. "

X. 

Tom ashore. --Storm at Night. --Up in the Morning. --The Cliffs and theBeach. --A startling Discovery. --A desert Island. --A desperateEffort. --Afloat again. 

Tom slept soundly for a long time in the spot where he had flunghimself. The sense of security came to the assistance of his weariedlimbs, and lulled him into profounder slumbers. There was nothing herethat might rudely awaken him--no sudden boat shocks, no tossings andheavings of waves, no hoarse, menacing thunders of wrathful surges fromrocky shores; nor were there distressing dreams to harass him, or anyanxieties carried from his waking hours into the land of slumbers toannoy and to arouse. From Monday night until this time on Thursday, hehad known but little sleep, and much fatigue and sorrow. Now thefatigue and the sorrow were all forgotten, and the sleep was all hisown. Not a thought had he given to the land which he had reached sostrangely. It was enough for him that he felt the solid ground beneathhis feet. 

For hours he slept there, lying there like a log, wrapped in the oldsail, moving not a limb, but given up altogether to his refreshingslumber. At length he waked, and, uncovering his head, looked around. At first he thought that he was in the boat, then he grew bewildered, and it was only after a persistent effort of memory that he couldrecollect his position. 

He looked all around, but nothing was visible. There was nothingaround him but darkness, intense and utter. It was like theimpenetrable veil that had enshrouded him during the night of hismemorable voyage. He could not see where his boat was. A vague ideawhich he had of examining its fastening was dismissed. He felt hungry, and found the biscuit box lying under one corner of the sail. A few ofthese were sufficient to gratify his hunger. Nothing more could bedone, and he saw plainly that it would be necessary for him to waitthere patiently until morning. Once more, therefore, he rolled himselfup in the sail, and tried to go to sleep. But at first his effortswere vain. The first fatigue had passed away, and now that he had beenrefreshed by sleep, his mind was too much occupied by thoughts of hispast voyage to be readily lulled to sleep again. He could not helpwondering what Captain Corbet and the boys were doing. That they weresearching for him everywhere he well knew, but which direction they hadchosen he could not tell. And what was the place whither he haddrifted? He felt confident that it was the mouth of the Petitcodiac, and could not help wondering at the accuracy of his course; yet, whilewondering, he modestly refrained from taking the credit of it tohimself, and rather chose to attribute it to the wind and tide. It wasby committing himself so completely to their guidance, he thought, thathe had done so well. 

In the midst of such thoughts as these, Tom became aware of the howlingof the wind and the dash of the waters. Putting forth his head, hefound that there was quite a storm arising; and this only added to hiscontentment. No fear had he now, on this solid ground, of rising windor swelling wave. Even the fog had lost its terrors. It was withfeelings like these that he once more covered up his head from thenight blast; and not long after he was once more asleep. 

When he next awaked, it was day. Starting to his feet, he lookedaround him, and shouted for joy. The sky was clear. The sun wasrising, and its rays, coming from over the distant hills, wereglittering over the surface of the water. The wind had changed. Thefog had dispersed. 

No sooner had he seen this than he was filled with curiosity to knowwhere he was. This did not look much like the mouth of thePetitcodiac. He stared around with a very strange sensation. 

Immediately beside him, where he was standing, the easy slope went backfor a hundred yards or so, covered with short, wild grass, with hereand there a stunted tree. Turning round, he saw the land rising by asteep acclivity towards the heights which bordered on the sea in suchtremendous cliffs. Over the heights, and along the crest of thosecliffs, were flying great flocks of sea-gulls, which kept up oneincessant chorus of harsh, discordant screams. In front of him spreadout a broad sheet of water, on the opposite side of which arose a loftyline of coast. Into this there penetrated a long strait, beyond whichhe could see broad waters and distant shores--a bay within a bay, approached by this strait. On each side of the strait were lofty, towering cliffs; and on one side, in particular, the cliffs wereperpendicular, and ran on in a long and unbroken wall. The extremityof the cliff nearest him was marked by a gigantic mass of broken rock, detached from the main land, and standing alone in awful grandeur. 

What place was this? Was this the mouth of the Petitcodiac? Was thatbroad bay a river? Was he still dreaming, or what did it all mean?And that gigantic fragment severed from a cliff, which thus stood guardat the entrance of a long strait, what was that? Could it be possible?Was there indeed any other broken cape, or could it be possible thatthis was Cape Split?

He hurried up the slope, and on reaching the top, saw that it descendedon the other side towards the water. This water was a broad sheet, which extended for seven or eight miles, and was terminated by a loftycoast that extended down the bay as far as the eye could reach. Onecomprehensive glance was sufficient. He saw it all, and understood itall. It was not the mouth of the Petitcodiac River. It was theentrance to the Basin of Minas that lay before him. There lay thegreat landmarks, seen under new aspects, it is true, yet nowsufficiently distinguishable. There was the Nova Scotia coast. Inyonder hollow was Scott's Bay. That giant rock was Cape Split. Thelong channel was the Strait of Minas, and the cliffs opposite were Caped'Or and Cape Chignecto. 

And now the recognition of all these places brought to him a great andsudden shock. 

For what was this place on which he stood? Was it any part of the mainland?

It was not. 

He looked around. 

It was an island. 

He saw its lofty cliffs, its wooded crest, its flocks of sea-gulls, itssloping east end, where he stood, running down to a low point. He hadseen them all at a distance before; and now that he stood here, herecognized all. 

He was on Ile Haute!

The moment that he recognized this startling fact, he thought of hisboat. He hurried to the beach. The tide was very low. To his immenserelief he found the fastening of the boat secure, and he turned away atonce, without any further examination, to think over his situation, andconsider the best plan for reaching the main land. Making acomfortable seat for himself on the sail, he sat down, and drawing outthe box, he took some biscuit. Then feeling thirsty, he went off insearch of fresh water. Before he had walked many paces he found abrook. 

The brook was a small one, which ran from the lofty west end of theisland to the low land of the east, and thence into the bay. The waterwas good, and Tom satisfied his thirst by a long draught. 

Judging by the position of the sun, it was now about seven o'clock inthe morning; and Tom seated himself once more, and began to try tothink how it was that he should have come in a direction so entirelydifferent from the one which he had believed himself to be taking. Hehad fully expected to land at Petitcodiac, and he found himself faraway on the other side of the bay. Yet a little reflection showed himhow useless it was to try to recall his past voyage, and how impossibleit was for him to account for it, ignorant as he was of the truedirection of the wind and of the tide. He contented himself withmarking a rude outline of his course on his memorandum book, makingallowance for the time when he turned on that course; and having summedit all up to his own satisfaction in a crooked line which looked like aslip-knot, he turned his attention to more important matters. 

There was one matter of first-rate importance which now pressed itselfupon his thoughts, and that was, how to escape from his presentsituation. As far as he could see, there was no inhabitant on theisland, no house, no cultivation, and no domestic animal. If there hadbeen anything of that kind, they would be visible, he knew, from thepoint where he was standing. But all was deserted; and beyond the openground in his neighborhood arose the east end, wooded all over itslofty summit. From Captain Corbet's words, and from his ownobservation, he knew that it was a desert island, and that if he wishedto escape he would have to rely altogether upon his own resources. 

With this conclusion he once more turned his attention to hissurroundings. 

Nearest to him was Cape d'Or, about four miles away, and Cape Split, which was some distance farther. Then there was the Nova Scotia shore, which appeared to be seven or eight miles distant. On the beach andwithin sight was the boat which offered a sure and easy mode of passingover to the main land. But no sooner did he recognize this fact than adifficulty arose. How was he to make the passage? The boat had comeashore at high tide, and was close up to the grassy bank. The tide wasfar down, and between the boat and the water was a broad beach, coveredwith cobblestones, and interspersed with granite boulders. It was tooheavy a weight for him to move any distance, and to force it down tothe water over such a beach was plainly impossible. On the other hand, he might wait until the boat floated at high tide, and then embark. But this, again, would be attended with serious difficulties. Thetide, he saw, would turn as soon as he should get fairly afloat, andthen he would have to contend with the downward current. True, hemight use his sail, and in that case he might gain the Nova Scotiashore; but his experience of the tides had been so terrible a one, thathe dreaded the tremendous drift which he would have to encounter, andhad no confidence in his power of navigating under such circumstances. Besides, he knew well that although the wind was now from the north, itwas liable to change at any moment; so that even if he should be ableto guide his boat, he might yet be suddenly enveloped by a fog when buthalf way over, and exposed once more to all those perils from which hehad just escaped. The more he thought of all these dangers, the moredeterred he felt from making any such attempt. Rather would he wait, and hope for escape in some other way. 

But, as yet, he did not feel himself forced to anything so desperate asthat. There was another alternative. At high tide the boat would beafloat, and then, as the tide fell, he could keep her afloat until itwas at its lowest. He could then embark, and be carried by thereturning water straight on to the Straits of Minas, and up into thebasin. He now made a calculation, and concluded that it would be hightide about midday, and low tide about six in the evening. If he wereto embark at that time, he would have two hours of daylight in which torun up with the tide. He saw now that his whole plan was perfectlyfeasible, and it only remained to make preparations for the voyage. Asthe whole afternoon would be taken up in floating the boat down tolow-water mark, the morning would have to be employed in makingwhatever arrangements might be necessary. 

Certain things were needed which required all that time. His hastilyextemporized mast and sail had done wonderfully well, but he neededsomething to steer with. If he could only procure something that wouldserve the purpose of a rudder, he would feel well prepared for hisvoyage. 

On the search for this he now started. He walked all about the openground, looking around in all directions, to see if he could findanything, but without any success. Then he ascended the declivitytowards the woods, but nothing appeared which was at all adapted tomeet his wants. He saw a young tree, which he thought might do, andtried to cut it down with his pocket-knife. After about an hour's hardwork he succeeded in bringing it down, and another hour was spent intrimming the branches. The result of all this labor at length lay athis feet in the shape of a rough pole, with jagged splinters stickingout all over it, which promised to be of about as much utility as aspruce bush. In utter disgust he turned away, leaving the pole on theground, and making up his mind to sail, as he did before, without anyrudder. In this mood he descended the declivity, and walkeddisconsolately towards the shore which was on the side of the islanddirectly opposite to where the boat lay. He had not yet been nearenough to see the beach; but now, as he came nearer, a cry of delightescaped him involuntarily; for there, all along the beach, and close upto the bank, lay an immense quantity of drift-wood, which had beenbrought here by the tide from all the upper waters of the bay. It wasa most heterogeneous mixture that lay before him--chips from timberponds, logs from ship-yards, boards from saw-mills, deals, battens, fence posts, telegraph poles, deal ends, edgings, laths, palings, railway sleepers, treenails, shingles, clapboards, and all the variousforms which wood assumes in a country which makes use of it as thechief material of its manufactures. Along the countless streams thatflow into the bay, and along its far-winding shores, and along theborders of all its subsidiary bays, and inlets, and basins, themanufacture of wood is carried on--in saw-mills, in ship-yards, and intimber ponds; and the currents that move to and fro are always loadedwith the fragments that are snatched away from these places, most ofwhich are borne afar out to sea, but many of which are thrown all alongthe shores for hundreds of miles. Ile Haute, being directly in the wayof some of the swiftest currents, and close by the entrance to a basinwhich is surrounded by mills and ship-yards, naturally received uponits shores an immense quantity of these scattered and floatingfragments. Such was the sight that now met the eyes of Tom, andpresented him with a countless number of fragments of wood adapted tohis wants, at the very time when he had worked fruitlessly for twohours at fashioning one for himself. 

Looking over the heaps of drift-wood, he found many pieces which suitedhim; and out of these he chose one which was shaped a little like anoar. Securing this prize, he walked over to where the sail was, anddeposited it there. 

Then he ate some biscuit, and, after taking a draught from the coolbrook, he rested, and waited, full of hope, for the rising of the tide. 

It was now rapidly approaching the boat. Tom watched it for some time, and felt new happiness as he viewed the roll of every little surf. There was not much wind, and nothing but a gentle ripple on the water. All this was in his favor; for, if he wished for anything now, it was amoderate breeze and a light sea. From time to time he turned hisattention to the Straits of Minas, and arranged various plans in hismind. At one time he resolved to try and reach Pereau; again hethought that he would be content if he could only get to Parrsboro';and yet again, he came to the wise conclusion that if he got to anysettlement at all he would be content. At another time he half decidedto take another course, and try to reach Scott's Bay, where he feltsure of a warm welcome and a plenteous repast. Aiming thus at so manydifferent points, it mattered but little to him in what particulardirection the tide might sweep him, so long as it carried him up thebay. 

The tide now came nearer, and Tom went down to the beach for a fewmoments. He paced the distance between the boat and the water. Henoticed a few things lying in the boat. In the bow was a coil of ropewhich Captain Corbet had probably obtained when he was ashore atPetitcodiac. There was also a tin pan, used for baling. 

As the tide drew nearer, Tom began to feel more and more impatient. Again and again he paced the intervening space between the boat and thewater, and chafed and fretted because it did not lessen more rapidly. If the boat were once fairly afloat, he felt that the time would passmuch more rapidly; for then he would be working at some definite task, and not standing idly waiting. 

But everything has an end; and so, at length, the end came here. Thewater rose higher and higher, until, at length, it touched the keel. Tom gave a shout of joy. 

He now untied the rope, and tried to shorten his suspense by pushingthe boat towards the water; but his strength was insufficient. Hecould not move it. He would have to wait longer. 

Thus far the things which he had taken out had been lying on the grass. It was now time to put them on board. So he carried down the sail, folded it up, and stowed it away neatly at the bottom of the boat. Onthis he stood the box of biscuit, taking care to put the cover over it, and to spread over that again one fold of the sail. 

This took up some time, and he had the gratification of seeing that thewater had come up a few feet farther. He now tried once more to forcethe boat down, using his piece of board as a lever; but the board bent, and almost broke, without moving the boat. He stood for a momentwaiting, and suddenly thought of the pole which he had left up in thewoods. He determined to get this, and perhaps, with its help, he wouldbe able to accomplish his wishes. So off he started at a run, and in afew minutes reached the place. Hurrying back again, he inserted one endof the pole under the bow, and exerted all his force to press the boatdownward into the water. At first it did not move; but shortly after, when the water had risen still higher, he made a new effort. This timehe succeeded; the boat moved slightly. 

Again. 

The boat moved farther. 

Once more. 

Still farther. 

And now he made a final trial. Thrusting the pole again underneath, heexerted all his force for the last time, and pushed the boat down forabout a yard. 

It was at last afloat. 

The tide had not yet fully attained its height, but was close to it. The wind was blowing from the north, as before, and quite moderately. The sea sparkled and glittered in the rays of the sun. The littlewavelets tossed their heads on high, and danced far away ever the sea. The air was bright, and stimulating, and exhilarating. All the scenefilled Tom's heart with gladness; and the approach of his deliverancedeepened and intensified this feeling. 

XI. 

Afloat again. --The rushing Water. --Down to the Bottom. --DesperateCircumstances. --Can they be remedied?--New Hopes and Plans. 

The boat was at last afloat before Tom's eyes. 

At first he had thought of holding it by the painter, and patientlystanding on the beach, but the sight of it now changed his purposes. He thought that it would be a far more sensible plan to get on board, and keep the boat near the beach in that way. His bit of stick, whichhe had found among the drift-wood, could be used as an oar, and wasgood enough to enable him to move the boat as much as would benecessary. As he would have to wait for six hours at least, it was amatter of great importance that he should be as little fatigued aspossible, especially as he had to look forward to a voyage, after thetide had fallen, attended with the possibility of increased labor andexertion. All these thoughts came rapidly to his mind, but passed inmuch less time than it takes to tell it, so that Tom had scarcely seenthe boat afloat than he rushed through the water, and clambered intoit. Then, taking his stick, he stood up and looked around. 

The scene around has already been described. Tom kept his stick in thewater, so as to have it ready for use. He purposed keeping the boat ata convenient distance from the shore by pushing and paddling. Bykeeping it within a distance of from three to six yards, he thought hewould, for the present at least, be able to keep afloat, and yet avoidthe sweep of the tides. He did not expect to remain in this particularspot all the time, but expected to find some place which would be outof the way of the tide, where he could float comfortably without beingforced to keep in too close to the land. 

But suddenly Tom's thoughts and speculations were rudely interrupted. 

It appeared to him that there was a very unusual feeling about theboat. She did not seem as high out of the water as she ought to havebeen, and her bows seemed to be lower than they had been. There wasalso a slight vibration in her, which he had never noticed before, andwhich struck him now as very peculiar. In the midst of this there cameto his ears a low, faint, and scarcely perceptible sound, made up ofpeculiar bubbling and gurgling noises, which sounded from the boat. 

One brief examination showed him that the boat was certainly very muchdeeper in the water than she had been. 

Five seconds later her bows had sunk farther. 

Two seconds more, and Tom's feet were surrounded by water up to hisankles. 

The boat was filling!

Scarce had he made this discovery than the water rose swiftly up, theboat sank quickly down, the sea rolled over her sides, and the boatwent to the bottom. 

Very fortunate was it for Tom, at that moment, that he had not pushedout farther from the shore. When the boat went down he was not morethan three or four yards off, and he did not sink lower than up to hisneck. But the shock was a sudden one, and for a moment almostparalyzed him. The next instant, however, he recovered from it; andlooking round, he saw the box of biscuit floating within his reach. Making a wild dash at this, he secured it, and waded ashore with it insafety. He then turned mournfully to look after the boat, and foundthat it was visible, floating on the surface. As he left it, it hadfloated up, his weight being the only thing that had sent it below. The tide was still coming in, so that it did not float away. Tom flungoff his coat and waistcoat, and hurrying into the water, soon caughtand dragged it as near as he could to the beach. Then he secured itonce more, and waited. Standing there, he looked gloomily at thevessel, wherein such precious hopes had been freighted only to be lost. What had happened? Why could not the boat float? What was the matterwith her? These were the wondering questions which occurred to himwithout his being able to give any answer. 

One thing he saw plainly, and that was, that he had lost this tide. Thenext high tide would be after midnight, and the next would be betweenone and two on the following day. If he could find out what was thematter with the boat, and fix it, he would have to wait till the nextday, unless he chose to watch for his chance after midnight, and makethe journey then. 

He was not a boy who could be long inactive; so now, after a briefperiod, in which he gave up to the natural despondency of his soul, hestirred himself up once more, and sought comfort in occupation. The boxof biscuit did not seem much injured, it had not floated long enoughfor the sea-water to penetrate it. Assuring himself of this, he nextturned to the boat and took out its contents. These were the old sail, the coil of rope, and the baling dipper. 

By this time the tide had reached its height, and after the usual timeof delay, began to fall once more. The boat was secured to the shore, and after a time the water began to leave her. Tom sat at a littledistance, wondering what could be the matter with her, and deferringhis examination until the boat should be left aground. It was amystery to him how this sudden change had occurred, and why the boat, which had floated so well during his long drift, should now, all of asudden, begin to leak with such astonishing rapidity. Something musthave happened--something serious, too; but what it was, or how it hadhappened, he could not, for the life of him, conjecture. 

As Tom sat there, the tide gradually left the boat; and as the tideleft, the water ran out, keeping at just the same level inside as thewater outside. This showed, even to his inexperienced eyes, that theleak must be a very large one, since it admitted of such a ready flowof water in and out. The water descended lower and lower as he sat, until, at last, the boat was left by the retreating waves. The waterhad all run out. 

Tom now advanced, and proceeded to examine her. When he was arrangingher cargo before, the coil of rope had been in the bows. This hadprevented him from detecting anything wrong in the boat. But now, sinceeverything had been taken out, one glance only was quite sufficient tomake known to him instantly the whole difficulty. There, in the bows, underneath the very place where the coil of rope had lain, was a hugeaperture. The planks had been beaten in, and one side of the bow wasdestroyed beyond hope of remedy. 

The sight of such an irremediable calamity as this renewed for a timethe despondency which he had felt at the first sinking of the boat. Full of depression, he turned away, and tried to account for it all. It was on the previous day that he had landed--about twenty-four hoursago. How had he passed the time since then, and what had happened?This he tried to remember. 

In the first place, up to the moment of landing the boat was perfectlysound, and far from all injury. It had not been hurt during the drift. It had struck at one place, but the long voyage that had followedshowed that no damage had resulted. Finally, it had not been harmed bylanding on Quaco Ledge. Since that time he had drifted in safety faracross the bay, without meeting with any accident. All this provedclearly that the damage must have been done to the boat since hislanding on the island. 

He found it very difficult to recall anything that had happened sincethen. On his first arrival he was worn out and exhausted. Heremembered vaguely how he came in sight of the giant cliff, how hedragged the boat along, how he secured it to a tree, and then how heflung himself down on the grass and fell asleep. After that all wasobscure to his memory; but he could recall his waking at midnight andlistening to the roar of the wind and the dash of the surf. Evidentlythere must have been a heavier sea on the beach at that time than whenhe landed, and this was sufficient to account for the accident to theboat. She had been beating on the rough rocks at high tide, exposed tothe full sweep of the surf, and her bows had been stove in. 

The melancholy spectacle of the ruined boat made Tom see that his stayon the island might be prolonged even beyond the following day. Nosooner had this thought occurred to him than he went over to thearticles which he had taken out of the boat, and passed them all inreview before him, as though he were anxious to know the full extent ofhis resources. He spread out the wet sail in the sun. He spread outhis coat and waistcoat. In the pocket of the latter he found a card ofmatches, which were a little damp. These he seized eagerly and laid onthe top of a stone, exposed to the rays of the sun, so as to dry them. The clothes which he kept on were wet through, of course, but heallowed them to dry on him. 

He had been working now pretty industriously all the morning, first atsearching after a piece of wood, then in cutting down the pole, then insearching among the drift-wood, and finally at the boat. He felt, atlength, hungry; and as he could not yet decide upon what was to be donenext, he determined to satisfy his desires, and kill the time by takinghis dinner. The repast was a frugal one, consisting as before, ofbiscuit, which were washed down by cold water; but Tom did notcomplain. The presence of food of any sort was a cause forthankfulness to one in his position, and it was with a feeling of thissort, in spite of his general depression of spirits, that he ate hismeal. 

After this he felt much more refreshed, and began to consider what hehad better do next. Of course, the centre of interest to him was theboat, and he could not give up that hope of escape without a struggle. As long as there was a hope of making his way from the island by meansof that, so long might he keep up his heart; but if the damage that hadbeen done should prove irreparable, how would he be able to endure hissituation? Whatever it was, it would be best to know the worst oncefor all. Perhaps he might stop the leak. He had material around whichseemed to be the right sort of thing to stop a leak with. He had thepiece of sail, which could be cut up into small pieces, and used tostop the leak. If he had possessed a hatchet and some nails, he wouldhave made an effort to repair the fracture in the planks of the boat;but as he had nothing of that sort, he tried to devise some method bywhich the water might be kept out. As he thought, there gradually grewup in his mind the rude outline of a plan which promised something, andseemed to him to be certainly worth trying. At any rate, he thought, it will serve to give me an occupation; and any occupation, even if itproves to be of no practical value, is better than sitting here doingnothing at all. 

