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10 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—