THE WRECK OF THE RED BIRD
A STORY OF THE CAROLINA COAST
BY GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON
_Author of "The Big Brother," "Captain Sam," "The Signal Boys,"
etc., etc._
NEW YORK
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
27 & 29 WEST 23D STREET
1882
COPYRIGHT BY
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
1882
_Press of
G. P. Putnam's Sons
New York_
[Illustration: THE "BONES" OF THE RED BIRD]
I intended to dedicate this book to my son, GUILFORD DUDLEY EGGLESTON,
to whom it belonged in a peculiar sense. He was only nine years old, but
he was my tenderly loved companion, and was in no small degree the
creator of this story. He gave it the title it bears; he discussed with
me every incident in it; and every page was written with reference to
his wishes and his pleasure. There is not a paragraph here which does
not hold for me some reminder of the noblest, manliest, most unselfish
boy I have ever known. Ah, woe is me! He who was my companion is my dear
dead boy now, and I am sure that I only act for him as he would wish, in
inscribing the story that was so peculiarly his to the boy whom he loved
best, and who loved him as a brother might have done. It is in memory of
GUILFORD that I dedicate "The Wreck of the Red Bird" to CHARLES PELTON
HUTCHINS.
G. C. E.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. MAUM SALLY'S MANNERS 1
CHAPTER II. ON THE JOGGLING BOARDS 10
CHAPTER III. AFLOAT 15
CHAPTER IV. PLANS AND PREPARATIONS 28
CHAPTER V. THE SAILING OF THE "RED BIRD" 35
CHAPTER VI. ODD FISH 40
CHAPTER VII. AN ENEMY IN THE CAMP 52
CHAPTER VIII. THE BEGINNING AND END OF A VOYAGE 59
CHAPTER IX. THE SITUATION 68
CHAPTER X. PLANS AND DEVICES 79
CHAPTER XI. SOME OF NED'S SCIENCE 88
CHAPTER XII. JACK'S DISCOVERY 101
CHAPTER XIII. AN ANXIOUS NIGHT 109
CHAPTER XIV. IN THE GRAY OF THE MORNING 120
CHAPTER XV. CHARLEY BLACK'S ADVENTURES 125
CHAPTER XVI. ON GUARD 134
CHAPTER XVII. A NEW DANGER 147
CHAPTER XVIII. A CAMP-FACTORY 155
CHAPTER XIX. A NIGHT OF ADVENTURE 166
CHAPTER XX. A CALCULATION OF PROFIT AND LOSS 177
CHAPTER XXI. CHARLEY'S SECRET EXPEDITION 184
CHAPTER XXII. THE LAUNCH OF THE "APHRODITE" 193
CHAPTER XXIII. THE VOYAGE OF THE "APHRODITE" 201
CHAPTER XXIV. MAUM SALLY 212
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
THE "BONES" OF THE RED BIRD _Frontispiece._
"LOOK OUT! HOLD THAT FELLOW AWAY FROM YOU!" 23
THE ELOQUENT LANGUAGE OF GESTURE 128
"GIVE HIM A VOLLEY AND THEN CHARGE!" 150
THE END OF CHARLEY'S ADVENTURE 190
"HI! MAUM SALLY" 214
The Wreck of the Red Bird
CHAPTER I.
MAUM SALLY'S MANNERS.
"Bress my heart, honey, wha'd you come from?"
It was old "Maum" Sally who uttered this exclamation as she came out of
her kitchen, drying her hands on her apron, and warmly greeting one of
the three boys who stood just outside the door.
"Is you done come to visit de folks? Well, I do declar'!"
"Now, Maum Sally," replied Ned Cooke, "stop 'declaring' and stop asking
me questions till you answer mine. Or, no, you won't do that, so I'll
answer yours first. Where did I come from? Why from Aiken, by way of
Charleston and Hardeeville. Did I come to visit the folks? Well, no, not
exactly that. You see, I didn't set out to come here at all. I have
spent part of the summer up at Aiken with these two school-mates of
mine, and they were to spend the rest of it with me in Savannah. We were
on our way down there when I got a despatch from father, saying that as
yellow fever has broken out there I mustn't come home, but must come
down here to Bluffton and stay with Uncle Edward till frost or school
time. So we got off the train, hired a man with an ox-cart to bring our
trunks down, and walked the eighteen miles. The man with the trunks will
get here sometime, I suppose. There! I've made a long speech at you.