Having something to do once more quickened Tom's energies anew, andstarting to his feet, he prepared to put his plan into execution. Firstof all, in order to carry out that plan, it was necessary for him toget a number of blocks and boards of different sizes. These, he knew, could easily be found among the driftwood on the beach. Over there hehurried, and after a moderate search he succeeded, at length, infinding bits of wood that seemed suited to the purpose which he had inview. With these he came back to the boat; but as there was a largenumber of them, he had to make several journeys before the wholecollection was brought over. 

Then he took his pole, and, putting a block under it, used it as alever to raise up the boat. By dexterous management he succeeded indoing this, and at the same time he ran a board underneath the bow ofthe boat as it was slightly raised. This manoeuvre he repeated severaltimes, each time raising his lever higher, by means of a higherfulcrum, and thus constantly raising the bow of the boat; while aftereach elevation the bow was secured in its new position by running anadditional board underneath it, over the other preceding boards. Bycarefully and perseveringly pursuing this course, he at lengthsucceeded in raising the bow of the boat about a foot in the air. Thisgave him an opportunity to examine it thoroughly outside as well asinside, and to see the whole extent of the damage that had been done. 

It has already been said that the damage was serious. Tom'sexamination now convinced him that it was in every respect as seriousas he had supposed, if not still more so. Even if he did possess ahatchet and nails, or a whole box full of tools, he doubted whether itwould be in his power to do anything whatever in the way of repairingit. No less than three of the lower planks of the bows, down to thevery keel, were beaten in and broken so badly that they seemed actuallycrushed and mangled. It must have been a fearful beating, andpounding, and grinding on the rocks which had caused this. The planks, though thus broken, still held together; but it seemed to Tom that witha blow of his fist he could easily beat it all in; and as he looked atit he could not help wondering how it had happened that the work whichthe rocks had thus so nearly effected had not been completely finished. However, the planks did hold together yet; and now the question was, Could any thing be done?

In answer to this question, Tom thought of the old sail and the coil ofrope. Already he had conceived the rude outline of a plan whereby theentrance of the water might be checked. The plan was worth trying, andhe determined to set about it at once, and use up the hours before himas long as he could, without any further delay. If by any possibilityhe could stop that leak, he determined to start off at the next hightide, that very night, and run the risk. It was a daring, even afoolhardy thought; but Tom was desperate, and the only idea which hehad was, to escape as soon as possible. 

He now made some measurements, after which he went to the old sail, andcut a piece from the end of it. This he divided into smaller pieces, each about a yard square. Each of these pieces he folded up in threefolds, so as to make them about a foot wide and eighteen inches long. Others he folded into six folds, making them about half the size of thelarger pieces. All this took up much time, for he measured and plannedvery carefully, and his calculations and measurements had to be doneslowly and cautiously. Returning to the boat with these bits of foldedcanvas, he put one of the larger pieces on the inside, against the bow, right over the broken place. Another large piece was placed carefullyover this, and then the smaller pieces were laid against these. Inthis way he adjusted all the pieces of canvas in such a way as to coverup the whole place where the leak was. 

Then he went over to the drift-wood, and spent a long time searchingafter some bits of wood. He at length found a half dozen pieces ofboard, about a foot long, and from six to eight inches in width. Healso found some bits of scantling, and palings, which were only a footor so in length. All these he brought back, and laid them down on thebeach near the boat. 

He now proceeded to place these bits of wood in the bows, in such a wayas to keep the canvas in a firm position. His idea was, that thecanvas, by being pressed against the opening, might keep out the water, and the wood, by being properly arranged, might keep the canvas securein its place. The arrangement of the wood required the greatest care. First of all, he took the smallest bits, and stood these up against thecanvas, so that they might correspond as nearly as possible with thecurve of the bows. A few more pieces were placed in the hollow part ofthis curve, and outside these the larger pieces were placed. Betweenthe outside pieces and the inner ones he thrust some of the smallestpieces which he could find. After thus arranging all his boards, hefound that there lay between the outside board and the first seat ofthe boat a space of about one foot. Selecting a piece of wood of aboutthat length, he put one end against the board, and the other againstthe seat, and pressed it into a position where it served to keep theboard tight in its place. Then he took other pieces of about the samelength, and arranged them in the same way, so that, by being fixedbetween the board and the seat, they might keep the whole mass ofboards and canvas pressed tight against the opening in the bows. Afterplacing as many blocks in position as he conveniently could, his nextwork was to secure them all. In order to effect this, another journeyto the drift-wood was necessary, and another search. This time heselected carefully a number of sticks, not more than half an inch inthickness, some of them being much thinner. He found pieces of paling, and laths, and shingles which suited his ideas. Returning with these tothe boat, he proceeded to thrust them, one by one, into the intersticesof the boards, using a stone to drive them into their places. 

At last the work was finished as far as he could accomplish it, andthere remained nothing more to be done. As far as he could see, byshaking, and pulling, and pushing at the collection of sticks andcanvas, it was very firm and secure. Every stick seemed to be tight, and the pressure which they maintained against the aperture was sostrong that the wood-work now was forced out a little distance beyondthe outline of the boat. He examined most carefully all about the bowson the outside, but saw no place which did not seem to be fullyprotected. It seemed to him now as though that piled-up canvas oughtto resist the entrance of the water, or, if not, at least that it oughtnot to allow it to enter so rapidly but that he could easily keep theboat baled out. 

He was not altogether confident, yet he was hopeful, and as determinedas ever to make a trial. 

XII. 

Waiting for high Water. --A Trial. --A new Discovery. --TotalFailure. --Down again. --Overboard. --A Struggle for Life. 

Tom's work was thus, at length, accomplished, and it remained now toget the boat in readiness and wait. Slowly and carefully he raised thebow by means of the lever, and one by one he withdrew the boards whichheld it up. At last the boat lay on the beach, ready to receive theuplifting arms of the returning tide whenever it should make itsappearance again. Tom saw with satisfaction that the boat was aboutthree yards down below high-water mark, on the spot to which he haddragged it after the failure of his last experiment. This, of course, would be so much in his favor, for it would thus be able to floatbefore the water should reach its height. 

He had worked hard all the afternoon, and it was already dark. Thetide, which had been falling, had some time ago reached its lowestpoint, and was now returning. Between him and the lowest point was agreat distance, for the tides here rise to a perpendicular height ofover forty feet; but Tom knew that the time required to traverse thelong space that here intervened between high and low-water mark wasprecisely the same as if it had only to rise a few feet. 

He was very hungry, but some things had yet to be done. He had to puton board the boat the articles that he had taken ashore. His matcheswere now quite dry, and he put them in his pocket with a deep sense oftheir value to him in his present position. His clothes also were dry, and these he put on. The sail, the coil of rope, and the box ofbiscuit were put on board the boat. Tom had still to make his frugalrepast; but this was soon accomplished, and he felt again a sense ofexceeding thankfulness at the possession of the box of biscuit. Atlength his evening meal was over, and by the time that he had finishedit, it had grown quite dark. He now went to the boat, and tied up thesail around the mast. There was nothing to which he could fasten theboat; but it was not necessary, as he was on the watch. The watercontinued smooth, the wind was from the north, as before, and there wasno sign of fog. Overhead the sky was free from clouds, and the starstwinkled pleasantly to his upturned eyes, as if to encourage him. Therewas no moon, however, and though it was not very dark, yet it wassufficiently so to veil the nearest shores in gloom, and finally towithdraw them altogether from his view. Still it was not a matter ofnecessity that he should see the opposite shores, for he knew that hischief, and indeed his only reliance must be upon the tide; and thiswould bear him in its upward course on the morrow. The night was onlyneeded to float the boat down as far as low-water mark. The process offloating her would serve to test the security of the fastenings, andshow whether he could venture to make the attempt. 

For hours Tom waited, sometimes seated in the boat, at other timeswalking along the beach down to the water. He found it difficult tokeep himself awake, and therefore did not venture to sit down long. Wearied with his long work through the day, the necessity of constantexertion wearied him still more, until at length he could scarce drawhis legs after him. But all things have an end, and so it was withTom's dreary watch; for at length the waters came up, and touched theboat, and surrounded it, until at last, to his great joy, Tom foundhimself afloat. He seized his stick, and pushed the boat into deeperwater, a few yards off, with the intention of keeping her at about thatdistance from the shore. 

The one thought that was now in his mind referred exclusively to hiswork in the boat. Was it firm? Would it hold? Did it leak? The boatwas floating, certainly. How long would if continue to do so? For afew minutes he waited anxiously, as he floated there in deep water, with his eyes fixed on the work in the bow, and his ears listeningintently to detect any sign of that warning, gurgling sound, which hadstruck terror to his heart on his last embarkation. But no sign cameof any sound of that sort, and he heard nothing but the gentle dash ofthe water against the sides of the boat. Thus about five minutespassed. At the end of that time, he raised the sail, which he had laidalong the bottom of the boat, and examined underneath it. The firsttouch of his fingers at the bottom lessened very largely the hope thatwas in him, and at once chased away the feeling of exultation that wasrising. For there, in the bottom of the boat, he felt as much as aninch of water. After the first shock, he tried to believe that it wasonly the water that was in the boat before; and so, taking comfort inthis thought, he waited for further developments, but at the same timetook the dipper, so as to be ready to bale out the water, and have astruggle for it in case the worst should happen. 

Another minute assured him that this was not the water which had beenin the boat before. A new supply was entering, and in the space ofthat short time of waiting it had risen to the height of another inch. Tom felt a sudden pang of dismay, but his stout heart did not quail, nor did his obstinate resolution falter. Since it was the sea waterthat was coming in, he determined to have a fight with it for thepossession of the boat. So he set to work bravely, and began to bale. He pulled up the sail, so as to have plenty of elbow-room, and workedaway, dipping out the water; but, as he dipped, he perceived that itwas gradually getting deeper. He dipped faster, but without anyvisible improvement, indeed, his efforts seemed to have but very littleeffect in retarding the entrance of the water. It grew deeper anddeeper. One inch of water soon deepened to two inches, and thence tothree. Soon after four inches were felt. 

And now the water came in more rapidly. It seemed to Tom as though ithad been delayed at first, for a little time, in finding an entrance, but that now, after the entrance was found, it came pouring in withever-accelerated speed. Tom struggled on, hoping against hope, andkeeping up his efforts long after they were proved to be useless. Butthe water came in faster and faster, until at length Tom began to seethat he must seek his safety in another way. Flinging down his dipper, then, with a cry of vexation, he started up, and, seizing his bit ofboard, he looked around for the shore. 

He had been caught by some side current, and had been carried along insuch a way that he was about a hundred yards from the island, andseemed to be drifting up the bay. The dark, shadowy shores were muchfarther away than he had suspected. While struggling to bale out theboat, he had forgotten how necessary it was to keep near to the shore. He now saw his mistake, and strove to paddle the boat back again. Withsuch a clumsy oar it is not likely that he could have achieved hisdesire at all, had the flood tide been stronger; but now it was aboutat its height, and would soon turn, if it was not turning already. Thecurrent, therefore, was but a weak one, and Tom found himself able tomove slowly back; but his progress was very slow, and working at such adisadvantage was excessively fatiguing. At last he saw that if hetrusted to paddling he could never reach the shore. In a momentanother idea suggested itself; there was no time to lose, and he atonce acted on it. Darting forward, he loosed the sail. The wind wasstill blowing from the north; at once the sail was filled, and, yielding to this new power, the boat began to move more rapidly. Tomtied the sheet astern, and, seizing his paddle, tried to scull theboat. For some minutes he kept up this work, and the boat movedsteadily forward, nearer and still nearer, until the land was at lengthnot more than thirty or forty yards off. 

But by this time the danger had come nearer, and the boat was alreadyhalf full of water. Tom began to see that it could not float as far asthe shore. What was he to do? He waited a little longer. He lookedaround. The boat was drawing nearer, yet soon it must go down. Toease it, it would be necessary to relieve it of his own weight. He didnot lose his presence of mind for a moment, but determined at once tojump overboard. In his perfect coolness he thought of one or twothings which were of importance to him, and performed them swiftly andpromptly. First he took the box of biscuit, and placed it on the heapof boards and canvas in the bows, so that it might remain as long aspossible out of reach of the water. Then he took the card of matchesout of his waistcoat pocket, and put them in his hat, which he replacedon his head. To secure thus from damage the two necessaries of foodand fire was but the work of a few seconds. To throw off his coat, waistcoat, and trousers, and hang them over the top of the short mast, was the work of a few seconds more. By the time this had been done, the water was nearly up to the gunwales. In five seconds more the boatwould have gone down; but, so well had Tom's work been done, and sopromptly, that these five seconds were saved. Having done what hewished, he let himself down into the water; and, holding on by thestern of the boat, he allowed himself to float after it, kicking out atthe same time, so as to assist, rather than retard, its progress. 

By this time the land was not more than twenty yards away. The boatdid not sink so rapidly now, but kept afloat much better; still thewater rose to a level with the gunwales, and Tom was too much rejoicedto find that it kept afloat at all to find fault with this. The windstill blew, and the sail was still up; so that the water-logged vesselwent on at a very respectable rate, until at length half the distancewhich Tom had noticed on going overboard was traversed. The boatseemed to float now, though full of water, and Tom saw that hisprecious biscuit, at any rate, would not be very much harmed. Nearerand nearer now he came until at last, letting himself down, his feettouched bottom. A cry of delight escaped him; and now, bracing himselffirmly against the solid land below, he urged the boat on faster, untilat length her deep-sunk bows grated against the gravel of the beach. 

He hurried up to the box of biscuit, and put this ashore in a safeplace; after which he secured the boat to a jagged rock on the bank. He found now that he had come to a different part of the beachaltogether, for his boat was lying at the spot where the little brookran into the sea. Well was it for him, in that rash and hazardousexperiment, that he had floated off before the tide was high. It hadled to his drifting up the bay, instead of down, and by a weak current, instead of a strong one. The wind had thus brought him back. Had itbeen full tide, he would have drifted out from the shore, and then havebeen carried down the bay by the falling water to swift and suredestruction. 

Tom now took off his wet shirt, and put on the dry clothes which he hadso prudently hung on the top of the mast. He perceived that he had nota very pleasant lookout for the night, for the sail which he hadformerly used to envelop himself with was now completely saturated. Itwas also too dark to go to the woods in search of ferns or mosses onwhich to sleep. However, the night was a pleasant one, and the grassaround would not be so bad a resting-place as he had been forced to usewhile drifting in the boat. He had now become accustomed to hardshipby bitter experience, and so he looked forward to the night withoutcare. 

The day had been an eventful one, indeed, for him, and his lastadventure had been full of peril, from which he had been mostwonderfully rescued. 

These thoughts were in his mind, and he did not fail to offer upprayers of heartfelt gratitude to that good and merciful Being who hadthus far so wonderfully preserved him. With such feelings in hisheart, he sought out a sleeping-place, and after some search he found amossy knoll. Seating himself here, he reclined his back against it, and in a few minutes the worn-out boy was buried in a deep sleep. 

He slept until late on the following day, and on waking looked aroundto see if there were any sails in view. None were visible. The tidewas about half way up, and the wide waters spread before him withoutany vessel in sight. He then began his preparations for the day. Hehung his shirt upon a bush, and spread out the wet sail on the grass. An examination of the biscuit showed him that they had scarcely beeninjured at all, the water having penetrated only the lower part of thebox. He removed the lower layer of biscuit, and spread them out on arock in the sun to dry. After this he breakfasted, and wandered aboutfor a time. He then took a swim, and felt much refreshed. By the timethat his swim was over, he found that the hot sun had dried his shirt, so that he could once more assume that very important article ofclothing. 

The sun climbed high towards the zenith, and the tide came up higher, as Tom sat there alone on his desert island, looking out upon the sea. The boat from which he had hoped so much had proved false to thosehopes, and all the labors of the previous day had proved useless. Hisattempt to escape had nearly resulted in his destruction. He hadlearned from that experiment that no efforts of his could now effecthis rescue. He had done the very best he could, and it would not bepossible for him, with his present resources, to contrive anythingbetter than that which had so miserably failed. If he could onlyprocure some tar, he might then stop up the interstices; but as it was, nothing of his construction would avail to keep back the treacherousentrance of the water. It seemed now to him that his stay on theisland was destined to be prolonged to a much greater extent than hehad first thought of, and there did not seem any longer a hope ofsaving himself by his own exertions. 

Alone on a desert island!

It was a dreadful fact which now forced itself more and more upon Tom'smind, until at length he could think of nothing else. Hitherto he hadfought off the idea whenever it presented itself, and so long as he hadbeen able to indulge in any hope of freeing himself by his ownexertions, he prevented himself from sinking into the gloom of utterdespair. But now he could no longer save himself from that gloom, andthe thought grew darker and drearier before him--the one fact of hispresent situation. 

Alone on a desert island!

A very interesting thing to read about, no doubt; and Tom, like allboys, had revelled in the portrayals of such a situation which he hadencountered in his reading. No one had entered with more zest than heinto the pages of Robinson Crusoe, and no one had enjoyed more than hethe talks which boys love to have about their possible doings undersuch circumstances. But now, to be here, and find himself in such aplace, --to be brought face to face with the hard, stern, dismalfact, --was another thing altogether. What oppressed him most was notthe hardships of his position. These he could have withstood if therehad been nothing worse. The worst part of his present life was itssolitude. If Bart had been here with him, or Bruce, or Arthur, orPhil, or Pat, how different it would have been! Even old Solomon wouldhave enabled him to pass the time contentedly. But to be alone, --allalone, --without a soul to speak to, --that was terrible. 

Tom soon found that the very way to deepen his misery was to sit stilland brood over it. He was not inclined to give way to trouble. It hasalready been seen that he was a boy of obstinate courage, resolutewill, and invincible determination. He was capable of struggling tothe last against any adversity; and even if he had to lose, he knew howto lose without sinking into complete despair. These moods ofdepression, or even of despair, which now and then did come, were notpermanent. In time he shook them off, and looked about for some newway of carrying on the struggle with evil fortune. 

So now he shook off this fit of depression, and starting up hedetermined not to sit idle any longer. 

"I won't stand it, " he muttered. "There's lots of things to be seen, and to be done. And first of all I've got to explore this island. Come, Tom, my boy; cheer up, old fellow. You've pretended to admireRobinson Crusoe; act up to your profession. And first of all, my boy, you've got to explore Juan Fernandez. "

The sound of his own voice had the effect of encouraging andinspiriting him, while the purpose which he thus assigned to himselfwas sufficient to awaken his prostrated energies. There was somethingin the plan which roused all his curiosity, and turned his thoughts andfeelings into a totally new direction. No sooner, then, had thisthought occurred to him, than he at once set out to put it intoexecution. 

First of all he took one parting look at the scene around him. The sunhad now passed its meridian, and it seemed to be one o'clock or after. The tide was high. The boat, which had at first floated, was nownearly full of water. Tom threw a melancholy glance at this freshproof of the utter futility of all his labor, and then examined thefastenings, so that it might not drift away during his absence. Thenhe searched among the drift-wood until he found a stout stick to assisthim in climbing, and to serve as a companion in his walk, after whichhe started. 

The sun was bright, but over the sky some clouds were gathering, andthe opposite shores seemed to have grown darker than they were a fewhours ago, having assumed a hue like olive green. The wind had alsodied away, and the water was as smooth as glass. 

XIII. 

Where's Solomon?--An anxious Search. --The Beach. --The cavernousCliffs. --Up the Precipice. --Along the Shore. --Back for Boats. 

The loss of Solomon had filled the boys with anxiety, and even CaptainCorbet shared in the common feeling. He had preferred to set out, ashe said, with a coil of rope; but the sight of this seemed to makeSolomon's fate appear darker, and looked as though he might have fallenover a precipice, or into a deep pool of water. They all knew that aserious accident was not at all improbable. They had seen the loftyand rugged cliffs that lined the bay shore, and knew that the risingwaters, as they dashed over them, might form the grave of a man faryounger and more active than the aged Solomon. He was weak andrheumatic; he was also timid and easily confused. If the water hadovertaken him anywhere, he might easily fall a prey. In his efforts toescape, he would soon become so terrified that his limbs would beparalyzed. He might then stumble over the rocks, and break some of hisbones, or he might be intrapped in some recess of the cliffs, fromwhich escape might be impossible without external help. 

Full of thoughts like these, the boys went on, with Captain Corbet, upthrough the village, looking carefully around as they went on, andmaking inquiries of every one whom they met. No one, however, couldgive them any information. At last they reached the end of thevillage. Here, on the left, there arose a high hill. The road woundround this, and descended into a valley, through which a stream ran tothe bay. In this valley there was a ship-yard, where the half-finishedfabric of a large ship stood before them, and from which the rattle ofa hundred axes rose into the air. The valley itself was a beautifulplace, running up among steep hills, till it was lost to view among amass of evergreen trees and rich foliage. Below the shipyard was acove of no very great depth, but of extreme beauty. Beyond this was abroad beach, which, at the farthest end, was bounded by the projectingheadland before alluded to. The headland was a precipitous cliff ofred sandstone, crowned at the summit with a fringe of forest trees, white at its base were two or three hollow caverns, worn into the solidrock by the action of the surf. One of these was about thirty feet inheight at its mouth, and ran back for sixty or seventy feet, narrowingall the way, like a funnel, from its entrance to its farthest extremity. 

The tide was now nearly at its height, and progress down the beach andalong the cliff was impossible. The caves were cut off also, and thewater penetrated them for some distance. At low tide one could easilywalk down to the extreme point of the headland, and rounding this, hewould find it possible to go along in front of the cliffs for animmense distance, either by walking along the rough beach at theirfoot, or, if the water should rise again, by going along rocky shelves, which projected for miles from the surface of the cliff. 

Reaching the head of the beach, Captain Corbet paused, and lookedaround. 

"Before goin any further, " said he, "we'd better ask the folks at thisship-yard. It ain't possible to tell whether he's gone by the beach ornot. He may have gone up the valley. "

"O, " said Bart, dolefully, "he must have gone by the beach. "

"I rayther think I'll ask, at any rate, " said the captain. 

So saying, he walked up towards a house that was not far off, andaccosted some men who were standing there. On hearing his question, they were silent for a few moments; and at last one of them recollectedseeing an aged colored man passing by early in the morning. He had abasket on his arm, and in every way corresponded to the description ofSolomon. He was on his way up the shore. 

"Did he go down to the pint, " asked Captain Corbet, "or up to the topof the cliff?"

The man couldn't say for certain; but as far as he could recollect, itseemed to him that he went down to the pint. 

"About what time?"

"Between eight and nine o'clock--in fact, about eight--not much later. "

"Did he speak to any one here?"

"No; he walked past without stoppin. An do you say he ain't got back?"

"Not yet. "

"Wal, " said the man, "for an old feller, an a feller what don't knowthe country hereabouts, he's gone on a dangerous journey; an ef he'stried to get back, he's found it a pooty hard road to travel. "

"Isn't there any chance of his gettin back by the cliff?"

