"'In that case,' said I, 'every obstacle to my friend's happiness is

completely removed;' and I assured him that William had just gone out,

but that he would return immediately. He did not return, however,

although, as one of the company observed, he must have intended to do

so, his hat having been left behind him. After waiting for some minutes

longer, I became very uneasy; a feeling of apprehension began to steal

over my mind, and I hurried out to make inquiries, followed by Mr

Constant. On reaching the foot of the stairs, we were informed that

William had gone out by a back passage which led down to the sea-beach,

and we turned our steps thither.

"The evening was pleasant. A gentle breeze was blowing off the land, and

a yellow radiance faintly tinging the east, and sharply cutting far the

black water in the offing, showed that the darkness was on the point of

being lightened by the rising of an unclouded moon. We proceeded onward,

my anxious friend and I, for a great way along the rocky margin of the

sea, until we gained a commanding station, and the moon more than

half-risen threw a clearer light upon our view. But no traces did we

discover of the object of our search. As a last resource, raising our

voices together, we shouted aloud the name of William. As we stood long

and anxiously listening, we became aware of a sound which came booming

over the water, and which after having been once heard, we could again

distinguish as it ever and anon recurred, at irregular intervals. While

looking toward the point from which these sounds seemed to come, we

beheld for an instant the upper spars of a two-masted lugger distinctly

pourtrayed on the face of the moon. She was so diminished by distance,

as not to do more than fill the moon's disk, and she seemed to be

crowding all sail. Shortly after the single mast of a fore-and-aft

rigged vessel, also under a press of canvass, was beheld in the same

way; and the smoke, curling in wreaths among her rigging, seemed to

indicate that it was from the latter vessel that the sounds which we

heard proceeded.

"'I wonder,' said my companion, 'if that can have any connection with

the disappearance of Mr. William.'

"'It's merely a revenue cutter,' replied I, 'in chase of some smuggling

vessel.'

"Having returned to the apartment in the inn, we found the company still

assembled, and reported to them our want of success, my poor friend

casting a long and wistful look at the hat of William, which was

hanging, and which long continued to hang, on that very pin. On its

being suggested that there was a chance that he might be found in some

house in the town, all with one accord separated to make inquiries. The

whole place was soon in commotion, and so was the whole country side.

Every place in which it was possible for William to be, dead or alive,

was searched in vain.

"'They sought him that night, and they sought him next day,

Oh! vainly they sought him, till a week past away:--

And years flew by, and their sorrow at last,

Was told as a mournful tale that is past.'

"If among the friends of him who had so strangely disappeared, his

intended bride felt the most acutely, it was on his brother that the

blow fell most heavily. Mary long refused to be comforted; and was only

sustained by young health, and by hopes which we all laboured to infuse

into her dejected heart; but the sickly frame of William's brother never

recovered from the shook it received. He always reflected on himself for

having parted from his brother in anger; the fate of Edward, which was

ever before his eyes, seemed to afford too natural an explanation of the

mystery of William's disappearance; and his exhausted frame yielded at

last to death, after an interval of about three years, during which his

chief solace was the society and the kind attentions of the amiable

family of Sanditofts. His last words were--

"'Whither is he gone?--what accident

Hath rapt him from us?'

"The title of his wicked cousin was contested by another claimant, which

kept matters in abeyance, else he never could have been prevented by us,

the executors, from entering into possession. At last, after a long

litigation, the case went in his favour, of which I was first informed

while engaged in the market here; and, although I had long anticipated

such a result, the impression which the intelligence made upon my mind

was most painful. At the weekly dinner, whither I repaired as usual,

from long habitude rather than inclination, I felt feverish and

uncomfortable; an insatiable thirst made me drink rather more than my

wont, and in the course of the evening I sank into a heavy bilious

slumber. How long I remained in that state I know not. But I remember

well, that, feeling a hand laid on my arm, which kept tightening its

grasp till it awoke me, I turned to my next neighbour, who was staring

as if at some object of terror; and that, following his affrighted look,

I beheld William sitting before me, with features wasted, care-worn, and

wofully sad, and in the well-remembered attitude in which I had seen

him, a little before his strange disappearance. Confounded, incapable of

speech and action, did I remain for some time. At length, having caught

his eye, we both started up together.

"'William,' cried I, 'can this be really you?--O man! where hae ye been

a' this time?'

"'Mary! Mary!' cried he; 'tell me about her!'

"I told him that she was alive and well.

"'But, but!' said he.

"'She is still unmarried,' said I, 'and as devoted to you as ever, which

is more than you were entitled to expect, after having left her in the

manner you did.'

"'I have been a prisoner,' said he, in a mournful tone, 'in a land of

which till lately I knew not the name, and I was carried away by force.'

"Amid exclamations of wrath, which came from all parts of the room, and

the tumultuous flocking of his old friends around him, his voice was

again heard.

"'And my brother?' said he; 'tell me also about him.'

"'He has been dead,' said I, 'for about two years. In the arms of your

beloved did he breathe his last sigh.'

"Upon this his tears began to flow; but he checked them immediately,

adding--'Enough for the present. In a little while, my kind friends, I

will tell you all. But my heart is now heavy, and the crisis is urgent.

Will you, for old friendship's sake, have the goodness either to go or

to send down the coast, a little to the northward of this. A party of

poor fellows will be found in the same plight as I am. Bring them all

hither, and provide for them, in my name, dry clothing, a good supper,

plenty of drink, and comfortable bedding.' All with one accord readily

undertook the charge. 'And now, then,' said he, 'this old hat shall be

again fitted to my head; for the billows are sporting with the one I

lately wore.' Perceiving his clothes to be wet, we adverted to the

circumstance. 'Pooh,' said he, 'I have just been shipwrecked, that's

all.' With that he hurried me out of this house, and entering that of a

mutual friend, where comfortable dry clothing was provided for him, and

a chaise having been procured, we flung ourselves into it, and drove off

to Sanditofts.

"As we drew near the house, painful feelings began to arise in his mind,

as to the reception he would meet with, and the construction which might

have been put upon his involuntary absence. Dismissing the carriage,

therefore, I hurried on before him, at his earnest request, and finding,

on entering the house, the father and daughter by themselves, my first

words were--'William has been a prisoner in a strange land--he was

carried away by force, poor fellow. Amazement, mingled with many other

feelings, was visibly depicted in each countenance. Poor Mary began to

weep profusely. Diffidently, and with her eyes earnestly fixed on mine,

she was just inquiring when they might expect to see him or to hear from

him, when her ear was caught by the sound of an approaching foot; and,

immediately, the door opening, William stood before her. With a cry of

joy, she and her father flew to welcome him. For long did she remain

clasped in his arms; and what a scene was exhibited in the outpourings

of their innocent and faithful love--a love which had withstood the most

perilous of all trials--a long separation, which had been connected with

so many doubts and anxious fears, and over which so thick a veil of

mystery had hung! The father and I stood silently regarding them, as

they wept in sadness and were rapturously joyful by turns.

"'Weel,' said the father, rubbing his hands together, with a look of

inexpressible satisfaction, 'that's really a sight guid for sair een.

Poor things!--lang hae they loved each other, and sair has their love

been tried.'

"When our excited feelings had a little subsided, curiosity became the

prevailing sentiment. Mr. Constant and I began by detailing the

particulars of our ineffectual search along the coast. William, on his

part, declared that, when he left me on going out, it really was his

intention to have come back immediately, and to have returned to

Sanditofts, where he had been invited and had promised to pass the

night; but he stated that, having felt somewhat oppressed by the heat of

the crowded apartment, he had been unhappily induced, by the refreshing

coolness of the evening, to walk a little way by the sea-side, where he

had apprehended no evil.

* * * * *

"To all appearance," said he, "there was nothing but solitude around me;

only, I heard carts at a distance which seemed to be driven inland; and

my curiosity was excited by a low rumbling sound which came from the

other side of a small projecting promontory. I ran hastily in the

direction of the latter sound. After having proceeded a little way, I

heard footsteps coming up behind me; but I continued to move on, without

slackening my pace, until there came a shrill whistle, followed by the

sound as of a number of men rushing towards me. I then attempted to fly,

but was prevented by two stout fellows, who placed themselves right in

my way, and a numerous party of men quickly surrounded me, one of whom,

eyeing me attentively, exclaimed--'The very man we want. We shall be

able to do our friend's work with very little trouble.' On my attempting

to expostulate and resist, I was overpowered and forced into a boat. The

boat rowed off to a smuggling vessel which was lying to in the offing;

and which, soon after I was put on board, stood out to sea under a press

of canvass--chased, as it soon appeared, by a revenue cutter, which

continued for long to fire at her."

Here he was interrupted by our mentioning the two vessels which we had

seen passing over the moon.

"I was in the first of these vessels," said he; "the two-masted lugger,

which, unfortunately, was able to escape, by superior sailing, from the

second vessel (a revenue cutter, fore-and-aft rigged, with one mast) by

which she was pursued.

"My captors continued, for two or three weeks, to land goods on

different parts of the eastern coasts, sustaining so many losses that I

could not help saying that, if their trade was a paying one, the goods

which they could afford to lose in such quantities could not be honestly

come by--an observation at which great offence was taken. After having

parted with her original cargo, and shipped another, which was chiefly

composed of provisions of all sorts, the vessel left the German Ocean,

going north about; and she then pursued a south-westerly course across

the Atlantic for many weeks, until she was accosted by a notorious

pirate, Gonsalvo by name, the terror of the West Indian seas; for whom,

as I could observe, a careful look-out had long been kept. This

ferocious ruffian, having come on board our vessel, had a long interview

with our captain--the two worthies being, to all appearance, on terms of

most courteous and familiar intimacy--and our cargo of provisions was

put on board the pirate's vessel; while hogsheads of sugar, puncheons of

rum, and other articles of West Indian produce, were received in

exchange. This transaction clearly explained the mystery of the

contraband trade. The smugglers of the present day are connected with

the Buccaneers, who, not daring to bring their ill-gotten goods to a

regular market, willingly barter the bulky part of them on any terms,

for the necessaries of life. These goods having been taken originally

for nothing, and subsequently sold for little or nothing, if one cargo

out of three escapes seizure, the concern will pay. Hence it is, that

the contraband trade is maintained in spite of every effort to put it

down.

"After another long interview which our captain had with this Gonsalvo,

some of my shipmates came to me with joyful countenances, looking like

men from whose minds some heavy burden had just been removed; and they

told me, that 'my life was to be safe; only,' said they, 'take care of

your tongue.'

"'My life!' cried I, in astonishment. Hitherto I had been under no

apprehensions about my life; although I had discovered, in course of

conversation with the men, that my villanous cousin, to whose secret

stores the carts I had heard were no doubt proceeding, had been long and

deeply engaged with the smugglers--that he had been of immense service

to them--and that it was to gratify him, and, at his request, that I had

been carried away." Gently checking, with his upraised hand, the

exclamations which this disclosure drew from his hearers, he thus

proceeded:--"You may guess what my feelings were, when I was put on

board the vessel of the odious Gonsalvo. All my former shipmates

regarded me with compassion; and a poor fellow, from this part of the

country, called James Stray, who, in an evil hour, had been tempted to

engage in the illegal traffic, told me at parting, with tears in his

eyes, that he would regret what had happened to the last day of his

life; for that I was 'the best o' the twa.'

"After cruising about for some time, Gonsalvo made for a numerous group

of small rocky islands, which were scattered over a great extent of sea;

and, entering them by a labyrinth of intricate passages, he moored hard

by one larger than the rest, and pleasantly wooded, which had a good

roadstead, where the hulks of several captured vessels were observable,

seemingly in the act of being broken up for firewood. Here I was put

ashore. Before leaving the pirate vessel, I made bold to enter--and it

was for the first time--the principal cabin, where I collected a number

of books in the Spanish language; loaded with which, and moved by

restrained indignation to do something ludicrous, I presented myself

before Gonsalvo on the quarter-deck, with the easy confident air of a

gentleman gifted with considerable assurance, who has been presuming

somewhat too far upon the good nature of another. Never shall I forget

the look of cold, cruel, malign contemptuousness, with which the ruffian

regarded me. That look said, as plainly as any look could do--'Wretched

creature, I see you have been making very free with my property; but it

matters not.'