Now, answer my questions, please. Where is Uncle Edward? and where is
Aunt Helen? and why is the house shut up? and when will they be back
again? and can't you give us something to eat, for we're nearly
starved?"
Ned laughed as he delivered this volley of questions, but Maum Sally
remained perfectly solemn, as she always did. When he finished, she
said:
"Yaller fever! Bress my heart! It'll be heah nex' thing we knows. Walked
all de way from Hardeeville! an' dis heah hot day too! e'en a'most
starved! Well, I reckon ye is, an' I'll jes mosey roun' heah an' git you
some supper."
It must be explained that Maum Sally, although she lived on the coast of
South Carolina, and was called "Maum" instead of "Aunt," was born and
"raised," as she would have said, in "Ole Firginny," and her dialect was
therefore somewhat as represented here. The negroes of the coast speak a
peculiar jargon, which would be wholly unintelligible to other than
South Carolinian readers, even if I could render it faithfully by
phonetic spelling.
As Maum Sally ceased speaking, she turned to go into her kitchen, which,
as is usual in the South, was a detached building, standing some
distance from the main house.
"But wait, Maum Sally," cried Ned, seizing her hand; "I'm not going to
let you off that way. You haven't answered my questions yet."
"Now, look heah, young Ned," she said, with great solemnity, "does you
s'pose Ole Sally was bawn and raised in Ole Firginny for nothin'? I aint
forgot my manners nor hospitality, ef I _is_ lived nigh onto twenty-five
years in dis heah heathen coast country whah de niggas talks monkey
language. I'se a gwine to git you'n your fr'en's--ef you'll interduce
'em--some supper, fust an' foremost. Den I'll answer all de questions
you're a mind to ax, ef you don't git to conundrumin'."
Ned acknowledged Maum Sally's rebuke promptly.
"I did forget my manners," he said, "but you see I was badly flustered.
This is my friend Jack Farnsworth, Maum Sally, and this," turning to the
other boy, "is Charley Black. Boys, let me make you acquainted with Maum
Sally, the best cook in South Carolina, or anywhere else, and the best
Maum Sally in the world. She used to give me all sorts of good things to
eat out here when I didn't get up to breakfast, and was expected to get
on till dinner with a cold bite from the store-room. I'll bet she'll
cook us a supper that will make your mouths water, and have it ready by
the time we get the dust out of our eyes."
"Git de dus' out'n de all over you, more like. Heah's de key to de
bath-house. You jes run down an' take a dip in de salt water, an' den
git inter yer clo'es as fas' as you kin, an' when you's done dat, you'll
fin' somethin' to eat awaitin' for you in de piazza. Git, now, quick. Ef
I'se got to plan somethin' for supper, I'se got to hab my wits about me
an' don' want no talkin' boys aroun'."
"It's of no use, boys," said Ned. "I know Maum Sally, and we're not
going to get a word more out of her till supper is ready, so come on,
let's have a plunge. It's all right, anyhow. My uncle and aunt have gone
away for the day somewhere, I suppose, and will be back sometime
to-night. If they don't come, I'll find a way to break into the house.
It's my father's, you know, and one of my homes. In fact, I was born
here. Uncle Edward lives here a good part of the time, because he likes
it, and father lives in Savannah a good part of the year, because he
doesn't like it here. Come, let's get a bath."
With that Ned conducted his guests to a pretty little bath-house which
stood out over the water, and was approached by a green bridge. Bluffton
abounds in these well-appointed, private bathing-houses, which, with
their ornamental approaches, add not a little to the beauty of the
singular town, which is scarcely a town at all in the ordinary sense of
the word, as Ned explained to his companions while they were dressing
after their bath.