"Not with the water risin onto his path. "

"Is there any way of gettin up to the top of the cliff?"

"Wal, fur a active young feller it wouldn't be hard, but for a pore oldcritter like that thar, it couldn't be done--no how. "

"Wal, boys, " said Captain Corbet, sorrowfully, "I guess we'd better geton, an not lose any more time. "

They walked away in silence for some time, until at last they reachedthe foot of the cliff. A path here ran up in a winding direction so asto reach the top. 

"It seems too bad, " said Captain Corbet, "not to be able to get to thebeach. I wish I'd come in the boat. What a fool I was not to think ofit!"

"O, I dare say the top of the cliff will do, " said Bruce. 

"Wal, it'll have to do. At any rate I've got the kile of rope. "

"We shall be able to see him from the top just as well, and perhapsbetter. "

"Wal, I hope so; but we'll be a leetle too far above him for myfancy, --ony we can use the rope, I s'pose. Can any of you youngstersclimb?"

"O, yes, " said Bart, "all of us. "

"What kind of heads have you got--stiddy?"

"Yes, good enough, " said Bruce. "I'll engage to go anywhere that I canfind a foothold; and here's Bart, that'll go certainly as far, andperhaps farther. And here's Phil, that can do his share. As for Pat, he can beat us all; he can travel like a fly, upside down, or in anydirection. "

"Wal, I'm glad to hear that, boys, for it's likely you'll be wanted todo some climbin afore we get back. I used to do somethin in that way;but since I've growed old, an rheumatic, I've got kine o' out o' theway of it, an don't scacely feel sech confidence in myself as I used toonst. But come, we mustn't be waitin here all day. "

At this they started up the path, and soon reached the top of the cliff. 

Arriving here, they found themselves in a cultivated meadow, passingthrough which they reached a pasture field. After a walk of about aquarter of a mile, they came to the cliff that ran along the shore ofthe bay, and on reaching this, the whole bay burst upon their view. 

It was still a beautiful day; the sun was shining brilliantly, and hisrays were reflected in a path of dazzling lustre from the face of thesea. The wind was fresh, and the little waves tossed up their headsacross where the sunlight fell, flashing back the rays of the sun inperpetually changing light, and presenting to the eye the appearance ofinnumerable dazzling stars. Far away rose the Nova Scotia shore asthey had seen it in the morning, while up the bay, in the distance, abrupt, dark, and precipitous, arose the solitary Ile Haute. 

Beneath them the waters of the bay foamed and splashed; and thoughthere was not much surf, yet the waters came rolling among the rocks, seething and boiling, and extending as far as the eye could reach, upand down, in a long line of foam. 

Reaching the edge, they all looked down. At the bottom there werevisible the heads of black rocks, which arose above the waves at times, but which, however, at intervals, were covered with the rolling watersthat tossed around them in foam and spray. Nearer and higher up therewere rocks which projected like shelves from the face of the cliff, andseemed capable of affording a foothold to any climber; but theirprojection served also to conceal from view what lay immediatelybeneath. 

Along the whole beach, however, up and down, there appeared no sign ofhuman life. Anxiously they looked, hoping to see some human form, insome part of that long line of rock; but none was visible, and theylooked at one another in silence. 

"Wal, he don't turn up yet; that's clar, " said Captain Corbet. 

"We can see a great deal from here, too, " said Bart, in a despondenttone. 

"Ay, an that's jest what makes the wust of it. I thought that one lookfrom a commandin pint would reveal the wanderer to our eyes. "

"Perhaps he is crouching in among the rocks down there. "

"Wal, I rayther think he'd manage to git up a leetle further out of thereach of the surf than all that. "

"He may be farther on. "

"True; an I dare say he is, too. "

"There don't seem to be any place below these rocks, where he would belikely to be. "

"No; I think that jest here he could climb up, as fur as that tharshelf, certain. He may be old an rheumatic, but he's able enough toclimb that fur. "

"I don't think anything could have happened to him here, or we shouldsee some signs of him. "

"Course we would--we'd see his remains--we'd see his basket, or hishat, floatin and driftin about. But thar's not a basket or a hatanywhar to be seen. "

"The cliff is long here, and runs in so from that point, that if hewent up any distance, it would be easy for him to be caught by therising tide. "

"Course it would. O, yes, course. That's the very thing that struckme. It's very dangerous for an ole inexperienced man. But come, wemustn't stand talkin, we must hurry on, or we may as well go back agin, at onst. "

Starting forward, they walked on for some time in silence. For about ahundred yards they were able to keep close to the edge of the cliff, soas to look over; but after that they encountered a dense alder thicket. In order to traverse this, they had to go farther inland, where therewas some sort of an opening. There they came to a wood where theunderbrush was thick, and the walking difficult. This they traversed, and at length worked their way once more to the edge of the cliff. Looking down here, they found the scene very much like what it had beenfarther back. The waves were dashing beneath them among rocks whoseblack crests were at times visible among the foam, while from thecliffs there were the same projecting shelves which they had noticedbefore. 

"See there!" cried Bart, pointing to a place behind them. "Do you seehow the cliff seems to go in there--just where the alder bushes grow?That looks like a place where a man might be caught. I wonder if heisn't there. "

"Can't we go and see?"

"I don't think you can git thar. "

"O, it isn't far, " said Bart. "I'll run back and look down. The restof you had better go on; I'll join you soon. "

"I'll go with you, " said Bruce. 

"Very well. "

Bruce and Bart then set out, and forced their way through the densealder bushes, until at length they found themselves near the place. Here there was a chasm in the line of cliff, reaching from the top tothe bottom. The sides were precipitous, and they could see perfectlywell all the way down. At the bottom the water was rolling andtossing; and this, together with the precipitous cliffs, showed themplainly that no one could have found shelter here. 

Sadly and silently they returned, and rejoined the others, who had beenwalking along in advance. 

"Wal?" said Captain Corbet, interrogatively. 

Bart shook his head. 

They then walked on for some time in silence. "Come, " said CaptainCorbet; "we've been makin one mistake ever sence we started. "

"What's that?"

"We've kep altogether too still. How do we know but we've passed himsomewhar along down thar. We can't see behind all them corners. "

"Let's shout now--the rest of the way. "

"Yes; that's it; yell like all possessed. "

The cries of the boys now burst forth in shrill screams and yells, which were echoed among the woods and rocks around. 

"Now, " cried Captain Corbet, "all together!"

The boys shouted all together. 

"That'll fetch him, " said the captain, "ef anythin doos. It's a pitywe didn't think of this afore. What an ole fool I must ha ben toforgit that!"

The boys now walked on shouting, and screaming, and yellingincessantly, and waiting, from time to time, to listen for an answer. 

But no answer came. 

At times Captain Corbet's voice sounded forth. His cry was a verypeculiar one. It was high pitched, shrill, and penetrating, and seemedas though it ought to be heard for miles. But the united voices of theboys, and the far-piercing yell of the captain, all sounded equally invain. No response came, and at last, after standing still andlistening for a longer time than usual, they all looked despondingly atone another, as though each were waiting for the other to suggest somenew plan of action. 

Captain Corbet stood and looked musingly out upon the sea, as thoughthe sight of the rolling waters assisted his meditations. It was sometime before he spoke. 

"I tell you what it is, boys, " said he at last. "We've ben makinanother mistake. "

"How so?"

"We've gone to work wrong. "

"Well, what can we do now?"

"Wal, fust an foremost, I muve we go back on our tracks. "

"Go back?"

"Yas. "

"Why?"

"Wal, you see, one thing, --Solomon can't hev come further than this byno possibility, onless he started straight off to walk all the way upthe bay agin, back to Petticoat Jack by the shore route, --an as that'stoo rough a route for an ole man, why, I calc'late it's not to bethought of. Ef, on the contrairy, he only kem out to hunt for fish, 'tain't likely he come as fur as this, an in my pinion he didn't comenigh as fur. You see we're a good piece on, and Solomon wouldn't hevcome so fur if he'd cal'lated to get back to the schewner. What d'yesay to that?"

"I've thought of that already, " said Bruce, sadly. "We've certainlygone as far as he could possibly have gone. "

"Terrew, " said Captain Corbet, solemnly. 

"But what can we do now?" asked Bart. 

"Fust of all, go back. "

"What! give him up?"

"I didn't say that. I said to go back, an keep a good lookout alongthe shore. "

"But we've done that already. "

"Yes, I know; but then we didn't begin to yell till quite lately, whereas we'd ought to hev yelled from the time of fust startin. Now, Ithink ef we went back yellin all the way, we'd have a chance of turninhim up somewhar back thar whar we fust came in sight of the cliff. Very likely, if he ain't already drownded, he's a twisted himself up insome holler in the cliff back thar. He couldn't hev got this fur, certain, --unless he'd ben a runnin away. "

All this seemed so certain to the boys that they had nothing to say inopposition to it. In fact, as Bruce said, they had already gone as faras Solomon could possibly have gone, and this thought had occurred tothem all. Captain Corbet's proposition, therefore, seemed to them theonly course to follow. So they all turned and went back again. 

"What I was a goin to say, " remarked Captain Corbet, after walking afew paces, --"what I was a goin to say was this. The mistake I made wasin not gettin a boat. "

"A boat? Why we've traced the coast from the cliff wellenough--haven't we?"

"No, not well enough. We'd ought to have planned this here expeditionmore kerfully. It wan't enough to go along the top of the cliff thishere way. You see, we've not been able to take in the lower part ofthe cliff underneath. We'd ought to hev got a boat. Some of us couldhev gone along the cliff, jest as we hev ben doin, and the others couldhave pulled along the shore an kep up a sharp lookout that way. We'velost any quantity o' time that way, but that's no reason why we shouldlose any more; so I muve that some of us go back, right straight off, an get a boat at the ship-yard, an come back. I'll go, unless some o'youns think yourselfes smarter, which ain't onlikely. "

"O, you can't run, captain, " said Bart. "Bruce and I will go, andwe'll run all the way. "

"Wal, that's the very best thing that you could do. You're both young, an actyve. As for me, my days of youth an actyvity air over, an I'm inthe sere an yaller leaf, with spells o' rheumatics. So you start off asquick as your legs can carry you, an ef you run all the way, so muchthe better. "

The boys started off at this, and going on the full run, they hurried, as fast as possible, back over the path they had traversed, and throughthe woods, and over the fields, and down the cliff towards theship-yard. 

Phil and Pat, however, remained with Captain Corbet; and these threewalked back along the edge of the cliff; still looking down carefullyfor signs of Solomon, and keeping up constantly their loud, shrillcries. 

Thus they walked back, till, at length, they reached the place wherethe alders were growing. Here they were compelled to make a detour asbefore, after which they returned to the cliff, and walked along, shouting and yelling as when they came. 

XIV. 

Back again. --Calls and Cries. --Captain Corbet's Yell. --A significantSign. --The old Hat. --The return Cry. --The Boat rounds the Point. 

Captain Corbet, with Phil and Pat, walked along the top of the cliff inthis way, narrowly scrutinizing the rocks below, and calling andshouting, until, at length, they reached the place at which they hadfirst come out upon the shore. 

"Now, boys, " said the captain, "from here to the pint down thar is allnew ground. We must go along here, an keep a good lookout. If we hevany chance left of findin anythin, it's thar. I'm ony sorry we didn'texamine this here fust an foremost, before wanderin away off up thar, whar 'tain't at all likely that Solomon ever dreamed of goin. I hopethe boys won't be long gettin off that thar boat. "

"Perhaps they can't get one. "

"O, yes, they can. I saw two or three down thar. "

They now walked on a little farther. 

At this place the cliff was as steep as it had been behind; but therocky shelves were more numerous, and down near the shore theyprojected, one beyond another, so that they looked like natural steps. 

"If Solomon was caught by the tide anywhar hereabouts, " said CaptainCorbet, "thar's no uthly reason why he shouldn't save himself. Hecould walk up them rocks jest like goin up stairs, an git out of theway of the heaviest surf an the highest tide that these shores eversaw. "

"It all depends, " said Phil, "on whether he staid about here, or wentfarther up. "

"Course--an it's my opinion that he did stay about here. He was neversuch an old fool as to go so far up as we did. Why, ef he'd a done soover them rocks, he'd never have got the use of his legs agin. "

"Strange we don't see any signs of him. "

"O, wal, thar's places yet we hevn't tried. "

"One thing is certain--we haven't found any signs of him. If anythinghad happened, we'd have seen his basket floating. "

"Yes, or his old hat. "

"I should think, if he were anywhere hereabouts, he'd hear the noise;we are shouting loud enough, I'm sure. As for your voice, why, heought to hear it a mile away; and the point down there doesn't seem tobe a quarter that distance. "

"O, it's further than that; besides, my voice can't penetrate so easilydown thar. It gits kine o' lost among the rocks. It can go very easyin a straight line; but when it's got to turn corners an go kine o'round the edges o' sharp rocks, it don't get on so well by a longchalk. But I think I'll try an divarsify these here proceedins byyellin a leetle lower down. "

So saying, Captain Corbet knelt down, and putting his head over thecliff, he uttered the loudest, and sharpest, and shrillest yell that hecould give. Then he listened in silence, and the boys also listened inbreathless expectation for some time. But there was no responsewhatever. 

Captain Corbet arose with a sigh. 

"Wal, boys, " said he, in a mournful tone, "we must git on to the pint. We'd ought to know the wust pooty soon. But, at any rate, I'm bound tohope for the best till hope air over. "

The little party now resumed their progress, and walked on towards thepoint, shouting at intervals, as before. 

From this place on as far as the point, the ground was clear, and therewas nothing to bar their way. They could go along without beingcompelled to make any further detour, and could keep near enough to theedge to command a view of the rocks below. They walked on, and shoutedwithout ceasing, and thus traversed a portion of the way. 

Suddenly Captain Corbet's eye caught sight of something in the water. It was round in shape, and was floating within a few feet of the shore, on the top of a wave. As Captain Corbet looked, the wave rolled fromunderneath it, and dashed itself upon the rocks, while the floatingobject seemed to be thrown farther out. The tide had turned already, and was now on the ebb, so that floating articles, such as this, werecarried away from the shore, rather than towards it. 

Upon this Captain Corbet fastened his gaze, and stood in silencelooking at it. At length he put his hand on Phil's shoulder, anddirected the attention of the boys to the floating object. 

"Do you see that?" said he. 

"What?"

"That thing. "

"What--that round thing?"

"Yes, that round thing. Look sharp at it now. What doos it look liketo your young eyes?"

Phil and Pat looked at it very carefully, and in silence. Then Phillooked up into Captain Corbet's face without saying a word. 

"Wal?"

"What is it, do you think?" asked Phil, in a low voice. 

"What do YOU think?"

"Sure an it's a hat--a sthraw hat, " said Pat. 

Captain Corbet exchanged a meaning glance with Phil. 

"Do you think it's HIS hat?" asked Phil. 

"Whose else can it be?"

Phil was silent, and his gaze was once more directed to the floatingobject. As it rose and fell on the waves, it showed the unmistakableoutline of a straw hat, and was quite near enough for them to recognizeits general character and color. It was dark, with the edges ratherragged, a broad brim, and a roomy crown, not by any means of afashionable or graceful shape, but coarse, and big, and roomy, andshabby--just such a hat as Solomon had put on his head when he leftGrand Pre with them on this memorable and ill-fated voyage. 

They looked at it for a long time in silence, and none of them moved. 

Captain Corbet heaved a deep sigh. 

"This here, " said he, "has been a eventfool vyge. I felt a derredpersentment afore I started. Long ago I told you how the finger ofdestiny seemed to warn me away from the ocean main. I kem to theconclusion, you remember, that henceforth I was to dwell under my ownvine an fig tree, engaged in the tender emplymint of nussin the infant. But from this I was forced agin my own inclynations. An what's theresult? Why, this--that thar hat! See here, boys;" and the venerableseaman's tone grew deeper, and more solemn, and more impressive; "seehere, boys, " he repeated; "for mor'n forty year hev I follered theseas, an traversed the briny deep; but, though I've hed my share ofstorms an accydints, though I've ben shipwrecked onst or twiste, yetnever has it ben my lot to experience any loss of human life. But now, but now, boys, call to mind the startlin events of this here vyge!Think of your companion an playmate a driftin off in that startlinmanner from Petticoat Jack! An now look here--gaze upon that thar!Words air footil!"

"Do you give him up, then?" cried Phil. "Poor, poor old Solomon!"

Captain Corbet shook his head. 

"'Deed, thin, an I don't!" cried Pat. "What's a hat? 'Tain't a man, so it isn't. Many's the man that's lost his hat, an ain't lost hislife. It's a windy place here, an ole Solomon's hat's a mile too bigfor him, so it is--'deed an it is. "

Captain Corbet shook his head more gloomily than ever. 

"Ow, sure an ye needn't be shakin yer head that way. Sure an haven'tye lost hats av yer own, over an over?"

"Never, " said the captain. "I never lost a hat. "

"Niver got one blowed off? 'Deed an ye must have. "

"I never got one blowed off. When the wind blowed hard I allus kep 'emtied on. "

"Well, Solomon hadn't any tie to his, an it cud tumble off his old pateasy enough, so it cud. Sure he's lost it jumpin over the rocks. Besides, where's his basket?"

"At the bottom, no doubt. "

"Sure an it cud float. "

"No; I dar say it was full of lobsters. "

"Any how, I'll not believe he's gone till I see him, " cried Pat, earnestly. "Seein's believin. "

"Ef he's gone, " said Captain Corbet, more solemnly than ever, "ye'llnever see him. These waters take too good care of a man for that. "

"Well, yer all givin up too soon, " said Pat. "Come along now; there'slots of places yet to examin. Give one of yer loudest yells. "

Captain Corbet did so. In spite of his despondency as to poor oldSolomon's fate, he was not at all unwilling to try any further chances. On this occasion he seemed to gain unusual energy out of his verydespair; and the yell that burst from him was so high, so shrill, sopiercing, and so far penetrating, that the former cries were nothingcompared to it. 

"Well done!" cried Pat. "Sure an you bet yerself that time, out anout. "

"Stop!" cried Phil. "Listen. What's that?"

Far away, as they listened, they heard a faint cry, that seemed like aresponse. 

"Is that the echo?" asked Phil, anxiously. 

"Niver an echo!" cried Pat, excitedly. "Shout agin, captain, darlin. "

Captain Corbet gave another shout as loud and as shrill as thepreceding one. 

They listened anxiously. 

Again they heard the cry. It was faint and far off; yet it wasunmistakably a human cry. Their excitement now grew intense. 

"Where did it come from?" cried Phil. 

"Wal, it kine o' seemed to me that it came back thar, " said thecaptain, pointing to the woods. 

"'Deed an it didn't, " cried Pat; "not a bit of it. It was from theshore, jest ahead; from the pint, so it was, or I'm a nagur. "

"I think it came from the shore, too, " said Phil; "but it seemed to bebehind us. "

"Niver a bit, " cried Pat; "not back there. We've been there, anwhoever it was wud have shouted afore, so he wud. No, it's ahead atthe pint. He's jest heard us, an he's shoutin afther us. Hooray!Hurry up, an we'll be there in time to save him. "

Pat's confidence was not without its effect on the others. Withoutwaiting any longer, they at once set off at a run, stopping atintervals to yell, and then listening for a response. To theirdelight, that response came over and over again; and to their stillgreater joy, the sound each time was evidently louder. 

Beyond a doubt, they were drawing nearer to the place from which thesounds came. 

This stimulated them all the more, so that they hurried on faster. 

The edge of the cliff was not covered by any trees, but the ground atits summit had been cleared, so that progress was not at all difficult. They therefore did not take much time in traversing the space thatintervened between the spot where they had first heard the cry, and thepoint where the cliff terminated. The cry grew steadily louder, allthe way, until at last, when they approached the point, it seemed tocome directly from beneath. 

The cliff here was perpendicular for about forty feet down, and belowthis it seemed to retreat, so that nothing could be seen. The tide wason the ebb; but it was still so high that its waves beat below them, and seemed to strike the base of the rock. Beyond, on the right, therewas a sloping ledge, which descended from the cliffs into the sea, overwhich the waves were now playing. 

It was from the hollow and unseen recess down at the foot of the cliffthat the cry seemed to arise, which had come in response to the callsof those on the summit. On reaching the place above, they knelt down, and looked over, but were not able to distinguish any human being, orany sign of the presence of one. But as they looked anxiously over, the cry arose, not very loud, but quite distinct now, and assured themthat this was the place which sheltered the one who had uttered thatcry. 

Captain Corbet now thrust his head over as far as he could, and gave acall in his loudest voice. 

"Hal-lo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o!"

To which there came up in answer a cry that sounded like--

"Hi-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i!"

"Solomo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-on!"

"He-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-ey!"

"Is that yo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ou?"

"It's me-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e!"

"Where are y-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ou?"

"He-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-re!"

"Come u-u-u-u-u-u-u-up!"

"Ca-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-n't!"

"Why no-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ot?"

"Too hi-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-gh!"

"Go round the pi-i-i-i-i-i-nt!"

"Too high ti-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-de!"

"Wa-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-it!"

"All ri-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ght!"

Captain Corbet now sprang up as nimbly as a young lad, and looked atPhil and Pat with an expression of such exceeding triumph, that hisface seemed fairly to shine. 

"It IS Solomon!" he cried. But it was of no use for him to convey thatpiece of information to the boys, who already knew that fact quite aswell as he did. 

"It IS Solomon, " he repeated; "an now the pint is, how air we to githim up?"

"Let me go down, " said Pat. 

"How?"

"Sure an I can git down wid that bit o' rope you have. "

"Mebbe you can, an then agin mebbe you can't; but s'posin you was togit down, how upon airth would that help the matter?"

"Sure an we cud give him a pull up. "

"I don't think we could manage that, " said Captain Corbet, "and youcouldn't, at any rate, if you were down thar with him. As far as Isee, we'll hev to wait till the tide falls. "

"Wouldn't it be better, " said Phil, "for us to go around, so as to comenearer?"

"How? Whar?"

"Why, down to the beach, and then we could walk around the point. "

"Walk? Why, it's high water. "

"So it is--I forgot that. "

"The fact is, we can't git any nearer than we air now. Then, agin, theboys'll be along in a boat soon. They ought to be here by this time;so let's sit down here, an wait till they heave in sight. "

With a call of encouragement to Solomon which elicited a reply ofsatisfaction, Captain Corbet sat down upon the grass, and the boysfollowed his example. In this position they waited quietly for theboat to come. 

Meanwhile, Bart and Bruce had hurried on as rapidly as their legs couldcarry them, and at length reached the path which went down to thebeach. Down this they scrambled, and not long afterwards they reachedthe ship-yard. Here they obtained a boat without any difficulty, whichthe workmen launched for them; and then they pushed off, and pulled forthe point, with the intention of rowing along opposite the shore, andnarrowly inspecting it. 

