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346 Written for Burke’s Weekly. The. Sailor'Boys. HE boys who to the sea go down i-jlvx In ships that are strong and fleet, (MSy Have less than you of joy to crown CUfg* The wanderings of their feet. Rough and rude is their life in port, oT 5 Whilo the freights go out and in; * They have not much of work or sport That is not mixed up with sin. “ 0 heave ahoy ! 0 heave ahoy! And now pull, my hearties, strong!” These are the words the sailor boy Doth sing for his daily song. And when he is out upon the sea The ship is his only home ; There is no place to which to flee When the strong temptations come. But with Christ (a sure refuge then,) And the Bible for his friend, Though the ship were a lion’s den, He could life and soul defend. Yet there no altar fires burn bright, No church-bell sendeih abroad The welcome call, at morn and night, For the worship of the Lord. Then pray for sailor boys at sea, From mother and home afar. That the teachings of Christ may be To them as a guiding star. That when Life’s voyage is ended A heaven of bliss they’ll gain, Where joy and peace are not blended With sorrow, and care, and pain. Sidney Herbert. Clayton, Alabama, 1870. Written for Burke’s Weekly. THE ADVENTURES OF BIG-FOOT WALLACE, The Texas Ranger and Hunter. By the Author of “ Jack Dobell; or , A Boy's «. Adventures in Texas." CHAPTER XLIV. SAX LUIS POTOSI QUERETARO —TULI — TIIE BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA —MUR- DER OF CAPT. CAMEROX —ARRIVAL AT THE CITY OF MEXICO—PUT TO WORK OX THE PUBLIC ROAD —HOW WALLACE GOT HIS PAY —HOW OXE OFTHEMEX “PLAY ED HORSE'' —ESCAPE OF PRISONERS — WHY WALLACE WAS CALLED “BIG-FOOT.” “ TEXAS CANNIBALS.” Vyjl HE next morning we took up the line of march for San Luis Potosi, but before leaving the dreary old rancho, we were taken out and drawn up in line in front of the bloody and stiffened forms of our mur dered companions. For what purpose this was done I know not, unless it was to inspire us with a wholesome dread of a similar fate should we ever attempt to rise upon our guard again. In four or five days we arrived at San Luis Potosi, the largest city we had yet seen in Mexico. It has a population of perhaps fifty or sixty thousand. Here we remained several days, during which time our handcuffs, or “bracelets,” as BURKE’S WEEKLY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS. we termed them, which we had worn constantly for more than a month, were taken off. We then went on to Queretaro, also a considerable city ; andjthence on to Tuli, a little village, containing a few hundred inhabitants. At Tuli we were'all crammed into a small room, without ventilation, and came near suffocating before we were liberated. It gave me a vivid concep tion of the horrors of the “ black hole” at Calcutta. At a little place beyond this, the name of which I have forgotten, the gallant Capt. Cameron was taken out and shot by order of Santa Anna. I understood the plea for this second murder was, that in the lottery of the black and white beans, there was a fractional part of our number (not quite ten men) for which no additional black bean had been put in the pot, and Capt. Cameron was shot to make amends for the omission. The truth is, however, the Mexicans were afraid of him, and no doubt had deter mined to put hinVout of the way “ by fair means or foul.” No braver or bet ter man than Capt. Cameron ever lived or died. His death was universally re gretted by the men. In two or three days we arrived at the City of Mexico, and were furnished with quarters in the prison of Santiago, just outside its limits. A description of the city of Mexico has been so often given by those better qualified for such a task than I am that I shall not attempt it. We remained at Santiago but a few days, and were then transferred to the prison of San Angel. Nearly every thing and every place in Mexico is named after some Saint, and among them some of the most unmitigated ras cals I have ever known have rejoiced in the patronymic of “Jesus,” or “Hasoos,” as they pronounce it. From San Angel, at the expiration of nine or ten days, we were taken to Mo lino del Rey, where we were supplied with picks, spades and shovels and put to work on the public road between Tacubaya and the Bishop’s Palace. We remained at the city of Mexico from about the first of May until the last of October, during all of which time we w r ere kept pretty constantly employed on the public works, for which we have never received one dime in the way of compensation to this day. On reflec tion, however, I am wrong in making such an assertion, as far as I am indi vidually concerned, for when General Taylor captured Monterey in 1846, I was amply repaid for all the work Iliad done for the Mexican government, in witnessing the defeat and discomfiture of their “grand army” at that place, to say nothing of a few “pesos” I pick ed up in the row. If the truth must be told, though, we never injured ourselves much by work whilst in Mexico. We resorted to all sorts of expedients that would enable us to slight the tasks imposed on us. For instance, when carrying small rocks or pebbles in the sacks furnished us for that purpose, we would tear holes in them and let our