"Where are we now, uncle? Have we come down to Florida yet?" asked Ned
at the breakfast table.
"Yes; we are now moving along down the east coast of that State,"
replied Dr. Harold; "and now we may as well decide at which and how
many of its ports we will call. Should you enjoy visiting St. Augustine
and Fort Marion again, Elsie?" he queried with a look of amusement at
his niece.
"Oh, no, indeed, uncle!" was the quick, emphatic reply, accompanied
by a little shiver, as if the very name brought some unpleasant
recollection.
"But why not?" asked Elsie Dinsmore with a look of surprise and
curiosity.
"Oh," exclaimed Elsie Raymond, "it's a dreadful place, over three
hundred years old, with dungeons where people used to be tortured
long, long ago, and we seemed to hear one of them saying, 'Here have
I lain for three hundred years with none to pity or help. Oh, 'tis a
weary while! Shall I never, never escape?'"
"But as Cousin Ronald is not with us now we needn't fear a repetition
of that," remarked Dr. Harold reassuringly. "Still, perhaps we may as
well pass St. Augustine by this time, and visit places or things we did
not look at before. Mother, what do you say to seeing something of the
sponging business?"
"That it would be instructive and probably quite interesting," was the
pleased reply.
"Sponging business!" echoed Ned. "What does that mean?"
"The work of gathering sponges and making them ready for the market,"
replied his uncle.
"Oh, I think that would be interesting!" cried the little fellow. "Do
they grow down under the water, and are they nice and clean when they
are brought up, uncle?"
"Not very, Ned," replied Dr. Harold, smiling kindly upon his young
questioner; "but with your grandma's help I think I can give you all
needed information on the subject; and afterward you may be able to see
for yourself."
"Oh, that'll be good! Will you tell me about it, grandma?" asked Ned,
turning excitedly to her.
"Sonny boy, we will have a nice talk about it in the saloon after our
family worship," Mrs. Travilla replied in her usual kindly tone.
"And I am sure we will all be glad to hear whatever you can tell us on
the subject, mother," said Grace. "I know it will be interesting to me,
and a good preparation for the sight of the spongers' work."
The two Elsies and Alie Leland expressed their pleasure in the prospect
of both the information promised by Grandma Elsie and the afterward
sight of the doings of the spongers.
"I think, if it suits you, mother," said Dr. Harold, "we will have
our talk on the sponging subject before our morning exercise upon the
deck. Sitting still for a while will aid the digestion of this hearty
breakfast, and the sun will make the deck a little warmer for us
afterward."
Everybody seemed pleased with that plan, and it was carried out, Dr.
Harold making one of his mother's little audience.
"Haven't you a map of Florida, Harold?" she asked.
"Oh, yes, mother, I have," he replied; "also some pictures that will be
helpful." He hastened to his stateroom and brought them out.
"Ah, these will be quite a help," she said. "Come, children, let us
look at the map first."
Then, as they gathered round the table on which she had laid the map,
"There, on the east coast, near the southern end of the State, you see
Miami, and starting from a point near it a chain of keys, or islands,
begins which extends in the shape of a horn away down into the Gulf of
Mexico, the Dry Tortugas being the westernmost. Sponges are found in
the waters surrounding most of these keys, also between them and the
mainland as far as Cape Sable. This is called 'the key grounds.' Some
few of the people living on the larger islands and spongers from Key
West are the only persons who engage in that work there. In the Gulf
of Mexico, on the west coast, are the 'bay grounds,' which yield the
most. They extend from John's Pass, a few miles north of the entrance
to Tampa Bay, to St. Mark's Lighthouse."
"How far is that, grandma?" asked Ned.
"How far, Harold?" she asked.
"About two hundred miles, mother," he replied.
"There are some few sponges found between Tampa Bay and Cape Sable, but
not enough to make it worth while to take special trips to that point,"
she continued.
"Now, who can tell me whether it is to the vegetable or animal kingdom
sponge belongs?"
"Oh, grandma," laughed Ned, "I'm sure a sponge isn't an animal."
"Are you?" she queried with an amused smile. "Now, little girls, what
are your opinions in regard to the matter?"
"Why, I never thought of a sponge as being either an animal or a
vegetable!" exclaimed Alie Leland. "Which is it, grandma?"
