The Young Marooners on the Florida Coast Read online

  CHAPTER I

  THE COMPANY AND THEIR EMBARKATION

  On Saturday, the 21st of August, 1830, a small but beautiful brig leftthe harbour of Charleston, South Carolina, bound for Tampa Bay, Florida.On board were nine passengers; Dr. Gordon, his three children, Robert,Mary, and Frank; his sister's son, Harold McIntosh, and four servants.

  Dr. Gordon was a wealthy physician, who resided, during the winter, uponthe seaboard of Georgia, and during the summer upon a farm in themountains of that beautifully varied and thriving State. His wife was aCarolinian, from the neighbourhood of Charleston. Anna Gordon, hissister, married a Col. McIntosh, who, after residing for twelve yearsupon a plantation near the city of Montgomery, in Alabama, died, leavinghis widow with three children, and an encumbered estate. Soon after herwidowhood, Dr. Gordon paid her a visit, for the two-fold purpose ofcondolence and of aiding in the settlement of her affairs. She was sogreatly pleased with the gentlemanly bearing and the decidedintelligence of Robert, who on this occasion accompanied his father,that she requested the privilege of placing her son Harold under herbrother's care, until some other arrangement could be made for hiseducation. Dr. Gordon was equally prepossessed with the frank mannersand manly aspect of his nephew, and it was with peculiar pleasure thathe acceded to the request. Harold had been with his uncle about a monthprevious to the period at which this history begins.

  Mrs. Gordon was a woman of warm affections and cultivated mind, but offeeble constitution. She had been the mother of five children; but,during the infancy of the last, her health exhibited so many signs ofdecay as to convince her husband that the only hope of saving her lifewas to seek for her, during the ensuing winter, a climate even morebland than that in which she had spent her girlhood.

  Tampa Bay is a military post of the United States. Dr. Gordon hadformerly visited it, and was so delighted with its soft Italian climate,and with the wild beauty of its shores, that he had even then purchaseda choice lot in the vicinity of the fort, and ever after had lookedforward, almost with hope, to the time when he might have some excusefor removing there. That time had now come. And doubting not that therestorative powers of the climate would exert a happy influence upon hiswife's health, he left her with her relatives, while he went to Tampafor the purpose of preparing a dwelling suitable for her reception.

  The accompanying party was larger than he had at first intended. Robertand Harold were to go of course; they were old enough to be hiscompanions; and, moreover, Harold had been sent by his mother for theexpress purpose of enjoying that excellent _home education_ which hadbeen so happily exhibited in Robert. But on mature reflection thereappeared to Dr. Gordon special reasons why he should also take hiseldest daughter, Mary, who was about eleven years of age, and his secondson, Frank, who was between seven and eight. The addition of theseyounger persons to the party, however, did not cause him any anxiety, orany addition to the number of his servants; for he and his wife,although wealthy by inheritance, and accustomed all their lives to thehelp of servants, had educated their children to be as independent aspossible of unnecessary help. Indeed, Mary was qualified to be of greatassistance; for though only eleven years of age, she was an excellenthousekeeper, and during the indisposition of her mother had presidedwith remarkable ability at her father's table. Little Frank was tooyoung to be useful, but he was an obedient, merry little fellow, a greatpet with everybody, and promised, by his cheerful good nature, to addmuch to the enjoyment of the party; and as to the care which he needed,Mary had only to continue that motherly attention which she had beenaccustomed already to bestow.

  To say a word or two more of the youths; Robert Gordon, now nearlyfourteen years of age, had a great thirst for knowledge. Stimulatedcontinually by the instructive conversation of his father, who spared nopains in his education, he drew rapidly from all the sources opened tohim by books, society, and nature. His finely developed mind wasdecidedly of a philosophic cast. Partaking, however, of the delicateconstitution of his mother, he was oftentimes averse to those athleticexercises which became his age, and by which he would have been fittedfor a more vigorous and useful manhood.

  Harold McIntosh, a half year older than his cousin, was, on thecontrary, of a robust constitution and active habit, with but littleinclination for books. Through the inattention of a father, who seemedto care more for manly daring than for intellectual culture, hiseducation had been sadly neglected. The advantages afforded him hadbeen of an exceedingly irregular character, and his only incentive tostudy had been the gratification of his mother, whom he tenderly loved.For years preceding the change of his abode, a large portion of hisleisure time had been spent in visiting an old Indian of theneighbourhood, by the name of Torgah, and gleaning from him byconversation and practice, that knowledge of wood-craft, which nothingbut an Indian's experience can furnish, and which usually possesses soromantic a charm for Southern and Western (perhaps we may say forAmerican) boys.

  The cousins had become very much attached. Each admired the other'sexcellencies, and envied the other's accomplishments; and the parentshad good reason to hope that they would prove of decided benefit to eachother by mutual example.

  Preparing for a winter's residence at such a place as Tampa, where, withthe exception of what was to be obtained at the fort, they would be farremoved from all the comforts and appliances of civilized life, Dr.Gordon was careful to take with him everything which could be foreseenas needful. Among these may be mentioned the materials already framedfor a small dwelling-house, kitchen, and stable; ample stores ofprovisions, poultry, goats (as being more convenient than cows), a pairof horses, a buggy, and wagon, a large and beautiful pleasure boat,books for reading, and for study, together with such furniture as habithad made necessary to comfort.