"This coast country," he said, "is plagued with country fever."
"What's country fever?" asked Jack Farnsworth.
"It's a very severe and fatal form of bilious fever, which one night's
exposure--or even a few hours' exposure after sunset--brings on."
"Then why did you bring us here?" asked Charley. "Are we to find
ourselves down with country fever to-morrow morning?"
"No, not at all," replied Ned. "Country fever stays strictly at home. It
never goes to town; it never visits high ground where there are pines,
white sand, and no moss; and it never comes to Bluffton. That's why
there is any Bluffton. All along the coast the planters have their
winter residences on their plantations, but in the summer they go off to
little summer villages in the pines to escape the fever. In the region
just around us, it is so much easier and pleasanter to live here in
Bluffton that they build permanent residences here and live here all the
year around. There is no trade here, no shops--except a blacksmith shop
out on the road--no stores, no any thing except private houses, and the
private houses are all built pretty nearly alike. Each stands alone in a
large plot of ground, which is filled with trees and shrubs just as all
the streets are. Each house has a piazza running all the way around it,
or pretty nearly that, and each has two or three joggling boards."
"What in the world is a joggling board?" asked Charley.
"I'll introduce you when we get back to the house," said Ned.
When the boys returned to the house, Ned's prediction was abundantly
fulfilled. Maum Sally had spread a tempting, if somewhat incongruous
supper in the piazza. There was a piece of cold ham, some fried fresh
fish, a dish of shrimps stewed with tomatoes, a great platter of rice
cooked in the South Carolinian way, and intended for use in lieu of
bread, some boiled okra, roast sweet potatoes, and a pot of steaming
coffee. It was a miscellaneous sort of meal, compounded of breakfast,
dinner, and supper in about equal proportions, but it was such a meal as
three healthy boys, who had walked eighteen miles and had then taken a
sea bath, were not in the least disposed to quarrel with.
"Now, Maum Sally," said Ned, after he had complimented the supper and
taken his seat at the table, "tell me where Uncle Edward and Aunt Helen
are, and when they will get back?"
"Ain't ye got no manners at all, young Ned?" asked Sally, with an air of
profound surprise; she always called the boy "Young Ned" when she wished
to put him in awe of her; "ain't ye got no manners at all, or is you
forgot 'em all sence I seed you last? Don' you know your frien's is a
starvin'? and here you is a plaguin' me with questions insti'd o'
helpin' on 'em. Mind yer manners, young gentleman, an' then I'll answer
yer questions."
"All right, Maum Sally," said Ned; "Charley, let me give you some cold
ham. Jack, help yourself to some fish. There are the shrimps, boys,
between you. Maum Sally, pour out some coffee, please. Jack, you'll find
the okra good; here, Charley, let me help you to rice."
Maum Sally, meanwhile, was pouring coffee and filling plates; when
supper was well under way, she stood back a little way, placed her hands
on her hips, her arms akimbo, and said with the utmost solemnity:
"Seems 's if somebody axed me somethin' or other 'bout de folks when I
was too busy to ten' to 'em. Ef you'll ax me agin now, I'll be
obleeged."
"Yes, upon reflection," said Ned, "I am inclined to think that I
ventured to make some inquiry concerning my uncle and aunt. If I
remember correctly, I asked where they are, and at what time they are
likely to return."
"Whah is dey? Well, I don' rightly know, an' I can't say adzac'ly when
dey'll be back agin. But I specs deys somewhah out on de sea, an' I
s'pose dey'll be back about nex' November."
"What!" cried Ned, in surprise, suspending his attention to supper, and
forgetting to maintain his pretence of dignified indifference. "What do
you mean, Maum Sally?"
"Well, what I mean is dis heah. Yo' uncle an' aunt lef' here three days
ago to go north. Dey said dey was a gwine to de centenimental
expedition, an' to Newport an' somewhahs else--I reckon it was to some
sort o' mountains--White Mountains, mebbe, an dey said dey'd be back
agin in November, ef dey didn't make up dere minds to stay longer, or
come back afore dat time. So now you knows as much about it as I does."