Scarcely had they reached the point, however, when a loud andwell-known voice sounded from on high. They both turned and looked up, still pulling. There they saw Captain Corbet, and Phil, and Pat, allof whom were shouting and making furious gestures at them. 

"We've found him! Come in closer!" cried Captain Corbet. 

"Whe-e-e-re?" cried Bruce. 

But before any answer could come, a loud, shrill scream, followed by ayell of delight, burst forth from some place still nearer. 

Burt and Bruce both started, and looked towards the place from whichthis last cry came. 

There a very singular and pleasing sight met their eyes. 

About six feet above the water was a shelf of rock, that ran downsloping to the beach, and over this there projected a great mass of thecliff. In this recess there crouched a familiar figure. He had nohat, but between his legs, as he sat there, he held a basket, to whichhe clung with his knees and his hands. As he sat there his eyes werefixed upon them, and their whites seemed enlarged to twice theirordinary dimensions, while yell after yell came from him. 

"Help, he-e-e-e-e-lp! Mas'r Ba-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-art! O, Mas'rBa-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-art! He-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-lp!Sa-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ave me!"

"Hurrah! hurrah!" cried Bart and Bruce, in a burst of heartfelt joy. 

"He-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-lp!" came forth once more from Solomon. 

"All right, " cried Bart; and at once the boat pointed towards the placewhere Solomon was sitting. The water nearer the shore was somewhatrough, but fortunately there were no rocks just there, and they wereable to bring the boat in close to the place where Solomon wasconfined. At their approach Solomon moved slowly down the incline ofthe rock, on his hands and knees, for there was not room for him tostand upright; and as he moved he pushed the basket before him, asthough there was something inside of uncommon value. Reaching, atlength, a spot where the rock was about the level of the boat, hewaited for them to approach. Soon the boat touched the rock. 

"Come, old Sol, " cried Bart, "jump in!"

"Hyah, take hole ob dis yar, " said Solomon, even in that moment ofrescue refusing to move till his precious basket should be safe. 

Bart grasped it, and put it into the boat, noticing, as he did so, thatit was full of lobsters. 

"Come, Solomon, hurry up. I don't like the boat to be knocking herethis way. "

"All right, sah, " said Solomon, crawling along rather stiffly; "bentied up in a knot all day, an feel so stiff dat I don't know as I'llgit untied agin fur ebber mo. Was jest makin my will, any way, as youcame along. "

By this time Solomon had tumbled into the boat, and worked his way aft, though not without many groans. 

"It's de cold rocks, an de wet, " he groaned. "Sech an attack o'rheumaticses as dis ole nigga's gwine to hab beats all! Any how, I benan sabed de lobsta. Loss me ole hat, but didn't car a mite fer dat solong as I sabed de lobsta. "

"All right, " cried Bart; and at this the two boys pulled away from therocks and rounded the point. As they came into the sight of those whowere waiting on the top of the cliff, a shout of joy arose. 

XV. 

Exploring Juan Fernandez. --The Cliffs. --The tangled Underbrush. --TheFog Bank. --Is it coming or going?--The Steamer. --Vain Appeals. --NewPlans. 

Starting off, as we have seen, to explore the island, Tom firstdirected his steps towards the elevated land which has before beenmentioned. At first his path was easy, and the descent very gradual;but at length it became more difficult, and he had to ascend a steephill, which was over-strewn with stones and interspersed with trees andmounds. Up among these he worked his way, and at length the ascentceased. He was on the summit of the island. Here he walked to theedge of the area on which he stood, and found himself on the edge of aprecipice that went sheer down to a beach, which was apparently twohundred feet beneath him. The precipice seemed actually to leanforward out of the perpendicular, and so tremendous was the viewbeneath, that Tom, although not by any means inclined to be nervous, found his head grow giddy as he looked down. Looking forth thus fromhis dizzy elevation, he could see across the bay to the New Brunswickshore, and could mark the general course which his drifting boat musthave taken over those deep, dark, and treacherous waters. 

The sea was broad, and blue, and tranquil, and desolate, for even fromthis commanding height not a sail was visible. There was nothing herewhich could attract Tom's attention for any long period; so he preparedto continue his progress. In front of him lay a wood, before plungingin which he turned to see if there were any vessels coming through theStraits of Minas. None were visible; so, turning back once more, heresumed his journey, and went forward among the trees. 

His path now became a difficult one. It was necessary to keep awayfrom the edge of the cliff, but still not to go out of sight of it. Thetrees were principally spruce and fir, but there were also birch andmaple. He also noticed mountain ash and willow. Beneath him all theground was covered with soft moss, in which he sank to his ankles, while on every side were luxuriant ferns and evergreen trailers. Tomrecognized all these with great satisfaction, for they showed him themeans of furnishing for himself a soft couch, that might be envied bymany a man in better circumstances. Progress soon grew more difficult, for there were numerous mounds, and dense underbrush, through which hecould only force his way by extreme effort. Windfalls also lay aroundin all directions, and no sooner would he have fairly surmounted one ofthem, than another would appear. Thus his progress was exceedinglyslow and laborious. 

After about a half an hour of strenuous exertion, Tom found himself inthe midst of an almost impassable jungle of tangled, stunted fir trees. He tried to avoid these by making a detour, but found that theyextended so far that he could only pass them by going along close tothe edge of the cliff. This last path he chose, and clinging to thebranches, he passed for more than a hundred yards along the crest of afrightful precipice, where far down there yawned an abyss, at whosebottom was the sea; while abreast of him in the air there floated greatflocks of gulls, uttering their hoarse yells, and fluttering fiercelyabout, as though trying to drive back this intruder upon their domains. Once or twice Tom was compelled to stop, and turn away his face fromthe abyss, and thrust himself in among the trees; but each time heregained his courage, after a little rest, and went on as before. 

At length he passed the thick spruce underbrush, and found the woodsless dense. He could now work his way among them without beingcompelled to go so close to the edge of the cliff; and the dizzy heightand the shrieks of the gulls no longer disturbed his senses. The treeshere were not so high as those at the other end of the island, but wereof much smaller size, and seemed stunted. There were no maples or otherforest trees, but only scraggy fir, that seemed too exposed to thewinds from the sea to have much health or verdure. The underbrush waswanting to a great extent, but moss was here in large quantities, andthick clusters of alder bushes. Wild shrubs also--such as raspberriesand blueberries--were frequently met with; while ledges ofweather-beaten rock jutted out from amid thick coverings of moss. 

Walking here was not at all difficult, and he went on without anyinterruption, until, at last, he found any farther progress barred by aprecipice. He was at the lower or western end of the island. 

He looked down, and found beneath him a great precipice, while rocksjutted out from the sea, and ledges projected beyond. The gulls werepresent here, as elsewhere, in great flocks, and still kept up theirnoisy screams. 

Tom looked out over the sea, and saw its waters spread far away till itwas lost in the horizon. On the line of that horizon he saw a faintgray cloud, that looked like a fog bank. It had, to his eyes, acertain gloomy menace, and seemed to say to him that he had not seenthe last of it yet. On the left of the broad sea, the Nova ScotiaCoast ran along till it was lost in the distance; and on the right wasthe long line of the New Brunswick shore, both of which had now thatdark hue of olive green which he had noticed on the land oppositebefore he had started. 

Suddenly, while he was looking, his eyes caught sight of somethingwhite that glistened brightly from the blue water. It was about midwaybetween the two coasts, and he knew it at once to be some sailingvessel. He could not make out more than one sail, and that showed thatthe vessel was either coming up the bay or going down; for if it hadbeen crossing, she would, of course, have lain broadside on to hispresent locality, and would have thus displayed two sails to his view. The sight of this vessel agitated him exceedingly; and the questionabout her probable course now entered his mind, and drove away allother thoughts. Whether that vessel were going up or down became ofexclusive importance to him now, if she were coming up, she mightapproach him, and hear his hail, or catch sight of his signals. Suddenly he reflected that he had no way of attracting attention, and awild desire of running back and setting up the longest pole or boardthat he could find came into his mind; but such was the intensity ofhis curiosity, and the weight of his suspense, that he could not movefrom the spot where he was until he had satisfied himself as to thevessel's course. 

He sat down not far from the edge of the precipice, and, leaningforward with his hands supporting his chin, he strained his eyes overthe intervening distance, as he tried to make out in which way thevessel was going. It seemed fully ten miles away, and her hull was notvisible. It was only the white of her sails that he saw; and as thesunlight played on these from time to time, or fell off from the angleof reflection, the vessel was alternately more or less visible, andthus seemed by turns to draw nearer and depart farther from his sight. 

Thus for a long time he sat, alternately hoping and desponding, atevery play of those sails in the sunlight. The calm of the watershowed him that, even if the vessel were coming up, he could not expectany very rapid progress. There was now no wind, and the surface of thewater was perfectly unruffled. Besides, he knew that the tide wasfalling rapidly. How, then, could he expect that the vessel could comeany nearer, even if she were trying to? Thoughts like these at lastmade him only anxious to keep the vessel in sight. If her destinationlay up the bay, she would probably anchor; if it lay down the bay, shewould drift with the tide. He thought, then, that if she only wouldremain in sight, it would be a sufficient proof of her course. 

Thus he sat, watching and waiting, with all his soul intent upon thoseflashing sails, and all his thoughts taken up with the question as tothe course of that solitary bark. It seemed a long time to him, in hissuspense; but suspense always makes time seem long. At last, however, even though he hoped so persistently for the best, his hope began todie within him. Fainter and fainter grew those sails; at intervalsrarer and rarer did their flash come to his eyes, until at length thesight of them was lost altogether, and nothing met his eyes but thegloomy gray of the fog cloud on the far horizon. 

Even after he had lost hope, and become convinced that she was gone, Tom sat there for a long time, in a fixed attitude, looking at that onespot. He would have sat there longer, but suddenly there came to hisears a peculiar sound, which made him start to his feet in a moment, and filled him with a new excitement. 

He listened. 

The sound came again. 

A flush of joy spread over his face, his heart beat faster and faster, and he listened as though he could scarce believe his senses. 

As he listened, the sounds came again, and this time much louder. 

There was now no mistake about it. It was a regular boat, which Tomknew well to be the peculiar sound made by the floats of a steamer'spaddles. He had often heard it. He had but recently heard it, whenthe revenue steamer was approaching the Antelope, and again during thefoggy night, when the whistle roused them, and the same beat of thepaddles came over the midnight waters. 

And now, too, he heard it. 

He gave a shout of joy, and started off to catch sight of her. 

For a few paces only he ran, and then stopped. 

He was puzzled. He did not know in which direction it was best to go. He was at the west end of the island, but could not make out very wellthe direction of the sounds. He tried to think whether the steamerwould pass the island on the north side or the south. He did not know, but it seemed to him that she would certainly go to the north of it. There was no time to be lost, and standing there to listen did not seemto be of any use, even if his impatience had allowed him to do so. Accordingly he hurried back by the way that he had come along the northside of the island. 

For some time he ran along through the trees, and at length, in aboutfifteen or twenty minutes, he reached the place where the denseunderbrush was, by the edge of the cliff. From this point a wide viewwas commanded. On reaching it he looked out, and then up the bay, towards the Straits of Minas. He could see almost up to the straits, but no steamer appeared. For a moment he stood bewildered, and thenthe thought came to him, that he had mistaken altogether the steamer'scourse. She could not be coming down on the north side of the island, but on the south side. With a cry of grief he started back again, mourning over his error, and the time that he had lost. On reachingthe more open wood, he thought that it would be better to hurry acrossthe island to the south side, and proceeded at once to do so. The waywas rough and tedious. Once or twice he had to burst through thicketsof alder, and several times he had to climb over windfalls. At length, in his confusion, he lost his way altogether; he had to stop and think. The shadows of the trees showed him where the south lay, and he resumedhis journey. At length, after most exhaustive efforts, he reached apart of the cliff, where a fringe of alders grew so thick, that he wasscarce aware that he was at his destination, until the precipice openedbeneath him. Here he stood, and, pressing apart the dense branches, helooked out. 

There was the steamer, about two miles off, already below where he wasstanding, and going rapidly down the bay with the falling tide. 

Another cry of grief burst from Tom. Where he was standing he couldsee the vessel, but he himself was completely concealed by theclustering bushes. He now lamented that he had left his firstposition, and saw that his only chance was to have remained there. 

To stay where he was could not be thought of. There was scarce achance now of doing anything, since the steamer was so far away; butwhat chance there was certainly depended on his being in someconspicuous position. He started off, therefore, to the west point, where he had watched the schooner for so long a time. He hurried onwith undiminished energy, and bounded over windfalls, and burst throughthickets, as before. But in spite of his efforts, his progress couldnot be more rapid than it had formerly been. His route was necessarilycircuitous, and before he could find the desired point, many moreminutes had elapsed. 

But he reached it at last, and there, on the bare rock, springingforward, he waved his hat in the air, and sent forth a piercing cry forhelp. But the steamer was now as much as four or five miles away--toofar altogether for his loudest cry to go. His screams and his gesturesdid not appear to attract the slightest attention. She moved on her wayright under the eyes of the frantic and despairing boy, nor did shechange her course in the slightest degree, nor did her paddles cease torevolve, but went rolling round, tossing up the foam, and bearing far, far away that boat on which poor Tom had rested his last hope. 

As for Tom, he kept up his screams as long as he could utter a sound. He tore off his coat, and shook it up and down, and waved it backwardand forward. But none of these things were heard or seen. Thesteamboat passed on, until, at length, even Tom became convinced thatfurther efforts were useless. 

This last blow was too much. Tom sank under it, and, falling on hisface, he burst into a flood of tears. 

Struggling up at length from this last affliction, Tom roused himself, and his buoyancy of soul began once more to assert itself. 

"Come now, Thomas, my son, " said he, as he dried his eyes, "this sortof thing will never do, you know. You're not a baby, my boy; you'venever been given to blubbering, I think. Cheer up, then, like a man, and don't make me feel ashamed of you. "

This little address to himself had, as before, the effect of restoringhis equanimity, and he thought with calmness upon his recentdisappointments. 

He saw, by the passage of these vessels, what he had for a time lostsight of, namely, that this island, though uninhabited, was still inthe middle of a bay which was constantly traversed by sailing vesselsand steamboats. The latter ran regularly up to the Basin of Minas fromSt. John. As to the former, they were constantly passing to and fro, from the large ship down to the small fishing vessel. Inhabitedcountries surrounded him on every side, between the coasts of whichthere was a constant communication. If he only kept patient, the timemust come, and that, too, before very long, when he would be delivered. 

In order to secure this delivery, however, he saw that it would benecessary to arrange some way by which he might attract the notice ofpassing vessels. On this subject he meditated for a long time. Itwould be necessary, he thought, to have some sort of a signal in someconspicuous place. Among the drift-wood he might, perhaps, be able tofind some sort of a pole or staff which he could set up. One might notbe enough, but in that case he could put up two, or three, or half adozen. 

The next thing to decide about was the choice of a place. There wasthe east end, and the west end--which was the better? The west end, where he was standing, was high; but then it was surrounded by trees, and unless he could set up a very tall staff, it could scarcely benoticed. The east end, on the contrary, was lower; but then it wasbare, and any kind of a signal which might be set up there could hardlyfail to attract attention. He could also pile up a heap of drift-wood, and set fire to it, and, by this means, if a vessel were passing by, hecould be certain of securing attention. It did not make muchdifference which end the signals were placed upon, as far as referredto the passing of vessels; for all that passed by would go along theisland, so that both ends would be visible to them. 

As to the signals, he felt confident that he could find a staff, or, ifone would not be long enough, several could be fastened together. Thecoil of rope in the boat would enable him to do this. The sail wouldafford material for a flag. 

All these plans came to his mind as he stood there; and the prospect ofonce more doing something which was to help him to escape from hisprison drove away the last vestige of his grief. His courage againarose, hope revived, and he burst forth into a light and joyous song. Very different was he now from the despairing lad who, but a short timebefore, had been pouring forth his tears of sorrow; and yet but a fewminutes had passed since then. The steamer was yet in sight down thebay, but Tom, who had lately been so frantic in his efforts to attracther attention, now cast a glance after her of perfect indifference. 

And now it was necessary for him to return to the east end of theisland, and look about for the means of putting into execution his planfor making a signal. 

He started off on his return without any further delay. The path backwas as rough and toilsome as the way down had been; but Tom was nowfull of hope, and his elastic spirits had revived so thoroughly that hecared but little for the fatigue of the journey. It was traversed atlast, and he descended the slope to the place from which he had started. 

His exploration of the island had been quite complete. It seemed tohim to be about a mile and a half in length, and a half a mile or so inwidth. The east end, where he had first arrived, was the only placewhere it was at all desirable to stay. 

Immediately on his arrival he examined the boat, and found it secure. To his surprise it was now about sunset. He had forgotten the lapse oftime. He was hungry; so he sat down, ate his biscuit, drank his water, and rested from the toils of the day. 

XVI. 

A Sign for the outer World. --A Shelter for the Outcast's Head. --Tom'sCamp and Camp-bed. --A Search after Something to vary a too monotonousDiet. --Brilliant Success. 

Tom sat down after his eventful day, and took his evening meal, as hasbeen said. He rested then for some time. His excessive labors hadfatigued him less than the great excitement which he had undergone, andnow he felt disinclined to exert himself. But the sun had set, anddarkness was coming on rapidly; so he rose, at last, and went over tothe drift-wood. Here, after a search of about half an hour, he foundsomething which was very well suited to his purpose. It was a piece ofscantling about twenty feet long, and not very thick; and to this hesaw that he could fasten the pole that he had made up in the woods. These two pieces would make, when joined, a very good flag-staff. These he brought up to the bank. Then he collected an armful of drychips and sticks, which he carried over to a spot near where the boatlay. A rock was there, and against one side of this he built a pile ofthe chips. He then tried a match, and found that it was quite dry, andlighted it without any difficulty. With this he kindled the fire, andsoon saw, with great satisfaction, a bright and cheerful blaze. 

He was so delighted with the fire that he brought up a dozen more loadsof wood, which he laid near. Then he drew up the bit of scantling, andbringing the coil of rope, he cut a piece off, and proceeded to fastento the scantling the pole which he had procured in the woods. He didthis by winding the rope around in a close and even wind; and, finally, on concluding his task, he found that it was bound firmly enough tostand any breeze. It took a long time to finish this; but Tom hadslept late in the morning, and, though fatigued, he was not sleepy. After this he sat down in front of the fire, and enjoyed its friendlylight and its genial glow. He kept heaping on the fuel, and the brightflames danced up, giving to him the first approach to anything like thefeeling of comfort that he had known since he had drifted away from theAntelope. Nor was it comfort only that he was mindful of while hewatched and fed the fire. He saw in this fire, as it shone out overthe water, the best kind of a signal, and had some hope of being seenand hailed by some passing vessel. In this hope he sat up tillmidnight, looking out from time to time over the water, and expectingevery instant to see the shadow of some approaching vessel. 

But midnight came, and Tom at length thought of sleep. The sail haddried thoroughly through the day; so now he used it once more as acoverlet, and, folding himself in it, he reclined, as before, againstthe mossy bank, and slept. 

On awaking the next day, he arose and looked around. To his deepdisappointment, he could see nothing. There was a fog over all thescene. The wind had changed, and his old enemy was once more besieginghim. It was not so thick, indeed, as it had been, being light and dry, so that the ground was not at all moistened; but still the view wasobscured, so that no vessel could be seen unless it came within half amile; and that was rather closer than most vessels would care to cometo his island. 

This day was Sunday, and all Tom's plans had to be deferred until thefollowing day. However, it was not at all disagreeable to him to getrid of the necessity of work; and, indeed, never before did he fullyappreciate the nature of the Day of Rest. The rest was sweet indeed tohis exhausted and overworn frame, and he did not go far away from hisfire. He had found some embers still glowing in the morning, and hadkindled the fire anew from these, without drawing any more upon hisprecious store of matches. He resolved now to keep the coals alive allthe time, by feeding the fire during the day, and covering it up withashes by night. 

It was Sunday, --the Day of Rest, --and Tom felt all the blessedness ofrest. On the whole, it turned out to be the pleasantest day which hehad known since he left the schooner. Left now to quiet reflection, herecalled the events of the last week, and had more leisure to feelthankful over the wonderful safety which he had met with. Even now onthe island he was not without his comforts. He had food and warmth. So, on the whole, though he had his moments of sadness, yet the sadnesswas driven out by cheerfulness. It was not all dismal. The words ofthat poem which is familiar to every school-boy rang in his ears:--

 "O, Solitude, where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face? Better dwell in the midst of alarms Than reign in this horrible place. "

Yet these words were accompanied and counterbalanced by the morepleasing and consoling sentiments of others, which on this day accordedbetter with Tom's mood:--

 "There's mercy in every place; And mercy--encouraging thought!-- Gives even affliction a grace, And reconciles man to his lot. "

Nothing occurred during the day to disturb the quiet of the island, andTom went to bed early that night, so as to have a long sleep, andfortify himself for the labors of the morrow. The ashes were rakedcarefully round the coals, which, when Tom waked in the morning, wereeasily kindled again. 

He was up early on that Monday morning. He saw, with deepdisappointment, that the fog still covered every thing, and that thewind was blowing quite brisk from the south-west, and raising rather aheavy sea. But he had a great deal to do now, and to this he turnedhis attention. 

First of all, he had to finish his signal-staff and set it up. He wasvery much troubled about the proper material for a flag. The canvaswas rather too heavy; but as he had nothing else, he had to take this. He fastened a bit of the rope to the head of the staff, so as to form aloop, and through this he ran a piece which was long enough to servefor halyards. Thus far he had not used up more than a quarter of thecoil of rope; but he needed all that was left for other purposes. Thenext thing was to set up his staff. To do this required much labor. Hehad already selected the place which seemed most suitable. It was atthe extreme point of a tongue of land which projected beside the brook, and only a little distance from his resting-place. Here the ground wassoft; and choosing a sharp stone, he worked diligently for about acouple of hours, until at length he succeeded in digging a hole whichwas about eighteen inches in depth. Then he fastened ropes to thestaff, where the pole joined it, so that four lines came down farenough to serve as stays. Having done this, he inserted the end of thestaff in the hole, and thrust in the earth all around it, trampling itin, and beating it down as tight as he could with a stone. After thishe procured some sticks from the drift-wood, and, sharpening the ends, he secured the stays by fastening them to these sticks, which he droveinto the ground. The staff then seemed to be as secure as wasnecessary. It only remained now to hoist up his flag; and this he didwithout any difficulty, securing it at half mast, so that it mightserve unmistakably as a signal of distress. 

Upon completing this, Tom rested on the mound, and from that distancehe contemplated the signal with a great deal of calm and quietsatisfaction. It was his own device, and his own handiwork, and he wasvery proud of it. But he did not allow himself a long rest. There yetremained much to be done, and to this he now directed his attention. 