"In this unknown spot, and within the power of this ruffian, did I

remain for about four years, more or less. My chief employment was

fishing. I became an expert boat-man--I made occasional visits to

another piratical station to the south of us; thus did I endeavour to

pass my lonely hours. I sometimes found a kind of pleasure in exploring

the intricate navigation of the islands; and, in time, became acquainted

with many a place where a boat could pass in certain states of the tide,

through rocks which had the appearance of being continuous. The sheet of

water at the back of our island, was bounded, on the north-west, by a

long and seemingly unbroken chain of high precipitous rocks, through a

cleft in which I discovered a winding passage of this nature, leading to

a small secluded island, not distinguishable from numberless others

which lay scattered, like black sea fowl, over the surface of the water.

With all my thoughts bent on escape, I endeavoured to attach to me a lad

of sixteen, residing on the island, along with his widowed mother;

having, with the aid of Gonsalvo's books, mastered the Spanish language.

He was a stupid cub; manageable when we went out together a-fishing; but

without any character of his own. I therefore trusted him in nothing. I

once carried him far west into the open sea beyond the islands; but,

when we found the formidable high-heaving swell below our frail bark, he

began to cry; and, my own nerves being somewhat shaken, I returned with

a heavy heart, while on the point of attempting something great--of

running off with the boat and boy altogether.

"This incident made me anxious to have a vessel of larger dimensions;

and a barge of peculiar construction, high raised, and with a deck at

bow and stern, occurred to me, which I had seen at the other station.

Proceeding thither by myself, and saying that we had need of such a

thing, I offered to purchase it with part of a sum of gold, which I had

on me when carried away, and had carefully preserved. The men regarded

me with a stare, but seemed quite willing to sell a thing which was not

their own, and for which they had no use. The bargain being struck,

they assisted me in navigating it, by a long circuitous course of many

weeks, by which I brought them to the small secluded island, which was

my favourite place of refuge. While carrying them back in my boat by the

same road, we became very friendly; and, at their suggestion, I

purchased, with the rest of my gold, a large cargo of such things as

were of use for repairing the barge, and perfecting her equipment. On

returning to Gonsalvo's station after this perilous transaction, I found

the mother of the boy on whom I had formed designs, in tears. He had

been taken on board Gonsalvo's ship, who had effected a return and a

departure in my absence. During the period of my stay, the pirate had

kept ever and anon returning at irregular intervals; but his arrival was

the signal for my flight; and, that flight might at all times be in my

power, for the boat which I had been allowed to appropriate on account

of my fishing services, always lay at the back of the island, over

against the secret opening through the north-western line of rocks.

Gonsalvo, on his part, never, so far as I could learn, inquired after

me; and, as years had slipped away, during which I had never seen him,

nor he me, I had insensibly become less cautious, concluding that he had

forgotten me altogether. Narrow was the escape which I in consequence

made.

"Motives of humanity had led me to pay some attention to the widowed

mother, after the loss of her son, for which she seemed to be very

grateful. On one occasion, when I had secured my boat in its usual place

at the back of the island, I was not deterred by the sight of the

pirate's pendant glancing above the trees, which showed that his ship

was in the roadstead, from paying her visit, and making inquiries after

her son. There was much embarrassment in her manner when she saw me; she

seemed to be agitated by conflicting feelings; and, at length, she

hesitatingly stated that Gonsalvo had been inquiring after me, and, as

she believed, for no good. 'Your son,' said I, 'would he befriend me?'

"'He is now become as bad as the rest of them,' said she; 'much I said

to him on your account; and oh, what usage he gave his mother!'

"The information of the poor woman made me anticipate the worst. Leaving

her some fish, I hastily ran to the highest point of the island, and

threw myself on the ground under cover of the hill, where I had

immediate access to my boat, and could observe every movement of the

enemy. I was in a state of desperation; gall and wormwood were in my

heart. Had I then stood by Gonsalvo's magazine, with a lighted match in

my hand, I would have blown them all up, that they might have perished

along with me. While in this state of feeling, the thought flashed like

lightning upon my mind, that I might go to the other station; that I

might join the other piratical crew, to whose leader I was unknown;

that, having gained their confidence, I might betray and hang them all,

and return home. The new idea giving a new excitement to hope, I was

presently meditating upon the result, rather than upon the means; and,

in a little while, sinking into slumber, I was dreaming of my distant

home and betrothed love. Meanwhile, the sound of British voices had so

softly entered my dreaming ear, that it was some time before the reality

awoke me. Awaking at last, I was startled to find myself surrounded by a

number of the pirate's men, when I gave myself up for lost. But there

was a compassion in their looks, and tears in their eyes. 'My good

friends,' said I, in confusion.

"'O sir,' said they, 'you have small reasons to call friends, the

persons by whom you were so villanously carried away. We thought we knew

you as you lay asleep; now that you have spoken, we are certain.'

"'My dear fellows,' said I, recognising them for part of the crew of the

smuggling vessel. I only remember now your former kindness, and your

anxiety that my life should be safe.'

"'God bless you!' said one of them, by name Jack Fid, 'could you bring

your noble heart to taste with us?'

"Willing to gratify him, I received his offered flask, and drank from it

a mouthful of rum.

"In the course of the long conversation which followed this act of

courtesy, I learned that the captain of the smuggling vessel in which I

had been carried away, had fallen in an affray with the revenue

officers; that his crew, having been so ill advised as to aid the

illegal traffic by firearms, and thus to become guilty of a capital

crime, had been induced to betake themselves in their perplexity, to

Gonsalvo; and that he, making very light of what had happened, had

received part of them on board his own vessel, and put the rest of them

on board another smaller armed vessel, which he had fitted out.

"'Poor James Stray,' said I, 'what has become of him?'

"'Hanged, sir, at New York. The other small vessel in which he sailed

was taken, and he suffered along with all the rest.'

"They stated farther, that their late captain, a little before his

death, had got a letter from my cousin to Gonsalvo, which they had been

careful to deliver, supposing that it might respect my return. Having

explained the motives by which my cousin had been actuated in having me

carried away, and mentioned the ominous words of the poor widow, from

which it appeared that Gonsalvo was seeking my life, I made them

sensible that my cousin's letter must have had a very different object

in view from what they had supposed; and then they growled deep

execrations against my unnatural kinsman. I soon found that they had not

yet received on board a sufficiency of depravity for the kind of service

in which they were engaged; that they were all most anxious to return to

an honest course of life; and that they could not bear to live with the

abominable wretches among whom they were. With unfeigned horror, they

spoke of the miserable end of a poor young woman, who had lately fallen

into the hands of the monsters, and whose body--after she had died under

their outrages--they had carelessly flung into the sea, like a soiled

garment. They gave a most woful account, also, of two captives of

superior rank, whom the pirates at that moment had in their power--a

father and his daughter; and they said that the daughter, if not

speedily rescued, would meet the same fate as the other woman; for that

Gonsalvo restrained neither himself nor his crew. One of them, whose

name was Tom Clewgarnet, and who had a singularly soft expression in the

rough outlines of his weather-beaten features, declared that he would

willingly peril his life at any time, to deliver the innocent young

creature out of their hands. Regarding the poor fellows, first with

compassion, then with love, and then with confidence, I told them of all

my plans for escaping; of my boat; of the secret passage through the

rocks to the secluded island; and of the bark which I had there. 'Like

the Yorkshireman,' said I, 'who is in possession of saddle, bridle,

whip, and spurs, and wants nought but a horse, I have long had a vessel,

and everything necessary for her equipment. It remains with you to

determine whether I am still in want of a gallant crew.' Upon this they

joyfully declared, one and all, that they would faithfully follow me to

the death; and immediate flight was resolved on.

"'If we could but carry that poor young woman along with us,' said Tom

Clewgarnet, 'what a blessed deed it would be!'

"He spoke with great earnestness of manner; and my observation was,

'Could we not try?'

"While commenting upon the fearful danger and the utter madness of such

an undertaking, we observed a boat leaving the pirate vessel, and moving

toward the shore. A pocket telescope having been directed to it, we

discovered Gonsalvo and the identical girl who had excited our

commiseration, seated in the stern. 'My life on't,' cried I, 'she will

be removed to some secluded spot in these woods below.' And I was right.

We saw Gonsalvo land with a small party, and move inland from the shore.

Marking well the road he took, we then ranged ourselves in a long line

across the woods, so as to communicate with each other; and, having

received intelligence which enabled me, well acquainted as I was with

the locality, to guess at the exact spot where Gonsalvo and his party

would halt, I stationed myself near by, along with Tom Clewgarnet, so as

to see without being seen. Onward, in a little while, came the

darkly-scowling villain with the poor trembling girl dragged along by

two armed attendants. My heart burned within me. The attendants were

dismissed; she remained struggling in his arms; and then, laying my hand

on Tom's cutlass, giving him at the same time a sidelong look, I softly

drew out the weapon, and, bounding forward toward Gonsalvo, I plunged it

into his side. He uttered a stifled groan, which brought back his two

attendants; when Tom, having taken up the sword of the fallen miscreant,

he and I furiously set upon them, and in a moment they also lay dead at

our feet. Turning now compassionately to the girl, while our weapons

were red and reeking with blood, I addressed her in French, which she

seemed to understand, assuring her that she was now in honest hands,

where she would find honourable protection. Our companions having

rejoined us, with the gratifying intelligence that our fell deed had

escaped observation, we were on the point of proceeding toward my boat,

which was lying ready to receive us, when a most vexatious difficulty

occurred. Nothing that we could say would persuade the girl to move

without her father, whom she long and earnestly implored us to save. I

mentioned to her the horrid end of the other poor woman, and somewhat

angrily showed to her how ungenerous it was to urge her deliverers on

to certain death, in vainly attempting to deal with more than two

hundred armed ruffians; upon which she sunk to the ground sobbing

piteously. She was an uncommonly interesting-looking creature,

delicately formed, wofully wasted with suffering, and very young. My

heart was melted. A scheme occurred to me by which it was at least

possible that her father might be saved; and, having spoken soothingly

to the girl, and applauded the heroism of her devoted filial love, I

declared that we really would make the fearful attempt to which she

urged us, if, in return, she would promise to follow and be obedient to

Tom, in whose care I meant to leave her for a time. Having obtained from

her assurances to that effect, I unfolded my plan, first to her in

French, and then to the men in English;--which was, that, having rowed

off to the pirate vessel in the very boat from which Gonsalvo had just

landed, and which then lay awaiting his return, I would endeavour to

pass myself off for a French officer, belonging to the pirate ship known

to be at the other station, who, being on a visit to Gonsalvo, had been

deputed by him to bring the father of the girl ashore, for the purpose

of extorting an exorbitant ransom; and, that on our return, we would

double the south-eastern point of the island, where there was an

intricate passage well known to me, through which we could find our way

into the sheet of water on the north-west side of it, where Tom and the

girl might wait for us in my boat.

"To this perilous scheme the men agreed, although with visible

reluctance; and it was immediately put in execution. The body of

Gonsalvo was stript of its gay vestments, which I shudderingly drew on,

while wet and warm with his blood; and from which every distinctive

ornament was carefully removed. It was a fearful venture; but the

squalid rags which I previously wore, would have worse accorded with the

character I had to sustain. Tom was then sent off, along with the girl,

toward my boat, while I and the rest of the men ran down to the opposite

shore, sprang into the boat of Gonsalvo, rudely tumbled out three men

who had been left in charge of her, and rowed off to the pirate vessel,

leaving the men standing on the beach and looking after us in stupid

amazement. While on our way, we were deeply meditating upon, and

carefully arranging all that was to be said and done, feeling how

perilous it would be in a matter which required such extreme delicacy,

to be compelled '_capere consilium ex improviso_.' A boat cloak, thrown

negligently around me, aided in concealing my borrowed and bloody

garments; several of the men who seemed to have the firmest nerves were

instructed to go on board and remain carelessly sauntering about; while

one of them brought off the father of the girl, and I endeavoured to

keep the chief officer in play. On approaching, I gallantly hailed;

begged to see the chief officer; gave up my assumed name; spoke of my

pretended visit to, and of the pretended errand on which I had been sent

by Gonsalvo; and mightily wondered how he, Gonsalvo, should have thought

such a poor squalling wretch of a creature good for anything, but to

extort an exorbitant ransom from her father, whom for that purpose I was

forthwith to bring ashore. I began with speaking in French, in which the

foreign accent would be less perceptible to a Spaniard, and then in such

imperfect Spanish as a French officer might be expected to use. My

masquerade escaped detection, and the bait took. The father of the girl,

with his wobegone, yet noble-looking features, was received into the

boat; all my companions leisurely followed one after another and resumed

their oars. Jack Fid came last of all, carrying in his hand a huge

greybeard of liquor, and having in his features a peculiar twist, which

seemed to say--'How we are doing the scoundrels!' and at which we

afterwards laughed very heartily. It was no time for laughter then.

