The Young Marooners on the Florida Coast Page 7

  CHAPTER IV

  CONFUSION--HOUSEKEEPING IN A HURRY--FIRST NIGHT ON SHORE--COMPANY TODINNER--"BLUE EYED MARY"--ROBERT AT PRAYER-MEETING--DANGER OF DESCENDINGAN OLD WELL--RECOVERING A KNIFE DROPPED IN A WELL

  It is scarcely possible, for one who has not tried it, to conceive theutter confusion which ensues on removing, in a hurry, one's goods andchattels to a place too small for their accommodation. Oh! thewilderness of boxes, baskets, bundles, heaped in disorder everywhere!and the perfect bewilderment into which one is thrown, when attemptingthe simplest act of household duty.

  "Judy," said Mary to the cook, the evening that they landed, and whilethe servants were hurrying to bring under shelter the packages which Dr.Gordon was unwilling to leave exposed to the night air, "Judy, the sunis only about an hour high. Make haste and get some tea ready forsupper. Father says you need not _cook_ anything, we can get along oncheese and crackers."

  Well, surely, it sounded like a trifle to order only a little tea. Marythought so, and so did Judy,--it could be got ready in a minute. Butjust at that moment of unreadiness, there were some difficulties in theway which neither cook nor housekeeper anticipated. To have tea forsupper ordinarily requires that one should have fire and water, and atea kettle and a tea pot, and the tea itself, and cups and saucers andspoons, and sugar and milk, and a sugar pot and milk pot, besides anumber of other things. But how these things are to be broughttogether, in their proper relation, and in a hurry, when they are allthrown promiscuously in a heap, is a question more easily asked thananswered.

  The simple order to prepare a little tea threw poor Judy into a fluster."Yes, misses," she mechanically replied, "but wey I gwine fin' de tea?"

  Mary was about to say, "In the sideboard of course," knowing that athome it was always kept there, when suddenly she recollected that thepresent sideboard was a new one, packed with table and bed clothes, andmoreover that it was nailed up fast in a long box. Then, where was thetea? O, now she recalled the fact that the tea for immediate use wascorked up in a tin can and stowed away together with the teapot andcups, saucers, spoons and other concomitants, in a certain green box.But where was the green box? She and Judy peered among the confusedpiles, and at last spied it under another box, on which was a largebasket that was covered with a pile of bedding.

  Judy obtained the tea and tea-pot and kettle, but until that moment hadneglected to order a fire; so she went to the front door to look for herhusband.

  "Peter!" she called. Peter was nowhere about the house. She saw himbelow the bluff on his way to the landing. So, running a little nearer,and raising her voice to a high musical pitch, she sung out, "Petah-h!OH-H! Petah! Oh! PEE-tah!"

  Peter came, and learning what was wanted, went to the landing for hisax, and having brought her a stick of green oak wood on his shoulder,sallied out once more to find some kindling.

  While he was on this business, Judy prepared to get some water. "Wey mybucket?" she inquired, looking around. "Who tek my bucket? I sho'somebody moob um; fuh I put um right down yuh, under my newcalabash."[#]

  [#] "Where is my bucket? Who has taken my bucket? I am sure somebodyhas moved it, for I put it right down here under my new gourd."

  But nobody had disturbed it. Judy had set it, half full of water, onthe ground outside the door, in the snuggest place she could find; but athirsty goat had found it, and another thirsty goat had fought for it,and between the two, it had been upset, and rolled into a corner whereit lay concealed by a bundle. By the time Judy got another supply ofwater ready it was growing dark. Peter had not made the fire because hewas not certain where she preferred to have it built; so he waited, likea good, obedient husband, until she should direct him.

  In the meantime, Mary was in trouble too. Where was the loaf sugar tobe placed in cracking it, and what should she use for a hammer? Thenthe candle box must be opened, and candles and candle-sticks broughttogether, and some place contrived for placing them after they werelighted.

  But perseverance conquers all things. Tea _was_ made, sugar _was_cracked, and candles were both lighted and put in position. Bed-timecame soon after, and weary enough with their labour, they all laid downto enjoy their first sleep at Bellevue. Mary and Frank occupied apallet spread behind a pile of boxes in one room, while their father andthe older boys lay upon cloaks, and whatever else they could convertinto a temporary mattress, in the other; and the servants tumbledthemselves upon a pile of their own clothing, which they had thrownunder a shelter erected beside the house.

  Early the next morning, two convenient shelters were hastilyconstructed, and the two rooms of the house were so far relieved oftheir confused contents, as to allow space for sitting, and almost forwalking about. But ere this was half accomplished, Mary, whose sense oforder and propriety was very keen, was destined to be thrown into quitean embarrassing situation.