He had been thinking, during his last employment, upon the necessitywhich he had of some shelter. A plan had suggested itself which hefelt confident that he could carry into execution without any verygreat trouble. The fog that now prevailed, and which was far differentfrom the light mist of the previous day, accompanied also, as it was, by the damp south-west wind, made some sort of a shelter imperativelynecessary, and that, too, before another night. To pass this night inthe fog would be bad enough; but if it should happen to rain also, hissituation would be miserable indeed. 

He now set out for the beach, and found, without much difficulty, somepieces of wood which were necessary to his purpose. Bringing theseback, he next looked about for a good situation. There was a rock notfar from the fire, and in front of this was a smooth spot, where theland was flat, and covered with short grass. On the left it sloped tothe brook. This seemed to him to be the best place on the island. Itwas sufficiently sheltered. It was dry, and in case of rain the waterwould not be likely to flood it. With all these it also possessed theadvantage of being sufficiently conspicuous to any passing vessel whichmight be attracted by the signal-staff. Here, then, Tom determined toerect his place of residence. 

His first work was to select two long and slender pieces of wood, andsharpen the ends of them. Then he drove each of them into the groundin such a way that their tops crossed one another. These he bound fasttogether. Two other stakes were driven into the ground, and secured inthe same way, about six or seven feet off. Another long piece ofscantling was then placed so as to pass from one to the other of thetwo crossed sticks, so that it rested upon them. This last was boundtight to the crossed sticks, and thus the whole structure formed acamp-shaped frame. 

Over this Tom now threw the sail, and brought it down to the ground oneither side, securing it there with pegs. At the back of the camp apiece of the sail was folded over and secured so as to cover it in;while in front another piece of the sail hung down until it nearlyreached the ground. This could hang down at night, and be folded overthe top by day. Tom now tore up some sods, and laid them over the edgeof the canvas on each side, where it touched the ground, and placed onthese heavy stones, until at length it seemed sufficiently protectedfrom the entrance of any rain that might flow down the roof. His lasttask consisted in collecting a large quantity of moss and ferns fromthe woods, which he strewed over the ground inside, and heaped up atone end, so as to form a soft and fragrant bed. When this wasaccomplished the camp was finished. 

It had taken a long time, and when at last the work was done, it beganto grow dark. Tom noticed this with surprise. He had been working soincessantly that he was not mindful of the flight of time, and now theday was done, and the evening was upon him before he was aware. Butthere were other things still for him to do before he could rest fromhis labors. His fire was just flickering around its last embers, andif he wished to have a pleasant light to cheer the solitude and thedarkness of his evening hours, it would be necessary to prepare asupply of fuel. To this he attended at once, and brought up severalarmfuls of drift-wood from the beach. Placing these near the fire, hekindled it up afresh, and flung upon the rising flames a generoussupply of fuel. The fires caught at it, and crackled as they spreadthrough the dry wood, and tossed up their forked tongues on high, tillin the dusk of evening they illuminated the surrounding scene with apleasant light. A few more armfuls were added, and then the work forthe day was over. That work had been very extensive and veryimportant. It had secured a means of communication with the outerworld, and had also formed a shelter from the chill night air, the fog, and the storm. It was with a very natural pride that Tom cast his eyesaround, and surveyed the results of his ingenuity and his industry. 

The camp opened towards the fire, from which it was not so far distantbut that Tom could attend to it without any very great inconvenience. The fire shone pleasantly before him as he sat down at his eveningrepast. As the darkness increased, it threw a ruddier glow upon allthe scene around, lighting up field and hill, and sending long streamsof radiance into the fog that overhung the sea. Tom had prepared anunusually large supply of fuel, this evening, for the express purposeof burning it all up; partly for his own amusement, and partly in thehope that it might meet the eyes of some passing navigator. It was hisonly hope. To keep his signals going by night and day was the surestplan of effecting a speedy escape. Who could tell what might be out onthe neighboring sea? How did he know but that the Antelope might besomewhere near at hand, with his companions on board, cruisinganxiously about in search after the missing boat? He never ceased tothink that they were following after him somewhere, and to believethat, in the course of their wanderings, they might come somewherewithin sight of him. He knew that they would never give him up tillthey assuredly knew his fate, but would follow after him, and set othervessels on the search, till the whole bay, with all its shores andislands, should be thoroughly ransacked. 

Fortunate was it for him, he thought, that there was so large a supplyof drift-wood at hand on the beach, dry, portable, and in every wayconvenient for use. Thanks to this, he might now disperse the gloom ofdark and foggy nights, and keep up a better signal in the dark than hecould do in the light. Thus the fuel was heaped on, and the fireflamed up, and Tom sat near, looking complacently upon the brilliantglow. 

Thus far, for nearly a week, he had fed on biscuit only; but now, as heate his repast, he began to think that it was a very monotonous fare, and to wonder whether it might not be possible to find something whichcould give a zest to his repasts. The biscuit were holding out well, but still he felt a desire to husband his resources, and if anyadditional food could in any way be procured, it would not only be arelish, but would also lessen his demand upon his one sole source ofsupply. He thought earnestly upon the subject of fish. He turned histhoughts very seriously to the subject of fish-hooks, and tried tothink of some way by which he could capture some of the fish with whichthese waters abounded. But this idea did not seem to promise much. Inthe first place, he could think of no possible way in which he couldprocure any serviceable hook; in the second place, even if he had ahook and line all ready and baited, he did not see how he would be ableto cast it within reach of any fish. His boat would not float him evenfor the little distance that was required to get into the places wherefish might be. He could only stand upon the beach out of their reach. 

But, in the course of his thoughts, he soon perceived that othersources of food were possible to him besides the fish that were caughtby hook and line. His mind reverted to the populous realm ofshell-fish. These were all before him. Round the rocks and amid thesea-weed there certainly must be mussels. At low tide, amid the ledgesand the sand, there surely must be some lobsters. Before him there wasan extensive mud flat, where there ought to be clams. Here was hisfire, always ready, by night and by day. Why should he not be able tomake use of that fire, not only for cheering his mind, and giving himwarmth, and signaling to passers-by, but also for cooking his meals?

This was the question that he asked himself as he ate his biscuit. Hecould not see why he should not be able to accomplish this. As far ashe could see, there ought to be plenty of shell-fish of various kindson these shores. The more he thought of it, the more probable itseemed. He determined to solve the difficulty as soon as possible. Onformer occasions he had arranged his work on the evening for thesucceeding day. On this evening he marked out this work for themorrow, and arranged in his mind a comprehensive and most diligentsearch for shell-fish, which should embrace the whole circuit of theisland. 

With this in his mind, he arranged the fire as usual, so as to keep italive, and then retired to his camp for the night. The presence of aroof over his head was grateful in the extreme. He let down the canvasfolds over the entrance, and felt a peculiar sense of security andcomfort. The moss and ferns which he had heaped up were luxuriouslysoft and deliciously fragrant. Over these he stretched his weariedlimbs with a sigh of relief, and soon was asleep. 

So comfortable was his bed, and so secure his shelter, that he sleptlonger than usual. It was late when he awaked. He hurried forth andlooked around. The fog still rested over everything. If possible itwas thicker and more dismal than even on the preceding day. To hissurprise, he soon noticed that it had been raining quite heavilythrough the night. Around, in many places, he saw pools of water, andin the hollows of the rocks he saw the same. This could only have beendone by the rain. Going back to his camp, he saw that the canvas wasquite wet. And yet the rain had all rolled off. Not a drop hadentered. The moss and the fern inside were perfectly dry, and he hadnot the slightest feeling of dampness about him. His camp was acomplete success. 

He now went off to search for clams. The tide had been high at aboutsix in the morning. It was now, as he judged, about ten or eleven, andthe water was quite low. Selecting a piece of shingle from hiswood-pile, he walked down over the mud flat that extended from thepoint, and, after going a little distance, he noticed the holes thatgive indications of the presence of clams beneath. Turning up the sand, he soon threw out some of them. He now dug in several differentplaces, and obtained sufficient for the day. These he carried back tothe bank in triumph. Then he stirred up his fire, heaped on plenty ofwood, and arranged his clams in front so as to roast them. 

In spite of Mrs. Pratt's theories, the clams were found by Tom to bedelicious, and gave such relish to the biscuit, that he began to thinkwhether he could not make use of the baling dipper, and make a clamchowder. 

This breakfast was a great success, and Tom now confidently expected tofind other shell-fish, by means of which his resources might beenlarged and improved. 

XVII. 

Solomon's solemn Tale. --A costly Lobster. --Off again. --Steam Whistlesof all Sizes. --A noisy Harbor. --Arrival Home. --No News. 

The shout of joy uttered by those on the top of the cliff at seeing oldSolomon safe was responded to by those in the boat; and then, as thelatter went on her way, Captain Corbet set out to return to the beach, followed by Phil and Pat. Soon they were all reunited, and, the boatbeing landed, they returned in triumph to the Antelope. 

On their way back, Solomon told them the story of his adventures. 

"Went out, " said he, "on a splorin scursion, cos I was termined to tryan skewer somethin to make a dinnah to keep up de sperrit ob dis yahparty. Ben trouble nuff, an dat's no reason why we should all starb. I tought by de looks ob tings dar was lobstas somewhar long dis yahsho, an if I got a chance, I knowed I could get 'em. Dar was lots obtime too, ef it hadn't ben fur dat ar pint; dat's what knocked me. Lots o' lobstas--could hab picked up a barl full, ony hadn't any barlto pick up. "

"Well, but how did you happen to get caught?"

"Dat ar's jes what I'm a comin to. You see, I didn't tink ob dat arpint when I went up de sho, --but knowed I had lots ob time; so I jestought I'd make sure ob de best ob de lobstas. Wan't goin to take backany common lobstas, --bet you dat, --notin for me but de best, --de berybest ones dar. Dat ar's what kep me. It takes a heap ob time an carto get de best ones, when dar's a crowd lyin about ob all sizes, an dewater comin in too. "

"But didn't you see that the tide was coming up to the point?"

"Nebber see a see, --not a see; lookin ober de lobstas all de time, anmos stracted wid plexity cos I couldn't cide bout de best ones. Dar waslots an lots up dar at one place, dough I didn't go fur, --but ef I'dgone fur, I'd hab got better ones. "

"How far did you go?"

"Not fur, --ony short distance, --didn't want to go too fur away for feahob not gittin back in time. An so I started to come back pooty soon, an walked, an walked. Las, jes as I got to de pint, I rose my olehead, an looked straight afore me, an thar, clar ef I didn't finemyself shut in, --reglar prison, --mind I tell you, --an all round me areglar cumferince ob water an rock, widout any way ob scape. Tell youwhat, if dar ebber was a ole rat in a trap, I was at dat ar casion. "

"Couldn't you have waded through it before it got too high?"

"Waded? Not a wade; de water was rough an deep, an de bottom wasstones dat I'd slipped oba an almost broke my ole head, sides beindrownded as dead as a herrin. Why, what you tink dis ole nigga's madeob? I'm not a steam injine, nor a mowin machine, nor a life boat. I'mony a ole man, an shaky in de legs too, --mind I tell you. "

"Well, how did you manage it?"

"Manage! Why, I didn't manage at all. "

"How did you find that place where you were sitting?"

"Wasn't settin. I was tied up in a knot, or rolled up into a ball. Anyway, I wasn't settin. "

"Well, how did you find the place?"

"Wal, I jes got up dar. I stood on de sho till de water drobe me, an Ikep out ob its way till at las I found myself tied up de way you sawme. "

"Why didn't you halloo?"

"Hollar? Didn't I hollar like all possessed?"

"We didn't hear you. "

"Wal, dat ar's dredful sterious. An me a hollarin an a yellin likemad. Tell you what, I felt as ef I'd bust my ole head open, I did yellthat hard. "

"Couldn't you manage to climb up that cliff?"

"Dat cliff? Climb up? Me? What! me climb up a cliff? an dat cliff?Why, I couldn't no more climb up dat ar cliff dan I could fly to demoon. No, sah. Much as I could do to keep whar I was, out ob dewater. Dat was enough. "

"Don't you know that we walked two miles up the shore?"

"Two miles! Two! De sakes, now, chil'en! did you, railly? Ef I'd aony knowed you war a comin so near, wouldn't I a yelled? I bet Iwould. "

"Why, you didn't think we'd have left you. "

"Lef me? Nebber. But den I didn't tink you'd magine anyting was wrongtill too late. What I wanted was help, den an dar. De trouble was, when you did come, you all made dat ar circumbendibus, an trabelledclean an clar away from me. "

"We thought at first you could not be so near the point. "

"But de pint was de whole difficulty. Dat's de pint. "

"Well, at any rate, you've saved the lobsters. "

"Yah! yah! yah! Yes. Bound to sabe dem dar. Loss my ole hat, annearly loss my ole self; but still I hung on to dem dar lobstas. Tellyou what it is now, dey come nigh onto bein de dearest lobstas youebber eat. I'be done a good deal in de way ob puttin myself out to geta dinna at odd times for you, chil'en; but dis time I almost put myselfout ob dis mortial life. So when you get your dinnas to-day, you maytink on what dat ar dinna come nigh to costin. "

"I wonder that you held on to them so tight, when they brought you intosuch danger. "

"Hole on? Why, dat ar's de berry reason why I did hole on. What, letgo ob dem arter all my trouble on dat count? No. I was bound to habsomethin to show whenebber I got back, if I ebber did get back; and sohere I am, all alibe, an a bringin my lobstas wid me. "

"Well, Solomon, " said Bart, in a kindly tone, "old man, the lobstershave come near costing us pretty dear, and we felt bad enough, I cantell you, when we went up there along the shore calling for you andgetting no answer. "

"What, you did car for de ole man, Mas'r Bart--did you?" said Solomon, in a tremulous voice. Tears started to his eyes as he said it, and allpower of saying anything more seemed to depart from him. He fell backbehind the others, and walked on for the rest of the way in silence, but at times casting upon Bart glances that spoke volumes, and talkingto himself in inaudible tones. 

In this way they soon reached the wharf where the schooner was lying. 

The first thing that they noticed was, that the schooner was aground. The tide had gone out too far for her to float away, and consequentlythere was no hope of resuming their voyage for that day. 

"We're in for it, captain, " said Bruce

"Yes; I felt afeard of it, " said the captain. "We've got to wait heretill the next tide. "

"We'll leave to-night, of course. "

"O, yes. We must get off at the night's tide, and drop down the bay. "

"How far had we better go?"

"Wal, I ben a thinkin it all over, an it's my opinion that we'd bettergo to St. John next. We may hear of him there, an ef he don't turn upwe can send out some more vessels, an give warnin that he's astray onthe briny biller. "

"At what time will we be able to leave?"

"Wal, it'll not be high tide till near one o'clock, but we can git offef thar's a wind a leetle before midnight. "

"Do you think the wind will hold on?"

The captain raised his head, and looked at the sky; then he looked outto sea, and then he remained silent for a few minutes. 

"Wal, " said he, at last, slowly and thoughtfully, "it'll take a manwith a head as long as a hoss to answer that thar. It mought hold on, an then agin it moughtn't. "

"At any rate, I suppose we can drift. "

"O, yes; an of the wind doosn't come round too strong, we can git nighdown pooty close to St. John by mornin. "

"We'll run down with the tide. "

"Percisely. "

"Well, I suppose we'll have to put the time through the best way wecan, and try to be patient. Only it seems hard to be delayed so much. First there was the fog, which made our search useless; and now, whenthere comes a bright day, when we can see where we're going, here weare tied up in Quaco all day and all night. "

"It doos seem hard, " said Captain Corbet, gravely, "terrible hard; anef I owned a balloon that could rise this here vessel off the ground, an convey her through the air to her nat'ral element, I'd hev it donein five minutes, an we'd all proceed to walk the waters like things oflife. But I don't happen to own a balloon, an so thar you air. 

"But, boys, " continued the captain, in a solemn voice, elevating hisvenerable chin, and regarding them with a patriarchal smile, --"boys, don't begin to go on in that thar old despondent strain. Methinks Ihear some on you a repinin, an a frettin, cos we're stuck here hard anfast. Don't do it, boys; take my advice, an don't do it. Bear in mindthe stirrin an memiorable events of this here mornin. See what acalamity was a threatenin us. Why, I declare to you all, thar was atime when I expected to see our aged friend Solomon no more in theflesh. You could not tell it by my manner, for I presarved a calm ancollected dumeanour; but yet, I tell you, underneath all that icy calman startlin good-natur of my attitood, I concealed a heart that betwith dark despair. At that moment, when we in our wanderins hadreached the furthest extremity that we attained onto, I tell you myblood friz, an my har riz in horror! Methought it were all up withSolomon; and when I see his hat, it seemed to me jest as though I was aregardin with despairin eye his tumestun whereon war graven by nomortial hand the solemn an despairin epigram, 'Hic jacet!'

"So now, my friends, " continued the captain, as he brushed a tear-dropfrom his eye, "let us conterrol our feelins. Let us be calm, and hopefor the best. When Solomon took his departoor, an was among themissin, I thought that an evil fortin was a berroodin over us, andabout to consume us. But that derream air past. Solomon is onst moreamong the eatables. He cooks agin the mortial repast. He lives! Soit will be with our young friend who has so mysteriously drifted awayfrom our midst. Cheer up, I say! Them's my sentiment. He'll come to, an turn up, all alive--right side up--with care, --C. O. D. , --O. K. , --tobe shaken before taken, --marked and numbered as per margin, --jest aswhen shipped, in good order an condition, on board the schoonerAntelope, Corbet master, of Grand Pre. "

These words of Captain Corbet had a very good effect upon the boys. They had already felt very much cheered by the escape of Solomon, andit seemed to them to be a good omen. If Solomon had escaped, so alsomight Tom. And, as their anxiety on Solomon's account had all beendispelled by his restoration, so also might they hope that theiranxiety about Tom would be dispelled. True, he had been lost to themfor a much longer time, and his absence was certainly surrounded by amore terrible obscurity than any which had been connected with that ofSolomon. Yet this one favorable circumstance served to show them thatall might not be so dark as they had feared. Thus, therefore, theybegan to be more sanguine, and to hope that when they reached St. John, some tidings of the lost boy might be brought to them. 

Solomon's exertions towards giving them a dinner were on this daycrowned with greater success than had been experienced for some dayspast. Their exertions had given them an appetite, and they were ableto eat heartily for the first time since Tom's departure. 

The rest of the day passed very slowly with them. They retired early, and slept until midnight. At that time they waked, and went on deck, when they had the extreme satisfaction of seeing the vessel get underway. A moderate breeze was blowing, which was favorable, and thoughthe tide was not yet in their favor, yet the wind was sufficient tobear them out into the bay. Then the boys all went below again, fullof hope. The night passed away quietly, and without any incidentwhatever. They all slept soundly, and the dreams that came to themwere pleasant rather than otherwise. 

Awaking in the morning by daylight, they all hurried up on deck, andencountered there a new disappointment; for all around them they sawagain the hated presence of the fog. The wind also had died away, andthe vessel's sails flapped idly against her masts. 

"Where are we now?" asked Bruce, in a despondent tone. 

"Wal, " said Captain Corbet, "as nigh as I can reckon, we're two orthree miles outside of St. John harbor. "

"How is the tide?"

"Wal, it's kine o' agin us, jest now. "

"There doesn't seem to be any wind. "

"Not much. "

"Shall we get into St. John to-day?"

"Wal, I kine o' think we'll manage it. "

"How soon?"

"Wal, not much afore midday. You see we're driftin away jest now. "

"Don't you intend to anchor till the next rise of tide?"

"O, yes; in about ten minutes we'd ought to be about whar I want toanchor. "

At this disheartening condition of affairs the boys sank once more intoa state of gloom. In about ten minutes, as Captain Corbet said, theschooner was at anchor, and there was nothing to do but to wait. 

"We'll run in at turn o' tide, " said he. 

Breakfast came, and passed. The meal was eaten in silence. Then theywent on deck again, fretting and chafing at the long delay. Not muchwas said, but the boys stood in silence, trying to see through thethick fog. 

"It was so fine when we left, " said Bart, "that I thought we'd have itall the way. "

"Wal, so we did--pooty much all; but then, you see, about four thismornin we run straight into a fog bank. "

"Has the wind changed?"

"Wal, thar don't seem jest now to be any wind to speak of, but it kineo' strikes me that it's somethin like southerly weather. Hence thishere fog. "

After a few hours the vessel began to get under way again; and now, too, there arose a light breeze, which favored them. As they went onthey heard the long, regular blast of a steam whistle, which howled outa mournful note from time to time. Together with this, they heard, occasionally, the blasts of fog horns from unseen schooners in theirneighborhood, and several times they could distinguish the rush of somesteamer past them, whose whistle sounded sharply in their ears. 

As they drew nearer, these varied sounds became louder, and at lengththe yell of one giant whistle sounded close beside them. 

"We're a enterin o' the harbure, " said Captain Corbet. 

Hours passed away from the time the Antelope raised anchor until shereached the wharf. In passing up the harbor, the shadowy forms ofvessels at anchor became distinguishable amid the gloom, and in frontof them, as they neared the wharf, there arose a forest of mastsbelonging to schooners. It was now midday. Suddenly there arose afearful din all around. It was the shriek of a large number of steamwhistles, and seemed to come up from every side. 

"Is that for the fog?" asked Bruce. 

"O, no, " said Bart; "those are the saw-mills whistling for twelveo'clock. "

The boys had already completed their preparations for landing, and hadchanged their eccentric clothing for apparel which was more suited tomaking their appearance in society. Bart had insisted that they shouldgo to his house, and wait until they might decide what to do; and theboys had accepted his hospitable invitation. 

They stepped on shore full of hope, not doubting that they would hearnews of Tom. They had persuaded themselves that he had been picked upby some vessel which was coming down the bay, and had probably been putashore here; in which case they knew that he would at once communicatewith Bart's people. They even thought that Tom would be there toreceive them. 

"Of course he will be, " said Bart; "if he did turn up, they'd make himstay at the house, you know; and he'd know that we fellows would comedown here in the hope of hearing about him. So we'll find him thereall right, after all. Hurrah!"

But, on reaching his home, Bart's joyous meeting with his family wasvery much marred by the deep, dark, and bitter disappointment thatawaited him and his companions. 

They knew nothing whatever about Tom. Bart's father was shocked at thestory. He knew that no boy had been picked up adrift in the bay duringthe past week. Such an event would have been known. He feltexceedingly anxious, and at once instituted a search among the coastingvessels. The search was a thorough one, but resulted in nothing. There was no one who had seen anything of a drifting boat. Allreported thick fog in the bay. 

The result of this search plunged Bart and his friends into theirformer gloom. 

Other searches were made. Inquiries were sent by telegraph todifferent places, but without result. 

The fate of the missing boy now became a serious question

As for Bart and his friends, they were inconsolable. 

XVIII. 

Down the Bay. --Drifting and Anchoring. --In the Dark, morally andphysically. --Eastport, the jumping-off Place. --Grand Manan. --WonderfulSkill. --Navigating in the Fog. --A Plunge from Darkness into Light, andfrom Light into Darkness. 