"'I see a boat putting off yonder,' cried the chief officer, applying a

telescope to his eye, 'with a dead body lying in her stern.'

"A deadly terror struck through my heart; but, with assumed

indifference, I replied--'Ay, Gonsalvo has got that fellow at last;'

making it seem that the dead body seen from afar was my own.

"'It is fortunate that he has been caught,' said the other, laying down

his telescope; 'Gonsalvo has made the widow and her son answerable for

him with their lives.'

"The last words were scarcely audible, by reason of the distance which

we interposed between us and the vessel. With the strokes of our oars

gradually increased both in frequency and in length, we flew rapidly

through the water. As we receded from, the other boat with Gonsalvo's

blood-boltered carcase, which the chief officer had seen from afar, drew

near the vessel. When far beyond the reach of small arms and of grape,

although still within the longest range of the cannon, we could see her

come alongside of the vessel; and then multitudes of faces were

stretched over, or thrust out of bulwark and port-hole; a great

commotion was observable on board; the vessel, making a yaw round,

turned her broadside towards us; twelve columns of smoke darted from her

side, and as many thunders opened their voices, while through the air a

shower of iron came hurling towards us. Every bullet fell beyond, or

short, or wide of us; and in a little while the projecting south-eastern

point of the island screened us from the fire and from the view of the

enemy.

"After having doubled this point, two passages opened before us--one

wide and inviting, which led eastward into the Atlantic--the other

narrow, and not distinguishable from numberless other similar openings

in the rocks, which led to nothing. Into the former, we threw our hats,

that our pursuers might be led to suppose that our boat, injured by a

random shot had foundered; through the intricacies of the latter, to me

well known, we wound our way north-westward, until we had gained the

sheet of water on the other side of the island, where we found Tom and

the girl in my boat awaiting our approach in the deepest anxiety, their

ears having been startled by the thunder of the broadside, while they

knew not the result. At the sight of the lonely, desolate girl, sitting

in terror, by the side of her rough-looking, but kind-hearted conductor,

my heart was thrilled with compassion; and, when we drew near, I

pointed, delightedly, to her father, on whom she continued to fix an

eager, wistful look, until Tom, lightly lifting her up, and leaping on

board of us, as we brushed by, had placed her in his arms. Tom, at my

instance, came and seated himself by me in the stern, where he kept

gazing for some time at the outporings of the purest of all

affections--filial and parental love; and then turning to me, and

speaking with deep emotion, he told me that it was by him that James

Stray had been first led away; that, since his miserable end he had made

frequent attempts at prayer, but that then an awful pang had always shot

through his head and heart. 'If,' continued he, 'we shall be able to

save that father and daughter, will that pass away?' Anxious to give the

poor fellow useful and innocent advice, I told him that what he spoke of

arose from conscience, which, slumbering at other times, always awoke

during prayer; and there was nothing pacified the conscience like a good

deed, humbly offered to God in the Redeemer's name; that, after having

returned to an honest course of life, he would obtain what good people

called peace of conscience; and that then his devotions would be as soft

and sweet as they had ever been when a child at his mother's knee. He

seemed very grateful for these words of instruction, declaring that he

was ready to shed for me the last drop of his blood. Bending forward now

toward the father, and addressing him for the first time, I assured him

that his daughter had been restored to him unsullied, that we were

ourselves in the act of escaping from the pirates, and that we would

either save him or perish along with him.

"A little before sunset we came under the north-western line of rocks,

whose long shadows concealed us from distant observation; and, entering

the passage through them, which I had so often traversed, we soon

arrived at the place where my bark was lying snug in the secluded

island. At the sight of her, the seamen were delighted. They all leaped

on board simultaneously, and began tumultuously to examine her in every

part. 'To work, lads,' cried I, 'that she may be made ready for sea as

soon as possible.' To work accordingly we fell. Fires were kindled,

pitch melted, oakum, and all things necessary, were found in my stores.

The work was continued during the night--when the ebbing tide left her

high and dry--by the light of torches of pinewood, smeared with tar,

which were stuck around, or borne in the hands of the father and

daughter; and, after seven or eight hours of unremitted labour, the

outer planking of the vessel was carefully cauked, and her hull,

thoroughly repaired in every part. Leaving the carpenter and two other

hands to keep watch and repair the water casks, the rest of us turned in

to enjoy a few hours of sleep. The light of day beheld us again at work;

and several hours behoved still to elapse before the masts could be

hoisted, the sails bent, and the running rigging rove. Meanwhile, an

anchor was carried out to sea, and the cable laid over the windlass; my

long hoarded stores of biscuit, junk, and dried fish, were put on board,

with a few culinary utensils, a sufficiency of loose timber for fuel,

and of ballast for trimming the vessel; and the water casks, filled at a

neighbouring fountain by the father and daughter, were rolled down to

the beach, one by one. The work being nearly over in every department,

we continued, some on board, and some on shore, patiently to await the

rising of the tide, now nearly at the full; and the father had very

judiciously thought of climbing a neighbouring height to reconnoitre. On

gaining the summit, he was observed to return in all haste, and

seemingly in great terror. The daughter was running off to meet him, but

arrested by me, she was given in charge to her old protector; while I

cried out--'To the water casks, one and all.' So, while they were in the

act of being swung on board, she continued to struggle and to scream in

Tom's arms. The poor girl's agitation proceeded from an interesting

cause; but it was very provoking to be unnecessarily deprived, at such a

time, of a valuable hand. However, the last water cask was safely

stowed, when the father arrived with the alarming intelligence, that a

number of boats, full of men, were on the east coast of the island; and

that a party, landed from one of them, were in the act of ascending the

opposite acclivity. The daughter was on the point of springing into his

arms; but I had her very unceremoniously swung on board, calling her an

unmanageable vixen. The father, and all the rest of us immediately

followed; and then, having thrust our handspikes into the windlass--just

as the party of which we had received information were seen on the top

of the neighbouring height--we made, with our united strength, one

desperate heave. A grinding sound, heard at the bottom of the vessel,

shewed she had been dislodged; but the cable had snapped, and I threw

myself down in despair, giving up all for lost. The dexterity of the

seamen saved us. The cable, while on the point of escaping, was caught,

jammed, and held fast, until it was spliced in such a manner as to be

capable of enduring as great a strain as ever. Laying our strength on

more cautiously, the grinding sound was again heard, and we affected a

quarter turn of the windlass. Coil after coil of the cable now passed

over the revolving beam, without farther incident; and at length the

vessel, floating smoothly in deep water, was hauled out to the offing,

just as a hundred armed ruffians, having surmounted the neighbouring

heights, were rushing down, with infuriated yells, towards us. The ample

folds of our pointed lateen sails were then spread to the winds; and we

joyfully proceeded on our way, while the baffled scoundrels stood

looking at us from afar; and we sat in safety looking at them, with the

prey that we had rescued out of their merciless hands.

"When our feelings had a little subsided after this excitement, and

while the most skilful seamen were superintending the adjustment of the

ballast, and studying the properties of the vessel, I went and sat down

by the father and daughter. I begged of the daughter that she would

excuse the hasty words which I had been led to use, in my anxiety to

leave such a dangerous shore. Her father assured me that he could easily

see the kindness of my heart amid the prompt decided manner which the

hour of danger required; and I assured him that there was not a man on

board who did not regard the saving of him and of his daughter as the

best part of the enterprise. He began to pour forth the warmest

expressions of gratitude, when my attention was called to the pilotage

of the vessel, and nothing more passed between us at that time. To

conduct the vessel through such intricate and precarious passages,

required the utmost care and unremitted attention; but at length, just

as the sun was gilding the watery waste with its setting radiance, we

reached the open sea, at the very place where I had been some years

before with the Spanish boy. I now asked the father where he would wish

to be carried.

"'To Havannah,' said he, with tears gushing down his cheeks.

"Upon this we directed our course, at a venture, a good way southward

from the point at which the sun was setting; and, as we had no compass,

we resolved to steer by the wind which was blowing steadily from one

point. We then made all snug for the night, keeping as much sail up as

the little vessel could safely carry; and, a proper watch having been

set, the remainder of the weary crew were sent to rest.

"The father and daughter were led by me into a small cabin under the

stern deck; and they, aware of the scantiness of our accommodation,

insisted that I should stay with them, when I was on the point of

withdrawing that they might be left by themselves. The father was placed

in the middle, the daughter on one side of him, and I stretched my weary

limbs on the other. I remained for long supine, motionless, and unable

to sleep; and thus I came to overhear the following dialogue, which was

carried on in the purest Spanish, between the father and his daughter:--

"'Papa,' said she, 'are the French all so much better than the Spanish?'

"'My dear Carolina, why that question?'

"'He spoke to me first in French.'

"'He speaks French well, but with a strong English accent. His

companions are all British sailors; certainly the most extraordinary

people in the world. A party of these men, lately landing in a drunken

frolic, took one of the strongest fortresses in Spain, which the Spanish

King would give half the wealth of his dominions to recover.'

"She then gave him a detailed account of all that had befallen

her--greatly exaggerating my prowess and that of Tom--and dwelling much

on our kindness, in having, at her instance, made such a perilous

attempt to save him.

"'Well,' said he, 'the British are truly a noble people; I feel easy now

that I am in their hands, although there is a mystery in our

deliverance, and in that extraordinary young man to whom his companions

seem so devoted, which I cannot fathom.' Having joined in their

discourse with an apology, I fully explained the mystery he spoke of,

telling him who I was, and under what unhappy circumstances I had been

carried away from my native land, while on the very eve of marriage. I

told him also of his daughter's devoted filial love; how she had refused

to escape, unless he could be saved along with her; and how she had

absolutely forced us on to do what we did, when we were all shrinking

from the risk, and unwilling to incur further danger. While straining to

his heart his dutiful child, he made me acquainted with his own history.

It appeared that he, Don Pedro by name, was a Spanish gentleman well

known in Havannah, who, notwithstanding the war between our countries,

could easily procure for me a speedy return home; that an attachment

having arisen between his daughter Carolina, and Alonzo, the eldest son

of a noble family, at whose haughty bearing he had taken offence, he had

sent her away to a sister of his, resident in one of the Windward

Islands; that Alonzo's father and he, having afterwards come to a better

understanding, he had gone, in person, to bring back his daughter, with

a view to her immediate marriage, and that, while on their way home,

they had the misfortune to be taken by the pirates. 'What became of the

vessel in which we sailed,' added he, 'and her crew, I know not; but I

apprehend the worst.'

"After this exchange of confidence, gratitude on their parts, and the

inexpressible satisfaction of having achieved such a deliverance on

mine, united our hearts together; and in the society of the noble

Spaniard and his amiable daughter, I, after my long years of lonely

wretchedness, felt for a time the hours pass rapidly away. There was I

know not what of romantic interest in our peculiar situation. A

hurricane would soon have drowned us all; but the wind blew fair and

steady. The prospect around us was unvarying, but one of which the eye

could not soon grow weary. At noon, when the sun, vertical in that

latitude, poured down his irradiation from the zenith, he appeared like

a glorious ornament in the centre of the canopy of the heavens, from

which they descended in a uniform arch of unclouded blue until they

rested on the farthest edge of the waste of water, over whose billows

our little bark was gallantly bounding, and which, wherever the eye was

turned, seemed to stretch

'Far into silent regions, blue and pale.'

One cloud there was which rested on my mind. All seemed to regard me

with confidence--to look on me for direction; but I had no confidence in

myself. Unaided by compass or nautical science, we were steering almost

at random, vaguely guessing at a south-westerly course, from the

position of the rising and setting sun.

"In this manner, week after week passed away, until one morning, when I

was awakened by the hand of Don Pedro laid on my shoulder. He seemed to

be in great agitation; and I hastily arose and followed him forward.

When we reached the open part of the vessel, he raised his arm and

pointed to where, over a little aft the weather-bow, we could observe,

hung high in air, the inverted images of a number of ships, with a large

vessel in the centre, and a line of coast stretching hard by.

"'Sir,' said he, 'I know that to be the coast and shipping of Havannah.'

"'All's well,' cried I; 'who is at the helm?'

"'Bill Bowline, your honour.'

"'Bill, lay your bows right upon the main-mast of that large vessel

which you see looming in the distance.' 'Ay, ay, sir.' 'Steer directly

towards her, and try to keep your course exactly, guided, as usual, by

the position of your sails, relatively to the wind.' 'Ay, ay, sir.'

