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diff --git a/33754-h/33754-h.htm b/33754-h/33754-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e549b87 --- /dev/null +++ b/33754-h/33754-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6773 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of Terry's Trials and Triumphs, by J. Macdonald Oxley +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +H4.h4center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgcenter { margin-left: auto; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: auto; } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Terry's Trials and Triumphs, by J. Macdonald Oxley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Terry's Trials and Triumphs + +Author: J. Macdonald Oxley + +Release Date: September 17, 2010 [EBook #33754] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TERRY'S TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-cover"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-cover.jpg" ALT="Cover art" BORDER="" WIDTH="413" HEIGHT="646"> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT=""<I>Down sank the gallant ship, driving her crew to the spar-deck.</I>"" BORDER="2" WIDTH="484" HEIGHT="692"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 500px"> +"<I>Down sank the gallant ship, driving her crew to the spar-deck.</I>" <A HREF="#P96">Page 96.</A> +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +TERRY'S TRIALS +</H1> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +AND +</H4> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +TRIUMPHS +</H1> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +J. MACDONALD OXLEY +</H3> + +<BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Author of "In the Wilds of the West Coast," "Diamond Rock,"<BR> +"Up Among the Ice-Floes," "My Strange Rescue,"<BR> +&c., &c.<BR> +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +T. NELSON AND SONS +<BR> +London, Edinburgh, and New York +<BR> +1900 +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS. +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">A POOR START</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">THE WAY OPENS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">UNEVEN GOING</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">PERILS BY THE WAY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">ON BOARD THE "MINNESOTA"</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">IN HAMPTON ROADS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">THE GREAT NAVAL COMBAT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">ADVENTURES ASHORE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">FROM FRIEND TO FRIEND</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">REINSTATED</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">IN A STRAIT BETWIXT TWO</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATIONS +</H2> + +<H4 STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +"Down sank the gallant ship, driving her crew to the spar-deck." +</A> +</H4> + +<H4 STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> +<A HREF="#img-024"> +"On being lifted carefully in, Miss Drummond fainted for the moment." +</A> +</H4> + +<H4 STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> +<A HREF="#img-040"> +"Terry, attired as never before, set out for Long Wharf." +</A> +</H4> + +<H4 STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> +<A HREF="#img-072"> +"The whole ship had the appearance of being in readiness for an +expected foe." +</A> +</H4> + +<H4 STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> +<A HREF="#img-120"> +"He succeeded in ingratiating himself with the driver of the train." +</A> +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +TERRY'S TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS. +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A POOR START. +</H4> + +<P> +"Give it to him, Terry—that's the style!" "Punch his head!" "Hit him +in the face, Mike!" "Good for you, Terry—that was a daisy!" "Stick to +him, me hearty; ye'll lick him yet!" +</P> + +<P> +The shouts came from a ring of ragged, dirty youngsters, who were +watching with intense excitement a hand-to-hand and foot-to-foot fight +between two of their own kind—a rough-and-tumble affair of the most +disorderly sort. +</P> + +<P> +They were not well-matched combatants, the one called Terry being much +inferior in size and weight to the other; but he evidently had the +sympathy of the majority of the spectators, and he displayed an amount +of vigour and agility that went far to make up for his deficiencies in +other respects. +</P> + +<P> +In point of fact, he was not fighting his own battle, but that of +little Patsy Connors, whose paltry, yet to him precious, plaything had +been brutally snatched away from him by Mike Hoolihan, and who had +appealed to Terry to obtain its return. +</P> + +<P> +The contest had waged but a few minutes, and the issue was still +uncertain, when a shrill cry of, "The peelers! the peelers! they're +comin' up the street!" caused a dispersion of the crowd, so speedy and +so complete that the boys composing it seemed to vanish like spirits; +and when the big blue-coated, silver-buttoned policemen reached the +spot, there was nothing to arrest but a woebegone puppy, who regarded +them with an expression that meant as plainly as possible,— +</P> + +<P> +"Please, sirs, it wasn't me; and I don't know where they've gone to." +</P> + +<P> +So the guardians of the peace were fain, after giving an indignant +glance around, to retire in good order, but with empty hands. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +<SPAN STYLE="letter-spacing: 4em">*****</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P> +A life divided between Blind Alley and the Long Wharf could hardly have +had a hopeful outlook. Blind Alley was the most miserable collection +of tumble-down tenements in Halifax. It led off from the narrowest +portion of Water Street, in between two forbidding rows of filthy, +four-storied houses, nearly every window of which represented a family, +and brought up suddenly against the grim and grimy walls of a brewery, +whence issued from time to time the thick, oppressive vapours of +steaming malt. +</P> + +<P> +The open space between the rows of houses was little better than a +gutter, through which you had to pick your way with careful steps if +you did not wish to carry off upon your boots and clothing unsavoury +reminders of the place. +</P> + +<P> +Little wonder, then, that so soon as the children of Blind Alley were +big enough to walk they hastened to desert their repulsive playground, +in spite of the shrill summons back from their unkempt mothers, who, +though they made no attempt to keep them clean, loved them too much to +think with composure of their being exposed to the many dangers of +busy, bustling Water Street. +</P> + +<P> +It is safe to say that you could not peer into Blind Alley during any +of the hours of daylight without hearing stout Mrs. M'Carthy, or +red-haired Mrs. Hoolihan, or some other frowsy matron with no less +powerful lungs, calling out from her window,— +</P> + +<P> +"Patsy! Norah! where are ye now, ye little villains? Ye're the plague +of my life wid yer always gettin' out of me sight. Come back wid ye +now, or I'll beat the very life out o' ye." +</P> + +<P> +And if the poor little urchins had not managed to get around the corner +so as to be out of sight, they would slink dejectedly back to wait for +a more favourable opportunity. +</P> + +<P> +Terry Ahearn's home, if so sweet a name could rightly be given to such +wretched quarters, was in the last house on the left-hand side, the two +squalid rooms which served all the purposes of kitchen, parlour, and +bedrooms being on the second floor, and right against the brewery wall. +Here he had been born, and had grown up pretty much as the weeds +grow—according to his own devices. Although the only survivor of +several children, his father, who bore the unprepossessing nickname of +"Black Mike," hardly ever noticed him, unless it was to swear at him or +cuff him. When sober, Black Mike was sulky, and when drunk, +quarrelsome, so that Terry had many excuses for not loving him. As +most of Mike's earnings went over the bar at the Crown and Anchor, his +wife was obliged to go out scrubbing in order to provide the bread and +molasses which, with a few potatoes and an occasional bit of meat, +formed the staple of Terry's diet. +</P> + +<P> +With anything like a fair chance, poor Peggy Ahearn would have made a +tolerably good mother. But her married life had been one long +martyrdom, which had broken her spirit and soured her temper. She +loved Terry with all her heart, and he loved her in return; yet an +observer of their mutual relations might well have thought otherwise. +He was very apt to be saucy to her if his father was not near, and she +rarely addressed him in terms of affection or gentleness. +</P> + +<P> +From such surroundings Terry, naturally enough, was only too glad to +escape. Even the public school was more endurable, especially during +the long cold winter. In the bright long days of summer there was the +Long Wharf, on which his father worked, and where Terry's companions +gathered every day, rain or shine, from the beginning of May to the end +of October. +</P> + +<P> +In Terry's general appearance there was nothing at first sight to +distinguish him from any of the other "wharf rats" who were his +constant companions. They all wore battered hats, ragged clothes, and +dirty faces. They all had a fine capacity for shirking work, and for +making a great deal of noise when they were enjoying themselves. +</P> + +<P> +If you had occasion to talk with Terry, however, you would be a dull +observer if you did not notice certain qualities of character indicated +in his face and form which suggested the thought that there was good +stuff in the lad, and that if he had a chance he might turn out to be +of some use despite his unpropitious surroundings. +</P> + +<P> +He had a bright, pleasant countenance of the genuine Irish type, +thickly dotted with deep-tinted freckles; a pair of frank, brown eyes; +a mop of hair with a decided tendency towards curls and redness; and a +well-knit, full-sized frame, whose every muscle was developed to its +utmost capacity, and within which there beat a big warm heart, although +that might seem to be doubtful sometimes when its owner was in a +particularly mischievous mood. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, an' I don't know what's ever to be the end of ye," said Mrs. +Ahearn one day, in a more thoughtful tone than was usual with her, +after scolding her son for one of his pranks which she had just found +out. "Ye've got wits enough to be a gentleman, if ye only had a mind +to it; but never a bit do ye seem to care, so long as there's a bite +for ye to eat." +</P> + +<P> +Terry's response was so surprising that it fairly took his mother's +breath away; for, drawing himself up to his full height, and putting on +a look of the utmost determination, he exclaimed,— +</P> + +<P> +"And it's a gentleman I mean to be some day, and then it's yourself +that will ride in a carriage with glass sides, as fine as Miss +Drummond's." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Ahearn's eyes and mouth opened wide with astonishment. What had +come over her boy that made him talk in that style? Ride in a carriage +indeed! Faith, the highest expectation she ever permitted herself to +entertain was of deliverance from the drudgery of the wash-tub. If +that could only be accomplished in some other way than by dying, she +would be well content. +</P> + +<P> +"Listen to him!" she cried. "It's crazy the boy is. Me ride in a +carriage! Sure the only ride I'll ever get in a carriage with glass +sides will be when I'm going to the cimitry." +</P> + +<P> +Then Terry did a still more remarkable thing. Whether it was his +mother's reference to the hearse, or something in his own mind that +stirred him, can only be conjectured, but running up to Mrs. Ahearn he +caught her round the waist and gave her a hearty hug, saying,— +</P> + +<P> +"Ye'll have many a ride in a carriage, and with glass sides too, +mother, before that." +</P> + +<P> +Then he darted off down the stairs, whistling "St. Patrick's Day in the +Morning" with all his might, while his mother fell into a chair in +sheer bewilderment at her boy's utterly novel behaviour. +</P> + +<P> +Certainly there had been nothing in Terry's past record to give ground +for hope of his ever attaining the status of a gentleman owning a +carriage. To do as little work and to have as much play as possible +seemed to be his ideal of life. More than once a situation as +errand-boy had been obtained for him; but he soon forfeited them by +neglect of duty, and returned rejoicing to his friends on Long Wharf. +Unless a decided change of disposition took place, he bid fair to turn +out nothing better than one more recruit for the wretched regiment of +"street loafers" that is characteristic of every maritime city. +</P> + +<P> +Long Wharf, Terry's "happy hunting ground," so to speak, it must be +admitted, possessed a multitude of attractions for boys of his kind. +It held an unquestioned pre-eminence among the wharves of Halifax for +size and superiority of position, thrusting itself out prominently from +their midst into the heart of the harbour, while the rest curved away +on either hand in undistinguishable monotony. From the foot of Long +Wharf you could comfortably command the whole water-line as from no +other vantage-ground. Hence, in addition to being one of the busiest +places in the city during the day, it was in the summer evenings the +favourite resort of the whole neighbourhood—men, women, and children +gathering there to enjoy the cool breezes, and to watch the +pleasure-boats gliding past with their merry occupants. +</P> + +<P> +The wharf was the centre of bustling activity all summer long. From it +sailed lines of steamers to the bleak rugged coasts of Newfoundland and +to the fascinating fairy-land of the West Indies, while others voyaged +across the ocean to the metropolis of the world. When they returned +laden with costly cargoes, the schooners and other sailing-vessels +gathered round with gaping holds that had to be filled, and what they +did not carry off went into the huge warehouses which stood in opposing +rows clear up to the street. +</P> + +<P> +By virtue of his relationship to Black Mike, Terry had the freedom of +the wharf. It was about the only benefit his father conferred upon +him, and he made the most of it, scraping acquaintance with the +sailors, especially the cooks of the steamers, running occasional +errands for the storekeeper, who might order him off the premises at +any time he saw fit, fishing for perch and tomcods, bathing in the +north dock at the risk of arrest by the first policeman who should +happen along, and having grand games of "I spy" among the maze of +stores and sheds. +</P> + +<P> +Of course, this kind of life could not go on for ever, and there were +times when Terry paused in his eager quest for amusement long enough to +ask himself what he would like to be and to do for a living. The +answers to the question were as various as Terry's moods. He fain +would be a sailor, soldier, fireman, policeman, or coachman, according +as he had been most lately impressed with the advantages and +attractions of that particular occupation. He even sometimes let his +thoughts aspire as high as the position of clerk in the offices of +Drummond and Brown, the owners of Long Wharf. But that was only in +moments of exceptional exaltation, and they soon fell back again to +their wonted level. +</P> + +<P> +This last idea, remote as the possibility of its fulfilment might seem, +had especial vigour imparted into it one morning by a few words that +Miss Kate Drummond, the only daughter of the senior partner, happened +to let fall. She had driven down with her own pony to take her father +home to lunch, and the wharf being such a noisy place, had asked Terry, +who chanced to be lounging near by, wondering if he would ever be the +owner of so fine an equipage, if he would be good enough to hold the +pony's head while she sat in the carriage awaiting her father's coming. +</P> + +<P> +Struck by Terry's prepossessing albeit somewhat dirty countenance, she +thought she might while away the time by asking him some questions +about himself. Terry answered so promptly and politely that she became +quite interested in him, and finally began to sound him as to his plans +for the future. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know, Terry," said she, with a winning smile that sent a thrill +of pleasure clear down to the tips of the boy's bare toes, "I believe +something good might be made out of you. Your face tells me that +you've got it in you to make your way in the world. Many a rich and +famous man had no better start than you. Wouldn't you like to try as +they did?" +</P> + +<P> +Terry turned away his head to hide the blushes that glowed through the +tan and freckles on his cheeks, and shifted uneasily from one foot to +the other. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, mum," said he at last. "I'd like to be a gentleman, and +keep a carriage some day." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Drummond gave a pleasant laugh; the answer was so frankly +characteristic. To be a gentleman and to ride in a carriage seemed to +be the working people's highest ideal of earthly bliss. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Terry," she responded, taking care that there should be +sympathy, not ridicule, in her tone; "if that is your ambition, the way +is open to you to try to accomplish it. My grandfather began as a +little office-boy, and he had more than one carriage of his own before +he died." +</P> + +<P> +The look that Terry gave Miss Drummond on hearing these words made her +blush a little in her turn; it was such a curious blending of +bewilderment and joy. That this radiant creature, who seemed almost as +far removed from him as an angel of heaven, should have had a +grandfather who was a mere office-boy, was a surprising revelation to +him. At the same time, what a vista of hope it opened up! If old Mr. +Drummond, whom he remembered seeing years before, had worked his way up +so well, could not others do it also? +</P> + +<P> +Not knowing just what to say, Terry kept silence, and the situation was +presently relieved by the appearance of Mr. Drummond. As Miss Drummond +gathered up the reins, she gave the boy another of her lovely smiles. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you very much, Terry," she said; "and you'll think over what +I've been saying to you, won't you?" +</P> + +<P> +Terry pulled off his ragged cap in token of promise to do so, and the +light carriage whirled away, leaving him with thoughts such as had +never stirred his brain before. Of course he knew that men had made +their way up from humble beginnings to high positions, but the fact had +hitherto never been so closely brought home to him; and it was while +under the excitement of this idea that he so astonished his mother as +related above. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE WAY OPENS. +</H4> + +<P> +The seed thus sown by Miss Drummond began to take root at once. Terry +now gave more thought to getting a chance to make a start in life than +he did to having a good time. And here, as it happened, fortune +favoured him in a most unusual way. On the Saturday morning of the +week after the talk which had set him thinking, he was sitting at the +end of the Long Wharf watching a big steamer making her way slowly up +the harbour. It being the noon hour, the wharf hands were all away at +dinner, and the place was almost deserted. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly he was startled out of his reverie by the sound of hoofs +beating with alarming rapidity upon the resounding planks, and turning +round he saw what caused him to spring to his feet with every nerve and +muscle athrill. Thundering down the wharf in blind and reckless flight +came Miss Drummond's pony, while in the carriage behind sat the owner, +tugging desperately upon the reins, her face white and set with terror. +</P> + +<P> +Acting upon the first impulse of the moment, Terry ran forward, +shouting and waving his cap. Then, seeing that to be of no avail, he +sprang at the maddened creature's head, hoping to seize the reins. But +by a quick swerve the pony eluded him, and the next moment plunged +headlong off the end of the wharf, dragging the carriage and its +helpless occupant after her. There was a piercing shriek, a splash, a +whirl of seething foam, and then the clear green depths closed over all! +</P> + +<P> +For the first moment, Terry, overcome by the startling suddenness of +the accident, knew not how to act. Then the impulse to rescue welled +up mightily in his breast, and at once he leaped into the disturbed +waters, which closed over his curly head. +</P> + +<P> +Rising almost instantly to the surface, he looked eagerly about him, +and caught sight of a hand thrust up in the agony of a struggle for +life. A few quick strokes brought him to it, and then, taking in the +situation intuitively, he swerved round so as to grasp Miss Drummond at +the neck. He had not spent his life about a wharf without learning +something of the difficulty of dealing with drowning persons, and that, +strong, expert swimmer as he was, he must not suffer those hands to +fasten their frantic grip upon him, or it would mean death for both. +</P> + +<P> +So, deftly avoiding the girl's wild clutch, he took good hold of her +from the back, and saying beseechingly, "Keep ye still now, ma'am, and +I'll save ye all right," shoved her through the water in the direction +of the wharf. Happily she was a young woman of rare self-possession. +As soon as she felt Terry's firm hand her terror gave way to trust. +She ceased her vain strugglings, and committed herself to her rescuer. +Otherwise, indeed, the poor boy could hardly have been equal to the +task. As it was, his strength just lasted until he reached the first +row of barnacle-covered spiles; pressing Miss Drummond up to which he +hoarsely directed her—"Take good hold of that now, ma'am, and I'll +yell for somebody." +</P> + +<P> +But he did not need to yell twice. Already helpers had gathered above +them, and were shouting down words of encouragement; and a moment later +a boat darted round the corner of the wharf, propelled by eager oarsmen. +</P> + +<P> +On being lifted carefully in, Miss Drummond, yielding to the reaction, +fainted for the moment; whereat Terry, who had never seen a woman faint +before, set up a wail of grief, thinking she must be dead. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-024"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-024.jpg" ALT=""<I>On being lifted carefully in, Miss Drummond fainted for the moment.</I>"" BORDER="2" WIDTH="504" HEIGHT="729"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 504px"> +"<I>On being lifted carefully in, Miss Drummond fainted for the moment.</I>" +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"Oh, the dear lady's dead!" he cried. "Ye must be getting a doctor +quick." +</P> + +<P> +But the others reassured him, and to his vast delight the blue eyes +opened again to give him a look of inexpressible gratitude ere the boat +touched the landing-steps. +</P> + +<P> +Here Mr. Drummond, pale and trembling, the first thrill of numbing +horror having just given place to ecstatic joy, awaited them. The +instant the boat was within reach he sprang into it, and, regardless of +her dripping garments, clasped his daughter to his breast, kissing her +again and again, while his quivering lips murmured, "My darling, my +darling! God be thanked for your rescue!" +</P> + +<P> +Releasing herself gently from his arms, Miss Drummond reached out her +hand for Terry, who was just scrambling awkwardly ashore. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't forget to thank him too, father," she said, with a meaning smile. +</P> + +<P> +Thus reminded, Mr. Drummond, blushing at the excess of feeling which +had caused him to forget everything save that his only daughter, the +joy and pride of his life, had been saved from death, laid hold of +Terry, and drew him back into the boat, where, taking both the boy's +hands in his, he said in tones of deep emotion,— +</P> + +<P> +"My boy, you have done my daughter and me a service we can never +adequately repay. But all that grateful hearts can do we will not fail +to do. Tell me your name and where you live." +</P> + +<P> +Poor Terry was so abashed at being thus addressed by the great Mr. +Drummond that his tongue refused its office. But one of the bystanders +came to his relief. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure and he's Black Mike's son, sur, and he lives up Blind Alley," was +the information volunteered. +</P> + +<P> +Accepting it as though it came from Terry himself, Mr. Drummond, giving +the boy's hands another grateful shake, said,— +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you. You will hear from me before the day ends." +</P> + +<P> +Then taking his daughter by the arm, he continued,— +</P> + +<P> +"Come now, darling; we must make all haste up to my office, and see +what can be done for you." +</P> + +<P> +Not until she stepped upon the wharf did Miss Drummond remember her +pony. Then the question as to what had become of it flashed into her +mind, and she turned to look down the wharf, exclaiming,— +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, but my pony! Poor, dear Dolly! What's become of her?" +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind the pony, dear," said Mr. Drummond; "the men will look +after her. Come, come; you'll catch your death of cold staying out +here in your dripping clothes." +</P> + +<P> +Somewhat reluctantly Miss Drummond obeyed. Reassuringly though her +father had spoken, she had misgivings as to her pony's fate—misgivings +which were in fact only too well founded; for, dragged to the bottom by +the weight of the carriage, the poor creature had been drowned in spite +of its desperate struggles. +</P> + +<P> +When the Drummonds disappeared, Terry found himself the centre of a +circle of admirers, each of whom sought in his own way to give +expression to his admiration and envy. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure and your fortune's made this day, Terry, me boy," said the +storeman, who wished in his heart that he had been lucky enough to +rescue his employer's daughter. "Mr. Drummond's not the man to forgit +his word; and didn't he say he'd do anything in the world for ye?" +</P> + +<P> +But Terry's triumph was complete when the appearance of his father +lounging sullenly back to work, with a short clay pipe between his +teeth, was hailed with shouts from the crowd of,— +</P> + +<P> +"Mike! Mike! come here wid ye, till we tell ye what yer boy's been +doin'. Oh, but you're the lucky man to have a boy like Terry!" +</P> + +<P> +Without a change in his dark countenance, or a quickening of his step, +Black Mike drew near, and silently awaited explanations. When the +matter was made clear to him, his face did brighten a little; but +whether it was with pride at his son's achievement, or selfish pleasure +at the prospect of the benefits that might accrue from it, the keenest +observer would have been puzzled to say. +</P> + +<P> +He managed, however, to get out something that more closely approached +praise than anything Terry had ever heard from his lips before, and +this delighted the boy so that he had to execute a few steps of his +favourite clog dance to relieve his feelings. Then, bethinking himself +that he had stayed long enough inside his uncomfortably wet clothing, +he raced up the wharf, and made for his home in Blind Alley. +</P> + +<P> +Here his mother received him with a shower of questions, in the +answering of which he found rare delight. +</P> + +<P> +"Me blessed boy!" the excited woman exclaimed, her feelings strangely +divided betwixt horror at the thought of the risk her son had run and +joy at its successful issue. "It's proud I am of you this day. No +doubt but ye'll be your mother's comfort." +</P> + +<P> +"And make ye ride in a carriage with glass sides, eh, mother?" said +Terry with a merry twinkle in his eye. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! now don't be talking such foolishness, Terry," returned Mrs. +Ahearn, in a tone that implied to do so was tempting Providence +perchance. "If your old mother has only a bit and sup sure to the end +of her days, and a decent gown to put on, she'll be content enough +without the carriage." +</P> + +<P> +That afternoon Mr. Drummond picked his way carefully through the perils +of Blind Alley to the grimy tenement where the Ahearns abode, and +inquired for Terry. The latter, having exchanged his wet garments for +the only others his scanty wardrobe contained, had gone down again to +Long Wharf; so, after exchanging a few kind words with his mother, Mr. +Drummond followed him thither, saying to himself, as he cautiously +stepped from stone to stone, for the alley was little better than a +mere muddy gutter, "The boy must be detached from these surroundings if +anything is to be made of him. And he has a bright face. He ought to +have good stuff in him. Certainly he shall have a fair trial at my +hands, for I owe him more than money can repay." +</P> + +<P> +On reaching his office, Mr. Drummond sent one of the clerks out to hunt +Terry up, and presently he returned with the lad in tow, looking very +bashful and ill at ease. He was attired in his "Sunday best," and +boasted a face and hands of unwonted cleanliness. The merchant gave +him a warm greeting, and made him sit down in a chair in front of him, +while he scanned his countenance closely. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear boy," said he after a pause, and seeming well satisfied with +the result of his inspection, "as I have already told you, I feel that +I am indebted to you for a service the worth of which cannot be put +down in money; and it is not by offering you money that I would prove +my gratitude. The money would be soon spent, leaving you no better, +and possibly worse, than before it was given you. No; you have saved +my daughter's life, and in return I want to save yours, though in a +somewhat different way. Look me straight in the eyes, please." +</P> + +<P> +For the first time since he had entered Mr. Drummond's presence Terry +lifted his big brown eyes, and looked full into his face, his freckles +being submerged in the warm flush that swept over his face as he did so. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" said Mr. Drummond, "I was not mistaken. Your face gives warrant +of many good qualities that you've had small chance to develop thus +far. It will be my privilege and pleasure to give you the opportunity +circumstances have hitherto denied you. How would you like to go to a +nice school?" +</P> + +<P> +Terry had been listening with eager attention and brightening +countenance; but at the mention of the word "school" his face suddenly +fell, and from the restless twitching of his body it was very evident +that the idea had no attraction for him at all. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Drummond's keen eye did not fail to note the effect of his +question, and without stopping to argue the point he promptly put +another. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then, how would you like to be taken into my office and taught +to be a clerk?" +</P> + +<P> +Instantly the boy's face burst into bloom, so to speak, and giving the +merchant a look which said as plain as words, "I hope you really mean +it," he exclaimed,— +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, sir, an' it's now ye're talkin'." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Drummond could not suppress a smile at Terry's quaint phrase that +went so straight to the mark. +</P> + +<P> +"You shall have your own way then," he responded in his pleasantest +tone, "and you may begin as soon as you like. Let me just say this to +you, my boy," he continued, drawing Terry towards him with one hand, +and placing the other on his shoulder. "I want to be your friend for +life. You can always rely upon that. But I cannot do for you what you +alone can do for yourself. You will meet with many trials and +temptations that you will have to fight all by yourself. I will at all +times be glad to give you the best counsel I can. But in the end you +must make your own way. No one else can make it for you. By being +faithful to my interests, Terry, you will most surely advance your own. +Never forget that. And now, good-bye for the present. Mr. Hobart in +the outer office has some business to do with you right away, and I +will look for you bright and early on Monday morning." +</P> + +<P> +Rather relieved at the interview being over, and feeling as though he +would have to go prancing and shouting down the whole length of Long +Wharf to give vent to his delight at what Mr. Drummond had said, Terry +slipped out of the merchant's sanctum, and found a pleasant-looking +young man evidently awaiting him in the office. +</P> + +<P> +"Come in here, Terry," said he, "and tell us your good-luck." +</P> + +<P> +In the fulness of his heart Terry was only too glad to find a +confidant, and without reserve he related all that had been said, as +well as he could remember it. +</P> + +<P> +"Phew!" whistled the clerk. "You've got on the right side of the old +man, and no mistake. No putting you off with a sovereign and a +paragraph in the papers. Whatever he says goes, I can tell you. Come +along now; I'm to have the pleasure of making a swell out of you." +</P> + +<P> +In some bewilderment as to Mr. Hobart's meaning, Terry obediently +accompanied him up to Granville Street, where they entered a +gentleman's outfitting establishment, before whose broad plate-glass +windows the boy had often stood in covetous appreciation of the fine +things so dexterously displayed therein. With an air of easy +self-possession that Terry profoundly admired, Mr. Hobart called upon a +brilliantly-arrayed clerk to show them their ready-made clothing. They +went into the rear part of the shop, and then the purpose of their +coming was made clear. +</P> + +<P> +"You're to have a complete outfit of good clothes, Terry," said Mr. +Hobart. "And Mr. Drummond, knowing my good taste in such matters, has +put the business in my hands, so you'll please be good enough to +entirely approve of my selections." +</P> + +<P> +His manner was so kind and pleasant that Terry felt as though there was +hardly anything on earth that he would not have been willing to do for +him, let alone approving of the benefactions he was the instrument of +bestowing. +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed that I will, sir," he responded, with a warmth that made the +clerk smile in such a patronizing way that Mr. Hobart cut him short by +saying curtly,— +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then, let me see something in the way of pepper-and-salt tweeds." +</P> + +<P> +So the work of fitting Terry out began. Mr. Hobart seemed no less +particular than if he were choosing the various articles for his own +wardrobe. He had <I>carte-blanche</I> from Mr. Drummond, and the matter of +cheapness was not to be taken into account. It all seemed like a +beautiful dream to Terry. A fine suit of clothes, that fitted him as +though they had been cut to order; a pair of scarlet braces with bright +brass clasps such as his heart had often vainly hungered for; three +good flannel shirts for week-day wear, and three lovely linen ones for +Sabbaths; a sheaf of collars and a roll of cuffs; and, finally, to top +it all, a hard felt hat, the like of which had never before been on his +head;—one after another were these fine feathers procured, and the +money for them paid down from a bundle of notes which Terry, in his +ignorance of money in that form, thought must contain at least a +thousand pounds. +</P> + +<P> +It took over an hour to complete the business, Mr. Hobart evidently +enjoying it in no small degree himself. At last, however, he seemed +satisfied with his work, and giving Terry a friendly clap on the back, +he said,— +</P> + +<P> +"There, now; you're qualified to be a credit to Drummond and Brown's +office, so far as appearance goes at all events. You can trot along +home now. They'll send the things there for you." +</P> + +<P> +Eager to tell his mother of the wonders of the day, Terry darted off, +and in a few minutes was at home in Blind Alley. With many +exclamations of gratitude to the "blessed saints," and many interjected +questions, did Mrs. Ahearn listen to his wonderful story; and when the +parcels arrived, she spread out their contents upon the bed and fell +upon her knees before them. For many years her life had known but +scant rays of sunshine, and this sudden outburst almost overwhelmed +her. With trembling fingers she gently touched the different articles, +as though to assure herself that her eyes were not playing her false. +Then rising to her feet again, her eyes streaming and lips quivering, +she threw her arms around Terry and hugged him to her heart. +</P> + +<P> +With a mother's fond prescience she grasped the fact that in him, and +in him alone, had she hope of redress for the sorrows which had so +deeply shadowed her life. Terry's chance had come, and his future and +hers depended upon the way in which he availed himself of it. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +UNEVEN GOING. +</H4> + +<P> +It was with a queer jumble of feelings palpitating in his young bosom +that Terry, attired as never before in his life, set out for Long Wharf +on Monday morning. Blind Alley seemed to swarm with women and +children, who first gazed in wild-eyed astonishment at his appearance, +and then proceeded to give vent to their admiration or envy in remarks +that would have sorely tried the composure of a stump orator hardened +by many campaigns. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-040"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-040.jpg" ALT=""<I>Terry, attired as never before, set out for Long Wharf.</I>"" BORDER="2" WIDTH="506" HEIGHT="672"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 506px"> +"<I>Terry, attired as never before, set out for Long Wharf.</I>" +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"The blessed saints presarve us! Did ye ever see the loike?" gasped +Mrs. O'Rafferty, with a side glance at the gutter, where her own Phelim +was hunting for a lost marble, and looking more like a mud-turtle than +a bit of humanity. +</P> + +<P> +"Get on to the hat, will you?" shouted Tim Doolin, his fingers itching +to throw a handful of mud at it, but his head telling him that to do so +would insure a tremendous thrashing, for Terry's prowess with his fists +was not to be gainsaid. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure he's got a place in front of Clayton's, and has to stand there +all day on exhibition," sneered sly Tony Butler, pretending that he +thought Terry was to play the part of a living advertisement for a +well-known ready-made clothing firm. +</P> + +<P> +Through this ordeal Terry hastened with a deprecating smile, as though +to say, "Really, you're making an absurd fuss about a most trifling +matter;" and wisely refraining from any retort, he drew a deep breath +of relief when he reached Water Street, and became merged in the crowd +of well-dressed clerks hurrying to their offices. +</P> + +<P> +On arriving at Long Wharf, he could not resist the impulse to take one +look over his beloved playground before reporting himself at Drummond +and Brown's. He clearly realized that if he would take full advantage +of the opportunity now open to him, the dock would know him no more as +in the past; and besides that, he did want to let his playmates, who +would have his company no longer, see his fine feathers in their +pristine freshness. +</P> + +<P> +The chorus of praise they elicited would have contented a much more +exacting heart than Terry's, and in answering the questions showered +upon him he ran the risk of not being "bright and early," as Mr. +Drummond had enjoined upon him. Happily, however, the boom of the +market clock reminded him in time, and darting back up the wharf he +entered the big warehouse, the front part of whose ground floor was +given up to a suite of offices, in which many of the clerks had already +assembled for the day's work. +</P> + +<P> +Terry's impulse carried him as far as inside the door, and then it +deserted him, leaving him completely stranded. Now that he was in the +office, he had not the slightest idea what to do with himself. The +clerks were busy getting their books out, and chaffing one another as +to the doings of the night before. No one seemed to notice him, and +feeling acutely uncomfortable he shrank into a corner, a longing to run +off again coming over him with great force. He could see nothing of +Mr. Hobart, and in his utter strangeness his heart sank in chill +despair. How remote seemed the possibility of his ever taking his +place among that group of dashing young fellows, who had so much to +tell each other of enjoyments and exploits in spheres of society far +beyond his ken! +</P> + +<P> +A movement that he made in his agitation at length attracted the +attention of a young lad about his own age, who, looking sharply at +him, asked in a rude tone,— +</P> + +<P> +"Well, sonny, what is it you want?" +</P> + +<P> +For a moment Terry was nonplussed for a reply. How could he explain +his position to this saucy-looking inquirer? Then by a happy +inspiration, it occurred to him to ask for his friend of Saturday +afternoon, and in a low, hesitating voice he said,— +</P> + +<P> +"I want to see Mr. Hobart, please." +</P> + +<P> +"Say, there, Walter!" shouted the clerk, in the direction of an inner +office, "there's a young kid asking for you here. Did you forget to +pay your washer-woman on Saturday night?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Hobart appeared quickly, and the moment his eyes fell upon Terry +(who even in the midst of his discomposure had his wits sufficiently +about him to take in the meaning of the clerk's impertinence, and his +eyes were brimming in consequence) he sprang towards the speaker, and +seizing him by the collar, gave him a vigorous shaking, saying +meanwhile in indignant tones,— +</P> + +<P> +"See here, Morley: if you don't keep your sauce to yourself, you'll get +something worse than a shaking. Do you know who that is? It's the boy +who saved Miss Drummond's life, and he's got the makings of a better +man in him than you have, or I'm much mistaken." Then turning to Terry +he continued, as he released his hold on Morley, "Come right inside +here, Terry, and I'll introduce you to the boys." +</P> + +<P> +The appearance of his friend, and the warmth with which he took up his +cause, worked a complete revolution in Terry's feelings. The tears +vanished from his eyes, and with a broad smile lighting up his +countenance he obeyed Mr. Hobart's bidding; while Morley, looking very +much crestfallen, and displaying a malignant scowl that boded no good +to the new-comer, went sullenly back to his desk. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Hobart introduced Terry to each of the clerks, and they all shook +hands with him cordially. His gallant rescue of their employer's +daughter prepared them to like him, and his honest, good-humoured face +disarmed, for the time at least, any feelings of opposition to his +entry into their ranks. There were nearly a dozen of them altogether, +from the senior book-keeper, gray-bearded and spectacled, down to Tom +Morley, whose work it was to look after collecting the wharfage. Mr. +Hobart held the responsible post of finance-clerk. He attended to all +the banking; paid the labourers on Friday evenings and made out the +salary cheques at the end of the month; and by virtue of the importance +of his duties, and the evident favour in which he was held by the firm, +stood next to the book-keeper in the estimation of his associates. +Terry was very fortunate in having his support at the start, +particularly as he had taken a decided liking to the boy, and was quite +willing to act as his patron, and to pilot him through the difficulties +of his new surroundings. +</P> + +<P> +The Civil War in the United States was then at its height, and Halifax, +as a neutral port, open to the vessels of both contestants for +supremacy, occupied a peculiarly advantageous position. Never before +in the history of the city had business been brisker or money more +plentiful. Hardly a day passed without its quota of steamships or +sailing-vessels pressing into the splendid harbour, and willing to pay +almost any price in good gold for immediate attention. +</P> + +<P> +Nor were these profitable customers of the harmless merchant class +only. From time to time there appeared grim men-of-war, looking +terribly business-like with their rows of black-muzzled guns; and now +and then the whole city was thrown into excitement by the sudden advent +of one of the far-famed Confederate cruisers, which did such fearful +damage to Federal commerce—as, for instance, the renowned +<I>Tallahassee</I>, whose trim black form came dashing through the white +caps one fine summer morning, while far out in the offing a keen eye +could discern the dark shapes of her disappointed pursuers. +</P> + +<P> +But most interesting of all such visitors were the blockade-runners, +the <I>Colonel Lamb</I>, the <I>Robert E. Lee</I>, and the like. Marvels of +beauty and speed they were, their low, graceful hulls painted a soft +gray tint, so as to make them invisible at sea when only a few miles +distant; and in the eyes of the Halifax boys every man on board was a +hero, and the object of profound admiration. +</P> + +<P> +This feeling, moreover, was by no means confined to the boys. If at +any time during the war a poll of the Haligonians had been taken, the +majority in favour of the South would certainly have been very large. +Self-interest, no doubt, had much to do with this state of affairs; +and, besides that, there was current the belief that the South was +fighting for freedom rather than for the maintenance of slavery. +</P> + +<P> +The firm of Drummond and Brown having had extensive business +connections with the Southern States for many years before the war, it +was but natural that Long Wharf should be the favoured resort of the +Confederate vessels. The blockade-runners, without exception, docked +there; and, as a matter of course, from the heads of the firm down to +the humblest toiler on the wharf, everybody belonging to the +establishment was Confederate to the core. +</P> + +<P> +As for Terry Ahearn, so fervent was his sympathy with the South, that +up to the time of his being taken into the office, had he ever received +any encouragement, he would have unhesitatingly joined himself to the +crew of a blockade-runner in any capacity they would have for him. +Happily for him they had no use for boys on board these vessels, and +his desires remained unrealized, until the opening up of a new life to +him through his being taken into Mr. Drummond's employment diverted his +thoughts into an altogether different channel. +</P> + +<P> +Certainly he had much to think about during the first period of his +clerkship. It was a big change for a boy to make in a day—from +careless, idle play in ragged clothes about a dock, varied by an +occasional trip coastward, when he could persuade the captain of one of +the many packet schooners to take him along as an extra hand, to +steady-going service in an office, with the accompanying requirements +of always being neat, well-dressed, and respectful in demeanour to +those about him. +</P> + +<P> +And greatly as Terry rejoiced in the sudden advance, he would have been +more than mortal if he had not found his new environment bristling with +difficulties which neither the favour of Mr. Drummond nor the friendly +offices of Mr. Hobart could materially help him to overcome. He did +not fail to feel keenly the marked contrast between his own speech and +manners and those of Tom Morley, for instance; nor was he blind to the +fact that his educational equipment was deplorably deficient. How +bitterly he regretted that he had not taken more advantage of his +opportunities at school, and how fervently he vowed to do his best to +make up lost ground so far as might be possible! +</P> + +<P> +It was no slight addition to his embarrassments that all unwittingly he +had at the very start incurred the enmity of Tom Morley, who +thenceforward did everything that he dared to annoy him. Tom was a +clever boy himself, and had enjoyed many advantages in his bringing up. +He took to business as naturally as a duck to water, and but for +certain characteristics, would have been held in high esteem in the +office. +</P> + +<P> +Unhappily, however, he had a sly, jealous, selfish nature, that soon +revealed itself, because, forsooth, he made little attempt to conceal +it, and this effectually barred his way to popularity. +</P> + +<P> +Even without the <I>contretemps</I>, for which he alone was responsible, on +the morning Terry first came to the office, Morley would have taken a +dislike to Terry simply because of his good fortune. Now that there +was double cause for such a feeling, he let it have full play, and if +poor Terry had done him some mortal injury he could not have shown a +more vicious spirit towards him. He mimicked his brogue for the +amusement of his fellow-clerks; he made sneering remarks about his +clothes; he played practical jokes upon him to raise a laugh at his +expense; in fact, he behaved so abominably towards him, that there were +times when only the restraining influence of his surroundings kept +Terry back from rushing upon him with clenched fists. Being thus +beset, Terry found his lot far harder than he had conceived, and needed +all the help that came to him from his mother's sympathy, Mr. +Drummond's kindly interest, and Mr. Hobart's good-humoured helpfulness, +in order to keep up his courage. It was, therefore, a welcome +inspiration to him when, on the Saturday following the rescue, Miss +Drummond appeared at the office, quite recovered from her startling +experience, and as soon as she arrived asked for her rescuer. +</P> + +<P> +In some trepidation Terry went into Mr. Drummond's sanctum, where he +was warmly welcomed by the young lady. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Terry, how well you look!" she exclaimed, beaming radiantly upon +him. "I'm so glad you're in my father's office. I know you're going +to make a capital clerk." +</P> + +<P> +Terry could find nothing to say; so Miss Drummond went on,— +</P> + +<P> +"I believe, Terry, that an important thing in a clerk is to be always +in time, and as I want you to have no difficulty on that score, I got +this little timekeeper for you, and am going to ask you to wear it in +memory of to-day week, so that you won't forget the service that you +rendered me then." +</P> + +<P> +While thus speaking she took from her reticule a small watch in a +silver case, with a neat silver charm attached, and opening the case +showed Terry where his name in full was engraved inside, and underneath +it the words, "In recognition of rescue," with the proper date appended. +</P> + +<P> +Drawing Terry towards her, she secured the watch in his vest, while he +did his best to stammer out his gratitude. +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind about thanks, Terry," said Miss Drummond. "You may +consider it your medal for life-saving, you know. And never forget, +Terry, that in business a good watch is the next best thing to a good +conscience." +</P> + +<P> +Terry went back to his place in a tumult of joy and pride. Naturally +enough, the first thing he did was to show his new treasure to Mr. +Hobart and the others. They all admired it, and congratulated him; +except Morley, who, professing to be very much engrossed in his work, +bent a scowling face over his desk. Terry's good fortune had affected +him in the same way that Joseph's rather indiscreet relation of his +dreams affected his elder brethren, so that without any other cause of +offence he came to "hate him, and could not speak peaceably unto him." +</P> + +<P> +As may be easily understood, Terry gave him many chances to vent his +baseless spite. Everything about the office was utterly new to him. +The days were full of blunders, and whenever these were explained there +was Morley enjoying the poor boy's discomfiture, and, if Mr. Hobart did +not happen to be at hand, letting fall cutting remarks that made Terry +wince as though they were strokes of a whip. +</P> + +<P> +Although none of the other clerks showed the same spirit as Morley, +still they did not attempt to interfere, partly because they thought +that Terry needed to be "licked into shape," and partly because they +did not approve of his advent quite as cordially as Mr. Hobart. He was +of a different class from them, and they could not sympathize with him +in the same degree as if he were one of themselves. +</P> + +<P> +Thus the new way that had been opened up to Terry proved to be set +thick with difficulties, which would severely test his qualities of +self-control and determination in order to their overcoming; and when +the boy's previous life and surroundings were taken into account, the +chances could hardly be said to be in his favour. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Hobart, it is true, showed every disposition to befriend him; but +he was a very busy man, the hardest worker on the whole staff, and +there were days when a kind, encouraging smile as he bustled about his +work was all the communication Terry had with him. +</P> + +<P> +It soon became clear to Terry that he must fight his own battles—that, +as Mr. Drummond had said, he must make his own way—and it was with +many misgivings as to the result that he set himself to the undertaking. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +PERILS BY THE WAY. +</H4> + +<P> +By the end of his first month of service Terry had become somewhat +accustomed to the novelties of his position, and bid fair to prove a +useful acquisition to the staff. His intimate knowledge of the +business portion of the city stood him in good stead. He knew every +wharf in Halifax, and more than half the vessels that tied up at them, +and could always be counted upon to find any one of them that the +office wanted to communicate with. +</P> + +<P> +There were many times when, being on some commission of this kind, he +was sharply tempted to indulge in a little dalliance with his old +playmates, who were more eager for his company than ever now that they +were deprived of it. On a hot summer day, after a long forenoon of +tiresome tramping through the dusty streets delivering bills or getting +replies to inquiries, the longing to take a plunge into the cool green +water of the dock was very hard to resist. At such times his fine +clothes were apt to feel like fetters, which it would be an +inexpressible relief to cast off and return to his former tatters. +</P> + +<P> +Again and again he succeeded in withstanding the temptation; but one +sultry, oppressive afternoon in August proved too much for him, and he +yielded, though could he only have foreseen the consequences he would +surely have held firm. +</P> + +<P> +He had been sent out to collect wharfage accounts. They were usually +trifling as to amount, and the method was for the clerk paying the bill +to mark it down in a small book Terry carried as well as to take a +receipt, thus making a double record. +</P> + +<P> +This fateful afternoon it happened that Terry's collections reached a +larger amount than usual, totalling up nearly fifty dollars. He +finished his round away up at West's Wharf, and feeling very hot and +tired went down to have a look at the cool salt water. He found there +a half-dozen boys, nearly all of whom he knew, just getting ready for a +hilarious swim in the dock. They hailed him at once with pressing +requests to join them. +</P> + +<P> +"Come along, Terry; off with your duds. It's a great day for a duck," +and so forth, growing more and more urgent as they perceived him to +waver in his resolution of refusal. Finally, a couple of them, having +got rid of their own garments, rushed upon him, and seizing him on +either side, proceeded to pull off his hat and coat, and to unbutton +his vest; while the others, with loud shouts of, "Here she goes! Who's +last?" dived joyously into the seductive depths. +</P> + +<P> +This was more than Terry could stand. Giving each of his captors a +smart slap that sent them capering off uttering feigned cries of pain, +he tore off his own clothes, flung them in a heap on the wharf, and +with a shout of "Here we are again!" described a graceful parabola in +the air ere he shot head first into the water. +</P> + +<P> +He had what he would have called a "high old time." Abandoning himself +entirely to the pleasure of the moment, the restraint of the preceding +weeks gave all the keener zest to his enjoyment. He was the very last +to leave the water, and when he came out several of the boys had +already dressed and gone away. He did not notice this until he took up +his clothes to put them on. Then, to his surprise, he found that his +vest, containing the money that he had collected, was missing. +</P> + +<P> +Thinking that this was merely an attempt at a joke on him, he said +good-humouredly, as he hastened to dress,— +</P> + +<P> +"When you fellows have done with that vest, just bring it back, will +you?" +</P> + +<P> +But the only response was a general protest of entire ignorance on the +part of those around him, and although, growing angry, he threatened +all sorts of vengeance upon the perpetrator of the joke if he did not +promptly make restitution, he was still met by persistent denials. +While in the very midst of this, Tom Morley came down the wharf looking +sharply about him. On catching sight of Terry he first made as though +he would go up to him. Then a thought flashed into his mind that +caused him to halt, and with a smile of malicious satisfaction playing +over his ugly face, he wheeled about and vanished up the wharf. +</P> + +<P> +But threaten or coax as he might, Terry could learn nothing as to what +had become of his vest, save that it must have been carried off by one +of the boys who had gone ashore and dressed before any of the others, +and—what made matters worse—the latter did not seem to know anything +about him. They had not seen him before that day, and they had no idea +whence he had come or whither he had gone. +</P> + +<P> +When the full sense of his loss came to Terry he was in a sad state of +mind. The thief, whoever he was, had got away not only with the fifty +dollars, but with the silver watch—Miss Drummond's gift. Little +wonder then if the poor boy, going off to a corner where he would not +be observed, gave way to tears. +</P> + +<P> +He felt himself to be in a very serious plight. Had he been doing his +duty when robbed he need not have feared an explanation. But he had +been neglecting his duty; and not only so, but Tom Morley, who, as he +well knew, would take only too much pleasure in telling on him, had +caught him in the act. +</P> + +<P> +"I can never go back to the office," he sobbed. "They'll not believe +me whatever I say. They'll be thinkin' I've taken the money myself, +and made up a story to get out of the scrape. Oh, if I could only lay +my hands this blessed minute on the villain that run off with my vest! +Just wouldn't I give him the worst licking he ever had in his life—bad +cess to him!" +</P> + +<P> +The heat of his anger against the cause of his distress dried up his +tears, and feeling somewhat ashamed at having allowed them to flow, he +gave himself a shake, and without any definite purpose in mind strolled +over to the other side of the wharf, where a smart schooner was moored. +</P> + +<P> +Now it chanced that the captain of this schooner was a friend of +Terry's, having taken some interest in the bright, energetic boy whom +he had seen at Long Wharf; and he happened to be sitting on the cabin +deck when Terry came along, looking very downcast. "Hollo, Terry!" he +cried cheerily. "You seem to be in the dumps. What's the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +Terry had no inclination to tell him the reason of his dejection, so he +evaded the question by responding— +</P> + +<P> +"Nothin' much;" and then adding in a tone of decided interest, "Where +are you going? you seem near ready to start." +</P> + +<P> +"So I am, Terry," replied the captain. "I'll be off for Boston inside +of an hour. Would you like to come?" +</P> + +<P> +Terry's heart gave a sudden leap. Here was a way out of his +difficulties. If he stayed in Halifax, he might have the police after +him at any moment, and of the police he had a most lively dread; while, +if he slipped away to Boston, he would be rid of the whole trouble. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean it, captain, or are you after foolin' me?" he asked, +peering eagerly into the mariner's honest countenance. +</P> + +<P> +"I mean it right enough, Terry," was the reply. "I'm wanting a +cabin-boy, and you'll do first-rate. Can you come aboard at once?" +</P> + +<P> +Terry reflected a moment. He ought to tell his mother before he went. +She would be sure to worry about him. But then if he did tell her +she'd make a fuss, and perhaps stop him altogether. No; if he were +going, his best plan was to say nothing about it, but just go on board. +</P> + +<P> +Noting his hesitation, the captain said,— +</P> + +<P> +"I'll not be sailing for an hour yet, so if you want to get anything +you'll have time to if you'll be sharp about it." +</P> + +<P> +With a quick toss of his head that meant he had made up his mind, Terry +responded,— +</P> + +<P> +"I'll go. I've nothin' to get. I'll go right on board now;" and +springing into the shrouds, he swung himself lightly on to the deck. +</P> + +<P> +The die was cast. Rather than face the consequences of his dereliction +of duty he would take refuge in flight, leaving Tom Morley free to put +as black a face upon his conduct as he pleased, thereby causing deep +disappointment to those who had befriended him, and sore grief to his +poor mother, who would be utterly at a loss to account for his strange +disappearance. +</P> + +<P> +It never entered into Captain Afleck's easy-going mind to inquire +whether Terry ought to ask permission of somebody before taking service +as cabin-boy on board his schooner. He himself had no family ties of +any kind, and he took it for granted that other people were in the same +position, unless they claimed something to the contrary. So when Terry +jumped aboard the <I>Sea-Slipper</I>, thereby signifying acceptance of his +offer, that was an end of the matter so far as he was concerned. +</P> + +<P> +Once committed to the going away, Terry was all impatience for the +schooner to start; and the stretching of the hour Captain Afleck had +just mentioned into two gave him a good deal of concern, as every +minute he dreaded the appearance of some clerk from Drummond's, perhaps +even Mr. Hobart himself, sent to look after him. +</P> + +<P> +He would have liked very much to have hidden in the cabin until the +schooner had got well away from the wharf, but he was wise enough to +realize that so doing might arouse the captain's suspicions, and lead +him summarily to cancel the engagement. +</P> + +<P> +However, at last his anxiety on this score was put at rest by the +<I>Sea-Slipper</I> warping slowly out into the stream; and then, as the big +sails were hoisted, and they bellied out with the afternoon breeze, she +glided off on a tack across the harbour that soon put a wide distance +between her and the wharves. +</P> + +<P> +No fear of being followed now. Terry was as safe from that as though +he were already in Boston; and in the mingled feelings with which, from +the stern of the schooner, he watched the line of wharves losing their +distinctness, and the rows of houses melting into one dark mass against +the sloping, citadel-crowned hill, there was no small proportion of +relief. +</P> + +<P> +He had solved the problem so suddenly presented that afternoon in a +very poor and unsatisfactory fashion, it is true. Still, it was solved +for the present at least; and bearing in mind Terry's training and +opportunities for moral culture, he must not be too hardly judged for +the folly of his action. +</P> + +<P> +By the time the fast-sailing schooner had passed Meagher's Beach Light, +and was beginning to rise and pitch in the long ocean billows, Terry, +with all the heedlessness of boyhood, had thrown his cares to the wind, +and given himself up to the enjoyment of the hour. +</P> + +<P> +He was quite at home on the sea, having already had several trips along +the coast through the kindness of captains who had taken a fancy to +him. Seasickness had no terrors for him. He might have undertaken to +sail round the world without missing a meal; and at supper that evening +he showed so keen an appetite that Captain Afleck, who had allowed him +to sit down with him for the sake of hearing him talk, said jestingly,— +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Terry, my boy, you eat so hearty that I ought to have laid in an +extra stock of food, so we mightn't run short before we get to Boston." +</P> + +<P> +Not a bit disconcerted by this chaff, Terry went on busily munching the +food, which was much better than he got at home, and which he proposed +to enjoy thoroughly while he had the chance. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, you young monkey!" laughed the captain, shaking his knife at him, +"you know when you're well off, don't you, now?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's yourself says it, captain," responded Terry, as well as he could +with his mouth full. "I'm thinking I would like to hire with you for a +year, if ye'll always give me as good food." +</P> + +<P> +"And is it only the food you care for, Terry?" asked the captain, the +smile on his face giving way to a serious look. "You're not such a +poor creature as that, are you?" +</P> + +<P> +Terry's countenance crimsoned, and his head dropped upon his breast, +while he worked his hands together nervously. At last he managed to +stammer out,— +</P> + +<P> +"Faith, captain, I didn't say so." +</P> + +<P> +"No, Terry, you didn't," said the captain, in a soothing tone. "Nor +did you mean it either. I'm only testing you a bit. Look here, Terry, +listen to me now. What do you intend to do with yourself as you grow +older? Do you think of following the sea?" +</P> + +<P> +Once more the colour mounted high in Terry's face. The question was a +home-thrust which he knew not how to parry, and so he simply kept +silence; while Captain Afleck began to wonder why his question, asked +in such an offhand way, should have so marked an effect upon the boy. +Getting no answer, he sought to ease the situation by saying kindly,— +</P> + +<P> +"If you think I'm over-inquisitive, Terry, you needn't say anything. +It's none of my business any way." +</P> + +<P> +Touched by the captain's genuine kindness of tone, Terry's Irish heart +opened towards him, and he impulsively began to tell him the whole +story of the past month. +</P> + +<P> +Captain Afleck listened with unmistakable interest and sympathy, +interrupting but seldom, and then only to put a question to make the +matter clearer to his comprehension. +</P> + +<P> +When the recital was finished, he stretched his big brown hand across +the table to Terry, and taking hold of his little freckled fist, gave +it a grip that made the boy wince, saying, with the full strength of +his deep, bass voice,— +</P> + +<P> +"You're a brick, Terry, my boy, even if you have made a mistake in +running away with me instead of clearing up the whole thing with Mr. +Drummond. But I'll see you through, Terry, as sure as my name's +Afleck. You'll come back with me, and we'll go to see Mr. Drummond as +soon as we land." +</P> + +<P> +Poor little Terry! The kind action, and still kinder words and tone, +were too much for him altogether. He covered his face with his hands +and burst into tears, while the captain said soothingly,— +</P> + +<P> +"That's all right, Terry; I know just how you feel. Cheer up now. +You'll be back in Mr. Drummond's office inside of a month." +</P> + +<P> +As quickly as sunshine follows shower in April, Terry's bright spirit +reasserted itself, and he turned into his bunk that night in the +enjoyment of the cheerful frame of mind which was his wont. +</P> + +<P> +He awoke next morning to see the last of the Nova Scotian coast +disappearing astern, and for the first time in his life to be entirely +out of sight of land. +</P> + +<P> +The wind continued favourable all that day and the next, greatly to the +satisfaction of Captain Afleck, who wanted to lose no time in making +the round trip, as business was brisk between Halifax and Boston then, +and the more trips he could put in the better for his pocket. +</P> + +<P> +Terry enjoyed the voyage thoroughly. His duties were not onerous, and +out of love for the kind-hearted captain he fulfilled them promptly and +neatly. When they were all attended to he had a good margin of time +for himself, and he found Captain Afleck ready to talk or to tell +stories from his own extensive experience at sea. Then the seamen, of +whom there were four, proved very friendly, and seemed always glad of +his company; so that everything helped to render the short voyage a +real delight to the boy, who did everything in his power to pay his way +by good behaviour. +</P> + +<P> +The evening of the fourth day was closing in when the <I>Sea-Slipper</I> +entered Massachusetts Bay; and if Captain Afleck had not been so eager +to save time, he would have been content with getting inside Boston +Light and anchoring there until morning. But he knew the ship-channel +well, having often passed up it before, and he determined to push in, +although the wind was dropping fast. +</P> + +<P> +The darkness fell before he had cleared Lovel's Island, and the sky +being overcast he had only the harbour lights to guide him. +Nevertheless he kept on, though it was little better than feeling his +way. +</P> + +<P> +The schooner thus crept up as far as Governor's Island, and the city +lights began to come into view. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" exclaimed Captain Afleck, bringing the palm of his hand down with +a smart slap on his thigh as he stood at the wheel, "we'll make the +dock to-night yet, even if I have to hail a tug to tow me in." +</P> + +<P> +He had hardly spoken when suddenly there loomed up on the port side the +dim form of a huge steamer bearing down on the schooner at full speed; +and then it flashed upon the captain that in his eagerness to get into +port he had omitted to put up the regulation lights. +</P> + +<P> +There was no time to do it now. The only chance of escaping a +collision was to go off on the other tack. Round spun the wheel, and +swiftly the men sprang to the sails. But the schooner refused to +answer her helm for lack of steerage way, and lay almost motionless +right in the steamer's path. +</P> + +<P> +Leaping upon the bulwarks, Captain Afleck shouted with all his +strength,— +</P> + +<P> +"Ahoy, there! Keep away, or you'll run us down!" +</P> + +<P> +But even if his warning had been heard, it was too late to heed it; and +a minute later, with a tremendous shock, the steamer crashed into the +schooner just abaft of the fore-chains. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +ON BOARD THE "MINNESOTA." +</H4> + +<P> +When the crash came, Terry was standing at the stern, a little in front +of Captain Afleck, who held the wheel. The shock hurled him to the +deck; but he instantly leaped to his feet again, and as he did so the +captain's voice rang out,— +</P> + +<P> +"Jump for the martingale, Terry! quick!" +</P> + +<P> +The great bowsprit of the colliding vessel overhung the shattered and +sinking schooner like the outreaching branch of a tree. It offered the +one possible chance of escape from death. Already two of the sailors +were frantically striving for it. Terry had not lost his wits despite +the suddenness of the catastrophe. Just before him were the +main-shrouds, tense and taut with the tremendous strain upon them. +Springing into these, he climbed hand over hand with a celerity born of +frequent practice on vessels lying at the docks, until he reached the +angles made by the shackling of the martingale stays to the +dolphin-striker of the other vessel. Into these he put his feet, and +clasping the dolphin-striker tightly with both arms he held on in +safety, while with a strange, grinding, crashing sound the big steamer, +having regained her impetus after the brief check, passed over the poor +<I>Sea-Slipper</I>, sending her down into the dark depths beneath! +</P> + +<P> +The moment his own safety was assured, Terry thought of Captain Afleck, +and in the silence which for a moment followed the noise of the +collision, his clear, strong voice made itself hoard calling,— +</P> + +<P> +"Captain Afleck, where are you? are you all right?" +</P> + +<P> +It was too dark for him to see beyond the length of his arm, but he +hoped that the captain had, like himself, got hold of the steamer +somewhere, and thus saved his own life. +</P> + +<P> +Nor was his hope unfounded. Out of the darkness below came the +captain's answer,— +</P> + +<P> +"I'm here, Terry, holding on for dear life. Where are you yourself?" +</P> + +<P> +Before Terry could answer there was a flashing of lights above, and +eager hands were stretched out holding ropes with a bight at the end, +one of which Terry caught, while another was grasped by the captain, +and presently they were both drawn up to the deck amid the cheers of a +crowd of sailors anxiously watching the operation. +</P> + +<P> +Not only so, but in like manner two of the sailors were found clinging +to the bowsprit rigging. The other two, unhappily, were in the +forecastle at the time of the collision, and before they could reach +the deck their chance was gone, and the poor fellows had been drawn +down to death with the ill-fated schooner. +</P> + +<P> +As soon as Captain Afleck had got his feet firmly on the deck, he +looked about at the circle of smiling sailors, and with as cheerful an +expression as though being run down were quite a common experience, he +exclaimed,— +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you did me up on short notice; and serve me well right too, I +suppose, for not having my lights up. But who may you be, and where +away?" +</P> + +<P> +A jaunty little midshipman who had just pressed his way through the +crowd responded at once,— +</P> + +<P> +"We're the United States war-ship <I>Minnesota</I>, and we're extremely +sorry we ran you down; but you had no lights out, you know, and we +didn't see you until we were right upon you. Are you all safe? I'm +sure I hope so." +</P> + +<P> +Captain Afleck looked round about him, and then, with a sorrowful shake +of his head, replied,— +</P> + +<P> +"We're all here but two. Joe and Alec were in the foc'sle when you +struck us, and I guess they hadn't time to get out. Poor chaps! it's a +mean way to die, ain't it?—like rats in a hole." +</P> + +<P> +The look of importance on the middy's face changed to one of genuine +concern at this, and with a courteous bow he said,— +</P> + +<P> +"Will you please come astern and be presented to the captain?" +</P> + +<P> +As they traversed the deck, Terry's keen eyes would have told him the +character of the vessel on board which he had been thus suddenly and +strangely flung, so to speak, even if the boyish officer, who seemed +little older than himself, had not already done so. +</P> + +<P> +The long black cannon stood close together upon their heavy carriages, +with everything at hand, ready for immediate action if need be. Stands +of rifles were ranged around the masts and the base of the funnels; and +the whole ship had the appearance, as revealed by the light of many +lanterns, of being in readiness for an expected foe. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-072"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-072.jpg" ALT=""<I>The whole ship had the appearance of being in readiness for an expected foe.</I>"" BORDER="2" WIDTH="481" HEIGHT="702"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 481px"> +"<I>The whole ship had the appearance of being in readiness for an expected foe.</I>" +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +More than one ship similarly equipped had Terry seen in Halifax +harbour, and being, like all the other boys of the city, a fervent +sympathizer with the South in the lamentable Civil War, he had +cordially hated them, and heartily wished them at the bottom of the sea. +</P> + +<P> +Now, by an odd stroke of fate, he found himself a waif on board one of +these very vessels, and he didn't like the idea at all. Blinded by his +prejudice in favour of their antagonists, he had been wont to look upon +the Northern men as ruffians and bullies and cut-throats. Naturally +enough, he felt some apprehensions as to his safety in their midst. +</P> + +<P> +But there was no retreat for him now. He had no alternative save to +accept the situation, which, to his credit be it told, he strove to do +with a brave countenance, even though it hid a beating heart. +</P> + +<P> +Following in the wake of Captain Afleck, who on his part was troubled +with no such misgivings, his relations with the New England people +having always been so satisfactory that his sympathies leaned to their +side in the struggle, Terry presently was ushered into a roomy and +handsome cabin, brilliantly lit, where several officers in rich uniform +were seated at a table, listening to a report of the collision just +being presented by the navigating lieutenant, who had been on the +bridge at the time. +</P> + +<P> +The entrance of two of the survivors of the disaster caused the +officers to rise to their feet, and the one who evidently held the +highest rank to say in a tone of sincere interest, as he held out his +hand,— +</P> + +<P> +"I presume you are the captain of the schooner we have been so +unfortunate as to collide with. I assure you I profoundly regret the +mishap. If the blame lies with us, you may rely upon my giving you +every assistance in obtaining due reparation. Won't you please be +seated?" +</P> + +<P> +Not deeming himself included in this invitation, and finding the +atmosphere of the brilliant cabin by no means congenial, Terry beat a +retreat to the maindeck, leaving Captain Afleck to give his version of +the <I>Sea-Slipper's</I> disaster. +</P> + +<P> +On the deck he was soon surrounded by a number of the sailors, who +questioned him about the schooner, and why no lights had been hung out. +He felt very ill at ease amongst them for the reason indicated, but +knew better than to show it, and answered every question as promptly +and as fully as was possible; so that the sailors voted him quite a +bright chap, and one of them was moved to ask,— +</P> + +<P> +"Say, young fellow, wouldn't you like to be one of us? I reckon ye +could join all right, for there's none too many boys aboard just now, +and there's more wanted." +</P> + +<P> +To this proposition Terry gave such an emphatic negative as to rather +raise the ire of the speaker, who, growing red with indignation, +exclaimed,— +</P> + +<P> +"Consarn you, my young turkey-cock, you needn't be so touchy. Better +boys than you would be glad enough of the chance." +</P> + +<P> +Now it was not because he thought himself above the business that Terry +had so flatly declined the sailor's suggestion, although of course the +prospect that had opened out before him at Drummond and Brown's had +entirely banished the notion he once cherished of following the sea. +His reason was simply his antipathy to the North, which rendered the +idea of entering its service most unwelcome. +</P> + +<P> +With a boy's rashness, he was about to say something in reply to the +sailor's taunt that would have made clear his mind in the matter, and +probably got him into trouble for being a "Secesh" sympathizer, when +happily at that moment Captain Afleck appeared and called him to him. +</P> + +<P> +Terry instantly noted the gravity of his face, and felt sure that he +had some bad news to tell; and so indeed it proved for both of them. +</P> + +<P> +The war-ship <I>Minnesota</I>, on which they were passengers in spite of +themselves, was on her way to Hampton Roads, Virginia, to strengthen +the Federal naval force there, it having been reported that some novel +and menacing additions had recently been made to the Confederate navy. +As an attack was expected any day, the <I>Minnesota</I> had orders to +proceed with the utmost speed direct to Hampton Roads. It was, +consequently, impossible for her to land the survivors of the +collision, and there was no alternative but for them to accompany her +to her destination, and get back to Boston from there as best they +might manage. +</P> + +<P> +For both the captain and Terry this was a very distressing state of +affairs. The former's presence would be required at once in Boston, to +prepare his claim against the company in which his vessel was insured; +while the latter burned with impatience to get back to Halifax, and +right himself at Drummond and Brown's. +</P> + +<P> +"We're in a fix, and no mistake, Terry," said Captain Afleck, cracking +the knuckles of his big horny hands after a fashion he had when +perplexed of mind. "Of course, the captain of this ship is not to +blame. He's got his orders, and he's bound to obey them, particularly +seeing it's war time. But it's mighty hard, all the same, for a fellow +to be lugged off like this against his will, and to run the risk of +being killed into the bargain." +</P> + +<P> +"Bein' killed!" exclaimed Terry, with a startled look on his face. +"Sure, an' what do you mane by that?" +</P> + +<P> +"There now, my boy, don't get scared," replied the captain soothingly. +"I didn't mean to tell you just now, but it slipped out unbeknownst to +me. You see, it's this way. This war-ship's bound for Hampton Roads, +where there's goin' to be a big fight right away, if it hasn't begun +already, and it's not likely she'll have a chance to land us before she +goes into the thick of it herself; consequently, if it all comes out as +the captain expects—and he spoke right to me like an honest man—why, +Terry, we're in for a battle, that's all, and not one of our own +choosin' either." +</P> + +<P> +The dismay expressed on Terry's countenance would have been comical +enough but for the real gravity of the situation. There would, of +course, be no call upon the two Nova Scotians to take any part in the +conflict. But they would necessarily have to share the danger with the +others on board, and they could not expect the shot and shell or flying +splinters to make any distinction on their behalf. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, but that's terrible altogether!" lamented poor Terry. "It's kilt +we'll be for sure, and"—here his voice suddenly took a note of +indignation, as if fate had been entirely too unkind—"on board a +Yankee man-of-war, too! Now, if it might be on a—" +</P> + +<P> +Captain Afleck's hand suddenly clapped over his mouth cut off the rest +of the sentence. +</P> + +<P> +"Whist, you young imp," he said in a deep whisper; "keep that to +yourself, will you? You'll get knocked on the head if you talk that +way here." +</P> + +<P> +He was evidently alarmed at the boy's rashness, and looked anxiously +around to see if the words had been overheard. As it chanced, the +sailor who had proposed to Terry to join the crew was passing at the +moment, and did catch his injudicious remark; but although he had +stopped to listen with pricked ears, he was somewhat in doubt as to the +boy's exact meaning, and would have liked to hear more. Captain +Afleck's prompt action, however, having disappointed him in this, he +moved on, but with a scowl on his face that boded ill for Terry should +he be found expressing Southern sympathy in a more decided manner. +</P> + +<P> +Having read his youthful companion a lecture upon the necessity of +keeping his own counsel, Captain Afleck proceeded to lay out the course +of action he proposed to follow. +</P> + +<P> +"We've got to stay by this ship for the present, Terry, that's clear. +But I don't mean to go into action with her if I can any way help +myself. So I'll just keep a sharp look-out for a chance to get ashore +as soon as we make Hampton Roads. There'll be sure to be some +shore-boats coming off to us, and I'll get a passage in one of them." +</P> + +<P> +"And leave me here?" cried Terry, laying hold of his arm with both +hands, as though he thought he were about to go at once. +</P> + +<P> +"No, you young rogue," responded the captain, taking him by the collar +and shaking him just for fun; "of course not. I won't go without you, +seein' that I'm mainly to blame for your being here." +</P> + +<P> +Greatly relieved in his mind, and putting implicit faith in his big +friend's ability to get them both out of their present complications, +Terry, with the volatility of his race, dismissed all further concern +on that point from his mind, and stood ready for the next thing that +might turn up. +</P> + +<P> +His was a happy nature in many ways. He liked the idea that +"sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." He was not given to +taking much thought for the morrow. To do this was one of the lessons +in life he had to learn. In the meantime he lived in the present hour, +getting the most out of it he knew how, and leaving the future to take +care of itself. +</P> + +<P> +That night he had nothing better than a coil of rope for a bed and a +bit of tarpaulin for a coverlet; but he slept as soundly as if on his +straw mattress at home, and woke up in the morning with an appetite +that many a millionaire might envy. +</P> + +<P> +Awaking at dawn next morning, he hastened on deck to find the powerful +<I>Minnesota</I> steaming at full speed southward, with the coast hardly +visible on the right. His heart sank as he realized that every minute +was taking him further from home, and nearer the indefinite dangers +which he must share so long as he remained on board the war-ship. +</P> + +<P> +He had gone up to the bow, and was leaning over the bulwarks lost in +perplexing thought, when a voice behind him said tauntingly,— +</P> + +<P> +"Well, young 'un, have you been thinkin' over what I said about taking +service with us?" +</P> + +<P> +And Terry turned round to face the sailor who had overheard his +interrupted utterance the night before. +</P> + +<P> +He did not at all like the look of the man. He had a crafty, cruel +face, and apparently relished the prospect of having a good chance to +tease the Bluenose boy who had been thrown in his way. The North was +well aware how strongly sympathy with the South ran in Halifax; and as +Terry came from that city, the Yankee sailor would have taken it for +granted that the boy sided with the enemy, even though he had had no +other ground for the belief. +</P> + +<P> +Not knowing what reply to make, Terry discreetly kept silence, and his +questioner continued,— +</P> + +<P> +"You're kinder bashful, I reckon, and don't like to say how glad you'd +be of the chance." +</P> + +<P> +Now this, of course, was far from being Terry's state of mind, as the +sailor well knew; yet the boy shrank from admitting it. Had the place +been Long Wharf, he would not have hesitated for a moment to give a +Roland for the other's Oliver, and then trusted to his legs to carry +him out of danger. But on the deck of the sailor's own ship it was an +altogether different matter. +</P> + +<P> +His position was certainly calculated to teach him a fine lesson in +self-control. But it is very doubtful if he would have been equal to +the strain. Happily, before he was tempted overmuch, Captain Afleck +appeared upon the scene, and taking in the situation at a glance, +called him to him, as though he had something to communicate of +importance. +</P> + +<P> +Glad of this diversion, Terry turned his back upon the sailor, and +joined the captain, who, when they had moved apart a little, proceeded +to say,— +</P> + +<P> +"You mustn't be talkin' with the sailors, my boy, any more than you can +help, or you'll be puttin' your foot in it for sure. They're a mighty +touchy lot, I can tell you; and if they find you letting on that you +want the Southerners to win, there's no sayin' how hot they'll make it +for you." +</P> + +<P> +Terry promised to be careful, adding with a rueful face,— +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! but it's meself that wants to be off the botherin' ship. Sure I +never axed to be aboard her, and it's sick I am of her entirely." +</P> + +<P> +Captain Afleck could not keep back a laugh. The boy seemed so deeply +concerned about his perplexities whenever he stopped to think of them, +although he could forget them so completely when something else engaged +his mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Keep your heart up, Terry," he said, in a cheering tone. "We're on a +losin' tack now seemingly, but we may 'bout ship soon. Come along with +me and see if they won't give us some breakfast." +</P> + +<P> +They found a ready welcome at one of the sailors' messes, and a big +piece of bread washed down with steaming coffee perceptibly lightened +Terry's spirits, for the time being at all events. +</P> + +<P> +All that day and the next the <I>Minnesota</I> maintained her strenuous +speed; and as the afternoon wore on, the signs of bustle and excitement +on board, and the earnest way in which the men talked together, showed +that they were rapidly nearing their destination. +</P> + +<P> +The approach of battle is a serious enough matter when the forces on +both sides are pretty well known, and the character of the undertaking +can be at least measurably estimated; but it is a very different matter +when neither of these things is known, and when the affair is very much +of a leap in the dark. +</P> + +<P> +Now this was just the state of things on the <I>Minnesota</I>. No one on +board, not even her captain, had any clear knowledge of the perils and +difficulties to be encountered. The Confederate naval force might be +found overwhelmingly strong or miserably weak. Moreover, there were +certain disturbing rumours afloat about an alarming novelty, in the way +of a naval monster, against which no wooden vessel would have the +slightest chance. Of this mystery the Norfolk navy-yard still held the +secret, although it was generally believed to be about ripe for +revelation. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IN HAMPTON ROADS. +</H4> + +<P> +To make entirely clear the position of the <I>Minnesota</I> at this point, +some words of explanation are necessary here. The American Civil War +was raging hotly, with the advantage if anything on the side of the +Southern Confederacy. In the spring of the year 1861, the Federal +forces had hurriedly abandoned their great naval establishment at +Norfolk in the State of Virginia, why or wherefore it would be hard to +say; for they had completed an effective blockade of Hampton Roads, and +might have held their ground against all the forces likely to attack +them. +</P> + +<P> +But some sudden panic seizing them, they fled across Chesapeake Bay to +Fortress Monroe, leaving vast quantities of cannons and other munitions +of war to fall into the hands of their opponents. They sought to +consign the navy-yard, together with a number of ships they could not +take away, to the flames, but the destruction was far from complete; +and the Southern soldiers appeared upon the scene in time to rescue +much precious material from the fire—among their spoils being twelve +hundred guns, that were afterwards distributed through their +fortifications from the Potomac to the Mississippi, where they did sore +damage to their former owners. +</P> + +<P> +Among the war-ships burned and sunk at the navy-yard upon its +abandonment was the fine frigate <I>Merrimac</I>, of over three thousand +tons, and carrying forty guns. On coming into possession of the +establishment, the Confederates raised this vessel and rebuilt her, but +not on the same plan as before. Instead of being a handsome +three-masted ship, with swelling sails, heavy rigging, and black and +white checked sides, she became an extraordinary-looking ironclad, the +like of which the world had never seen before, and which was destined +to effect a complete revolution in the navies of the nations. +</P> + +<P> +Vague rumours concerning this wonderful construction had found their +way northward, and it was in response to the call for a strengthening +of the blockading fleet in Chesapeake Bay that the <I>Minnesota</I> had been +despatched in hot haste from Boston, and was ploughing her way towards +Old Point Comfort, that now showed upon the port bow. At Fortress +Monroe, which crowned the Point, she would receive her orders; and the +thought of what these might be sent a thrill to the heart of every man +and boy on board, from the captain down to the youngest powder-monkey. +</P> + +<P> +The sun had already sunk behind the western hills before the frigate +reached the Point; and the navigation of Hampton Roads being somewhat +difficult, her captain decided to anchor for the night and take on a +pilot in the morning. In the meantime, he himself, accompanied by two +of his chief officers, went off in a launch to Fortress Monroe, to be +informed of the situation and to receive instructions. +</P> + +<P> +As Terry saw the launch shoot away from the vessel's side, there came +over him a wild impulse to spring on board her, that he too might be +taken ashore. He had already begged the boatswain to let him go, and +had been contemptuously rebuffed; but this, instead of quieting him, +only intensified his desire to get off the ship before there should be +any fighting. He now saw what seemed to him his only chance, and +without pausing to consider the folly of his enterprise, darted past +the sailors at the gangway-ladder, bounded down the steps, and as the +boat swung clear, gathering all his strength into one supreme effort, +he sprang out towards her. +</P> + +<P> +For a mere boy it was a grand attempt, but it failed nevertheless. +Just as he leaped, the boatswain shouted, "Give way now;" and, driven +by twelve brawny oarsmen, the launch shot forward so swiftly that +Terry's spring fell short, and he himself vanished in the swirling +water! +</P> + +<P> +But only for a moment. Almost before the spectators realized what had +happened, his head appeared above the surface, and with skilful strokes +he made for the gangway, where a sailor was awaiting him with a +grinning face and a helping hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you are a daisy, and no mistake," he exclaimed, in an +unmistakable tone of admiration, as he drew the dripping boy up to the +platform. "What on earth possessed you to do that?" +</P> + +<P> +Terry gave a despairing glance at the departing boat, now fifty yards +away, whose occupants had taken no more notice of his plunge than if it +had been the jumping of a pollack, before replying. Then he said with +a bitter sigh, as he blew the brine out of his mouth,— +</P> + +<P> +"I wanted to go ashore in her. The bosun wouldn't let me aboard, bad +cess to him, so I thought I'd jump for it." +</P> + +<P> +By this time a number of the sailors had gathered round, while several +officers were looking over the bulwarks, and Terry's explanation was +received with a murmur of astonishment. Standing in the awe they did +of the captain of the ship, the idea of this slip of an Irish lad +having the audacity to thrust himself on the launch not merely +uninvited, but after having been flatly refused, was nothing short of +astounding. They had not taken much interest in the boy before, but +now they regarded him as quite a novel type, his proceeding had been so +utterly out of the ordinary. +</P> + +<P> +"Come up on deck, my boy, and get some dry clothes on you," called put +one of the officers. "That was certainly a dashing attempt of yours, +even if it didn't come off as you hoped." +</P> + +<P> +Thus commanded, Terry ascended the gangway again, feeling sorely +crestfallen, yet as determined as ever to seize the next opportunity +that presented itself of getting away from the frigate. When given a +sailor's suit that fitted him fairly enough, he at first refused to put +it on; but Captain Afleck insisted, and so he yielded, on condition +that he might resume his own garments as soon as they were dried. +</P> + +<P> +Thanks to his being in uniform, he was allotted a hammock that night, +and forgot his disappointment in the most comfortable sleep he had +enjoyed since going on board the vessel, from which he was roused the +next morning by an unusual bustle on deck, which foretold the nearness +of some important enterprise. +</P> + +<P> +When he came on deck, he found the <I>Minnesota</I> already well under way, +making up Hampton Roads towards Newport News in company with two other +frigates, the <I>Roanoke</I> and the <I>St. Lawrence</I>. There was intense +excitement on board, and every one whose duty permitted him to be on +deck seemed to be watching eagerly for something to appear out of the +Elizabeth River to the southward. Presently an officer who stood on +the main-truck with a powerful glass called out,— +</P> + +<P> +"I see her! She's coming down past Craney Island Flats." +</P> + +<P> +All eyes were at once strained in the direction indicated; but it was +some time yet before there came into general view, just off Sewell's +Point, so strange a craft that it was at once agreed it could be none +other than the much-dreaded naval novelty of which such disturbing +stories had been in circulation. +</P> + +<P> +So far as Terry could make out, this mysterious marine marvel was like +a queer-looking house afloat on a raft. There were no masts; a short, +thick funnel explained how she was propelled. The roof of the house +was flat, surrounded by a light iron railing, and boasting two slight +poles, from which floated Confederate flags. The side walls sloped in +at a decided angle, and the two ends were rounded off into a +semicircular shape, the whole being heavily plated with iron. +</P> + +<P> +From a single row of port-holes the muzzles of ten powerful rifled guns +projected, the entire effect being warlike in the extreme; for the +thing was evidently a fighting-machine, and nothing else, whose power +for harm had yet to be gauged by actual experience. +</P> + +<P> +At first the new-comer's course was pointed straight in the direction +of the <I>Minnesota</I>, and there was not a man on board so indifferent to +danger that he did not feel a keen thrill of apprehension as this +strange and menacing antagonist came slowly onward. +</P> + +<P> +The crew at once beat to quarters, and every preparation was made for a +desperate defence; but to the undeniable relief of all, the engagement +did not then take place, as the Confederate ironclad, after clearing +Sewell's Point, turned due west, and headed for Newport News, where the +wooden frigates <I>Congress</I>, of fifty guns, and <I>Cumberland</I>, of thirty +guns, were swinging lazily by their anchors. Their boats were hanging +to the lower booms, and rows of washed clothing flapped in the rigging, +showing plainly that those on board were quite unconscious of their +danger and expecting no attack. +</P> + +<P> +It was not until the <I>Merrimac</I> had approached within three-quarters of +a mile of the two frigates that the boats were dropped astern, the +booms got alongside, and fire opened upon the intruder with the heavy +pivot-guns. In this cannonade the batteries on Newport News also +joined lustily, and the ironclad was the target of many well-aimed +cannon. +</P> + +<P> +But although the solid shot were smiting her black sides and the shells +bursting upon her exposed deck, she kept steadily on, in sullen, +appalling silence, until within close range of the frigates. Then her +forward pivot gun, a heavy seven-inch rifled piece, was fired right +into the stern of the <I>Cumberland</I>, and at almost the same instant the +<I>Congress</I> received the starboard broadside, with dreadful damage in +both cases. +</P> + +<P> +Terry had never before seen cannon used for any other purpose than the +firing of harmless salutes on the Queen's birthday and similar +occasions; and although the <I>Minnesota</I> was still some distance from +the combat, and taking no part therein, still the almost continuous +roar of the cannon, the shrieking of the shells, and the jets of spray +springing up from the water where the balls ricochetted madly across +the waves, made him realize how utterly different were his surroundings +now. +</P> + +<P> +His first impulse was to seek the lowest recesses of the hold, and +there cower out of reach of cannon-ball and bullet until the firing had +ceased. But curiosity got the better of this at the start, and +presently there came to its aid that love of battle which is in all +manly natures, and he determined to stay on deck and see the fight at +any risk. +</P> + +<P> +In his heart he hoped for the success of the Confederate ironclad, ugly +and clumsy as she seemed. But he had by this time learned to repress +his Southern sympathies, and he strove hard to seem a disinterested +spectator. +</P> + +<P> +Captain Afleck was so carried away by the extraordinary and splendid +spectacle before him that he forgot all his own troubles, and watched +the progress of the conflict with as keen an interest as if in some way +his own fate depended upon the issue. +</P> + +<P> +"I tell you what it is, Terry," said he exultantly: "this is a great +bit of luck for us. Won't we have a fine story to tell when we get +back to Halifax?" +</P> + +<P> +"That we will, captain," responded Terry—"providin' we do get back. +But I'm thinkin' there's some chance of our gettin' smashed ourselves +by one of these murderin' cannon-balls that go skippin' about so +lively. Just look at that, will you, captain?" +</P> + +<P> +The <I>Congress</I> had returned the broadside of the ironclad, and although +the range was close, only half the iron missiles had hit the mark, the +others playing a game of hop-skip-and-jump across the water, and +sending up the spray in snow-white spurts. +</P> + +<P> +"It's fine, Terry, isn't it?" said the captain. Then with a quick +change of tone he exclaimed, as he grasped the boy's arm in his +excitement, "But look there, Terry; what can that queer black thing be +up to now? Does she think she can run that fine big frigate down, like +this ship did us in Boston Harbour?" +</P> + +<P> +The tone of incredulous surprise was as marked in Captain Afleck's +voice as if the ironclad had seemed to be making preparations to fly; +yet he had only too correctly guessed the meaning of her next movement. +Indeed, before he finished speaking, it was manifest to all; for after +exchanging broadsides with the <I>Congress</I>, the <I>Merrimac</I>, paying no +heed to the land batteries that were vainly peppering her iron sides +with harmless balls, made straight for the <I>Cumberland</I> at the top of +her speed, and struck her almost at right angles under the fore-rigging +on the starboard side, the heavy iron prow crashing through the wooden +sides as though they had been pasteboard, and making a great gaping +hole wide enough to admit a horse and cart. +</P> + +<P> +A simultaneous shout of amazement, anger, and dismay went up from the +crowded deck of the <I>Minnesota</I> at this startling and horrifying +manoeuvre, and in breathless suspense all watched the stricken ship as +her assailant withdrew a space and headed up the river, apparently +content with her terrific onslaught. +</P> + +<P> +For a few minutes the <I>Cumberland</I> showed no signs of disablement, her +guns continuing to be fired with a regularity that spoke volumes for +the splendid fortitude of her officers and men. +</P> + +<P> +"She's not done for yet," cried one of the <I>Minnesota's</I> lieutenants +exultingly. "That rebel brute will have to try again." +</P> + +<A NAME="P96"></A> + +<P> +He had hardly spoken when the <I>Cumberland</I> listed badly over to port +and began to fill. Down sank the gallant ship, driving her crew to the +spar-deck, where they dauntlessly continued to work the pivot-gun, +until, with a wild swaying of her tall masts and a sickening shudder of +her shattered frame, she plunged beneath the waves, carrying her brave +defenders down to an honourable death, yet leaving the Union colours +still floating defiantly from her topmast, which projected high above +the swirling water. +</P> + +<P> +For the first moment after her disappearance there was an appalling +silence on board the <I>Minnesota</I>, and then there broke forth a wild +storm of groans, cheers, and curses, as the feelings of her crew found +expression. They had witnessed a catastrophe without a parallel in the +history of naval warfare. Never before had the tremendous power for +harm of the ironclad ram been displayed, and by that one blow the +<I>Merrimac</I> had put out of date the navies of the world as then +constructed. +</P> + +<P> +Of course Terry neither knew nor cared anything about this; but he +could not help being profoundly impressed by the magnitude of the +disaster, and his warm Irish heart went out in sympathy towards the +gallant men who had stood by their ship to the last moment. In his +admiration of their bravery he quite forgot his preference for their +victorious opponents. +</P> + +<P> +"O captain," he exclaimed, in a tone of deepest concern, plucking at +his companion's arm, "will you look at the poor creatures? Sure +they're doing their best to swim ashore, and it's a long way for them +too." +</P> + +<P> +His sharp eyes had discovered little bits of black bobbing on the +waves, which he took to be the heads of men swimming hard for the beach +at Newport News, and the lieutenant's glass confirmed the accuracy of +his vision. +</P> + +<P> +"Wouldn't I like to be giving them a hand!" he continued, jumping up +and down in the heat of his excitement. He felt so thoroughly at home +in the water, that he would not have hesitated a moment at any time to +go to the rescue of a full-grown man, and he would have thoroughly +enjoyed now going to the relief of the struggling sailors. +</P> + +<P> +But the men of the <I>Minnesota</I> had other work on hand than giving aid +to their imperilled countrymen. For aught they knew the ironclad would +next be trying her terrible ram on them, and they had need to prepare +for her onset. +</P> + +<P> +Having disposed of the ill-fated <I>Cumberland</I>, the <I>Merrimac</I> now gave +her whole attention to the <I>Congress</I>, whose commander, realizing the +impossibility of resisting the assault of the ram, had, with notable +presence of mind, slipped his cables and run his ship aground upon the +shallows, where the deep-draught ironclad could not follow her except +with cannon-balls. +</P> + +<P> +Although the <I>Congress</I> had four times as many guns as the <I>Merrimac</I>, +and was well supported besides by the land batteries on Newport News, +it was an unequal contest; for while the projectiles showered upon the +ironclad glanced harmlessly off her cannon-proof walls, her powerful +rifled guns raked the <I>Congress</I> from end to end with terrible effect. +</P> + +<P> +There could be only one termination to such a struggle. Gallantly as +the Northern sailors served their guns, their commander presently was +killed, and her decks were strewn with dead and dying. At the end of +an hour her colours came down, and white flags appeared at the gaff and +mainmast in token of surrender. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile the <I>Merrimac</I> had been joined by a number of smaller vessels +that had come down the James River after running in gallant style the +gauntlet of the Federal batteries which lined the northern bank. They +were only gunboats carrying ten guns at the most, and could not take +any prominent part in the battle, but they now proved useful in +completing the work of the ironclad. +</P> + +<P> +Two of them steamed alongside the shattered <I>Congress</I>, to make +prisoners of the crew and set fire to the ship. But they were unable +to accomplish either of these duties owing to the heavy fire kept up by +the land batteries, and had to beat a retreat; whereupon the <I>Merrimac</I> +sent hot shot into the frigate, that soon had her blazing fore and aft, +while her crew escaped on shore either by swimming or in small boats. +</P> + +<P> +All this was watched with keen anxiety on board the <I>Minnesota</I>, and +the question her men asked themselves was,— +</P> + +<P> +"Will the <I>Merrimac</I> be content with the damage she has already done, +or will our ship share the same fate as the other two?" +</P> + +<P> +They were not left long in uncertainty. Swinging slowly around, the +huge ironclad, after pausing a few minutes as though to take breath, +came down the channel heading straight for the <I>Minnesota</I>. Her day's +work was evidently not yet done. She must have another victim before +returning to her moorings. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE GREAT NAVAL COMBAT. +</H4> + +<P> +When Terry saw the ugly black ironclad bearing down upon the +<I>Minnesota</I>, he could not suppress a cry of consternation. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, whirra! whirra!" he burst forth, dancing from one foot to the +other, and swinging his arms about in the extremity of his excitement, +"the murderin' thing is coming right for us, and it's smashing us to +bits entirely she'll be." +</P> + +<P> +That the captain of the frigate held the same opinion, however +differently he might have expressed it, was soon manifest from the +manoeuvring of his ship; for instead of remaining out in the north +channel, where there was sufficient depth of water for the <I>Merrimac</I> +to move freely, he turned his vessel's bow seaward, and kept on in that +direction until she had grounded on a shoal about midway between +Fortress Monroe and Newport News Point. +</P> + +<P> +All danger from the irresistible ram was now over, as the ironclad +could not approach within some hundreds of yards without getting +aground herself, which would have put an end to her career; so those on +board the <I>Minnesota</I> began to pluck up courage again. Even Terry felt +more composed when he realized that the "murderin' thing," as he called +it, had to keep a respectful distance. +</P> + +<P> +But they were not permitted to enjoy this little bit of comfort long. +The big frigate, towering high above the water, offered only too easy a +target to the rifled guns of the <I>Merrimac</I>, and presently their +destructive missiles began to come crashing through her wooden sides as +though they had been paper, inflicting fearful damage and slaughter. +</P> + +<P> +Yet nothing daunted by the immediate presence of danger and death, the +men of the <I>Minnesota</I> plied their own formidable battery; and although +the cannon-balls' bounced harmlessly off the impregnable sides of the +ironclad, they did their work against her attendant gunboats, so that +both had ere long to retire from the combat. +</P> + +<P> +The decks of the frigate soon presented a pitiable sight. The heavy +guns of the <I>Merrimac</I> had again and again raked them with dreadful +effect, and the dead and the dying lay strewn about, confused with +splintered beams and shattered gun-carriages. The ship's surgeons, +recking nothing of their own danger, were busy binding up wounds, and +having the poor sufferers borne below; while through the smoke-laden +air rang the shouts of those still serving the guns, mingled with the +groans of their comrades writhing in agony. +</P> + +<P> +In the midst of it all was Terry. When the first shot struck the +bulwarks of the frigate, and smashing its way through slew three +stalwart sailors and badly wounded two others, he threw himself flat on +the deck behind the foremast, completely overcome with sheer horror and +fright. There he remained for some minutes, every boom of the cannon +sending fresh shudders through his boyish frame. +</P> + +<P> +Presently, amid the occasional pauses in the thunder of the artillery, +a moaning cry reached his ear: "Water, water! for God's sake a drop of +water!" He had heard it several times before, even in his warm fresh +heart, the impulse to help began to tell upon the paralyzing panic that +had smitten him. But when, for the fourth time, the piteous wail +pierced its way to him, "Oh for water! Won't some one bring me water?" +he could lie still no longer. +</P> + +<P> +Getting upon his hands and knees—for he did not dare rise to his full +height—he crept across the deck to where the sufferer lay. He found a +young sailor, not many years older than himself, dreadfully wounded by +a cannon-ball, and suffering agonies from thirst. He was half-hidden +by an overturned gun-carriage, and had been overlooked by the surgeon +in the wild confusion. +</P> + +<P> +"Water! water!" he panted, looking at Terry with imploring eyes, for he +could not move a limb. "For the love of God, bring me some water!" +</P> + +<P> +Terry knew well enough where the water-butts were, but to reach them +meant his running the gauntlet of shot and splinter, whose dreadful +effects lay all about him. Naturally he shrank from the risk, and +looked around in hopes of seeing some of the crew who might undertake +it. +</P> + +<P> +But all who were not already <I>hors de combat</I> had their hands full. +Whatever was to be done for the poor young fellow must be done by him. +The next wail for water decided him. Bending his head as though he +were facing a snowstorm, he darted across the deck to the water-butts. +Right at hand was a pannikin. Hastily filling it, he retraced his +steps, going more slowly now because of his burden, and had just got +half-way when a heavy ball smashed into the bulwarks at his left, +sending out a heavy shower of splinters, one of which struck the +pannikin from his hand, spilling its precious contents upon the deck. +</P> + +<P> +It was a hair-breadth escape, and Terry dropped to the deck as though +he had been struck. But this was the end of his panic. So soon as he +realized that he was untouched, he sprang to his feet again, and +shaking his fist in the direction of the <I>Merrimac</I>, cried defiantly, +"You didn't do it that time. Try it again, will ye? I'll carry the +water in spite of ye!" Then picking up the pannikin he refilled it, +and this time succeeded in bearing it safely to the sufferer, who, when +he had taken a long, deep draught, looked into the boy's face, saying +gratefully,— +</P> + +<P> +"God bless you for that, even if you are a little rebel at heart." +</P> + +<P> +Not until then did Terry recognize in the man he was helping the sailor +whose ire he had aroused by refusing to enter into the ship's service, +and his heart glowed at the thought that he had shown him that he could +not refuse an appeal for aid even from him. +</P> + +<P> +Throughout the rest of that awful afternoon Terry toiled like a beaver, +bearing water to the wounded and to those working the guns, and earning +countless blessings from the grateful sailors. He seemed to bear a +charmed life. Men fell all round him, while he went unscathed. Again +and again the surgeon thanked him for his timely assistance. In spite +of all the peril, he never felt happier in his life. He was completely +lifted out of himself, and intoxicated with the joy of whole-souled +service for others. +</P> + +<P> +As the afternoon advanced, the situation of the <I>Minnesota</I> became +increasingly desperate. Of course, being aground, she could not sink; +but the rifled guns of the <I>Merrimac</I> had torn great gaping holes in +her high sides. She had lost many of her men, and had once been set on +fire. Indeed, her surrender or destruction seemed inevitable, when a +diversion took place which postponed either unhappy alternative for +that day at all events. +</P> + +<P> +Besides the <I>Minnesota</I>, there were two other Federal frigates lying in +Hampton Roads, the <I>Roanoke</I> and the <I>St. Lawrence</I>, and they likewise +had been run aground for fear of the terrible ram. As if satisfied +with the damage done to the <I>Minnesota</I>, and confident that no escape +was possible for her, the <I>Merrimac</I> now gave attention to her two +consorts, and proceeded to bombard them with her heavy guns. +</P> + +<P> +They returned broadsides with great spirit, and the cannonade continued +vigorously on both sides, until an ebbing tide and oncoming darkness +warned those in command of the deep-draught ironclad that it was full +time to be taking her back towards Norfolk. Accordingly she drew off, +and after a couple of parting shots from her stern pivot-guns, steamed +slowly back to Sewell's Point, where she anchored for the night. +</P> + +<P> +Unspeakable was the relief on board the three frigates at her +withdrawal, and relieved from duty at the guns, their crews at once set +to work to repair damages as best they might, knowing full well that +they had respite only until daylight. +</P> + +<P> +Terry continued his errands of mercy until his help was no longer +required; then, after getting something to eat, he went up to his +favourite place in the bow, utterly tired out, and threw himself down +to rest. +</P> + +<P> +Here Captain Afleck found him, and together they talked over the events +of the day. The captain had not been quite so fortunate as Terry, +having received a painful, though not serious, scalp wound. He made +light of it, however, and had much to say in praise of his companion +for his brave service as a helper of the wounded. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll be the talk of the town, my boy, when we get back to Halifax," +said he. "Ye've seen more than any lad of your age in the country, I +can tell you; and it's a great story you'll have to tell them at +Drummond and Brown's when you take your place there again." +</P> + +<P> +A happy smile lit up Terry's face, so begrimed with powder smoke that +the multitudinous freckles were no longer distinguishable. He had +quite forgotten Halifax and all belonging to it in the excitement of +the battle; but Captain Afleck's words brought his thoughts back, and +the idea of his being a kind of hero at Drummond and Brown's, where now +they probably considered him little better than a rascal, was +exceedingly grateful. +</P> + +<P> +He was just about to say something in reply, when his attention was +claimed by the wonderful scene now before his eyes; and clasping +Captain Afleck's arm, he exclaimed, in a tone of mingled awe and +admiration, "Just look, will ye, captain! did ye ever see the like of +that in your life before?" +</P> + +<P> +By this time night had fallen mild and calm. The moon in her second +quarter was just rising over the rippling waters, but her silvery light +for those on board the <I>Minnesota</I> paled in the presence of the +brilliant illumination proceeding from the burning frigate <I>Congress</I>. +As the flames crept up the rigging, every mast, spar, and rope flashed +out in fiery silhouette against the dark sky beyond. The hull, aground +upon the shoal, was plainly visible, each porthole showing in the black +sides like the mouth of a fiery furnace, while from time to time the +boom of a loaded gun, or the crash of an exploded shell, gave startling +emphasis to the superb spectacle. +</P> + +<P> +Having no duty to perform, the captain and Terry could give themselves +up to watching the destruction of the noble vessel, and they stayed at +the bow until presently a monstrous sheaf of flame rose from her to an +immense height. The sky seemed rent in twain by a blinding flash, and +then came a loud, deafening report that told the whole story. The +flames had reached the powder-magazine, and their work was complete. +</P> + +<P> +In the silence that followed, Captain Afleck, taking Terry's hand, said +with a profound sigh, "Come, Terry, let us get to sleep. It breaks my +heart to see a fine ship blown to bits like that." +</P> + +<P> +They went below, and finding a quiet corner, threw themselves down to +get what rest they could before facing the dangers of another day. +</P> + +<P> +On going on deck the next morning, Terry's attention was at once +attracted by the sailors bending over the bulwarks of the ship, +evidently much interested in something that lay alongside. Following +their example, he saw below an extraordinary-looking craft, which might +not inaptly have been compared to a huge tin can set on a gigantic +shingle. +</P> + +<P> +It was none other than the famous <I>Monitor</I>, an even more remarkable +vessel than the <I>Merrimac</I>, which had come post-haste from New York, +and arrived just in time to do battle with the hitherto irresistible +rebel ram. +</P> + +<P> +Little as Terry pretended to know about war-ships, he felt quite +competent not merely to wonder but to laugh at this latest addition to +the Federal fleet; she seemed so absurdly inadequate to cope with the +big powerful <I>Merrimac</I>. A flat iron-plated raft with pointed ends, +bearing in the middle a round turret not ten feet high, also plated +with iron, and at the bow a small square iron hut for use as a +pilot-house; while from the round port-holes in the turret projected +the muzzles of two eleven-inch rifled guns, which constituted her +entire armament. Such was the <I>Monitor</I>. +</P> + +<P> +He was still engaged in studying this queer-looking craft, and feeling +sorely tempted to ask some questions of the men who were busy about her +decks getting her ready for action, when the crash of a heavy ball +against the other side of the <I>Minnesota</I> told him that the <I>Merrimac</I> +had already come over from Sewell's Point to complete her unfinished +work. +</P> + +<P> +It was also the signal for the <I>Monitor</I> to move out from her +hiding-place behind the lofty frigate. Like some strange sea-monster, +she swung round the other's stern, and steaming forward so as to come +between her and her assailant, dauntlessly challenged the latter to +single combat. +</P> + +<P> +Then there took place right before Terry's eyes a naval conflict +without parallel in the history of the world, in every respect the most +momentous battle ever waged upon the water. Of course, Terry did not +realize this, but that did not in any wise lessen the breathless +interest with which he watched every move and manoeuvre of the struggle. +</P> + +<P> +For the first few minutes there was a pause, as though the two +adversaries were surveying each other with a view of choosing the best +method of attack. Then they began to advance cautiously until they had +got well within range, when almost simultaneously they opened fire. +This was at about eight o'clock in the morning, and thenceforward until +noon the cannonading continued furiously, with hardly any intermission. +</P> + +<P> +The ironclads fought like two gladiators in an arena, now closing in on +each other until they were almost touching, then sheering off until +they were half-a-mile apart. The <I>Monitor</I> had a great advantage over +the <I>Merrimac</I> in that she drew only half as much water, and was +consequently able to move about far more freely than her cumbrous +opponent, who had to confine herself to the deep-water channel. Even +as it was she once ran aground, and was with the greatest difficulty +got afloat again. +</P> + +<P> +Although Terry had come to Hampton Roads a warm little sympathizer with +the South, his feelings had undergone considerable change as he +observed the splendid bravery of the Northern sailors; and now, while +he watched the contending ironclads, he found his heart going out +towards the little <I>Monitor</I> rather than towards the big black +<I>Merrimac</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure it doesn't seem fair play at all," he exclaimed to Captain +Afleck, in a decided tone of indignation. "That small little thing's +no match for the big fellow. There ought to be two of them anyhow to +make it even." +</P> + +<P> +But the captain, noting the advantage held by the <I>Monitor</I>, and the +fact that the bombardment of her antagonist had no more effect upon her +coat of mail than had hers upon the <I>Merrimac</I>, shook his head +doubtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a more even fight than you think, Terry," said he, "and I'm not +saying but what I'd be willing to bet on the little one yet. But see, +they must be going to try to run her down, like they did the +<I>Cumberland</I>." +</P> + +<P> +Sure enough, despairing of driving her doughty opponent off the field +with broadsides, the <I>Merrimac</I> determined to try the effect of her +ram. For nearly an hour she had been manoeuvring for a position, and +at last an opportunity offered. Putting on full speed, she charged +forcibly down; but just in time the <I>Monitor</I> turned aside, and the ram +glanced off without doing any damage. +</P> + +<P> +At seeing this Terry clapped his hands as heartily as if he had been a +thorough-going Yankee. +</P> + +<P> +"Sold again!" he cried, as the <I>Merrimac</I> sullenly sheered off. +"You're not so smart after all." +</P> + +<P> +The firing continued for some time longer, and then those on board the +<I>Minnesota</I> were startled to see the <I>Monitor</I> coming back towards them +with all the appearance of withdrawing from the fight. The Merrimac +could not follow on account of the shallowness of the water, but +remained out in the channel awaiting the other's return. Instead of +returning, however, the <I>Monitor</I> swung round, and steamed off in the +direction of Fortress Monroe, leaving the helpless <I>Minnesota</I> at the +mercy of the enemy. +</P> + +<P> +"O Captain Afleck!" cried Terry, in keen alarm, "what will become of us +now? That murderin' thing will smash us all to pieces, seein' there's +nothing to hinder it." +</P> + +<P> +The situation of the <I>Minnesota</I> certainly was as serious as it could +well be. Many of the guns had been rendered useless in the conflict of +the preceding day. Full half of the crew were killed or wounded, and +most of the officers were unfit for duty. If the <I>Merrimac</I> should +resume her work of destruction, there was slight chance of any one on +board surviving the catastrophe. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +ADVENTURES ASHORE. +</H4> + +<P> +For some minutes the <I>Minnesota's</I> men were kept in harrowing +uncertainty as the <I>Merrimac</I> hung off to mid-stream, apparently +undecided as to what to do next. Then, to their unspeakable relief, +she swung round, and turning her prow towards Norfolk, moved heavily +away. She, too, like the <I>Monitor</I>, had had her fill of fighting for +that day. +</P> + +<P> +At sight of this Terry tossed his cap in the air, and began an Irish +jig on the fore-deck, crying,— +</P> + +<P> +"Be off with you now. Sure, you've done mischief enough this blessed +day. It's mighty glad I'd be never to see a sight of you again." +</P> + +<P> +As it turned out he had his wish granted, for when the withdrawal of +the ironclad became known at Fortress Monroe, two of the gunboats in +refuge there ventured out, and, attaching themselves to the stranded +ship, succeeded with great difficulty, and the aid of a flood-tide, in +getting her afloat again, and towing her down-stream to safe quarters +under the guns of the fort. +</P> + +<P> +The following morning both Terry and Captain Afleck were able to get +ashore; and, rejoiced at regaining their liberty, they at once set +about ascertaining how they might make their way back to Boston. +</P> + +<P> +This was a problem by no means easily solved. They were both penniless +and without friends, save such as they had made during their brief but +exciting stay on board the <I>Minnesota</I>. Under other circumstances, no +doubt, the captain of the frigate, as some reparation for running down +the <I>Sea-Slipper</I>, would have exerted himself to send them forward; but +he, poor fellow, had been severely wounded in the fighting, and the +other officers were too deeply engrossed in the pressing duties of the +moment to give any attention to less important matters. +</P> + +<P> +It was in this crisis that Terry's really daring and devoted services +to the wounded during the thick of the battle brought forth fruit. He +was wandering disconsolately about the beach at Fortress Monroe, +wondering how he could make his way back to Halifax and set himself +right at Drummond and Brown's, when one of the <I>Minnesota's</I> +lieutenants came along, and hailed him pleasantly,— +</P> + +<P> +"Where away, Terry? You look kind of down on your luck this morning." +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed that I am, sir," responded Terry promptly. "I've just been +axin' myself how I'm to get back to Halifax, and faith I can't make it +out at all, at all." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you want to get back to Halifax, do you?" said the lieutenant. +"Well, I can't say about that, but it's only fair you should be sent +back to Boston, for you would have been there long ago if we hadn't run +you down, wouldn't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's the truth you're sayin', sir!" answered Terry; "and," here an +eager appealing look came into his face, "if you can say a word to the +captain, sir, and have Captain Afleck and myself given a lift that way, +it's more obliged than I can tell you we'd both be." +</P> + +<P> +The lieutenant evidently took kindly to the suggestion, and clapping +the boy on the back, he said,— +</P> + +<P> +"I'll do it, Terry. You did us all a good turn on board the +<I>Minnesota</I> by taking water round when nobody could attend to it. Our +captain's in hospital, but I'll speak to the officer in command in his +place, and he'll do the square thing, I'm sure." +</P> + +<P> +The lieutenant was as good as his word. He took considerable pains to +press the matter, with the result that on the following day Captain +Afleck and Terry were provided with railroad passes clear to Boston, +and sufficient funds to pay their expenses <I>en route</I>. +</P> + +<P> +They made a light-hearted pair, the big bronzed man and the +freckle-faced boy, as they set out for Baltimore, rejoicing in getting +away from the scenes of bloodshed and destruction, of which they had +grown profoundly weary. +</P> + +<P> +They were more than satisfied with their first experience of war in all +its horrors, and quite content that it should be their last. Terry +accurately expressed the feelings of both when he said, with a grunt of +disgust that made his companion smile,— +</P> + +<P> +"If you ever catch me in a scrape like this again, you may call me as +many sizes of an idiot as you like. It is bad enough to be kilt in a +row of your own raisin', but what's the sense of it when it's not your +fight at all?" +</P> + +<P> +By which deliverance Terry showed himself to be a true philosopher, +with a very sound and practical theory of life. But, like many other +mortals, Terry could teach a great deal better than he could practise, +the truth being that the impulse of his race to take a hand in any fun +or fighting that might be going was as strong in him as if he had been +born on the green sod. +</P> + +<P> +However, he was sincere enough this time, and regarded with complacence +every additional mile of country that separated him from the scene of +the wonderful naval combat he had by so odd a chain of circumstances +been brought to witness. +</P> + +<P> +As might be expected in time of war, when the whole country was more or +less upset, the train service was very imperfect. The rate of speed +was poor, the stoppages many and prolonged, and the carriages fell far +short of being comfortable. +</P> + +<P> +Yet none of these things troubled Terry. It was the first long +railroad ride of his life, and he enjoyed it keenly despite its many +drawbacks. He made friends with the conductors and brakesmen, who +could not resist his cheery humour. He amused his fellow-passengers by +his quick observation of and shrewd comments upon the people and places +by the way. He even succeeded in so ingratiating himself with the +driver of the train during a long stop at a junction, as to be invited +on to the engine for the remainder of that driver's run, and then he +returned to Captain Afleck grimy but triumphant. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-120"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-120.jpg" ALT=""<I>He succeeded in ingratiating himself with the driver of the train.</I>"" BORDER="2" WIDTH="469" HEIGHT="700"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 469px"> +"<I>He succeeded in ingratiating himself with the driver of the train.</I>" +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +From Baltimore to Philadelphia, and from Philadelphia to New York, they +hurried on. Under other circumstances, they would have been glad to +make a stay in each of these splendid cities; but Captain Afleck was +impatient to get back to Boston to prepare his claim against the +insurance company, while Terry was no less eager to return to Halifax, +that he might reinstate himself in Drummond and Brown's. +</P> + +<P> +Yet in spite of their mutual anxiety they were both destined to another +delay which tried their spirits sorely. +</P> + +<P> +The city of New York was at this time the centre of more interest and +excitement than Washington itself. The issue of the war still seemed +in doubt, and there were divided counsels as to whether it should be +carried on to the bitter end, regardless of consequences, or whether +some sort of compromise should be arranged with the South before +further successes had inflated her hopes too high. +</P> + +<P> +In the face of this uncertain state of the public mind, nevertheless, +the most earnest preparations for the prosecution of the struggle by +land and sea were going on, and this of course attracted to the place +wild and turbulent spirits from every quarter, eager to take advantage +of the opportunity to fill their pockets, honestly or dishonestly, with +a decided preference for the latter way as being more exciting. +Bounty-jumping was a favourite device, and the city fairly swarmed with +men guilty of this dishonourable action, and who, afraid to show +themselves in the light of day, prowled about the streets at night with +no very good intent. +</P> + +<P> +It was late in the evening when the captain and Terry arrived in New +York, and as they had been without food, since mid-day, their first +proceeding was to set out in quest of a restaurant. Captain Afleck +knew something of the city, having been there before, and soon found +his way to a quiet eating-house, where they obtained a comfortable meal +at a reasonable price. +</P> + +<P> +They took their time over it, for they were weary of the train, and it +was quite a relief to be rid of the roar and rattle for a time. +Midnight was not far off when they went out into the street, and +feeling greatly refreshed, they were tempted into taking a stroll +before returning to the station, where they intended to pass the night, +so as to be on hand for the first train to Boston in the morning. +</P> + +<P> +The night was fine and bright. The captain lit his pipe, while Terry +munched some candy, and the two wandered on in a careless manner, +enjoying the cold air and the quiet of the hour. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a big place this, isn't it, Terry?" said the captain as they +stood at an intersection of two streets, and looking north, south, +east, and west, saw the long lines of lights go twinkling 'off as far +as the eye could reach. "All the same, I believe I'd rather live in +Halifax; wouldn't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"That I would," responded Terry promptly. "I'd be afraid of gettin' +lost here all the time. Sure, there must be a sight of people here. +It's not much chance a poor chap like me 'ud have wid such a crowd." +</P> + +<P> +Now that Terry's ambition had been so thoroughly aroused, he already +began to realize what the stress of competition meant, and it was clear +enough to him that the bigger the city the more there were ready to +fill every opening. Miss Drummond's encouraging statement about her +grandfather had taken deep hold upon the boy's mind, and there were +times when he was bold enough to indulge in day-dreams having a similar +fulfilment. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess you'd stand as good a chance of holding your way as the most +of boys, Terry," said Captain Afleck, giving him a kindly pat on the +head. "You've got lots of grit in ye, and that's the sort of thing +that counts in these big places. But what's that? There's mischief +going on down there. Come, let's see what's up." +</P> + +<P> +They were by this time on their way back to the railway station, and +were just crossing a narrow dark side street, when there came to them +through the stillness of the night a muffled cry for help, followed by +the sound of heavy blows. +</P> + +<P> +Captain Afleck carried a stout stick, and grasping this firmly, he sped +down the street in the direction whence the sounds had come, Terry +keeping close at his heels. +</P> + +<P> +In the very narrowest and darkest part of the street they almost fell +over a group of three men, one being prostrate on the ground, while the +other two bent over him, evidently engaged in rifling his pockets. +</P> + +<P> +Shouting "Take that, you rascal!" the brawny captain struck one of the +highwaymen a sounding whack across the shoulders with his stick, and +the next instant tumbled the other over with his left fist. The +astounded scoundrels as soon as they recovered themselves made off at +full speed; and when assured of their departure, Captain Afleck turned +his attention to the victim of their violence. +</P> + +<P> +It was too dark at that spot to make out the extent of his injuries, +so, with Terry's aid, he was dragged towards a lamp-post. +</P> + +<P> +They had just placed him upon some steps, and were endeavouring to +loosen his neckcloth, for he was quite insensible, when there suddenly +appeared two big policemen, who made haste to arrest them with great +show of zeal. +</P> + +<P> +Neither protests nor explanations were of any avail. A respectable +citizen returning quietly home had been brutally assaulted in the +public street. The captain and Terry had been caught red-handed (as a +matter of fact they did both have blood upon their hands, got from the +wound on the poor man's head, which was badly cut), and they must +answer for it at the police court in the morning. +</P> + +<P> +Other policemen were whistled for, and the still insensible man was +sent to hospital in a cab, while his two unlucky rescuers were marched +off to the station-house, where they spent a miserable night in +separate cells. +</P> + +<P> +Not only that night but the whole of the next day were they kept in +confinement, the injuries of the "respectable citizen" being too severe +to permit of his appearing in court; and it was not until the following +day that they were brought up for examination. +</P> + +<P> +Terry went before the police magistrate with quaking knees and beating +heart. Not that any sense of guilt filled him with fear, but because +his whole past experience in Halifax had been such as to make the +minions of the law objects of terror to him; and now that he was in +their clutches in a foreign land, his lively imagination conceived all +sorts of dire consequences in spite of his big companion's attempts at +comfort. +</P> + +<P> +Captain Afleck, on the other hand, was in a state of furious +indignation. The moment he got a chance to open his mouth he intended +to give the American authorities a piece of his mind, and threaten them +with the vengeance of the British nation for committing so +unwarrantable an indignity upon one of its honest and loyal members. +</P> + +<P> +A number of cases had precedence of theirs, and they watched the +proceedings with very different feelings—Terry wondering, as he heard +sentence after sentence pronounced by the magistrate in his hard, dry, +monotonous voice, what penalty would be theirs if he and the captain +could not clear themselves; while the captain, nursing his wrath to +keep it warm, gave vent to a succession of wrathful grunts as he saw +the succession of miserable, unwashed, demoralized creatures with whom +he was for the time associated. +</P> + +<P> +At length the rest of the docket had been cleared, and their case was +called. It had been left to the last because of its being the most +serious on the list for the day. Just as the captain and Terry were +being arraigned, there appeared in court a middle-aged man, whose +carefully-bandaged head, pale countenance, and general air of weakness +betokened him to be the victim of the assault. +</P> + +<P> +As the two prisoners stood up to answer to their names and the charge +made against them by Policeman No. 399, it was evident that their +appearance created a good deal of surprise. They certainly did not +look at all like the ordinary criminals. The case promised to be one +of special interest, and the spectators adjusted themselves so as to +see and hear to the best advantage. +</P> + +<P> +But if they expected an interesting hour of it they were doomed to be +disappointed; for no sooner had the injured man raised his eyes to look +at the accused of having waylaid him than he gave a start, and the +colour mounted to his pallid face. +</P> + +<P> +"These are not the men," he exclaimed. "There's some mistake. The men +that assaulted me were short and stout, and they were both men—not a +man and a boy." +</P> + +<P> +His words created a decided sensation. The countenance of the zealous +bluecoats who had effected the arrest, and expected praise for their +efficient performance, grew suddenly long while the magistrate turned +upon them a look of stern inquiry, saying,— +</P> + +<P> +"What's the meaning of this? Have you been making some serious +blunder?" +</P> + +<P> +Captain Afleck now had his opportunity, and he used it gloriously, +pouring forth the vials of his wrath as he told his story, until at +last the magistrate, entirely satisfied, stopped the stream of his +eloquence with uplifted hand, and proceeded to say, in a tone that +showed genuine feeling,— +</P> + +<P> +"You have been the victims of a very unfortunate blunder, for which I +wish it were in my power to make some reparation. As it is, all I can +do is to express my profound regret, and to put you at once at liberty." +</P> + +<P> +Amid a buzz of applause the captain and Terry made their way out into +the street, the boy hardly able to restrain his impulse to leap and +shout for joy, but the man still grumbling and growling at the +aggravation he had been so undeservedly compelled to endure. +</P> + +<P> +Once more in the open air, Terry's first thought was to get away as +fast as possible. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us be off to the station," he cried. "Mebbe there's a train goin' +soon." +</P> + +<P> +This made the captain think of the railway passes, and he thrust his +hand into the pocket where he kept his wallet. The pocket was empty! +He tried the other pockets, but they were in the same condition! The +passes and the remainder of his money were gone, stolen by some clever +pickpocket that very morning perchance. He turned upon Terry a face +full of consternation. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been robbed, Terry," said he hoarsely. "We can't go to Boston +to-day; I've lost the passes, and all my money too." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +FROM FRIEND TO FRIEND. +</H4> + +<P> +Terry's face when he heard Captain Afleck's startling news was verily a +study. The joy which the moment before had irradiated it vanished like +a flash, and in its place came a look of blank despair that would have +touched a heart of stone. +</P> + +<P> +"Whirra, whirra!" he moaned, shaking his head dolefully; "and what's to +be done now? We can't walk all that way, can we?" +</P> + +<P> +In spite of his mental distress the big seaman burst out into a laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Walk all the way, Terry!" he cried; "not a bit of us. If I can't +manage better than that, you can put me down for a first-class booby." +</P> + +<P> +At this moment a hand was laid gently on his shoulder, and turning +round he found at his side the gentleman who had been unintentionally +the cause of their mishap. +</P> + +<P> +"Pardon my addressing you," said he courteously, "but I am really very +much grieved that you should have been put to so much inconvenience on +my account. Won't you do me the favour to come home with me to lunch? +My carriage is waiting for me." +</P> + +<P> +For a moment Captain Afleck hesitated. Then, seeing that the +invitation was sincere, and feeling glad to find a friend in his time +of need, he looked at Terry, saying, "Shall we go with the gentleman, +Terry?" +</P> + +<P> +Terry nodded a vigorous assent. So the invitation was accepted, and +presently they were rolling up Fifth Avenue in a luxurious carriage, +wondering what good fortune awaited them. +</P> + +<P> +The carriage stopped at a handsome residence, into which they followed +their host, and being shown by a servant into a dressing-room, were +enabled to make their toilet before going to lunch. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Travers had no family, and they were therefore spared the ordeal of +facing female society, while his genial manner soon put them both so +entirely at their ease, that almost unconsciously they told him their +whole story, since the collision in Boston Harbour. Nor did their +confidence stop there; for Terry, his heart responding to the old man's +kindly interest, was moved to go further back, and tell his own +history, from the time he saved Miss Drummond's life. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, ho!" exclaimed Mr. Travers when he had finished—"Mr. Drummond, of +Drummond and Brown. I know him well. We've had business relations +these many years. Now, Terry, my lad, I want to say that I believe you +fully, and that this very night I will take upon myself to write to Mr. +Drummond and say so; and when you go back to Halifax you'll find him +ready to receive your explanations, and to take you back into his +office." +</P> + +<P> +How Terry's heart leaped at this, and with what boyish ardour he +expressed his gratitude! Halifax seemed very near now, and it was +brought still nearer when Mr. Travers proceeded:— +</P> + +<P> +"As to your getting home, of course you will allow me to provide for +that—nothing else would be fair, and it will perhaps in some measure +make amends for what you have had to endure." +</P> + +<P> +So the upshot of it was, that when the captain and Terry bade good-bye +to their new-found friend, the former had sufficient funds to pay all +expenses of the homeward journey, and with light hearts they made their +way to the station. +</P> + +<P> +Once more in the train, and speeding towards Boston, they lolled about +on the cushion of the car in great good-humour. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Terry, my son," said the captain, bestowing upon him a look of +mingled affection and admiration, "you do have the greatest luck of any +fellow I ever saw. I give you credit for the whole of it, seein' that +I've never had much of it myself. No matter what sort of a scrape we +get into, out we come again smiling, and not a bit the worse. If your +luck holds, you'll be a great man some day, Terry, and no mistake." +</P> + +<P> +Terry laughed, and curled up still more comfortably on the crimson +cushion. +</P> + +<P> +"Faith, you make me proud, captain," he responded. "But where do you +come in yourself? Sure, it 'ud be no easy job to say where I'd be this +very minute if you'd not looked after me." +</P> + +<P> +Much pleased in his turn, Captain Afleck leaned over and twitched +Terry's ear in a not ungentle fashion. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess you can take pretty good care of yourself, my hearty," said +he. "Some fine day you'll be one of the bosses at Long Wharf, wearing +a big gold chain, and fine black suit, and a tall shiny hat, while, if +I'm alive, I'll be nothing better than I am now, glad if I can knock +out a living with my schooner—if I ever get another one." +</P> + +<P> +"No you won't, captain," cried Terry, springing up with eyes shining +with emotion; "nothing of the kind. If ever I do get to be one of the +bosses, you shall be captain of the best ship the firm owns, and go +round the world in her, if you like." +</P> + +<P> +Captain Afleck gave the boy a tender smile as he took hold of his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I know you mean every word of it, Terry; and, who knows, perhaps some +of it may come true some day." +</P> + +<P> +And so they whiled away the time as the swift train sped northward. +Shortly after nightfall Terry went to sleep, and the captain, growing +weary of the confinement of the car, took advantage of a lengthy +stoppage at a junction to get out and stretch his legs. There were +trains on both sides of the platform, and it fell out that the mariner, +little used to land travel, presently lost his bearings, with the +result that, hearing the shout, "All aboard," and seeing a train move +off, he jumped on to the rear car, thinking it was all right. +</P> + +<P> +Not until he had passed through to the next car did he discover that he +was mistaken. But by that time the train had gathered such speed that +to jump off was to risk life, so with a groan of, "Oh, but I'm the +dunderhead. How is poor Terry to get along now?" he threw himself into +a seat to wait for the conductor, from whom he might learn how soon he +could leave this train and set off in pursuit of the right one. +</P> + +<P> +When the conductor did appear the captain was dismayed to find that he +was flying off due west in the direction of Chicago, instead of due +north in the direction of Boston, and that it would not be possible for +him to retrace his way until the following morning, while the train +which carried Terry would reach Boston that very night. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it's no use crying over spilt milk," soliloquized Captain Afleck +on receiving this information. "I must only make the best of it for +myself; but poor little Terry, who's to look after him? and he hasn't a +copper in his pocket." +</P> + +<P> +It was some little time after the train had moved off without the +captain before Terry awoke. When he did, and looked about him for his +companion, his first thought was,— +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he's gone into one of the other cars," and he gave himself no +concern. +</P> + +<P> +Presently, however, beginning to feel lonely, he thought he'd go in +search of him, and accordingly he went through the four passenger cars, +looking eagerly for the stalwart sailor. +</P> + +<P> +Discovering no signs of him, he grew anxious, and questioned the +brakesman. But he could tell him nothing; and all the conductor knew +was that a man answering to Terry's description had been out on the +platform at the junction walking up and down while the train stopped. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think he's fallen under the cars, and been killed?" exclaimed +Terry, his eyes enlarged to their utmost extent at the awful notion. +</P> + +<P> +"Not much," responded the conductor curtly. "Guess he went to get a +drink in the restaurant, and let the train go off without him. You +needn't worry. He'll be along by the express." +</P> + +<P> +This explanation, albeit not altogether satisfactory to Terry, for he +knew the captain was practically a teetotaller, nevertheless served, in +lieu of a better one, to allay his apprehensions somewhat; and, having +inquired when the express would be along, he went back to his seat, +determined not to let the other passengers see how deep was his +distress. +</P> + +<P> +For, in spite of the conductor's suggestion, he could not dismiss from +his mind the idea of some harm having befallen his kind friend, and he +worried far more over this than he did over the fact of his being +without money to pay his way when he did arrive in Boston. +</P> + +<P> +It was within two hours of midnight when the train rolled into the +station, and Terry, tumbling out on the platform, looked about him with +blinking eyes of bewilderment. +</P> + +<P> +"Faith, it's a lost dog I am now, and no mistake," he said, gazing +around at the confusing crowds of people, the hurrying officials, the +shouting hack-drivers, and all the other elements of confusion at a +great railroad terminus. "I'd like mighty well to know what to do now, +seein' I've never a copper in my pocket, and don't know a blessed soul +in the place." +</P> + +<P> +In the hope of finding Captain Afleck, he waited until the express +train came in of which the conductor had spoken. But there was no sign +of the strayed sailor; and realizing that there was nothing to be +gained by hanging about the station, Terry went out into the streets, a +waif in a fuller sense than ever before in his life. +</P> + +<P> +Yet his brave bright spirit refused to be overwhelmed. The night was +fine and warm; the streets were bright, and lined with fine buildings. +If the policemen would only let him alone, he would make a shift to get +through the night somehow, and trust to obtaining help from some +quarter in the morning. +</P> + +<P> +So he strolled along through street after street, entertaining himself +with comments upon the people and buildings he passed, and keeping a +sharp eye open for any place that might promise a quiet haven for the +night. +</P> + +<P> +In this way he came to a cross-street between two important +thoroughfares, and turning into it, he knew not why, he was brought to +an open door, whence issued sounds of singing. +</P> + +<P> +He loved music of every kind, and this singing was so sweet and fervent +that it drew him little by little further inside the door, until, +almost before he knew it, he found himself in a bright attractive hall, +set with chairs, and nearly filled by a gathering of men and women, +singing heartily a gospel song, the like of; which he had never heard +before. +</P> + +<P> +There was something so genial in the atmosphere of the place that the +homeless boy resolved to stay if he would be permitted, and so taking a +seat in the nearest corner he gave himself up to the enjoyment of the +music. +</P> + +<P> +Soon a young man espied him and came towards him. Was he going to turn +him out? Poor Terry's heart sank, and he felt his face becoming +crimson. But his fears were all unfounded. Instead of asking him to +leave, the young man held out his hand, saying with a cordial smile,— +</P> + +<P> +"You're very welcome, my boy. Come up nearer; and here's a hymn-book +to sing from." +</P> + +<P> +Terry would have preferred his corner, but he felt it would be +ungracious to refuse so kind an invitation, and he therefore followed +obediently till he was assigned a seat not far from the desk, at which +stood a venerable man with long white beard, whose countenance seemed +to radiate tenderness and sympathy. +</P> + +<P> +When the singing ended, the leader began to speak. His theme was the +love of Christ for sinners, and he spoke with rare simplicity and +winning force. Terry listened with every faculty attent. It was all +strangely new to him. What little religious instruction he had got in +the Roman Catholic Church was in no way a preparation for this earnest, +direct, personal gospel, which not only took a strong hold upon his +heart, but seemed to arouse some sort of response there, as though it +were awakening faculties which had been hitherto dormant. +</P> + +<P> +The speaker evidently observed the boy's rapt attention, for he turned +upon him many a look of loving appeal, that made Terry feel as though +he were looking right down into his heart and reading all that was +there. +</P> + +<P> +Yet, strange to say, Terry had no disposition to resent this. So +spell-bound was he that he could hardly have resisted any command the +old man might have laid upon him; and when, at the close of his +address, the leader invited all who wished to learn more about the +Saviour to remain for a little while after the meeting had been +dismissed, Terry was among those who stayed in their seats. +</P> + +<P> +Not only so, but when this after-meeting came to an end Terry still +lingered, partly because he was loath to go out again into the strange +streets, which offered him no refuge for the night, and partly because +he wanted to hear something more about this Jesus, who seemed so +different from the only Son of Mary of whom he had any knowledge. +</P> + +<P> +The venerable leader, the moment he was disengaged, went up to Terry, +and laying his hand kindly on his head, said in a tone of great +tenderness,— +</P> + +<P> +"Well, my dear boy, I am very glad to see you here; and do you love +Jesus too?" +</P> + +<P> +The full purport of this question Terry hardly grasped, and not knowing +what answer to make he hung his head in silence, whereupon the leader +added gently,— +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind answering that question just now. Come with me. I'm going +home, and you can tell me all your story there." +</P> + +<P> +Completely won by the gracious charm of his manner, Terry lifted his +head, and looking up gratefully into the noble countenance bending over +him, said,— +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed, sir, I'm glad you've asked me, for it's without a place to +sleep in I am this night." +</P> + +<P> +"You shall be all right with me, then," was the cordial response. "Let +us go now, and you can tell me about yourself as we walk along." +</P> + +<P> +Passing on through the now deserted streets, Terry told his new-found +friend much of the story of his life, his narration being listened to +with deep sympathy and interest. As they stopped at the door of a +comfortable-looking house the old gentleman said,— +</P> + +<P> +"Providence has put you in my way, my boy, and it will be my joy to +assist you to the best of my ability. Here is my home. You shall +share it until the way opens for you to continue your journey." +</P> + +<P> +A beautiful old lady gave them both a warm welcome and a bountiful +supper, to which Terry did full justice, for he had been fasting since +mid-day. +</P> + +<P> +Then his host told him something of the place where they had met. It +was a midnight mission carried on by himself, at his own expense, for +the benefit of fallen humanity. This was his life-work, and he +rejoiced in it, because of the many opportunities it afforded him of +being both a temporal and a spiritual helper to the victims of vice or +of misfortune. Terry felt irresistibly drawn towards Mr. Sargent and +his wife, whose hearts so overflowed with love; and when they proposed +that he should stay with them for a few days, in order that he might +try to find Captain Afleck, he gladly assented. +</P> + +<P> +Thus it came about that he was with these kind good people for the +remainder of the week, looking about the streets and wharves for the +captain in the day-time, attending the mission meetings at night, and +all the time being more and more deeply influenced by the beautiful +piety of his friends. +</P> + +<P> +Recognizing how much Terry had to learn of the very essentials of +religion, Mr. Sargent took abundant pains to make the matter clear to +the Irish boy, whose warm heart readily responded to the argument from +the infinite love of the Father, and he had his reward in finding his +pupil laying hold upon the truth with a grasp that would not be readily +shaken. +</P> + +<P> +Each day the attachment between them deepened, until Mr. Sargent began +to wish that he might keep Terry altogether; he discovered in him such +possibilities of good. +</P> + +<P> +But, sincerely grateful as he was, Terry's anxiety to get back to +Halifax grew keener every day. He seemed so near now, and there were +vessels sailing every day, on one of which he could without difficulty +obtain a passage. +</P> + +<P> +Of Captain Afleck no trace could be found. As a matter of fact, he, +too, on reaching Boston had spent some time hunting for Terry; but +being unsuccessful, concluded that Terry had gone on to Halifax, and +accordingly gave up the search until he should hear from that place. +</P> + +<P> +It had just been arranged that Terry should take the train for Halifax +one afternoon, when, in the morning, walking along Tremont Street, he +caught sight of a familiar face over the way, and darting across the +street he cried delightedly,— +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Hobart! is it yourself?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +REINSTATED. +</H4> + +<P> +The gentleman whom Terry had thus startlingly accosted looked with +surprised inquiry for a moment upon the boy; then a bright smile of +joyful recognition breaking over his face, he caught him by both +shoulders, and shook him playfully, exclaiming,— +</P> + +<P> +"Why, you young rascal! where on earth have you sprung from? How glad +I am to see you! Where have you been all this while?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Hobart's tone was so thoroughly cordial that Terry for a moment +wondered whether he understood why he had run away; but as he hesitated +in uncertainty as to where to begin to answer the questions showered +upon him, the other went on,— +</P> + +<P> +"Did you clear out because you were afraid you'd be suspected of +stealing that wharfage money?" +</P> + +<P> +Terry had only time to nod before Mr. Hobart continued,— +</P> + +<P> +"That's just what I said all along. I felt sure it was nothing else, +although Morley tried hard to put other things on you; and a week after +you vanished the whole thing came out. The chap that ran off with your +vest that day was arrested for stealing something else, and your watch +was found on him, and he was so scared that he owned up to everything. +So you see your reputation's all clear again." +</P> + +<P> +To all this Terry listened in breathless delight. It was far better +news than he had ever hoped to hear, for it meant that his explanation +would be accepted at once, and he would not have a cloud of suspicion +hanging over him, as had been his dread. +</P> + +<P> +"O Mr. Hobart!" he cried, "sure it's great good news you're tellin' me, +that makes my heart as light as a feather. I've been tryin' so hard to +get back to Halifax for ever so long, and everything's been agin me. +But now you'll take me back—won't you, Mr. Hobart?—and I'll tell Mr. +Drummond just how it happened." +</P> + +<P> +"That I will, Terry," responded Mr. Hobart. "And you just met me in +time too, for I'm off by train this very afternoon, for I've finished +the business which brought me here, and I'm in a hurry to get home +again." +</P> + +<P> +"And so was I meself," shouted Terry, dancing about on the pavement for +very joy. "And now we'll go together. Oh, but this is the lucky day +for me!" +</P> + +<P> +In the excess of his delight Terry came near forgetting Mr. Sargent, +and the duty he owed him of telling the good news. But happily in good +time the thought of his benefactor came to him, and on Mr. Hobart +hearing about him he said they must go off and see him at once. +</P> + +<P> +The Sargents were very glad to hear of their protégé's good fortune, +and although manifestly reluctant to bid him good-bye, they gave him +their blessing with a warmth that showed how he had found the way into +their hearts. +</P> + +<P> +"Remember, my dear boy," were the old gentleman's parting words, "the +truths I have sought to teach you in our brief sojourn together. Lay +fast hold on eternal life; and although we may never meet again on +earth, I shall look for you above." +</P> + +<P> +Deeply affected by these solemn words, Terry with tear-filled eyes +murmured, "I'll try my best, sir," as he turned to follow Mr. Hobart, +who had gone on a little in advance. +</P> + +<P> +That afternoon the two set forth for Halifax, and on the way thither +Terry had time to tell his companion in full detail the wonderful +experiences which had been his during the past two months. Mr. Hobart +was intensely interested, as may be imagined, and would often exclaim,— +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Terry, you'll be the hero of the place for nine days at least. +If one of these newspaper men get hold of your story, they'll make a +great to-do over it. I think I must tell the editor of the <I>Herald</I> to +have you interviewed." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure now and you're only joking, Mr. Hobart," was Terry's response to +this banter, for it never entered his mind that any doing of his could +be worth newspaper notice. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a bit of it, Terry," Mr. Hobart insisted; "you'll see when we get +to Halifax." +</P> + +<P> +They reached their destination without mishap in due time, and as it +was too late to go to the office that day they each went to their own +homes, Terry promising to be at Drummond and Brown's bright and early +the next morning. +</P> + +<P> +It was not without some misgivings as to the kind of reception awaiting +him that Terry made his way to Blind Alley. What would his mother say +to him? And would his father strike him, as he had done more than once +before when he had been away from home for a time? +</P> + +<P> +He passed and repassed the entrance to the alley several times before +he could make up his mind to enter its forbidding gloom. But at last, +saying to himself, "Ah! what's the use of foolin' like this? Here +goes," he pushed in with quickened pace until he was within ten yards +of the tenement house, when his progress was suddenly arrested by a +familiar voice falling upon his ear. It was saying, in tones of +despairing grief,— +</P> + +<P> +"No, no, Mrs. O'Rafferty, I'll never see his face again. He's gone off +in one of those American ships, believe me, and he'll be kilt or +drownded or something by this time." +</P> + +<P> +This was too much for Terry. Darting forward, he sprang upon his +mother with a suddenness that would have startled a far less excitable +person, and clasping her tight about the neck, cried,— +</P> + +<P> +"I'm nayther kilt nor drownded, mother darlin', but as well as I ever +was. See if I'm not." +</P> + +<P> +Poor Mrs. Ahearn! The shock was really more than she could stand, and +she fainted dead away on the door-step, with Terry and Mrs. O'Rafferty +doing their best to hold her up. +</P> + +<P> +But she soon regained her senses, and then ensued a scene of rejoicing +such as only a crowd of warm-hearted Irish folk could accomplish. +Terry was violently kissed by the women and clapped on the back by the +men, and pulled this way and that way by the boys, until there was +hardly any breath left in his body: and he was mighty glad at last to +escape with his mother up to their own room, where they could have a +quiet talk together. +</P> + +<P> +A happy pair were they that night, and when Black Mike came in from his +tavern it fortunately happened that he was in one of his rare amiable +moods, and greeted his returned son with a show of affection that +filled the others' cup of joy to the full. +</P> + +<P> +It was only natural that Terry should feel considerable nervousness in +regard to appearing at Drummond and Brown's, and this would have been +greater still but for his timely encounter with Mr. Hobart, who would +therefore be ready to make the way easy for him. +</P> + +<P> +As it happened, the first one he encountered on entering the office was +Morley, who of course knew nothing of his return, and who had been +cherishing in his envious heart the hope that he might never see him +again. He made no attempt to disguise his disappointment. +</P> + +<P> +"Humph!" he grunted. "Back again like a bad penny," and turning his +back on him went into another part of the office. +</P> + +<P> +This was pretty hard for Terry to bear, particularly in view of his +sensitive state of mind; but by a great effort he controlled himself, +and kept back the hot words that rose to his lips. He had learned a +better way than to return evil for evil since he last saw Morley, and +he was resolved to live up to it. +</P> + +<P> +The next person he saw was Mr. Hobart, who welcomed him warmly, and +then put him at his ease while the other clerks crowded round with +questions, some asking merely for chaff, and others in genuine interest. +</P> + +<P> +Terry bore the ordeal very well indeed, but felt quite relieved when it +came to an end and the clerks all took up their work for the day, +leaving him to await Mr. Drummond's arrival. +</P> + +<P> +When he came down, and sent for Terry, the boy went before him with a +beating heart. Although the fear of being thought guilty of stealing +the money was gone, still there were the neglect of duty and the +foolish running away from the consequences to be judged for; and he +knew that, kind as Mr. Drummond had been, he was no less just than kind. +</P> + +<P> +But he did not know that Mr. Hobart had been at Mr. Drummond's house +the previous evening and told him Terry's story, and that therefore the +old gentleman was ready to receive him, not with stern words of +condemnation, but with kind words of encouragement. +</P> + +<P> +Yet Mr. Drummond liked his joke, and when Terry presented himself +before him, trembling and blushing, he assumed an air of great gravity, +and said in his most impressive tone,— +</P> + +<P> +"Well, sir, you've come back, I see; and now, what have you to say for +yourself?" +</P> + +<P> +With brimming eyes and quivering lips, Terry began to express his +penitence, but had not got very far when Mr. Drummond's countenance +relaxed, and smiling pleasantly he held out his hand, saying,— +</P> + +<P> +"You needn't mind, Terry; I know all about it already. Mr. Hobart told +me last night. Just tell me some of the things you saw in the United +States." +</P> + +<P> +And in this way the much-dreaded interview passed off, with the result +that at the close Terry felt himself fully restored to his former +standing in the office, and able to hold up his head once more among +his fellow-clerks. +</P> + +<P> +He did not take long to settle down to work again. He was full of +desire to atone for his errors, and gave his whole attention to +whatever was assigned him, bringing the whole strength of his really +unusual if untrained mental powers to bear upon the task in hand as he +had never done before. +</P> + +<P> +As a natural consequence, he rapidly grew in favour with his superiors, +and had many an encouraging smile from Mr. Drummond, who heard good +reports of him from time to time. One especially welcome outcome of +this improved state of affairs was that Morley's malice received such a +snubbing on all sides that he positively had to hold his bitter tongue +and leave Terry in peace, to the great relief of the latter, who now +had smooth going in every way, and was as happy a boy as walked the +streets of Halifax. +</P> + +<P> +It was quite a week after his return before he heard anything more of +Captain Afleck, and then there came a letter from him at Boston to the +firm inquiring if they knew anything about Terry, as he had been +searching all over the city for him, but could find no trace of him +whatever. +</P> + +<P> +Terry was considerably amused when this was told him, and with the aid +of Mr. Hobart concocted quite a humorous reply, in which he poked fun +at the captain for not knowing how to take care of himself. In +response to this the captain wrote expressing his relief at learning +that Terry was back in his place, and stating that now his mind was at +rest about him he would remain in Boston to complete his claim against +the insurance company, so that Halifax would not be likely to see him +for some little time. +</P> + +<P> +One thing that gave Terry increasing concern was the squalor of their +abode in Blind Alley. With the help of his wages much better quarters +could be obtained; but Black Mike would not stir, and of course Mrs. +Ahearn would not leave him, shamefully as he treated her. So Terry had +perforce to be patient, awaiting the time when his father's mind might +change, or some other way out of the difficulty be found. +</P> + +<P> +Matters had been going on in this pleasant fashion for a month or so, +when one afternoon in the early autumn the whole establishment of +Drummond and Brown, from the grave old partners down to Terry, was +thrown into a state of excitement by the news coming down from the +signal-station on the citadel that a blockade-runner had been chased +right to the mouth of the harbour, and was now steaming up at a +tremendous rate with all her flags flying in token of her fortunate +escape. +</P> + +<P> +Long Wharf was quickly crowded with eager sightseers, and presently the +beautiful vessel came into view, the white foam curling back from her +sharp bow as she ploughed a deep furrow through the yielding water. +Coming off the wharf she slowed up, described a graceful semicircle, +and then glided smoothly into dock amid the cheers of the assembled +people, who were always glad to welcome a blockade-runner from motives +of interest no less than of sympathy. +</P> + +<P> +Hearty responses came from the deck of the blockade-runner, which was +no other than the famous <I>Colonel Lamb</I>—the largest, costliest, and +swiftest of the whole fleet engaged in that dangerous work. She had +brought her cargo of cotton through many perils, and great would be the +profit of those interested in the venture. +</P> + +<P> +While the people were fraternizing with the crew, and asking them a +thousand questions about their run, the captain of the blockade-runner +came off, accompanied by his first officer, who bore a black bag +evidently filled with something heavy; and after greetings had been +exchanged with Mr. Drummond and Mr. Brown, the four men went on up to +the office. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Hobart, noticing this, called to Terry, who stood near him, +watching all that was going on with deep interest, and thinking of the +rebel steamers of a very different type that he had seen in Hampton +Roads, "Come along, Terry; we may be wanted at the office." And so +they two followed. +</P> + +<P> +At the office the four gentlemen had been closeted for nearly an hour, +when Mr. Hobart was called in to receive some instructions with +reference to the disposition of the black bag. But just as Mr. +Drummond was about to give them, a shout of "Fire" came suddenly up +from the wharf, and there was a rush of men towards the end of the line +of warehouses. +</P> + +<P> +Now, it chanced that in one of the warehouses was stored a quantity of +powder awaiting shipment on the blockade-runner, and at the thought of +this danger, Mr. Drummond, springing up in great alarm, thrust the bag +into his desk, locked it up, and directing Mr. Hobart to remain in the +office, hurried out, followed by the other three. +</P> + +<P> +The fire proved to be rather a serious one, which took a couple of +hours to entirely master, but happily it did not reach the building +where the powder was stored. When the peril had altogether passed, and +Mr. Drummond, very much wearied by the excitement and exertion, +returned to the office, it was long beyond the usual time for closing; +so, ordering a cab, he drove off home without another thought in regard +to the black bag, which, in view of its contents, ought to have been +locked up in the safe. +</P> + +<P> +From his place in the outer office, Terry had got a glimpse of the bag, +and of how it had been put away, and in the talk he had with his mother +every night before going to bed he told her about it. +</P> + +<P> +"Faith and it looked as if it might have a heap of money in it," he +concluded; "those great big gold pieces you know, mother, good for +twenty dollars every one of them, like them blockade-runners have in +their pockets. Man dear, but they are beauties!" and his eyes opened +wide with admiration and longing. +</P> + +<P> +As he finished speaking, a movement at the door behind the two rooms +caused him to turn round, and he saw his father, whom he had supposed +to be sound asleep in the other room, standing in the doorway with a +strange look in his eyes that Terry recalled afterwards with a sharp +thrill of apprehension. Evidently Black Mike had been listening to the +talk, and understood its purport. He made no remark, however, but +after standing there in silence for a moment, wheeled about and went +back to bed. +</P> + +<P> +The next morning, shortly after Mr. Drummond's arrival at the office, +there were indications of some unusual occurrence having taken place. +The partners were seen to be in anxious consultation, and presently Mr. +Hobart was called in to their sanctum. He came out shortly with a very +troubled countenance, and Terry ventured to inquire,— +</P> + +<P> +"Is there anything the matter, Mr. Hobart?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should say there was something the matter," was the reply. "Mr. +Drummond's desk has been broken open, and that black bag which was full +of gold has been stolen." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IN A STRAIT BETWIXT TWO. +</H4> + +<P> +Amid the anxious bustle that filled the office Terry sat at his desk +with strange and perplexing thoughts coursing through his brain. He +had seen the bag just for one moment as Mr. Drummond was hastily +throwing it into his desk. So far as he knew, only Mr. Hobart and +himself, of the office staff, had any knowledge of its existence. That +Mr. Hobart should have taken it was a notion so absurd that his mind +refused to entertain it for an instant. His kind friend was to him the +incarnation of every human virtue, and Terry would have resented hotly +the insinuation that he could possibly be guilty of any such +wrong-doing. +</P> + +<P> +Who, then, could be the thief? As he looked about the office, glancing +from one to the other of the countenances of the clerks, all of whom, +laying aside their work for the time, were exchanging conjectures as to +how the robbery had been managed, his eyes seemed drawn irresistibly +towards Morley. +</P> + +<P> +The latter was not at his own desk, but stood near the window looking +out, as though not particularly interested in the earnest discussion, +yet every now and then he gave a glance towards the group which showed +that he was listening intently to all they said. +</P> + +<P> +It was his expression when he did this which impressed Terry. It had a +blending of anxiety, bravado, and cunning triumph that could not fail +to provoke curiosity, if not to arouse suspicion, in so keen an +observer. +</P> + +<P> +Once he caught Terry studying him, and instantly his face flushed with +anger, and he gave back such a vicious scowl that Terry, apprehensive +of an outburst, took care not to meet his glance again. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Hobart had been in the inside office again for some time, when he +came out, seeming more troubled than ever, and beckoned Terry to him. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Drummond wants to see you," he said, "although I told him you +couldn't know anything about it." +</P> + +<P> +In no small perturbation Terry entered the sanctum. The two partners +were sitting at their desks, both evidently greatly disturbed by what +had happened. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you see anything of the bag that has been stolen, Terry?" asked +Mr. Drummond abruptly. +</P> + +<P> +Terry hesitated for a moment. Did Mr. Drummond mean before it was put +into the desk or after? +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you answer me at once?" demanded his questioner testily, +while Mr. Brown regarded Terry with a look of sharp inquiry. +</P> + +<P> +"I—I—didn't see it since you put it in your desk, sir," stammered +Terry slowly, keeping his eyes fixed on the toes of his boots. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, ho!" cried Mr. Drummond in a tone that suggested he thought he was +getting some light on the mystery. "Then you did see the bag before it +was put in my desk?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir," answered Terry, the words coming more readily as he +regained his self-command. "I saw the gentleman carrying it up the +wharf." +</P> + +<P> +"Was that all you saw of it?" asked Mr. Drummond, eying him narrowly. +"Tell me now exactly." +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir," replied Terry, the colour mounting in his face as the +thought came that perhaps he would be suspected of prying into a matter +that did not concern him. "I saw it when you were putting it into your +desk." +</P> + +<P> +The partners exchanged significant glances. Here now they seemed to be +finding a clue that might help them. Recognizing the wisdom of being +more diplomatic in his mode of cross-examination, Mr. Drummond pursued +his inquiry in a much quieter tone. +</P> + +<P> +"And how did you come to see the bag then?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"The door of your office was open, sir," was the reply. +</P> + +<P> +"And you were peeping, were you?" continued Mr. Drummond. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir. I didn't mean any harm," pleaded Terry. +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps not, but maybe harm has come of it whether you meant it or +not," retorted Mr. Drummond in a half-sneering tone. "Now tell me, was +that the last you saw of the bag? Have you seen nothing of it since? +Look me straight in the face as you answer me." +</P> + +<P> +Terry lifted his eyes, and looked full into his employer's face as he +responded earnestly, "No, sir; sure as I'm standing here, sir, I +haven't." +</P> + +<P> +The fervent frankness of his manner carried conviction, and there was a +perceptible change in Mr. Drummond's tone when he put the next +question:— +</P> + +<P> +"From the way you say that, Terry, I believe it's the truth. But tell +me this: did you mention to any person about having seen the bag? +Think now, before you answer." +</P> + +<P> +The boy's countenance, which had assumed its natural colour, grew +flushed again, and he hesitated for a moment before he replied,— +</P> + +<P> +"I did tell my mother about it when I went home, sir." +</P> + +<P> +Once more the partners exchanged meaning glances, and Mr. Brown seemed +about to say something, when Mr. Drummond checked him by a warning +motion of his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"That will do for the present, Terry," said he. "I may want to ask you +some more questions afterwards. Don't mention to any of the clerks +what I've been asking you, or what you have told me. Just keep your +own counsel. Do you understand?" +</P> + +<P> +When Terry went out, the two men consulted earnestly together. From +the signs left by the thief, whoever he was, it seemed clear that he +had a complete knowledge of the premises. He had apparently entered +the warehouse by a back window, which in his haste he had forgotten to +close after him, broken open the desk with a large chisel, taken +nothing except the bag, and made off in the same way that he had come. +</P> + +<P> +Terry's confession as to telling his mother of the bag was, to say the +least, suggestive. Black Mike had not much reputation to lose. +According to the popular opinion of him, he would have small scruples +about taking the bag. Of course he could not be arrested upon mere +suspicion. Some more substantial grounds than that would have to be +found. But, in the meantime, he was worth watching, and accordingly it +was decided to engage a detective to "shadow" him, in the hope of +obtaining further proof. +</P> + +<P> +When Terry came out of Mr. Drummond's office, Mr. Hobart took him +aside, and questioned him as to what he knew of the affair; and Terry +told him as much as he could without disobeying Mr. Drummond's +injunctions. +</P> + +<P> +His listener did not make any comments, although in his mind there +arose the same thought that had occurred to the partners. +</P> + +<P> +Terry's quick instinct told him there was something significant in his +story which had made an impression on the members of the firm and upon +Mr. Hobart. Yet, strange to say, its actual import did not occur to +him at the time. Indeed he was too deeply troubled with the fear lest +he himself should be in some way regarded as an accomplice in the +robbery, to speculate much as to who really might be the guilty one. +</P> + +<P> +He saw nothing of his father all day. Black Mike had not shown up for +work, and the foreman took it for granted he was off on a spree. But +for the fact that after a holiday of this kind he always seemed +determined to atone for his absence by increased exertion, and would +positively do the work of two ordinary men, thanks to his enormous +strength, his name would not have stood upon the Long Wharf pay-roll at +all. As it was, he received wages for the time he actually worked, and +seemed quite content with the arrangement. +</P> + +<P> +It was late at night before he reeled into Blind Alley, and stumbled up +the steep stairs to his squalid home. Tired though Terry felt, owing +to the stress and strain of the day, he had, in spite of his mother's +protests, stayed up to keep her company. Not a word did either speak +when the drunkard lurched into the room and fell heavily across the +bed. They knew better than to arouse his anger by addressing either +himself or one another. +</P> + +<P> +He rolled about uneasily on the hard bed, grunting and growling more +like some wild animal than a human being. As he did so the clank of +coins in his pocket could be heard, and presently in his contortions +several of them worked out, and fell with a loud clang upon the floor. +He made as though he would get up to recover them; but the effort was +too much for him, and sinking back with a smothered oath, he fell into +the heavy stupor of the drunkard's sleep. +</P> + +<P> +It was not until he felt perfectly sure of his father's helplessness +that Terry ventured to pick up the coins. To his astonishment they +were not copper pennies, as he had supposed from the sound of their +fall, but great golden double-eagles of the value of twenty dollars +each. +</P> + +<P> +With a bewildered expression of countenance he laid them on his +mother's lap. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure it's a heap of money," he whispered; "and how could father get +hold of so much?" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Ahearn felt the splendid coins one by one as though to convince +herself that they were no optical illusion. +</P> + +<P> +"The blessed saints preserve us, Terry!" she replied, crossing herself +almost mechanically. "Maybe it's goblin gold, and we should not be +touchin' it at all." +</P> + +<P> +Not only was Terry far less superstitious than his mother, but he had +enjoyed the advantage of a wider experience. He had often seen Mr. +Hobart counting over precisely similar coins, and he felt pretty sure +that there was no goblin element about the contents of his father's +pockets. +</P> + +<P> +"Och! no, mother," he answered, "it's not goblin gold at all. We often +have the same at the office." +</P> + +<P> +There was a certain perceptible note of pride in his voice as he +brought out the last sentence, reassured by which Mrs. Ahearn took the +coins into her hands again, and permitted her sense of beauty to +indulge itself in admiring their perfection. +</P> + +<P> +Neither spoke for the next minute; their brains were busy with +perplexing thoughts. Meantime Black Mike lay motionless as a log, only +an occasional gurgling gasp showing that he was actually alive. He was +now lying upon the broad of his back, thus leaving all his pockets +exposed. Acting upon an impulse that he could not restrain, Terry went +over to him and made a thorough search of the pockets. The result was +the discovery of three more double-eagles, making five in all. +</P> + +<P> +One hundred dollars! more money by far than Black Mike had ever had at +once in his life before. How could he have honestly come by it? +Unknown to each other the same thought was forming in the mind of the +mother and son, and they dared not look into one another's eyes lest it +should be revealed. Mr. Hobart had told Terry that the black bag +contained a very large amount of money in gold, and this the boy had +duly repeated at home. +</P> + +<P> +At last the silence became unendurable to both. Unable to restrain +herself any longer, Mrs. Ahearn caught Terry by the arm, and drew him +towards her. +</P> + +<P> +"Holy Mary!" she murmured, as though praying for strength; and then, +after a moment's pause, added in a hoarse whisper, "Could your father +have stolen it, Terry?" +</P> + +<P> +Terry started as if he had been struck, for his mother had uttered the +very question that possessed his own mind. He did not hold towards his +father a very warm affection. Black Mike's treatment of him from his +babyhood had been too consistently unfatherly for that. But the +thought of being arrested and sent to the grim granite penitentiary out +by the North-West Arm filled him with horror. +</P> + +<P> +"Surely not, mother," he responded with a warmth that was increased by +his desire to convince himself as well as his mother. "It's not the +likes of father to be stealing money; somebody must have given it to +him." +</P> + +<P> +The suggestion was a very unlikely one, yet they both sought to take +comfort from it. Gold was very plentiful in Halifax in those days, and +the successful blockade-runners lavished it with a free hand. Some one +of them, whose wits had been stolen away by strong drink, might have +filled Black Mike's pockets in a fit of reckless generosity. +</P> + +<P> +But the more Terry thought over this the more improbable did it seem, +and he felt himself, however reluctantly, thrown back upon the only +other alternative to which almost unconsciously he gave expression. +</P> + +<P> +"If father did steal the money," he said, keeping his eyes fixed on the +drunken form, "where do you think he could have got it?" +</P> + +<P> +He put the question because, although he had already answered it in his +own mind, he shrank from expressing his thought, at least until he saw +whether the same had come into his mother's mind. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Ahearn was silent for some moments. Then, bending over towards +him as if afraid the sleeper might catch her words, she replied,— +</P> + +<P> +"The black bag, Terry!" +</P> + +<P> +Terry gave a groan of misery. His own harrowing suspicion had found +expression in his mother's words, and instantly he saw himself +transfixed between the horns of a terrible dilemma. +</P> + +<P> +Not only so, but just as his mother had hit upon, the same solution of +the mystery of the gold, so must she realize the position in which he +was placed by it. That she did this was made clear the next moment; +for, as he remained silent, she drew him into her arms, and folding him +to her breast, sobbed out in plaintive tones,— +</P> + +<P> +"Ye won't tell Mr. Drummond, will ye, Terry darlint? Sure it would +break me poor heart entirely if they were to send the police after your +father, and have him put in the penitentiary." +</P> + +<P> +It was long past midnight before sleep came to Terry's eyes. He tossed +and tumbled about on his hard bed in a state of the most painful +perplexity. The idea of informing upon his father seemed nothing short +of horrible to him, and yet did not duty to his employer and to the +truth demand it? Mr. Drummond had been so good to him. Here, now, was +an opportunity to prove his gratitude. By prompt action a good part of +the stolen money might perhaps be recovered before it was squandered, +therefore the sooner he informed the better. His mother had carefully +put away the gold coins, in order that they might be restored when they +knew for certain to whom they rightfully belonged. Should he take them +to the office in the morning, and tell the whole story? +</P> + +<P> +When he got up the next morning, a little later than usual, having +overslept himself, he found his father already gone out. Black Mike +had apparently not missed the gold, and asked no questions, although +his drunkenness had disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +Nothing was said between Terry and his mother while he ate his +breakfast quickly; but just as he was hurrying off, she threw her arms +around his neck and whispered in his ear,— +</P> + +<P> +"Say nothin' about the gold to-day, Terry darlint. Maybe it wasn't +your father took the bag at all." +</P> + +<P> +At the office the clerks had settled down again to their regular +routine, and the distractions of the preceding day having caused some +arrears, they had to work all the harder to make them up. Terry was +kept on his feet continually, and was left little time for quiet +thinking. Mr. Hobart was absent, having been sent off by the firm on +an important mission to Windsor, whence he would not return until the +following day. Terry's heart sank when he heard this, for he craved a +talk with his friend, although his mind was not yet made up as to +whether he would tell him about his father. +</P> + +<P> +Another absentee was Morley. A note had come from him, stating that he +was ill and confined to bed, but hoped to be at his desk in a day or +two. For some inexplicable reason, when Terry learned this the thought +flashed into his mind that Morley might know something about the black +bag. He could give himself no reason for it, yet there it stuck, and +by its presence helped to strengthen his reluctance to make known the +facts about his father. +</P> + +<P> +In the afternoon the office was once more thrown into a state of +excitement by the news that the detectives had discovered the thief, +and already had him under arrest. Terry was out on an errand when the +word came. +</P> + +<P> +On his return he entered the office just behind Mr. Boggs, the +assistant book-keeper, at sight of whom one of the other clerks, eager +to be the first to tell the news, shouted out,— +</P> + +<P> +"They've caught the burglar, Boggs. Guess who it is?" +</P> + +<P> +Terry's heart stopped beating, and an icy chill ran through his body, +as, pausing by the door, he waited in harrowing apprehension for the +answer. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. +</H4> + +<P> +Mr. Hobart was not the only friend Terry had among the employés at +Drummond and Brown's. The storeman, John Connors, had always been kind +to him in his own rough way. He pitied the boy because of his drunken +father, and liked him because of his pluck and energy. +</P> + +<P> +Having no boys of his own, he had several times, half in jest, half in +earnest, offered to adopt him; and although his proposition could not +be considered, it strengthened the warm affection that Terry felt +towards the bluff "boss" of Long Wharf. +</P> + +<P> +Intense, then, as was his relief that it was not his father who had +been arrested for the stealing of the black bag, there quickly followed +feelings of keen surprise and sorrow, for the suspected criminal proved +to be no other than John Connors, in whose possession had been found a +bag presumed to be the one taken from Mr. Drummond's desk. +</P> + +<P> +Terry listened for a while to the conversation of the clerks as they +exchanged wondering conjectures in reference to the matter, and all the +time the conviction grew stronger within him that, however appearances +might be against him, Connors was no more guilty than he was himself. +At length he could not keep silence, and burst out with,— +</P> + +<P> +"John Connors never stole the bag. I'm sure he didn't." +</P> + +<P> +His fervent declaration of faith in the storeman's innocence roused a +laugh, and one of the clerks turned upon him with the question,— +</P> + +<P> +"What do you know about it any way that you're so sure as to who didn't +do it?" +</P> + +<P> +Instantly there came up in Terry's mind the scene at home, and the +mysterious gold dropping from his father's pockets. What did he know +about it indeed? Far more perhaps than he cared to tell just then. +Regretting that he had spoken, he made no answer; and noticing his +confusion, the clerk, attributing it to his being so sharply +challenged, added good-humouredly,— +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind, Terry; we're a good deal of the same opinion. We don't +think Connors is the man to do such a thing, and there must be a +mistake somewhere." +</P> + +<P> +As soon as he got home Terry told his mother of Connors' arrest, and +Mrs. Ahearn, eager to seize upon any other explanation of the affair +than one which would involve her husband, said persuasively,— +</P> + +<P> +"Now then, Terry, ye'll not be saying anything about your father till +ye find out some more, will ye, darlint?" +</P> + +<P> +Poor Terry was in a sadly perplexed state of mind. He firmly believed +in Connors' innocence; yet he was by no means sure of his father's +guilt, and, without being able to explain to himself why, he had +haunting suspicions as to Morley. How he longed to have a talk with +Mr. Hobart! But his friend was away, and there was no one else in whom +he had the same confidence, or to whom he could go for the counsel he +so sorely needed. +</P> + +<P> +Black Mike did not show himself in Blind Alley that night, greatly to +the relief of both Terry and his mother, for they dreaded seeing him in +their then state of mind. The two had a long talk before going to bed; +but it did not make the future much clearer, although the more he +thought over the matter, the more strongly Terry felt that he was not +doing right in withholding the information about his father. +</P> + +<P> +Immediately on his arrival at the office next morning he was told not +to go out anywhere, as he would soon be particularly wanted, and +presently he learned that he was to appear in the police-court as a +witness at the preliminary examination of Connors. His heart sank +within him at the prospect of this ordeal, and he felt as though he +would give anything to run off and hide himself until the trial was +over. +</P> + +<P> +Shortly after eleven o'clock, Mr. Hobart, who had just got back that +morning, told him to accompany him to the police-court. In profound +perturbation Terry obeyed. It would be his first appearance as a +witness, and he had the vaguest possible notions as to what would be +required of him. +</P> + +<P> +They found the court-room already crowded, for the case attracted a +good deal of attention. It was a bare gaunt room, whose principal +virtue lay in its being well lit. Along the farther end ran a dais, +upon which stood three desks, with a big black sofa behind; while over +all hung a canopy bearing the royal arms of Great Britain. +</P> + +<P> +As the market clock sounded out eleven strokes, a door at the side of +the dais opened, and the stipendiary magistrate, the presiding genius +of the place, appeared. He had rather an imposing port, which was +helped by his full gray beard and large gold spectacles. Behind came +Mr. Drummond and Mr. Brown, who at his invitation took seats upon the +sofa. +</P> + +<P> +Having adjusted himself comfortably at the central desk, he directed +the clerk, who sat in an enclosure behind him, to open the court. +</P> + +<P> +A number of "drunk and disorderly" cases, which were represented by a +row of men and women in various stages of rags and frowziness, had +first to be disposed of, the routine being to call up the policeman who +had made the arrest, listen to his statement, and without further +inquiry impose fines of "five dollars, or twenty days," or "ten +dollars, or forty days," according to the gravity of the offence. +</P> + +<P> +At length the dock was cleared of its unsavoury tenants, and the clerk +called the case of "The Queen versus John Connors." +</P> + +<P> +A perceptible stir and murmur ran through the crowd when Connors came +forward. He certainly had not the appearance of a criminal, and +despite his evident distress at his situation, there was nothing in his +bearing to indicate guilt. He had secured the services of Mr. Morton, +the leading criminal lawyer, and was permitted to take his seat beside +him, instead of being placed in the dock. There seemed something +reproachful in the glance he gave his employers, as though to say, "You +ought to have had more faith in me than to put me here." +</P> + +<P> +The preliminary formalities being gone through with, the examination of +the witnesses was entered upon. Mr. Drummond, Mr. Brown, the officers +of the blockade-runner, and Mr. Hobart gave their evidence one after +another, while Terry listened to every question and answer as though +his own life depended upon the result. His mind was in a state of the +utmost distress and indecision. His turn would come soon. How much +should he tell? No one could have any idea of what he knew. Must he +betray his father, or had he the right to maintain silence? +</P> + +<P> +Never in his life before had he been brought face to face with so +perplexing a moral problem, and his early training was indeed a poor +preparation for its right solution. Indeed, had he been left to decide +it by the standards of that training, it would have been quickly done; +but during his short stay with Mr. Sargent in Boston a new view of life +had come to him, in the light of which he saw his duty as he had never +done before. +</P> + +<P> +He looked longingly at Mr. Hobart, for he felt that a good talk with +him would be a wonderful help in straightening matters out; but there +was no chance of that now, and he had come no nearer a decision when he +heard his name called by the clerk. +</P> + +<P> +Dazed, and trembling in every limb, he entered the witness box, and +took tight hold of the front rail, for it seemed as though his knees +would sink under him. In consideration of his youth and manifest +perturbation, the prosecuting attorney questioned him very gently and +briefly as to what he knew, and Terry having told about seeing the bag +locked up in the desk, hoped that the ordeal was over. +</P> + +<P> +But to his dismay Mr. Morton now took him in hand, adjusting his gold +spectacles so as to look straight through them into the boy's face; and +assuming a very confident air, as though he knew all about it, the +renowned cross-examiner said,— +</P> + +<P> +"Come now, Master Ahearn, you're a bright-looking lad, and no doubt you +think a good deal. Have you been thinking much about this wonderful +black bag?" +</P> + +<P> +Terry started, and the colour deepened on his already flushed cheeks. +Had he been thinking about it? What else indeed had occupied his +thoughts since first he heard of the robbery? +</P> + +<P> +His keen eye observing the boy's confusion, Mr. Morton, who as a matter +of fact had intended simply to play with him for a few minutes while he +collected his own thoughts, for the case seemed going hard against his +client, began to suspect that possibly the extent of Terry's knowledge +had not yet appeared; so, changing his manner from one of good-humoured +raillery to penetrating scrutiny, he put the question straight to him,— +</P> + +<P> +"See here, Master Ahearn, don't you know more about this matter than +you have yet told us?" Then raising his voice to a tone of command, he +pointed his long finger at him like the barrel of a revolver, as he +cried, "Out with it now. Tell the court everything you know, or—" He +did not finish the sentence, believing it would be more effective to +leave the consequences to be imagined. +</P> + +<P> +The supreme crisis in Terry's life had come, and he had only an instant +in which to make his decision. On the one side was duty to the truth +and to the accused man; on the other, fear for his father and for +himself, for he did not know but what his concealment of his father +having the gold would bring down punishment on his own shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +To get out of the difficulty he had only to disclaim any further +knowledge, and who could gainsay him? Glancing up for a moment at the +magistrate, his eyes went past him to Mr. Drummond, who sat at his +left. There was a look of deep concern on the merchant's face that +touched Terry to the heart, and instantly his decision was made. In a +voice scarcely audible he murmured,— +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir, I do know something more." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Morton's face suddenly brightened. Here perchance was something +that might help his client. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! ha!" he exclaimed, "I thought you did. Come, then, let us have +it. We're all waiting upon you." +</P> + +<P> +In trembling tones and with many interruptions, Terry, helped out by +the lawyer's questions, related all that transpired the night his +father brought home the gold. His story produced a profound sensation. +Although Black Mike had been placed under surveillance, it was without +result; but now, through his son's evidence, his complicity in the +crime seemed on the verge of being established. +</P> + +<P> +A distinct air of relief pervaded the court-room. Mr. Morton, looking +quite cheerful again, held a whispered consultation with Connors. Mr. +Drummond and his partner did the same with the magistrate, while the +other spectators buzzed to one another about the new turn the case had +taken. +</P> + +<P> +Feeling as though a fearful load had been taken off him, Terry, now +seeming very pale and tired, stood in the box awaiting further +questioning. But to his great relief this was not required of him, as, +after some discussion, Mr. Morton asked for an adjournment until the +following morning, to enable Black Mike to be brought into court. His +request was granted, and officers were sent out to find Black Mike. +</P> + +<P> +When the proceedings were resumed the next day, not only Black Mike was +present, but also Tom Morley, and there were excited whispers current +of yet more surprising developments than Terry's evidence had +foreshadowed. Before the day closed the whole mystery was unravelled, +and a strange story it made for, as it turned out, neither John Connors +nor Black Mike, in spite of the circumstantial evidence against them, +had any part whatever in the robbery, or share in its proceeds. The +entire guilt lay upon Tom Morley, and to the cleverest detective in the +force was due the credit of bringing it home to him. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed that Morley was in the warehouse above the office when the +officers brought in the black bag, and, peeping through a pipe hole in +the floor, he had witnessed its being thrust into the desk. Then came +to him the thought of taking it, for he was sorely in need of money to +pay gambling debts. He remained in the warehouse until long after +dark, broke open the desk, and carried off the bag, effecting his +escape through the window. +</P> + +<P> +By chance Detective Power had learned of Morley being remarkably flush +with money, and while the other officers were following up clues which +led to the storeman being arrested, he devoted himself to tracking the +real criminal, with the result of running him down, and obtaining a +full confession from him, together with the greater portion of the +money. +</P> + +<P> +As to the grounds of suspicion against John Connors and Black Mike, +they proved to be easily explained away. The black bag found in the +former's possession turned out to be another one altogether; and with +regard to the gold the latter had brought home, it belonged to an +officer of the <I>Colonel Lamb</I>, with whom he had been carousing, and +who, fearing he might be robbed, had handed it over to Black Mike for +safe keeping. +</P> + +<P> +There was great rejoicing throughout the establishment of Drummond and +Brown over the complete clearing up of the robbery, and Terry was +warmly commended for his fidelity to the truth. Mr. Drummond was +particularly pleased with him, for when he understood the whole matter +he realized how trying had been the boy's situation. +</P> + +<P> +It was not long after this that Terry was once more called in to Mr. +Drummond's office, for his employer had something important to say to +him. +</P> + +<P> +"I have been thinking about you, my boy," said he, "and have decided to +give you the opportunity of making up for lost time in the way of +education; so I am going to send you off to a first-class commercial +academy, where you can stay two or three years if you will, and then +come back here qualified to make a valuable clerk. How would you like +that?" +</P> + +<P> +Now, not so many months before, Mr. Drummond had made Terry a somewhat +similar offer, and it had met with no encouragement. But the boy saw +things with different eyes now. He had been made to realize his +deficiencies so keenly that the great desire of his heart was to have +the opportunity of repairing them, and he was all ready to spring at +the chance offered him. +</P> + +<P> +"Faith, sir," he replied with a happy smile, "there's nothing I'd like +better, if I may say so; and if you're pleased to send me, I'll do my +very best to learn all they'll teach me." +</P> + +<P> +"I fully believe you will, my boy," said Mr. Drummond, smiling back at +him; "I'll have arrangements made without delay." +</P> + +<P> +For two full years Terry toiled hard at the academy, overcoming one by +one many difficulties and temptations that beset his path, and making +such rapid improvement from every point of view that, when he returned +to his desk, the keenest eye could hardly have recognized in the +good-looking youth with so easy a bearing the ragged wharf boy of a +little while before. +</P> + +<P> +During his absence Black Mike died in hospital, and kind-hearted Mr. +Drummond placed Mrs. Ahearn in a comfortable cottage far away from +Blind Alley. Here Terry joined her, and the good woman had the +happiness of living to see her son become one of the most trusted and +highly-paid employés of Drummond and Brown. +</P> + +<P> +Terry never forgot his own past. His heart was always warm in sympathy +towards the boys that played about the wharves, and he lost no +opportunity of saying a kind word or doing a kind deed on their behalf; +and they had no better friend in Halifax than Mr. Terrence Ahearn, who, +in rising from their ranks to a position of honour and emolument, +showed no foolish pride, nor sought to conceal whence he had come. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +THE END. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<HR> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Boys New Library +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +Crown 8vo, cloth extra. Price 3s. 6d. each, +</H4> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The British Legion. A Tale of the Carlist War. 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By ACHILLES DAUNT, Author of "Frank Redcliffe," "With Pack +and Rifle in the Far South-west," etc. With numerous Illustrations. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"<I>The narratives of wreck and rescue are admirably penned, and the +illustrations throughout are effective.</I>"—GLASGOW HERALD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Robinson Crusoe. The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of +Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner. Written by Himself. Illustrated. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Sandford and Merton. A Book for the Young. By THOMAS DAY. +Illustrated. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Swiss Family Robinson; or, Adventures of a Father and his Four Sons +on a Desolate Island. Illustrated. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +T. NELSON AND SONS, London, Edinburgh, and New York. +</H4> + +<BR> + +<HR> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Boys' Own Library. +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +Post 8vo, cloth extra. Price 2s. each. +</H4> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Soldiers of the Queen; or, Jack Fenleigh's Luck. A Story of the Dash +to Khartoum. By HAROLD AVERY, Author of "Frank's First Term," etc., +etc. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"<I>Rehearses in a thrilling manner the stirring story of the Egyptian +War and the advance to Khartoum.</I>"—DUNDEE ADVERTISER. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Vandrad the Viking; or, The Feud and the Spell. A Tale of the +Norsemen. By J. STORER CLOUSTON. With Six Illustrations by HUBERT +PATON. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<I>How the valiant Vandrad comes under the "spell" of a certain beautiful +"witch," and how the glamour causes him to forego his revengeful +purpose, is told by Mr. Storer Clouston in language so full of power +and poetic feeling that once read the story will not soon be forgotten.</I> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Breaking the Record. The Story of Three Arctic Expeditions. By M. +DOUGLAS, Author of "Across Greenland's Ice-Fields." +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"<I>Just the kind of book that will stir a boy's heart to its uttermost +depths, and make him give up his most cherished dreams of being a great +Indian fighter in favour of an Arctic explorer.</I>"—NORTH BRITISH DAILY +MAIL. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Across Greenland's Ice-Fields. The Adventures of Nansen and Peary on +the Great Ice-Cap. By M. DOUGLAS, Author of "For Duty's Sake," etc. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<I>Sir Clements R. Markham, President of the Royal Geographical Society, +says: "Miss Douglas conducts her readers over those trackless wastes of +snow and ice in the footsteps of Nordenskiöld, of Nansen, and of Peary; +and certainly those who begin the journey with her will, in continuing +to the end, derive no small amount of pleasure and instruction.</I>" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +As We Sweep Through the Deep. A Story of the Stirring Times of Old. +By GORDON STABLES, M.D., R.N. With Illustrations. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<I>A story for boys, giving glimpses of naval life during the times of +Napoleon.</I> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Battle of the Rafts. And Other Stories of Boyhood in Norway. By +H. H. BOYESEN. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"<I>The stories are so different from the ordinary run of boys' tales, +and yet so exciting, that they cannot fail to be appreciated.</I>"—DUNDEE +ADVERTISER. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +After Years. A Story of Trials and Triumphs. By J. W. BRADLEY, Author +of "Culm Rock." With Illustrations. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Among the Turks. By VERNEY LOVETT CAMERON, C.B., D.C.L., Commander +Royal Navy, Author of "Jack Hooper," etc. With Illustrations. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"<I>'Among the Turks' is racy with adventure and spirited descriptions of +Eastern life and character. Boys will read the book with great +delight.</I>"—SCOTSMAN. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Archie Digby; or, An Eton Boy's Holidays. By G. E. WYATT, Author of +"Harry Bertram and his Eighth Birthday." +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<I>An interesting tale for boys. Archie, a thoughtless young Etonian, +learns during a Christmas holiday, by humbling experience, lessons of +value for all after life.</I> +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +T. NELSON AND SONS, London, Edinburgh, and New York. +</H4> + +<BR> + +<HR> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Our Boys' Select Library. +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +STORIES OF ADVENTURE, TRAVEL, AND DISCOVERY. +</H4> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +Post 8vo, cloth extra. Price 2s. 6d. each. +</H4> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Forest, the Jungle, and the Prairie; or, Tales of Adventure and +Enterprise in Pursuit of Wild Animals. With numerous Engravings. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Scenes with the Hunter and the Trapper. Stories of Adventures with +Wild Animals. With Engravings. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Beyond the Himalayas. By JOHN GEDDIE, F.R.G.S., Author of "The Lake +Regions of Central Africa," etc. With Nine Engravings. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"<I>A tale of adventure and travel over regions on the borders of China +and Thibet. The author has taken great pains to make his descriptions +of the scenery, natural history, and botany, and of the manners and +habits of the frontier people accurate and instructive. There are +plenty of exciting adventures and encounters with wild beasts and no +less wild men.</I>"—STANDARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Castaways. A Story of Adventure in the Wilds of Borneo. By +Captain MAYNE REID. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Meadows Family; or, Fireside Stories of Adventure and Enterprise. +By M. A. PAULL, Author of "Tim's Troubles," etc. With Illustrations. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Story of the Niger. A Record of Travel and Adventure from the Days +of Mungo Park to the Present Time. By ROBERT RICHARDSON, Author of +"Adventurous Boat Voyages," "Ralph's Year in Russia," etc. With +Thirty-one Illustrations. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +The Norseland Library. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +Post 8vo, cloth extra. Price 2s. 6d. each. +</H4> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Hermit Princes. A Tale of Adventure in Japan. By ELEANOR +STREDDER, Author of "Doing and Daring," etc. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"<I>Conspicuous for novelty of subject and treatment. It is a Japanese +story perfectly conceived and realized. The landscape-painting +throughout is terse and full of interest.</I>"—MANCHESTER GUARDIAN. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Norseland Tales. By H. H. BOYESEN, Author of "The Battle of the Rafts, +and Other Stories of Boyhood in Norway." With Seven Illustrations. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"<I>They are tales of modern life, not of the Vikings, but of and about +the sea, and of Norwegian boys who crossed the Atlantic. All are well +written and interesting.</I>"—GLASGOW HERALD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Leaves from a Middy's Log. By ARTHUR LEE KNIGHT, Author of "Adventures +of a Midshipmite," "The Rajah of Monkey Island," etc. Illustrated by +A. PEARCE. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"<I>A decidedly fresh and stirring story. There is plenty of incident +and plenty of spirit in the story; the dialogue is amusing and natural, +and the descriptions are vigorous and vivid.</I>"—SPECTATOR. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Sons of the Vikings. An Orkney Story. By JOHN GUNN, M.A., D.Sc. With +Illustrations by JOHN WILLIAMSON. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Sons of Freedom; or, The Fugitives from Siberia. By FRED. WHISHAW, +Author of "Harold the Norseman," "A Lost Army," "Boris the +Bear-Hunter," etc. With numerous Illustrations. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +T. NELSON AND SONS, London, Edinburgh, and New York. +</H4> + +<BR> + +<HR> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Our Boys' Select Library. +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +Post 8vo, cloth extra. Price 2s. 6d. each. +</H4> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THREE BOOKS BY W. H. G. KINGSTON. +</H4> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Afar in the Forest. With Forty-one Full-page Engravings. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<I>A tale of settler life in North America, full of stirring adventure.</I> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +In the Rocky Mountains. A Tale of Adventure. With Forty-one +Engravings. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<I>A narrative specially adapted to the taste and delectation of youth, +with numerous incidents of travel and amusing stories, told in afresh +and invigorating style.</I> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +In New Granada; or, Heroes and Patriots. With Thirty-six Full-page +Engravings. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"<I>This book will delight boys of all ages. The subject is unusually +interesting, and opens a wide field for romantic adventure.</I>"—PALL +MALL GAZETTE. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +STORIES OF ADVENTURE, TRAVEL, AND DISCOVERY. +</H4> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Adventurous Boat Voyages. By ROBERT RICHARDSON, Author of "Ralph's +Year in Russia," etc. With Fifteen Illustrations. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Frank Redcliffe. A Story of Travel and Adventure in the Forests of +Venezuela. By ACHILLES DAUNT, Author of "The Three Trappers." With +numerous Illustrations. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +In the Land of the Moose. Adventures in the Forests of the Athabasca. +By ACHILLES DAUNT, Author of "The Three Trappers." With Illustrations. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +In the Bush and on the Trail. Adventures in the Forests of North +America. By M. BENEDICT REVOIL. With Seventy Illustrations. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Island Home; or, The Young Castaways. A Story of Adventure in the +Southern Seas. With Illustrations. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Lake Regions of Central Africa. A Record of Modern Discovery. By +JOHN GEDDIE, F.R.G.S. With Thirty-two Illustrations. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"<I>Here we have excellent writing, full of accurate geographical +information, and fascinating in style; first class illustration and +plenty of it.</I>"—SWORD AND TROWEL. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Lost in the Backwoods. A Tale of the Canadian Forest. By Mrs. TRAILL, +Author of "In the Forest," etc. With 32 Engravings. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Three Trappers. By ACHILLES DAUNT, Author of "In the Land of the +Moose, the Bear, and the Beaver." With Eleven Engravings. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"<I>It is one of those books which have been favourites with +healthy-minded lads since books became common. We do not remember to +have seen one that sustained more of vigour and liveliness in its +narrative than this.</I>"—SCOTSMAN. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Wrecked on a Reef; or, Twenty Months in the Auckland Isles. A True +Story of Shipwreck, Adventure, and Suffering. With Forty Illustrations. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Ralph's Year in Russia. A Story of Travel and Adventure in Eastern +Europe. By ROBERT RICHARDSON, Author of "Almost a Hero," etc. With +Eight Engravings. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"<I>A capital story of travel and adventure. Mr. Richardson has written +with great force and vivacity. He has produced a story healthy in all +respects.</I>"—SCOTSMAN. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +T. NELSON AND SONS, London, Edinburgh, and New York. +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Terry's Trials and Triumphs, by J. Macdonald Oxley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TERRY'S TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS *** + +***** This file should be named 33754-h.htm or 33754-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/7/5/33754/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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