It was Saturday when Bart reached home. As much was done on that dayas possible. Bart was in the extreme of wretchedness, and so eager washe to resume the search for his friend, that his father gave hispermission for him to start off again in the Antelope. The other boysalso were to go with him. They determined to scour the seas till theyfound Tom, or had learned his fate. 

Mr. Damer also assured Bart that he would take the matter in handhimself, and would send out two schooners to go about the bay. Inaddition to this, he would telegraph to different places, so that themost extensive search possible might be instituted. Every part of thecoast should be explored, and even the islands should be visited. 

All this gave as much consolation to Bart and his friends as it waspossible for them to feel under the circumstances. 

As much as possible was done on Saturday, but the next day was an idleone, as far as the search was concerned. Bart and the boys waited withgreat impatience, and finally on Monday morning they left once more inthe Antelope. It was about five o'clock in the morning, the tide wasin their favor, and, though there was a head wind, yet be fore the turnof tide they were anchored a good distance down the bay. 

"My idee is this, " said Captain Corbet. "I'll explore the hull bay insearch of that driftin boy. I'll go down this side, cross over, andcome up on t'other. We'll go down here first, an not cross over tillwe get as fur as Quoddy Head. I think, while we air down thar, I'llcall at Eastport an ask a few questions. But I must say it seems aleetle too bad to have the fog go on this way. If this here had onyhappened a fortnight ago, we'd have had clear weather an fair winds. It's too bad, I declar. "

They took advantage of the next tide to go down still farther, and bytwelve o'clock on Monday night they were far down. Since leaving St. John they had seen nothing whatever, but they had heard occasionallythe fog horns of wandering schooners, and once they had listened to theyell of a steamer's whistle. 

"I've allus said, " remarked Captain Corbet, "that in navigatin thishere bay, tides is more important than winds, and anchors is moreimportant than sails. That's odd to seafarin men that ain't acquaintedwith these waters, but it air a oncontrovartible fact. Most of thedistressin casooalties that happen hereabouts occur from a ignorance ofthis on the part of navigators. They WILL pile on sail. Now, in clarweather an open sea, pile it on, I say; but in waters like these, whar's the use? Why, it's flyin clar in the face of Providence. Nowlook at me--do I pile on sail? Not me. Catch me at it! When I can gitalong without, why, I git. At the same time, I don't think you'll findit altogether for the good of your precious health, boys, to be a movinabout here in the fog at midnight. Better go below. You can't do nogood a settin or a standin up here, squintin through a darkness thatmight be felt, an that's as thick as any felt I ever saw. So take myadvice, an go below, and sleep it off. "

It was impossible to gainsay the truth of Captain Corbet's remarks, andas it was really midnight, and the darkness almost as thick as he said, the boys did go below, and managed to get to sleep in about a minuteand a half after their heads touched the pillows. 

Before they were awake on the following day the anchor was hoisted, andthe Antelope was on her way again. 

"Here we air, boys, " said the captain, as they came on deck, "underway--the Antelope on her windin way over the mounting wave, abereasting of the foamin biller like all possessed. I prophesy forthis day a good time as long as the tide lasts. "

"Do you think we'll get to Eastport harbor with this tide?"

"Do I think so?--I know it. I feel it down to my butes. Eastportharbure? Yea! An arter that we hev all plain-sailin. "

"Why, won't the fog last?"

"I don't car for the fog. Arter we get to Eastport harbure we ceasegoin down the bay. We then cross over an steal up the other side. Then it's all our own. If the fog lasts, why, the wind'll last too, anwe can go up flyin, all sails set; an I'll remuve from my mind, for thetime bein, any prejudyce that I have agin wind at sails. "

"Do you intend to go ashore at Eastport?"

"Yes, for a short time--jest to make inquiries. It will be aconsolation, you know. "

"Of course. "

"Then I'll up sail, an away we'll go, irrewspective of tides, acrossthe bay. "

By midday the captain informed them that they were in Eastport harbor. 

"See thar, " said he, as he pointed to a headland with a light-house. "That thar is the entrance. They do call this a pootyish place; but asit's this thick, you won't hev much chance to see it. Don't you want togo ashore an walk about?"

"Not if we can help it. Of course we'll have to ask after poor Tom, but we haven't any curiosity. "

"Wal, p'aps not--ony thar is people that find this a dreadful cur'ousplace. It's got, as I said, a pootyish harbure; but that ain't thegrand attraction. The grand attraction centres in a rock that's saidto be the eastest place in the neighborin republic, --in short, as theycall it, the 'jumpin-off place. ' You'd better go an see it; ony youneedn't jump off, unless you like. "

Sailing up the harbor, the fog grew light enough for them to see theshore. The town lay in rather an imposing situation, on the side of ahill, which was crowned by a fort. A large number of vessels lay aboutat the wharves and at anchor. Here they went ashore in a boat, but onmaking inquiries could gain no information about Tom; nor could theylearn anything which gave them the slightest encouragement. 

"We've got to wait here a while so as to devarsefy the time. Suppose wego an jump off?" said the captain. 

The boys assented to this in a melancholy manner, and the captain ledthe way through the town, till at last he halted at the extreme eastend. 

"Here, " said he, "you behold the last extremity of a great an mightynation, that spreads from the Atlantic to the Pacific, an from the Gulfof Mexiky to the very identical spot that you air now a occypyin of. It air a celebrated spot, an this here air a memorable momient in youryouthful lives, if you did but know it!"

There was nothing very striking about this place, except the fact whichCaptain Corbet had stated. Its appearance was not very imposing, yet, on the other hand, it was not without a certain wild beauty. Beforethem spread the waters of the bay, with islands half concealed in mist;while immediately in front, a steep, rocky bank went sheer down forsome thirty or forty feet to the beach below. 

"I suppose, " said the captain, "that bein Pilgrims, it air our dooty tojump; but as it looks a leetle rocky down thar, I think we'd best deferthat to another opportoonity. "

Returning to the schooner, they weighed anchor, set sail, and left theharbor. On leaving it, they did not go back the way they had come, butpassed through a narrow and very picturesque channel, which led them bya much shorter route into the bay. On their left were wooded hills, and on their right a little village on the slope of a hill, upon whosecrest stood a church. 

Outside the fog lay as thick as ever, and into this they plunged. Soonthe monotonous gray veil of mist closed all around them. But now theirprogress was more satisfactory, for they were crossing the bay, and thewind was abeam. 

"Are you going straight across to Nova Scotia now?" asked Bart. 

"Wal, yes; kine o' straight across, " was the reply; "ony on our waywe've got to call at a certain place, an contenoo our investergations. "

"What place is that?"

"It's the Island of Grand Manan--a place that I allers feel thegreatest respect for. On that thar island is that celebrated fog millthat I told you of, whar they keep grindin night an day, in southerlyweather, so as to keep up the supply of fog for old Fundy. Whateverwe'd do without Grand Manan is more'n I can say. "

"Is the island inhabited?" asked Bruce. 

"Inhabited? O, dear, yas. Thar's a heap o' people thar. It's jestpossible that a driftin boat might git ashore thar, an ef so we'll knowpooty soon. "

"How far is it?"

"O, ony about seven or eight mile. "

"We'll be there in an hour or so, then?"

"Wal, not so soon. You see, we've got to go round it. "

"Around it?"

"Yes"

"Why?"

"Cos thar ain't any poppylation on this side, an we've got to land ont'other. "

"Why are there no people on this side?"

"Cos thar ain't no harbures. The cliffs air six hundred feet high, andthe hull shore runs straight on for ever so fur without a break, excepttwo triflin coves. "

"How is it on the other side?"

"Wal, the east side ain't a bad place. The shore is easier, an thar'sharbures an anchorages. Thar's a place they call Whale Cove, whar I'mgoin to land, an see if I can hear anythin. The people air onyfishers, an they ain't got much cultivation; but it's mor'en likelythat a driftin boat might touch thar somewhar. "

The Antelope pursued her course, but it was as much as three hoursbefore she reached her destination. They dropped anchor then, andlanded. The boys had already learned not to indulge too readily inhope; but when they made their inquiries, and found the same answermeeting them here which they had received in other places, they couldnot avoid feeling a fresh pang of disappointment and discouragement. 

"Wal, we didn't git much good out of this place, " said Captain Corbet. "I'm sorry that we have sech a arrand as ourn. Ef it warn't for thatwe could spend to-night here, an to-morry I'd take you all to see thefog mill; but, as it is, I rayther think I won't linger here, butperceed on our way. "

"Where do we go next--to Nova Scotia?"

"Wal, not jest straight across, but kine o' slantin. We head now forDigby; that's about straight opposite to St. John, an it's as likely aplace as any to make inquiries at. "

"How long will it be before we get there?"

"Wal, some time to-morry mornin. To-night we've got nothin at all todo but to sweep through the deep while the stormy tempests blow in theshape of a mild sou-wester; so don't you begin your usual game ofsettin up. You ain't a mite of good to me, nor to yourselves, a stayinhere. You'd ought all to be abed, and, ef you'll take my advice, you'll go to sleep as soon as you can, an stay asleep as long as youcan. It'll be a foggy night, an we won't see a mite o' sunshine tillwe git into Digby harbure. See now, it's already dark; so take myadvice, an go to bed, like civilized humane beings. "

It did not need much persuasion to send them off to their beds. Nightwas coming on, another night of fog and thick darkness. This time, however, they had the consolation of making some progress, if it wereany consolation when they had no definite course before them; for, insuch a cruise as this, when they were roaming about from one place toanother, without any fixed course, or fixed time, the progress thatthey made was, after all, a secondary consideration. The matter offirst importance was to hear news of Tom, and, until they did hearsomething, all other things were of little moment. 

The Antelope continued on her way all that night, and on the nextmorning the boys found the weather unchanged. Breakfast passed, andtwo or three hours went on. The boys were scattered about the decks, in a languid way, looking out over the water, when suddenly a cry fromPat, who was in the bows, aroused all of them. Immediately before themrose a lofty shore, covered in the distance with dark trees, butterminating at the water's edge in frowning rocks. A light-house stoodhere, upon which they had come so suddenly that, before they were overtheir first surprise, they were almost near enough to toss a biscuitashore. 

"Wal, now, I call that thar pooty slick sailin, " exclaimed CaptainCorbet, glancing at the lighthouse with sparkling eyes. "I tell youwhat it is, boys, you don't find many men in this here day an age thatcan leave Manan at dusk, when the old fog mill is hard at work, andtravel all night in the thickest fog ever seen, with tide agin him halfthe time, an steer through that thar fog, an agin that thar tide, so asto hit the light-house as slick as that. Talk about your scientificnavigation--wouldn't I like to see what one of them thar scientificcaptings would do with his vessel last night on sech a track as I runover! Wouldn't I like to run a race with him? an ef I did, wouldn't Imake a pile to leave and bequeath to the infant when his aged parientair buried beneath the cold ground?"

While Captain Corbet was speaking, the schooner sailed past thelight-house, and the thick fog closed around her once more. On oneside, however, they could see the dim outline of the shore on theirright. On they sailed for about a quarter of a mile, when suddenly thefog vanished, and, with scarce a moment's notice, there burst upon thema blaze of sunlight, while overhead appeared the glory of the blue sky. The suddenness of that transition forced a cry of astonishment fromall. They had shot forth so quickly from the fog into the sunlightthat it seemed like magic. 

They found themselves sailing along a strait about a mile in width, with shores on each side that were as high as Blomidon. On the rightthe heights sloped up steep, and were covered with trees of rich darkverdure, while on the other side the slope was bolder and wilder. Houses appeared upon the shore, and roads, and cultivated trees. Thisstrait was several miles in length, and led into a broad andmagnificent basin. 

Here, in this basin, appeared an enchanting view. A sheet of waterextended before their eyes about sixteen miles in length and five inbreadth. All around were lofty shores, fertile, well tilled, coveredwith verdurous trees and luxuriant vegetation. The green of the shoreswas dotted with white houses, while the blue of the water was fleckedwith snowy sails. Immediately on the right there appeared a circularsweep of shore, on which arose a village whose houses were intermingledwith green trees. 

Into this beautiful basin came the old French navigators more than twocenturies ago, and at its head they found a place which seemed to themthe best spot in Acadie to become the capital of the new colony whichthey were going to found here. So they established their little town, and these placid waters became the scene of commercial activity and ofwarlike enterprise, till generations passed away, and the little Frenchtown of Port Royal, after many strange vicissitudes, with its wonderfulbasin, remained in the possession of the English conqueror. 

"Now, " said Captain Corbet, "boys, look round on that thar, an tell meof you ever see a beautifuller place than this. Thar's ony one placethat can be compared with this here, an that's Grand Pre. But for thelife o' me, I never can tell which o' the two is the pootiest. It'sstrange, too, how them French fellers managed to pick out the bestplaces in the hull province. But it shows their taste an judgment--itdoos, railly. "

It was not long before the Antelope had dropped anchor in front of thetown of Digby, and Captain Corbet landed with the boys as soon aspossible. There was as good a chance of Tom being heard of here asanywhere; since this place lay down the bay, in one sense, and if byany chance Tom had drifted over to the Nova Scotia shore, as now seemedprobable, he would be not unlikely to go to Digby, so as to resume hisjourney, so rudely interrupted, and make his way thence to his friends. 

Digby is a quiet little place, that was finished long ago. It wasfirst settled by the Tory refugees, who came here after therevolutionary war, and received land grants from the Britishgovernment. At first it had some activity, but its business soonlanguished. The first settlers had such bright hopes of its futurethat they regularly laid out a town, with streets and squares. Butthese have never been used to any extent, and now appear grown overwith grass. Digby, however, has so much beauty of scenery around it, that it may yet attract a large population. On landing here, CaptainCorbet pursued the same course as at other places. He went first toone of the principal shops, or the post office, and told his story, andafterwards went to the schooners at the wharves. But at Digby there wasprecisely the same result to their inquiries as there had been at otherplaces. No news had come to the place of any one adrift, nor had anyskipper of any schooner noticed anything of the kind during his lasttrip. 

"What had we better do next?"

"Wal, " said Captain Corbet, "we can ony finish our cruise. "

"Shall we go on?"

"Yes. "

"Up the bay?"

"Yes. I'll keep on past Ile Haute, an I'll cruise around Minas. Yousee these drifts may take him in a'most any direction. I don't see whyhe shouldn't hev drifted up thar as well as down here. "

It was Wednesday when they reached Digby. 

On the evening of that day the Antelope weighed anchor, and sailed outinto the Bay of Fundy. 

It was bright sunshine, with a perfectly cloudless sky inside, butoutside the Antelope plunged into the midst of a dense and heavy fog. 

XIX. 

Tom's Devices. --Rising superior to Circumstances. --Roast Clams. --BakedLobster. --Boiled Mussels. --Boiled Shrimps. --RoastEggs. --Dandelions. --Ditto, with Eggs. --RoastDulse. --Strawberries. --Pilot-bread. --Strawberry Cordial. 

Meanwhile another day had passed away on Ile Haute. 

When we last saw Tom he had succeeded in finding some clams, which heroasted in front of his fire, and made thus a very acceptable relish. This not only gratified his palate for the time, but it also stimulatedhim to fresh exertions, since it showed him that his resources weremuch more extensive than he had supposed them to be. If he had everdreaded getting out of all his provisions, he saw now that the fear wasan unfounded one. Here, before his eyes, and close beside hisdwelling-place, there extended a broad field full of food. In that mudflat there were clams enough to feed him for all the rest of his life, if that were necessary. But what was more, he saw by this thepossibility that other articles of food might be reckoned on, by meansof which he would be able to relieve his diet from that monotony whichhad thus far been its chief characteristic. If he could find somethingelse besides clams and biscuit, the tedium of his existence here wouldbe alleviated to a still greater degree. 

He spent some time in considering this subject, and in thinking overall the possible kinds of food which he might hope to obtain. Sea andland might both be relied on to furnish food for his table in thedesert. The sea, he knew, ought to supply the following:--

 1. Clams, 2. Lobsters, 3. Mussels, in addition to other things which he had in his mind. The land, on theother hand, ought to furnish something. Now that his attention wasfairly directed to this important subject, he could think of severalthings which would be likely to be found even on this island, and thesearch for which would afford an agreeable amusement. 

The more he thought of all this, the more astonished he was at thenumber of things which he could think of as being likely to exist herearound him. It was not so much for the sake of gratifying hisappetite, as to find some occupation, that he now entered eagerly uponputting this new project into execution. Fish, flesh, and fowl nowoffered themselves to his endeavors, and these were to be supplied byland, sea, and sky. This sudden enlargement of his resources, and alsoof his sphere of operations, caused him to feel additionalsatisfaction, together with a natural self-complacency. To the ordinarymind Ile Haute appeared utterly deserted and forlorn--a place where onemight starve to death, if he had to remain for any length of time; butTom now determined to test to the utmost the actual resources of theisland, so as to prove, to himself what one unaided boy could do, whenthus thrown upon his own intelligent efforts, with dire necessity toact as a stimulus to his ingenuity. 

First of all, then, there was his box of biscuit, which he had broughtwith him. 

To this must be added his first discovery on the island, namely, theclams. Nothing could be of greater importance than this, since itafforded not merely a relish, but also actual food. 

The next thing that he sought after was lobsters, and he went off insearch of these as soon as he could on the following day. 

He waited till the tide was low, which was at about twelve o'clock, andthen went down along the beach. At high tide, the water came close upto the foot of the lofty cliff; but at ebb, it descended for somedistance, so that there was some sort of a beach even in places thatdid not promise any. 

The beach nearest to where Tom had taken up his abode was an expanse ofmud and sand; but passing along beyond this, on the north side, itbecame gravelly. About a hundred yards to the west, on this side ofthe island, he came to the place where he had tied his boat, on thateventful time when he had drifted here. Below this, the beach extendeddown for a long distance, and at the lowest point there were rocks, andsharp stones, and pebbles of every size. Here Tom began his search, and before he had looked five minutes, he found several lobsters ofgood size. A little farther search showed him that there was a largesupply of these, so that, in fact, sufficient support might have beenobtained for a whole ship's company. By the time that he had found ahalf dozen of these, and had brought them back to his hearth-stone, ithad grown too dark to search for any more. Tom's search, however, hadbeen so successful, that he felt quite satisfied; and though the dayhad passed without any change in the weather or any lifting of the fog, though he had listened in vain for any sound over the waters whichmight tell of passers by, though his signal had not been seen, and hisbright burning fire had not been noticed, yet the occupation of thoughtand of action which he had found for himself, had been sufficient tomake the time pass not unpleasantly. 

His evening repast was now a decided improvement on that of thepreceding day. First of all, he spread some clams in the hot ashes toroast; and then, taking the dipper which had been used for baling, hefilled it with water, and placing this on the fire, it soon began toboil. Into this he thrust the smallest lobster, and watched it as thewater bubbled around it, and its scaly covering turned slowly from itsoriginal dark hue to a bright red color. 

His success thus far stimulated him to make some attempts at actualcookery. Removing some of the lobster from its shell, he poured outmost of the water from the pan, and into what remained he again put thelobster, cutting it up as fine as he could with his knife. Into this hecrumbled some biscuit, and stirred it up all together. He then placedit over the fire till it was well baked. On removing it and tastingit, he found it most palatable. It was already sufficiently salt, andonly needed a little pepper to make it quite equal to any scollopedlobster that he had ever tasted. 

His repast consisted of this, followed by the roast clams, which formedan agreeable variety. 

Tom now felt like a giant refreshed; and while sitting in front of theevening fire, he occupied his mind with plans for the morrow, whichwere all directed towards enlarging his supply of provisions. 

He awaked late on the next morning, and found the weather unchanged. He tried to quell his impatience and disappointment, and feeling thatidleness would never do, he determined to go to work at once, and carryout the plans of the preceding day. It was now Thursday, the middle ofthe second week, and the fog had clung pertinaciously around him almostall that time. It was indeed disheartening, and idleness under suchcircumstances would have ended in misery and despair; but Tom'sperseverance, and obstinate courage, and buoyant spirits enabled himstill to rise above circumstances, and struggle with the gloom aroundhim. 

"O, go on, go on, " he muttered, looking around upon the fog. "Let's seewho can stand it longest. And now for my foraging expedition. "

Making a hearty repast out of the remnants of the supper of thepreceding evening, he went first to the shore, so as to complete hissearch there while the tide should be low. It was going down now, andthe beach was all before him. He wandered on till he came to wherethere was an immense ledge of sharp rocks, that went from the foot ofthe precipice down into the bay. Over these he clambered, lookingcarefully around, until at last he reached the very lowest point. Herehe soon found some articles of diet, which were quite as valuable intheir way as the clams and lobsters. First of all, he found an immensequantity of large mussels. These were entangled among the thick massesof sea-weed. He knew that the flavor of mussels was much more delicatethan that of clams or lobsters, and that by many connoisseurs these, when good and fresh, were ranked next to oysters. This discovery, therefore, gave him great joy, and he filled his pan, which he hadcarried down, and took them back to the shore. He also took an armfulof sea-weed, and, reaching his camping-place, he threw the mussels in ahollow place in the sand, placing the sea-weed around them. In thisway he knew that they would keep fresh and sweet for any reasonablelength of time. 

Returning to the ledges of rock, he walked about among them, and founda number of pools, some of which were of considerable size. These hadbeen left by the retreating water; and in these hollows he soon saw anumber of small objects moving about. Some of them he caught withoutmuch difficulty, and saw that they were shrimps. He had hoped to findsome of these, but the discovery came to him like some unexpectedpleasure, and seemed more than he had any right to count on. Besidethe shrimps his other discoveries seemed inferior. There was a largenumber, and they could be caught without much trouble. He soon filledhis pan, and brought these also to his camping-place. These hedeposited in a little pool, which was on the surface of some rocks thatlay not far from the shore. Over these he also laid some sea-weed. 

The tide was now coming up, but Tom made a further journey to thebeach, so as to secure something which he had noticed during hisprevious expedition. This was a marine plant called dulse, which, inthese waters, grows very plentifully, and is gathered and dried by thepeople in large quantities. It was a substance of which Tom was veryfond, and he determined to gather some, and dry it in the sun. Collecting an armful of this, he took it to the shore, and spread itout over the grass, though, in that damp and foggy atmosphere, therewas not much prospect of its drying. 

It was now about three o'clock in the afternoon, and Tom's researchesalong the shore were successfully terminated. He had found all thedifferent articles that he had thought of and his new acquisitions werenow lying about him. 

These were, --

 Clams, Lobsters, Mussels, Shrimps, Dulse. 

As he murmured to himself the list of things, he smiled triumphantly. 

But still there was work to be done. Tom intended to keep fashionablehours, and dine late, with only a lunch in the middle of the day. Hisexplorations of the afternoon were to be important, and he hoped thatthey would be crowned with a portion of that success which had attendedthe work of the morning. He took, therefore, a hasty lunch of biscuitand cold lobster, washed down with water, and then set forth. 