Turning now to Don Pedro, I said--'Admirably has he done his work; he

seems a perfect sailing made easy, or every mariner his own compass.'

Without noticing my pleasantry, my poor friend said, with a very serious

look--'You see the care with which the mother of God watches over the

children of the true church.' Carolina having asked me the day before,

what I would do to my wicked cousin; and I having said that I would

merely give him a long forgiving look, she farther asked if I belonged

to the _true church_; and on my saying that I belonged to a very humble

church, which, however, was faithful in teaching all her children to

look up to God, in the Redeemer's name, with the desire of being good,

that they might obtain good, Don Pedro seemed to wish that such a

delicate subject should be dropped. Now, however, he conceived himself

to stand on high vantage ground, and appealed to the aerial reflection

as a splendid miracle wrought for his behoof. I told him that what he

saw was a common natural phenomenon, with which our able seamen were all

quite familiar; but he shook his head, doubting or disbelieving. 'Noble

sir,' said I, 'you understand English, listen;--Bill Bowline, at what

distance may these ships be, on which you are now steering?'

"'Sure to raise them, sir, in the course of the day.'

"'Mark that,' said I, assuring Don Pedro that in all likelihood he would

be at home and in the bosom of his family before night. If the blush of

shame which the children of the true church are wont to exhibit when

their supposed or pretended miracles are most satisfactorily accounted

for on natural principles, did for a moment pass over the features of

Don Pedro, it was soon chased away by excessive joy. During the day, he

suffered much from impatience; hope and fear had by turns the possession

of his mind. But, at length, after many a long tedious hour of watching,

he beheld a line of blue land rising above the edge of the horizon,

which gradually unfolded itself into the town, coast, and shipping of

Havannah.

"At the request of her father, no information as to what we had seen and

were led to expect was given to Carolina. He was afraid that our hopes

might not be realized, and that she might have to endure the pangs of

disappointment. Accordingly, she was in the very act of speaking of her

home, of her family, and of her lover, as dear objects that she might

never again see, when her father entered the cabin in an ecstasy of joy,

crying--'Here they are all now, just as we saw them in the morning;

only, their masts point upward, and not down. Not a moment longer,'

cried he, 'shall my dear daughter be kept in ignorance.' So catching her

in his arms, he led her forward to the bows, and pointed out to her the

distinct outlines of her native shore. She silently gazed on it for an

instant; then tears of joy flowed down her cheek. To me, to Tom, to all

our companions, severally, she testified her gratitude in broken

accents, calling us her dear deliverers, and invoking the blessings of

Heaven upon our heads. The men were in raptures with her; and, wishing

to improve the opportunity afforded for drawing vividly forth their best

affections, I said to them--'Only to think, now, that there should be

hearts, either in earth or hell, capable of misusing a fine creature

like that!' A low murmuring sound, as if of profound deliberation,

followed these words; after which Bill Bowline arose as the orator of

the party, and, having given his trousers a hitch, he said that it was

the contraband trade that had thrown them among such abominable wretches

as the Buccaneers; and that they were resolved never to break the laws

of Old England any more, for that they now saw, that when once people

began to do evil, there was no saying where they might end; which

resolution gave to Don Pedro great satisfaction. The greybeard of Jack

Fid was now handed round as long as it contained a drop of liquor; after

which it was broken, its fragments, along with a variety of other

moveables, were thrown into the sea, and three hearty cheers were given.

"In a little while, the bark lay alongside of the quay of Havannah. Don

Pedro and his daughter, having been safely handed out, sunk down on

their knees, and the men went and sat down at a little distance, as if

anxious to avoid the appearance of wishing to intrude. Feeling sympathy

for the brave fellows, and admiring their motives, I went and seated

myself in the midst of them, saying--'From me, at least, you shall not

be parted;' while an unpleasant suspicion arose in my mind, lest we

should, after all, be left in a land of strangers, lonely and unowned.

In this I did our kind friends wrong. Having devoutly rendered their

thanks to Heaven, they came and begged us to follow them. By way of

giving effect to the feelings of my companions, I said that we would be

sorry to distress their hospitality; upon which Carolina looked first

amazed, then angry, and then burst into tears--'This from you!' said

she--'from my preserver--from my second father!' Forthwith she and her

natural father drove us all before them, like a flock of reluctant

geese, to their residence--a splendid one it was, in which we met as

warm a reception as grateful hearts could give, or the unfriended

desire.

"Next day several high officers of the Spanish army and navy waited upon

me, and made particular inquiries respecting the pirate islands, with

whose locality my long residence had made me well acquainted. Our

nations were at war, but my heart took fire at the idea of terminating

my exile by a noble stroke--by contributing to the fall of the

Buccaneer, the common enemy of the civilized world. I, therefore,

offered my own services, and those of my companions, on the express

condition that, having left our large armed vessels so soon as we had

arrived off the islands, we should venture among their intricacies in

boats, with a sufficient force, and endeavour to take the enemy by

surprise, and to carry him by boarding. This plan having, after some

hesitation, been agreed to, off we set immediately; and, in three weeks,

we returned in triumph, having captured both the pirate vessels, which

were found lying, in supposed security, at their two stations, and

completely destroyed that nest of odious ruffians, to the great joy of

all the West Indian islands. My companions fought like lions; two of

them fell, and several were wounded. On our return, we were loaded with

honours; a great sum of money was given to me, for the purpose, as was

said, of buying a sword; handsome sums were also given to each of my

companions, which they put into my hands, and which, with what I shall

add to them out of mine, will enable me to settle them all comfortably

in life. During our absence, Don Pedro and his daughter had suffered

much from anxiety on our account; they received us with the liveliest

joy on our return--they mourned for the slain--they nursed the wounded

with the tenderest care, and their house became, for a time, our home.

Their kindness led us to prolong our stay far beyond the time necessary

for the recovery of the wounded; and I had the satisfaction of assisting

at the marriage and of being assured of the happiness of Alonzo and

Carolina. At length, we parted from our grateful and warm-hearted

friends; and a government packet conveyed us all safely across the

Atlantic to Cadiz.

"At Cadiz, I found that the letters which Don Pedro had given to me, and

procured for me, would enable us all, notwithstanding the war with

France and Spain, to pass unmolested through both countries; and so,

having converted our wealth into bills, payable in Antwerp, I travelled

over land to this neutral port, along with my companions, as the

readiest way to obtain a safe and a speedy passage to Britain. At

Antwerp, I again converted my foreign bills into others which were

payable in England; while my companions went down to the quay at my

request, to look out for an immediate passage thither. On finding that

no immediate passage could be procured, I purchased, at their

suggestion, a small sloop, which was lying in one of the docks for sale;

on board of which, confident in my lately acquired nautical science, and

in the long-tried seamanship of my companions, I proceeded straight

across the German Ocean; steering direct, not for the latitude of any

of England's great seaports, but for that of the home of my fathers, and

the mouth of my native river. Having a good wind, we drove our little

vessel, at a gallant rate, through the water. Our hearts being gay, our

spirits high, and our stores supplied with abundance of everything, our

voyage became one continued scene of fun, festivity, and folly, in which

I largely participated, until an event occurred which brought us to our

senses. On the sixth morning of our passage, it was found that the

vessel had sprung a leak--that there were four feet of water in the

hold. The pumps enabled us to sink it a little; but it afterwards gained

upon us to such an alarming degree that the carpenter was in doubt

whether the vessel could be kept afloat for twenty-four hours longer.

The wind also began to die away, and so thick a fog settled around us

that we could see nothing but our foundering vessel, and the water into

which she was ready to sink, looking black and dismal below. While

matters were in this state, a thickening of the darkness came to be

observable right a-head at the lower part of the fog; which, while every

eye was fixed upon it, rose higher, and showed an irregular outline. It

was declared to be land; and we were not long kept in suspense. In a

little while, a grinding sound was heard at the bottom of the vessel,

followed by a slight concussion; and, in about fifteen minutes, during

which the vessel, stripped of every inch of canvass, continued to grind

and to strike, she settled down and remained fast. I immediately secured

my valuable papers on my person, and the men set about making

preparations for leaving the vessel. We had neglected to provide

ourselves with a boat; but two or three of the men swam to the shore,

which proved to be at no great distance, carrying the end of a rope

along with them; by the aid of which all the rest of us were enabled to

reach the land in safety.

"Thus did my seven companions and I terminate our adventures. Once in

safety, I began to laugh heartily at our mishap. '_O passi graviora

mecum_,' cried I, gaily, as they seemed to stand down-hearted in their

dripping garments; 'it is on no desolate or inhospitable shore that we

are now cast. Stay there for a little, till I see where we are, and look

out for shelter.' With that I went a little way inland, until, having

observed the appearance of distant lights on my left, I ran in all haste

in that direction, scarcely feeling the ground under my feet. In about

half an hour, I came to a number of buildings which I seemed to know; I

found a narrow lane, at the end of it a door, and within the door a

stair, which I seemed to know. My heart began to beat violently. Having

mounted the stair, and gone along a dark passage at the head of it, I

came to a door, on opening which, the forms of the very friends, after

leaving whom I was carried away, seemed to appear before me, as at their

usual meeting. All gazed on me; but none of them spoke except old Adam

Muzzy, who was in his usual state of inebriety, which so strangely

brightens one part of his faculties, and darkens another. Recognising

me, and having some very indistinct perception of circumstances, he

exclaimed, in the usual style of his address to a retired and returned

bottle-companion--'Guide me! ye hae been lang away; but we hae thocht

that ye would be back, for ye left yer hat ahint ye. Sit doon, man, and

tak aff yer glass.'

"The sight of my hat hanging where I left it, and the daized dreamy look

of the creature, with his half-shut eye, so affected me, that I sunk

unconsciously down into the chair to which he had pointed, painfully

impressed with the idea that I had only been dreaming of home, as I had

often done, in the lonely isles of the West Indian seas. It was my name

loudly pronounced by the friendly voice of Plainworth which first awoke

me from my stupor.

"'My dear Mary,' said he, as he concluded, 'he will tell you what were

the first questions which I asked.'

"'Indeed,' said I, addressing her, 'his two first questions were both

about you; and the second of them was, whether you were still

unmarried?'"

* * * * *

"Amid the deep silence which followed this narrative; the effect of

which was heightened by the near interest which each had in the

principal actor, a soft diffident tap was heard at the outer door;

which, having been opened, the whole party of old friends, whom William

had so startled by his unlooked-for appearance among them that evening,

came pouring in tumultuously, with the trampling of many feet, and the

sound of many voices mingled together. We could have seen them far

enough off, being in that quiet kind of heart-absorbing felicity, to

which boisterous intrusion is most irksome. But it presently appeared,

that, in their coming, there was no want of consideration. Besides

attending to the wants of the shipwrecked mariners, as they had

undertaken, they had employed a number of the resident fishermen, with

their boats, to look after the wreck now lying dry upon a ledge of

rocks, with her bottom staved in, by whom every article of value on

board had been saved. They described William's companions as the

strangest set of fellows whom they had ever met with. 'They were close

enough at first,' said they. 'Many significant looks having been

exchanged between them when the glass began to circle round; but when

they did open, what strange stories they told of the scenes which they

had passed through! And, oh, how they spoke of you, Mr. William! They

said that you were the best and bravest of landsmen--one whom no dangers

could daunt, whom no difficulties could subdue, and who had so kind a

heart withal, that you were always more attentive to their wants than

your own. One of them, whom they called Tom Clewgarnet, declared it to

be his firm belief that you were just a kind of an angel, who had been

sent down to save them all from the pit.' It appeared, in short, that

our kind friends had been most attentive to the poor fellows; and that,

with the powerful aid of the fishermen whom they had employed, and who

had joined them after having finished their work, they had succeeded in

sending them all to bed in a very comfortable state of inebriety; they

themselves, also, as their appearance strongly testified, having

suffered somewhat in the cause.

"After this gratifying intelligence had been given, which was received

with the warmest acknowledgments, the whole party earnestly entreated

William to consent to act his part in a notable ploy of Mr Macquils;

which was, that, as his cousin was taking steps for entering into

possession, and was to visit Elphinstone House the next day, he should

make his first public appearance in the very heart of his proceedings.

"'The people of the house where you threw off your wet garments,' said

they, 'enter heartily into the plan; and, as we have been careful in

keeping the secret, there is no person, either in town or country, who

has any knowledge of your return.'