  Major Burke, the commandant of Fort Brooke, was a cousin of Mrs. Gordon,and an old college friend of the Doctor, and hearing by the captain ofthe brig of the arrival of the new comers, he rode over in the forenoonof the next day to see them. Mary's mind associated so indissolubly theidea of _company_, with the stately etiquette of Charleston andSavannah, that the sight of a well-dressed stranger approaching theirdoor, threw her almost into a fever.

  "Oh! father," she cried, as soon as she could beckon him out of the backdoor, "what shall we do?"

  "Do?" he answered, laughing. "Why, nothing at all. What can we do?"

  "But is he not going to dine with us?" enquired she.

  "I presume so," he replied. "I am sure I shall ask him; but what ofthat?"

  "What, father, dine with us?" she remonstrated, "when our only tableunboxed is no bigger than a light stand, and we have scarcely room forthat!"

  "Yes," he said, "we will do the best we can for him now, and hope to dobetter some other time. Perhaps you will feel less disturbed when yourealize that he is your cousin and a soldier. Come, let me make youacquainted with him."

  Mary was naturally a neat girl, and although her hands were soiled withlabour, she was soon ready to obey her father's invitation. Slippinginto the back room, by a low window, she washed her hands and face, andbrushed into order the ringlets that clustered around her usually sunnyface, and then came modestly into the apartment where the two gentlemenwere sitting.

  "John, this is my eldest daughter, Mary," said the Doctor, as sheapproached; "and Mary this is your cousin, Major Burke, of whom you haveheard your mother and me so often speak."

  The two cousins shook hands very cordially, and appeared to be mutuallypleased.

  "She is my housekeeper for the present," her father continued, "and hasbeen in some trouble" (here Mary looked reproachfully at him), "that shecould not give you a more fitting reception."

  "Ah, indeed," said the Major, with a merry twinkle of his eye, "Isuspect that when my little cousin learns how often we soldiers are gladto sit on the bare ground, and to feed, Indian fashion, on Indian fare,she will feel little trouble about giving us entertainment."

  Mary's embarrassment was now wholly dispelled. Her cousin was fullyapprised of their crowded and confused condition, and was ready topartake with good humour of whatever they could hastily prepare.

  The dinner passed off far more agreeably than she supposed possible. Byher father's direction, a dining table was unboxed and spread under theboughs of a magnificent live oak, and Judy, having ascertained where thestores were to be found, gave them not only a dinner, but a dessert toboot, which they all enjoyed with evident relish. Ah!--black and uglyas she was, that Judy was a jewel.

  The Major had come thus hastily upon them for the purpose of insistingthat the whole family should occupy quarters at the Fort as his guests,until the new house, intended for their future reception, should becompleted. To this Dr. Gordon objected that his presence was necessaryfor the progression of the work, but promised that at the earliestperiod when he could be spared for a few days, he would accept theinvitation a
nd bring the young people with him.

  The visitor did not take his leave until the shades of evening warnedhim of the lapse of time. Mary had become much more interested, inconsequence of her first distress and the pleasant termination, than shepossibly could have been without these experiences; and as the wholefamily stood at the front door, watching his rapidly diminishing figure,she perpetrated a blunder which gave rise to much merriment.

  Her father had remarked, "It will be long after dark before he can reachthe Fort."

  Mary rejoined, "Yes, sir, but," looking with an abstracted air, first atthe table where they had enjoyed their pleasant repast, then at thedarkening form of the soldier, and finally at the full moon which beganto pour its silver radiance over the bay, "it will make no differencetonight, for it will be blue-eyed Mary."

  All turned their eyes upon her in perplexity, to gather from hercountenance the interpretation of her language; but Mary was stilllooking quietly at the moon. Harold thought the girl had becomesuddenly deranged.

  Robert, who had observed her abstraction of mind, and who suspected thetruth, began to laugh. Her father turned to her and asked, with a toneso divided between the ludicrous and the grave, that it was hard to tellwhich predominated, "What do you mean by 'blue-eyed Mary'?"

  "Did I say blue-eyed Mary?" she exclaimed, reddening from her temples toher finger ends, and then giving way to a fit of laughter so hearty andso prolonged, that she could scarcely reply, "I meant _moonlight_."[#]

  [#] It is but justice to say that this absurd mistake was _an actualoccurrence_. For many a day afterwards the members of the companypresent on that occasion seldom alluded to moonlight among each other,but by the name of "blue-eyed Mary."

  There was no resisting the impulse, all laughed with her, and longafterwards did it furnish a theme for merriment. Robert, however, wasdisposed to be so wicked on the occasion, that his father deemed itnecessary to stop his teasing, by turning the laugh against him.

  "It is certainly," said he, "the most ridiculous thing I have witnessedsince Robert's queer prank at the prayer-meeting."

  As soon as the word "prayer-meeting" was uttered, Robert's countenancefell.

  "What is it, uncle?" inquired Harold.

  "O, do tell it, father," begged Mary, clapping her hands with delight.

