TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
—Obvious print and punctuation errors were corrected.
—Bold text has been rendered as =bold text=.
_THE PLEASANT COVE SERIES._
ARTHUR BROWN,
THE YOUNG CAPTAIN.
BY
REV. ELIJAH KELLOGG,
AUTHOR OF THE ELM ISLAND STORIES—“LION BEN,” “CHARLIE BELL,”
“THE BOY-FARMERS,” “THE ARK,” “THE YOUNG SHIP-
BUILDERS,” “THE HARD-SCRABBLE.”
_ILLUSTRATED._
BOSTON:
LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by
LEE AND SHEPARD,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
COPYRIGHT, 1898, BY ELIJAH KELLOGG.
_All Rights Reserved._
=ARTHUR BROWN.=
Norwood Press:
Berwick & Smith, Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
PREFACE.
NOTWITHSTANDING kindness is at times rewarded with ingratitude, and
even positive injury, it is by no means so frequent an occurrence as
persons naturally censorious, or whose minds have been soured by an
unblest experience, would have us suppose.
Benefits conferred usually excite gratitude, and sometimes, when the
donors have passed away are repaid, with interest, to their posterity.
The story of Arthur Brown presents a striking illustration of this
principle. Lashed to a raft, perishing with cold and hunger in the edge
of the surf, he is rescued by Captain Rhines, who, when a boy, poor
and unable either to read or write, had been instructed and started
in business by Arthur’s father, who was afterwards lost at sea. The
old captain, discovering, in the person he had perilled his life to
save, the only son of his benefactor, receives him with open arms,
with a nobility of soul that strengthens our faith in human nature,
freely bestowing both time and property to aid the son and family of
his benefactor, and repay the old debt. His efforts in this direction,
together with those of the young man to help himself, at a most
stirring period of our country’s history, the adventures growing out of
those efforts, and the consequent development of character, will, we
trust, prove interesting, and not without instruction.
Some references have necessarily been made to characters of the “Elm
Island Series,” the reasons for which are given in the introductory
chapter, and the references so explained as to render the connection
plain to the reader.
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY. 9
CHAPTER II.
THE WRECK AND THE RESCUE. 16
CHAPTER III.
A GLAD SURPRISE. 30
CHAPTER IV.
CAPTAIN RHINES MANIFESTS HIS GRATITUDE. 44
CHAPTER V.
“WE WERE PUT INTO THIS WORLD TO HELP ONE ANOTHER.” 60
CHAPTER VI.
THE YOUNG CAPTAIN UNDER FIRE. 74
CHAPTER VII.
LITTLE NED AND HIS MOTHER. 94
CHAPTER VIII.
MOONLIGHT CONVERSATION BY THE BROOK. 106
CHAPTER IX.
THE GRIFFINS. 122
CHAPTER X.
WHERE THE HARD STREAK CAME FROM. 137
CHAPTER XI.
RECONNOITRING. 155
CHAPTER XII.
DID I BEAR IT LIKE A MAN, WALTER? 169
CHAPTER XIII.
THE BASKET-MAKER. 181
CHAPTER XIV.
A STRANGE DISCOVERY. 191
CHAPTER XV.
HOMEWARD BOUND. 204
CHAPTER XVI.
DEAR-BOUGHT WIT. 223
CHAPTER XVII.
DEATH AND BURIAL OF TIGE RHINES. 240
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE MEETING. 253
CHAPTER XIX.
NED AMONG THE GRIFFINS. 272
CHAPTER XX.
A MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE. 283
ARTHUR BROWN,
THE YOUNG CAPTAIN.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
IN the series of books denominated the “Elm Island Stories” (commencing
at the period when the old “Continental Congress,” which had fought the
war of the revolution, was superseded by the Federal Government, and
running through successive years) were introduced certain characters
in whom our juvenile readers became so much interested, that they have
assured us they could not abruptly surrender their acquaintance, at
least not without some slight knowledge of their future prospects,
especially as we were compelled to conclude our tale when most of them
were on the very threshold of manhood. Desiring to gratify, and, at
the same time, render them somewhat familiar with the history and
progress of their native land in those snapping times included between
the outbreak of the French revolution and the embargo, so prolific in
gain and adventure to those possessing the enterprise, and daring to
profit by them, and during which American commerce took such mighty
strides, we must of necessity, at the commencement of this volume, make
some slight reference to persons and places previously described. For
the benefit of those who have not read the former series, we introduce
a brief sketch, referring those who may desire more accurate knowledge
to those books.
Our old acquaintances can pursue, with this chapter, the course we used
to adopt, when compelled to read one of Buckminster’s sermons aloud to
the family, after having been twice to meeting, brought home the texts
and heads of the sermon, and to Sabbath school—_skip_, skipped all we
dared to, skipped all we could.
The scene of the “Elm Island Stories” is laid in eastern Maine, when it
was little better than a forest, save a rim of clearings and incipient
towns along the sea-shore.