"William gratified them by a ready acquiescence; indeed, the proposal

coincided exactly with his own previous intentions; the mortification

which his cousin would receive being all the punishment which he

intended for him. The necessary arrangements having been agreed on, and

committed to Mr Macquil, the first projector of the plan, the whole

party were permitted to withdraw, on condition that they would favour us

with their company to dinner next day, when William promised to make a

full disclosure of all that had befallen him. When we were again by

ourselves, William said to me, in a whisper--'You must aid me, my

friend, in making immediate arrangements for facilitating the escape of

my cousin. The testimony of those people whom I have with me, would be

sure to convict him; and, as they hate him most cordially on my account,

that testimony, though it would implicate themselves, would be given

with great good-will. Heaven knows, that I have no wish that, on the

scaffold, kindred blood should flow!'

"Mary expressed an extreme desire to see the men who had passed through

such strange scenes; and she begged of William, that he would take her

with him for that purpose; adding, diffidently--'I believe that, after

this, I will always be afraid when you are out of my sight.'

"Early next morning, the long disused wardrobe of William was procured

from the mansion of the Elphinstones. While William was still sleeping

profoundly, exhausted with the toils of the preceding day, Mr Macquil

and I made a careful selection of such articles of dress as we judged

most suitable for him to appear in, on the approaching great occasion.

We made choice of a suit which nearly resembled his ordinary forenoon

attire--clothed in which, it was impossible for any one who knew him to

mistake his identity. His features were thinner than before; but he was

immensely improved in his general appearance. His person was more firmly

set--his carriage more staid and dignified; and, while he retained the

same winning mildness of manner, there was in his eye that manly,

resolute look, indicating energy, intrepidity, and force of

character--which familiarity with toils and dangers, gallently borne and

nobly triumphed over, alone can give. Of the feelings of Mary, when she

beheld her lover arrayed once more in his former vestments, looking so

noble, so kind, and so like what he was before, it is impossible to

speak. Their happiness, when they met next morning, was more tranquil

than the evening before, but not less profound. At breakfast, Mr Macquil

was the principal speaker--full of the all-engrossing project which he

had in view. Immediately after breakfast, we were to have set out; but,

hour after hour passed away, while the lovers remained together, 'all

the world forgot;' and while poor Mr Macquil and I and the horses were

waiting impatiently at the door. The impatience of Mr Macquil began to

exceed all bounds; and a scout having brought intelligence that the

chariots and horsemen of the enemy had been beheld approaching at a

distance, he became very angry. He broke in abruptly upon the lovers--he

took William by the arm, and led him off--promising, however, by way of

comfort, that that separation should not be of longer duration than half

an hour.

"Once in the saddle, off we set at full gallop, through by-roads, which

brought us to a thicket in the rear of Elphinstone House, where some old

domestics of the family, with delight vividly expressed in their

countenances, were ready to receive our horses. Entering the house by a

back door, and ascending the stairs, we heard, as we were passing the

main entrance hall, the party without loudly thundering for admittance

at the front door, while a little urchin of a boy, evidently in the

secret, was pertly screaming to them through the key-hole--'The key--the

key! Can ye no stop a wee? What signifies a bit minute or twa?'

Proceeding forthwith into a spacious apartment, which directly opened

into the entrance hall, and which had been fixed upon as the most proper

place for the scene which was to be enacted, Mr Macquil conveyed William

into a small by-room, where he was to remain in concealment until the

proper time for his appearance: and shutting the door with a triumphant

bang, locked it, and put the key in his pocket.

"Events now rapidly followed each other. The preconcerted signal that

all was prepared was given--the impatient party at the front door were

admitted--and presently the cousin stalked into the room, followed by

the sheriff, his officers, and our friends, with many other spectators

whom they had brought along with them. I was standing at the window; Mr

Macquil was pacing up and down the room with a huge white handkerchief

applied to his eyes, and uttering uncouth sounds of wo, which, however,

sometimes had a greater resemblance to laughter than to lamentation.

"'Sir,' said the cousin, 'we come here for business, and have no time

for nonsense.'

"'I assure you,' said the other, 'that it is far from being my wish that

the proper heir of this house should be longer kept out of his goodly

heritage. You will find the only obstacle to your being put into

immediate possession in that closet; and there is the key.'

"'Hold,' cries the sheriff; 'too fast, sir, by one half.'

"A look of peculiar meaning from Mr Macquil arrested for an instant the

sheriff's attention.

"Meanwhile the cousin having received the key, hurried to the closet,

opened wide the door, and William walked forward into the room. He was

recognised in an instant, as was evident from the acclamations which

followed his appearance.

"'Ha! ha! ha!' quoth the sheriff, 'who could have expected this from

you, Mr Macquil? You are positively become as arch as a romping, roguish

young boarding-school girl of fifteen. Mr Elphinstone, give me leave to

say that I never was more delighted--never more happy.' Briefly

returning the compliments of the worthy sheriff, William fixed his eyes

upon his cousin with a look in which there was reproach but no

malignity.

"'Cousin,' said he--'one with me in lineage, in kindred, and in blood--I

have been indebted to you for a long and involuntary excursion abroad,

which has been attended with most woful results. Sir, while I abhor, I

forgive--I pity; in proof of which, I give you timeous warning that

there is intelligence from the other side of the Atlantic, which

concerns you more nearly than any farther interest which you can

possibly have in my inheritance.' With that, the bad man grew deadly

pale--he trembled from head to foot--he looked fearfully at the

sheriff--and he hurried out, followed by me. After a long pause, during

which he seemed to be thinking profoundly, the sheriff said--'There is

really a strange meaning in your words, Mr Elphinstone!'--

"'Which,' replied William, 'I will fully explain in a few days.'

"Whenever the facts of the case came to be known, the officers of

justice were sent in full cry after the criminal; but, with the aid of

the generous kinsman whom he had so foully wronged, he effected his

escape, and was never heard of more.

"In a short time Elphinstone House again became the residence of its

rightful proprietor; and, within less than a fortnight from the date of

his return, William and Mary were united in the holy bands of wedlock,

to be separated no more. I was the best-man; and a happier pair never

was seen. They were happy in themselves and in their family."

"Yes," said Wonderlove, "from that family the dule passed away."

"And you observe," replied the other with a smile, "that the head of

that house really did marry a maiden of low degree!"

"Well, now, is not that a strange--a strange--a very strange!"--

"It is a strange coincidence," said Plainworth, "but nothing more. What

more natural than that such a woman should engage the affections of such

a man? and as for the subsequent prosperity of their numerous and bonny

family, it is an old saying and a true--'That being good, naturally

leads to the obtaining of good.'"

TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS.

It was in the autumn of 1825, that a stranger was wandering by the side

of the silver lakes and over the majestic mountains of romantic

Cumberland. He was near the side of blue Keswick, and the light wind was

scattering, in showers, the death-touched leaves upon the bright waters.

Suddenly, the face of the lake became troubled, and dark ripples rose

upon its bosom, as if the chained spirit of a storm struggled thereon to

be free, and moved them. A louder rustling and a sound of agitation was

heard among the trees, as though it were there also. Thick clouds

gathered before the face of the sun, and darkness, like an angel's

wrath, rolled along the brow of the mighty Skiddaw. In a few moments the

thunder was heard bursting from the mountain sides, and its echoes

reverbed, as the groaning of the great hills, through the glens.

Thunder, lightning, and tempest, gathered round, and burst over the

stranger. The cattle crowded together upon the hills, and the birds of

heaven sought shelter in the woods. The stranger, also, looked around

for a place of refuge.

Before him, at the distance of about a quarter of a mile, lay a

sequestered and beautiful villa--round which mountain, wood, and water,

and craggy cliff, were gathered--with a sloping lawn before it. It was a

spot which the genius of romance might have made its habitation. The

mansion was in keeping with the scenery, and towards it the stranger

repaired for shelter.

He was requesting permission of a servant of the household, to be

sheltered until the storm passed over, when the occupier of the mansion

came himself to the door, and, with the frankness of an old friend, held

out his hand, saying--"Come in--thou art welcome. At such a time the

birds of heaven seek shelter, and find it in the thick branches of the

woods; and surely man has a right to expect refuge in the habitations of

his fellow-men. Follow me, friend, and rest here until the storm be

past."

The stranger bowed, thanked him, and followed him; but, ere they had sat

down, the owner of the mansion again addressed his visitant,

saying--"The inhabitants of the East ask no questions of strangers until

they have given them water to wash their feet, and a change of garments,

if required. I know no excuse which the people of the West can offer,

why they should be less hospitable. I perceive that thy apparel is

already drenched; therefore, my servant will provide thee with a change

of raiment. Go, do as I request, that no harm overtake thee; and, in the

meantime, I will order refreshment, after which, thou and I shall

converse together."

There was a kindness in the manner, and an expression of benevolence in

the aspect of his entertainer, which at once gratified and interested

the stranger. The latter appeared to be about forty; but his hospitable

entertainer was at least threescore. Care had engraven some wrinkles

upon his brow, and the "silverings" of age were beginning to mingle

thickly with his once brown hair; but his ruddy and open countenance

spoke of the generosity of his disposition and the health of his

constitution.

When the stranger had put on dry raiment and partaken of food, his host

ordered liquors to be brought; and when they were placed upon the table,

he again addressed his guest, and said--"Here, sir, thou hast claret,

port, and sherry--my cellar affords no other wines. Therefore, take thy

choice. Be merry and wise; but, above all--be at home. The wayfaring

man, and the man whom a storm drives into our house among the mountains,

should need no second invitation. With me he is welcome to whatsoever

is set before him. Therefore, use no ceremony, but consult thine own

taste. For myself I am no wine-drinker. Its coldness agrees not with my

stomach, and I prefer the distillation of our northern hills to the

juice of the grapes of the sunny south. Therefore, friend, while I brew

my punch, help thyself to whatsoever best pleaseth thee."

The stranger again thanked him, and having something of nationality

about him, preferred joining him in a bowl prepared from the "mountain

dew." They quickly discovered that they were what the world calls

"kindred spirits," and, before an hour had passed, the stranger told

whence he came, what he had been, and what his intentions, in visiting

that part of the country, were; but his name, he said, he did not intend

to divulge to any one for a time. He might make it known in a few days,

should he remain in the neighbourhood, and, perhaps, he never would.

"Well," said his host, "thou hast told me a considerable part of thy

history, but thou hast withheld thy name: I will tell thee _all_ mine;

but, to be even with thee, thou shalt not know my name either, (provided

thou dost not know it already,) beyond that my Christian name is Robert.

"I am (continued he) the first-born of a numerous family, and am

twenty-four years older than the youngest of my parents' children. My

father was what is called a statesman in this part of the country; by

which you are not to understand that he was in any way connected with

politics, or had any part in governing the affairs of the nation, but,

simply, that he was the possessor of an estate containing some eighty

acres, and which had descended to him from his ancestors, unimpaired and

unencumbered. He was a kind husband and an indulgent father; but he was

provident as neither. A better-hearted man never breathed. He was

generous even to the committing of a crime against his own family; and

the misfortune, the error--I might say the curse of his life--was, that

he never knew the value of a shilling. It has been said that I possess

my father's failing in this respect; but, through his example at all

times as a warning before me, I have been enabled to regulate it, and to

keep it within controllable limits. You have often heard it said, 'Take

care of the shillings, and the pounds will take care of themselves;' but

this will not hold good in every instance--as was the case with my

father. He appeared to be one of those who did not stop to consider the

value between a pound and a shilling. He was naturally a man of a strong

intellect and a sound judgment; but his impulses were stronger still. He

was a being of impulses. They hurried him away, and he stopped not to

consult with calmer reason. With him to feel was to act. He generally

saw and repented his error, before another had an opportunity of telling

him of it, but not before it was too late; and these self-made

discoveries never prevented him from falling into the same errors again.

In the kindliness of his own heart he took _all_ mankind to be good; he

believed them to be better than they really were; or rather he believed

no man to be a bad man until he had found him to be so. Now, sir, when I

say that in this respect my father exercised too much both of faith and

charity, thou must not think that I am shut up here like a cynic in this

mountain solitude, to inflict upon every passenger my railings against

his race. On the contrary, I have seen much of the world, and

experienced much of its buffetings, of its storms, its calms, and its

sunshine; I have also seen much of men; and I have seldom, I would

almost say, I have never, met with one who had no redeeming quality.

