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servant, but he was decidedly stupid. At
their home in Georgia he had been only a
“ field hand,” and he had accompanied the
party to Tampa as a servant ot all woik,
only because his master was unwilling to
separate husband and wife.
“Judy,” said Dr. Gordon to the first of
these, “you know that I expect a boat
from the Fort this afternoon, to go with
me in search of the children. "\V e may
return to-morrow, or may be absent for
a week, hio doubt the men aboard will
bring their rations with them; but we
must not depend on that. They are go
ing on my business, and it is but right
that they should go at my expense. I
wish, therefore, that you would provide
for them out of my stores, as well as you
can, and especially that you would try
to have something prepared that you
think soldiers would like to eat. Remem
ber that all the provision intended for my
own use during the marooning party has
gone off with the boat, Call upon Peter
for any help that you may need in this
service.”
Peter, in the meantime, stood by listen
ing to what was said, until his master
beckoned to him, saying, “Until Judy
needs your help, come with me, and let
me show you some work that you may
do between this and my return, if I should
be gone more than a day or two.”
He then marked on the ground around
the house the line of a light picket fence
which he knew Peter understood how to
make, and also gave him instructions
about other matters in connection. Du
ring these occupations, however, he could
not resist going every few minutes to the
bluff to see whether there was any sign
of the returning company, or of the boat
expected from Fort Brooke.
Anxiously, too, did he look for the
promised signal by smoke from Eiley’s
Island. So long as the boat containing
William and Sam was in sight, it seemed
to him to move very slowly over the wa
ter. Then as the hour drew near, half
past eleven, when he calculated the boat
ought to reach the Island, it seemed that
the sun and the hands of his watch ac
quired the art of being tardy. Time and
again he had looked for the expected sig
nal, when at the hour of noon, just as ho
was beginning to lose hope, he saw a lit
tle blue haze curling from the right hand
side of the palinettoes on Eiley’s Island,
and soon resolving itself into a smoke.
The sight made his heart beat, for its
meaning was “There is news of the child
ren.” The next moment, however, his
fears gained the mastery, for he said to
himself, “ There is but one smoke. That
is the sign of bad news; at least of none
BURKE’S WEEKLY.
that is good.” But as he looked on and
indulged these troubled thoughts, his at
tention was caught by another curl of
blue that arose from the south side of the
palmettoes, and ho joyfully clasped his
hands, exclaiming, “ That is the sign of
good ! Perhaps my children are recov
ered. Perhaps they are on that Island.
Perhaps they are even now returning
home.”
He kept a close and almost incessant
watch, both by the eye and by the help
of a pocket spy glass —the larger glass
having been put aboard the ill-fated boat;
but no object appeared from seawards
until late in the evening, when he saw at
the mouth of the bay a dark speck that
slowly increased in size. In the course
of time this speck was developed into a
canoe, manned by a solitary boatman,
who wielded his paddle as if weary with
Ions: exertion. Long before he reached
shore, Dr. Gordon knew by the glass that
the boatman was William, his body serv
ant, returning alone from Eiley’s Island.
It was, therefore, probable, nay,
almost certain, that the children had not
escaped, and that Sam had remained to
accompany Eiley on a cruise in pursuit
of them. This conjecture proved true.
William reached home at dark, and re
ported, that the canoe had reached th*
Island in due time, and that he had learned
from Pancheta, Eiley’s wife, that a boat
answering the description of Dr. Gordon’s
had passed the Island about an hour and
a half after sunrise—that Eiley had re
cognized it, conjectured the state of the
case, gone off instantly in pursuit, and
had not then returned ; that they then
gave her Dr. Gordon’s message to Eiley,
and setoff in pursuit of him, first instruct
ing her to make two smokes, as agreed
upon ; that in the course of an hour they
met Eiley returning with the news that
he had tried in vain to overtake the boat
or even to keep in sight of it; that when
they gave him the message and offer about
going in pursuit, he assented, saying,
however, that he must return home for a
larger boat and for provisions, and that
he would leave with Sam the next morn
ing at daylight or before, and follow down
the coapt as far as necessary. He also
reported the surface of the Gulf as being
very calm, and said that Eiley spoke of
the boat as moving with great stiffness
and steadiness upon the water, and that
when last seen she was about four miles
from land, moving as fast as ever.
This account greatly cheered, at the
same time that it greatly troubled, the
mind of the anguished father, because it
proved that, although all was well with
the abducted party when last heard from,
there was no prospect of their release
from the deadly grasp of the devil-fish.
Later still in the evening there was th«
measured sound of oars from the north
east, and at last came the expected barge
from Fort Brooke. It was manned by
six able-bodied oarsmen, and was com
manded by no Uss a person than Major
Burke himself, who being a kinsman of
Doctor, or rather of Mrs. Gordon, felt a
special interest in the family misfortune,
and stretched his prerogative of office so
far as to leave the command of the Fort
to the officer next in rank, while he ac
companied his cousin in the proposed
cruise along the coast. The men were
furnished with rations for ten days, and
they had on board a good supply of arms
and ammunition in case of hostility from
the lawless denizens of that wild and un
frequented shore. The delay in coming
was occasioned by" the absence of the
Major until late in the da}", on business of
the garrison.
Besides the Major and his men there
was on board a warm friend of Dr. Gor
don’s children in the person of a half-breed
Indian boy, who was known by some as
Willie or William Morgan, but who pre
ferred to be known by his Indian fancy
name of Wildcat. His father was an un
fortunate white man of good parts, and,
in general, of good feeling, who having
offended hopelessly against the laws of
his country, had fled from justice and
sought a refuge among the Seininoles.
where he married the beautiful daughter
of a Tustenuggee, or sub-chief, by whom
he had several children. The boy had
formed a strong attachment to Major
Burke ; and, his father and the chief being
both dead, he had asked and received
from his mother permission to come and
serve his military friend in any capacity
in which he might learn more of the
science of war, and fit himself for being
a “ sense-carrier,” or interpreter, between
his people and the government. After
having served for about six months in the
capacity of a page or honorable body
servant, he formed the acquaintance of
Dr. Gordon’s young people. This occur
red about a month before the accident
spoken of in the preceding chapter, and
during a visit made by them to the Fort.
Ilis admiration had been excited to a
very high degree by the “ book-learning ”
of Eobcrt Gordon, and by the wild-woods
knowledge (or as our forefathers called
it, the wood-craft,) of Harold Mclntosh,
the son of Dr. Gordon’s widowed sister.
The two cousins and Wildcat were nearly
of the same age, a little more or less than
fourteen; and* they had been so well
educated in their respective spheres—