"It belongs to the animal kingdom," was the reply. "I have never seen
it in its natural state, but from what I have read and heard I know
it is a very different looking object from what it becomes in being
prepared for the market. When first brought up from the water it looks
something like a jelly-fish or mass of liver, its entire surface
covered with a thin, slimy skin, usually of a dark color, and having
openings into what we call the holes of the sponge. What we call a
sponge is really only the skeleton of one."
"And men go down into deep water to get them, do they?" queried Ned.
"Do you know how deep the water is on this coast, Harold?" asked his
mother.
"I have been told from ten to fifty feet here in Florida, mother, but
considerably more in the Mediterranean Sea; and the finest grades
are found in the deepest water. Sponges from that sea are said to
be superior in quality to those found in either Florida or the West
Indies."
"Go on, my son, and give us all the information you can," said his
mother as he paused.
"If you wish it, mother," he replied with an affectionate look and
smile. "In the waters of Florida and the West Indies the fishing is
done in flat-bottomed boats called dingies. A tin or wooden pail with
a glass bottom is used to help locate the sponges by lowering it into
the water and looking down through it. When that has been done, they
are brought up by means of a pole some thirty feet long, with a sharp,
curved, double hook, with which they, the sponges, are detached and
drawn up to the surface. Having gotten a boatload, it is laid out to
decompose in a kraal on the beach, where it is washed by the sea. At
that time the odor is very unpleasant. When they have been in the kraal
about a week they are beaten out with a short, heavy stick, which
removes most of the slime and animal matter still remaining in them,
and where the black scum still adheres they are scraped with a knife.
The sponges are next squeezed out right thoroughly with the hands, then
taken to the shore and strung on pieces of coarse twine about six feet
long, and then they are ready for sale by auction."
"What is a kraal, uncle?" asked Ned.
"It is a pen, generally about ten feet square, built of wattled stakes,
and is placed in shallow water near some key or island," replied Dr.
Harold. "Here is a picture of one," he added, taking it from the table
and holding it out so that all could see.
It was gazed upon with interest. Then several other pictures were
shown, examined and commented upon interestedly--one or two spongers at
work on the water, one of them with the long, hooked pole, the other
gazing through the bucket with the glass bottom.
Another picture was of the sponge yard at Key West, showing the sponges
drying. There were pictures of sponge auctions, too, and of a boat
bringing sponges to the wharf at Key West.
"And can we see all these things when we get there--to Key West, I
mean?" asked Ned, adding, "I think it would be a good deal better--more
interesting--to look at them than only at their pictures."
"I hope to give you that pleasure, Neddie boy," replied his uncle,
smiling on him and patting his cheek. "We will very likely have to wait
a day or two at Key West for your father and mother and the rest who
are to join us there and pass with us through the Gulf of Mexico on the
way to Viamede."
"Is there a town there, uncle?" asked Elsie.
"Yes; a well-built one, with wide streets crossing at right angles, and
having churches, schools and a fine Marine Hospital belonging to the
United States."
"Hotels, too, I suppose," remarked Elsie Dinsmore, "but we won't care
for them, having this delightful yacht to stay in."
"No; and in it we can sail about and see the originals of the pictures
we have been looking at. Large quantities of sponges, turtles and fish
are sent out from Key West to our Atlantic cities. But wrecking is the
principal business of the place."
"Why, what does that mean, uncle?" asked Ned.
"You know what we mean when we say a vessel has been wrecked, don't
you?" his uncle asked in reply. "Well, about forty-five or fifty
vessels are wrecked in the course of a year near Key West, and the
people of that island help to save the cargoes, doing so in a way to
benefit the owners as well as themselves. I am told they derive an
annual profit of about two hundred thousand dollars."
"It (Key West) is considered an important military station, is it not?"
asked Grace.
"Yes; being the key to the Florida Pass and the Gulf of Mexico,"
replied Harold. "It has a large and safe harbor, which will admit
vessels drawing twenty-two feet of water; and Fort Taylor, which
defends it, is a powerful work."
"Oh, I for one expect to have a good time there!" exclaimed his cousin
Elsie; "we can visit the town and the fort to see what they are like,
then come back to this yacht and have a good time here while waiting
for the rest of our party."