loads drip out gradu ally on the way, so that by the time we arrived at our destination, there proba bly wouldn't be material enough left in our sacks to have made a “dirt-daub er's nest.” On a certain occasion, when we were all employed in transporting earth and other materials from one part of the road to another, the Mexicans hitched up some of our stoutest men to little carts, to enable us to carry on the work more rapidly. Among them was a stout active fellow by the name of J —, who soon became so disgusted with “playing horse” that he resolved to “fly the track.” Whilst the train of carts was traveling slowly along the edge of the embankment, he suddenly pretended to “ take fright” at some ob ject on the roadside, and giving a snort that a mustang wouldn’t have been ashamed of, he started off with his cart at railway speed. In vain the Mexican guard that were stationed along the road at intervals halloed to him to stop, and even placed themselves in his way in their endeavors to arrest his flight. But nothing could stop his headlong career after he had once got his cart fairly under way, for the road was smooth and hard and down hill in the direction he was going. At length he came to a favorable spot, and kicking himself out of his traces, he gave the cart a dexterous twist that sent it whirling down to the bottom of the embankment, where it was dashed to pieces on the rocks. This was all the work of an instant, and continuing his flight dowm the road with increased velocity when freed from the cart, he ran on a hundred yards or so further, when he suddenly halted, whirled round and gave another snort that might have been heard for a mile. I verily believe the Mexicans thought at first that he had run off involuntari ly, supposing, perhaps, it was one of the natural characteristics of the “ wild Texans” to stampede occasionally like wild horses; but when the fun of the thing gradually dawned upon them they laughed heartily, and as soon as the runaway was captured and brought back, instead of punishing him severely, as we anticipated, they gave him his shovel and told him to go, and never afterwards hitched him in the traces again. While in the city of Mexico, nine or ten of our men succeeded in making their escape from prison, and eventual ly the most of them, in various dis guises, from the country. They got out of their cells through a small tunnel they had dug with their knives under the foundations, barely large enough for o«e man to pass through at a time. They worked at this tunnel by turns during the tiight, packing off the dirt and other material excavated in their haversacks, when they went out to their daily tasks. There is no doubt that they .labored much more faithfully at this little private job than they ever did upon the public works. Among the men who escaped was one named Thompson who had played “old soldier” upon the Mexicans the whole time. When we were recaptured in the mountains, he bound up one of his legs with old rags, and Jpretended to be too lame to walk, and the guard was com pelled to furnish him with a horse. He never walked a foot of the way from there to the city of Mexico. The Mexi cans were, therefore, much astonished, when these men made their escape from prison, to find that the “ pobrecito coxo,” as they called him, (the “poor lame fellow,”) Thompson, was one of the number. I knew all the while there was nothing in the world the matter with him, but of course I felt no dispo sition to betray him. It was while we were prisoners at the city of Mexico that I acquired the name of “ Big-Foot,” which has stuck to me like Texas mud ever since. It happen ed in this way. Some of the foreign residents of the city, observing that we were almost in a shoeless condition, made up by contribution among them selves a sufficient sum to purchase a pair of shoes for each of us. Every one was fitted with a suitable pair except myself; but I searched in vain every shop and “tienda” in the city for even a pair of No. ll’s, though 12’s fit me best, and finally I had no alternative left me but to buy the leather and have a pair put up on purpose for me by a “ Zapatero,” or go barefooted. The Mexicans are generally a small people compared with the Americans, and their feet are still smaller in proportion; consequently they were much astonish ed at the size of mine, and from that time forward, and as long as I remained in the city, I was known among them as “ Big-Foot.” I flatter myself, however, that my foot is not a very large one, taking into con sideration the fact that I am just six feet two inches, and weigh upwards of two hundred pounds net. But, even if it were otherwise, there is nothing dis honorable in the appellation, and I would rather be called “ Big-Foot Wal lace” than “Lying Wallace,” or “Thiev ing Wallace.” Such handles to my name would not be agreeable. During our stay in Mexico, on one occasion, when five or six of us were being taken by a guard Irom one part of the city to another for some purpose, a mob of old men, women and boys gathered around us, shouting “Death to the Gringos!” “Down with the here tics,” etc. Our guard endeavored in vain to keep them back, and they were pressing closer and closer upon us in the most threatening manner. At last