  "About a year since," said Dr. Gordon, "I attended a prayer-meeting inthe city of Charleston, where thirty or forty intelligent people wereassembled at the house of their pastor. It was night. Robert occupieda chair near the table, beside which the minister officiated, and wherehe could be seen by every person in the room: Not long after theminister's address began, Robert's head was seen to nod; and every oncein a while his nods were so expressive, apparently, of assent to theremarks made, as to bring a smile upon the face of more than one of thecompany. But he was not content with nodding. Soon his head fell backupon the chair, and he snored most musically, with his mouth wide open.It was then nearly time for another prayer, and I was very much in hopesthat when we moved to kneel, he would be awakened by the noise. But nosuch good fortune was in store for me. He slept through the wholeprayer; and then, to make the scene as ridiculous as possible, he awokeas the people were in the act of rising, and, supposing they were aboutto kneel, he deliberately knelt down beside his chair, and kept thatposition until he was seen by every person present. There was a slightpause in the services, I think the clergyman himself was somewhatdisconcerted, and afraid to trust his voice. Poor Robert soon suspectedhis mistake. He peeped cautiously around, then arose and took his seatwith a very silly look. I am glad it happened. He has never gone tosleep in meeting since."

  And from that time forth Mary never heard Robert allude to hermoonlight; indeed he was so much cut down by this story, that for a dayor two he was more than usually quiet. At last, however, an incidentoccurred which restored to him the ascendancy he had hitherto held overhis cousin, by illustrating the importance of possessing a proper storeof sound, practical knowledge.

  The two had gone to examine an old well, near the house, and werespeculating upon the possibility of cleansing it from its trash andother impurities, so as to be fit for use, when Harold's knife slippedfrom his hand and fell down the well. It did not fall into the water,but was caught by a half decayed board that floated on its surface.

  "I cannot afford to lose that knife," said Harold, looking around forsomething to aid his descent, "I must go down after it."

  "You had better be careful how you do that," interposed Robert, "it maynot be safe."

  "What," asked Harold, "are you afraid of the well's caving?"

  "Not so much of its caving," replied Robert, "as of the bad air that mayhave collected at the bottom."

  Harold snuffed at the well's mouth to detect such ill odours as might bethere, and said, "I perceive no smell."

  "You mistake my meaning," remarked Robert. "In all old wells, vaultsand places under ground, there is apt to collect a kind of air or gas,like that which comes from burning charcoal, that will quickly suffocateany one who breathes it. Many a person has lost his life by going intosuch a place without testing it beforehand."

  "Can you tell whether there is any of it here?" asked Harold.

  "Very easily, with a little fire," answered Robert. "AIR THAT WILL NOTSUPPORT FLAME, WILL NOT SUPPORT LIFE."

  They stuck a splinter of rich pine in the cleft end of a pole, and,lighting it by a match, let it softly down the well. To Harold'sastonishment the flame was extinguished as suddenly as if it had beendipped in water, before it had gone half way to the bottom.

  "Stop, let us try that experiment again," said he.

  They tried it repeatedly, and with the same result, except that theheavy poisonous air below being stirred by the pole, had become somewhatmingled with the pure air above, and the flame was not extinguishedquite so suddenly as at first; it burnt more and more dimly as itdescended, and then went out.

  "I do believe there is something there," said he at last, "and Icertainly shall not go down, as I intended. But how am I to get myknife?"

  "By using father's magnet, which is a strong one," replied Robert. "Letus go and ask him for it."

  On relating the circumstances to Dr. Gordon, he said, "You have made amost fortunate escape, Harold. Had you descended that well, filled asit is with carbonic acid gas, you would have become suddenly sick andfaint, and would probably have fallen senseless before you could havecalled for help. _Make it a rule never to descend such a place withoutfirst trying the purity of its air, as you did just now_."

  "But can we not get that bad air out?" asked Harold.

  "Yes, by various means, and some of them very easy," replied his uncle."One is by exploding gunpowder as far down as possible; another is bylowering down and drawing up many times a thickly leaved bush, so as topump out the foul air, or at least to mix it largely with the pure. Butyour knife can be obtained without all that trouble. Robert, can younot put him upon a plan?"

  "I have already mentioned it, and we have come to ask if you will notlet us have your magnet," replied Robert. "But," continued hesmilingly, "I do not think that we shall have any need this time for thelooking-glass."

  Harold looked from one to the other for an explanation, and his unclesaid:

  "Last year Robert dropped his knife down a well, as you did, andproposed to recover it by means of a strong magnet tied to a string.But the well was deep and very dark, and after fishing a long time invain, he came to me for help. I made him bring a large looking-glassfrom the house, and by means of it reflected such a body of sun-lightdown the well that we could plainly see his knife at the bottom, stowedaway in a corner. The magnet was strong enough to bring it safely tothe top. You also may try the experiment."

  With thanks, Harold took the offered magnet, tied it to a string, andsoon recovered his knife.