Captain Rhines, who lived on the shore at a place named from him and
his ancestors Rhineville, but then a plantation unincorporated, was a
noble specimen of a sea captain—shrewd, kindly, self-made, of a daring
nature, controlled by clear, cool judgment.
His son Ben, possessing all the sterling qualities of his father, is
a giant in strength, and in the very prime of life. Though in general
of most even temper, and only by long provocations excited to wrath,
yet, when thoroughly roused, he was terrible; hence his name, _Lion
Ben_. Becoming enamoured of Sally Hadlock, who will only marry him on
condition that he relinquishes the sea, he buys Elm Island, situated
among the breakers, six miles from the main land, and inaccessible at
some periods by reason of the surf; fertile as to soil, and covered
with a heavy growth of timber. With nothing to depend upon but their
hands, and obliged to mortgage the island at the outset, this resolute
pair sit down among the woods to achieve independence. He is greatly
assisted in all his plans and purposes by Uncle Isaac Murch, a man in
middle life, who, in boyhood, was captured by the Penobscot Indians,
and adopted into their tribe—a most shrewd, resolute, genial being,
with very strong attachment to youth, their unfailing friend and ally
in every good purpose.
While Lion Ben is cutting off the spars and raising crops to pay for
the island, some plunderers from the British Provinces, seeing but
one house on the island, and supposing they had but little resistance
to encounter, landed and insulted Ben’s wife. She flies to her
husband, who is at work near by in the woods, who encounters and
nearly kills the intruders. Among them is an English orphan boy, by
the name of Charlie Bell, who had shipped with them as cook, being
ignorant of their character. He remains, and is adopted by Lion Ben.
He turns out to be a boy of most excellent principle, of remarkable
mechanical genius, and learns the trade of a ship carpenter; makes
the acquaintance of Captain Rhines’s youngest boy, John, and of Fred
Williams, the miller’s son.
Fred is a boy naturally smart, and inclined to mischief. By associating
with a miserable wretch by the name of Pete Clash, an importation from
the Provinces, and another by the name of Godsoe, a home production,
he is led into evil courses. These boys, while in the woods one day,
plotting mischief against Uncle Isaac, being surprised by John Rhines,
and finding that he will expose them, attempt to flog him; but he
is rescued by his dog Tige, who tears Pete and Fred, injuring Fred
so severely that he is at the point of death, which brings him to
reflection and reform.
Pete Clash, attempting to meddle with Uncle Isaac’s fish flakes,
is caught by the old hunter in a wolf trap, and so threatened and
frightened by him, that he leaves the place, together with Godsoe.
John, Fred, and Charlie now became fast friends, and Uncle Isaac their
mutual friend and adviser.
John Rhines becomes a blacksmith, Fred works with his father in the
mill. Charlie and John accumulate money by labor and ventures sent
to the West Indies, and set up Fred in trade. These three boys, with
another by the name of Isaac Murch, a protégé of Captain Rhines,
_undertake_ to build a vessel, and _do_ build her, and send her to the
French West Indies, calling her the Hard-scrabble, in commemoration of
the desperate nature of the undertaking. She arrives at Martinique at a
lucky moment, and pays for herself, and more too. They afterwards build
another called the Casco, of larger dimensions, of which Isaac Murch
becomes the master, surrendering the Hard-scrabble to another captain.
Joe Griffin, to whom reference is made, is a friend of Lion Ben, a
mighty man with an axe, a great wrestler, and kind-hearted, but a most
inveterate practical joker.
Walter Griffin, a younger brother of Joe, inheriting all the grit of
this rugged race, enters the store of Fred Williams as a clerk; but the
Griffin blood rebels under the monotony and constraint, and he takes to
the water. Peterson, the black pilot, was for many years addicted to
intemperance. During that period some roguish boys got him into a store
when intoxicated, poured molasses on his head, then applied flour,
alternating the layers, till his head was as large as a half bushel;
for many years after which he was known by the nickname of Flour, but,
having become a sober and industrious man, has accumulated property, is
respected by the whole community, and the nickname is forgotten.
The period at which this series commences is after the French
revolution, when the star of Nelson was rising above the horizon, and
Napoleon Bonaparte, a colonel of the artillery, was planting batteries
at Toulon, and giving the English blockading fleet a taste of his
quality.
These young men are now in possession of capital. John Rhines is
living at home with his father; Fred is engaged in trade, and just
married to a daughter of Captain Rhines. Charlie Bell is living on a
farm in a most beautiful spot, called “Pleasant Cove,” upon which he
chanced to stumble one lovely night in summer while sailing, became
enraptured with and bought it, married another daughter of the captain,
and settled down on it in a log house, while it was a forest, has one
child, now a babe, and having built the Casco on his own shore, hopes
to be able to cultivate the soil (an occupation he dearly loves), and
to carry out those ideas of taste and beauty which in childhood he had
gathered from the vales and ancestral homes of his native land.