But, sir, I have seen and felt enough, to trust no man far until I have

proved him. Yet my father was many times deceived, and he trusted again;

and, if not the same parties, others under the same circumstances. He

could not pass a beggar on the highway without relieving him; and, where

he saw or heard that distress or misery existed, it was enough for

him--he never inquired into the cause He was bringing up his family,

not certainly in affluence, but in respectability; but his unthinking

generosity, his open hand, and his open-heartedness, were frequently

bringing him into trouble. One instance I will relate; it took place

when I was a lad of eighteen. There resided in our neighbourhood an

extensive manufacturer, who employed many people, and who was reputed to

be very rich. He was also a man of ostentatious piety; and, young as I

then was, his dragging forward religion in every conversation, and upon

all occasions, led me to doubt whether he really had anything of

religion in his heart. There were many, also, who disputed his wealth.

But my father and he were as brothers. We perceived that he had gained

an ascendancy over him in all things; and often did my mother

remonstrate with him, for being, as she said, led by a stranger, and

caution him against what might be the consequences. For I ought to

inform you, that the manufacturer had been but a few years in

Cumberland, and no one knew his previous history. But my father would

not hear the whisper of suspicion breathed against him.

"My mother was a native of Dumfriesshire; her ancestors had taken a

distinguished part in the wars of the Covenant; and, one evening, I was

reading to her from her favourite volume, "_The Lives of the Scots

Worthies_," when my father entered, and sat down in a corner of the room

in silence, and evidently in deep sorrow. He leaned his brow upon his

hand, and his spirit seemed troubled."

"William," said my mother, addressing him, "why do ye sit there? What

has happened? There is something putting ye about."

He returned no answer to her inquiries; and approaching him, and taking

his hand in hers, she added--"Oh! there is something the matter, or ye

would never sit in that way, and have such a look. Are ye weel enough,

William--or what is it?"

"Nothing! nothing!" said he. But the very manner in which he said it,

and the trembling and quavering of his voice, were equivalent to

saying--"Something! something!"

"Oh, dinna say to me, nothing!" said she; "for there is a something, and

that is evident, or ye would never sit as ye are doing."

He struck his clenched hands upon his brow, and exclaimed--"Do not

torment me!--do not add to my misery!"

"William! William!" cried my mother, "there is something wrong, and why

will ye hide it from me? Have I been your wife for twenty years, and ye

say I torment ye now, by my anxiety for your weelfare? O William! I am

certain I didna deserve this treatment from you, neither did I think

that ye were capable of acting in such a manner. What is it that is

troubling ye?"

"Nancy," he cried, in the vehemence of despair, "I have ruined you!--I

have ruined my family! I have ruined my earthly comfort, my peace of

mind, and my own soul!"

"Oh, dinna talk in that way, William!" she cried; "I ken now that

something serious has happened; but, oh! whatever it be, let us bear it

like Christians, and remember that we are Christians. What is it,

William? Ye may confide in your wife now?"

"Nancy," said he, "I never was worthy of such a wife. But neither look

on me, nor speak to me with kindness. I have brought you to beggary--I

have brought my family to beggary--and I have brought myself to

everlasting misery and despair!"

"O my dear!" said she, "dinna talk in such a heathen-like manner. If it

be the case that we have lost all that we had, there is no help for it

now; but I trust, and am assured, that ye will not have lost it in such

a way as to make your family hang their head among folk, in remembrance

of their faither's transaction. I am certain, already, that it is your

foolish disposition to be everybody's friend, that has brought this upon

ye. A thousand times have I warned ye of what, some day or other, would

be the upshot; but ye would take no admonition from me."

"Oh!" added he, "I have misery enough, and more than enough, without

your aggravating it by your dagger-drawing reflections."

He sat groaning, throughout the night, with his hand upon his brow; but

the real cause of his misery he would not explain, farther than that he

had brought himself and his family to ruin. But, with sunrise, the tale

of our undoing was on every tongue; and all its particulars, and more

than all, were not long in being conveyed to us. For a tale of distress

hath the power of taking unto itself wings, and every wind of heaven

will echo it, let it come whence it may, and let it go where it may. I

beheld, and I heard my mother doomed to receive the doleful

_congratulations_ of her friends--the prompt expression of their

sympathy for her calamities. It was the first time, and it was the last,

that many of them ever felt for human wo. But there are people in this

world, who delight to go abroad with the tidings of tribulation on their

tongue, and whose chief pleasure is to act the part of Job's comforters,

or, I might say, of his messengers.

We learned that my father's bosom friend, the professedly wealthy and

pious manufacturer, had been declared a bankrupt, and that my father had

become liable on his account to the amount of two thousand pounds. His

unguided generosity had previously compelled him to mortgage his

property, and this calamity swallowed it up. Never will I forget the

calmness, I might call it the philosophy, with which my mother received

the tidings.

"I am glad," said she to the individual who first communicated to her

the tidings, "that my children will have no cause to blush for their

father's misfortunes; and I would rather endure the privations which

those misfortunes may bring upon us, than feel the pangs of his

conscience who has brought them upon his friend."

My father sank into a state of despondency, from which it required all

our efforts to arouse him; and his despondency increased, when it was

necessary that the money for which he had become liable, should be paid.

The estate, which had been in the possession of his ancestors for a

hundred and fifty years, it became necessary to sell; and when it was

sold, not only to the last acre, but even to our household furniture, it

did not bring a sum sufficient to discharge the liabilities which he had

incurred. Well do I remember the soul-harrowing day on which that sale

took place. My father went out into the fields, and, in a small

plantation, which before sunset was no longer to be his, sat down and

wept. Even my mother, who hitherto had borne our trials with more than

mere fortitude, sat down in a corner of the house, upon the humblest

chair that was in it, and which she perhaps thought they would not sell,

or that it would not be worth their selling, and there, with an infant

child at her bosom, she rocked her head in misery, and her secret tears

bedewed the cheeks of her babe.

That night, my father, my mother, and their children, sought refuge in a

miserable garret in Carlisle. I, as I have already said, was the eldest,

and perhaps the change in their circumstances affected me most deeply,

and by me was most keenly felt.

Through yielding to the influence of feelings that were too susceptible,

my father beheld his family suddenly plunged into destitution. It was a

sad sight to behold my brothers and my sisters, who had ever been used

to plenty, crying around him and around my mother, for bread to eat,

when they were without credit, and their last coin was expended. My

father did not shew the extreme agony of his spirit before his children,

but he could not conceal that it lay like a cankerworm in his breast,

preying upon his vitals. His strength withered away like a leaf in

autumn; and what went most deeply to my mother's heart was, that he

seemed as if ashamed to look his family in the face; and he appeared

even as one who had committed a crime which he was anxious to conceal.

My mother, however, was a woman amongst ten thousand. Never did the

slightest murmur escape her lips, to upbraid my father for what he had

brought upon us; but, on the contrary, she daily, hourly, strove to

cheer him, and to render him happy--to make him forget the past. But it

was a vain task; misery haunted him by night and by day; there was

despair in his very smile, and the teeth of self-reproach entered his

soul. He was a man who had received more than what is called a common

education; and a gentleman who had been his schoolfellow, and known him

from his childhood, and who resided much abroad, appointed him to be his

land steward. The emoluments of the office were not great, but they were

sufficient to keep his family from want.

Under the circumstances in which they were now placed, I was too old to

remain longer as a burden upon my parents. I therefore bade them a fond,

a heart-rending farewell; and with less than four pounds in my pocket,

took my passage from Whitehaven to Liverpool, from whence I was to

proceed by land to London. Liverpool was then only beginning to emerge

into its present commercial magnitude; and I carried with me letters to

two merchants there, the one residing in Poole Lane, the other in Dale

Street. Both received me civilly, and both asked me _what I could do?_

It was a question which I believe had never occurred to me before, nor

even to my father, up to the period of my shaking hands with him and

bidding him farewell. I hesitated for a few seconds, and I believe that

upon both occasions I stammered out the word--"_anything_."

"You can do _anything_, can you?" said the first merchant,

sarcastically; "then you are a great deal too clever for me; and I

suspect the situation of a servant of _all work_ will suit you better

than that of a clerk in a counting-house. Pray, are you acquainted with

keeping books?"

I replied that I was not.

"Then," added he, "though you can do everything, that is one thing which

I find you cannot do; and as it is the only thing that would be of any

service to me, I shall not be able to avail myself of your otherwise

universal attainments."

The cold, the sarcastic manner of this gentleman, made my very blood to

freeze within my veins; a cold shivering (I might call it the mantle of

despair) came over me, and my heart failed within me. I, however,

proceeded to Dale Street, and delivered my letter to the other

gentleman. He, as I have already intimated to you, inquired at me what I

could do. And to him, also, my unfortunate answer was "_anything_." He

smiled, but there was a kindness in his smile, and he good-humouredly

asked me what I meant by anything. I was as much at a loss to answer

him, as I had been to answer the merchant I had left.

"Have you ever been in a merchant's office?" he inquired, "or had any

practice as an accountant?"

"No," I replied.

"Then," added he, "I fear it will be difficult to find anything in

Liverpool to answer your expectations, and I would not recommend you to

waste time in it. If I could have promoted your views, I would have done

so most cheerfully; but, as I cannot, here are three guineas--(for from

the manner in which my friend speaks of you in his letter I believe you

to be a deserving youth)--they will help you onward in your journey, and

in London you will meet with many chances of obtaining a situation, that

you cannot find in Liverpool."

I burst into tears as he spoke, and put the money in my hands. The

kindness of the one merchant had affected me more than the chilling

irony of the other. The one roused my indignation, the other melted my

heart. But I was indebted to both; for both had given me a lesson of

what the world was, and both had rendered me more sensible of the

dependence and hopelessness of my situation.

In order to husband my resources, I proceeded to London on foot, and

when I arrived there, I found myself to be like a bird in a wilderness,

or a helmless vessel on a dark sea. The magnitude of the city, its busy

thousands, its groaning warehouses, where the treasures and luxuries of

every corner of the globe are piled together, the splendour of its

shops, the magnificence of its squares, and the lordly equipages which

glittered in the midst of them, moved me not. They scarcely excited my

observation. My soul was filled with thoughts of my own prospects; and I

wandered, dreaming, from street to street, moving at a pace as though I

had been sauntering by the side of one of my native lakes, and I

appeared as the only individual in the great city who had no aim, and no

urgent business which required me to move rapidly, as others did. I

delivered all the letters that I brought with me, and I was again asked,

as I had been in Liverpool--_what I could do?_ But I did not, as I did

there, reply, _anything_. I, however, was puzzled how to answer the

question. The truth was, I was utterly ignorant of business. I had been

brought up amongst those mountains, with merely a knowledge that there

was such a thing. In fact, my ideas of it hardly extended beyond giving

out goods with one hand, and receiving money for them in the other. The

word _commerce_ was to me as a phrase in a dead language. I had fancied

to myself that the sea was a great lake, over the whole expanse of which

I should be able to gaze at once, and see the four quarters of the globe

around it: and my ideas of what ships were, were gathered from the

boats which I had seen upon Keswick. On the day on which I left my

parents' roof, I heard my old schoolmaster console them with the

assurance, that "there was no fear of me, for _I was fit for anything_."

While such testimony, from his lips, comforted them, it cheered me also,

and it caused me to look upon myself as a youth of high promise, and of

yet higher expectations. But now, when I was left to myself, with all my

talents and acquirements ready to be disposed of in any market, I found

that my general qualifications, my fitness for anything, amounted to

being qualified for nothing, when reduced to particulars. Days, weeks,

months passed away, and I was still a wanderer upon the streets of the

modern Babylon.

At length, when ready to lie down and die from hunger and from

hopelessness, I obtained a situation as copying-clerk to a solicitor, at

a salary of ten shillings a-week. In such a city as London, and where it

was necessary to keep up a respectable appearance, this sum might be

considered as inadequate to my wants. But it was not so. During the

first ten weeks, I transmitted two pounds to my parents, to assist them.

I always kept the proverb before my memory, that "a penny hained is a

penny gained;" and I never took one from my pocket, until I had

considered whether or not it was absolutely necessary to spend it. My

food was of the simplest kind; and finding that I could not afford the

expense of an eating-house, it consisted of a half-quartern loaf in the

twenty-four hours, the one half of which was eaten in the morning; the

other in the evening. I "_kitchened_" my loaf, as they say in Scotland,

with a pennyworth of butter, and occasionally with lettuce or a few

radishes in their season; and the beverage with which I regaled myself,

after my meals, was a glass of water from the nearest pump.