This time he turned away from the shore, and went to the top of theisland. He carried in his hand a bit of rope, about a dozen feet inlength, and went along the edge of the cliff as far as he could, turning aside at times to avoid any clumps of trees or bushes that grewtoo thickly. In front of him the line of cliff extended for somedistance, and he walked along, until, at last, he came to a place wherethe gulls flew about in larger flocks than usual, almost on a line withthe top of the rock. He had not noticed them particularly on hisformer walk along here; but now he watched them very attentively, andfinally stood still, so as to see their actions to better advantage. 

Tom, in fact, had made up his mind to procure some gulls' eggs, thinking that these would make an addition to his repast of greatimportance; and he now watched the motions of these birds, so as todetect the most accessible of their nests. He did not have to watchlong. A little observation showed him a place, just under the cliff, not far away from him. Hastening forward, he bent over, and, lookingdown, he saw a large number of nests. They had been constructed on ashelf of rock immediately below the edge of the cliff, and the eggswere within easy reach. The gulls flew about wildly, as the intruderreached down his hands towards their nests, and screamed and shrieked, while some of them rushed towards him, within a few feet of his head, as though they would assail him and beat him off. But Tom'sdetermination did not falter. He cared no more for the gulls than ifthey were so many pigeons, but secured as many eggs as he could carry. These he took with him back to his camp. 

But he was not yet satisfied. He was anxious to have some vegetables;and over the open ground, among the grass, he had seen plants whichwere very familiar to him. There were dandelions; and Tom saw in themsomething that seemed worth more than any of his other acquisitions. Going forth in search of these, he managed to get his pan full of them. These he washed, and after cutting off the roots, he put them in thepan with water, and then set them over the fire to boil. 

While they were boiling Tom went off once more, and found some wildstrawberries. They were quite plentiful about here, and this was theseason for them. He stripped a piece of bark from a birch tree, as thecountry people do, and formed from this a dish which would hold about aquart. This he filled after a moderate search. 

He took the strawberries to his camp, and then, going back to thewoods, he procured some more birch bark, out of which he made a halfdozen dishes. It was now about five o'clock, and Tom thought it wastime for him to begin to cook his dinner. 

The dandelions were not quite cooked as yet; so Tom had to wait; butwhile doing so, he heated some stones in the fire. By the time theywere heated, the dandelions were cooked; and Tom, removing the pan, putsome shrimps and mussels in it, to boil over the fire. He then removedthe stones, and placed one of the lobsters among them in such a way, that it was surrounded on every side in a hot oven. He then buried afew clams among the hot ashes, and did the same with three or four ofthe gulls' eggs. 

One of the hot stones was reserved for another purpose. It was thelargest of them, and was red hot when he drew it from the fire, butsoon cooled down enough to resume its natural color, although itretained an intense heat. 

Over this he spread some of the wet dulse, which soon crackled andshrivelled up, sending forth a rich and fragrant steam. In roastingthis dulse, a large piece would shrink to very small proportions, sothat half of Tom's armful, when thus roasted, was reduced to but asmall handful. 

After finishing this, he drew the gulls' eggs from the fire, and takingoff the shells, he cut them in slices, and put them with thedandelions. Then he took the shrimps and mussels from the fire, andremoving them from the pan, he separated them, and put them intodifferent bark dishes. The clams were next drawn forth, and thoughrather overdone, they were, nevertheless, of tempting appearance andappetizing odor. Finally, the lobster was removed, and Tom contentedhimself with one of the claws, which he placed on a dish, reserving theremainder for another time. 

And now the articles were all cooked, and Tom's repast was ready. Helooked with a smile of gratification upon the various dishes which hisingenuity and industry had drawn forth from the rocks, and cliffs, andmud, and sand of a desert island, and wondered whether other islands, in tropical climates, could yield a more varied or more nutritioussupply. He thought of other plants which might be found here, anddetermined to try some that seemed to be nutritious. 

Here is the repast which Tom, on that occasion, spread before himself:--

 1. Roast clams, 2. Baked lobster, 3. Boiled mussels, 4. Boiled shrimps, 5. Roast eggs, 6. Dandelions, 7. Dandelions with eggs, 8. Roast dulse, 9. Strawberries, 10. Pilot-bread. 

In one thing only did Tom fall short of his wishes, and that was in theway of drinks. But before that dinner was finished, even this wasremedied; for necessity, the great mother of invention, instigated Tomto squeeze about half of his strawberries into a little water. Out ofthis he formed a drink with a flavor that seemed to him to be quitedelicious. And that made what Tom called, --

 11. Strawberry cordial. 

XX. 

New Discoveries. --The Boat. --A great Swell. --Meditations and Plans. --Anew, and wonderful, and before unheard-of Application of SpruceGum. --I'm afloat! I'm afloat!

Tom sat there over his banquet until late. He then went down to thebeach, and brought up a vast collection of driftwood, and throwing aplenteous supply upon the fire, he lay down beside it, and looked outover the water, trying, as usual, to see something through the thickmist. The flames shot up with a crackle and a great blaze, and thebright light shone brilliantly upon the water. The tide was now up, andthe boat was full before him. Tom fixed his eyes upon this boat, andwas mournfully recalling his unsuccessful experiment at making hersea-worthy, and was waiting to see her sink down to her gunwales as shefilled, when the thought occurred to him that she was not filling sorapidly as she might, but was floating much better than usual. Asteady observation served to show him that this was no fancy, but anactual fact; and the confirmation of this first impression at oncedrove away all other thoughts, and brought back all the ideas of escapewhich he once had cherished. 

The boat was admitting the water, certainly, yet she certainly did notleak quite so badly as before, but was floating far better than she haddone on the night of his trial. What was the meaning of this?

Now, the fact is, he had not noticed the boat particularly during thelast few days. He had given it up so completely, that it ceased tohave any interest in his eyes. Raising his signal, building his house, and exploring the island had taken up all his thoughts. Latterly hehad thought of nothing but his dinner. But now the change in the boatwas unmistakable, and it seemed to him that the change might have beengoing on gradually all this time without his noticing it until it hadbecome so marked. 

What was the cause of this change? That was the question which he nowsought to answer. After some thought he found a satisfactoryexplanation. 

For a number of days the boat had been admitting the water till she wasfull. This water had remained in for an hour or more, and this processof filling and emptying had been repeated every tide. The atmospherealso had been wet, and the wood, thus saturated with water sofrequently, had no chance of getting dry. Tom thought, therefore, thatthe wooden framework, which he had constructed so as to tighten theleak, had been gradually swelling from the action of the water; and theplanks of the boat had been tightening their cracks from the samecause, so that now the opening was not nearly so bad as it had been. Thus the boat, which once had been able to float him for a quarter ofan hour or more, ought now to be able to float him for at least doublethat time. 

Tom watched the boat very attentively while the tide was up; and, whenat length it began to retreat, and leave it once more aground, henoticed that it was not more than half full of water. If anyconfirmation had been needed to the conclusions which he had drawn fromseeing the improved buoyancy of the boat, it would have been affordedby this. Tom accepted this with delight, as an additional circumstancein his favor; and now, having become convinced of this much, he set hiswits to work to see if some plan could not be hit upon by means ofwhich the boat could once more be made sea-worthy. 

Tom's indefatigable perseverance must have been noticed by this time. To make the best of circumstances; to stand face to face withmisfortune, and shrink not; to meet the worst with equanimity, andgrasp eagerly at the slightest favorable change, --such was thecharacter that Tom had shown during his experience of the past. Now, once more, he grasped at this slight circumstance that appeared tofavor his hopes, and sought to find some way by which thathalf-floating boat could be made to float wholly, and bear him away tothose shores that were so near by. Too long had he been submitting tothis imprisonment; too long had he been waiting for schooners to passand to bring him help; too long had he been shut in by a fog thatseemed destined never to lift so long as he was here. If he could onlyform some kind of a boat that would float long enough to land him onthe nearest coast, all that he wished would be gratified. 

As he thought over this subject, he saw plainly what he had felt verystrongly before--that the boat could not be sea-worthy unless he hadsome tar with which to plaster over the broken bow, and fill in thegaping seams; but there was no tar. Still, did it follow that therewas nothing else? Might not something be found upon the island whichwould serve the purpose of tar? There must be some such substance andperhaps it might be found here. 

Tom now thought over all the substances that he could bring before hismind. Would clay do? No; clay would not. Would putty? No, andbesides, he could not get any. What, then, would serve this importantpurpose?

Tar was produced from trees. Were there no trees here that producedsome sticky and glutinous substance like tar? There was the resin ofpine trees, but there were no pines on the island. What then? Thesefir trees had a sort of sticky, balsamic juice that exuded plentifullyfrom them wherever they were cut. Might he not make some use of that?Suddenly, in the midst of reflections like these, he thought of the gumthat is found on spruce trees--spruce gum! It was an idea thatdeserved to be followed up and carried out. Thus far he had neverthought of spruce gum, except as something which he, like most boys, was fond of chewing; but now it appeared before his mind as affording apossible solution of his difficulty. The more he thought of it, themore did it seem that this would be adapted to his purpose. The onlyquestion was, whether he could obtain enough of it. He thought that hemight easily obtain enough if he only took the proper time and care. 

With this new plan in his mind, Tom retired for the night, and awakedthe next morning by the dawn of day. It was still foggy; but he wasnow so resigned, and was so full of his new plan, that it did nottrouble him in the slightest degree. In fact, he was so anxious to trythis, that the sight of a boat landing on the beach, all ready to takehim off, would not have afforded him an unmixed satisfaction. 

He took his tin dipper, and went up at once into the woods. Here helooked around very carefully, and soon found what he wanted. He knewperfectly well, of course, how to distinguish spruce trees from fir, bythe sharp, prickly spires of the former, and so he was never at a losswhich trees to search. No sooner had he begun, than he was surprisedat the quantities that he found. To an ordinary observer the trunk ofthe spruce tree seems like any other tree trunk--no rougher, andperhaps somewhat smoother than many; but Tom now found that on everytree almost there were little round excrescences, which, on beingpicked at with the knife, came off readily, and proved to be gum. Vastquantities of a substance which goes by the name of spruce gum aremanufactured and sold; but the pure gum is a very different article, having a rich, balsamic odor, and a delicate yet delicious flavor; andTom, as he filled his pan, and inhaled the fragrance that was emittedby its contents, lamented that his necessities compelled him to use itfor such a purpose as that to which this was destined. After four orfive hours' work, he found that he had gathered enough. He had filledhis pan no less than six times, and had secured a supply which wasamply sufficient to give a coating of thick gum over all the fracturedplace. The tide, which had already risen, was now falling, and, assoon as the boat was aground, and the water out of her, Tom proceededto raise her bows, in precisely the same manner as he had raised theboat on a former occasion. 

The next thing was to bring the gum into a fit condition for use. Thishe did by kindling the fire, and melting it in his tin pan. This wouldrather interfere with the use of that article as a cooking utensil, butnow that Tom's mind was full of this new purpose, cooking and things ofthat sort had lost all attractions for him. As for food, there was nofear about that. He had his biscuit, and the lobster and shell-fishwhich he had cooked on the preceding day were but partially consumed. Enough remained to supply many more meals. 

The gum soon melted, and then a brush was needed to apply it to theboat. This was procured by cutting off a little strip of canvas, abouta yard long and six inches wide. By picking out some of the threads, and rolling it up, a very serviceable brush was formed. 

Taking the gum now in its melted state, Tom dipped his brush into it, and applied it all over the broken surface of the bow, pressing the hotliquid in close, and allowing it to harden in the cracks. His firstcoating of gum was very satisfactorily applied, and it seemed as thougha few more coatings ought to secure the boat from the entrance of thewater. The gum was tenacious, and its only bad quality was itsbrittleness; but, as it would not be exposed to the blows of any hardsubstances, it seemed quite able to serve Tom's wants. 

Tom now went down to the drift-wood and brought up a fresh supply offuel, after which he melted a second panful of gum, and applied this tothe boat. He endeavored to secure an entrance for it into all thecracks that did not seem to be sufficiently filled at the firstapplication, and now had the satisfaction of seeing all of those deepmarks filled up and effaced by the gum. 

One place still remained which had not yet been made secure against theentrance of the water, and that was where the planks gaped open fromthe blow that had crushed in the bows. Here the canvas that was insideprotruded slightly. Torn ripped up some of the canvas that was on thetent, and taking the threads, stuffed them in the opening, mixing themwith gum as he did so, until it was filled; and then over this he put acoating of the gum. After this another pan, and yet another, weremelted, and the hot gum each time was applied. This gave the wholesurface a smooth appearance, that promised to be impenetrable to thewater. 

The gum which he had collected was enough to fill two more pans. Thishe melted as before, and applied to the bows. Each new applicationclung to the one that had preceded it, in a thick and quickly hardeninglayer, until at last, when the work was done, there appeared a coatingof this gum formed from six successive layers, that was smooth, andhard, and without any crack whatever. It seemed absolutely water-tight;and Tom, as he looked at it now, could not imagine where the watercould penetrate. Yet, in order to make assurance doubly sure, hecollected two more panfuls, and melting this he applied it as before. After this was over, he made a torch of birch bark, and lighting this, he held the flame against the gum till the whole outer surface began tomelt and run together. This served to secure any crevices that hisbrush might have passed by without properly filling. 

The work was now complete as far as Tom could do it; and on examiningit, he regretted that he had not thought of this before. He felt anexultation that he had never known in his life. If he, by his ownefforts, could thus rescue himself, what a cause it would be alwaysafter to struggle against misfortune, and rise superior tocircumstances!

As to the voyage, Tom's plan was the same that it had been on a formeroccasion. He would float the boat at high tide, and then push off, keeping her near the shore, yet afloat until ebb tide. Then, when thetide should turn, and the current run up the bay, he would put off, andfloat along with the stream until he reached land. 

According to his calculations it would be high tide about two hoursafter dark, which would be some time after ten. He would have to be upall night; for the tide would not turn until after four in the morning. But that did not trouble him. He would have too much on his mind toallow him to feel sleepy, and, besides, the hope which lay before himwould prevent him from feeling fatigue. 

One thing more remained, and that was, to bring up a fresh supply offuel. The night would be dark, and while floating in the boat, hewould need the light of the fire. So he brought up from the beach anample supply of drift-wood, and laid it with the rest. 

When Tom's work was ended, it was late in the day, and he determined tosecure some sleep before he began his long night's work. He knew thathe could waken at the right time; so he laid himself down in his tent, and soon slept the sleep of the weary. 

By ten o'clock he was awake. He found the water already up to theboat. There was no time to lose. He carried his box of biscuit onboard, and filled his pan with water from the brook, so as to securehimself against thirst in case the boat should float away farther thanhe anticipated. Then he took his paddle, and got into the boat. 

The water came up higher. Most anxiously Tom watched it as it rose. The fire was burning low, and in order to make more light, Tom wentashore and heaped an immense quantity of wood upon it. The flames nowblazed up bright, and on going back again to the boat, the water wasplainly visible as it closed around the bows. 

Most anxiously he now awaited, with his eyes fastened upon the bottomof the boat. He had not brought the old sail this time, but left itover his tent, and he could see plainly. Higher came the water, andstill higher, yet none came into the boat, and Tom could scarce believein his good fortune. 

At last the boat floated!

Yes, the crisis had come and passed, and the boat floated!

There was now no longer any doubt. His work was successful; hisdeliverance was sure. The way over the waters was open. Farewell tohis island prison! Welcome once more the great world! Welcome home, and friends, and happiness!

In that moment of joy his heart seemed almost ready to burst. It waswith difficulty that he calmed himself; and then, offering up a prayerof thanksgiving, he pushed off from the shore. 

The boat floated!

The tide rose, and lingered, and fell. 

The boat floated still. 

There was not the slightest sign of a leak. Every hour, as it passed, served to give Tom a greater assurance that the boat was sea-worthy. 

He found no difficulty in keeping her afloat, even while retaining hernear the shore, so that she might be out of the way of the currents. 

At length, when the tide was about half way down, he found the fireburning too low, and determined to go ashore and replenish it. A rockjutted above the water not far off. To this he secured the boat, andthen landing, he walked up the beach. Reaching the fire, he threw uponit all the remaining wood. Returning then to the boat, he boarded herwithout difficulty. 

The tide fell lower and lower. 

And now Tom found it more and more difficult to keep the boat afloat, without allowing her to be caught by the current. He did not dare tokeep her bows near the shore, but turned her about, so that her stemshould rest from time to time on the gravel. At last the tide was solow that rocks appeared above the surface, and the boat occasionallystruck them in a very unpleasant manner. To stay so near the shore anylonger was not possible. A slight blow against a rock might rub offall the brittle gum, and then his chances would be destroyed. Hedetermined to put out farther, and trust himself to Providence. 

Slowly and cautiously he let his boat move out into deeper water. 

But slowness and caution were of little avail. In the deeper waterthere was a strong current, which at once caught the boat and bore heralong. Tom struggled bravely against it, but without avail. He thoughtfor a moment of seeking the shore again, but the fear that the boatwould be ruined deterred him. 

There was a little wind blowing from the southwest, and he determinedto trust to the sail. He loosened this, and, sitting down, waited forfurther developments. 

The wind filled the sail, and the boat's progress was checked somewhat, yet still she drifted down the bay. 

She was drifting down past the north shore of the island. Tom couldsee, amid the gloom, the frowning cliffs as he drifted past. Thefirelight was lost to view; then he looked for some time upon the darkform of the island. 

At last even that was lost to view. 

He was drifting down the bay, and was already below Ile Haute. 

XXI. 

Scott's Bay and Old Bennie. --His two Theories. --Off to the desertIsland. --Landing. --A Picnic Ground. --Gloom and Despair of theExplorers. --All over. --Sudden Summons. 

It was on Wednesday evening that the Antelope passed from the sunshineand beauty of Digby Basin out into the fog and darkness of the Bay ofFundy. The tide was falling, and, though the wind was in their favor, yet their progress was somewhat slow. But the fact that they weremoving was of itself a consolation. In spite of Captain Corbet'sdeclared preference for tides and anchors, and professed contempt forwind and sails, the boys looked upon these last as of chief importance, and preferred a slow progress with the wind to even a more rapid one bymeans of so unsatisfactory a method of travel as drifting. 

At about nine on the following morning, the Antelope reached a littleplace called Wilmot Landing, where they went on shore and made theusual inquiries with the usual result. Embarking again, they sailed onfor the remainder of that day, and stopped at one or two places alongthe coast. 

On the next morning (Friday) they dropped anchor in front of Hall'sHarbor--a little place whose name had become familiar to them duringtheir memorable excursion to Blomidon. Here they met with the samediscouraging answer to their question. 

"Wal, " said Captain Corbet, "we don't seem to meet with much success tospeak of--do we?"

"No, " said Bart, gloomily. 

"I suppose your pa'll be sendin schooners over this here same ground. 'Tain't no use, though. "

"Where shall we go next?"

"Wal, we've ben over the hull bay mostly; but thar's one place, yet, anthat we'll go to next. "

"What place is that?"

"Scott's Bay. 

"My idee is this, " continued Captain Corbet: "We'll finish our towerof inspection round the Bay of Fundy at Scott's Bay. Thar won't benothin more to do; thar won't remain one single settlement but whatwe've called at, 'cept one or two triflin places of no 'count. So, after Scott's Bay, my idee is to go right straight off to old Minas. Who knows but what he's got on thar somewhar?"

"I don't see much chance of that. "

"Why not?"

"Because, if he had drifted into the Straits of Minas, he'd manage toget ashore. "

"I don't see that. "

"Why, it's so narrow. "

"Narrer? O, it's wider'n you think for; besides, ef he got stuck intothe middle of that thar curn't, how's he to get to the shore? an himwithout any oars? Answer me that. No, sir; the boat that'll driftdown Petticoat Jack into the bay, without gettin ashore, 'll drift upthem straits into Minas jest the same. "

"Well, there does seem something in that. I didn't think of hisdrifting down the Petitcodiac. "

"Somethin? Bless your heart! ain't that everythin?"

"But do you think there's really a chance yet?"

"A chance? Course thar is. While thar's life thar's hope. "

"But how could he live so long?"

"Why shouldn't he?"

"He might starve. "

"Not he. Didn't he carry off my box o' biscuit?"

"Think of this fog. "

"O, fog ain't much. It's snow an cold that tries a man. He's tough, too. "

"But he's been so exposed. "

"Exposed? What to? Not he. Didn't he go an carry off that ole sail?"

"I cannot help thinking that it's all over with him?"

"Don't give him up; keep up; cheer up. Think how we got hold of oleSolomon after givin him up. I tell you that thar was a good sign. "

"He's been gone too long. Why, it's going on a fortnight?"

"Wal, what o' that ef he's goin to turn up all right in the end? Itell you he's somewhar. Ef he ain't in the Bay of Fundy, he may bedriftin off the coast o' Maine, an picked up long ago, an on his wayhome now per steamer. "

Bart shook his head, and turned away in deep despondency, in whichfeeling all the other boys joined him. They had but little hope now. The time that had elapsed seemed to be too long, and theirdisappointments had been too many. The sadness which they had felt allalong was now deeper than ever, and they looked forward without a rayof hope. 

On Friday evening they landed at Scott's Bay, and, as old BennieGriggs's house was nearest, they went there. They found both the oldpeople at home, and were received with an outburst of welcome. CaptainCorbet was an old acquaintance, and made himself at home at once. Soonhis errand was announced. 

Bennie had the usual answer, and that was, that nothing whatever hadbeen heard of any drifting boat. But he listened with intense interestto Captain Corbet's story, and made him tell it over and over again, down to the smallest particular. He also questioned all the boys veryclosely. 

After the questioning was over, he sat in silence for a long time. Atlast he looked keenly at Captain Corbet. 

"He's not ben heard tell of for about twelve days?"

"No. "

"An it's ben ony moderate weather?"

"Ony moderate, but foggy. "

"O, of course. Wal, in my 'pinion, fust an foremust, he ain't likelyto hev gone down. "

"That thar's jest what I say. "

"An he had them biscuit?"

"Yes--a hull box. "

"An the sail for shelter?"

"Yes. "

"Wal; it's queer. He can't hev got down by the State o' Maine; for, efhe'd got thar, he'd hev sent word home before this. "

"Course he would. "

Old Bennie thought over this for a long time again, and the boyswatched him closely, as though some result of vital importance hungupon his final decision. 

"Wal, " said Bennie at last, "s'posin that he's alive, --an it's verylikely, --thar's ony two ways to account for his onnat'ral silence. Themair these:--

"Fust, he may hev got picked up by a timber ship, outward bound to theold country. In that case he may be carried the hull way acrost. I'veknowed one or two sech cases, an hev heerd of severial more. 

"Second. He may hev drifted onto a oninhabited island. "

"An oninhabited island?" repeated Captain Corbet. 

"Yea. "

"Wal, " said Captain Corbet; after a pause, "I've knowed things strangerthan that. "

"So hev I. "

"Air thar any isle of the ocean in particular that you happen to hev inyour mind's eye now?"

"Thar air. "

"Which?"