"Yes, I think we can," assented Dr. Harold. "And now suppose we all
wrap up and go on deck for a little healthful exercise."
They did so, and all greatly enjoyed their promenade, though Ned soon
grew weary enough to be glad to go below again and lie down for a
little nap. Grandma and sister went with him, the other children soon
followed, and Grace and her husband were left alone together, a state
of things by no means disagreeable to either. It was still very early
in their honeymoon, and dearly as they loved their mother and the
little folks so nearly related to them, they were glad now and then to
be left quite to themselves--Harold that he might pet and caress his
heart's idol unobserved, and Grace that she might receive and return
such tokens of ardent affection unabashed by the thought of indifferent
or amused spectators of the scene.
But at length they began taking note of the progress that they were
making toward their destination, and Grace asked:
"How soon do you think we will reach Key West?"
"We are nearing it now," replied Harold, "and will anchor in the harbor
to-night, I think."
"Oh, I am glad to hear that!" exclaimed Grace. "And how soon do you
think father and his party will join us?"
"Doubtless in a few days we shall see them. They will come down by rail
to Cedar Keys, from there by steamer to Key West."
"And they will want to stay a few days to see the sponge auctions,
sponge yard and so forth; and after that we will have the rest of
our pleasant journey in the yacht to Viamede, mother's beautiful and
delightful Southern home."
"To me it is both beautiful and delightful," returned Harold, smiling
fondly upon her, "and I am very glad that it is to my little wife also."
"Oh, she's not so very little!" exclaimed Grace with an amused and
happy laugh, drawing herself up to her full height as she spoke.
"Yet rather small compared to your tall, broad-shouldered husband,"
returned Harold, accompanying his words with a very loverlike caress.
"Now, Rory, leave off, sir;
You'll hug me no more;
That is eight times to-day
That you've kissed me before,"
sang Grace, ending with a merry laugh.
"Then here goes another on that to make sure,
For there's luck in odd numbers says Rory O'More."
rejoined Harold in laughing reply, and suiting the action to the word.
The _Dolphin_ entered the harbor of Key West early that evening and
anchored near the shore. All her passengers were on deck, eager to take
a bird's-eye view of the place, expecting to do more than that in the
morning.
"I suppose we will all go ashore directly, or at least pretty soon
after breakfast, won't we, Harold?" asked Elsie Dinsmore.
"Hardly all of us, Cousin Elsie," replied Harold, giving Ned a
regretful glance as he spoke; "the exertion would be too great for my
young patient's strength, and surely some one of us should stay here in
our yacht with him."
"And his grandmother is the very one to do that," quickly responded
Mrs. Elsie Travilla.
"But, mother, you should not be deprived of the sight of this town of
Key West," remonstrated Harold, and Ned's sisters, Grace and Elsie,
each promptly offered to stay and take care of their little invalid
brother. "Very good and kind of you both," remarked Harold with a
pleased smile, "but now I think of it, we are likely to lie in this
port for some days, and that being the case, can divide forces and make
two trips to the town, some going to-day, others to-morrow."
"That entirely obviates the difficulty," said his mother. "I will be
caretaker of my little grandson to-day, and perhaps some one else may
be to-morrow."
A sailor had been sent ashore to inquire for mail and telegrams, and
now approached our party with several letters and a telegram, that last
directed to Dr. Harold, who took and promptly opened it.
"Ah ha!" he said with a pleased smile; "the rest of our party will be
here with us soon--to-night or to-morrow, I think."
"Oh, that's good!" cried Ned joyously; "how glad I'll be to see dear
papa and mamma! With them here I sha'n't care at all for not being able
to go on shore."
Everybody else seemed to share his delight at the prospect of the
expected addition to their company, and talked merrily of what they
hoped to do and see in the next few days.
"I wish you could go ashore with the rest of us, Neddie dear," said his
sister in a regretful tone, taking his hand in hers and giving it an
affectionate squeeze. "You poor little brother, it does seem hard that
you have to miss so many of the pleasures the rest of us have."
"It's good of you to feel so for me, Elsie dear," he replied, returning
the squeeze and smiling up into her face, "but I don't mind it a bit if
I can have grandma or mamma or papa with me; they're so kind and tell
me such nice stories; and I can have a rest or a nap whenever I want
it."