Upon this diet I became stouter, and was more healthy for the time, than

ever I had been before; though I believe I have suffered for it since.

It was my duty to lock up the office (or chambers, as they were called)

at night, and to open them in the morning. I had not been many days in

my situation, when the thought struck me, that, by locking myself within

the chambers at night, instead of locking myself out, I might save the

expense of a lodging. Again I said to myself that "a penny hained was a

penny gained," and four chairs in the chambers became my couch, while

the money which I would have given for a lodging was transmitted to my

parents.

I had not been many months in this situation, when it was my fortune to

render what he considered a service to a rich merchant in the city, who

was a client of my employers. He made inquiry at me respecting the

amount of my salary, and concerning my home and relatives. I found that

he was from Westmoreland, and he offered me a situation in his

counting-house, with a salary of eighty pounds a-year. My heart sprang

in joy and in gratitude to my throat at his proposal. I seized his hand

as though he had been my brother. I pressed it to my breast. A tear ran

down my cheek and fell upon it. Even while I held his hand, I fancied to

myself, that I beheld my parents and their children again sitting

beneath the sunshine of independence, and blessing their first-born, who

was "fit for anything."

I entered upon my new situation, and upon my income of eighty pounds

a-year, in a few days, and received a quarter's salary in advance. I

well knew that my father was still oppressed by liabilities, which he

was endeavouring to discharge out of forty pounds a-year, which he

received for his stewardship. I knew, and I felt also, that let a son do

for a parent what he will, he can never repay a parent's love and a

parent's cares. Who could repay a mother for her unceasing and anxious

watchings over us in the helplessness of infancy, or a father, in

providing for all our wants, in teaching us to know good from evil? I

fancied that thirty pounds a-year was enough and more than enough for

all my wants, and I dwelt with fondness on the thought of remitting them

fifty pounds out of my annual salary. Previous to entering the

counting-house of the merchant, my delight at the pleasing anticipations

before me robbed me of sleep, and for the first time caused me to feel

the hardness of my bed upon the chairs of the solicitor's chambers.

However, with a heart overflowing with joy, I entered upon my mercantile

avocations. Then, as I bustled along the streets, I felt within my heart

as though in all London there was none greater than I; I was independent

as the Lord Mayor--as happy as his Majesty. But there was one thing, a

small matter, which I forgot--it was the proverb which I have twice

quoted already, that "a penny hained is a penny gained." On leaving my

occupation as a copying-clerk, I almost unconsciously left also my cheap

and humble diet. My fellow-clerks in the merchant's counting-house dined

every day at a chop-house in Milk Street, and they requested me to join

them. I had no longer an opportunity of eating my half-loaf in secret,

and I accompanied them. Each of us had generally a chop, for which we

paid eight-pence; a fried sole, for which we were charged a shilling;

with a glass of porter during dinner, and a "go" of gin, as it was

called, and sometimes _two_, afterwards. I did not wish to be singular,

neither did I see how I could avoid doing as others did; and, moreover,

I reasoned that, with eighty pounds a-year, I was justified in living

comfortably. But this was not all. My associates were in the habit of

having their crust and cheese, and their glass of porter, in the

forenoons; and I had to join them in this also. And this, too, ran away

with pence which might have been saved. But I had not been long amongst

them, when I found that they had also evening clubs, where they met to

enjoy a pipe and a glass, and hear the news of the day. Unless I joined

one of these clubs, I found that I would be considered as--nobody. I

accompanied a comrade to one of them, and as the glass, the song, and

the merry jest went round, I was as a person ushered into a new world,

delighted with all I saw. I became a nightly attender of the club; and

although I never indulged to excess, I had completely forgotten the

proverb which enabled me to assist my parents when I had but ten

shillings a-week; and therefore it forgot me.

My landlady also informed me, that it was the rule of her establishment

for her lodgers to breakfast in the house, and with this proposal, also,

I deemed it necessary to comply. I had begun to yield to circumstances,

and when, in such a case, the head is once bent, the whole body

imperceptibly becomes prostrate.

But twelve months passed away, and instead of fifty pounds being sent to

my parents, I found my entire eighty not only expended, but that I was

ten pounds in debt. I called myself a fool, a madman, and many other

names; for conscience burned within my bosom, and the glow of shame upon

my cheek. But it was fruitless; a habit had been formed, and that habit

was my master. I had involuntarily become its slave, and wanted

resolution to become its master.

On entering upon my second year, my employer, who still retained a

favourable opinion of me, increased my salary to a hundred a-year. But

even when it had expired, instead of having assisted my parents, I still

found myself in debt. I had left my twenty pounds of additional salary

to take care of themselves, and at the same time I had forgotten to take

care not only of the shillings which composed them, but of the pence

which made up my whole income. I forgot that a hundred pounds quickly

disappears in a free hand, and leaves its owner wondering whither it has

gone. At this period, the letters which I received from my parents

sometimes indirectly hinted at the privations which they were enduring;

but they never requested, or seemed to expect assistance from me. The

consciousness of their circumstances, however, stung me to the soul; but

it did not reclaim me, or turn me from the dark sea of thoughtless

expenditure on which I had embarked. I experienced that a slight thread

is sufficient to lead a man to temptation, but it requireth a strong

cord and a strong hand to drag him again to repentance.

I seldom laid my head upon my pillow but I resolved that, on the

following day, I would reform my course of life, and again practise

economy. But, alas! I "resolved and re-resolved," and lived the same. At

this period, however, my own conscience was my only accuser and

tormentor. For although in a country town my habit of spending every

evening with a club, at a tavern, might have been registered against me

as a vice, in London it did not so militate, and was neither noted nor

regarded. I was punctual in my attendance at the counting-house--always

clean, and rather particular in my person; (and I must say, that I do

not know a town on the face of the habitable globe, where the

certificate of dandyism, or of something approaching to it, will be of

greater service to a young man than in London. It has struck me a

hundred times, that the two chief recommendations for obtaining a

situation there, are _dress_ and _address_.) I was not exactly what

could be called a good-natured person, but there was a free and easy

something about my disposition, which rendered me a favourite with my

fellow-clerks. I also was pleased with their society, and it was seldom

that I could resist the temptation of accompanying them wheresoever they

went when solicited, and which was in general to all their parties of

pleasure. When I said to myself, in the language of Burns--"Come, go to,

I will be wise," and began to practise retrenchment in one item of my

expenditure, I heedlessly plunged into other sources equally

extravagant. For my old maxim, which had proved a friend to me on my

first coming to London, was completely forgotten; and I neither thought

of saving a penny nor taking care of a shilling. Indeed, so far had I

forgotten these maxims, that on many occasions I reasoned with myself,

saying--"Oh, it is _only_ a shilling or two--there is nothing in that. I

will go, or I will do it." But I forgot the sum to which that _only_,

repeated three hundred and odd times in the year, amounted. In short, I

had fallen into a habit which would have prevented me, had my salary

been a thousand a-year, from being either richer or happier than I was

when I had but ten shillings a-week.

I, however, retained the good opinion of my employer; and in the third

year of my engagement with him, I was sent as supercargo with a vessel

to South America. It was to be a trading voyage, and the appointment

conferred upon me was an honour which caused me to be envied by the

other clerks in the counting-house. Some of my seniors sneered at my

inexperience, and said I would bring home a "precious cargo, and a

profitable account of my transactions." Those who were nearer my own age

saw nothing in me that I should have been chosen by our employer, and

they agreed that he had preferred me, merely because I was a Border man

like himself. In truth, I wondered at his choice myself; for I was

conscious of but few qualifications for the task imposed on me,

although, three years before, I was thought, and considered myself--"fit

for anything."

It was understood that our voyage would occupy between two and three

years; and in order that I might provide myself with everything

necessary for my lengthened travels on the sea, and my dealings on

shore, my employer placed in my hands two hundred and fifty pounds,

independent of letters of credit to foreign merchants, in various ports,

in which I was to transact business.

But, on the very day on which I received the two hundred and fifty

pounds, and about five days before I was to leave England, I received a

letter from my father, to the following import:--

"MY DEAR SON,--It pains me to be the bearer to you of evil

tidings, and the more so, as I know that they can only grieve

you, and that it is not in your power to remove their cause.

Yet it is meet that you should know of them. You knew, and felt

the the effects of the misfortunes which, a few years ago,

overwhelmed me; but you knew not their extent. They still weigh

me to the earth--they blast my prospects, and render powerless

my energies. Yet there is no one whom I can accuse for my

misfortunes; they, and the distresses of my family, are the

work of my own hands. To-morrow I will be the inmate of a

prison, for a debt of two hundred pounds, which still hangs

over me. Your poor mother, and your brothers and sisters, will

be left with no one to provide for them. Think of them, my dear

son, and, if it be in your power, assist them."

Such was my father's letter, and every word in it went to my bosom as a

sharp instrument. I took two hundred pounds from the two hundred and

fifty that had been given to me to provide for my voyage, and

transmitted them to my father, to relieve him from his distress. I

perhaps acted unthinkingly, and sent more than I ought to have sent--but

what will not a son do for a parent when his heart is touched?--and at

all events I acted as he to whom the money was sent would have

acted--from the impulse of the moment; in obedience to the first, the

natural dictates of the heart.

I found that I had deprived myself of the power of obtaining many things

which were necessary for the voyage; but I rejoiced in the thought of

having given liberty to a parent, and happiness to his family; and my

spirit enjoyed a secret triumph, which more than counterbalanced any

trials I might have to endure.

But the day on which I was to leave Old England arrived, and within four

days I saw its white cliffs sink and die away in the distance as a

far-off cloud. We had been seven weeks at sea, when a strange vessel

hove in sight, and made alongside of us. She had a suspicious

appearance, and our captain pronounced her to be a pirate. As she drew

nearer, we could perceive that her crew crowded her deck; and as she

continued to bear down upon us, there could be little doubt of her

intentions. Our deck was cleared, and our few guns put in readiness for

action. We were the heavier vessel of the two, but she carried three

guns for our one, and it was evident that her crew were almost as ten to

one. When the captain had seen everything made ready for action, he

requested me to follow him to the cabin for a few moments, and when

there he said--"Robert," for my Christian name I will communicate to

you, "the pirate which is now bearing down upon us, is making three

knots for our two. Within a quarter of an hour you will hear her shot

whiz over us. I don't care so much for both our lives being endangered,

for I know that already both our lives are _sold_; but I regret the

issue of this _venture_ for your sake and for my own, and also for that

of our owner, for I am certain it would have proved a good one to us

all. However, we must all heave-to in deep water or in shallow water

some time or other, and the tide has overtaken you and me to-day.

Therefore, my lad, don't let us look miserable about the matter. Only I

have to tell you, (lest I should be one of the first to be swept off the

deck when the business of the day begins,) that our old owner who,

Heaven bless him! is a regular trump, said to me, just as I had got my

papers from the Custom House, and he was shaking hands with me--'Tom,'

said he, (for the old fellow always called me Tom,) 'look after that

supercargo of mine that you've got on board. He is a countryman of my

own. He does not know it, but his father and I used to paddle on Keswick

lake together. I have liked him on that account since the first day I

clapped my eyes on him, and therefore I took him into my employ. But,

though he didn't think that I saw it, I saw that the chaps of London

were too much for him. Therefore, I say, Tom,' said he, 'if you see him

like to go too far, for the love I bear the boy, bring him up with a

short cable.' Such, you see, my lad, is the love which our old owner has

for you; and though you may have found him a little gruff now and then,

(as I have done myself,) depend upon it he is a regular trump at the

bottom. Therefore, I say, let us fight for him now, as better is not to

be, until we go to the bottom."

I felt a glow about my heart on account of the kindness of my master,

and especially when I found that he was aware of more than I thought he

had discovered of my conduct while in London; but it was no time to

indulge in a reverie of gratitude, when every moment I expected to hear

a twenty-four pounder boom over our deck, and that, too, from the deck

of a pirate, who did not chalk up mercy as one of his attributes.

I went upon deck with our captain, and I had not been there for five

minutes, when a shot from the pirate damaged our rigging. At the same

time she hoisted the black flag.

"It is all up, Bob," said our commander, addressing me; "let us die

manfully. If I die first, sink the vessel before she fall into their

hands."

"Trust to me, captain," cried I; "I will see that all is right. We shall

win the day, or go to the bottom."

"Bravo! my hearty!" he exclaimed; "I wish you had been a sailor!"