"Ile Haute. "

"Wal, now, railly, I declar--ef I wan't thinkin o' that very spotmyself. An I war thinkin, as I war a comin up the bay, that that tharisle of the ocean was about the only spot belongin to this here baythat hadn't been heerd from. An it ain't onlikely that them shorescould a tale onfold that mought astonish some on us. I shouldn't wondera mite. "

"Nor me, " said Bennie, gravely. 

"It's either a timber ship, or a desert island, as you say, --that'ssartin, " said Captain Corbet, after further thought, speaking withstrong emphasis. "Thar ain't a mite o' doubt about it; an which o'them it is air a very even question. For my part, I'd as soon bet onone as t'other. "

"I've heerd tell o' several seafarin men that's got adrift, an lit onthat thar isle, " said Bennie, solemnly. 

"Wal, so hev I; an though our lad went all the way from Petticoat Jack, yet the currents in thar wandorins to an fro could effectooate thatthar pooty mighty quick, an in the course of two or three days it couldland him high an dry on them thar sequestrated shores. "

"Do you think there is any chance of it?" asked Bruce, eagerly, directing his question to Bennie. 

"Do I think? Why, sartin, " said Bennie, regarding Bruce's anxious facewith a calm smile. "Hain't I ben a expoundin to you the actool facts?"

"Well, then, " cried Bart, starting to his feet, "let's go at once. "

"Let's what?" asked Captain Corbet. 

"Why, hurry off at once, and get to him as soon as we can. "

"An pray, young sir, how could we get to him by leavin here jest now?"

"Can't we go straight to Ile Haute?"

"Scacely. The tide'll be agin us, an the wind too, till nigh eleven. "

Bart gave a deep sigh. 

"But don't be alarmed. We'll go thar next, an as soon as we can. Yousee we've got to go on into Minas Basin. Now we want to leave here soas to drop down with the tide, an then drop up with the flood tide intoMinas Bay. I've about concluded to wait here till about three in themornin. We'll drop down to the island in about a couple of hours, and'll hev time to run ashore, look round, and catch the flood tide. "

"Well, you know best, " said Bart, sadly. 

"I think that's the only true an rational idee, " said Bennie. "I do, railly; an meantime you can all get beds here with me, an you can hev agood bit o' sleep before startin. "

This conversation took place not long after their arrival. The companywere sitting in the big old kitchen, and Mrs. Bennie was spreading hermost generous repast on the table. 

After a bounteous supper the two old men talked over the situationuntil bedtime. They told many stories about drifting boats and rafts, compared notes about the direction of certain currents, and arguedabout the best course to pursue under certain very difficultcircumstances, such, for example, as a thick snow-storm, midnight, aheavy sea, and a strong current setting upon a lee shore, the ship'sanchor being broken also. It was generally considered that thesituation was likely to be unpleasant. 

At ten o'clock Bennie hurried his guests to their beds, where theyslept soundly in spite of their anxiety. Before three in the morninghe awaked them, and they were soon ready to reembark. 

It was dim morning twilight as they bade adieu to their hospitableentertainers, and but little could be seen. Captain Corbet raised hishead, and peered into the sky above, and sniffed the sea air. 

"Wal, railly, " said he, "I do declar ef it don't railly seem as ef itrailly is a change o' weather--it railly doos. Why, ain't this rich?We're ben favored at last. We're agoin to hev a clar day. Hooray!"

The boys could not make out whether the captain's words were justifiedor not by the facts, but thought that they detected in the air ratherthe fragrance of the land than the savor of the salt sea. There was nowind, however, and they could not see far enough out on the water toknow whether there was any fog or not. 

Bennie accompanied them to the boat, and urged them to come back ifthey found the boys and let him rest in Scott's Bay. But the fate ofthat boy was so uncertain, that they could not make any promise aboutit. 

It was a little after three when the Antelope weighed anchor, anddropped down the bay. 

There was no wind whatever. It was the tide only that carried themdown to their destination. Soon it began to grow lighter, and by thetime that they were half way, they saw before them the dark outline ofthe island, as it rose from the black water with its frowning cliffs. 

The boys looked at it in silence. It seemed, indeed, a hopeless placeto search in for signs of poor Tom. How could he ever get ashore insuch a place as this, so far out of the line of his drift; or if he hadgone ashore there, how could he have lived till now? Such were thegloomy and despondent thoughts that filled the minds of all, as theysaw the vessel drawing nearer and still nearer to those frowning cliffs. 

As they went on the wind grew stronger, and they found that it wastheir old friend--the sou-wester. The light increased, and they saw afog cloud on the horizon, a little beyond Ile Haute. Captain Corbetwould not acknowledge that he had been mistaken in his impressionsabout a change of weather, but assured the boys that this was only thelast gasp of the sou-wester, and that a change was bound to take placebefore evening. But though the fog was visible below Ile Haute, it didnot seem to come any nearer, and at length the schooner approached theisland, and dropped anchor. 

It was about half past four in the morning, and the light of day wasbeginning to be diffused around, when they reached their destination. As it was low tide, they could not approach very near, but kept welloff the precipitous shores on the south side of the island. In thecourse of her drift, while letting go the anchor, she went off to apoint about half way down, opposite the shore. Scarce had her anchortouched bottom, than the impatient boys were all in the boat, callingon Captain Corbet to come along. The captain and Wade took the oars. 

It was a long pull to the shore, and, when they reached it, the tidewas so low that there remained a long walk over the beach. They hadlanded about half way down the island, and, as they directed theirsteps to the open ground at the east end, they had a much greaterdistance to traverse than they had anticipated. As they walked on, they did not speak a word. But already they began to doubt whetherthere was any hope left. They had been bitterly disappointed as theycame near and saw no sign of life. They had half expected to see somefigure on the beach waiting to receive them. But there was no figureand no shout of joy. 

At length, as they drew nearer to the east end, and the light grewbrighter, Bart, who was in advance, gave a shout. 

They all hurried forward. 

Bart was pointing towards something. 

It was a signal-staff, with something that looked like a flag hoistedhalf mast high. 

Every heart beat faster, and at once the wildest hopes arose. Theyhurried on over the rough beach as fast as possible. They clamberedover rocks, and sea-weed, and drift-wood, and at length reached thebank. And still, as they drew nearer, the signal-staff rose beforethem, and the flag at half mast became more and more visible. 

Rushing up the bank towards this place, each trying to outstrip theothers, they hurried forward, full of hope now that some signs of Tommight be here. At length they reached the place where Tom had been solong, and here their steps were arrested by the scene before them. 

On the point arose the signal-staff, with its heavy flag hanging down. The wind was now blowing, but it needed almost a gale to hold out thatcumbrous canvas. Close by were the smouldering remains of what hadbeen a huge fire, and all around this were chips and sticks. In theimmediate neighborhood were some bark dishes, in some of which wereshrimps and mussels. Clams and lobsters lay around, with shells ofboth. 

Not far off was a canvas tent, which looked singularly comfortable andcosy. 

Captain Corbet looked at all this, and shook his head. 

"Bad--bad--bad, " he murmured, in a doleful tone. "My last hope, or, rayther, one of my last hopes, dies away inside of me. This is wussthan findin' a desert place. "

"Why? Hasn't he been here? He must have been here, " cried Bart. "These are his marks. I dare say he's here now--perhaps asleep--in thecamp. I'll go--"

"Don't go--don't--you needn't, " said Captain Corbet, with a groan. "Youdon't understand. It's ben no pore castaway that's come here--no poredriftin lad that fell upon these lone and desolate coasts. No--neverdid he set foot here. All this is not the work o' shipwracked people. It's some festive picnickers, engaged in whilin away a few pleasantsummer days. All around you may perceive the signs of luxooriousfeastin. Here you may see all the different kind o' shellfish that thesea produces. Yonder is a luxoorious camp. But don't mind what I say. Go an call the occoopant, an satisfy yourselves. "

Captain Corbet walked with the boys over to the tent. His words hadthrown a fresh dejection over all. They felt the truth of what hesaid. These remains spoke not of shipwreck, but of pleasure, and ofpicnicking. It now only remained to rouse the slumbering owner of thetent, and put the usual questions. 

Bart was there first, and tapped at the post. 

No answer. 

He tapped again. 

Still there was no answer. 

He raised the canvas and looked in. He saw the mossy interior, butperceived that it was empty. All the others looked in. On learningthis they turned away puzzled. 

"Wal, I thought so, " said Captain Corbet. "They jest come an go as thefancy takes 'em. They're off on Cape d'Or to-day, an back hereto-morrer. "

As he said this he seated himself near the tent, and the boys lookedaround with sad and sombre faces. 

It was now about half past five, and the day had dawned for some time. In the east the fog had lifted, and the sun was shining brightly. 

"I told you thar'd be a change, boys, " said the captain. 

As he spoke there came a long succession of sharp, shrill blasts fromthe fog horn of the Antelope, which started every one, and made themrun to the rising ground to find out the cause. 

XXII. 

Astounding Discovery. --The whole Party of Explorersoverwhelmed. --Meeting with the Lost. --Captain Corbet improves theOccasion. --Conclusion. 

At the sound from the Antelope they had all started for the risingground, to see what it might mean. None of them had any idea whatmight be the cause, but all of them felt startled and excited athearing it under such peculiar circumstances. Nor was their excitementlessened by the sight that met their eyes as they reached the risingground and looked towards the schooner. 

A change had taken place. When they had left, Solomon only hadremained behind. But now there were two figures on the deck. One wasamidships. The schooner was too far away for them to see distinctly, but this one was undoubtedly Solomon; yet his gestures were soextraordinary that it was difficult to identify him. He it was by whomthe blasts on the fog horn were produced. Standing amidships, he heldthe fog horn in one hand, and in the other he held a battered old capwhich supplied the place of the old straw hat lost at Quaco. Afterletting off a series of blasts from the horn, he brandished his capwildly in the air, and then proceeded to dance a sort of complexdouble-shuffle, diversified by wild leaps in the air, and accompaniedby brandishings of his hat and fresh blasts of the horn. But ifSolomon's appearance was somewhat bewildering, still more so was thatof the other one. This one stood astern. Suddenly as they looked theysaw him hoist a flag, and, wonder of wonders, a black flag, --no other, in short, than the well-known flag of the "B. O. W. C. " That flag hadbeen mournfully lowered and put away on Tom's disappearance, but now itwas hoisted once more; and as they looked, the new comer hoisted it andlowered it, causing it to rise and fall rapidly before their eyes. 

Nor did the wonder end here. They had taken away the only boat thatthe schooner possessed in order to come ashore, leaving Solomon alone. They had noticed no boat whatever as they rowed to land. But now theysaw a boat floating astern of the Antelope, with a small and peculiarlyshaped sail, that now was flapping in the breeze. Evidently this boatbelonged to the new comer. But who was he? How had he come there?What was the meaning of those signals with that peculiar flag, and whatcould be the reason of Solomon's joy?

They stood dumb with astonishment, confused, and almost afraid to thinkof the one cause that each one felt to be the real explanation of allthis. Too long had they searched in vain for Tom, --too often had theysunk from hope to despair, --too confident and sanguine had they been;and now, at this unexpected sight, in spite of the assurance which itmust have given them that this could be no other than Tom, they scarcedared to believe in such great happiness, and were afraid that eventhis might end in a disappointment like the others. 

But, though they stood motionless and mute, the two figures on boardthe Antelope were neither one nor the other. Solomon danced more andmore madly, and brandished his arms more and more excitedly, and therecame forth from his fog horn wilder and still wilder peals, and theflag rose and fell more and more quickly, until at last the spectatorson the shore could resist no longer. 

"G-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-d ger-ra-a-a-cious!"

This cry burst from Captain Corbet. 

It was enough. The spell was broken. A wild cry burst forth from theboys, and with loud, long shouts of joy they rushed down the bank, andover the beach, back to their boat. The captain was as quick as any ofthem. In his enthusiasm he forgot his rheumatism. There was a race, and though he was not even with Bruce and Bart, he kept ahead of Pat, and Arthur, and Phil, and old Wade. 

Hurrah!

And hurrah again!

Yes, and hurrah over and over; and many were the hurrahs that burstfrom them as they raced over the rocky beach. 

Then to tumble into the boat, one after another, to grasp the oars, topush her off, to head her for the schooner, and to dash through thewater on their way back, was but the work of a few minutes. 

The row to the schooner was a tedious one to those impatient younghearts. But as they drew nearer, they feasted their eyes on the figureof the new comer, and the last particle of doubt and fear died away. First, they recognized the dress--the familiar red shirt. Tom had worna coat and waistcoat ashore at Hillsborough on that eventful day; buton reaching the schooner, he had flung them off, and appeared now inthe costume of the "B. O. W. C. " This they recognized first, and thenhis face was revealed--a face that bore no particular indication ofsuffering or privation, which seemed certainly more sunburnt thanformerly, but no thinner. 

Soon they reached the vessel, and clambered up; and then with whatshouts and almost shrieks of joy they seized Tom! With what cries andcheers of delight they welcomed him back again, by turns overwhelminghim with questions, and then pouring forth a torrent of description oftheir own long search!

Captain Corbet stood a little aloof. His face was not so radiant asthe faces of the boys. His features were twitching, and his hands wereclasped tight behind his back. He stood leaning against the mainmast, his eyes fixed on Tom. It was thus that he stood when Tom caught sightof him, and rushed up to shake hands. 

Captain Corbet grasped Tom's hand in both of his. He trembled, and Tomfelt that his hands were cold and clammy. 

"My dear boys, " he faltered, "let us rejice--and--be glad--for this myson--that was dead--is alive agin--"

A shudder passed through him, and he stopped, and pressed Tom's handconvulsively. 

Then he gave a great gasp, and, "Thar, thar, " he murmured, "it's toomuch! I'm onmanned. I've suffered--an agonized--an this--air--toomuch!"

And with these words he burst into tears. 

Then he dropped Tom's hand, and retreated into the cabin, where heremained for a long time, but at last reappeared, restored to calmness, and with a smile of sweet and inexpressible peace wreathing hisvenerable countenance. 

By this time the boys had told Tom all about their long search; andwhen Captain Corbet reappeared, Tom had completed the story of hisadventures, and had just reached that part, in his wanderings, where hehad left the island, and found himself drifting down the bay. As thatwas the point at which Tom was last lost sight of in these pages, hisstory may be given here in his own words. 

"Yes, " said he, "you see I found myself drifting down. There was nohelp for it. The wind was slight, and the tide was strong. I wasswept down into a fog bank, and lost sight of Ile Haute altogether. Well, it didn't matter very much, and I wasn't a bit anxious. I knewthat the tide would turn soon, and then I'd come up, and fetch the landsomewhere; so I waited patiently. At last, after about--well, nearlyan hour, the tide must have turned, and I drifted back, and there waswind enough to give me quite a lift; and so all of a sudden I shot outof the fog, and saw Ile Haute before me. I was coming in such a waythat my course lay on the south side of the island, and in a short timeI came in sight of the schooner. I tell you what it is, I nearly wentinto fits--I knew her at once. A little farther on, and I saw you allcutting like mad over the beach to my camp. I was going to put afteryou at first; but the fact is, I hated the island so that I couldn'tbear to touch it again, and so I concluded I'd go on board and signal. So I came up alongside, and got on board. Solomon was down below; so Ijust stepped forward, and put my head over the hatchway, and spoke tohim. I declare I thought he'd explode. He didn't think I was a ghostat all. It wasn't fear, you know--it was nothing but delight, and allthat sort of thing, you know. Well, you know, then we went to worksignaling to you, and he took the fog horn, and I went to the flag, andso it was. "

"I don't know how we happened not to see your boat, " said Bruce. 

"O, that's easy enough to account for, " said Tom. "I was hid by theeast point of the island. I didn't see the schooner till I got round, and you must have been just getting ashore at that time. "

During all this time Solomon had been wandering about in a mysteriousmanner; now diving below into the hold, and rattling the pots and pans;again emerging upon deck, and standing to listen to Tom and look athim. His face shone like a polished boot; there was a grin on his facethat showed every tooth in his head, and his little twinkling blackbeads of eyes shone, and sparkled, and rolled about till the winkingblack pupils were eclipsed by the whites. At times he would standstill, and whisper solemnly and mysteriously to himself, and then, without a moment's warning, he would bring his hands down on histhighs, and burst into a loud, long, obstreperous, and deafening pealof uncontrollable laughter. 

"Solomon, " said Tom, at last, "Solomon, my son, won't you burst if yougo on so? I'm afraid you may. "

At this Solomon went off again, and dived into the hold. But in aminute or two he was back again, and giggling, and glancing, andwhispering to himself, as before. Solomon and Captain Corbet thus hadeach a different way of exhibiting the same emotion, for the feelingthat was thus variously displayed was nothing but the purest and mostunfeigned joy. 

"See yah, Mas'r Tom--and chil'n all, " said Solomon, at last. "Isegwine to pose dat we all go an tend to sometin ob de fust portance. Hyah's Mas'r Tom habn't had notin to eat more'n a mont; an hyah's deres ob de blubbed breddern ob de Bee see double what been a fastinsince dey riz at free clock dis shinin and spicious morn. Dis yah'sgreat an shinin casium, an should be honnad by great and strornystivities. Now, dar ain't no stivity dat can begin to hole a can'l toa good dinna, or suppa, or sometin in de eatin line. So Ise gwine topose to honna de cobbery ob de Probable Son by a rale ole-fashioned, stunnin breakfuss. Don't be fraid dar'll be any ficiency hyah. I gottings aboard dat I ben a savin for dis spicious an lightful cobbery. Ben no eatin in dis vessel ebber sence de loss chile took his parter andrifted off. Couldn't get no pusson to tetch nuffin. Got 'em all now;an so, blubbed breddern, let's sem'l once more, an ole Solomon'll nowficiate in de pressive pacity ob Gran Pandledrum. An I pose dat werect a tent on de sho oh dis yah island, and hab de banket come off infust chop style. "

"The island!" cried Tom, in horror. "What! the island? Breakfast onthe island? What a horrible proposal! Look here, captain. Can't weget away from this?"

"Get away from this?" repeated the captain, in mild surprise. 

"Yes, " said Tom. "You see, the fact is, when a fellow's gone throughwhat I have, he isn't over fond of the place where he's had that to gothrough. And so this island is a horrible place to me, and I can'tfeel comfortable till I get away out of sight of it. Breakfast! Why, the very thought of eating is abominable as long as that island is insight. "

"Wal, railly, now, " said Captain Corbet, "I shouldn't wonder if tharwas a good deal in that, though I didn't think of it afore. Course it'snatral you shouldn't be over fond of sech, when you've had sech anoncommon tough time. An now, bein' as thar's no uthly occasion for theAntelope to be a lingerin' round this here isle of the ocean, I muvethat we histe anchor an resume our vyge. It's nigh onto a fortnightsence we fust started for Petticoat Jack, and sence that time we've hadrare and strikin vycissitoods. It may jest happen that some on ye maybe tired of the briny deep, an may wish no more to see the billersbound and scatter their foamin spray; some on ye likewise may be out o'sperrits about the fog. In sech a case, all I got to say is, that thishere schooner'll be very happy to land you at the nighest port, Scott'sBay, frincense, from which you may work your way by land to yourdesired haven. Sorry would I be to part with ye, specially in this heremoment of jy; but ef ye've got tired of the Antelope, tain't nomore'n's natral. Wal, now, --what d'ye say--shall we go up to Scott'sBay, or will ye contenoo on to Petticoat Jack, an accomplitch theriginal vyge as per charter party?"

The boys said nothing, but looked at Tom as though referring thequestion to him. 

"As far as I am concerned, " said Tom, who noticed this reference tohim, "it's a matter of indifference where we go, so long as we go outof sight of this island. If the rest prefer landing at Scott's Bay, I'm agreed; at the same time, I'd just as soon go on to Petitcodiac. "

"An what do the rest o' ye say?" asked the captain, somewhat anxiously. 

"For my part, " said Bruce, "I think it's about the best thing we cando. "

The others all expressed similar sentiments, and Captain Corbetlistened to this with evident delight. 

"All right, " said he, "and hooray! Solomon, my aged friend, we willhave our breakfast on board, as we glide past them thar historicshores. Pile on what you have, and make haste. "

In a few minutes more the anchor was up, and the Antelope was under way. 

In about half an hour Solomon summoned them below, where he laid beforethem a breakfast that cast into the shade Tom's most elaborate meal onthe island. With appetites that seemed to have been growing during thewhole period of Tom's absence, the joyous company sat down to thatrepast, while Solomon moved around, his eyes glistening, his faceshining, his teeth grinning, and his hips moving, as, after hisfashion, he whispered little Solomonian pleasantries to his ownaffectionate heart. At this repast the boys began a fresh series ofquestions, and drew from Tom a full, complete, and exhaustive historyof his island life, more particularly with regard to his experience inhouse-building, and housekeeping; and with each one, without exception, it was a matter of sincere regret that it had not been his lot to beTom's companion in the boat and on the island. 

After breakfast they came up on deck. The wind had at length changed, as Captain Corbet had prophesied in the morning, and the sky overheadwas clear. Down the bay still might be seen the fog banks, but near athand all was bright. Behind them Ile Haute was already at a respectfuldistance, and Cape Chignecto was near. 

"My Christian friends, " said Captain Corbet, solemnly, --"my Christianfriends, an dear boys. Agin we resoom the thread of our eventfoolvyge, that was brok of a suddent in so onparld a manner. Agin wegullide o'er the foamin biller like a arrer shot from a cross-bow, anculleave the briny main. We have lived, an we have suffered, but nowour sufferins seem to be over. At last we have a fair wind, with atide to favor us, an we'll be off Hillsborough before daybreakto-morrer. An now I ask you all, young sirs, do you feel any regretsesover the eventfool past? I answer, no. An wan't I right? Didn't Isay that that thar lad would onst more show his shinin face amongst us, right side up, with care, in good order an condition, as when shippedon board the Antelope, Corbet master, from Grand Pre, an bound forPetticoat Jack? Methinks I did. Hence the vally of a lofty sperrit inthe face of difficulties. An now, young sirs, in after life takewarnin by this here vyge. Never say die. Don't give up the ship. Nosurrender. England expects every man to do his dooty. For him thatrises superior to succumstances is terewly great; an by presarvin amagnanumous mind you'll be able to hold up your heads and smile amidthe kerrash of misfortin. Now look at me. I affum, solemn, that allthe sufferins I've suffered have ben for my good; an so this here vygehas eventooated one of the luckiest vyges that you've ever had. Anthus, " he concluded, stretching out his venerable hands with the air ofone giving a benediction, --"thus may it be with the vyge of life. Mayall its storms end in calms, an funnish matter in the footoor for balmyrettuspect. Amen!"

It was a close approach to a sermon; and though the words were a littleincoherent, yet the tone was solemn, and the intention good. After thisthe captain dropped the lofty part of a Mentor, and mingled with theboys as an equal. 

This time the voyage passed without any accident. Before daybreak onthe following morning they reached Hillsborough, where Mrs. Watsonreceived them with the utmost joy. In a few days more the boys hadscattered, and Bart arrived home with the story of Tom's rescue.