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22 MABOONEB’S ISLAND ; OR, Dr. Gordon in Search of His Children. BY REV. F. R. GOULDING, Author of “ The Young Maroonera.” CHAPTER 111. NEWS BY THE CUTTER. doubt, the cutter Jaek sou,” said the Major, as rapid steps he and l Dr. Gordon made their jjlraiLa! way to the beach. “ She is ex- P with Government dis patches, and supplies for our Mpj?? garrison. And, since she is di rect from both Charleston and Savannah, it is possible, Doctor, that she may have letters for you as well as for me.” “ I shall greatly prize my mail,” re sponded Dr. Gordon; “ yet my interest in the cutter at this moment is paramount to any reasons connected with news from home. She has probably passed over the very track pursued by my fugitives; and if she has not been fortunate enough to have given them a passage back, I can not but hope that she is able to tell us something about them.” “Why did I not think of this myself?” rejoined the other, in a tone of self-re proach. By the time they reached the low bluff the approaching vessel had passed so far to seaward on her larboard tack as to present to their sight her full broadside, with black hull, raking masts, and well defined port-holes. Every one recognized her as a cutter, the cutter Jackson. “All aboard! Shove off!” were orders issued in rapid succession. Officers and men were in their seats, except the two belonging forward. They were standing in the water until the bow of the boat had been lifted from its bed in the sand, and was clearly afloat, when they leaped lightly in and also took their places ; and then the short and sharp “ Give way, men,” brought the oars to work with such vigor and concord as to make all feel the successive impulses with which they shot along the surface of the water, until they had rounded a projecting shoal, when the sail was again raised, the oars were un shipped, and they glided noiselessly and swiftly on their way. Less than an hour’s time brought the two parties together. The topsails of the cutter had been backed by a signal from the barge, bringing her to an almost dead halt upon the water, and a ladder of rope had been thrown over the vessels side, by which Dr. Gordon and the Major ascend ed to the deck, and received a cordial BURKE’S WEEKLY. greeting from Capt. Randolph and his courteous lieutenants in command. The question was not asked whether the wanderers were aboard; they were not to be seen, nor was the boat aboard or in tow. The captain and his lieuten ants, however, who became instantly in terested in the case, gave an account of what they had seen. “About 2 o’clock, yesterday,” said the captain, “ while we lay'becalmed about fifty miles south of this, the watchman sans: out 1 Signal ahead !’ and soon after wards added, in a tone of wonder, ‘ Sail boat running without wind or oars !’ “We all gathered to the starboard to see this strange sight, when sure enough our glasses showed us, about three miles ahead, between us and shore, a masted boat heading south and in rapid motion. There were four persons aboard, one of w T hom wms a female and another a little boy. Something white had been run up to the mast-head to attract our attention, and we could see the smoke of several guns, though the distance was too great for the sound to reach us. Lieut. Somers said he saw the little boy holding out his hands, as if begging us to help them. “ I instantly ordered a boat to be low ered and manned with six strong oars men, to intercept and help them as they passed, and at the same time had a signal run up and two cannons fired, to show them that they had been seen. “We were for a while at a loss to ac count for the mysterious motion of the boat, until an old salt belonging to these waters explained it by saying that the anchor had probably been tripped by a devil fish, which had become frightened and dragged the boat to sea. Now, we are all familiar with this trick of that stupid fish, and we know that it abounds in these waters, and that it is strong enough, too, in many instances, to run off with a boat of that size, (for I myself harpooned one out of a school in St. Jo seph’s Bay that measured twenty feet across the wings,) but we doubted whe ther they were ever seen so late in the season. Moreover, we could not but wonder why, if, this surmise of the sailor were correct, the people aboard had not freed themselves by cutting the cable.” “The cable was a chain,” Dr. Gordon explained, “strongly linked and firmly stapled, to resist robbery. The young folks had no tools aboard that could cut or break it. But pray go on with your account.” “From the time we first saw the signal until the time the yawl started in pursuit, could not have been more than ten min xes; yet it was manifest by the change of place that the boat was moving through the water at a rate so fast that our only chance of intercepting her was by keep ing w T ell ahead and nearer shore. Unfor tunately, however, for the help intended, there came down such a shower of rain, attended with thunder and lightning, I that—” At this moment the captain observed an expression of great anxiety overspread the face of his listener, who at the same time noticed a significant glance exchan ged by the lieutenants, and he hastily added, “There was no wind though ; at least none that a boat so steady as that would feel; only the little out-rider that you may always see, on land and water, pre ceding a shower, and which seems to be a blast caused by the fall of rain. I am pretty sure that, although the rain was quite heavy all around the cutter, it did not extend half way to the boat. What do you say, Lieut. Somers ?” he asked, addressing the pleasant looking young man at his side. “I am as sure as I can be of anything two miles away,” he replied, “that not a drop of rain reached the boat; and as for wind, there was barely enough to shake our sails for ten or fifteen minutes.” With these assurances Dr. Gordon seemed relieved and the captain continued: “By the time the rain cleared away, the boat had passed beyond reach, and, indeed, beyond sight, for there w'as a slight mist or fog sufficient to conceal ev erything at the distance of a mile. We, however, did not give up the boat and its crew for a long time after it disappeared, but every once in a while we fired a gun to show wrhere we were, and to let them know that we were ready to do what we could for their relief. “The last that any of us saw of them was about four o’clock in the afternoon, or later. The mist which still hung over the sea near us had cleared away in the south, and the man in the foretop said he saw, far away down the coast, something that looked like the spread of a small sail glancing in the light of the almost setting sun. “Sorry I am, Doctor,” the captain said, in conclusion, “that I can give no better account of our attempt to succor your young folks. I feel almost certain, how ever, from what was reported by our look out in the foretop, that they succeeded at last in getting loose from the devilfish, and that long before night they had safe ly landed (for they were not more than five or six miles from shore) and that by this time they have again spread their sail on their return home.”