The action now began in good earnest, and was kept up on either side

with unyielding determination. But they fired three guns for our one,

and ever and anon they made an attempt to board us. Our crew consisted

of but fourteen men and three boys--the commander, the mate, and myself

included. The mate fell at the first broadside which our enemy poured

into us. We maintained the unequal fight for near an hour, when our

captain also fell, calling out to me--"Stand out, Bob!--sink her, or

beat them!"

"I will, captain!" cried I; but I don't believe that he lived to hear

what I said to him. Our ship's company was reduced to five able men, and

I lay amongst the wounded upon deck. We were boarded, overpowered in a

moment, and our vessel became the prize of the pirates. The dead, and

some of the wounded amongst our crew, were thrown overboard upon the

instant. My appearance pleaded for me with the murderers, (even as I

have said, appearance pleads with a prevailing intercession on most

occasions in London,) and in a state of unconsciousness I was borne on

board their vessel. When I raised my eyes and became conscious of my

situation, the pirate captain stood over me. My wounds had been bound

up, and I aroused myself, and rose up in pain as one awoke from a dream.

"Your name!--your name!" said he, addressing me.

"Ha! we are captured, then!" replied I; "my name is of small

consequence--I am your victim."

"Speak!" he cried vehemently--"you wrong me. You are our captives, but I

wish to know _your_ name. You are an Englishman--are you from

Cumberland?--Were you not at the school of old Dominie Lindores?"

"I am--I was!" I gasped in agony.

"And do you," he continued, "do you remember the boy, who, before he was

eighteen, and while he was a boarder at the school, ran to Gretna with

an heiress from a neighbouring seminary."

"I do!--I do remember it!" I cried.

"And what," he exclaimed--"_what was his name_?"

"Belford!" said I.

"Belford!" he cried--"it was indeed Belford. I am not deceived! You are,

indeed, my countryman. You are younger than I, but I remember you; I am

the Belford of whom you have spoken. For auld lang syne, and for the

sake of bonny Cumberland, no harm shall happen unto you, nor to any of

your comrades. I have but one thing to say to you--_be obedient_."

Pained and wounded as I was, I remembered him. I recollected him as

having been a boy, some six years older than myself, at the same school,

and in a senior class. But when I would have questioned him, he placed

his fingers upon his lips, and said--"Speak no more to me at present. Do

as I have said--_be obedient_."

I thought it a strange thing to be placed a prisoner under the hatches

of an old schoolfellow; but the assurance that he and I had trembled

under the same birch, and played on the same hill-side together, gave

me, with his promise of safety, some consolation. My hands were

permitted to be at liberty, but my feet were ordered to be kept in

irons; and when I went upon the deck I could not step more than six

inches at a time. I knew not how my fellow-prisoners fared, for I never

saw them.

One day I was requested, or rather I ought to say, ordered, to dine with

the pirate-captain.

"Your name is Robert," said he to me; and I answered that it was.

"Well," he continued, "I wish to save your life, and if it were possible

I would spare also your comrades. But there would be danger in doing so,

and my fellows, whom I must sometimes humour, are to a man against it. I

will try however, either to place you on board a vessel that is not

worth shot, or on some island where you are certain of being picked up.

In the meantime, here is a purse for you, which, you will find will do

you more good on shore than any services of mine. A father and a

mother's care," he added, "I have never known, and from rumour only do I

suppose who my parents were. I owe mankind nothing for the kindness

they have shewn me; and the same love and mercy which I have received

from them, I have measured out to them again. Farewell!" he said, and

left me.

I knew that he was the reputed son of a gentleman who had held extensive

possessions in Cumberland, but that something of mystery hung over his

birth, and that it was reported cruel and unjust means had been resorted

to, to deprive him of his lawful inheritance.

His words produced no pleasant feeling in my mind. I found myself in the

situation of a person who was pinioned to a certain spot, with a sword

suspended over his head by a single hair. But while he spoke I fancied

that I heard the sighs of a female in distress. When he left me they

were repeated more audibly. I went towards a door in the cabin, which

led to an apartment from whence the sound seemed to proceed. I attempted

to open the door of the chamber, which was unlocked, and I entered it.

Before me sat a lady whose age appeared to be below twenty. She raised

her eyes towards me as I entered, and tears ran down her cheeks. Till

then I had never seen a face so beautiful, and, I will add, or felt

beauty's power--I felt as if suddenly ushered into the presence of a

being who was more than mortal.

Our interview I will not describe. We spoke little; and the words which

we did speak were in low and hurried whispers. For we heard the sound of

our tyrant's feet pacing over our head, and to have found us in

conversation together might have been death to both. Almost without

knowing what I said, or for lack of other words, I spoke of the

possibility of our escape. A faint smile broke through her tears, and

she twice waved her hand silently, as if to say, "It is hopeless!--it is

hopeless!"

From that moment she was present in all my thoughts, when awake she

became the one idea of my mind, and in sleep she was the object of my

dreams. As I was indulged with some degree of liberty, we met

frequently, and although our interviews were short, they were as "stolen

water," or as "bread eaten in secret." Their existence was brief, but

their memory long. I had informed her of my early acquaintance with the

pirate commander, and of all that passed between us from the time of my

becoming his prisoner. And when she had heard all, even she indulged in

the dream that our escape might be possible.

It was about a week after my discovery of the fair captive, that I

ascertained that two of those who had become prisoners with myself had

joined the pirates, and the others had been cast into the sea. My fate

their captain still left undecided. My anxiety to escape increased

tenfold; but how it was to be accomplished, was a question which for

ever haunted me, but which I could never answer.

One day we came in contact with a Dutch lugger, laden with Hollands. The

pirates boarded her, but they only _bled_ the vessel, as they termed it;

they did not take the whole cargo. With what they did take, however,

they made a merry carousal; they first became uproarious in their mirth,

and eventually they sobered down into a state in which a child might

have bound them. I observed the change that was wrought upon them--I saw

the advantage I had gained. My thoughts became fixed upon how to profit

by it.

It was midnight--the moon of an eastern sky flashed upon the sea--the

very waters of the mighty deep moved in silence. The few stars that were

in the heavens were reflected back from its bosom. On board the vessel

not a living creature stirred; the very man at the helm had fallen down

as if dead. With the fetters upon my feet, I stood alone, the master of

a dead crew. I seized an instrument that lay upon the deck, and

endeavoured to unfasten the irons that fettered me. I succeeded in the

attempt. It was with difficulty that I restrained from bursting into a

shout of joy. But I recollected my situation. I stole on tiptoe to the

cabin--I opened the door of the apartment where the fair captive was

confined.

"Our hour is come," I whispered in her ear; "we must escape--follow me."

She started, and would have spoken aloud, but I placed my fingers on her

lips, and whispered--"Be silent."

"I come, I come," she said. She followed me, and we ascended to the

deck, and stood alone in the midst of the wild ocean, without knowing

whither to direct our course. I unfastened the stern-boat, and lowered

it into the sea. I descended into it with her beneath my arm, and

cutting asunder the rope with which I had fastened it, I pulled away

from the vessel, which was unto us both a prison-house. My arm was

nerved with the strength of despair, and within a few hours I had lost

sight of the pirate-ship. At daybreak on the following day, we were

alone in the midst of the vast and solitary sea; and desperate as our

situation then was, I felt a glow of happiness at the thought that I

should be enabled either to save her life, or to risk mine to save her

in whom, from the time that I had first seen her, my whole soul had

become involved. I now felt and knew that it was in my power to serve

her, that our fates were united; and, when I beheld her alone with me

upon the wide ocean, I felt as though her life had been given into my

hands, and we both were secure. The thought in which I indulged was

realized. We had scarce been twelve hours upon the sea, when a vessel

passed us at the distance of scarce a mile. I made signals, that she

might discover us, and they were observed. She was bound for London, and

we were taken on board. I may say that it was now that my acquaintance

with the fair being whom I had rescued from the hands of those who would

have destroyed her began. Her beauty grew upon my sight as a summer sun

increaseth in glory; and the more that I beheld it, the more did I

become enchained by its power. It was now, for the first time, that I

ventured to make inquiry concerning her name and birth; when I

ascertained that her name was Charlotte Hastings; and, upon further

inquiry, discovered that she was the niece, and the supposed heiress, of

the merchant in whose employment I was. On making this discovery, my

tongue became dumb. I felt that I loved her because I had delivered her

from death, or from what would have been worse than death. But when I

knew that she was my superior in circumstances--the heiress of him in

whose employment I was--I stood before her and was dumb. But there was a

language in my eyes, while my tongue was silent; and though I spoke not,

I had reason to know that she understood its meaning--for often I found

her dark eyes anxiously fastened upon me; and while she gazed, the tears

stole down her cheeks.

We arrived in London. On the day of our arrival, I went towards her, and

said--"Madam, we must part."

"Part!" she exclaimed, "wherefore?--tell me wherefore?"

"There is a gulf between our stations," I answered, "which I cannot

pass." She then knew nothing of my being but a clerk in her uncle's

office, and I was resolved that she never should know. "Charlotte," I

said, on first addressing her after landing, "fate has cast us

together--in some degree it has mingled our destiny; yet we must part.

Fate has gamboled with us--it has mocked us with a child's game. We must

part now, not to meet again. Farewell! I could have dreamed in your

eyes--yea, I could have lived in the light that fell from them; but,

Charlotte, it was not to be my lot--that happiness was reserved for

others. We came to this country together; the wind and the waves spared

us, and wed us. The troubled sea did not divide us. We escaped from the

hands of our destroyers, and fate recorded us as one. But it may be

necessary that we should part--for I know the difference between our

stations; and, if it be so, despise not him that saved you."

Her uncle heard of our captivity and escape with the coldest

indifference. Not a muscle of his face moved. The variation of a

fraction in the price of the funds would have interested him more.

"I thank you," said he, "for having restored my kinswoman to freedom.

Hereafter, it may be in my power to reward you for the act. In the

meantime, you must undertake another voyage to the Brazils, which I

trust will prove more fortunate than your last."

I had only been fourteen days in London, when, another vessel being

fitted out, I was ordered again to embark. During that period, and from

the day that I conducted her to her uncle's house, had not been

permitted to see the fair being whom I had rescued; nor did my employer,

though I saw him daily, once mention her name to me, or in any way

allude to her. Yet, during that period, by day and by night, her image

had been ever present to my thoughts. There was a singularity in the

conduct of the merchant, with regard to her, which surprised me. I

resolved, before my departure, to ask his permission to bid her

farewell. I did so.

"Young man," replied he, "romantic thoughts do not accord with the

success of a merchant, and with romantic adventures he has but little to

do. You imagine that you love my niece, and she perhaps entertains the

same foolish thoughts concerning you. It is a delusion arising from the

circumstances under which you became acquainted; but it will pass away

as a reflection from the face of a mirror, and leave no trace of

existence. When you return you may see her again, but not now."

Lovers are proverbial for their lack of patience, and this assuredly

was putting mine to trial. But I knew the temper of the man with whom I

had to deal, and, yielding to necessity, I sailed without seeing her.

I had been absent for more than two years, and prospered exceedingly in

all my dealings. On my return homeward, I had to visit Genoa. On the day

of my arrival there, a person accosted me on the street by name. Without

seeing the speaker when he accosted me, I started at his voice, for I

remembered it well. It was Belford the pirate.

"Well," said he, in a sort of whisper, "I give you credit for the manner

in which you effected your escape. But you robbed me of a prize which

should not have been ransomed for less than a thousand pounds. And,

before we part," added he gravely, "you shall give me your hand and seal

to pay me that sum on the day that she becomes your wife."

I could not forbear a smile at the strange demand, and said that it

should be readily complied with, if ever the event of which he spoke

took place; but of that, I assured him, there was but small hope.

"Fool!" said he, "know you not that the old merchant, her father,

intends that you shall be wed on your arrival in England? And think you

that I know not that you are to succeed him in business?"

"Her father!" I exclaimed--"of whom do you speak? I know him not. Or do

you speak only to mock me?"

"By my right hand," said he, "I speak seriously, and the truth. She

believes, and you believe that she is the niece of old Hastings, your

master. She is his daughter--the only daughter of a fair but frail wife,

who eloped from him while his child was yet an infant, leaving it to his

care. In order to forget the shame which his frail partner had brought

upon him, he, from that day, refused to see his child, lest her features

should remind him of her mother. The girl was sent to Boulogne, where

she remained till within two months of the time when you saw her on

board of my good privateer. You look astonished," added he--"does my

narrative surprise you?"

"It does indeed surprise me," I replied; "but how come you to know these

things?"