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Spring and Summer.
BRING is growing up,
Is not it a pity ?
(C&o 'w She was such a little thing,
UyTy, And so very pretty !
pgiCp Summer is extremely grand,
()) We must pay her duty,
(But it is to little Spring
That she owes her beauty I)
All the buds are blown,
Trees are dark and shady,
(It was Spring who dressed them, though,
Such a little lady !)
And the birds sing loud and sweet
Their enchanting hist'ries,
(It was Spring who taught them, though,
Such a singing mistress!)
From the glowing sky
Summer shines above us:
Spring was such a little dear,
But will Summer love us ?
She is very beautiful,
With her grown-up blisses,
Summer we must bow before ;
Spring we coaxed with kisses 1
Spring is growing up,
Leaving us so lonely.
In the place of little Spring
We have Summer only!
Summer, with her lofty airs,
And her stately paces,
In the place of little Spring,
With her childish graces!
Written for Burke’s Weekly.
MAROONER’S ISLAND ;
OR,
Dr. Gordon in Search of His Children.
BY KEY. F. R. GOULDING,
Author of 1 The Young Maroonera
CHAPTER XXYII.
CHEERY RETURN —JUDY’S WELCOME—SAD
DISAPPOINTMENT FORT BROOKE BAD
NEWS UNEXPECTED JOURNEY EARLY
STEAMBOATS ON TIIE ST. JOHN’S RIVER
TRAVELERS’ RULES AND TRAVELERS’ FARE
IN A WILD COUNTRY.
story has spread over
ff' .Mp|ipj| much ground, and there
jfeJSsOSH remains so much more
to be told, that we are
jyif compelled to pass rapid
ly over the incidents of the next
wS few weeks, and will condense into
Jk the present chapter the history of
* as much time as has been occupied
■with all the previous narrative.
After leaving the island, where the
signs of the young people were so abund
ant and fresh, the two boats moved rapid
ly and cheerily towards Tampa, peeping
into the inlets, and peering over the sand
capped bluffs wherever convenient; but
scarcely devoting to any part what may
be called a fair examination, and at the
same time enlivening their passage with
jest and story and song.
So firmly persuaded were they all of
the young people’s return home, that soon
after entering the Bay, and while Belle
vue was barely within sight, Dr. Gordon
drew out the spy-glass to a nicely-adjust-
BURKE’S WEEKLY.
ed focus, fixed it steadily upon his house
and premises, hoping to have his eyes
gladdened with the familiar form of some
one of those who had been long lost and
now probably restored. Unable, how
ever, to discover any indication of the
kind, he passed the glass to Wheeler,
who, after examining, transferred it to
Wildcat and Somassee. All looked eager
ly, but in vain. The only person they
saw, even when near the landing, was
Judy, who, faithful soul, was hurrying
her old bones down the bluff, waving her
hands in joyful welcome.
“ Huddie, mossa ! huddie ! I so glad to
see you ! ” she said.
“ Thank you, and how-dye back again,”
returned her master, then added in
anxious tones, “I hope the young people
are all with you and well.”
“Eh! eh! my mossa!” she replied, the
tears starting into her eyes, “Wutyou
mean ? No chillun yah !”
The shock created by these words was
visible, not only in Dr. Gordon, but in the
whole company. Wheeler fixed his eyes
on the agitated father, and seeing him
turn pale and tremble from head to foot,
offered him at once his water canteen,
saying in a very confident tone as he did
so,
“They must have passed on to Fort
Brooke. Come, let us go there at once.”
“Maybe we pass em on de way,” sug
gested William. “We been trabbel mighty
fast comin back.”
Dr. Gordon yielded, as best he could, to
these words of hope, but they furnished
little consolation ; for the returning boat,
ingoing to Fort Brooke from the Gulf,
must of necessity have passed Bellevue,
and would doubtless have stopped there
to report; and as for having passed them
on the way, that was possible, but the
hope of it was very forlorn. With spirits
greatly depressed, and with a few sad
words to Judy, explaining the case, and
instructing her wdiat to do if the young
folks should still make their appearance,
the suggestion of Wheeler was adopted,
the sails were once more spread, and the
boats passed on.
The trial of the chief actor in these
scenes was not yet at its end. On reach
ing the Fort, a letter from Charleston
was received, announcing that a rumor of
the accident which had befallen the young
people had reached the city—that every
effort had been made to keep it from the
ears of Mrs. Gordon, but in vain—that
the effect upon her already weakened ner
vous system had been such as to bring
her to death’s door, and that, although
the physician hoped for better things, it
was his opinion that if Dr. Gordon wished
to see her alive, he must return without
delay.
Many persons might suppose that this
new grief would have crushed the afflicted
man to the earth; but it is usually true
of manly spirits that new trials bring out
new energies, and, instead of depressing,
cause them to act with redoubled via-or
It was mid-day of Monday, December
13th, when Dr. Gordon received this dis
tressing intelligence, and by six o’clock
the next morning he was bestriding a
stout Indian pony, with Somassee, simi
larly mounted, as guide and companion
through the Seminole territory, on a
journey to the eastern side of the penin
sula, where he hoped to obtain passage to
Charleston.
His last words to Major Burke, uttered
with almost tearful earnestness in the act
of setting out, were, “Don’t give them
up, cousin ! Don’t let the search even
slacken , because I am not here to push it.
They are almost certainly on the way
here, or have been stopped by some mis
adventure. And may the Lord’s blessing,
and the blessings of those ready to perish,
be with you ! ”
The route pursued by the two travelers
was the same as that so sadly marked a
few years later by the march and mas
sacre of a body of United States soldiers,
under command of the gallant Major
Dade; and they hoped to reach some
place on the river St. John’s where the
Doctor might take passage aboard one or
other of the few little steamboats begin
ning at that time to ply between the set
tlements on that noble river and the sea
board cities of South Carolina and Geor
gia. It was not true, then, as now, how
ever, that the arrival and departure of
boats at the different landings could be
calculated to the hour; they plied there
for produce rather than for passengers,
and being small in size, and furnished
with feeble machinery, w r ere compelled to
be very submissive to all changes of the
wind and weather. The expectation of
finding a boat upon the river, or even at
the seaport, St. Augustine, after his long
overland journey, was very unreliable.
As it was necessary to economize in
the highest degree the traveling powers
of both men and beasts, Dr. Gordon com
menced by making the first day’s journey
quite short, the second longer, and the
third longer still. Each day’s journey
was begun in a slow walk, gradually in
creased to the highest speed which could
be continued, with a few resting spells
throughout the day. The night’s lodging
and accommodation were generally ot a
very simple and unexpensive kind; the
ponies were hobbled and turned loose to